 Several months ago, a man called me after reading one of my books. He loved my books and the fact that it was popular, so he needed my help. According to him, he has written several books, maybe more than 20, but he didn't know how to sell them. This man is hard-working and probably smart, and I wondered, how can he not make a lot of money from his smartness? Well, he's not alone. The world is filled with many talented and hard-working people whose bank account is always red. In today's video, I'll be talking about the reasons why you may not get ahead in life even if you are talented and hard-working. If you're new here, consider subscribing so you won't miss other exciting videos like this. Understanding the elements of success As an entrepreneur, who also teaches entrepreneurship, I've come across several people who told me about the great business ideas they have. Often, these people are usually very confident that the ideas they have will make them rich. The problem with the business idea is that it's nothing. I know that may sound too harsh and probably not entirely true, so let me rephrase that statement. A great business idea is about 5% of what you need to build a successful business because there is more than one element to make a business successful. After you have gotten an idea, you have to think about building the right team. Then you have to think about marketing, several negotiations along the way, and then you think about the market. The problem about the market is that you don't even know what the market wants. Nobody does. Even the most successful entrepreneurs mispredict the market all the time. Now, you may be lucky as per what the market wants, you still have to solve the problem of timing which is probably as difficult as knowing the future. Launch that your idea too late and you'll make no money and launch it too early and nobody knows how to use it. That's what happened to the microwave oven. So what's the point of making here? Very often, all the time, you need more than one weapon to win the battles of life. And this is a big problem for most people because they focus solely on one weapon. Success is often a combination of different things and you have to work hard to make all of those ingredients together at the right quantity. Now let me get down to details for individuals who want to build a business. Whether you are a professional who wants to turn your expertise into a business venture or you are a go-for-it entrepreneur who wants to create products and sell. There are three categories of ingredients you have to master to really become successful. First, understand the market. Most people start with their product or services. Most people think if I can create great products or services, I'll make a lot of money. I wish it's that simple but it's not. The first problem you'll have if you concentrate on creating a great product is that you don't even know what a great product is. The market is the place where judgment is made about what great products means. So the best place to start is the market. You must have a deep understanding of human nature. I mean, you must be a psychologist. You must have to understand how people think, judge and make decisions. You also have to understand your space in the market and never dream of fighting with any giant. For example, a man once told me that he wanted to compete with Gucci. He don't have to do that. You must understand your market so profoundly that you are capable of creating a new category and be the leader in the new category. The second thing you have to do after you have understood the market is to know how to work with other people, especially those who are not like you. This is a big problem but you won't know it until you have it. If you genuinely want to build something worthwhile, what will happen is that your strength will help you to start but your weakness will hot and destroy you. The only way to avoid that is to know how to build a team with people of different temperaments, strengths and weaknesses. This way, your weaknesses become other people's strength. Take for example, Steve Wojnar was a great engineer. He loves designing and creating stuffs but he was raised by a father who always told him to maintain the middle. His father taught him never to be the number one man, even though that was strange. Woz loves being busy, making stuff, whilst the Job loves being at the front of everything. Good guys' partnership is the reason they succeeded. If Woz had tried to work alone, he would have ended up like Nikolas Tesla. The third thing is prominence. Understand your product, branding and timing. Success isn't only a result of hard work, instead, success goes only to the people who know how to combine three or more abilities. That's why you can hardly see anyone who succeed as a lone ranger. People often succeed by coming together because success requires more than one skill or hard work. Now, for individuals who have jobs, let's say you have a job. How can you achieve success even though you are not directly in control of affairs? First, understand that your employer is your customer and treat him like that. Just as successful entrepreneurs know that they won't succeed in the market except they bring something unique to the market. Successful employees know that they won't succeed in the corporate world except they bring something very unique to the table. But what does uniqueness mean? It's about combining different skills to make them one single valuable weapon. Let's assume that you are working in their accounting department for a company. Yes, what your boss employed you for is to do accounting but working hard as an accountant alone won't make you succeed in that department. Your employer doesn't necessarily have to tell you that having a great human relationship skills will make you more attractive. Leadership skills deepen understanding about the industry you are and some negotiation skills are all the weapons that will eventually make you different from everyone. Robert Greene said, the future belongs to the people who can master many skills and creatively combine them for a single mission. That's the whole essence of this video. That's the message I've been struggling to preach. You can't just be a successful writer by writing a good book. You have to know how to sell it. You have to understand how to negotiate with the publisher. You have to know how to write on the subject people want to read. You can't be a successful medical doctor just by being the best doctor. You have to know how to sell yourself to your employer with patience. This is a simple task I challenge you to do. Identify three important skills you know would be needed for you to become successful in your current field and be determined to acquire those skills. Thanks for watching our videos. Don't forget to subscribe if you've not done so. We love you.