When it occurred to me that this year I’ve reached the 10-year milestone of entrepreneurship since starting my company, I began to reflect on the hardest-won lessons. There are too many to list, but I consolidated the most valuable ones into 24 principles that I hope will benefit other entrepreneurs and leaders. These are lessons gleaned from ten years of closing deals, losing deals, building teams, traveling the world in pursuit of goals and also striving to give back by promoting entrepreneurship globally for millennials and generation Z.

1. Be patient. With enough time, every battle can be won.

2. Don’t force things. Give 110% effort and if it’s meant to happen, it will. You can’t control what you can’t control.

3. Your time here is short. So make the most of it.

4. But you have so much time. Not every dream comes true immediately. Stay in the box for as long as it takes.

5. Don’t confuse emotions with instincts. One is honed from past experience and will often guide you correctly. The other will lead to irrational mistakes. The only way to discern between the two is to know yourself and reflect.

6. Gut reactions can kill…ideas, deals, companies and reputations. There’s a difference between being deliberate and rushing. Have a plan, be intentional, execute. But do it on your terms and after careful planning. Never out of reaction.

7. Sometimes idols will let you down. You still learn from them.

8. Not everybody is who you think they are. And that’s ok. There’s something you can learn from every person you meet.

9. Meet people where they are. You can’t change people who don’t want to change.

10. It’s ok if they don’t like you. Leadership isn’t a popularity test. Make the best decisions you can with the information and experience that you have.

11. Govern on principles, not trends or fads. Decide what you stand for and build your organization around it.

12. It’s easy to make a decision. It’s much harder to manage it everyday.

13. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You can’t go to work on your 25-year goal immediately. Focus on your 1-year goal first and build incrementally. If you try to skip too many rungs at a time, you’ll fall off the ladder.

14. People need a leader with a steady hand. Don’t flip-flop.

15. If you’re on the fence about something, you probably shouldn’t do it.

16. As your business grows, don’t stop doing the small, unscalable things.

17. Calm, consistent and committed over time will always beat short-sighted, overly-aggressive and ruthless.

18. You can’t outwork the whole world so build systems and teams.

19. Show up. Every single time. Even when you don’t want to.

20. We all have an obligation to serve. Our unique skills and talents allow us to contribute in different ways, but we all have an obligation to serve.

21. Believe in those who don’t believe in themselves. They will surprise you.

22. Don’t contribute to the world’s darkness. Be a light for others.

23. Don’t let people on Facebook and Instagram tell you how to run your business.

24. Don’t tempt fate. Take calculated risks.

Growing your business is all but easy, especially when you need to develop it beyond the start-up phase and establish a more solid position. An efficient market strategy needs to focus on more than just selling, and must be built around some critical goals you need to achieve. Expanding your customer base is the first target you want to reach, but how could you achieve this feat in a simple and efficient way?

Here are the top three tips that will help you boost your business growth:

Build a solid relationship with your customer base

The most forward-thinking approach to ensure your startup is always healthy and thriving, is to focus on your customer base’s satisfaction. Think about your most loyal customers as the foundation upon which you’re going to build and develop your company, both in the short and in the long-term as well. Statistics from the White House Office of Consumer Affairs tell us that a loyal customer can be worth up to 10 times more than their first purchase. The probability to sell a product to a new prospect is just 5–20% on average: just a fraction of the nearly 70% chance to sell it to an existing customer. And since 68% of buyers quit or switch to another company or brand just because of the staff indifference towards them, it’s easy to understand why building a solid relationship with them is so important.

Add alternative channels to reach more clients

Are you selling or promoting your product only through a couple of social medias and/or your website? Have you ever thought of, say, advertise it with a YouTube video or a Podcast sponsorship? Covering all the bases of the many advertisement and selling channels available can be very hard and time-consuming, but a lot of startups end up becoming stagnant simply because they’re not reaching the right public. Diversifying your offer may sometimes mean you need to rethink your strategy (for example by selling your software as a service instead of as a product), but frequently gives you a rather unique opportunity to expand your customer base much more than you could ever expect.

