With Every End, There is a New Beginning

For millions of graduating students, this time of year brings an end to familiar surroundings and leads to brand new beginnings in just a few short months. This transition period is not unlike a new entrepreneur starting up a business or a seasoned business owner trying new projects, a new niche, or implementing a new business model. In all of these situations, creativity is the key in sustaining success.

In a recent article written by Sarah Pierce in Entrepreneur.com, one creative college-bound student with an overdrawn bank account thought college was just a dream. Determined to find a way to make some quick cash, Alex Tew took 20 minutes to brainstorm one question: How can I become a millionaire? He projected that if he could sell one million pixels of ad space on a website for just $1 each, he could pay for college.

So he invested in his business by purchasing a domain name and basic web hosting services. Convincing his family to buy the first 1,000 pixels, he sent out press releases to local media in his hometown in England. The UK media wasn’t the only outlet that picked up this young entrepreneurs story. In a short time, his story became viral being scooped up by bloggers, online forums, and chat rooms.

Within just two weeks, he had sold enough pixels to cover three years of college. In five months, he reached his goal of selling $1 million worth of pixels.

From starving student to million-dollar entrepreneur in just a few short months. This young entrepreneur exemplifies what it takes to succeed in today’s marketplace.

The next time you’re feeling the entrepreneurial overwhelm, add these life lessons to your portfolio:

Be Agile
When you decide to go big, the unexpected will pop up but don’t let that stop you. When Paypal blocked this young entrepreneur’s account because of immediate high volumes of transactions, he quickly came up with an alternative payment method within hours. Being agile in today’s marketplace is more crucial than ever. Business owners of today won’t be able to anticipate everything, but today’s savvy business owner exercises their agility and learns to adapt to changing needs.

Delegate
If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll be nothing to no one – not to mention burned out if you take on too much. Learn the value of delegating pieces of your business so you can focus on what’s most important to grow your company. If you handle every single detail, it doesn’t allow room for additional business.

Prepare and Plan
Prepare and plan for success. Set 3 to 5 goals each year. Make the goals tangible by writing them down and laying out the steps and resources needed to reach them. Each week review your plan and check off the action steps that were accomplished. Before you know it, you have achieved more than you thought possible.

Be Creative
Creativity creates ideas, and ideas provoke action. If you’re stuck in “I can’t see how this is going to work,” change the conversation in your head to, “how could this work?” Take 20 minutes to brainstorm all of the possibilities and identify the ideas that will be integrated into your plans.

Try and Try Again
With every failure, there is learning. With every lesson, you realize something that you shouldn’t do the next time. Far too many entrepreneurs stop there and deny the world an opportunity to utilize their strengths and what they have to offer. Even the most famous inventors weren’t successful the first time. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start moving ahead again – this time wiser.

With every end, there is a new beginning. With every failure, there is more wisdom. With every closed door, a new window of opportunity opens.