Believe to achieve, and try the unexpected

Entrepreneurs must shut out negative feedback and focus on their dreams and goals to succeed, writes Manar al Hinai.

I know a pretty young woman who has it all in terms of looks and fashion sense. When she goes out, it seems as though she has just walked off the cover of a fashion magazine. People often assume that with her looks, personality and amazing lifestyle, she must be married or at least engaged. But the truth is, nothing is going on in her personal life, not because she is missing something, but because in the back of her mind, she lacks confidence and believes that she will end up being alone.

You are probably questioning what this has to do with business. The answer is everything because entrepreneurs with similar mindsets to that young woman won’t end up being successful or reach their targets.

What differentiates successful entrepreneurs, pop artists or international fashion designers from the rest of us? Sure, they might have been at the right place at the right time or had access to wealth that helped their business expand, but most importantly they all shared one quality – and that is perseverance and confidence that they will achieve whatever they set their mind to. Unlike many, they deafen their ears to negative comments and do not pay attention to those who put them down.

Working in the business world I consider myself lucky to be able to deal with successful people from different walks of life. Although they operate in different fields, they all have that common factor: passion and confidence.

I often learn by doing. As a child, I did not believe that fire could hurt me until I touched it. In addition, I do not turn my head away from something I worked hard on until I am 100 per cent confident that it is not cut out for me or will not be fruitful. As much as I was yelled at as a child for doing something I was not supposed to, and had as many friends tell me “we told you so, but you had to try it anyway”, I believe trying things before I judge whether they are not cut out for me – because who knows, they might be – is a good quality to have.

In addition to access to capital, having a good business support group and a great business idea, here a few things you could learn about entrepreneurship success based on my interaction with successful people.

We often take this saying for granted but it’s true: “if you believe it, you can do it”. Successful entrepreneurs believed so much and were so passionate about achieving their dreams that they became their reality. Tenacity is perhaps the most important quality an entrepreneur should have. Success does not come easily. It needs time, confidence and determination, but if a person is passionate about their dream, they will achieve it.

Have a brand vision, a road map of where you see yourself. Every entrepreneur needs a mission statement, a mantra about his or her business endeavour. This helps them stay focused. Let us take the American singer and businesswoman Beyoncé Knowles. Although she wears different hats as a businesswoman, singer and a mother, her main purpose, as she stated in a CNN interview with Piers Morgan, is to empower women.

Successful people take risks and explore things beyond their comfort zones. Even if you are doing really well in your business, there is no harm in expanding your horizon. After I started writing my regular columns for newspapers and magazines, I started to explore blogging and discovered I liked it. It provided me with a new way to reach people globally and it is a liberating way of writing. Not only that, it introduced me to other people who helped my writing career grow. Take a look at steps taken by like-minded business individuals and see what they have done. Look at them for inspiration.

Last but not least, do not pay too much attention to negative behaviour. Some people mean well, but they put you down. Others do not provide great business advice. Seek advice from those within your field, who have experience in what you are doing. It also helps to get together with them once in a while to motivate you to grow. I do that every now and then, and not only do I feel inspired when I meet successful writers and entrepreneurs, but discussions with them always result in me trying something new.

As much as capital and a good business idea are important ingredients in the formula of success, having certain qualities such as confidence and perseverance are perhaps even more important. Believe that you can achieve it, and you will. Just remember to shut down negative voices along the way.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer based in Abu Dhabi.

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