Focus on data-driven results and streamlined marketing methods

The most efficient marketing strategies are those that begin with a thorough analysis of your company’s numbers and statistics. Many new tools and software will let you keep track of what your customers really want by checking their behavior, and streamline your sales by collecting precious information. All this data is critical to make full use of the opportunities given by marketing automation solutions, too. Automated processes will help you save time and money, for example, by reducing the need for your staff to spend a lot of effort and resources on repetitive tasks. Companies that improved their marketing efforts with data-driven strategies achieved three times more customer engagement and a 35% increase in revenues compared with those who didn’t.

Top 3 Business Growth Hacks That Go Beyond Selling was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As the millennial generation continues to grow and make an impact, the business world is starting to see increased changes brought on by this generation. The result is a major shift in the landscape of today’s workplace, and while some are still getting used to the idea of this new millennial-friendly work environment, many major corporations are making some big changes to accommodate the lifestyle and the needs of this revolutionary generation.

Millennials have already surpassed Generation X and the Baby Boomers to become the biggest presence in the workforce today. So what impact have they exactly had? Here are a few key ways millennials are shaping today’s business world.

They’ve Made Social Media Bigger Than it Ever Was Before

Millennials were the first generation to rely on social media — you will almost never see a millennial without their phone in their hand, or sitting on the table in front of them. As a result, social media is now bigger than ever before not only for social purposes, but in for business as well.

Social media marketing has in and of itself become one of the most influential ways to promote virtually any business, product or service. Social media is not dying anytime soon, as the generation to come relies on social media even impossibly even more so than millennials.

They Demand Flexibility and Work Life Balance

Millennials are starting to demand more of a work-life balance and the result is a major change in the former 9–5 model that most corporations abided by for decades. Many millennials are demanding to have it all both at work and at home, more companies are getting used to the idea of flexible hours, work-from-home jobs and telecommuting.

The result is allowing many young workers to balance their growing families with their growing careers. There are also many millennials who are moving towards more freelance work, as creating their own schedule is extremely appealing.

They Are Consuming Products Differently

Millennials aren’t just shaping the way that businesses operate, they are shaping the landscape of consumers as well. As millennials become some of the major spenders in our market today, companies are starting to look for ways to change and ultimately meet the needs of these tech-savvy consumers. This means focusing not only on online commerce, but on making sure that reviews are plentiful as well.

In fact, over half of millennials say they would trust an online review over the opinion of a friend or family member. Now that’s saying something. This generation is strongly dependent on the reviews and opinions of others, which is why more and more companies are focusing on curating positive reviews and comments to meet the needs of today’s consumers.

They Are Demanding a Sense of Purpose in the Workplace

Perhaps one of the most interesting changes that has been brought on by the millennial generation is that they are looking for a sense of purpose with their jobs. This has become very important for companies who are looking to recruit future talent, and keep them happy.

Millennials want a job where they have a sound, meaningful purpose and they want to work for a company that is actually advancing the wellbeing of our society in new and innovative ways. This is challenging companies to stand by their mission, and ensure that their employees are connected to the purpose and passion that the organization must promote in order to keep millennials happy.

If you are looking to stay ahead of the curve in today’s fast-paced marketing world, then it is time to pay attention to the way that millennials are shaping the market. Changing to fit the needs and lifestyle of this generation has been the key for many businesses who are looking to stay relevant in this ever-changing market.

Richard Lorenzen is an American entrepreneur, investor and speaker. He is the founder and CEO of the New York public relations firm Fifth Avenue Brands. The firm focuses on media relations serving the tech, finance and policy spaces. He is regularly cited as one of the most influential millennial entrepreneurs in America. LinkedIn named Richard one of the top millennial influencers of 2016 while Entrepreneur Magazine ranked him one of the top 50 people in digital marketing and Inc. Magazine ranked him one of the top eight entrepreneurs on Twitter.

Originally published at www.startupgrind.com.

