Entrepreneurship is not everyone’s cup of tea,in fact becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most challenging career paths. In today’s volatile business environment, building a successful entrepreneurial business can be daunting and overwhelming but it is extremely rewarding at the same time.

One has to remember that success doesn’t come overnight, along with a clear strategy, entrepreneurship requires grit, dedication and the drive to do more. Below are some of my go-to strategies that I feel an entrepreneur must keep in mind in order to make their business grow:

• Understand your customer/consumer: Build persona and justify product market fit.

• Research and analyze the market thoroughly:Understand your market in & out.

• Build an awesome team with clear goals & responsibilities:Hire smart people and horse for courses. Don’t fall for big school pass outs and people who might have worked in large organizations. You need to get the work done.

• Be patient, keep perseverance and be flexible, and keep flushing your ego from time to time.

Always keep in mind your only objective is to build this business and keep your customers happy all the time. You don’t want to prove anyone wrong, so anything which is aligning to your bigger goal do that.

• Stay away from “startup advisors” or “experts”: Go to their LinkedIn profile if it’s too jazzy stay away, your need one or two trusted mentors at max. People will promise you money, connects, business in return of free equity. Stay away from such bozos.

• Stay close to your customer &Pay attention to feedback: While your product is in the market on a small scale, make use of this time to take feedback from your customers. Take feedback from users and incorporate it in your business strategy. Acknowledging and listening to your customers will only create brand advocates in the future. If you are consistently getting similar comments on a specific product, you look into it and take a serious note of it. A fresh perspective will help you pinpoint the areas which require improvement.

• Keep learning always: Continuous learning is very important to broaden your horizons. It helps you acquire knowledge and expand your skill-sets. It is an extremely important step for personal and professional development and helps to avoid stagnation and achieve your fullest potential.

• Build empathic and lasting relationships:The importance of building solid relationships simply cannot be highlighted enough.Developing strong and positive professional relationships will help you strengthen your business. One of your most important assets is your network as it helps you bring opportunities.

According to me, these are a few important strategies that will help you in your entrepreneurial journey. Apart from these key steps, remember being an entrepreneur along with passion, hard work and focus.

If you are not passionate enough, you won’t be able to ignite the same level of passion in your team. Another important quality I believe is perseverance, there is no such thing as overnight success, behind each and every little success lies years of hard work and dedication.