“If you look around you, everything that is man-made has been created by people that are no different to you and me”, says Lynton Peters, CEO of OneCart. “I truly do believe that everyone has the potential to be an entrepreneur.
However to be an entrepreneur you have to be willing to act upon your potential, and embrace uncertainty and the challenges entrepreneurship brings. Perhaps the biggest aspect holding people back is fear – fear about failure, or fear of what people may think if we fail, and so a lot of people won’t even try.
What motivated me to start is the simple realisation that life is short – we must simply aim to do what we can in the time that we have.”
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A lot of people, like myself, start in the corporate space and then want to branch out. I was still consulting for a number of corporate companies three times a week when I started OneCart, and so the hardest thing to do was to find a balance. I ended up working for 20 hours a day on most days.
When I fully immersed myself into my new company, I needed to remain disciplined – it required a lot of sacrifice and very often imbalance, but I was passionate because I was doing what I wanted to and what I believed in – looking at our future now, it was worth it.
“Surrounding yourself with good people and strong support system is possibly the most crucial part of ensuring you and your business stays on top. When I was starting out, I was working long hours and literally burning out – I couldn’t sustain myself and it became risky,” says Peters.
Here are three things to assist you in progressing into a successful entrepreneur and ensuring longevity for your business:
- Discipline, tenacity and persistence
- A shared vision
- Communication and respect.
Finding the right business partner
It took 7 months of discussions before we decided that Ariel Navarro, COO of OneCart, should get fully involved in OneCart, and it was the right decision. He was able to share my vision, be disciplined, persist and help execute the operation.
“A lot of entrepreneurs want to hold onto their business, however depending on the scale and pace at which you want to execute your vision, it is sometimes better to share the load.”
Navarro is a firm believer in discipline and having a structured day to day routine, mostly because it sets him up for a successful day ahead:
“Being conscious about what your body is telling you is key to ensuring that you are both mentally and physically fit. Being on top of your physical game doesn’t necessarily mean extensive training at the gym, it means having a well-rested body that functions optimally, in order to avoid fatigue and burnout,” says Navarro.
Our brains are constantly bombarded with information overload and damaging blue light from multiple screens – an artificial recipe for disaster. We need to look after our bodies and minds in the same way we want to nurture our growing business – you are the ambassador for your brand, and you need to ensure it gets the best version of you.
“Having been involved in several businesses over the years, you develops “business-survival” techniques that are very much internal, within yourself,” says Navarro. You’re never really prepared for the emotional roller-coaster of entrepreneurship however, those who act fast and ask questions later, learn very quickly what it takes emotionally, mentally and physically to realise their dream. Some have what it takes and others don’t.
Executing the idea without the right team, is likely to fail. Having the right team without strong leadership, vision and tenacity, will end the master plan before it ever begins.”
The question is: do you have what it takes, and what are you going to do about it?
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