3 Essential Actions for the New Entrepreneur: Burn Your Ships, Get a Mentor and Stay Playful

Starting a new business venture is a daunting task, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the seemingly endless amount of advice and guidance available. However, the truth is that there are three essential actions that every new entrepreneur should take to start their business off on the right foot. Doing just one of these essential actions will certainly help you succeed, but doing all three will give your new business a turbo-charged boost and set you on the path to success.

1. Burn Your Ships

To illustrate this first essential action, let’s take a look at the story of a warrior who has just sailed to enemy territory. Before the warrior can begin their attack, their commander tells them, “before we attack, we must burn our ships!” The warrior may feel a mixture of fear and motivation, knowing that their only way to return home safely is through victory.

As a new entrepreneur, if you really want to succeed, then you need to burn your ships too. This means that you need to resolve yourself to succeed and eliminate all possible alternatives. Don’t contact your old boss to see if you can come back, don’t toy with the idea of going back to school, and definitely don’t take a part-time job to relieve the pressure. Instead, take a loan and let the fear motivate you.

Commit to your own success by burning all of your ships.

2. Get a Mentor

The second essential action for new entrepreneurs is to get a mentor. A good mentor will show you how to navigate failure and speed up your success. The key is to find someone who is where you want to be in 10 or 20 years and ask if you can take them out for coffee, lunch, breakfast or anything else that would be convenient for them for 15 minutes.

Once you set up the meeting, spend 80% of the time listening. Contact them again a few months later, giving them an update on your work and asking for another meeting. Keep repeating this process until you have developed a stable relationship.

Having a mentor is essential in any new business venture, as it will provide you with feedback, accountability, and guidance. A good mentor will also help you avoid costly mistakes and prevent you from having to learn everything the hard way.

3. Stay Playful

Finally, the third essential action for new entrepreneurs is to stay playful. Starting a new business venture can be incredibly rewarding, but it’s also an uphill battle for the first year or so. It’s difficult to avoid becoming completely consumed by your work, but the trick to surviving this turbulent start-up phase is to ensure that your life outside of your business is still playful and fun.

Make sure that each week has at least one personal activity that you are truly looking forward to. This will revitalize you and give you more energy to channel into your startup. After all, life is too short not to have fun along the way.

In Conclusion

Starting a new business venture is undoubtedly challenging, and it’s easy to get bogged down in all the advice and guidance available. However, there are three essential actions that any new entrepreneur should take to set themselves on the path to success: burn your ships, get a mentor, and stay playful. Doing all three will turbo-charge your new business venture and increase your likelihood of success.

Remember, committing to your own success is the first step on the journey to building a thriving business. Good luck!