Get All Access for $5/mo

Seven Common Thoughts Of A (Successful) Entrepreneur While many average company owners may stand before that which they have build, and say, "Great, it works, we are done here for a while," a good entrepreneur thinks, "Great, it works, but I want it to be better."

By Neil Petch

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Shutterstock.com

When I see someone outstanding in their field –whether it be in sports, music, art, business or anything else– I always get the sense that there is much more to them than meets the eye. Although to the outside world, these people appear to have "succeeded," for them, there is always more to do. It's a mix of both never being satisfied and a constant need to keep doing it "bigger and better."

For these highly driven people –and from here on out, I am focusing on the driven entrepreneur– there is simply no off switch. The mind of the entrepreneur is always moving and planning the next success or achievement. For evidence of this, look no further than the Kauffman report titled, The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur, a study based on a survey of over 500 business owners, which found that the average number of businesses launched by each of the entrepreneurs in the study was 2.3.

Related: The Five Habits Of Highly Effective Companies

Ultimately, the mind of you entrepreneurs is very rarely only in the present. You are constantly contemplating a million-and-one possibilities, and making a plan A, B and C for each, as that built-in "always needing to do more mechanism" in your brain drives you to achieve excellence and beyond. Let's now take a look at some of the main thoughts that keep the entrepreneur's mind occupied on any given day:

1. What's next? What sets the best entrepreneurs apart is that they continue to ask this question, regardless of any past achievement or completed task. This is not just the next business idea, or those sorts of grand scale goals, but also the everyday things that can range from the small to the big. There is never a shortage of to-dos for the entrepreneur, and this is all tied into the mindset that is, quite simply, about satisfying the need to constantly keep building.

2. How can we improve on that? This is one of the key ways that the true entrepreneur sees the world through different eyes. While many average company owners may stand before that which they have build, and say, "Great, it works, we are done here for a while," a good entrepreneur thinks, "Great, it works, but I want it to be better." Just like in point 1 above which sees the entrepreneur always looking for the next thing to do, there is simply no destination when it comes to the quality of a successful entrepreneur's output; rather, it is a continuous journey to be the best– with new features, new designs, new processes, a better service offering, and so on. According to Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy at the University of Virginia, this is because entrepreneurs apply what's called "effectual reasoning" to imagine new ways of doing things– while others just accept the status quo.

3. Is my team busy enough? This is one nagging and rather persistent thought that plagues the entrepreneur from the moment they take on their first hire. There's not a startup in the land that can afford to have a workforce sitting around twiddling their thumbs, and the entrepreneur is therefore obsessed with ensuring the team has enough to do. As for what constitutes "busy," well that depends on one's financial goals. As a general rule of thumb, however, if the staff is working at 80% capacity or higher, the captain of the ship is generally happy. Anything less is just wrong, and restructuring is required ASAP.

Related: Business Learning Curves: 13 Points Of Reference From The 2015 Enterprise Agility Forum

4. Are my customers satisfied? We are living in an age of consumer power– and the successful entrepreneur knows it all too well. Customer satisfaction is hugely important, not only to ensure loyalty and repeat customers, but also to protect the reputation of a growing business. In a recent survey by American research company Radius Global, a cross-section of consumers ranked word of mouth as the number one influencer in purchasing decisions for everything, from clothes and electronics to travel and financial products. The smart entrepreneur knows that without happy customers spreading the word, company growth just won't happen.

5. Do I have to take time off? If you've ever tried to convince an entrepreneur to take time off, you'll know it's not an easy feat. The fact is that entrepreneurs want to do little other than build their businesses, and this can be a particular bone of contention when holiday season rolls around and the family start discussing the idea of a summer vacation. Even just the odd day off here or there takes careful consideration– evidenced by a recent survey by Sage, which found that 30% of entrepreneurs do not take any holidays at all. Put simply, in the mind of the entrepreneur, time is the greatest asset– and if you look at it that way, days off are simply bad for business.

6. Are my financials in order? An entrepreneur is not an entrepreneur if they don't have money on their mind. This has nothing to do with greed or being "a slave to the numbers." Rather, it's simply a matter of common sense: unhealthy financials create just about the worst possible environment for everyone concerned with the business, from the owner to the employees to the shareholders to the poor family members of all involved. Most business owners are well aware of stats like those from CB Insights which show that 29% of failed startups fell short because they ran out of cash; or a similar survey by Wolters Kluwer, which found that nearly a third of small businesses that failed did so because they didn't spend enough time managing the books. Yes, the entrepreneur never underestimates the need to have the financial house in order– and therefore, profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheets are top of mind much of the time.

