Driving Success at the Bottom Line and Finish Line
Alexandre Douzet is co-founder and COO of TheLadders, the online job-matching service for career-driven professionals. Alex spoke before hundreds of Digital executives, senior marketers, entrepreneurs, web strategists, bloggers, and investors at the Third Annual Digital East Conference on October 2 in Northern Virginia. The following are his Rules for Successful Entrepreneurship. Alex recently competed in his first Ironman, and weaves that experience into his discussion of Entrepreneurship.
Rules for Successful Entrepreneurship:
- Fear: The odds are against you; most start-ups will fail. Passion will prevail. Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. If you are passionate about your endeavor, you are more likely to succeed.
- Dream: Dreams become goals; goals become projects. If you don’t have a vision and dream first, you’re plans are less likely to succeed.
- Commit: Commit before you plan. Let go of your day job [as soon as possible]. A higher level of devotion is necessary to succeed.
- Resilience: Decide to finish what you start. Stick with it. Get up again…and again. Expect that things will go wrong; but continue on in the face of adversity.
- Aim High: Aim low, land low. Aiming high will not guarantee that you will get there, but it increases the likelihood of success.
- Hours: Expect to put in the time to succeed. If you want to do it in 40 hours per week, being an entrepreneur may not be for you.
- Leadership: The vision, idea is yours [at least at first] and no one else’s. Only you can convince others to join your effort, and only your vision and leadership will attract top talent to your cause. Colin Powell quote: “Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”
- Either/Or vs AND: The Either/Or paradigm involves the mindset of “constraints” – time, funding, workforce, etc. How do you manage to find 20 additional hours per week to train for the Ironman when you are a husband, father, business executive? Catch the video for the rest of the story.
In the end, the Ironman, as Entrepreneurship, is more about “What Am I Made Of” than anything else. After completing his first Ironman competition, Alex says “I can do anything.” Going from “Either/Or” to “AND” involves a mind-shift. In closing, Alex says, “Now I am a husband, father, business executive…AND Ironman.”
How do Alex’ remarks relate your experiences as a current or aspiring Entrepreneur?
