The 3 Power Words All Entrepreneurs Need to Memorize You'll need to remember these to handle tough situations on the journey to success.
By Michael Fenech Edited by Russell Sicklick
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You've set your goals, you have your vision and it's time to take action. Now what? Well, it's great that you've taken the first step — all great achievements start with this.
But, we need to arm ourselves with these three important words. They will act as a shield to protect us from the roller-coaster ride we have embarked on.
We need to memorize the following three words:
Improvise, adapt and overcome.
These three words have been a lifesaver for me in certain situations and I'm excited to break them down for you.
Improvise
During the entrepreneurial journey, there are times when you get rattled, things go completely wrong and you need to sort stuff out fast. So you need to adopt an attitude of improvisation. Improvising is a key part of the entrepreneurial arsenal that we need. Why? Because at times we have to find solutions or make things work in any way we can on the fly.
Some examples of needing to improvise are:
- Key functionality in your product demonstration isn't working and you have 20 minutes before your presentation starts.
- The payment system isn't working on your sales funnel and you're getting messages saying people can't pay.
With the above examples, you need to manufacture a workaround in any way possible. Trust me when I say, you will need to improvise 100 percent throughout your entrepreneurial journey.
An example of how I needed to improvise was when I had a huge meeting with an investor. Our app, which we were pitching, had a bug that would directly affect our demonstration. So we desperately tried to fix the issue before the meeting but unfortunately, we couldn't. So my solution was to create a series of screenshots in our presentation and talk through our technology.
We had a great meeting. We needed to improvise and we pivoted to a workaround that got the job done. So if you're stuck, there is always a way to improvise and keep on moving forward.
Related: How to Improvise When Your Presentation Does Not Work
Adapt
When you think about a business or service we launch, we always need to consider the results we see. This is valuable data that can help shape the next iteration of our product or service. The key thing here is that when we get feedback, we must always adapt in a way that will ensure better results in the future.
As an entrepreneur, we always need to adapt and understand our market so we can maximize our success. I guarantee that if you look back at your business and compare it from when you first started to now, you will hardly recognize it. Because, over the years, you've adapted it so many times that it's now much different.
Remember this saying, your customers are your best engineers. This means that their feedback or the results you get force you to adapt and change your model to get better results in the future.
In my experience, we have adapted many times. Adapting is exciting, especially if you're listening to your customers. When you take on board feedback to adapt, the result is a better user experience for your customers. If you get it right, it means you're providing a better solution.
One time when we were adapting to feedback, it actually transformed our business. So don't be afraid to hear feedback because it may change the trajectory of your growth.
Related: Why You Need to Learn to Adapt
Overcome
If you're reading this article, you know that being an entrepreneur is like jumping off a cliff and needing to sew a parachute on the way down. You will need to overcome so much on your journey, so get ready.
Overcoming is the last piece of the puzzle. If you don't already know this, you are going to come up against obstacles, challenges, competitors, issues, self-doubt and so much more. And as an entrepreneur, you will need to overcome these things to survive, so you can live to fight another day.
I remember the time when I had to dig deep and overcome a particular challenge when we were closing our Series A round. We were just about ready to close the round. We had all our subscriptions taken up. But at the very last minute, a big investor pulled out and we had to keep going. This was tough, but we needed to hustle amongst our network to get in front of more investors. I'm happy to say we overcame the challenge and we closed a very successful investment round.
Related: 5 Ways to Overcome Self-Doubt as an Entrepreneur
In conclusion, these are the three power words you need to memorize as an entrepreneur. Improvise, adapt and overcome. What I've found is that saying these three words out loud during difficult times in your journey gives you the energy and spark to overcome all sorts of challenges.
So, my last words of advice. When you come up against some difficult times during your entrepreneurial journey, you need to...
Improvise, adapt and overcome.
You've got this. Now go for it!
