Every product comes with its own manual. So also, a successful business comes with its own rules. If you abide by the rules, you get the results. If you don’t, you get the results that come with not following the rules.
As an entrepreneur, you got into the ring of entrepreneurship because you believed you have something to offer and that you have everything it takes to succeed. That alone sets you apart from the crowd and therefore you should do everything you can to build a successful business. If you are unsure of how to or perhaps you’d like to know how great of a job you are doing in trying to build a successful business, check out these 15 ultimate rules to play by.
1. Understand Your Business Thoroughly
If you must succeed in business, you must be crystal clear about what it is you are offering your target audience, why they should buy from you and how you can deliver to them hitch-free.
For example, it will be a costly mistake to start a business and then get orders from customers that you are able to fulfill. Always be sure that you understand how the business works and how your products will be delivered to customers when they place an order.
Remember, no one cares about you, what people care about is how you can be of help to them and if you can’t help them, they take off. Thoroughly understanding your business will give you an edge in the marketplace and help you build a successful brand.
[Great Read: 5 Tips for Writing the Winning Proposal]2. Avoid Time Wasters
Time is one of the most limited resources you have as an entrepreneur and the way you spend it determines whether you’d build a successful brand or not.
Therefore, you need to come up with solid strategies to maximize how you spend your time and guard it jealously from people or activities you engage in that tend to waste your time. In avoiding tasks or activities that waste your time, highlight all activities you daily engage in and analyze those activities that are simply time wasters.
3. Carefully Select Your Team
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook once said, “do not hire someone you cannot work for.” This statement is so key because it sums up the reason why some businesses succeed and why many fail.
The type of people you bring on board will determine whether the ship of your business will stay afloat or sink.
Seun Akinlotan
Successful businesses are built by great people who truly have a passion to see the business succeed. That’s why you always need to carefully select your team and be mindful of the type of people you hire to work with you.
[Need publicity for your business? Get your business in front of an international audience by advertising with us. Click HERE for details]4. Be Organized
Build a self-sufficient business. Do not wrap your business around yourself. Make sure your business can survive even when you are not around. Put structures in place. Have your employee manual to guide your team and be sure to orientate and explain your goals when bringing in a new team member. Give them the opportunity to be independent. People perform better when they are trusted with responsibilities and leadership positions.
5. Be Innovative
Many times, when people blame a saturated market as a reason for failure in business, what they were indirectly saying was that they lacked innovation. Why? The marketplace is already and will always be saturated for almost every type of business. Therefore, it’s not enough for you to blame market saturation as a reason why you failed in business. The about a market being saturated You need to keep your creative juice flowing to be able to stand out in a competitive market. Be Unique. Always come up with fresh ideas. Never be predictable.
[Great Read: 5 Steps to Making Your Advertising Dollar Count]6. Be Consistent
Without consistency, it impossible to gain traction and build a successful brand. When you are consistent and persistent, it sends a strong message that you are in it to win. Can you imagine if every time you go to the mall, your favorite apparel store opens late, closes early and sometimes never show up?! How long will you continue to wait for them?
At the end of the day, it will not even matter whether they have the best products in the market, you’ll get tired of waiting and move to a more consistent and predictable brand. That’s the same with your business.
If you only show up when it’s convenient or whenever you like, you’ll lose customers and your business will die off like autumn leaves. show up no matter what.
Seun Akinlotan
Be solid. This will make your customers trust you.
7. Be a Problem Solver
The reason your business will become successful is that it’s solving a problem. The moment the products (goods and services) does not solve a specific problem, then customers begin to look elsewhere. To build a successful business, always be solving problems!
8. Maintain A Positive Attitude
The business terrain is rough, long and tiring – it’s your positive attitude that will attract people to you, earn you a good name and keep you going. With positivity, you can go farther without even feeling the crunch. Whatever situation you find yourself, have a positive attitude and keep moving.
9. Be a Reader
Readers are said to be great leaders and not only are they great leaders, but they are also successful business people. The more you read great books and implement all the ideas, the more you are able to do outstanding work.
Someone said, “books are a way of getting into the minds of great people”.
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[Need business mentoring? Join our business mentoring platform. Open enrollment closes September 14, 2019. Want to learn more? Click HERE]10. Keep Records
Always make sure your bookkeeping is intact for easy monthly review. If you cannot do it yourself, it is okay to outsource it to an accountant. Monitor the inflow and outflow of cash and make sure outflow is not more than what is coming in. Always find ways to cut costs as well.
11. Pay Taxes
If you’ve been evading taxes in your business, it’s time to do the needful and straighten things out. Not paying your taxes might seem convenient for now but it will hurt you much more than any momentary gain.
Evading taxes will deprive you of grand opportunities that might come your way.
Seun Akinlotan
Also, when your business gets audited and authorities find out you’ve been evading taxes, you risk losing everything you’ve worked hard for including your license or right to operate a business. So, if you want to succeed in business and you are looking for one ultimate rule to play by, then pay your taxes.
12. Diversify Your Portfolio
As you build your business profitably and gain stability, you should also look for ways to diversify your portfolio. From the certificate of deposits to investing in the stock market, acquiring landed properties or even investing in other business, you should look for ways to diversify your portfolio and prepare for the “rainy” day.
13. Invest in Marketing
It does not matter whether you are a goods-based or service-based business, to succeed, you must invest in marketing.
Marketing is what will help you to gain the attention of your target audience, be in the conscious mind of your current customers and ultimately help you to increase sales at a steady rate.
Therefore, you must learn how to invest in marketing. Depending on your type of business, your marketing strategies may be digital, traditional or a combination of both. Whatever strategy you employ, be sure to set a marketing budget and review the budget quarterly. Analyze your campaigns quarterly and know which ones are working, which ones are redundant and which ones are not worth it.
14. Focus on Customer Retention
Without loyal customers who come repeatedly, tell everyone about you and introduce their friends to your business, succeeding in business might be a dream more than a reality. That’s why if you truly want to succeed in business, you must not focus all your efforts on acquiring new customers. Look for creative ways to retain your customers while also devoting some of your time toward increasing your customer base.
15. Create the Time for Relaxation and Vacation
Do you remember the popular saying, ” All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”? It’s true! The more you work without taking a break, the more overwhelmed and less productive you become.
Your body is not a robot (even robots and machines require frequent maintenance!) and therefore, if you truly want to succeed in business, you must be intentional about creating the time for vacation and relaxation. The more relaxed you are, the better the quality of your work, decisions and results.
Thank you for reading. Which of these ultimate rules do you play by? Let us know in the comment box!
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