Why good entrepreneurs are great storytellers

OXFORD, U.K. - Sept. 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Years ago, when I was writing admissions essays for business school about what I wanted to do, I had no idea that all the things I was writing about would come true, but writing played a vital role in my success.

A good story is a powerful thing
If you were to ask a group of entrepreneurs about the skills they will need to start a business, writing and storytelling perhaps aren't obvious choices, but they are powerful tools when you are building a company. Entrepreneurs become great by inspiring customers and their team with a vision. If they can become great storytellers and share their passion for their vision the excitement will be contagious, and that will attract good people who will follow them.

Write it down
I suspect that a lot of people may feel silly or self-conscious writing out stuff in grandiose ways. Mapping out things that don't exist yet may all feel a bit fantastic, but I assure you, it does work.

Writing ideas down is a powerful tool; it may be the most powerful tool of all. Writing is action, and it takes the idea from your mind to the paper. It sounds easy, but it isn't. Next time you have an amazing idea, try writing it down, and you will find that it's not easy at all. Most people don't do it properly, or they simply give up.

Once you start to write, all kinds of things happen. When you finally do manage to get it the way you want it on paper, your brain has gone through an amazing process. Your plan will remain in your subconscious, and while you're not looking, it will find a way to manifest itself. Jung called this "synchronicity"; I call it having my prayers answered – when events coincide with what you have mapped out in your mind.

Talk is cheap
Everyone knows somebody who can really talk the talk. Somebody will probably spring to mind immediately – you have seen them dazzle people with their big dreams and great ideas in a bar or at dinner parties. However, very few of those people will take the time to sit down, pen in hand, sketch it out, and then actually try it. If you can write down your plan, create a story, and simplify and streamline what's in your head, you are more than halfway there. Then all you need to do is give it a try.

The importance of a plan
Imagine you are an architect. Every architect needs a plan. You can't construct a building without one. Everyone knows this, so why do so few people draft a plan for their business or their life? Early on, I cut out pictures and put them on a board to look at every day. It was my storyboard. Build a business plan, no matter how basic. Your plan will grow and evolve once you start. But never stop writing your plan. It should grow as you grow and change as your business changes.

Like most successful businesses, my business started as something I did on the side. In 1993, I was helping a friend build up his credit department at a bank, and at the same time, I started renovating apartments and renting them out. A year later, when I left the bank, I'd flipped about five apartments. I was using a host of people at different real estate agencies to find inventory for me, and I asked a few if they wanted to work with me full time. That was the start of our retail agency business.

Top tip for start-up success
Not many people know, but when a pilot flies a plane it is almost always off course. A plane spends 95% of its flight off its charted course. Weather, wind, and a variety of other factors shift an airplane off its intended flight plan, so it is the pilot's job to keep reevaluating the position and making corrections to ultimately land exactly on target. Why don't we do that with our lives?

Like a pilot, you need to keep correcting your course. When you write something down over and over, it keeps your goal clear in your mind. You create a powerful tool to make that goal come true, but circumstances change, so you will need to constantly revise your route to that goal.

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