Principle #4: Don’t be afraid to lead and to lead by doing.

Don’t be afraid to lead and to lead by doing.

This may seem obvious, but it sometimes gets lost. What I mean by this is that you shouldn’t be afraid to take a true leadership role in your company, and that the best way to take this leadership role is to do whatever it is that you are asking your people to do.

If you’re asking them to provide a better, higher and more competitive degree of customer service, you can lead by explaining the purpose and the goals, setting the expectations, and then by striving to set the example by getting involved directly in customer service. 

This doesn’t mean doing any one’s job for them, but it does mean making it clear that you care about the details, the business will hold its employees accountable, and the goals will be reviewed and met.

This is, actually, one of the most difficult things for all entrepreneurs, and all businesses, to accomplish. Setting useful, realistic goals, communicating those goals, and then developing the systems and methods to meet those goals, are the essence of business leadership.

Principle #3: Run it by the numbers.

Run it by the numbers.

This is mostly advice for new entrepreneurs, but it still gets ignored sometimes even by experienced entrepreneurs.

You’ll never see large-scale growth or leverage without steadfastly managing by the numbers. Run it by the numbers from the first day. Run it by the numbers first from your business plan, and then from your financials, and then from your KPIs (key performance indicators) as you begin to understand the levers that make your business grow.

This advice is mostly advice for self-funded startups because if you have sought funding, you hopefully had to present and support your numbers dozens of times!

Too often, entrepreneurs get caught up in the idea, the business itself, operations, marketing, technology, or products, and they lose sight of the forest for the trees.

You need to keep your passion, but everything has to revolve around the numbers. If the numbers don’t work, no amount of passion will save the business. The numbers are the lifeblood. Everything else is speculation or distraction. The numbers speak volumes. Listen to them.

Principle #2: Trust your instincts

Trust your instincts.

If something feels out of whack, it probably is.

Maybe you are inexperienced. Maybe you have people in your organization telling you that they know better, asking you to give some decision or situation more time to correct itself. You’re likely to end up making things worse by trying to wait out a bad situation, major or minor.

If you think something isn’t working correctly, whether it is a hire, a partnership, a business process, idea, product, or campaign, trust your instincts. Your nose led you into business, got you started, and you need to learn to trust your instincts if you are going to be a successful entrepreneurial leader.

You will find that you are right the majority of the time and you will be happy that you trusted yourself and acted quickly on your instincts. You won’t always be right, but you’ll own your decisions, you’ll own your victories and your failures, and your instincts and your business will grow from you exercising leadership.

Principle #1: “ITPS!”

I’m kicking off this blog with a list of my “Principles of Entrepreneurship.” This is a fluid list that will grow and evolve over time, but I can get the basics into a few posts.

 “ITPS.” (“Its the people, stupid!”)

You cannot build a first-rate business using second-rate people. Your idea, your money, and your organizational skills will all only take you so far. At some point, the people in the management suite and on the front line have to take over and execute.

If you haven’t chosen well – chosen people whose integrity, sense of duty, loyalty, and basic judgement is first-rate - you will end up with a second-rate outcome, no matter what else you may have done right. This is my first and most important principle. You can get a lot of other things wrong. You can’t get the people wrong and succeed.