First, Who is a Serial Entrepreneur? – How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Serial entrepreneurs are business owners who start several businesses.
These businesses might be in the very same market category or ranging across various industries.
A serial entrepreneur may start a business, hand over management of the business to someone else, and then start another.
Likewise, the entrepreneur may decide to sell an existing profitable business and channel the resources to another business.
Overall, serial entrepreneurs are experienced business owners with the business acumen to start and run several businesses.
They can find new ways of solving problems that give rise to new business.
Characteristics of Serial Entrepreneurs
Serial entrepreneurs can effectively and consistently establish multiple or series of businesses.
However, this does not happen by sheer luck or magic.
Instead, they have different mindsets and attitudes towards business that most business owners/entrepreneurs don’t have.
Firstly, serial entrepreneurs understand when there’s a problem with demand in the marketplace.
Hence, they consistently rise to the occasion to create solutions to satisfy the demand.
Thereby leading them to establish profitable businesses that meet the specific needs of the consumer market.
Beyond that, here are some of the traits of highly successful and effective serial entrepreneurs. They include;
- Good time management
- Ability to Set S.M.A.R.T and concrete goals
- Discipline
- Unshakable positivism
- Creativity and Innovation
- Ability to lead effectively…among other things.
Overall, these are some of the traits and qualities that make effective serial entrepreneurs stand out.
Fortunately, you can always learn to become a serial entrepreneur.
Let’s discover how.
Tips on How to Become a Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Similarly, serial entrepreneurship is all the more demanding and challenging.
Generally, running a successful business is not an easy task.
It entails hard work, well-founded relationships, and also the strength to bounce back through all hurdles and adversity along your way.
You are likely to run into different types of challenges you need to measure up to, and pressure might often weigh you down.
However, if you’re able to make it to the end, the rewards are numerous.
Therefore, as you prepare to become a serial entrepreneur, keep in mind that it’s not going to be a garden full of roses for you.
Instead, it will be filled with many twists and turns.
However, with resilience, dedication, and commitment to this entrepreneurial journey, you’ll be successful in the end.
Having said that, below are some tips on how to become an effective serial entrepreneur.
1. Gather Knowledge on Businesses
Being a serial entrepreneur involves establishing several successful businesses, which would be impossible if you lack knowledge of how various business industries operate.
Therefore, an essential part of being a serial entrepreneur is to gather relevant knowledge on various businesses.
This is not about being “ä jack of all trades.”
Instead, it is about identifying the problems in various industries and how you can step in to solve the problem by establishing a business in that industry.
Consequently, leading you on the path to being an effective serial entrepreneur.
However, understand that this might not be easy, and your first experience may probably not be the best or successful.
Therefore, you will need to put more effort, time, commitment, and resilience into the business than most regular entrepreneurs.
Nevertheless, before you start and manage multiple businesses, it is advisable to start with one business you will manage.
Likewise, dedicate your time to that business before deciding on having more over time.
2. Believe in Yourself
This is all about having the right mindset on your entrepreneurial journey.
Having doubts can greatly ruin your chances of achieving success and moving forward in your business.
It’s okay to have doubts sometimes. However, do not allow those moments to bring you down in your business.
Instead, understand that not all your plans will fall in place or yield the expected results.
Things will always go wrong once in a while, and you will also make certain mistakes.
However, this shouldn’t stop you from taking further steps towards achieving your goals.
So, see those mistakes and challenges as a learning process on this interesting journey.
Take your time to review your mistakes;
What can you learn from them?
What can you do better moving forward?
How can you turn your situation around by learning from the setbacks you’ve encountered.
Until you have this entrepreneurial mindset, only then will you stand a greater chance of becoming a serial entrepreneur effectively.
3. Start Small
Starting on a small scale is also a wise thing to do when venturing into entrepreneurship.
Many start-up business owners fall into the trap of having massive plans, kicking off with big business operations, and wanting everything to be perfect from the onset.
While these things are good to have, it’s best to start small and implement them along the way as the business grows.
Many big businesses you see and admire today started small.
For instance, Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage.
Therefore, start by researching, designing launch plans, and other important elements to start.
