8 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS

#Business

Many people out there just want to start business without knowing what it takes to run the business. It is because of  lack of knowledge from the business owner that make their business to collapse like a pack of cards within few months of starting up of the business.  However, in today's blog, I am going to discuss some important things that one needs to know- how to run and eventually build a business, and take it to a grater height. Let get started. 

When you first started your business, you probably did a lot of research. You may have sought help from advisors; you may have gotten information from books, magazines and other readily available sources. You invested a lot-in terms of money, time and sweat equity-to get your business off the ground. So...now what?

For those of you who have survived startup and built successful businesses, you may be wondering how to take the next step and grow your business beyond its current status. There are numerous possibilities, 8 of which I’ll outline. Choosing the proper one (or ones) for your business will depend on the type of business you own, your available resources, and how much money, time and sweat equity you're willing to invest all over again. If you're ready to grow, then work on the outline I’m going to highlight.

In amazing book written by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff titled Mission in a bottle, the book is a must read for the rookie entrepreneur and also the old timers in the game. Goldman and Nalebuff shared some rules that helped them build their $10 billion enterprise and I in turn will share some of them with you today.

1. Build something you believe in: that’s the first and permit me to say, the most important step to building a lasting brand. When the chips are down, when everyone you know seems to have turned their backs on you, when you are sitting in a dark room wondering why your business is failing, there’s only one true powerful thing that keeps you going-you believe in your purpose.

2. Don’t aim for 10% improvement: create a brand or product that is radical and provide solution to the prevailing need. Do not try to create something that’s a slight improvement to what’s already on ground. Dig deep and decide now to build something radically different and radically better.

3. Prepare to be copied: in their book, they expressly stated “do not start unless you’ll survive imitation”. If your idea is truly amazing and takes off, you can count on it that copy-cats will try to overtake you. The only way you can put them in their place is by constant innovation or you can also take the same path Honest Tea took- make friends with one of the biggest copy-cats and let them buy you out. For instance, Coca-Cola Company acquired Honest Teas in 2011.

4. Build up reserves of money and energy for bad luck and mistakes: this is a wonderful piece of advice but at the same time, one of the hardest to follow. How many new businesses have enough cash sitting around? But according to Goldman and Nalebuff, you should run as lean as you possibly can and do not waste money or energy. You’ll encounter mistakes and bad luck along the way. So having a good reserve of cash and energy will help along the way.

5. Don’t compromise on the big things: the vision, purpose and core values are non-negotiable. These things should be set in stone. You can be flexible in any other aspect.

6. Figure out how to achieve your goal on a tiny budget: apply this principle from the-day-one of the business. Your goal is to stay active till you become a success. Blowing the budget will insure nothing but a quick death.

7. it’s a marathon, not a sprint: building a business empire is not for the faint of heart or the speed demon. Starting a business empire requires planning and perseverance.

8. Take care of your family, personal and spiritual health: Imagine the path to a wildly successful business: the founder works at a feverish pace for 18 hours each day, for at least 5 years straight bet most of you would think, he’ll end up being the next whiz kid on the entrepreneurial block right? No, it does not work that way. You need to strive for balance. The notion that we need to kill our family relationships, personal health or level of sanity to build our own business is sadly misaligned.

Stick these eight rules from Goldman and Nalebuff to your mirror, look at them and live by them every day of your life as an individual chasing your dreams or as an entrepreneur and you might end up as successful as they.

Please share this post. Somebody might need these tips in order to grow his or her business. Thanks!

To your dream business success!