5 Success Tips From My Entrepreneurship Journey Here are five success tips that will help ease your load as you embark on this journey of yours.

By Solomon Lacy III

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Entrepreneurship is a lot of hard work, and it's not easy to get off the ground. But if you keep at it long enough, there are many successes out there for people who simply try.

I owe my success to the lessons I learned along the way — here are five in particular that have continued to take my business to the next level:

1. Act like the boss

To operate as a true CEO, you must first fire yourself as the assistant. Assistants ask for permission, bosses take charge.

Do you want to be the CEO of your life? Then put yourself in a position to take charge.

Related: 6 Timeless Strategies That Drive Successful Entrepreneurship

2. Stop spending so much time to save money and start spending money to save time

Time is our greatest currency. The money you have grants you more time to be productive and create new opportunities for your business to thrive.

3. Redirect your focus to things with the highest ROI

No decision will pay off more than prioritizing your life to give an extreme focus to those things that produce the highest return.

I'm not telling you what you to do in your personal time, but I am saying the more time you spend focusing on things that will not produce high returns, the longer it will take you to reach your goals.

4. You will face opposition from those close to you — and those who don't know you will become your greatest support

Sometimes people just like to hate or dislike you because they see the success that you have now and feel they deserve the same for work they haven't even put in. This is just one common unavoidable occurrence entrepreneurs experience on their journey. Understand that as transparent as you may try to be, people will try to discredit the hard work you put in because of what they didn't see.

Just add their hate to your motivation tank and keep it moving.

Related: 11 Quotes on Kindness That Every Entrepreneur Needs to Read

5. Make friends that force you to level up

Networking is the one thing that can get you further, faster — more than hard work, sweat equity, where you're from, who your parents are or what they did (or didn't do).

By networking, in just one conversation, you can literally advance yourself two years. Make sure that you are building, nourishing and maintaining relationships that are beneficial to and for you.

Bonus tip:

On this journey, you will have to trust. While this may not be easy for all, learning to trust other people will benefit you a great deal. However, do it smartly and never get burned twice. You need to make sure that you become unreachable to those who had all access to you and abused it.

Why? Because success is simply a window of opportunity. And more than anything on this list, you don't want to waste those opportunities going back and forth with people who don't share your vision.

Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing

Solomon Lacy III

Founder and CEO of Fresh Start Financials Group, Consultant

Solomon Lacy III is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Fresh Start Financials Group. He's formed and scaled businesses; helped individuals, companies and organizations across the globe with credit restoration; and has secured more than $30 million in funding for businesses.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

She Quit Her Job at Trader Joe's After Starting a Side Hustle With $800 — Then She and Her Brother Grew the Business to $20 Million

Jaime Holm and Matt Hannula teamed up to build a business in an industry that "didn't exist" yet.

Buying / Investing in Business

Former Zillow Execs Target $1.3T Market

Co-ownership is creating big opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Growing a Business

This Local Bakery Has Lines Out the Door. Here Are the Secrets to Its Success.

Known for its viral flat croissants and innovative desserts, Alexander's Patisserie also excels in hands-on leadership and team culture.

Business News

Microsoft Is Laying Off Over 6,000 Employees, About 3% of Its Workforce. Here's Why.

The company said the cuts will affect all divisions and locations, with a focus on managers.

Science & Technology

How to Access the Inner Power That Makes You Irreplaceable in an AI-Driven World

By awakening our Absolute Intelligence, we can lead with purpose, creativity and heart in a tech-driven world.