The business owner’s bucket list
A bucket list with a twist – entrepreneurial success.
When people think of bucket lists, they inevitably conjure up adrenalin-racing activities, like jumping out of a plane or taking six months off to backpack around Europe. However, when I approach my work life, I consider the specific outcomes or milestones I hope to achieve – not just in monetary terms but as a business owner and more specifically, as an entrepreneur. This slowly turns into its own bucket list.
Knowing that life as a business owner is not always a smooth career path, it is easier to have key indicators that ensure I’m on the right track. I would argue that these milestones are adaptable to any entrepreneur or business – segmented into five different things to tick off your bucket list.
1. Launch a product or venture
This seems fairly straightforward, but there is a huge difference between navigating a structured path actually launching a product or venture. It is a completely different ball game and it can induce stomach-churning sleepless nights. But when it succeeds, it’s the most satisfying feeling in the world.
Knowing you found a solution to an inferior product, a concept that meets a need, or a whole new service proposal, is probably akin to skydiving – totally terrifying for most, but rewarding for the brave who attempt it.
2. Connect with a premium mentor
They say one shouldn’t meet their heroes for fear of disappointment. However, connecting with someone you idolise can give you the boost of confidence you need to continue through the tougher periods.
I recently received a personal note with encouraging words from a prominent and influential identity, which was humbling and also helped me struggle through the commonly-known entrepreneurial glitch called ‘no one is calling me back this week’.
3. Speak publicly about your business and career
We’ve all heard about people who fear public speaking more than death. But as a business owner, if there’s a crowd who’s willing to listen to how you executed a strategy, created a product or got from point A to B successfully, I recommend taking the opportunity.
I recently spoke at a large conference for entrepreneurs about the development of my own business and now leading opinion site, The Big Smoke. Not only did people get a lot out of it, but it gave me a moment to reflect on what I had achieved.
4. Partner with the right person
We’re all familiar with horror stories of the business partner who left a company high and dry, didn’t perform, or just screwed it over. Aim to partner with someone of your ilk; someone with a similar work ethic and a complementary skills set.
There is nothing like having the support and ability to balance workloads with a business partner who is in it for the same reasons you are.
5. Find the entrepreneurship ‘balance’
‘Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.’ This anonymous quote explains why there are people with great ideas, who never quite started anything, or who leave when times get tough.
Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.
Business owners tend to sacrifice a lot and not just financially – who hasn’t taken out personal loans, mortgaged their house or maxed-out credit cards in that first year of a start-up? However, the holy grail of entrepreneurship is to exist in the way you initially intended.
To be able to govern your business successfully and still be financially rewarded, you have to have the flexibility to manage your life holistically, and not in the traditional nine-till-five time frame. Take a couple of weeks off to travel, or visit another country and check out its potential as an investment. Remember to regularly check emails and occasionally tee up a conference call.
Although the business owner’s bucket list may look a lot different to your traditional bucket list, I promise you’ll still experience all the adrenalin and emotions you would get with a piercing or buying a Harley. The biggest difference is that this bucket list will hopefully lead you to entrepreneurial success, freeing up time and financial constraints and maybe even allowing you to book that skydiving experience!
Alexandra Tselios, Founder & Publisher, The Big Smoke
