Being an entrepreneur means traveling your own road with no career guide, manager checking on your every move, or map to show you how to do every step: You’ll have to make it up as you go. To succeed in business, you need to be flexible and have book organizational and planning skills.
Unfortunately, you don’t succeed in business just completing a task list or a good idea. So what determines a successful business? Here are the 3 keys to building an irresistible business:
Good to Great
By Jim Collins
⏱ 12 minute reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Vision
Vision is the most critical aspect of any business. Always make sure your vision is clear and precise. An unclear vision can make it hard to stay focused and motivated.
Having a clear vision for a company gives you focus when things go wrong because they can and will. The course planned might not always go the way you imagined, but always keep your vision in mind.
A helpful tool to bring your vision to light is implementing a vision statement. Incorporating a vision statement provides meaning and purpose to your business.
Research reveals employees who view their company’s vision as important are often more driven, therefore enhancing the business.
Focus on the most important objective
Most people have this fairytale idea that starting a business will happen overnight as easy as 1,2,3. But unfortunately, the reality is starting, and managing a business will most likely require you to wear many hats.
You’ll have to juggle being the marketer, accountant, salesman, and visionary all at the same time, while getting pulled in 100 different directions. It is vital at this beginning stages of your business to stay focused.
By focusing, it’ll reduce the chance of being burnt out and allow your business to grow in the direction you envisioned. The best way to do this is to have a written plan. Make a plan, but be flexible.
Writing down a strategy gives you the structure of how you want the business to move forward and grow. A great way to ensure growth in your business is to incorporate Objectives and Key Results.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is a key strategy to help set goals within your business. The reason for OKRs is to focus on results and provide direction. First, start with 3-5 key objectives you would like to incorporate in your business.
Under each objective, describe 3-5 results you would like to produce. Allow your results to be realistic, significant, and attainable. It is crucial to review OKRs regularly to track your results to make sure your business is going in the right direction.
Related: 5 Books Every Leader Should Read to Be Successful
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel, Improve It.
As business owners, there is always this misconception that we need to reinvent or establish something new to make ourselves known.
But on the contrary, this is false. When you try to propose a new trend or idea, you come into contact with many roadblocks that can cause a lot of time, money, and resources to be wasted.
Improving on an idea that is already exiting can reduce your time, resources, and money. For example, Taxi’s have been around for decades, but in 2009 Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp created Uber, one of the biggest companies used all around the world.
Instead of flagging a cab down, they recreated the idea to request a ride from your fingertips. They took a simple idea that was already successful and enhanced it.
Success leaves clues. With only 5% of businesses surviving after ten years, it’s imperative to find a business model that works and improve on it.
Remember, competition is a good thing. It proves there is a demand for what you offer. Your time is already precious; do not waste it by recreating what is already available.
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