I’ve always admired business owners who maintain calm and patient personas and are not worried about money. As an entrepreneur who provides strategy consulting to other entrepreneurs, many people have asked me what habits I think are imperative to achieving success in the field. I thought about this question a lot and came up with a list of just a few habits I think are stepping stones:

1. Routine: Spontaneity and adventure are great medicines for the soul, but entrepreneurs need a routine to succeed. Creating a routine helps remove the decision-making factor from the equation, and leaves all of that creative brainpower for far more important tasks and choices. Now, I’m not talking about regimenting every second of your life. Stiff scheduling can strangle creative souls. Instead, map out what you’ll have for breakfast, what time of day you’ll answer new inquiries, and what you’ll be doing in the gym to keep your mind and body healthy. These benchmarks will help you through the day so you can conserve your creative energy and critical thinking skills. I usually start every day with meditation, my workout, and focused attention on my No. 1 priority. This ensures that I begin each morning with a feeling of accomplishment.
2. Confidence: People who lack confidence tend to second guess their decisions. The last thing people want is a wishy-washy leader, and individuals lacking self-confidence tend to fall in this camp. While it is OK to have self-doubt while you’re building up your business, you’ll need to look deep within yourself and figure out if you are feeling the typical anxiety of taking a risk, or if you lack self-confidence in too many aspects of your life. One of my confidence hacks is to sing songs in the morning. It always makes me feel energized and gives me the energy to go after my objectives.
3. Mindfulness: Mindfulness builds on confidence. Those who are successful in business take the time they need to think about their options and focus on their overall mindfulness. Listen to your body and your mind, and absorb those thoughts. I recommend yoga, but taking a hike or simply sitting in silence is effective, too. Being mindful helps guide every decision that you have to make.
4. Integrity: Getting rich should never be an entrepreneur’s ultimate goal. Instead, it should serve as another much-appreciated result of your efforts. Setting out with the intention of gaining wealth is an indicator that your ethics are unbalanced, and an unethical businessperson is sure to be an unsuccessful one. While some will enjoy wealth in the short-term, this house of cards eventually tumbles. In my experience, the most successful entrepreneurs are ones who set out to fill a need in the market and do so with their consumers’ best interests at heart. This type of businessperson succeeds because his or her intentions are pure. As a result, they tend to make ample money.

Don’t get me wrong, these are not the only habits that successful entrepreneurs possess, but they are a great place to start. Keep these habits as a foundation, and success will follow you wherever you go.

The goal of going far or thinking long-term impacts everything from the rate at which we hire to whether or not we should move office spaces. It’s a filter through which we push all of our decisions, which means it touches nearly every aspect of our business, from the mundane to the critical.

Focusing on What Matters in a Period of Hyper-Growth

This approach is antithetical to much of what the startup tech community considers the norm. Going fast is commonly the name of the game: find product market fit or build an MVP, raise venture capital, hire like crazy, and just keep the train on the tracks at all costs. It’s way too easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of a hyper-growth operation and forget why you started your business in the first place when you’re focused on speed. Every time I reflect on what our business has achieved over the past 10 years, I realize that the long-term game plan is not a bad one at all. In fact, thinking long term can take on many forms. For me, this presents itself in two main ways, both of which directly and immediately impact my team.

Addressing Direct Consequences 

First, I ask myself the following question before setting any decision in stone: “If I make this decision, will I still want to work here afterward?” As a founder, I’m obviously here for the long haul either way, but I still ask myself this question because I know that some of our employees aren’t necessarily going to see this business through to the very end. They need to feel inspired and aligned with our business decisions, day in and day out. Our people are passionate and vocal about what they like and what they would love to see changed in order to have a better work environment.

When I ask this question, it’s not about whether or not we should keep doing catered-lunch Thursdays. I’m talking about tough decisions: ones that are foundational to the business. If we choose to put a product feature on ice after a team has been working on it for three months, I need to recognize the demoralizing nature of that move and the effects it might have on team morale. I may still end up making that call, but not without mitigating team concern in a way that keeps folks excited about the next innovation we’re working on.

