Over the span of my entrepreneurial career I have learned many valuable lessons, here are nine that I believe are essential to your success.
1. Make a Plan and Make it Great
Ensure that your plan is the roadmap for getting where you want to go, those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Entrepreneurs who make a plan are more successful than those who don't, unfortunately most entrepreneurs neglect this essential part of putting a business together resulting in ultimate failure.
2. Learn From Your Mistakes
If you make a mistake and/or make a bad decision, learn from it and move on. Never allow yourself to get stuck in the errors that you have made in the past. If you do get stuck you will undoubtedly make the same mistake again.
3. Have a Great Relationship With Your Bank Manager
Despite what we may think a good bank manager is a pot of gold, not only for funding as and when you need it, but as one of your KEY person contacts, they know everyone. My bank manager gave me loads of free leads and some outright customers, she was also great when I needed a temeporary overdraft as all entrepreneurs do from time to time, cultivate this relationship assidously.
4. Learn How to Understand Your Financial Information
The financial information that you have available to you is an incredibly valauble tool that can be used on a day to day basis to help you not only understand how your business is performing but also enable you to plan for increased performance.
5. Never Stop Learning
No matter how well you or your business is performing, never stop learning from other people and sources ways to make you and your business perform better. Every single day spend a little bit of time increasing your knowledge.
6. Cultivate Some Key People
Everybody knows someone who seems to know everyone, get to know these type of people and include them in your network of contacts. These people provide invaluable leads to even more people.
7. Admit When You are Wrong
It is alawys a surprise to customers when a business person admits to them that they have got something wrong. Admitting to your mistakes is a great way of keeping your customers on your side, everybody makes mistakes, most customers will tend to forgive and forget. Refusing to admit to mistakes can escalate a bad situation into a worse one.
8. Not Everybody Will Like You or What You Sell
You are not in business to be liked, but to make a profit. If somebody doesn't like you and you don't like them, don't do business with them. There will be enough people who think you are marvellous and that you can work with. If someone doesn't like you, get over it.
9. Provide What Your Customers Need, Not What You Think They Need
Find out exactly what it is that your customers want or need, then provide them with just that. They will thank you for it.
Well, those are nine of the imporatant lessons that I have learned during my time in business, there are hundreds more. Being in business is a huge learning curve that never really stops, learn a new lesson every day and let your business blossom.
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