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Succeeding in Business Made Easy
| | Saturday, October 23, 2004 @ 12:00 PM EDT
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Contributed by: Ford Group
Ford Group Properties
Read more archived articles about Managing
by Gladys Edmunds
Success in business depends on your ability to juggle all aspects of your life in a way that helps both you and your business thrive.
You may have amassed a lifetime of managerial and other business skills that you can apply to a business of your own after you retire. But if you don’t learn to manage yourself, you’ll undercut your chances of success. Important...
Step 1: Take charge of your thinking. Thoughts affect feelings, and feelings in turn affect behavior, which determines the outcome of a venture. So taking charge of what you’re thinking will keep negativity from getting the best of you.
You can take control of your thoughts and prevent outside distractions -- television, magazines and newspapers, chitchat -- from
controlling you. Negative thoughts are a distraction you can’t afford to waste time on. Tools you can use include...
Humor. Use it to keep things in perspective.
Physical exercise. It clears your mind and energizes you.
Pleasant activities. Do some every day!
The purpose of taking charge of your thoughts is to bring your real purpose into focus and keep your eye on it. Once you’ve set your goals and know what you want, you can continue to focus on them as long as you prevent distractions from undermining your intent.
Step 2: Overcome obstacles. Obstacles block our ability to go forward to achieve our goals. Obstacles can be tangible, such as a lack of seed money to get started. But obstacles can also be mental processes -- theories, ideas and concepts -- that impede our success. Focusing on the obstacle keeps you from seeing your goal. What to do...
Change the way you respond to obstacles in order to rise above them.
Turn a negative obstacle into a positive motivator.
Understand that an obstacle may be solely your own doing. Get rid of habits, stereotypes and expectations that are holding you back.
The two serious obstacles that can prevent you from reaching your goals are guilt... and fear of failure or fear of success.
Guilt can be a serious obstacle in developing your business. Recognize that guilt can be used by others to manipulate you into doing things you don’t want to do. As long as you’re giving your all, you have no reason to feel guilty.
If you haven’t yet taken the plunge into your own business, perhaps it’s the fear of failure (or in some people the fear of success) that’s operating. Recognize what’s happening and use a little courage to get over your fear.
Step 3: Establish communications. Communication is the most vital skill for an entrepreneur. If you can communicate your business idea to the right people in the right way, your business will inevitably grow.
In order to communicate well, you have to be sure that the business you’ve selected is the right one for you -- that it reflects who you are and you feel comfortable with it. But if you get past this point, then identify your potential customers. How...
Determine who would use your product/service.
Ask, “What’s in it for the customer?”
What’s the customer like (age, gender, occupation, family status, economic status)?
You need to learn about your target market through research. But you also need to gain insight into your market. Numbers are only part of the story.
You need to find just the right angle to let you communicate with your market. Your creativity comes into play here.
Ask for what you want: You may want advice from others to help you get started. You may want to clinch a sale. Just ask. The worst that can happen is a “no” answer.
A key part of communication is listening. Complaints and criticism of your business, though unpleasant, can help you make necessary changes.
Step 4: Build a dynamic support system. While an entrepreneur generally must wear many hats -- salesperson... bookkeeper... personnel counselor -- no one person can do it alone. You need to develop a network of people who can help and support you. Including...
Mentor. The person who can guide you with his/her experience and offer constructive criticism.
Advocates. People who can “blow your horn” and bring you business. You don’t have to limit yourself to one person. As your customer base expands, word-of-mouth advertising by them will further expand your business.
Nurturer. Spouse, friend, someone who can stand behind you to give you the strength you need to succeed.
Coach. A cheerleader who stands at your side, helps you see problems impeding you, and continues to believe in you while you’re solving them.
You may find a coach in people who work for your business (such as a technician or sales assistant) or outside professionals (such as an attorney or accountant).
Step 5: Achieve balance. To be successful in your business, you have to find a balance between that and your personal life. All work and no play can rob you of a feeling of happiness. Business is only one part of your life. Areas to work on...
Self love. You need to discover your love of self in order to achieve harmony within the world.
Minding the scales. Look for a lack of energy, irritability or anger that may be indications you’re out of balance.
Simplicity. While starting and running a business is a complex process, you need to introduce simplicity into your life to keep things in balance.
Example: Spending on designer clothes or expensive vacations may, in fact, be a complication you would do best living without. Less spending, which requires less shopping, means more time for other things.
Step 6: Expand your horizons. To grow in business, you need to grow as a person. This entails expanding your comfort zone and doing things that previously made you nervous or you thought you couldn’t do...
Maybe it’s public speaking (a terror for many people).
Maybe it’s selling yourself.
Just allay your fears and jump in. With practice, you can gain comfort in areas that used to make you uncomfortable.
Ask questions to broaden your knowledge. And use information readily available in many places -- especially networking -- to find the answers you need. This will translate into doing things better in your business.
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