Top 10 Rules for Successful Entrepreneurs

by Kim Lavine

90% of success is in your head. Here's how to fix the messages in your head holding you back from success.

1. Dream HUGE or Go Home

All great journeys are begun on the strength of just one individual and their dream.

Everybody loves a dreamer. Well...almost everybody; some people are jealous of dreamers. Others either want to be like them, or be with them. Steve Jobs said the people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. Be crazy enough to dream.

2. Crazy Is Good

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said "Innovation never comes from the establishment. It always comes from a graduate student, a crazy person, or a person with vision."

If you  have a job in this country, it's because someone was crazy enough to dream. America has always been about betting on the crazy hopes and dreams of a few crazy people. If people aren't calling you 'crazy,' you're not trying hard enough. (from The Mommy Manifesto)

3. Break Rules

I’ve never made anything happen by following rules, and not following rules has proven to be an effective strategy.

The road to success is choked up with people standing in line for permission. The rules as they stand were meant to be broken. I've never worked harder, traveled further, dug deeper, dreamt bigger, risked more for so many--on a dream.

3. Fail Early, Fail Often

There is no shame in failing, only in quitting.

Kick fear to the curb There is no comfort zone on the ladder of success, so get outside your comfort zone DAILY If you're not failing regularly, you're not working hard enough. That's the advice from the most successful VC and Angel investor I know, who helped start Google, PayPal, Napster and 40+ more.

4. Fear Nothing

Fear is the doorway to all change and opportunity. Are you going to go through it or sit in your room?

Becoming a millionaire means learning to recognize that fear can be conquered through information, where others allow a lack of information to create fear. (from Mommy Millionaire)

5. Go All In

Just like you can't be a "little pregnant," you can't be a "little committed" to success. It's all or nothing, so GO ALL IN

Speaking in a vernacular I’ve learned from years in the male-dominated world of business, getting to the top demands such incredible fortitude, such Heroic nerve, such balls out, balls-to-the-wall, ball-busting, brass balls confidence that even a moment’s hesitation in the race to each day’s finish line can result in failure. (from The Mommy Maniffesto - watch the video)

6. Break Down Doors

Got a Million Dollar Idea? Then what's holding you back from turning it into a million dollars?

Turning a dream into reality is not about luck and it's not rocket science. Break down doors, take some lumps, and pursue your dreams courageously and fearlessly every day! Because sometimes the difference between failure and success is just one phone call. This isn't going to be easy, but you will be successful.

7. Don't Quit

No Quitters, Criers, Complainers, or Cowards--Especially No Quitters!  Never Give Up

“Keep pushing!” this Macy's Vice President told me, while I shook his hand. I was awed that he had come to visit me and amazed that he cared this much. “I want you to call every buyer in the Macy’s chain till you find someone committed to this product’s success. Tell them that I personally told you to push it through the stores! Don’t give up until you do!”

8. Stand Up for Yourself

Tell your critics what I tell mine: Your underestimation of me is what drives me on to greater success daily.

Some people in this world are jealous of passionate people. We’re taught early to go to school, get good grades, get a good degree, then a good job with a good title in a good career track. Becoming an entrepreneur means learning to value ideas and passion over degrees and job titles. (from Mommy Millionaire)

9. You're Fabulous; Now OWN it!

You're FABULOUS! Now go tell the world You're FABULOUS until you can hire a Publicist to tell them You're FABULOUS!

I want you to want success. I want you to be unapologetic about wanting more, wanting recognition, wanting fame, and wanting money. I want you to take risks that call on every ounce of courage and faith that you possess to get it, even if it results in pain and disappointment. (from The Mommy Manifesto)

10. Forget Lose Weight, Make Money!

Maybe we need to replace “lose weight, be pretty, lose weight, be pretty, lose weight,” with “kick butt, knock down doors, stand up for ourselves, be smart, and take what’s ours.”

Women own 48% of all businesses, but only receive 4% of all private equity to start and grow those businesses each year. As a result only 3% of women-owned businesses have annual revenues of a million dollars or more. So what’s stopping us? What's stopping you? GET STARTED TODAY!

"Raising capital is the single most important job any start-up entrepreneur has to do, and nobody’s teaching anybody how to do it—until now."  Kim Lavine