No one becomes an entrepreneur hoping to be mediocre. So what makes an entrepreneur, an A Player?
Over the last few years I’ve studied and interviewed hundreds of “A Player” entrepreneurs at the top of their field. “I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1.Given that, you’re well advised to go after the cream of the cream … A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” – Jay Elliott author of Leading Apple With Steve Jobs.
From selling hot dogs to owning a boutique hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, all of the entrepreneurs I talked to had these 5 traits in common:
1. “A Players” take MASSIVE action
Most people don’t take action at all and if they do, they try one or two things, fail and then give up entirely. “A players” are different, they know that if they keep putting in the work, they’ll inevitably become successful, so they keep going.
“I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work” – Thomas Edison
2. “A Players” know their strengths
B and C level entrepreneurs micro-manage and waste time and energy on tasks that are not their core competency. “A Players” know exactly what it is they do that creates value for their business and they free up as much of their time to focus on that activity as possible.
3. “A Players” communicate the right way
A big hurdle for a lot of entrepreneurs is being able to communicate the right way. A lot of the time entrepreneurs steamroll others or are not able to explain things correctly to others which leads to them having to take on even more work themselves. “A Player” entrepreneurs know that they need to balance out their strong authoritative work communication with warm, compassionate caring about their employees, vendors and most importantly customers.
4. “A Players” course correct
When B or C level entrepreneurs run into obstacles, like their marketing not working as well as it once did or a problem with their product, they continue to do the same things. “A Player” entrepreneurs know when they run into problems, it’s time to tweak and test.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” – Albert Einstein
5. “A Players” practice self care
B and C level entrepreneurs let their business consume their lives. “A Player” entrepreneurs take care of themselves physically, mentally and emotionally. “A Players” know that it’s energy, not time, which is our most important resource as an entrepreneur. So they make sure that they take care of themselves every day to prevent burnout and build healthy habits to support the tremendous amount of energy necessary for running your own business.
“A Players” are the entrepreneurs who succeed, not only in creating amazing businesses but amazing lives as well.
““A Players” know that it’s energy, not time, which is our most important resource as an entrepreneur.” – that one gave me an “aha”, a different perspective. That makes me think how to implement that since currently, I value time as a very important resource and I forgot about energy 🙂
Hey Jon, this post made me happier, it’s true. I gotta say my favorite is practicing self-care.
Sometimes you’ll feel alone in your quest for meaning in life, then you read a post like this, and you realize you’re not alone at all. What’s better is you realize you *have* these attributes!
Thank you!