Remember when you first started coaching and your whiteboard briefings were more like physiology lectures? You don't do that anymore now. Now, as a mature coach, you know your clients just need to focus on one cue at a time.

Entrepreneurship has a path to maturity, too. Some lessons you can learn from books and experts. Others simply require time — and experience making a mistake or two.

Chris Cooper's been an entrepreneur for a long time, and he's made a lot of mistakes. But he's better for it, and here, he shares some wisdom from the road to entrepreneurial maturity.

Links:

Arbox
AGuard
Gym Owners United

Timeline:

0:55 – How Coop realized he was maturing as an entrepreneur.

3:42 – Taking a long-term perspective.

6:46 – You never know what worse luck your bad luck will save you from.

8:40 – Finding balance between business concepts.

10:14 – Understanding that retention trumps sales. 

11:59 – Flexible with service, committed to audience.

13:04 – You can learn from your competition. 

14:29 – Finish one thing before starting another. 

16:05 – Signs you have a ways to go: You think too much about what others are doing.

16:24 – You try to impress the wrong people. 

17:32 – You chase novelty. 

18:12 – You get political. 

19:17 – You’re suspicious of others’ success.