Owning a business can be the ticket to maximum personal and professional fulfillment – or an endless treadmill of frustration and exhaustion.

Whether your business is stuck in neutral, running out of steam, or hurtling out of control, you’ll benefit from some insights that have consistently made a difference for my clients. Implement one or more of these ten success principles to help you get the business you’ve always dreamed of.

1. Are you choosing self-employment or a business?
Decide which of these lifestyles you are embracing. Self-employment means you are your own boss, but it also means that, when you stop working, the money does, too.

Self-employment is often the pre-cursor to having a real business, but it can also mean the trap of working long hours and doing everything yourself. A true business relies on team and systems to deliver the goods, and allows you to remove yourself from the business without jeopardizing its success.

2. Questions are the answer.
When you’re in charge of your own business or practice, you can easily fall into an  “I know” attitude or believe that you are responsible for having all the answers. That’s a belief that guarantees burnout…and prevents your support team from developing their business muscles. 

Instead, adopt a “beginner’s mind” – for example, think about how someone from outside your industry would deal with your situation.  Be aware of the assumptions you make when facing a problem. For example, in a difficult discussion with a client, have you pre-judged their position? Asking a better question leads to better decisions. Having people around who will constructively question you is even better.

3. Put a $$ value on your time.
When you consider the hours you put into your business, are you working for McJob wages? Do you have a myriad of excuses for toiling long hours at menial tasks? Start by valuing your time at 10-20 times what you pay your highest-earning employee. If you’re in start-up mode, use the yearly draw you’d like to take – then double it – to estimate the value of your time. The priority list of a $500 per hour strategist is vastly different from a $25 per hour administrator.

4. Know your priorities
As the head of your business, your first obligation is to “do only what only you can do”. Often we retain the jobs we like or are competent at, as a way of staying in a comfort zone. If someone else can do the job, let it go.

Also remember the 80/20 rule: avoid spending eighty per cent of your effort in areas that return only 20 per cent of your results. Your focus is to grow revenue, develop your team and systems, and build your brand.

5. Choose your customers and your niche.
Identify your favorite customers and what you value about them. Stop draining your energy by over-servicing unsuitable customers, and divert your best resources to your A-list. Nurture those A’s so they’ll be encouraged to refer more people like themselves to you.

Apply the same kind of thinking to your product or service. Don’t do it just because you can. Focus on something you are excited about providing, and you will tend to do it very well. Make sure your price/fee provides an adequate return (see #5). This combination of focus, capability, and value will naturally attract your A-type customers.

6. Know your KPI’s and your costs.
Your Key Performance Indicators are “magic numbers” that tell you your business is on track. Your daily, weekly, or monthly financials are critical KPI’s, but so are things like employee turnover, number of new inquiries, average dollar sale, and cycle times. Find your critical KPI’s and be obsessive about tracking them!

7. Surround yourself with greatness
 Great successes are usually not solo efforts, so assemble a team that supports your dreams. Recruit employees and alliances that complement your strengths and are in tune with your goals. Expand your circle of support with professional advisors, mentors, coaches, a board of directors, or a peer advisory group. Gain support from family and friends by enrolling them in your vision.

You’ll get honest feedback, a sounding board, objective advice, sincere support – and better results – when you engage the help of others.

8. Work hard on yourself as well as on the business.
Your business potential has only one limitation – you. So focus with the same intensity on your personal growth as you do on perfecting your business. Read a business or personal development book every month, attend workshops and events featuring business leaders, and subscribe to on-line newsletters and business magazines.

Overcoming your fears, getting out of your comfort zone, continually learning, and taking full ownership and responsibility for your situation will ensure that you do what’s best for you and the business.  In other words, BE the person who will DO what it takes, in order to HAVE what you want.
    
9. Bring forward your uniqueness.
If you’re competing on price, it’s because no one can tell you apart from the competition. Even in a crowded, competitive industry, there is always opportunity to find what’s unique about your product or service. It may be your location, your people, your speed of delivery, your guarantee…even your customers! There are dozens of other variables.

If you’re unsure about what makes you stand out, engage an objective third party to survey your customers. Ask them why they buy from you. Use their feedback to highlight the uniqueness of your brand.

10. Emotions rule purchase and business decisions.
Harking back to the 80/20 rule, remember that 80 per cent of any business decision is emotional. The other 20 per cent is the logical justification. Define the emotional component of your brand, whether you are marketing a product to a customer or a career opportunity to a prospective team member.

Will your customer respond to promises of prestige and exclusivity, or comfort and safety? Does a potential employee value excitement and variety, or reputation and stability?  Will they feel an emotional connection with what your company stands for?

The right mindset, together with these guiding principles, will help move you and your business up the curve. Apply them consistently and watch good things happen!

© Mara Osis, 2005