6 Habits of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs That You Can Implement Today

Want to be a successful entrepreneur?

Success in entrepreneurship doesn’t happen by chance—it’s the product of intentional habits that create a strong foundation for growth and innovation. Each habit is a step toward personal growth, business resilience, and long-term achievement. 

Whether you’re launching your first venture or scaling an existing business, adopting the proven habits of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs can can significantly improve your path to success. Here are six habits that can elevate your entrepreneurial journey and help you achieve your dreams.

1. Commit to Continuous Reading

One of the most common traits among highly successful entrepreneurs is their insatiable appetite for knowledge through reading. Warren Buffett reportedly spends about 80% of his day reading, and Bill Gates reads around 50 books a year. Elon Musk famously taught himself rocket science by devouring textbooks. Books provide insights, spark new ideas, and offer diverse perspectives that help entrepreneurs innovate and stay ahead of the curve.

How to Implement This Habit:

• Make Reading Non-Negotiable: Dedicate at least 30 minutes to an hour each day for reading. Treat it like a critical meeting with yourself.

• Curate Your Library: Focus on books that align with your business goals or personal growth, such as biographies of influential leaders, books on innovation, or guides on strategic thinking.

• Go Beyond Business: Include a mix of genres—fiction, philosophy, or science. Diverse topics can lead to unexpected creative insights and a well-rounded perspective.

• Leverage Audiobooks: If your schedule is packed, turn your commute, workout, or chores into learning sessions by listening to audiobooks. Platforms like Audible or Blinkist offer quick summaries and in-depth options tailored for busy entrepreneurs.

Apply a "read and implement" strategy. For every book you finish, identify one actionable idea to implement in your business or personal life. By incorporating reading into your daily life, you cultivate a habit that enriches your knowledge and also propels your entrepreneurial journey forward. As they say, “Leaders are readers”—and this is one habit you can adopt today to build a legacy of success.

2. Master Money Management

Successful entrepreneurs know how to handle their finances meticulously. While this doesn't mean being frugal to the point of discomfort, but it does mean understanding the value of every dollar and how each one gets you closer or further from your goal. Some of the world’s top business leaders live in modest homes or even rent to keep their focus on investments that grow their business.

For instance, David Klein, the founder of CommonBond, lived in his office for years while building his multi-billion-dollar company. This level of financial awareness—understanding cash flow and strategic investments—can set you up for long-term success. Master your money, and you’ll master your business.

How to Implement This Habit:

• Track Every Dollar: Use financial management tools like QuickBooks, Mint, or Excel to monitor cash flow, income, and expenses. Knowing your numbers is essential to making informed decisions.

• Prioritize Investments: Focus on spending that directly contributes to growth, such as marketing, product development, or skill-building, instead of non-essential luxuries.

• Live Below Your Means: Adopt a lifestyle that aligns with your financial goals. This doesn’t mean deprivation, but rather a focus on smart spending.

• Set Financial Goals: Create short-term and long-term goals, such as achieving a specific profit margin, saving for expansion, or reducing unnecessary costs.

• Build a Cushion: Save an emergency fund for unexpected expenses to protect your business during lean times.

Learn from leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, who famously keeps his wardrobe simple to reduce decision fatigue and focus on bigger priorities. By mastering your finances, you’ll have more resources and freedom to focus on what truly matters: scaling your business, innovating, and achieving your vision. 

3. Thinking Big and Setting Ambitious Goals

The most successful entrepreneurs don’t settle for small things—they aim for greatness. Setting large, clear goals fuels their drive and keeps them focused on the bigger picture. Think of your business as a dragon you’re nurturing: 

Are you feeding it small, uninspiring goals, or are you preparing it to dominate the industry?

Successful entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, who envisions colonizing Mars, or Sara Blakely, who revolutionized an entire industry with Spanx, think beyond limitations. Their big, bold ambitions act as a compass, guiding every decision and action toward monumental achievements.

How to Implement This Habit:

• Define Your Vision: Begin by asking yourself what ultimate success looks like for your business. Whether it’s market domination, changing lives, or creating a legacy, make your vision crystal clear.

• Set BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals): Identify goals that push you out of your comfort zone. For example, aiming to grow revenue by 10x or launching a groundbreaking product.

• Break It Down: Create a roadmap with measurable milestones. Breaking big goals into actionable steps makes them more achievable and keeps you motivated.

• Stay Focused: Keep your big goal front and center. Use vision boards, reminders, or even affirmations to reinforce your ambition daily.

• Measure Progress: Regularly review and adjust your goals based on progress. Stay flexible but committed to your overarching vision.

Big ambitions might seem daunting, but they are what set apart the ordinary from the extraordinary. By thinking big and backing it with action, you align yourself with the mindset of the most successful entrepreneurs. Dream boldly, plan strategically, and act decisively—your dragon is waiting to soar!

4. Mastering Time Management

Time is the most valuable resource for an entrepreneur, and how you use it can determine your success. The most successful business leaders know that time isn’t just money—it’s growth, innovation, and opportunity. Focus on tasks that yield the highest return on investment (ROI) and delegate or eliminate low-priority tasks, this ensures every minute counts.

