In my experience with working with thousands of entrepreneurs, you start to notice patterns that set apart the remarkable ones from the mediocre ones. I have identified 7 key skills that the remarkable ones seem to have mastered to create lasting wealth, have more freedom and leave a lasting legacy.

The successful ones have a bulletproof mindset.

To win the game of business you have to first master your inner game.

The one trait that separates the remarkable ones is grit & tenacity.

It’s not that these entrepreneurs have had less failure than the mediocre ones – in fact it’s quite the opposite.

However they were willing to try again whenever they failed. How do they do that?

(a) They have daily success habits or rituals that condition their mind positively.

(b) They are constantly learning. Elon Musk taught himself how to program and then learnt to design some of the most advanced rockets in the world.

When you know better you do better.

(c) They play by their strengths. They understand what they are good at. What they are passionate about and do those things.

and

(d) finally they cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Counting your blessings can increase your happiness quotient by 25%.

Remarkable entrepreneurs are focused on their USP – Unique Serving Proposition.

They have identified their target markets pain points and they perfect serving them.

They spot gaps . They focus on solving problems and consider the people they serve as clients rather than a customer.

A client is someone who is under their care and protection.

They are able to articulate how they solve their client’s problems effectively.

Further they have developed key measures ( the Magic Number) by which they measure how well they are serving their clients.

Everyone in their company understands that magic number, why it matters and how they impact it.

Remarkable entrepreneurs are aware of the trends.

They are future focused and understand long-term trends in their markets.

They keep themselves updated about disruptions taking place.

They take calculated risks as they see new trends emerge that will serve their customers better.

As a result they seem to be in the right business at the right time.

One of the best examples of this is Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Remarkable entrepreneurs are always looking to scale up.

To scale up you need to have systems and processes, which help deliver your unique serving proposition effectively.

They are always looking at improving the delivery mechanisms.

They have systems for marketing, production and the administration.

Constant training and sharing of best practice is part of the process.

Remarkable entrepreneurs know how to leverage 3 things:

(a) Technology – They use technology as an accelerator for their business. They use it to run lean teams. They use it to deliver their unique serving proposition more effectively and efficiently. They make it easy for the client to deal with them.

(b) Time – Productivity is a default setting with extraordinary entrepreneurs. They understand key income producing activities (IPAs) for their businesses and invest 80% of their time of them. They are notorious for saying “no” to things that are income reducing activities or distraction.

(c) Skill sets – They know their strengths and are focused on using them. They build teams that are complementary and address their weaknesses. They have wide offline and online networks that allow them to tap into required expertise.

Once remarkable entrepreneurs have figured out the previous 5 principles I see them replicating the same in new verticals or new businesses with similar success.

They have processes documented so that they can be applied to a new business.

They have grown talent in their teams to implement and tweak the processes. This is where many mediocre entrepreneurs struggle.

This allows them to take advantage of opportunities and also retain talent.

Once systems and teams are created they have a business that can run on autopilot. This allows them to make the shift from being self-employed to being a business owner.

The business is able to run and grow without their day-to-day requirement. You can work 'on' the business and not 'in' the business.

This either allows them to sell the business at a great multiple or allow them to take advantage of new opportunities.