Starting and running a small business can be both extremely rewarding and maddeningly frustrating. While success can be achieved in your business venture, the stark reality is that almost 75% of new small business ventures won’t survive past the 2-year mark. In today’s post, we will discuss 6 of the most important points to remember to help keep your business in that top 25%. While following these 6 steps can’t guarantee your success, they are based on observations of successful businesses made over the years, and can help increase your chances of success in your business.
1) While no one can see into the future to tell you whether your business venture will be successful or not, the most important thing to remember is that it all comes down to execution. Without doing the things that need to be done, your business venture goes nowhere.
2) Perseverance is key to your success. In today’s digital world, anyone can start a new business in a matter of minutes. What they fail to realize is that running a business is hard work. If you are going to give up at the first sign of adversity (or the second, third or 100th time), you are doomed.
3) Transformation. There is a big difference between dealing with adversity and beating a dead horse. You can’t be afraid to change direction when you are heading toward a dead end. If something in your business is not working, you must know when to change. Unfortunately, there is no cheat-sheet to tell you when to make the move; you must rely on experience and intuition. Sometimes you will be right and sometimes you will be wrong, but you must always be open to change.
4) While you will undoubtedly develop many skills and abilities during your career, none will be more important to your long-term success than marketing. Your ability to sell yourself and your business will ultimately determine your level of success. Learn all that you can about this valuable skill, before it’s too late.
5) You can have some of the most brilliant ideas in history, but unless you act on those ideas, they are just that: ideas. Mahatma Gandhi said “…if you do nothing, there will be no result.” Doing something, whether it turns out to be wrong or right, is one of the best ways to gain valuable experience.
6) Your mistakes are valuable. While that sounds counter-intuitive, the lessons that you learn in your business are what drives growth. It’s not bad to make mistakes; it’s how we learn. The bad part comes in when you continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Don’t do that.
These points were inspired by a recent post written by David Siteman Garland, the amazing creator of https://therisetothetop.com, a website that helps people create and sell online courses. Even if you’re never going to create an online course, the information that David provides is applicable to all small business owners and deserves to be read by all budding entrepreneurs.
I welcome all feedback (positive and negative) about my take on this subject. Please leave your comments below. Thank you!
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Thanks, Joe