Also, have other plans to expand if profits allow.
This is the best step for you, especially as a start-up entrepreneur, as you won’t necessarily need to secure massive capital or financing from financial institutions.
Even more, starting small makes things more manageable and reduces your debts.
This way, as the business grows and records massive profits, you can then expand and build up other businesses.
Thereby helping you become a serial entrepreneur effectively.
4. Identify and Understand your Target Market
It’s always best to identify and understand your target market before starting a business.
Otherwise, how do you design a product or service for a market that you know nothing about or aren’t sure if they’ll like what you have to offer?
This is why you need to identify your target market before you start.
You also need to understand their buying behaviors.
This will help you design products and marketing plans that will suit the market.
Thereby helping you start a business and grow to become a serial entrepreneur effectively.
5. Focus on the Important Things
At the initial stage of a business, many startup entrepreneurs waste time on “unimportant stuff.”
They waste precious time on things, like logo designs etc.
These things are important but not as important as managing your business and ensuring that it’s making sales/profit.
Hence, to ensure your startup is successful, focus your time on spending the most time on things that will generate the most revenue.
Furthermore, you can outsource other aspects of the business.
This is one secret serial entrepreneurs use to scale and run successful businesses effectively.
6. Embrace Changes
Innovation has been a major secret for success in the business world and still is.
However, only entrepreneurs who keep an open mind to changes truly reap the benefits of this age-long secret to success.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs who are too scared to embrace changes are left behind.
Therefore, as you start your business, always keep an open mind to the possibilities in your business.
Constantly think of new ways to improve or expand your business.
Even more, keep an open mind to technological changes in your industry and be willing to take advantage of them because sometimes changes happen to make things better.
And If they aren’t, go around it to make adjustments to suit your business.
Overall, successful entrepreneurs understand this. They stay abreast of changes in their industry and how they can help them run their businesses effectively.
7. Learn to Delegate in your Business
This is one thing you must be comfortable with doing if you want to be a serial entrepreneur effectively.
“Letting go of control and stepping aside.”
Not many so-called entrepreneurs can do this, which makes serial entrepreneurs stand out from other entrepreneurs.
The ability to know when to allow someone else to take control.
Regardless of how much you love and want to commit to your business, you cannot do everything all by yourself.
Therefore learn to delegate.
As opposed to what many business owners think, delegation isn’t about losing control of your business.
Instead, it’s a smart way of getting help in your business so that you can run it effectively.
Delegation can afford you the chance to relax on the job, which will, in turn, help you remain fresh mentally to plan new business ventures.
Hence, assign tasks to your employees.
Better still, outsource tasks to designers, curators, virtual assistants, and other professionals who can get the task done faster and better.
This would allow you to have some free time that you can dedicate to growing, planning, and networking your business.
It might be quite hard to trust someone else with your business activities.
However, it’s the best thing to do if you want to have more time to run your business effectively.
8. Do not be Scared of Failure
The fear of failure and the disappointment/rejection that comes with it is the reason behind many dead dreams and aspirations.
Many people aspire to accomplish great things but are crippled by the fear of failure.
As much as you’ll like to avoid failure, it is inevitable.
More so, the fear of failure makes you unwilling to leave your comfort zone and take calculated risks.
You can only know what to do and what you shouldn’t when you make a mistake or fail.
Therefore, when you fail, it is an opportunity for you to learn from it.
Overall, having the mindset of avoiding failure will only keep you away from your entrepreneurial dreams.
On the other hand, keeping an open mind to failure and mistakes helps you learn.
As a result, equipping you with the experience and knowledge you need for success in your business.
Although the thought of being a person who owns several businesses sounds inviting, studies alongside business performance over time shows there are advantages and disadvantages to being a serial entrepreneur effectively.
Therefore, entrepreneurs need to look at the benefits and disadvantages below before concluding to go into a new venture or expanding their already existing business.
Let’s look at the advantages first…
Advantages – How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Many benefits come with being a serial entrepreneur.
You have the advantage of functioning in a wider market alongside the increased profitability of different business ventures.
Not everybody or all entrepreneurs can become serial entrepreneurs.
However, there are many advantages if you become one.