Identifying Employees Who Go The Extra Mile

The other way long term thinking benefits our company is its impact on hiring and career development. When it comes to hiring at our company, we’re simply not willing to make many sacrifices. We’ve made it hard to join our team because we’re not just looking for someone who’s able to complete the task at hand. Naturally, we look for individuals who we believe are capable of being super successful in their role, but beyond that, we’re looking for folks who will grow into all-around rock stars. These are the people who take extreme pride in the work that they do (and they do it for the good of the company) because they care about watching us all succeed. They’re excited to take on new challenges and innovate in ways we’ve never heard of, and might even end up managing entire teams as we grow.

We like to say, “We hire people who put away their own dishes,” because we value individuals who hold themselves accountable and aren’t above rolling up their sleeves and pitching in, whether that means putting away coffee mugs or answering a support ticket. We also like to look outside the traditional realm for new hires. For example, if we’re hiring for our customer happiness team, an applicant from Nordstrom, which is known for having incredible customer service, might be a great fit despite the fact that their background is in retail and not technology.

Making a Department Switch if Necessary

I work hard with our people operations team to listen to employees and anticipate changes folks might be looking to make in their careers. Within a startup, there are often many opportunities for growth in the non-traditional sense of the word. On occasion, we uncover new opportunities where they didn’t exist before in order to keep an awesome team member in our fold. I strive to encourage our employees to grow from within the company – somewhat selfishly, I’ll admit – so that we can all continue to benefit from their knowledge as it spreads across departments. This notion also provides tremendous benefit to our employees themselves, especially ones who are early in their careers, as they are better able to weigh their options, try something new, and carve out a future at the company.

Even though we can’t go back in time and put more people on our founding team, taking a long view of our organization and goals encourages that “go anywhere, do anything” mindset across the company. Going fast might give you some instant gratification, but it’s much less satisfying when you do it alone. We all want someone to high-five at the finish line.

“Failing Is Cool”

Recently, I read a New York Times article about Silicon Valley founders and their startup failures. They wore them as a badge of honor, as if it’s a big accomplishment to bankrupt a company. The underlying message (not being afraid to fail) is noble. The acceptance of failure, however? That’s far from noble.

In Jason Fried and David Heinemeier’s book Rework, the authors ask a simple question: Why fail?

Failure is sometimes necessary in order to achieve greatness: That’s the message that needs to be heard more clearly in tech. The market may simply not be ready or willing to accept your idea. You may be ahead of the curve. Does that mean your entire business model is a failure? Certainly not. With that being said, opening a coffee shop with a friend or family’s money and sitting in the back all day playing Pokémon Go is not a reasonable excuse to bankrupt your company.

Failing is a necessary evil on the path to big accomplishments, but it should not be an overwhelmingly accepted circumstance.

“Your Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset”

Since Tim Ferriss released The 4-Hour Workweek, entrepreneurs have been watching the clock. They want to ensure that they don’t waste their time by working on something they are not 100 percent on board with. Entrepreneurs have convinced themselves that their time is extremely valuable, and that every moment should be spent on building the next Facebook. Nickel and diming your time, however, is only holding your company back.

Recently, I emailed the CEO of a technology startup here in Atlanta. I offered to get together for coffee and discuss his sales strategy. He replied quickly, letting me know that he was looking for a VP of sales and would be very interested in speaking with me. He then asked a few follow-up questions regarding my experience with SaaS sales. I told him about the companies I had worked with in the past (an impressive list) and requested a time and place to meet.

I was planning to tell him in our meeting that I was currently in the process of co-authoring a book with someone who created the modern SaaS model; I simply did not want to divulge that information via email. Before I had a chance to explain this, he replied and told me that he wanted someone with more SaaS experience. His time was valuable, and he would not be taking the meeting.

Because he was under the impression that taking a coffee meeting may be a waste of his time, he missed a possibly fruitful opportunity for his company. I take almost every meeting that comes my way now, because you never know who is going to bring what to the table. And that is exactly how you create something out of nothing.

I recently invited a gentleman I met at a networking event for coffee at my office. With no preconceived plan of how he might make me money, I chose to explore the opportunity. Today, he and I are working together on a deal with a Fortune 500 company that will result in significant profits for my firm.

“Say No to Everything”

The fact is, to become wealthy, you need to say yes to almost 90 percent of the opportunities you are presented. You then need to explore them critically and make your determination. You need to fully realize the potential that surrounds you. Some of my best deals have come out of the meetings that I initially thought were going to be a waste of time. Be open to opportunity and constantly remain on the lookout.

