Guy Kawasaki’s Lessons on How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

One of my favorite entrepreneurial thought leaders, Guy Kawasaki, provides yet another extremely insightful article.  In a guest posting for Sun Microsystems, he spells out his 5 lessons of becoming a successful entrepreneur, which I’ve summarized here:

1. “Focus on cash flow”: Guy explains how P&L profitability is important, but that’s not specifically what pays the bills.  Cash on hand is what’s key. With cash you literally pay your employees, vendors, and all other overhead. Cash is king.

2. “Make a little progress everyday”: Guy is suggesting the value of small steps…it’s no longer about major marketing campaigns.  Instead, his focus has turned more toward closing another sale, focusing on a better product and even ensuring a website is just a little more user friendly.  These baby steps are essentially what’ll bring the big picture to life.

3. “Try stuff”: Guy Kawasaki explains that luck happens only to those who try new things – not those who wait for things to happen.  Some of us sit back and pass up opportunities only to see someone else take it and run. You became an entrepreneur in part because it’s adventurous, so don’t forget to go out on a limb and experiment every once in a while.

4. “Ignore schmexperts”: Sometimes our gut is screaming so loud that we can’t hear anything else.  When it does, listen to it and not those so called experts.  They’ll always say “I told you so” whether you succeed or fail. Your gut instinct is usually more reliable!

5. “Never ask anyone to something that you wouldn’t do”: Don’t ask your client, employee, or vendor to do something that you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself.  This includes the small stuff—if you aren’t willing to do it yourself when it makes sense, you won’t have the respect of those you lead.  Sometimes we forget that we are dealing with people with busy and active lives… treat everyone as equally as possible.

I’ve given a summary, but go get it from the horse’s mouth!

Read Guy’s original post here: Lessons of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

Here are some related blog posts about this topic:

10 Myths of Entrepreneurship

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur

Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

Four Steps to Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

Tags: entrepreneurship, guy kawasaki, marketing, small business, venture capital