1. Financial Success
This is one of the first benefits of a serial entrepreneur.
When you have more than one business, it simply means there will be more income flow, revenue, and more earnings.
Running multiple businesses simultaneously isn’t easy.
However, when you do so diligently and effectively, the rewards of serial entrepreneurship can be multiple zeros at the end of your bank account, financial freedom, and satisfaction.
2. Problem Solving/Innovation – How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Being a serial entrepreneur also allows you to be innovative.
Serial entrepreneurs establish multiple businesses by identifying problems.
By this, they can create solutions to these problems.
Thereby giving them opportunities to establish several businesses and be innovative.
3. Flexibility
As a serial entrepreneur, you’re not tied down to one business as you’re typically on the go establishing businesses.
With this, you’re putting efforts into one business and moving on to the next big thing instead of being tied down to static business operations and activities.
Overall, this offers you the freedom to do whatever you want and explore your interests in several business activities.
Disadvantages – How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
There are various disadvantages to be considered by an entrepreneur before deciding to become a serial entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs might create several new products, serve in new markets, increase their earning potentials, but all these don’t come without making sacrifices.
1. The Risk of Failure Due to Economic Uncertainties
As much as the rewards of being a serial entrepreneur are pretty enticing, it’s not all a bed of roses.
Many entrepreneurs are exposed to the risk of business failure due to economic uncertainties such as recession or depression.
Therefore, launching businesses at this time can be quite tricky and risky as there’s a lot at stake.
Many entrepreneurs may find it difficult to keep up with business activities due to the unstable economy and its crippling effects on many businesses.
Overall, serial entrepreneurs who fail to understand these timings and go-ahead to establish business stand the risk of business failure.
2. Loss of Ownership in Business – How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Serial entrepreneurs also have to go through the pain of surrendering some part of their ownership in some businesses they worked so hard to build from the ground up.
Although painful, it’s the price they have to pay to become productive in the other companies.
That’s it on the advantages and disadvantages of serial entrepreneurship.
By now, you should know it’s a journey you want to embark on.
However, here are examples of serial entrepreneurs you can look up to as you embark on this exciting and challenging entrepreneurial journey.
Examples of Serial Entrepreneurs – How to Become a Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Here are few examples of serial entrepreneurs you should probably read about.
1. Richard Branson
Richard Branson initiated a mail-order record business at the age of 20.
He is one of the earliest serial entrepreneurs dating back to the 1970s.
He is also the founder of Virgin Group, which is now in possession of more than 200 companies with multiple investors.
2. Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis
These Scandinavian billionaire entrepreneurs have numerous technology ventures to their names.
The peer-to-peer file sharing service called Kazaa was their brainchild.
However, the pair came to the public attention with Skype, the first prominent computer-to-computer video and voice calling service.
Zennstrom rejoined Skype in 2007 before it was sold to Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.
Today, Zennstrom is focused on Atomico, an investment consortium invested in over 50 technology companies.
Janus Friis went on to found Starship Technologies in 2014.
3. Oprah Winfrey
This popular American philanthropist, entrepreneur, and media leader, best known for her award-winning talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” started her local TV anchor.
She founded Harpo Productions, Inc. in the year 1986.
By the end of the 1990s, Oprah Winfrey was the wealthiest woman in show business, and a net worth of $2.8 billion in 2018
She is also a co-founder of Oxygen, a cable station, and she launched the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in 2011.
She publishes The Oprah Magazine and has written five books.
4. Omar Hamoui
The most outstanding one among these was Admob, which was a mobile advertising network platform.
Admob was sold to Google in 2009 for $750 million.
His other ventures also include Fotochatter, a mobile photo-sharing network, and Maybe, Inc., which LinkedIn acquired in 2013.
He is presently a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia.
Conclusion on How to Become A Serial Entrepreneur Effectively
Being a serial entrepreneur often means extra working hours, days, or even weeks of sitting behind your desk.
There are a lot of things to be taken into consideration in the quest to become an effective serial entrepreneur and followed as we have mentioned above.
Overall, before you start, ensure you’re mentally prepared for the journey ahead.
Here’s to your success!
