{"id":386,"date":"2021-01-06T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T08:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/?p=386"},"modified":"2022-05-13T15:31:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T15:31:22","slug":"ee-029-got-the-chops-for-execupreneurship","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/podcast\/ee-029-got-the-chops-for-execupreneurship\/","title":{"rendered":"EE 029: Got The Chops For EXECUpreneurship?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There are plenty of&nbsp;<strong>benefits&nbsp;<\/strong>of being an&nbsp;<strong>EXECUpreneur&nbsp;<\/strong>(mashup of executive and entrepreneur).&nbsp; And just like most good things in life it is certainly&nbsp;<strong>no easy task<\/strong>&nbsp;to start your own business. Ask anyone who has been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take Meredith\u2026she just made it over the&nbsp;<strong>startup hurdle<\/strong>.&nbsp; *High five Sister!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No time for&nbsp;<strong>resting&nbsp;<\/strong>on your laurels my friend\u2026now it\u2019s time to ride the&nbsp;<strong>momentum&nbsp;<\/strong>and hit your&nbsp;<strong>stride<\/strong>. Not sure what to do next to keep yourself in the EXECUpreneurial game?&nbsp; You are&nbsp;<strong>not alone<\/strong>&nbsp;in that dilemma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<strong>roadmap&nbsp;<\/strong>for most professional endeavors is&nbsp;<strong>lain out&nbsp;<\/strong>with some&nbsp;<strong>method to the madness<\/strong>.&nbsp; Executives have a&nbsp;<strong>corporate ladder<\/strong>&nbsp;to climb, for the most part. Just ensure your ladder is&nbsp;<strong>not leaning<\/strong>&nbsp;against the&nbsp;<strong>wrong&nbsp;<\/strong>wall.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We entrepreneurs are&nbsp;<strong>not so lucky<\/strong>, on the whole.&nbsp; There is no&nbsp;<strong>viable&nbsp;<\/strong>roadmap for us.&nbsp; That is partially due to the wide&nbsp;<strong>breadth&nbsp;<\/strong>of areas in which we entrepreneurs do our thang.&nbsp; Some go into&nbsp;<strong>service&nbsp;<\/strong>related ventures, others conceptualize a&nbsp;<strong>product&nbsp;<\/strong>and see it through to fruition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact our roadmap is more of a&nbsp;<strong>misguided jaunt<\/strong>&nbsp;with a drunk guy named&nbsp;<strong>McManus&nbsp;<\/strong>shouting at the top of his lungs in a thick&nbsp;<strong>Irish accent<\/strong>&nbsp;as we are just passing the next turn.&nbsp; Added challenge\u2026he can\u2019t tell his right from his left.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Yah, that guy is your co-pilot on this road trip called EXECUpreneurialism.&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After&nbsp;<strong>consulting&nbsp;<\/strong>hundreds of freedom-seeking (more like \u201c<strong>seduced<\/strong>\u201d) aspiring&nbsp;<strong>entrepreneurs&nbsp;<\/strong>over the years, I was inspired to develop the&nbsp;<strong>EXECUpreneur\u2019s EDGE<\/strong>.&nbsp; It was created to home in on the most important&nbsp;<strong>business asset<\/strong>&nbsp;you have\u2026<strong>you<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s focus in on the&nbsp;<strong>entrepreneurs&nbsp;<\/strong>here. Successful entrepreneurs earn a living through their business and enjoy the many&nbsp;<strong>benefits&nbsp;<\/strong>of entrepreneurship.&nbsp; They all have a&nbsp;<strong>myriad&nbsp;<\/strong>of specific&nbsp;<strong>traits<\/strong>. Some more than others.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/EE-029-Got-The-Chops-chops-are-sexy-the-man-bun-is-not.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/EE-029-Got-The-Chops-chops-are-sexy-the-man-bun-is-not.png 940w, https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/EE-029-Got-The-Chops-chops-are-sexy-the-man-bun-is-not-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/EE-029-Got-The-Chops-chops-are-sexy-the-man-bun-is-not-768x644.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are considering taking the&nbsp;<strong>leap&nbsp;<\/strong>and following your EXECUpreneurship dreams then you will want to&nbsp;<strong>understand&nbsp;<\/strong>what these traits are so that you can&nbsp;<strong>instill&nbsp;<\/strong>the same traits in yourself. This will help ensure that you are able to&nbsp;<strong>achieve&nbsp;<\/strong>your dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Successful entrepreneurs have \u201c<strong>chops<\/strong>\u201c. Along with&nbsp;<strong>grit<\/strong>, they:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>have&nbsp;<strong>passion&nbsp;<\/strong>and a lot of it.<\/li><li>are&nbsp;<strong>tenacious<\/strong>.<\/li><li>are able to&nbsp;<strong>manage&nbsp;<\/strong>their&nbsp;<strong>fear&nbsp;<\/strong>of the unknown.<\/li><li>have a grand&nbsp;<strong>vision<\/strong>.<\/li><li><strong>believe&nbsp;<\/strong>in themselves.<\/li><li>are extremely&nbsp;<strong>flexible<\/strong>.<\/li><li>are able to&nbsp;<strong>defy&nbsp;<\/strong>conventional wisdom.<\/li><li>are willing to take&nbsp;<strong>risks&nbsp;<\/strong>in life.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have these&nbsp;<strong>traits<\/strong>, or if you can teach yourself how to develop these traits within yourself, then your&nbsp;<strong>likelihood&nbsp;<\/strong>of becoming a successful entrepreneur&nbsp;<strong>increase<\/strong>. If you need some&nbsp;<strong>mentorship<\/strong>, work with someone who inspires you and doles out a healthy dose of tough love when warranted.