9 mistakes to avoid if you are successful in the market

Success affects everyone differently. And not necessarily in a good way. Because what it took you to become successful will not allow you to stay their for long - unless you learn to avoid these 9 common mistakes successful people commit : 

1. Become a defender after being a challenger : successful start-ups often enter by disrupting the status quo but when they succeed they themselves become the  status quo and yet they don't realize it. Why did Apple and Google had to challenge and disrupt the BlackBerry with their new platforms : iPhone and Android platform? Because RIM itself was a disrupter but they forgot it when they began succeeding.
2. Sticking to knitting when the rest of the world changes around you. When success makes the businesses rigid - and when the markets evolve rapidly around them - they often go back to "doing their  basics" - what made them successful earlier - with renewed vigour.  Sony CEO Howard Stringer's strategy was built around the concept of product synergy- in fact there was none. 
3. Losing the fear of failure. As Andy Grove of Intel said; "only the paranoids survive". Fear is a key emotion that warns you when to be alert and when you need to act. When you start to think that success is inevitable and believe you can't fail, you become reckless and take risks you shouldn't. This is the reason why mega-mergers and leveraged buy-outs failed.
4. Paralyzed by the fear of losing it all . The opposite of the above is to become totally risk averse because you're afraid of losing what you've won. Nothing risked, nothing gained.  
5. Not listening to those who matter  : When you stop asking questions and don't listen pro-actively and deeply to your key stakeholders -- customers, executives, directors, investors -- you miss critical "early warning" signs. If you do not experience minor aches and pains when they are minor, you will not need to be on a hospital bed for weeks for a major operation.
6. Becoming isolated from reality : you cut yourself off from the reality through the  layers of bureaucracy and hierarchy. That includes executive, suites, buildings,  assistants, meetings, dinners, conferences and other filters to keep the external world out. This is the reason the rulers in the olden days used to go out among the masses incognito in the night to see what they talk and think.
7. Surrounding yourself with people like you :  There are always those around you to tell you what you want to hear and sugarcoat negative news for you. Keeping only the people you like creates a bias which can be fatal.
8. Forgetting the "magic of the moment" factor . Do not attribute your success only to the products, materials, features. There was a "magic of the moment" too - pricing, timing, partners, even luck. The same old formula will not work because the magic of the moment will not come every time. You must actively change yourself. 
9. Being a one time wonder :  There are many who get it right and get the funding and the stars shine bright and become "one hit wonders" . But to develop a second and a third successful product requires a willingness to embrace marketing, sales, operations, customer service and other business functions.

Why Consulting Is A Job Everyone Needs To Experience

 You should see yourself as a consultant. Here’s why you need to experience consulting

Reason #1: Problem solving

No matter what field you are consulting in, your job is to identify problems, and fix them.
If you are lucky, you’ll have free rein to do whatever you want, but the chances are you’ll have to solve the problem within specific guidelines. This means you’ll have to be creative and start to think outside of the box. This is important for you to learn because it will not only teach you how to solve problems, but it will also teach you how to do this across any industry. This means you can work in any field in the future because you can adapt to any environment. And if you decide to stay with the 9 to 5 route you will be more valuable to your employer as they will be able to throw you at any problem.

Reason #2: You’ll learn to speak your mind

A consultant isn’t an employee. Sure you maybe working for a consulting firm, or your own firm, but when you go to different businesses to help them out, you’re considered a consultant… not an employee. As a consultant, you won’t be shy to speak your mind and tell companies what they are doing wrong. Why? Because you are getting paid to do that!
Speaking your mind is a really important trait… these days there are one too many people who are afraid to do this in the corporate world. By speaking your mind, you are helping your co-workers or the company who hired you. So always say what you are thinking, especially if it benefits the company.

Reason #3: You’ll learn how to keep a job

If you’ve ever worked at a large corporation, you know that there are plenty of people who just twiddle their thumbs every day. And to make matters worse, they keep getting paid without doing much work and no one ever dares to fire them. As a consultant you won’t have that luxury. Businesses have much more strict rules when it comes to laying off an employee versus firing a consultant. Typically they can fire a consultant without requiring any approval from their superior. This means that you have to continually earn spot as a consultant. You will have to keep on working hard and continually provide exceptional results. You’ll learn how to fight to stay alive and never give up.

Reason #4: Communication

The best thing I learned as a consultant is how to communicate effectively. You won’t be working in an office every day and you know your gig isn’t steady. You’ll have to keep providing results, as I mentioned in reason number 3 above. But providing results isn’t enough, you need to show them. You do this through reports, emails, phone calls, meetings and any other form of communication you can think of. By communicating on a regular basis people will know that you are working away and producing results. The moment you stop communicating is the day they’ll think you are goofing off, which will lead to you being fired.
You can’t take communication for granted and it is important no matter what you do in life.

Reason #5: Deadlines

Don’t you hate it when people miss deadlines? I’m so used it these days that I expect certain people within my organization to be delayed and I even account for it on my end. Well, you won’t have the luxury of missing them as a consultant. You either hit the deadlines, or else you’ll face consequences. I still remember each of the deadlines I missed because it usually lead to me getting fired or I wasn’t paid for the work that I put in. It taught me that you need to hit deadlines and how important it is to be timely. And what you’ll really learn is that a lot of people within a company can affect your deadline. Sometimes it isn’t you who is causing the delay, so you’ll have to learn how to manage people and timelines.

Reason #6: C-level experience

No, you’re not going to be the CEO as a consultant. But you do get to interact with the CEO or other high-leveled executives. They are the ones who approved hiring you and they write your check. You’ll have to learn how to sell yourself and your solutions. This is very valuable experience because in the corporate world, you can’t just do anything you want, you typically have to get buy in from other people. And if things don’t go your way and you get shot down a few times, don’t worry about it. Pick yourself back up and keep pushing forward. Eventually you’ll learn how to convince executives to do what you think is best for them. It took me a few years to get there, but now, I am great at selling to C-level executives.

Reason #7: Money management

It doesn’t matter if you are consulting for a big corporation with billions of dollars in the bank, or a small startup. Everyone has budget constraints. You’ll have to learn how to play within the constraints to get the job done. You’ll get first hand experience when it comes to trimming the fat, figuring out ways to be more efficient, and stretching the dollar as far as it can possibly go. Best of all, you’ll learn how to keep track of expenses, which is something that everyone can use. You can’t run a company without being conscious about how much you’re spending on a weekly if not daily basis.