{"id":2888,"date":"2020-11-27T05:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?p=2888"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:31:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:31:39","slug":"start-up-lessons-successful-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/start-up-lessons-successful-founders\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Start-up Lessons from Successful Founders (and How to Apply Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture yourself in 20 years\u2019 time. Your start-up is now a long-established business. There were problems along the way, but you solved them and got your business stable \u2013 flourishing, even.<\/p>\n

One day, a wild-haired time-traveler arrives in your executive suite and offers you the chance to travel back to today. Back to a moment when your small business could go either way. What would your Future You tell your Today You?<\/p>\n

Of course, you don\u2019t know the answer yet. The only way to find it is to live it. Or is it?<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing can really prepare you for the real-life hurdles of owning a business,\u201d says Kimberly Eberl<\/a><\/u>, founder and CEO of Motion PR. But Eberl suggests an alternative way to get the insight you need before it\u2019s too late: \u201cFind a solid mentor to coach you, introduce you to people, and bounce ideas off of.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good business advice. A mentor can be your Future You. The more expertise, enthusiasm, and frankness they have, the better.<\/p>\n

But while you search for a mentor with the chemistry to be your personal guru, there are lots of off-the-shelf mentorships available from the big-name founders and entrepreneurs who have already been there. Experts like Eberl, whose success story began with a major setback: getting fired<\/a><\/u> from a PR agency.<\/p>\n

The Rocky Road to Start-Up Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cInstead of seeing my firing as a failure, I realized it was an opportunity to strike on my own,\u201d says Eberl<\/a><\/u>. \u201cWith seven years of agency work behind me, I could clearly identify what I didn\u2019t like about agencies\u2026 I took great measures to ensure my focus was always imaginative and client-centric.\u201d Clients dug Eberl\u2019s approach. Motion PR made $100k in its first year. By 2019, annual revenue was in the millions.<\/p>\n

Absorbing advice from successful founders like Eberl will help you model your business durably for the long-haul. You need to make your model your own, even if your starting point is Steve Jobs. The Apple founder, by the way, modeled his business on \u2013 um \u2013 The Beatles<\/a><\/u>? \u201cThey balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts,\u201d said Jobs. His advice? \u201cGreat things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning to Learn<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There will never be a moment in your career when learning from the masters is inappropriate. But, while starting your start-up, it is essential to develop healthy patterns and habits. \u201cSuccess doesn\u2019t come from what you do occasionally,\u201d says B-School founder Marie Forleo<\/a><\/u>. \u201cIt comes from what you do consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning to learn every day is the best way to stay vital. And while you\u2019ll never run out of sources of learning, it can get pretty noisy with all the different wise old entrepreneurs out there. We\u2019ve gathered 20 bite-size lessons from start-up founders to help you find what you need today. Explore this collection of annotated quotes so you can take the lessons learned<\/a><\/u> by the most successful CEOs and make them your own, even as you develop the unique wisdom your Future You will share.<\/p>\n

\"20<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
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    Picture yourself in 20 years\u2019 time. Your start-up is now a long-established business. There were problems along the way, but …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[614,610],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infographics","category-marketing-growth"],"yoast_head":"\n20 Start-up Lessons from Successful Founders (and How to Apply Them) - Headway Capital Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Need inspiration for your small business? 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