5 Things That Bring Small Business Success

Small Business SuccessSmall Business success takes lots of hard work, but it’s easier if you focus on the right things. Over my many years of helping entrepreneurs grow their small business there 5 things that accelerate success.

Know What You Want “Personally” Before You Start

How many people do you know that seem to be wandering aimlessly? Do you know someone maybe “personally” like this? I see this more times than I care to admit. Owners are so focused on their business that their life is out of balance and they wonder why they aren’t achieving what they want.

When life is out of balance, performance suffers. Assess both your personal and professional objectives to create life balance and performance increases allowing you to achieve more both personally and professionally.

Take an Offensive vs. a Defensive Posture

I have written countless times in the past on this topic. Ask anyone that you believe is successful and they will tell you nobody just handed them their success. They had to go get it!

People that take a defensive posture are like a turtle. When trouble comes around they duck in their shell and wait for it to pass. Successful Small Business owners take an offensive posture and drive toward what they want. If you first know what you want, you can react to anything that comes at you in a manner that gets you closer to your goal.

Focus on the Right Things

A perfect example of what I mean here is how many business owners reacted to the past economic downturn. Many businesses cut, then cut some more, and then cut even more? Were you one of those people?

If sales are falling and revenue is shrinking, what will cutting expenses do to correct falling sales and shrinking revenue – NOTHING. Cutting expenses is a defensive strategy.

Successful small business owners took an offensive posture. They saw sales falling and built a plan to change what they were doing and get sales moving again. This in turn causes revenue to stabilize and begin turning north again. Then they looked at expenses to see where they needed to cut back to assure profitability stayed at the same percentage as before the downturn. You need to take this attitude with everything you do to achieve success.

Understand Cause & Effect

To achieve success you will need to make many hard decisions. When you make a decision or take an action a wave of events are set into motion. It’s often these events set in motion that cause problems not the original decision. This is why planning is always so critical – both in life and business. Planning forces you to look at the wave of events that could occur with each action you take. It allows you to see where negative events may occur. Knowing a negative event might occur allows you can decide, “do I want to go down this path or is there another way to get to my destination?”

When you “shoot from the hip”, you find yourself always dealing with fires. So, take time before you act. Think about the effect caused by your action. Then decide if there might be a better, faster or cheaper way to get there. You reach your goals much faster and with less stress when you give it a little thought up front.

Create a Plan and Stick to It

Too frequently I hear owners complaining “nobody does what they are supposed to do.” So I ask, “do you have a written plan with objectives and expected timeline?” The answer, more frequently than not, is NO. Of course when I ask if the owner has a life plan they regularly review to see how they are progressing toward their life’s goals, the answer is again NO.

The purpose of a plan is more than just to chart your course. It also establishes accountability. Accountability in turn creates disciple. Anyone with great success will tell you discipline was a key factor in their success.

Conclusion

Is this all there is to success? No, but these are the items that seem to be consistently missing with many people that I coach. Once we begin addressing these items, quickly their circumstances begin to turn for the better.

If you have had thing that have helped you with your success share your ideas here. When we find things that work and help us grow I feel that it is our duty to help lift up others. I look forward to hearing things from you that can make me more successful too!