What Does it Take to Thrive as an Entrepreneur? It is critical that you map out your journey 10 steps in advance

Fifteen years ago, CEOs and founders were not considered "cool" enough; they were thought of as boring and bland. Fast forward to 2018 and entrepreneurship is the next best thing, and for good reason. The road to starting your own business and being successful at it, however, is full of twists and turns.

Here are five tips that will make the journey a bit easy.

Know yourself first

Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone. Not everyone gets a kick out of virtually non-existent weekends and late nights, so get your priorities right and know yourself first.

If you think you want to get into entrepreneurship, find out what drives you and keeps you motivated. To know yourself you need to look at your past habits and actions. Knowing yourself is essential, as when times get tough you need to clearly know what drives you.

Have a plan

There's a possibility that your first entrepreneurial venture won't succeed, and that's okay. It is critical you map out your journey 10 steps in advance. Build your plan with multiple contingencies so there will never be a time when you wake up and question your next step forward. Don't get me wrong, you can always change your plan but you need to have something to guide you, like a road map. The worst feeling as an entrepreneur is to have a foggy vision. Having said that, ensure that you plan for failure as well. Though it may not seem glamorous, a backup plan is important.

Know when to kill an idea

For most entrepreneurs, their first business idea was never the greatest one. Instead of trying to find the perfect one, take every failure as a blessing, as it's only moving you a step closer to the winning idea. It is important to know when to kill an idea because you should not spend years on something that will never work.

Don't become emotionally attached, know when it is time to let go and move on. If your idea succeeds, that's excellent; if not, learn everything you can from the failure.

Become obsessed

Once you find that winning idea, giving up on your business because it seems too hard is not the way to go. Know what you are getting yourself into and commit. Be smart and calculate where your energy is going to go because if you're not 100 per cent committed and passionate, it's easy to burn out. Do whatever it takes or re-evaluate your mission because if you aren't obsessed, re-evaluating is the best option as it's going to save you many years of hardship.

10x your goals

Set unrealistic goals that seem way out of reach. This may seem ridiculous but once you start expanding your ideas, the possibilities are endless. Instead of proclaiming you want to grow your company's revenue by 2 per cent this financial year, why not set it at 20 per cent? Even though this may seem unattainable, you are going to aim for 20 per cent and will most probably hit 10 per cent if you work hard enough, which is much better than 2 per cent, right?