7. Will this ever get easier? We end with perhaps the most recurring thought of all in the mind of the entrepreneur: will this ever get easier? I am going to spoil the party right away, and tell you that the answer is no, not really. I mean you might make a ton of money and then you don't really have to care anymore about that, but money is not necessarily the dominating goal for most entrepreneurs. True entrepreneurs simply love creating. And with that comes the constant desire to do better and build bigger, which in turn sort of eliminates any hope that things will one day get easier. That's right, for the true entrepreneur it cannot get easier, because the same thing that made it hard in the first place will make it hard throughout the entire journey, and that thing is you and your ambition.

Related: Five Secrets To Accomplishing More

Neil Petch

Founder and Chairman, Virtugroup

Neil Petch actively assists over 300 entrepreneurs and startups to conceive, plan, and build their businesses on a monthly basis.

After launching Virtuzone as the first private company formation business in the region over 10 years ago, Neil has led the company to set up more than 16,000 businesses, making it the largest, fastest-growing and best-known setup operator in the Middle East.

As the chairman of the holding company, Virtugroup, Neil also leads VirtuVest, an in-house angel investment vehicle; Virtuzone Mainland, a provider of directorship services, corporate sponsorship and facilitator of local Dubai and Abu Dhabi company setups; and Next Generation Equity, a citizenship-by-investment firm. Virtugroup has invested in and supported the growth of multiple companies and delivered passports in over 10 different jurisdictions. Virtugroup also enjoys partnerships with Dubai FDI, the Chamber of Commerce, Dubai Holdings (ARN), VFS, Regus, Etisalat, KPMG, Aramex and Beehive, and has received awards from Arabian Business and Entrepreneur Magazine, among others.

In addition to starting up businesses, Neil has held leadership roles in several companies. He helped establish ITP, the largest media publishing house in the Gulf, which he oversaw growing from two to 600 employees. At ITP, he spearheaded the launch of over 60 digital and print titles, including Time Out, Harper’s Bazaar, Arabian Business, Ahlan and Grazia.

As Managing Director of ENG Media, Neil launched the Coast FM radio station and numerous magazines, including MediaWeek. For the last seven years, Neil has also served as Chairman of GMG, the world’s first interbank financial brokerage based out of Dubai, with offices in DIFC and London. Due to his extensive knowledge and expertise, Neil has been appointed a member of the ‘Ease of Banking’ panel organised by the Chamber of Commerce.

Having lived in over a dozen countries and with a career spanning over 25 years in the UAE, Neil has the ability to merge astute cultural insight with fresh thinking, leveraging his seasoned business acumen, intuition and black book to repeatedly bring ideas to living, breathing success stories.

Neil has appeared in BBC (Dubai Dreams) and ITV (Piers Morgan) features on Dubai, as well as programmes on BBC World and Sky. He has participated as a judge on the radio programme Falcons’ Lair, an entrepreneurship reality show loosely based on the BBC production Dragons’ Den, as well as a similar TV competition hosted by MAD Talks. He now hosts Starting Up on Dubai Eye 103.8FM, the only national weekly show for the startup community in the world’s startup capital.

Neil also lends his in-depth market insight to fellow entrepreneurs and helps cultivate Public Private Partnerships as a Task Force Member of the Advisory Council, a coalition of key decision-makers and prominent movers of the UAE business landscape, led by EMIR and the Ministry of Economy.

He is also a regular speaker, panelist, and economic commentator, specialising in the SME sector.

Business News

Looking for a Remote Job? Here Are the Most In-Demand Skills to Have on Your Resume, According to Employers.

Employers are looking for interpersonal skills like teamwork as well as specific coding skills.

Finance

"We Got Funded!" KSA-Based Lean Technologies' US$67.5 Million Series B Round Marks Silicon Valley-based General Catalyst's Debut Investment in the Kingdom

"By expanding access to financial data and offering seamless payment solutions, we're fostering a more inclusive financial landscape across the region."

Technology

Seamless 2024: Maria Medvedeva, KSA Country Manager, Mastercard

Discover how Mastercard is driving growth and inclusion across the MENA region.

Growth Strategies

ANAX Developments' One-Of-A-Kind Unveiling of its Second Project, Evora Residences, Aims to Create Real Estate History

ANAX Developments has a pipeline of upcoming projects in the next year, planned with a cumulative project value of US$1 billion.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Growing a Business

5 Goal-Setting Guidelines That Drive Success

Consistency leads to constant motivation, and before you know it, you'll reach the pinnacle of success, one goal at a time.