During the first 10–15 days of January there is undoubtedly a lot of motivation in the air as everybody rushes off to the gym and the office to accomplish the goals they’ve set for themselves.

Everybody is looking for a fresh start to achieve new things and they believe that the change of the calendar will give them that. But the calendar changing will not change your life. Only you can. And after those first 10–15 days of January, most people are not able to muster the discipline and commitment to continue on with those goals they set for themselves in the previous December.

But for the few who do, it is their own effort and sacrifice that causes their lives to change in the new year. I hope you are among the rare percentage. If you are determined to truly make this year better than the last, here are a few of the action steps that I’ve used to make each of my years better than the last. If you follow through on them, they can change your life as they have mine.

1. Choose 6 New Books to Read

What you read and the content you expose your mind to plays a major role in the direction that your life goes in each year. Based on the areas of your life you want to grow in this year, new expertise that you want to acquire and what your interests are, choose six books that you will commit to completing before the end of the year. If you complete them early, choose another six!

Here are a few books that I recommend for 2017:

1. Find Me Unafraid — Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner
2. Wake Up Happy — Michael Strahan
3. Known & Unknown: A Memoir — Donald Rumsfeld
4. So Good They Can’t Ignore You — Cal Newport
5. The Road to Character — David Brooks
6. Grit — Angela Duckworth

Of course, you can also pick up my own book: Surge: Supercharge Your Life, Business & Legacy.

2. Visit At Least 1 Country You Have Not Been To

The best education I have gotten has come from the countries I’ve visited. It has not only taught me more about global affairs and the state of our world than any book could have, but it has also given me greater perspective and helped me better understand people from a vast variety of backgrounds. Participating in other cultures fosters greater understanding and compassion.

Travel has never been more affordable and accessible thanks to technology. No matter what obstacles you need to overcome, resolve to visit at least one new country this year that you’ve always wanted to see. You’ll not only learn a lot, but you’ll find a new sense of accomplishment and confidence.

A few countries and territories that I’ve enjoyed spending time in:

1. Singapore
2. Austria
3. Korea
4. Japan
5. Italy
6. Guam

3. Attend at Least 1 New Event or Conference

If you’re an entrepreneur or business professional, conferences provide immense opportunity to grow your network, forge invaluable friendships and increase your expertise in your field.

If you’re not interested in business, there are conferences and events for just about any other interest or profession you have. There is not a single conference I’ve attended that hasn’t helped me grow in some way and been an enriching experience.

If you’re interested in some of the conferences I’ve found most valuable, check out:

1. Collision Conference
2. Inc. GrowCo
3. Inbound
4. Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit
5. Concordia Summit

4. Try 1 New Activity or Skill

Resolve to try at least one new activity or skill this year that excites you. Adventure and trying new things is part of what makes a year memorable. Whether it’s sports, learning a new language, an extreme adventure or a new hobby, choose just one thing (so that you do not procrastinate due to a lack of time) and commit to doing it by booking it, putting it on your calendar, or whatever you need to do right now.

Here are some activities you might try to add adventure to your new year:

1. Learn a new language.
2. Play a new sport.
3. Book an adventure such as hiking, kayaking or rock climbing.
4. Begin a new hobby, such as collecting.

5. Change Your Financial Situation

This is a common goal that many people find elusive year after year. Change your financial situation once and for all by setting one major financial goal for the year. Lay out a plan with every step needed to get there, and commit to following through on each step required no matter what obstacle you face.

The key to achieving financial goals is specificity and detailed planning:

1. Set a highly specific goal with a deadline. (ie. I will earn $X in income by X date). Write this goal down on paper and commit to this being your only financial goal until it’s reached.
2. Write a plan on paper of the exact steps you need to take each day and week to make your goal a reality. It could mean increasing your business’s sales by contacting a certain number of new prospects every day. It could mean putting an action plan into place at work to earn a raise from your employer. It could also mean saving and investing more of your money into new assets or a new venture. Lay out the exact steps you need to take until the point where there is no uncertainty about how to reach your goal.
3. Make the sacrifices necessary to carry out your plan each day. Stick to it for an entire year. Progress doesn’t happen in the first 30 days.

