Education sometimes prepares you only to become an obedient employee. This creates a severe lack of knowledge on how to get control of your life, build a business and become an entrepreneur. Being self-employed is a challenging endeavour to pursue, but once you push through with it, the results are rewardingly worth it. And since it is a challenging feat, we all need business advice and guidance that can steer our lives in the right direction.

In this episode, D. Anthony Miles discusses his insights about being an entrepreneur and the mindset someone with a business should adopt. He shares his thoughts about being self-employed compared to being a regular employee. He also gives advice on what to focus on when growing a business and seeking economic opportunities. Join us and learn more about how you, whether you’re a student or an employee, can also become an entrepreneur.

About Our Guest:

Anthony Miles is an entrepreneur, award-winning professor, best-selling author and nationally-acclaimed startup expert. He is the CEO and Founder of Miles Development Industries Corporation®. It is a consulting and venture capital firm focused on solving problems and providing strategies for business clients. He is also a forensic marketing expert and a statistician with experience in research as well as risk analysis.

Lifesaving Business Advice for Students, Employees, and Entrepreneurs:

Personal Beginnings:

• His grandfather owned a gas station.
• He learned from his father that opportunity doesn’t just come to you, and you shouldn’t just wait for it.
• The bank he was working for downsized, and he lost his job.
• “A job is having only one client that supplies all your money.”

Why You Should Start a Business:

• Your job is never secure, and your hard work can easily go to waste after getting fired.
• Human resources are capital that can be easily cut to reduce costs.
• We are going into a digital and modern information age where human labour does not have as much value anymore.
• The industrial revolution mentality of staying in one company and living off your retirement does not exist anymore.
• The goal of businesses is to streamline your resources and streamline your labour.
• Employees want to get more, and employers want to pay less.

Essential Business Advice: Starting as an Entrepreneur:

• Be a hammer, not a nail.
• Look for opportunities. The mindset is: I see an opportunity. Then, what is it going to take to put something together and seize that opportunity?
• We have to “de-employee” ourselves and get out of our industry and routine of work.
• When you graduate, create a job and dominate an industry instead of simply looking for a job.

How to Build a Winning Business:

• Beware of the market saturation.
• Do not fish in the same pond as everyone else.
• The key is to know something nobody else knows.
• Business is about building and maintaining relationships.
• The loyalty of your customers is important.
• You also have to reinvent your business every five years to adapt.

What Can Hold You Back From Your Career:

• People that don’t understand the entrepreneur’s mindset will try to bring you down.
• Having an employee mindset going into entrepreneurship will set you back. This happens when you try to save money, instead of saving time.

Habits of a Successful Entrepreneur:

• Have a positive outlook but be ready to deal with challenges.
• Look at life as a chess move.
• Have your antenna up. Seek opportunities.
• Move forward because you only either save time or save money.
• Accomplish more for the day by getting up early, as well as being productive with your time.

The Future of the Industry:

• Be aware of the paradigm shifts.
• Technology is getting better, and outsourcing will be bigger.
• Having a college degree is not a competitive advantage anymore.
• Always adjust to the disruptions to the market by rethinking your business model.
• Even if you are at the top or the bottom, you still have to perform.

Resources

• The Five Forces Of Entrepreneurial Risk by D. Anthony Miles
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

For more insights about starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur, connect with Anthony through his website or LinkedIn.