Everyone wants to be successful in business. We’ve been fortunate to work with hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years and we’ve started multiple companies ourselves. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t and wanted to share some simple thoughts on what we’ve learned to work in terms of successfully getting a business off the ground.
Courage:
Business is hard. You need to have the courage to never give up, to listen to others and keep fighting. The only way a business will fail is if you give up. Do right by customers. Have the courage to put your product in the market.
Doers:
Too many talkers. Too many wantrepreneurs. Nothing will get done unless you do it. So do it, put it out in the world. Have the grit to roll up your sleeves and get down to work. The grunt work. No work and No task is too big or too small when it comes to your own business. Literally you cannot be successful till it you do. This sounds simple but so many people can’t get past this.
Like Nike says, “Just Do It”
Customer focus:
Yes, every book and successful product talks about this but few people really follow this to the T. Seriously. your only question that you should ask about the health or focus of your business, should be about the customer NOT your own personal bias. No one cares if you don’t like that color, the question is will your customer like it? Only focus on them. You are NOT your customer, even if you once were.
Flexibility:
The one fact I can ascertain to is that things will change. You will need to be able to move with the market and your customers. You then need to adapt quickly to stay relevant and to continue being in the market.
Manage cash:
As an entrepreneur, you will never believe that you have enough cash. At all times, you need to know how much you have on hand and where it’s been spent. It’s often time is easier to just ignore this because it could look grim but everyday you need to know how much is going out and how much is coming in and plan accordingly. This is literally the only thing that WILL kill a company. You run out of cash and there will no longer be a business