Most small businesses started off with a business plan and while most business owners tend to keep to a plan, schedule or set of goals, there are many whose “sticktoitness” actually keeps them from attaining what they’re aiming for – a successful business.
All business owners should believe in their product or service. It’s your sincerity that helps customers to trust you. When they know you believe in what you’re doing, it helps them to believe in you too. It’s when your belief starts to verge on the fanatical that it becomes a problem. You know you’re becoming a fanatic when you can’t see the mistakes you make or improvements that could be made.
We all like our businesses to have a brand and to be different than those who compete with us to a certain extent. ‘A certain extent’ is the important phrase here. Taking things too far and tweaking your products until they don’t resemble anything useful is going too far and if it’s just for the attention factor it won’t be of any help to your business or you.
There are business owners who refuse to give up even the slightest bit of control within their business. When this concerns finances, that’s one thing but if you are buried beneath a pile of work, need help and refuse to let anyone help you because you can’t control every little thing they do, your business is going to go downhill quickly. Even worse is the business owner who hires an assistant and then insists on everything being done his way. It was his way that got him in trouble in the first place.
Don’t compromise? A business is a series of small comprises. You can’t have everything exactly the way you want it to be and remember, you are working with customers. At some point, you have to give a little. The same thing goes for those who insist on sticking to the smallest possible budget. It will show in what you are offering your customers. Cheap is cheap.
To avoid becoming rigid, choose the right type of business for yourself. This may not be that dream business you had always envisioned. Pick a business that you know something about, not what is popular at the moment.
Always keep an eye on the future, advice given by many business gurus. Don’t forget to look to the past sometimes. It helps you to see how far you’ve come and also shows where you made mistakes. Concentrate on the present. That is where you are now and if you want a successful business future, it will always be based on what you are doing at any given moment.
© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015
image courtesy of lightshouse