6. Seek Out 1 New Mentor

Mentors have changed my life and the lives of all of my friends who run successful businesses. No matter what your goals for 2017 may be, identify people who have already achieved them and reach out to them for advice. More often than not, people are willing to help others who aspire to follow in their footsteps. You may need to reach out to a lot of potential mentors before you find the right fit, but the right mentor will change your life.

7. Bonus: Stop Making Excuses

Now that you’ve made it to the bottom of this list, you have undoubtedly already decided that at least one of the items on this list is unattainable for you or unrealistic. Some of them you have decided to put off for later. Your mindset and lack of willingness to move outside your comfort zone is what has held you back in previous years more than any other external obstacle you’ve encountered. If you don’t commit to changing that now, 2017 will look a lot like 2016. I hope you decide to see those imagined limits as what they really are and fight to overcome them this year.

If you believe there are too few hours in a day, you’re not making the most of your day. In fact, 99 percent of people are not making productive use of the time they have. By making simple changes to your work habits you can make the most of your work time. So how can you boost your productivity right now?

Schedule your time.

Multitasking is not a good thing. It’s the most common misconception about being productive. Multitasking slows you down. Completing tasks one at a time means you’re less likely to make mistakes and you will get more done.

People multitask because they have no daily structure. Solve this by creating a solid schedule of tasks. Start with the hardest tasks and work your way down the list. Such a simple change can have a big difference on your mindset and make you more ordered.

Stop checking email and social media.

When you check email or a site like Facebook it can take up to 30 minutes to return to the task at hand. Employees spend too much time checking emails and messages that are rarely urgent.

Get into the habit of blocking email and social media outside of certain parts of the day. Start and end your day with these tasks. Set up an automatic message telling people to call you if something is urgent. You’ll be shocked at how much time this saves.

Learn to delegate.

People in leadership positions often try to take on every task by themselves. These leaders think they should handle everything because they’re the best people for the job. Most of the daily tasks, like making appointments and calling back less-important clients, can and should be delegated.

Spending extra resources on delegating those tasks will free up more time for leaders to take on important challenges.

Value your time more.

Keep up the big picture. Time is wasted panicking over the small details within a project?

Unless you happen to be a surgeon, most of these details don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Yes, you need to get things as perfect as possible, but don’t lose sight of the high-level view. Keep your eyes on the big picture and focus on the next big stage of the project instead of concentrating on the details.

Take a break.

The brain can only function at peak levels for a short amount of time. Take a break every 60 to 90 minutes. You’ll be better equipped to work hard if you do it in short bursts. The least productive people tend to be the ones who work for hours without a break.

Begin training yourself to be more productive today. Making little changes right now can make all the difference.

This article was originally published on Entrepreneur.

Building a company is never easy no matter how old (or young) you are. I started building my company when I was a 15 year old student and I found the learning curve to be steeper than anything I’d imagined. But there are some lessons every entrepreneur can learn from building a company from a young age. These are the lessons that I learned from building a company by the time I was 24.

Setting Goals Must Happen in the Right Way

You likely already know about the importance of setting goals. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to set goals. Your goals must be specific and every part of those goals should be defined in a quantified way. You must be as specific as possible.

For example, you need a concrete deadline. And when you have those parameters set you absolutely must stick to them. Never start lowering your targets or changing the goal just because you’re afraid of not reaching the original goal.

Adopt the Right Habits for Success

I believe that habits are key to your long-term success. Those who practice good habits daily are much more likely to succeed because they’re making small but regular steps towards their goals. Their habits are also ensuring that they’re being consistent and not simply making big jumps every so often.

I’ve adopted a few habits that I believe were key to me sticking to my guns and building my company. Some of them included taking care of my health, waking up early, reading regularly, and avoiding negativity. There were many more, of course, but I believe that habits are not just work-related they’re a whole lifestyle.

