5 Essential Pieces of Advice from a Successful Serial Entrepreneur

What’s the perfect recipe for success? This question has been puzzled over by entrepreneurs since the dawn of trade. What with factors like luck, money, competition, and the ever-evolving customer all set to provide obstacles, the odds are often stacked against potential entrepreneurs. But what about those who choose to undergo this challenge time and again: the unicorn-like serial entrepreneur? What are their secrets?

Mashable sat down with one such serial entrepreneur on October 17 to discuss success, failure, and the road along the way. Aidan Fitzpatrick, founder and CEO at Reincubate, joined us for the UK premiere of MashaBiz: a Facebook Live show that gets to the heart of business.

Fitzpatrick got his start as a software engineer. Having lost his personal information on upgrading to iOS2, he set about building the iPhone Backup Extractor, which has helped more than 3 million people recover their important photos, videos and app data. Fast forward to today, and Reincubate is helping businesses around the world build value in their data — Fitzpatrick’s entrepreneurial flair definitely seems to centre around helping others. Fitzpatrick was included in City A.M.’s list of the UK’s top 100 entrepreneurs, and this year was marked as one of Workspace’s top 20 influential entrepreneurs to watch.

MashaBiz meets Aidan Fitzpatrick

Here are five key takeaways from our chat with Aidan Fitzpatrick:

It takes a village

Fitzpatrick admits he owes much of his success to the advice and support of others. Recognising that you cannot be the expert on every area of your business is the first step towards building something that will actually flourish. Surrounding yourself with those experts is essential to keeping you focused on the areas you are most equipped to manage.

Not all advice is good advice

Tipping the scales on our first point, Fitzpatrick pointed out that when you’re starting out there will be a host of people offering their “expert” opinion, which is not always in the best interest of the business. From friends and family to misguided advisors, it’s important for you to recognise which advice is actually useful to you, and shelve the less useful views.

Make it your passion

Can you commit to giving the next ten years of your life to this venture? According to Fitzpatrick, almost all “overnight” successes actually span at least a decade, so having the drive to battle on through years of hard work and setbacks is an imperative attribute for all serial entrepreneurs.

Take care of yourself first

Resilience is key in any business journey. The stress of launching and leading one business alone can take its toll on mental and physical health, and can affect your relationships with the people around you. Ensuring you take good care of your own well being is integral to the health of your business. Practising meditation and getting regular exercise can help relieve the stress of the workplace. And while the lines between work and personal matters will certainly blur, taking time to reflect outside of the business sphere is a great way to re-centre yourself.

Keep clear goals in mind

Focus. It’s easy to get involved in “busy” work rather than optimising your time to do what needs to be done in the most effective way possible. Again, surrounding yourself with a team of likeminded people with a range of skills that you don’t possess is a great way to stay on track towards your goals.

Source: mashable.com