Critical Elements for Success

A successful business doesn’t get built by change or grow overnight. Look at any startup, for instance. While many of them were born out of unexpected opportunities, startups become successful in the hands of an intentional leader who ensures the right elements to achieve goals.

Take it from Lil Roberts, Founder, and CEO at Xendoo. She’s a leader-entrepreneur with a passion for people who has dedicated her life to helping small businesses and startups. Lil shares about the elements you need to be successful in business and how to get them.

Hard work

Technology today continues to give us the gift of convenience. Because of modern innovations, we can live our lives almost devoid of manual labor. But it makes it easy for us to be slaves to leisure and conveniences to the point that we take for granted or even forget the importance of hard work. For Lil, if we want to be proactive leaders, we must not be afraid to get up and do the work. We need to train ourselves to be productive.

Hard work is like a muscle you must develop. You've got to develop this pattern and you'll get stronger and stronger at it. You’ll develop the capability of doing all these amazing things, whatever you put your mind into. – Lil Roberts

To build a work ethic that centers around productivity, you need to start with knowing yourself intently. What are the things you're passionate about? What are your interests? How are you spending your time and moving towards your goals? Line these up and you’ll start seeing if you need to make some changes. Lil gave us an important reminder to be like water because water always finds a way. Don't be so stubborn. Be ready to shift gears if you have to, find a way or a solution if you’re stuck, and adapt to changes.

When you work for the right reasons, it means you want to contribute to society. You’d want to be productive, you’d want to lead with high integrity and be part of a team. When you live your life that way, great things happen. – Lil Roberts

Right timing

One often-overlooked element in the formula of success is timing. Take the cautionary tale of some unfortunate businesses that may have been ahead of their time. They introduced innovations the world weren’t ready for until their successors came up with more refined solution years or even decades later. It may be the same solution or innovation that’s just a bit polished or improved, but it’s just what’s needed at that exact moment in time.

Being at the right place at the right time with the right product, service, solution or innovation - that’s the uncanny element of success!

Timing is your friend. The money and effort you’re investing in your business ideas is the cost of opportunity. When the timing is off, even the most excellent and innovative ideas could fail. 

Finding the right time to act and launch things is a skill. It requires an investigative mind to gather data, identify patterns, and analyze information.

Right team

Good leaders always have a good team behind them. A good team is composed of the right people who share your mindset. They understand your goals and support the growth of your business. But before you form the right team, you first have to know where you’re at with your business. What’s the current situation? Where are you leading to? What do you need to urgently achieve?

When you bring in the team that your business needs, that’s going to be a wonderful experience for both the human and the business. Magic happens. People think that it's the technology or the customers, but really what makes a business work is having the right team. – Lil Roberts

The best additions to your team are the ones with high potential and learning curves. They’re the most motivated. So how do you make sure you find these hidden gems? Make hiring interviews a conversation, but with the goal of knowing them intently, learn about their values and traits, the way they organize themselves, and priorities in life.