Consistency Will Always Win the Day

Students are not known for their consistency. This is something that many younger entrepreneurs struggle with at first. Success is not built on the big triumphs. It’s the little victories won every single day. A week of regularity builds momentum, and when you have that momentum things just happen. When you break that momentum, it kills everything that came before.

I truly believe that persistence is what sets the good entrepreneurs apart from the great entrepreneurs.

Reflection Reveals Key Truths

It’s easy for entrepreneurs to get carried away with everything. The reality is that a busy schedule can take over and consume you. It leaves no time for self-reflection. You need to set aside some time every single day to reflect on events in the past, in the present, and in the future. It’s the only way you’re going to achieve what you want to achieve.

Without taking stock, you’re never going to get that wide view you need to make good decisions. One thing I found valuable was to visualize myself achieving those goals. Thinking about what you want to do and how you want to do it can be extremely powerful.

Conclusion — The Lessons of Failure

These four lessons were all learned through failures and obstacles along the way. Failure can be one of the most positive things in your life. What do you think is the biggest lesson you can learn about entrepreneurship?

What I’ve Learned About Building a Successful Company by 24 Years Old was originally published in Small Business Forum on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The hardest challenge you’ll face after becoming successful is maintaining that success. When your business is just starting, you set up an initial goal: Make x amount of profit, reach x number of customers, etc. When you finally achieve that target, it’s normal to release all the tension, anxiety and stress that you carried over.

Although it’s healthy to recharge, it seems that no sooner is a specific goal met than a new one appears in its place. This certainly is true in my own experience, and it’s supported by evaluations of other entrepreneurs.

There’s very little time to ease up on the qualities and habits that made you successful in the first place. In the demanding and tough field of entrepreneurship, it’s imperative not to become lazy or careless with your craft. Tackling each target with the same care and attention as your first is the only way to climb the ladder of success. If you can identify with one or more of these five bad habits, it might prevent you from reaching the top rung.

1. Getting comfortable and complacent.

This is the №1 problem among those who achieve some level of success. When money is no longer tight, you lose your sense of urgency to make more. You begin to relax. Remember, at all times you’re either growing or dying. When you decide to coast for a little while because you don’t feel an immediate need to hustle, can you guess which one you’re doing?

Find ways to maintain that lean and hungry mood, even if and when you have a comfortable amount in the bank. You need a system in place to prevent complacency. That could mean continuously setting increasingly larger goals and rewarding yourself for reaching them, investing large amounts of your available cash so you always have an immediate need to make more or a finding a board of directors whose members will give you a kick in the behind.

2. Not watching your spending or accounting.

When you first see your account balance exceed your expectations, it’s easy to forget you still must track your spending and accounting systems closely. Costs can spin out of control before you know it, leading to financial problems for your company. No matter how well your business is doing, watch your books as if you’re just starting out. It’s important to maintain discipline with your budget even if you can afford not to at this precise moment. You’ll thank yourself later.

3. Losing focus on daily management.

Simply put, the more successful you become, the more freedom you have to spend your time pursuing activities beyond the work of running your business. It’s rewarding and restorative to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but keep your finger on the pulse of your business as you did in your early days. Otherwise, you could find yourself starting over with some hard lessons learned.

4. Getting distracted by additional ventures.

Once you make one business successful, it’s easy to convince yourself you can turn any business into a success. Don’t fall into this trap. Avoid letting new projects distract you from your core business. If you’re thinking about starting a second venture, make sure you have a solid management system and a team who can run your first company just as well as you can. Manage and care for each business as if it was your only one. There’s nothing to brag about if you own a half-dozen companies and none makes you a profit.

5. Not performing due diligence with investments.

This one’s a close — and costly — cousin to letting yourself be tempted by new side projects. Once you have a successful business, you might assume any investment you touch will flourish. You’d be wrong. Be warned: You’ll make some of your worst investments while you ride the wave of success. Each time you invest, exercise the same (or more) due diligence you would if you were investing your last dollar.

Originally published at www.entrepreneur.com on August 3, 2016.