If nothing else, remember stay vigilant in networking, and don’t close yourself in. Time is money, but time spent forming bonds with peers and embracing opportunities is priceless. Examine your failures rather than blindly accepting them. By doing so, you’ll empower yourself to get ahead. Finally, keep in mind that many renowned businesspeople have traversed the same uncertain steps, but they met their goals by knowing how to disregard poor advice or damaging myths.

Identifying what actions cause failure – and learning how to avoid them – is a bit more challenging. Picking the wrong co-founder, for example, is cited as a common problem entrepreneurs face. The relationship you have with your partner and the skills they bring to your startup can set the tone for success or failure. All too often, entrepreneurs lack sufficient self-awareness regarding their own strengths and weaknesses, and don’t choose a partner with complementary skills.

I’ve worked in my fair share of entrepreneurial environments over the years, and have certainly made mistakes along the way. From my personal experience, these are three of the most common mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make. They’re three mistakes I have made myself, and ultimately learned the hard way how to avoid repeating them in the future.

Hiring Employees Based on Salary Requirements Rather Than Talent or Experience

When funds are tight, foregoing top talent can help cut costs. But those short-term savings can haunt you down the road. Talented people know their value. Sure, some may be willing to take a small pay cut to join your team, but they’re not going to work for peanuts.

Using cost as the primary driver for hiring decisions is one of the biggest mistakes I made at my startup. Despite being advised against this approach, I went with my (incorrect) instincts to hire unproven and inexperienced employees. I thought I was being smart by being scrappy. I believed I could train these employees to make up for their lack of experience. I got what I paid for: poor execution, with output lacking in both quality and quantity. A better approach? Hire for fit.

Waiting to Launch the “Perfect” Product

Your product will never be perfect. The longer you wait to launch, the more you will start to obsess over details that ultimately won’t matter to the user. Build something quickly, get the early model out, and start testing. Otherwise you risk sinking significant time, energy and financial resources in a product that is not aligned with consumer needs.

When I founded my startup, we acquired a product that we could have gone to market with on day one. But my background at Fortune 500 companies and product teams had conditioned me to a very exacting product standard. Consequently, I resisted launching since the product wasn’t perfect. Instead, I decided to rebuild it from scratch. I wanted to incorporate new technology stacks and deliver a superior user experience.

After months of execution, we were way off of our development timeline and not even remotely close to launching the new version. In the end, we were forced to launch our initial product and saw significant traction within a matter of just weeks. What if we had launched sooner? The right thing to do would have been to launch with a minimal viable product, test it for market fit, identify problems, and evolve the product accordingly.

Failing to Create and Listen to an Effective Support Group

Who has your back? A strong support network should. When I founded my startup, I became consumed by day-to-day management. I knew it was important to build a network of advisors, but I kept putting it off. As a result, I made strategic mistakes that experienced advisors would have caught (and advised against) if only I had taken the time to actually build my advisory team in the first place.

Being a successful entrepreneur takes more than just accepting that you do not know everything. You need to proactively take steps to surround yourself with the people who can make up for these knowledge gaps and who will speak up to stop mistakes. Seek their advice and act on it.

Starting your own business is inherently a risky venture. You may not be able to control external factors, like a sudden fluctuation in global markets. But there are many factors that are within your control. The biggest one? How you react to mistakes. Even if you avoid making the mistakes I discussed above, it’s inevitable that other mistakes will happen along the way. Don’t let your business become a failure statistic. Acknowledge what went wrong, pivot where necessary, and keep moving forward with a new plan.

The business world is no different: It runs on social connectivity, expanding networks and fostering connections. In an era where the newest iPhone acts as our event planner and chauffeur, we still value face-to-face meetings and the structure that a collaborative environment offers.

So where do entrepreneurs fit into all of this? Simply put, entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of a steadily growing economy. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the idea of making your own way appealed to young people en masse. This can be viewed as a boon, as the world needs young entrepreneurs and their innovative ways of thinking. But just as much as the world needs them, they too need our support.

Why a Support System?

Becoming an entrepreneur is inherently risky: That’s precisely why that path is often not touted (and even discouraged). But that’s a major mistake, and it’s an attitude that needs to change on a cultural level.

The world needs those individuals — those highly creative thinkers — who can offer a bird’s eye view of the larger business world. Innovative figures in history, like Madame C. J. Walker and Henry Ford, were cunning, original thinkers who dove headfirst into uncertainty. Decades later, we see their results as part of the mainstream. This is how the entrepreneurial spirit truly thrives, and will always continue to do so.

