10 Habits of Highly Successful Business Owners

There are common threads sewn among the most successful entrepreneurs. These threads are what keep them strong, growing and eager to get back to running their business the ever day. Passion, drive, and purpose are among these threads. There are also habits all of these highly successful entrepreneurs have in common.

Some measure success by numbers they can achieve and others by the happiness they bring to their clients. Only you can choose the definition of (your) success.

You can easily set yourself up to be amidst the elite if you follow these 10 habits of highly successful business owners. You’re sure to stand out from the rest, build a stronger business and rise to any challenges that come your way if you can master these habits.

These are the 10 habits of highly successful business owners:

1 Prepare the night before. It seems simple enough, but it’s routinely overlooked. Mostly because at the end of the day, the last thing we want to do is start a project of getting belongings, documents, and even lunches ready for the next day. When you prepare the night before you’ll be able to start your day off on the right foot instead of rushing around frantically trying to accomplish a mile long list of things to do.

Highly successful people always gather up necessary items such as documents, to-do lists, lunches and plan out the next day the night before. Get into the habit of preparing the night before instead of the morning of, and you’ll start to see less stress in your life. Less stress means you’re able to focus more on the important things about your business.

2 Hit the ground running. Get ready, get set, go! Start your day with exercise, and you’ll see an increase in blood flow to the brain making you more alert and able to retain more information. If you start your day with limited activity, your brain remains in a less active mode, and you’ll be less likely to make quick decisions, less likely to retain tons of info and more likely to make hasty costly decisions for your business.

3 Attitude is everything. It’s a must that you put yourself in a good mood before you walk out the door and head into work. It’s like the old saying goes; think positive and positive things are going to happen, think negative and you’ll attract negative all around you. If you want good things to happen to you, you have to start thinking of positive things before you even leave the house in the morning. Highly successful entrepreneurs know they key to positive outcomes is to go into every situation with a phenomenal attitude.

You set the tone for those that will be around you as well. When they see you are on top of the world, they want to be more like you too.

How awesome would that be if you went to work every day and your employees or clients were always in a great mood? It starts with you! Start the day with a glass half full attitude. A positive pep talk to yourself and others, combined with a killer smile and you’ll be attracting positive vibes all day long!

4 Start your brain’s engines. We discussed how exercise could enhance blood flow to the brain. Exercise will get you in a great state of mind to start the day. Don’t forget you have to prime that brain to be ready to accept all the info you’re going to be throwing at it all day long. Highly successful business people routinely start the day with either reading or watching something that will be beneficial to their brains and business. Learn something new first thing in the morning, after exercise, and it’s more likely to stick with you all day long.

Check out brain games, writing challenges, puzzles, blogs, newspaper articles, books, webinars or anything you can get your hands on that will allow you to get your brain pumping first thing in the morning.

5 Plan your day with purpose. (set realistic goals) You can’t put a mile long to-do list together and expect to get it all done in one day. Prioritize your to-do list from 1 to 10 with #1 being the thing you need to accomplish the quickest or the task that needs to be done first because it is something that is going to result in income or profits.

Putting together a schedule for yourself will keep you on track. Put tasks down in writing by creating a checklist or on a calendar. When you visually see what needs to be done, you’re more likely to want to accomplish these things, so you check them off your list. When you plan out your day, set a specific amount of time aside for each task. Set the alarm so you don’t lose track of time. Maybe you allow 20 minutes for emails or returning phone calls. Perhaps you set aside 30 minutes for a spontaneous team meeting. This will boost morale or for each task that needs attention.

6 Pick one big project to work on. There are going to be tons of projects that need to be done; creating graphics for marketing ads, creating content to give clients (e-books, checklists, how-to videos) and so much more. You need to pick one big project to tackle at a time. When you try to do all of those projects at once, it takes you twice as long to complete them. You get side tracked easily, and sometimes you forget which one was most important. You also may forget which task needed to be completed first.

7 Early to bed, early to rise; makes a person healthy wealthy and wise. This one is a classic! It’s also the number #1 habit highly successful entrepreneurs focus on. You’ll be bombarded with all sorts of things that will keep you from getting to bed early; your favorite late night t.v. show, social media or even reading that page-turner of a novel. None of these things help you to get to bed early or have a great impact on your success. These things tend to sidetrack you from your goals.

If you want to be raring to go first thing in the morning, then get to bed earlier so you can be revived and ready to take on the world when dawn breaks! (Don’t worry there will be time to have some fun, check out #8)

8 Be creative. Becoming a great business owner doesn’t mean you need to be stuffy, boring and act like a bump on a log. You do need to let loose, have some fun and get creative on a regular basis. The more you tap into your creative side of your brain the better you’ll be at problem solving, idea generation and be more open minded to input from others (a crucial piece of the success puzzle).

Take a painting, photography, woodworking or metalsmithing class. Find a Great Escape Room where you are put in a real life-like game. The game combines a fun scavenger hunt with puzzles and problem-solving tactics. You will race against the clock to escape and “save your life.” These team building reality like games are an awesome way to get your brain thinking outside the box.

“A study by Adobe and Forrester Consulting found that 82 percent of companies believe there is a strong connection between creativity and business results. In fact, companies that actively foster creative thinking outperform their rivals in revenue growth, market share, and competitive leadership, according to the report.”

9 Take a break, slow down. You’re going to get burned out very quickly. You need to set aside time to rest, relax and clear your mind. When you solely focus on working 24/7, you actually get sick easier and overwhelmed quicker. Everyday tasks seem to be tougher to accomplish. Your body needs time to think of things other than business. You need to connect with people that are not involved with your business. The purpose is to foster friendships. Talk about things other than business and let your brain recharge.

Maintaining friendships, checking out the world around you and taking time to read that novel. We mentioned above are a necessity. You have to give your brain and body time to rejuvenate. Schedule time during the day to step away. Even for 20 minutes, so you don’t get tunnel vision. Prevent yourself from getting overwhelmed. So you don’t get sick of what you are doing. ( You know, running that business you so desperately wanted to start. So you could be your own boss or help other people).

10 Get out of your comfort zone. Get out there and meet and talk to people you’ve never met before. You will be surprised by the input these outside sources provide. Try new experiences; foods, destinations and hobbies. These things can help you become more open-minded, stronger at communication skills and better at running your business. The more you can experience in the world the more diverse you become. Diversity leads to new skills. New skills lead to opportunities to connect with a wider range of clients. As well as taking that new knowledge and applying it to your day-to-day operations.

If you just stay local, don’t challenge yourself, avoid new people, places, and experiences. You will inevitably become stale, boring and develop poor business tunnel vision. This means you’ll be less likely to be open to change, growth, and success.

This is it. These are the habits of highly successful business people. People who follow these habits and achieve the most success are solopreneurs, small business owners, and billionaire business owners.

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You too can be part of the elite group of entrepreneurs. They achieve their dreams every day simply by changing just a few things. None of these things cost tons of money or require expensive pieces of equipment… Heck you don’t even have to hire a life coach that could cost you thousands of dollars.

It’s all a mindset, a highly effective strategy and a game-changing way of life. Adopt these habits and start to see a turnaround in your business and your everyday life!