Success tips and advices are found anywhere. We can get them online or offline. We can also acquire business education in schools, read them in books, or hear them from our mentors. We can even learn business lessons from ourselves through our own experiences and reflections. But no matter how wide and deep the knowledge we have already attained in business, we should not stop learning and discovering new things. The following are 5 business tips to boost your business and life’s success.
1. Success starts now
Every move you make and every step you take, success or failure is already there. When you come up with a business idea, you can already tell if success or failure can be seen. Remember that successful businesses are born out of the right ideas, while unsuccessful businesses came from weak ideas. Therefore, even if you have not yet actually started your business, it must already be successfully thought, chosen, planned, prepared, and evaluated.
The birth of business is not happening at the time you have registered it as a legal entity or at the time you begin selling products to customers. Your business is born on your mind. That is why you have to make sure that the business you are thinking and considering to establish will be ultimately successful. Consider doing the following things successfully before you start operating your business.
– Have a business name that will attract customers and will carry your brand successfully.
– Establish your business principles, purpose, mission, vision and core values.
– Come up with a strategic business and marketing plan.
– Train and prepare yourself by having personal and professional development.
– Assemble your trusted and competent team (partners or employees).
– Train your employees
2. Collect small successes not failures
Some people may say that it’s okay to make mistakes. Others tell that success comes from failures. But these sayings are not absolute and we should be prudent when implementing these principles in our business. For me, not all mistakes are okay to make and not all successes come from failures. In fact, big success comes from a series of small successes. That is why we should be careful and not ignore the tiny successes that we are supposed to achieve every day, which may include the following:
– Success in motivating and keeping your employees morale
– Success in serving your customers and making them smile everyday
– Success in solving your daily small business problems
– Success in keeping your business according to your plan
– Success in keeping yourself motivated
– Success in meeting your daily deadlines
– Success in repaying your bills, taxes, and other short-term financial obligations
– Success in helping other people in many small ways
3. Money is a tool for success, not a success
Many businessmen consider money as the measurement of their business success. But money is only a medium of exchange. What determine a successful business is what we give to customers in exchange of their money and how we use that money to help people, including ourselves. Are we giving our customers the quality products that they expect? Are we providing them services beyond their expectations? Are we compensating our employees well and make them happy, motivated and productive? Are we spending money to help the community? Are we giving enough time to take care of our family? Are we taking care of our own health and wellness? The answers to those questions determine our success better than the amount of money we have.
4. Know how to mix the ingredients of success
Passion and hard work are not only the elements of success. There are many other ingredients of success that we have to adopt and consistently apply to be a successful business person or entrepreneur. Passion is not enough without self-discipline. Hard work is not enough without wisdom. That is why we should learn how to gather all the ingredients of success and combine them to work as one. The following elements of success should work as one.
– Passion. You will need this to have love and enthusiasm on your work.
– Hard work. Hard work will rock your work.
– Patience. You need this for waiting and have timing.
– Self-control. You need this to enhance your focus and to resist temptations.
– Wisdom. This helps you come up with the right business decisions.
– Humility. You need this to lift the morale of your employees and inspire your customers.
– Positivity and cheerfulness. These will give you extra energy that will keep you going.
– Kindness and compassion. This will increase your loyal followers.
– Honesty and integrity. This will build people’s trust and confidence on you.
– Persistence and consistency. This will ensure that you will achieve your goals.
There are still many other elements of success that you should use to ensure business success. But you have to ensure that you will not mix them with any negative element that causes corruption. A single mix of greediness, deceit and selfishness might ruin everything. Remember that trust built for years can be destroyed in just a minute if you will lie. That is why you have to be careful and make sure that you are mixing the right elements of success.
5. Have the mother of success
Have love. Why? Because it will bind all the good qualities that you have and make them work as one. It will unite all the elements we have previously discussed in #4. A loving business person produces patience, truth, faith, hope, humility and other great virtues he or she needs to achieve success. Is there a loving person who is a liar? Is there a loving person who is selfish, greedy, impatient, and who easily quits?
Love is always applicable to business, whether you believe it as a substance or as a spiritual thing. Here are examples of how you can apply it to ensure your success.
– Love yourself by practicing personal development, developing good principles, values, attitudes and habits. Motivate yourself so that you can motivate and lead other people.
– Love your employees by ensuring their safety and welfare. Make them happy so that they can be productive.
– Love your customers by making them special and by providing them quality services. Be true to them and deliver what you’ve promised to boost their trust and confidence.
– Always give that extra care and service to your customers to wow them and earn their loyalty.
– Be generous and help the community. This will promote your good name and reputation.
Loving starts from knowing. Hence, we have to invest more time and effort in knowing ourselves, in understanding our employees, in caring for our customers, and in learning the needs of the people in our community.
Final thoughts
Business success must start on your personal success. If you can’t start developing yourself, your personal values and your principles… then how can you start developing your business? From yourself, you have to continue that development to your team of workers, customers, and to the community. As we need to combine all the ingredients of success, we also need to see to it that the resulting success will be shared to everyone, just like a cake that we slice and share to others. Can you celebrate success happily if you will only be the one who’ll eat the whole cake?
Photo credit by Anna Langova
Victorino Q. Abrugar is a marketing strategist and business consultant from Tacloban City, Philippines. Vic has been in the online marketing industry for more than 7 years, practicing problogging, web development, content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and consulting.
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