Mistakes most Start-up Entrepreneur does

I have started my career as an Assistant Company Secretary and worked for few years with different organisation after I quit the job in pursuit of my personal goals. I started as a free lancing consultant and in total 10 years of experience i observed one basic difference between working with Start Ups and Promoters of the Bigger successful Companies. Though different organisation poses different challenges, certain stand out quality of a successful people be at any level are
Though any work arriving on priority or challenging my ability was taken care of with utmost care and professionalism, which obviously helped in gaining a reputation. It was other small task which has no direct recognition and work that might not have significance influence on productivity was ignored. Slowly but surely, the unimportant work started piling up and i realized that the unimportant work which had no significance individually has started becoming a bigger burden. 

While working as a start up consultant and working with bigger organisations, I realized that even though every level is different, there are few qualities promoters of successful companies have which apparently missing in many founders of start ups and – which is what makes them stand out from the crowd. I have tried to list down some of them here:

# Freedom comes with Responsibility

With Business a founder gets the flexibility and freedom. no reporting to anyone, not getting instruction on work, how to do it are the freedom an entrepreneur gets, which most of the employees will pray for during his lifetime with any organisation. With business you get the freedom to work on your plans instead of someone's instruction. However, as quoted by Elbert Hubbard, an American Philosopher 'Responsibility is the price of Freedom'.  So along with Freedom it brings responsibility to deliver the promises and keeping commitment even while working with flexibility. Keeping commintment brings trust which is key for growth of any organisation.
  

# They know what to do today

Entrepreneurs don’t start their day randomly. They know what has to be done that day. They have short-term plans and long-term goals which they go after with a regimen, and dedication. Most of the entrepreneurs keep a journal, maintain a to-do list, and retrospect on what they did the previous week.

Plan next day before retiring to sleep so that you have clarity on what I have to do when I wake up.  It also motivates me to wake up on time and begin work early.

# Prioritize work

Only making a to-do list is not sufficient; entrepreneurs know what-not-to-do on a particular day, as well.

There are two types of work – urgent and important. Urgent work demands your immediate attention but is not always important. For example – calling the customer care department of your telecom operator for overcharging you last month is not so urgent.  Entrepreneurs finish important things first and delegate urgent work to others. They know the 80/20 rule – 80 per cent of productivity comes from 20 percent work, and they are smart enough to spot which are those critical tasks.

# Multi-tasking

Entrepreneurs are usually experts in one particular area, but they have to be also good in many other areas. The CEO of a startup has to be a Chief Everything Officer! You have to be like a good programmer who does not hesitate to perform any number of tasks – testing, design, marketing, sales, customer support, hiring, purchasing, accounts and even cleaning chairs. Of course, as the organization grows, entrepreneurs hire experts for each of the areas but they do know how to multi-task when needed.

# Believe in your work

Entrepreneurs don’t look for shortcuts to success. They love what they do and put their 100 percent into their work. They don’t pray to God to help them win a lottery or look to a rich uncle to leave them a fortune in their wills.

# Read, Read, Read

I have not met any entrepreneur till date who does not read. Please let me know if you find anyone.

They don’t read for fun, they read to learn; to get a different perspective of life. They read biographies, self-help, entrepreneurship, spirituality/mythology, human psychology and lots of relevant blogs. They read a lot of magazines, but only scan through the daily newspaper.

# Sleep well

No one should compromise their sleep. It is not a secret that you need good a night’s sleep to keep yourself healthy. Entrepreneurs love to tell stories about how they burned the midnight oil in the early days of their startup, but eventually everyone needs to develop a proper sleeping schedule as well. As the say – A healthy mind lives in a healthy body.