Being an entrepreneur has never been easy, but COVID-19 has made this career even more difficult. No one knows this better than Randal Gindi, a real estate investor who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has an insatiable hunger to learn every aspect of a business, whether as an owner or an investor.
Mr. Gindi outlines the top six traits that all entrepreneurs must possess in order to be successful during COVID-19.
A Positive Mindset
To be successful as an entrepreneur during COVID-19, you need to maintain a positive mindset. It doesn’t take long to get disillusioned with the pandemic, especially when the news cycle seems even more endless than usual. However, as an entrepreneur, Randal Gindi asserts that it will serve you better in the long run if you find ways to stay positive.
Being in a better mood overall leads to improved focus and concentration, which are critical for working effectively and efficiently as an entrepreneur. In addition, your creativity will flow better if you are more positive and optimistic about the future. In essence, a positive mindset can allow you to be better at your job day in and day out.
Think About the Future
Entrepreneurial success, especially amidst the pandemic of 2020, doesn’t just happen overnight. Instead, you need to carefully consider the short-term, as well as the long-term goals of your company. Randal Gindi says that thinking about the future is key to the success of an entrepreneur. Clear your mind, try your best to see through all the chaos that surrounds you at the moment, and imagine where you see your business in one, two, five, and ten years.
Having the ability to envision your future will help you make decisions now about your business. Knowing the direction you want to take your business in is essential as you navigate your way through COVID-19.
Courage
All entrepreneurs possess at least a little bit of courage, otherwise they wouldn’t be entrepreneurs. Deciding to start your own business can be scary at times, but it just got a whole lot more challenging due to COVID-19. If this didn’t ring true before, you likely have a lot at stake right now and you’re going to have to take risks in order to come out the other side. Although it might be overwhelming at times, ultimately, courage is what will pull you through.
Your willingness to take risks and your ability to research and understand the likely outcomes of that risk is vital to entrepreneurial success during the pandemic.
Collaboration
Being open to collaboration is a necessity in this new business landscape that COVID-19 has brought about. Entrepreneurs are known for wanting to do everything themselves and being reluctant to delegate. However, beyond simply delegating tasks to your own staff, entrepreneurial success amidst this global pandemic of 2020 also relies on collaborating with others outside your team. For example, with supply chains being disrupted around the world, you will likely have to partner with new local suppliers you may never have worked with before. While this might seem like a risky proposition, it could be what saves your business, shares Randal Gindi.
In addition, Gindi urges all entrepreneurs to look for help in unexpected places. Many business owners whose companies have suspended operations, may have additional equipment or supplies that they can lend you during this trying time. Entrepreneurs are in this together, so don’t hesitate to reach out to your community for help.
Flexibility
A successful entrepreneur is a flexible entrepreneur. During COVID-19, being flexible, both in operations and mindset, is the only way to navigate the storm. As no one knows when the pandemic will end, it’s impossible to make plans for the future. This can be extremely frustrating for entrepreneurs who had a very clear, month by month plan in place. But ultimately, if you learn how to deal with the giant curveball that is the pandemic, it will teach you a very valuable lesson about flexibility and adaptation.
What does a flexible entrepreneur look like you may be wondering? Randal Gindi sees it as someone who opts for less fixed overhead and less liability-based business models, where contracts are shorter in length. In addition, flexibility looks like having a diverse revenue stream. If prior to the pandemic, brick and mortar retail was your only or main stream of revenue, it’s time to reconsider this business model. Shifting towards ecommerce, or really any other types of revenue as long as they are distinct, has the ability to act like an insurance policy for your company. If something were to shut down one portion of your business again, hopefully you would be able to remain afloat because of your other revenue streams.
Overall, being flexible is not only good business, it will also make you a lot less stressed when and if something does go wrong.
Competition
Randal Gindi claims that assessing your competition is a must if you wish to succeed as an entrepreneur. And Gindi is not just talking about doing a deep dive into your competitors one time, as you develop your initial business plan. Rather, he means regularly and frequently assessing both your direct and indirect competitors.
Two of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is failing to monitor their competitors as the business grows and only focusing on their direct competitors. Indirect competition can have just as big an impact on your business.
The difference between direct and indirect competitors is as follows. Direct competitors offer almost the exact same product or service that you offer, while indirect competitors offer the same or a similar solution to the one that your service or product offers, even if their product or service is completely different.
Keeping tabs on both types of competitors, especially amidst this pandemic when companies are changing quickly, is of the utmost importance.