There are 17 things that will stop you dead in your tracks and prevent you from developing your business into a resounding success.
Chief amongst these is ‘trying to do it all by yourself’! We just seem to lose sight of the fact that any sound business must rest on four vital pillars of partnership.
Nobody is an island! Throughout our lives we have been surrounded by ‘Pillars of Support’. During our first 7 years of life, we depended on our parents for this support … we rely heavily on support structures throughout our lives!
Is a business any different? Absolutely not! The only difference is that, in business, there are four vital pillars of support (partnership), which must be kept strong and in balance throughout the life of a business – any business! Consider these … and ensure that they are functioning to the best advantage of your business. If this is the case the business will automatically develop into a healthy, vibrant, entity.
In digesting the deep impact these pillars of partnership infer, do not make the fatal mistake of assuming (the word carries a street meaning of ‘the mother of all disasters’) that any one pillar is more important than the other. They are all equally important – try balancing on a four-legged chair, which has one cracked, weak, or missing leg!
The four pillars of partnership are:
- A Committed Owner
- A Good Product or Service
- A Good Marketing and Business Plan
- Good Counsel and Support
It is these pillars that support the Purpose (to get and keep customers) and the Object (to make money) of any business. It was one of those ‘eureka’ moments in the business life of the author of this letter when it dawned on him just how fundamental these four little principles were. Suddenly, a lot of the clutter dissipated, and focus was restored!
A closer examination of the four pillars will hopefully give you a more focused vision:
- A Committed Owner: Just because you work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, does not mean that you are committed. Quite the contrary, because you are probably trying to do it all by yourself and are therefore destined for failure.
I fell into this trap with my first business. I was working so hard at the routine that I failed to plot the road ahead and make provision for what was to come. Painful indeed! You must keep yourself imaginative, enthusiastic, and tolerant whilst exercising self-control and always taking the initiative. These again are fundamental issues that you must pull in line … and only you can do it.
Perhaps we will take a closer look at ‘you’ sometime into the future!
- A Good Product or Service: There is an adage in marketing which says that there are always customers for any product or service. This statement, however, presupposes that the product/service meets a need … not a perceived need, but an actual, identified need!
The mere fact that you are in business and that you have customers means that you already have a product or service. How good is it though? What could you do to make it even better? If you have a good product/service, it is not the product/service that will let you down, but other elements/dynamics in your business, which place you at risk.
Having said that, you must always innovate and find ways to improve, extend or enhance your product/service. All products/services have lifecycles, and the market moves on. Don’t get left behind … innovate! Easier said than done? Not really, as there are any number of techniques which may be applied, but now is not the time to deal with this issue.
- A Good Marketing and Business Plan: Isn’t it amazing that as soon as you mention these words, people immediately think of a very formal, costly, voluminous literary work, which is the product of hours and hours of mental anguish and which, once completed and presented, is never looked at again!
Big mistake! The marketing and business plans are living documents, which should guide your business development every step of the way. They are dynamic road maps subject to change and modification on a continuous basis.
It never ceases to amaze me that business guardians think they can achieve great things when they don’t plan the route they need to follow. Even more amazing is that in most cases, where planning was done, the business guardians neglected to follow the route they had mapped out.
These plans do not have to be formal documents! They are not difficult to construct provided you have mastered the art of asking yourself the right questions. By finding the answers to your questions you will not only develop your plans but will be automatically guided by them and will tweak them continuously.
- Good Counsel and Support: Being a business leader is the loneliest job in the world. Very often this is only the case because business leaders seem to insist on seeking counsel from the mirror. They do this because they think their business is unique and that only they can possibly have all the answers.
This is a fallacy! What happens when the mirror is dirty, or it breaks? There is a wealth of expertise out there that you can tap into … seek it out and use it!
You need a business coach, a mentor, a support mechanism. Once found, it is remarkable how your business thinking, and world, suddenly begins to open, allowing you to move forward with confidence.
Just as when you have problems with your health you consult a medical doctor, your business needs some objective source to point out potential health problems and prescribe remedial action before it is too late.
Has all the above been very complicated? Not at all … it is just a matter of being aware of what is needed and what you need to focus upon. These are all fundamental issues. Start thinking about them and continue building the skeleton of each of your pillars of partnership. Adding the flesh is the easy part!
Remember that internal misjudgements are six times more likely to cause business failure than external factors. The message is clear … keep objective help close at hand at all times, and if you don’t have it, get it without delay.
Success in business is all about getting the business fundamentals right … and the actions you take!
QUOTATION:
I call that man idle who may be better employed. (Socrates)
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