Hi, I’m Mike! I help entrepreneurs and business owners find the success they deserve.
I consider it my job to study successful entrepreneurs and business owners and share with you the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits that propelled them toward success. I’ve been writing on MikevanderPoel.com since April 2020 – Since then, my weekly blogs and newsletters have attracted tens-of-thousands of readers from all over the world.
I help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into results.
Every week, I publish blogs on this website about topics like:
- How to set business goals and stick to them
- How to stay focused and be more productive
- How to create good habits and break bad ones
- And tips & tricks for any business that you can imagine
Why? Because I know that running a new business can be challenging.
You don’t become rich overnight. The first few dollars usually don’t come rolling in until weeks, if not months, after launch. It takes you a long time to be profitable.
When you first start, you also have to wear many hats.
The fewer people you have working for you, the more you need to focus on boring tasks, like bookkeeping and customer service. It’s not a one-man job anymore and you carry a lot of responsibility.
Then there’s the competition. Developed businesses have multiple people working for them, each with much knowledge and years of experience. It’s tough to compete with others.
These factors all lead to failure.
The Reason Businesses Fail
Research by CBInsights, an intelligence platform that analyzes millions of data points on start-ups, found that there’s rarely just one reason for quitting a business, but that there are often multiple areas of weakness that lead to failure. In a survey, the research team asked 111 failed start-up owners, “Why did your business fail?”. Amongst the top answers were…
- We ran out of money or capital
- We did not have the right team
- We lost to competitors
While there’s no denying that these things lead to failure, they all originated from same problem. There’s something much more fundamental that many entrepreneurs don’t consider, and it’s at the root of all problems.
Those who get it right and focus on it enjoy all the benefits that come with running a business: They make a lot of money, are happy with the work they do, and work on their own terms. So how did they get there? They have what I like to call the Core Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs.
I Focus on People, Not Businesses
There are distinctive traits that people need to have to run a business that works. And that’s exactly what I write and talk about on this website.
I consider it my job to study successful businesswomen and men and share with you how their personality traits propelled them toward success. Is that something you’d like to learn more about?
I share new articles every week and keep people like you accountable with my free On-Track Newsletter. If you want to receive weekly tips and tricks to stay on top of things, then you can subscribe on this page.
My work isn’t the only way to think about entrepreneurship, but it’s how I think about it. So, I hope you enjoy your time here.
Other Interests
Here are some topics I enjoy but don’t write about:
Track & Field
I spent my university years running with a team of talented athletes. My time with the Dalhousie Tigers was so memorable that I still enjoy hitting the track today.
Marketing
Marketing has always fascinated me. As a matter of fact, I find it so fascinating that I’m running my own digital marketing agency, Vandy Marketing.
Germany
I was born and raised in Germany. Feeding into the stereotype, I like soccer and consider myself to be a well-organized person.