&nbsp;We all require that and a&nbsp;<strong>BS flag<\/strong>&nbsp;or two from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to those personality traits mentioned above, all&nbsp;<strong>successful&nbsp;<\/strong>entrepreneurs I\u2019ve known possess a certain&nbsp;<strong>skillset<\/strong>. A complete list of skills to cultivate would be rather impossible&nbsp;<strong>to nail down<\/strong>, for every venture will call for some&nbsp;<strong>unique&nbsp;<\/strong>ones, no doubt. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that light, I\u2019ve listed some skills necessary to&nbsp;<strong>traverse&nbsp;<\/strong>most entrepreneurial&nbsp;<strong>ventures<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Focus<\/em>:&nbsp; Running your own business requires dealing with any&nbsp;<strong>number<\/strong>&nbsp;of factors on any given day. Successful business owners are able to&nbsp;<strong>dial in<\/strong>&nbsp;their focus aimed at&nbsp;<strong>accomplishing<\/strong>&nbsp;specific tasks and goals at specific times.<\/li><li><em>Resilience<\/em>: It is a skill to be able to&nbsp;<strong>weather<\/strong>&nbsp;the various ups and downs of business&nbsp;<strong>without<\/strong>&nbsp;allowing them to&nbsp;<strong>destroy<\/strong>&nbsp;your focus. Truly successful entrepreneurs are able to&nbsp;<strong>continue<\/strong>&nbsp;traveling down the path of success even when the future looks&nbsp;<strong>bleak<\/strong>.<\/li><li><em>Management Skills:<\/em>&nbsp;Running a successful company requires finding, hiring and retaining&nbsp;<strong>the right people<\/strong>.&nbsp; Successful entrepreneurs need to know how to successfully manage their team. Focus on hiring right.&nbsp; My motto\u2026&nbsp;<strong><em>\u201cHire slowly, fire quickly\u201d<\/em><\/strong>. When you&nbsp;<strong>hire right<\/strong>, you rarely if ever have to exercise your firing muscles.<\/li><li><em>Long Term Vision:<\/em>&nbsp;While it is easy to focus on what the company needs to do in the next several days or weeks to be successful, truly&nbsp;<strong>exceptional<\/strong>&nbsp;entrepreneurs (the ones who see real success in their business ventures) are able to&nbsp;<strong>plan years ahead<\/strong>&nbsp;of time while remaining flexible to capitalize on opportunity.&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>Salesmanship<\/em>: Regardless of what type of company you are running, you need to be able to&nbsp;<strong>sell<\/strong>&nbsp;your&nbsp;<strong>vision<\/strong>&nbsp;to others in order to become successful. Entrepreneurs need to have the skills to&nbsp;<strong>close the deal&nbsp;<\/strong>whether they want to be \u201ca salesman\/woman\u201d or not.&nbsp; (Everything you do is sales\u2026parenting included.&nbsp; So&nbsp;<strong>get over<\/strong>&nbsp;your&nbsp;<strong>stigma<\/strong>&nbsp;of \u201csales\u201d and embrace the process.)<\/li><li><em>Self-reliance:&nbsp;<\/em>This is one of the most&nbsp;<strong>important<\/strong>&nbsp;skills any entrepreneur can possess. It is vital for a business owner to&nbsp;<strong>trust<\/strong>&nbsp;that they can&nbsp;<strong>depend<\/strong>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<strong>themselves<\/strong>. Working on you is not optional.<\/li><li><em>Self-reflection<\/em>: The ability to&nbsp;<strong>pause, reflect and learn<\/strong>&nbsp;is a very valuable skill for the business owner. Entrepreneurs must be able to learn from their mistakes and reflect upon what they have learned in life.<\/li><li><em>Learning<\/em>: The skill of&nbsp;<strong>earning knowledge<\/strong>&nbsp;is one that every successful business owner has. It is also a skill that they&nbsp;<strong>never stop developing<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To be successful in your entrepreneurial endeavors you have to be able to&nbsp;<strong>learn<\/strong>&nbsp;from others. The best way to learn the skills of a successful business owner is to&nbsp;<strong>study<\/strong>&nbsp;the skills of successful entrepreneurs and then put what you learn into action to&nbsp;<strong>grow<\/strong>&nbsp;those skills in yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Subscribe<\/strong>&nbsp;to my&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/directory.libsyn.com\/shows\/view\/id\/execupreneursedge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">podcast<\/a>&nbsp;as a starting point for&nbsp;<strong>honing<\/strong>&nbsp;your EXECUpreneurial&nbsp;<strong>skills<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are plenty of&nbsp;benefits&nbsp;of being an&nbsp;EXECUpreneur&nbsp;(mashup of executive and entrepreneur).&nbsp; And just like most good things in life it is certainly&nbsp;no easy task&nbsp;to start your own business. Ask anyone who has been there. Take Meredith\u2026she just made it over the&nbsp;startup hurdle.&nbsp; *High five Sister! No time for&nbsp;resting&nbsp;on your laurels my friend\u2026now it\u2019s time to ride&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":384,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[132],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsamgraber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}