← 6 New Year’s Resolutions for New Entrepreneurs

role models

By Elayne Fluker | Published December 29, 2010 | Full size is 1000 × 667 pixels

6. Identify and follow great role models. Business mentors may not be easy to find. After all, your desire to be their protégé must be matched by their desire to mentor you. But if you look in the right places, role models of business success—people whose examples you can follow whether they are aware of it or not—are all around you. Starting right here at BlackEnterprise.com, you can learn success secrets and lessons from entrepreneurs ranging from Shawn “Jay Z” Carter to Act-1 Group CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd to brokerage firm founder Chris Gardner, whose autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, inspired the film of the same title. You can also be inspired and educated by examples of entrepreneurial excellence each month in Black Enterprise magazine and weekly on the Black Enterprise Business Report TV show. But don’t limit your interest to black entrepreneurs. Become a fan of entrepreneurial excellence in general, no matter what the business or background of the owner. And don't just focus on the successes; also learn from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs. Remember the often quoted saying: The best teacher is not experience. It’s other people’s experience. Keeping these resolutions will lay a foundation of success for your new business in 2011 and increase the likelihood of many happy new years of entrepreneurship to come.

6. Identify and follow great role models. Business mentors may not be easy to find.…