No great entrepreneur of the past has ever succeeded without feedback and support. Successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with like-minded peers who challenge them, push them and brainstorm with them. Anyone who has achieved business renown has done so by working together with others, and constantly opening themselves up to new ideas.

It takes drive, gumption and intent to get involved in a dynamic support system. This is where outside mentors can step in and act as guides to young entrepreneurs so that they can mature into well-rounded business people. These mentors could be industry veterans, peers, or even former clients! Connections form in surprising ways.

How to Find Support

Before you set out to find a mentor, you need to understand where you are in the entrepreneurial process. Do you know the first thing about running your own business? You need thorough guidance: someone who has been through those initial first steps. This isn’t necessarily so they can hold your hand along the way, but instead to show you what works and what doesn’t.

Even if you are a few years in and have the basics down, a more seasoned mentor can evaluate your business model (marketing, SEO, services, etc.) and offer some critique. Many young entrepreneurs fall into the trap of being satisfied with preliminary, initial success. That’s a mistake. In order to fine-tune your skills and reach the next level, you need to keep on learning, and you do that by remaining open to the “student” mindset. Pride will only hurt you in the long run.

That’s exactly why, at my company, we’re so keen on “Monday Morning Meetings,” our own support system for entrepreneurial clients. Rather than simply offering a solution and walking away, we consult with them in a collaborative environment and make sure that they are on the right track.

We start with a refresher on sales training and strategies, then open up the floor for questions. We find that there are many, and that’s why this is the perfect way to start off the week: sessions like these lead to a motivated and empowered mindset to tackle those problems ahead.

Networking is also key, not only for finding a mentor but for connecting with peers and future business associates. In addition to establishing your brand via a social media presence, you must reach out to others through live networking events in order to make your presence known and get noticed.

Whether you’re running a startup or an established brand, you should always be connecting. LinkedIn is a prime example of a goldmine resource for young entrepreneurs. Locate and engage with your peers or find prospective clients. While Twitter and Facebook are more “social,” they also offer similar benefits.

There are many more digital tools that aid young entrepreneurs immensely: Buffer, for example, is a valuable time saver. By managing and optimizing your social media presence, this tool affords supreme organization to entrepreneurs, and organization is a necessary prerequisite to success. Additionally, consider setting up a presence on professional entrepreneur websites like StartupNation. Utilizing forums to chat and connect with like-minded peers and business owners is a no-brainer.     

As a young entrepreneur, you need to foster that creative, unique spirit of business innovation. Prioritize networking and building rapport with others, utilize social media to join groups, reach out to others and make connections.

It’s good — necessary, even — to get out of your shell as an entrepreneur. You’ll thank yourself for it in the long run.

The good news is that for every pushback I’ve gotten, there are twice as many resources now available that help me circumvent that negative environment. I thought I’d share some of my favorite resources, none of which I’m affiliated with, but all ones that I regularly use. Many of these resources involve women helping women succeed so that you can also rise above these roadblocks to your success:

SCORE

This organization has a wide array of resources for female entrepreneurs. I regularly tap into their blog content and utilize their infographics for research that I’m doing. Their webinars and podcasts have also been a convenient resource for me that fits my schedule. I can watch them on the go or on a break. These types of resources provide information that helps with projects as well as provides inspiration through the success stories presented about other female entrepreneurs.

National Organizations

When looking for federal assistance like grants to start a business, a great resource is the Office of Women’s Business Ownership. Other organizations provide a way to bring women together in order to create a viable force that is working toward changes in regulations and even in just perceptions about women in business and leadership roles.

Two organizations that I have joined to tap into this “sisterhood of business” include the American Business Women’s Association and the Women’s Chamber of Commerce. Both of these organizations provide educational content on financial planning, retirement, benefits, current laws and regulatory reform, and various aspects of business like marketing tools, HR processes, and technology solutions for small business owners.

Content-Focused Resources

The following sites have their own extensive lists of articles, tool kits and resources that are definitely worth checking out. Some of my favorite content-based resources include Create Worth, Ladies Who Launch, Women Entrepreneur and Women 2.0.

The reason these resources are so beneficial to myself and other female entrepreneurs is that they deliver relevant, action-oriented and motivational content that addresses issues I’ve faced and given me viable solutions. It’s encouraging to have places where I can immediately search for topics that involve areas of struggle for me. This has included everything from getting over my nerves when doing a presentation and providing conversation starters for networking events, to handling discriminatory practices or negative attitudes.