Instead of trying to do it all, successful entrepreneurs prioritize tasks that directly impact their business’s growth and delegate or eliminate low-priority activities. Tools like the Pomodoro Technique, time-blocking, and digital planners can help ensure you’re maximizing productivity.

How to Implement This Habit:

1. Identify High-ROI Tasks

Start each day by identifying your top three priorities—those that contribute most to your goals. Focus on these first.

2. Use Time-Management Techniques:

• Pomodoro Technique: Work in focused 25-minute intervals followed by a short break to maintain productivity and prevent burnout.

• Time-Blocking: Allocate specific blocks of time to particular tasks or projects to maintain structure and minimize multitasking.

3. Delegate Smartly: 

Assign tasks that don’t require your expertise to capable team members or outsource them, freeing up time for what truly matters.

4. Eliminate Time-Wasters: 

Audit your day for activities that drain time without adding value, such as excessive meetings, social media scrolling, or redundant processes.

5. Leverage Technology: 

Use tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion for task management and automation tools like Zapier to streamline repetitive work.

By focusing on high-value activities and managing your time effectively, you’ll stay in control of your day and make meaningful progress toward your goals. Remember, every minute you spend on low-priority tasks is time taken away from building your vision. Master your time, and you’ll master your path to success.

5. Building and Leveraging Powerful Network

Successful entrepreneurs understand that relationships are as valuable as skills or knowledge. In the business world, who you know often holds as much weight as what you know. A powerful network can provide mentorship, partnerships, investment opportunities, and invaluable advice to propel your business to the next level.

Take Matt Salzberg, founder of Blue Apron, as an example. He leveraged his Harvard network and venture capital connections to lead his company to a $1.9 billion IPO. Building a robust network—by attending industry events or joining mastermind groups—can help you open doors to growth and new opportunities.

How to Implement This Habit:

• Attend Industry Events: Participate in conferences, workshops, and meetups to connect with like-minded professionals. Always carry a business card and be prepared to introduce yourself with confidence.

• Join Networking Groups: Engage in mastermind groups, business associations, or online communities such as LinkedIn, where you can share ideas and gain insights.

• Be Proactive: Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you—reach out to potential mentors, partners, or collaborators. A personalized email or message can go a long way.

• Focus on Relationship-Building: Networking isn’t just about getting something; it’s about mutual value. Offer help, share resources, or connect others in your network when you can.

• Leverage Social Media: Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are powerful tools for expanding your professional circle and staying updated on industry trends.

A robust network is one of the greatest assets an entrepreneur can have. It provides access to resources, opportunities, and insights that are often out of reach alone. By actively cultivating and leveraging your network, you’ll open doors for yourself and create a support system that fuels long-term success. Remember, your network is your net worth!

6. Embrace Failure as Growth

If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing hard enough. Successful entrepreneurs don’t shy away from failure—they embrace it as part of the process. Each failure is a stepping stone to success, offering valuable lessons and opportunities to refine your strategies. The willingness to take risks and learn from mistakes sets them apart from those who fear failure.

Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk faced setbacks like Tesla's early production issues, and Sara Blakely’s Spanx prototypes were initially dismissed. Yet, their resilience turned these failures into lessons, enabling them to refine their strategies and achieve remarkable success.

How to Implement This Habit:

• Redefine Failure: Shift your mindset to view failure as feedback rather than a setback. Every misstep reveals areas for improvement and growth.

• Take Calculated Risks: Push beyond your comfort zone by pursuing challenging opportunities that carry potential rewards and lessons.

• Maintain a “Failure Journal”: After every failure, analyze what went wrong and the lessons you’ve learned from them. This helps track progress and builds a roadmap of resilience.

• Create a Failure Wall: In your workspace, display key mistakes and their corresponding lessons as daily reminders of your growth journey.

• Encourage Failure in Your Team: Foster a culture where risks and innovation are rewarded, even if they don’t always succeed. This drives creativity and boldness.

• Study Others’ Failures: Read biographies or case studies of successful entrepreneurs to see how they overcame failures. Use their stories as inspiration.

Fear of failure can paralyze progress, but embracing it can accelerate growth. Failures test your resilience, teach you invaluable lessons, and guide you toward smarter decisions. Remember, every rejection, misstep, or flop is an opportunity to grow stronger, wiser, and closer to success. As the saying goes, "Fail fast, learn faster, and succeed the fastest."

Ready to Transform Your Entrepreneurial Journey?

Success doesn’t happen overnight, and these habits aren’t reserved for billionaires or high-profile entrepreneurs—they’re practical, actionable steps anyone can take. The key is consistency and commitment. Start small by choosing a few habits that resonate with you, and gradually integrate them into your daily life.

Over time, these small changes compound into a strong foundation for sustainable growth, resilience, and success. Remember, every successful entrepreneur started with a single step.

The path to success is within your reach—all you have to do is take the first step. 

Are you ready to begin?