Entrepreneurial Thoughts for 2023

M. Todd Manuel
FWIS Contributing Writer

Owning and running a business is not for the faint at heart. However, no matter the industry or trade, there is always a challenge and hurdle all business owners must take to experience success at the next level. As an entrepreneur, I have experienced this firsthand and would like to share four thoughts that might help us in the new year.

Be Uncomfortable with Not Knowing

Becoming comfortable with not knowing and accepting that results are often unpredictable, uncontrollable, and highly circumstantial is hard for individuals and business people. Humans are satisfied when we can predict and control our environments and are less conformable navigating uncharted territories that we cannot. Business owners work to meet human needs in a way that creates value for the consumer. Entrepreneurs may build homes or provide products or services, but their activities are deeply nested in alleviating uncertainty and providing a preferred consumer experience for the cost. Therefore, embracing uncertainty and becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is a skill that every successful business person learns at a high price; it's what they must do to create value.

See Opportunities in Every Challenge

For the entrepreneur, the ending point is just the beginning. The saying goes, 'everyone would do it if it were easy.' Learning to persevere through adversity is not only what the business owner needs to reach success but also keep it. No other situation illustrates this point more than the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite our best developments in healthcare and disease prevention techniques, what seemed to be a highly predictable and stable social experience for our society quickly turned into unpredictable outcomes. That event has taught us that uncertain environments create unforeseen needs and, therefore, great opportunities. While many companies closed, others expanded operations. Many individuals, including myself, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to grow and challenge themselves. Learning to embrace a challenge is imperative as we move to new heights.

Recognize Your Imperfections

In every attempt to interpret life, we are subject to our animal nature, which wants to simplify and make decisions in a way that keeps us alive. Our instinctual actions tell us to either fight or take flight in our choices with an amount of certainty that makes us comfortable. Unfortunately, this logic creates internal conflict with our brain's ability to reason and consider all the facts before and after a decision is made. And although we may make the best decisions based on our interpretation of something, we need a better outcome because our perspective and approach to a problem could be flawed. You are always taking a risk, even with your best efforts to limit it. We all make mistakes, and that is because we are human.

See Flaws and Failures Differently

Flawed and failure are both words that have a horrible stigma. Historically, we have used these words to describe circumstances, choices, or mental frameworks that result in adverse outcomes. We often judge an action by its result, and based on the development of a decision; we deem that action as either wrong or right. This is like the infamous red or blue pill dilemma; you must choose one decision or the next, and both choices have different outcomes. Our goal is to take the pill that creates the most success. However, you will not know the outcome until one pill is taken. You could find out that while one decision's result is terrible, the other could be just as bad or even worse. The truth is that the value is not in the effect but in the overall experience of finding out what each outcome brings. When you experience failure, realize that it is the price you pay to reach success, not a reason to quit. When you can't shake a bad habit, realize that it is what you must fight against to win.

I wish many blessings to you in your business endeavors in the new year. As life continues, we learn and experience new opportunities to grow within ourselves. However, actual growth must start within oneself before it is expressed outside. Staying strong, enduring rough times, and learning from our experiences will keep us on the pathway to success.