Self-Powered Resources

While it’s great to have all these go-to resources, I’ve realized that it’s also on me to make a difference and proactively find other female entrepreneurs to join my tribe. There are many actions I’ve taken to develop my own resource circle:

• Reach out to other female entrepreneurs in LinkedIn groups and across other social media sites. I started with group discussions and got to know a few other female entrepreneurs this way before contacting and connecting with them outside of the groups. Now, we have each other to swap stories, provide advice, be a listening ear, and serve as cheerleaders. By creating these situations, I’ve been able to tap into personal resources who have offered good suggestions and even just commiserated on days where everything seemed to go wrong. They’ve provided the necessary attitude adjustments to help me refocus and keep going. Some have even connected me to more business opportunities.
• Plan regular social events with other female entrepreneurs. I’ve set up get-togethers for other female entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley area where we can catch up, exchange ideas, and brainstorm in a relaxed way that feels less like networking and more like an opportunity to just socialize, empathize, and encourage one another.
• Develop content that benefits others and provides learning opportunities for yourself. It’s easy to just think you have to get resources from other places, but, in reality, you can become your own resource through the research and reflection you do about your own experiences. By developing my own content, I’m assisting other female entrepreneurs and learning in the process from what I’ve gone through. These lessons are one of the best places to tap into: While you may think it is a little biased, when you develop that content into something shareable, that’s when you get further assistance from the feedback and reality check others can provide.

Resource by Resource Yields Change

The need for resources and support for female entrepreneurs is not a feminist movement; it’s a success movement driven to equalize the access to opportunities and support every entrepreneur needs to achieve their dreams and goals with their startup. The more information we can provide for each other, the more empowered we will all be to deliver the next set of disruptive products and services, regardless of our gender.

However, it’s important to remind ourselves that life is simply a string of experiences strung together from one person’s perspective — big or small, controlled or out of reach. No moment feels as big as the one you’re living right now. In the midst of a strange market climate and an even stranger political one, here are five simple steps for dealing with stress.

1. Breathe. A natural reaction to stress is to try to stop time and deal with the immediate moment. In this moment, we often forget to breathe. Similar to working out, when we attempt to burst through with that final push, we have a tendency to take a breath and hold it. If you have a personal trainer, the first thing she will teach you is a proper breathing technique. Pushing a barbell off your chest is no different than passing through a stressful moment. Don’t forget to breathe — deeply and effectively.
2. Reflect without worry. The latter is an important distinction. Note your experiences, how you’ve arrived at this moment, and what was valuable then and now. You can’t worry about the things you can’t change (which is the best advice I’ve ever been given) — decisions were made, and you likely handled the situation as best as you could. Use this moment to reflect, learn and grow. But don’t dwell on factors that you can’t change.
3. Look from the outside in. Worry and stress are inside-out feelings. You feel stuck without a simple answer. If it was easy, then anyone could do it. You are unique in a very large world. When you step outside of yourself and see the bigger picture, you will see solutions that you were once overlooking. Once you reflect without worry, you will be able to assess the situation more clearly and learn to shine your spotlight in areas for potential improvement. In Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, Chip Heath and Dan Heath coined this “the spotlight effect.” They explain that “better decision making is the process of moving your mental spotlight to shine light on things we wouldn’t otherwise look at.” When you’re inside-out, your spotlight is very narrow. Take a moment to go outside-in to cast a wider light to put more of the moment into perspective.
4. Keep it simple, stupid. Take steps one through three to live in the moment, give respect to the situation and yourself, and address your options. We’re problem solvers, but don’t let your attempt to tirelessly solve the problem actually become the problem. Know that sometimes in life, there is just no right answer (or at least not just one proper solution). Don’t wear yourself out on the complexities of the situation. Keep it simple. Believe in yourself. Be realistic. Move on.
5. Repeat. You will feel stress again, and there’s a good chance that next time will feel worse — not necessarily because the situation is less likely to be overcome, but because the situation is different and new. Take that moment to breathe, reflect on the situation without worry, open your spotlight, and learn. In life’s most stressful moments, we find out what we’re really made of. Don’t just prove to others that you can deal with difficult situations, but prove it to yourself at a level that you truly believe. That is called growth, and it’s the only way we’re going to build the muscles needed to lift ourselves back up.