The highly successful entrepreneurs are able think think in longer term cycles than the average person. Today we discuss long-term thinking, processes, habits, fundamentals and momentum and what role these things play in moving a business and entrepreneur forward.

A great example of long-term thinking is the model used by Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos.  The business is structured around the things that won’t change; the core fundamentals of the things that are important to customers.  Customers will always want things like lower prices, faster delivery and good customer service. Steli points out that focusing on these fundamental things, rather than getting caught up in trends, has allowed Amazon to grow the way it has.  Hiten says it’s important to ask yourself, what do you want to be the best at and how do you know being the best at that gives you a long-term advantage.  Hiten and his co-founder Neil Patel have been working on Quick Sprout, a company which helps increase traffic by giving entrepreneurs tools to write better copy. Hiten says while blogging is currently the preferred content delivery method, Quick Sprout is fundamentally designed to help people write better content faster and that is its core purpose.  Steli adds that needs never really change and there are only so many of them.  Those things will remain while the trendy things will lapse over time.

We discuss process vs goals.  Are you goal-oriented or process-oriented?  How do processes become habit? These things relate to long-term thinking when it comes to growing business.  Hiten talks about the two things you need in a business to create habits and processes around.  Steli talks about the importance of momentum and says when you’re thinking long-term, start with the fundamentals and look for ways that can create habits that can lead to a long-term approach.  

If you have ideas about long-term thinking or examples of where short-term thinking was wrong, please share it with our  Facebook group.  This is an exclusive group for our listeners and a place to build a community around.  

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