Successful businesses share common principles. Any business owner who chooses to say “my business is different” is choosing to make it different.
One of the fastest ways to grow your business is to look at what others have done to grow and find success in theirs. That doesn’t mean you copy exactly what they do, or that your business has to look exactly like their business…
You absolutely should have your own identity. But, ignoring the fundamental principles that are responsible for success will make your journey more difficult than it needs to be.
Applying basic principles to your business, and making them routine operating procedures, will give you the structure and stability needed to build your business.
10 Keys For Success
Values: Your business is built on the values you instill in it from the get go. This is how you act, the true character of your business. Ensure that you are purposeful about your Core Values and making them come to life in your business.
People: Having a solid set of Core Values isn’t enough, you need to also attract people who will live those Core Values while helping run your business. From your team to your clients, it is critical that you bring in people who make your business better and align with your values.
Long Term & Short Term Thinking: You typically have business owners who are visionary or action oriented (in the moment). Success requires that you both understand and clearly see your long term vision while being able to understand the actions needed and goals required to be hit in the short term.
Feedback: Successful business owners want feedback! You need feedback from your team on your performance as a leader, feedback on your business activities, and feedback on your ability to serve your clients. Feedback is data that helps you continue to improve your business. Learn to love it and do everything you can to get it.
Organization: Life as an entrepreneur can be messy, but you can’t afford to be disorganized when it comes to how you communicate your business priorities and activities. Make sure every single member of your team, and you, know where to find the resources needed to do their jobs well.
Prioritization: Trying to do everything, or the focus on the wrong things, can kill a business. Understanding what is priority #1 and being able to decide what may not get done in your business will determine how far and how fast you go with your business.
Process: A great business works off process. There are repeatable actions that constantly take place to deliver predictable results. If you want to find success you need to minimize your reliance on ‘figuring it out’ or ‘just knowing’. Document and refine your processes.
Execution: The best processes, strategy and plans are no good without excellent execution! Ensure that you are holding yourself and your team accountable to executing those things on a daily basis.
Strategic Planning & Thinking: The ability to keep the long term goals (your vision) in mind, creating milestones that will get you there and aligning all areas of the business with accomplishing these goals will set you up for massive success. Spend time planning and thinking about the big picture and connecting the areas of your business to it.
Local Market Positioning: Marketing will drive the growth of your business. You need to have a marketing strategy that will secure your position in the market, attract your Ideal Client, and provide your team with a clear marketing message to use in all their actions.
Which of these are you missing?
It’s never a bad idea to audit these 10 keys of success and evaluate where your low hanging fruit is. Having the ability to assess what’s missing will give you the vital information to correct course. It may take you time to get all of these dialed in, but the first place to start is figuring out what you currently don’t have.
