In today’s post I will be discussing the meaning of success and the key to success in business. This is something you need to learn so that you can succeed in the business world.
You must have heard that most startup businesses fail after their first year in operation. Well, that is just the truth. Today we will be discussing about success in business.
There was a TV station that started operation some years back. The TV station started very small with few staff members and equipment.
The owner of the TV station and his wife were also part of the staff members because they also took their time out to work as news casters sometimes.
During the period of their startup, their operation period was only in the evening and they ran like that for years.
Later, they increased their operation time from 3om to 12pm while they close when it’s midnight.
One thing that made them stand out was that their delivery was of high quality, they gave their best in whatever they do.
As time would have it, the company grew and they began to run their programs 24hours throughout the year.
They didn’t just stop there as they also run their TV station online through their website and through YouTube.
Their success could not go unnoticed and this has caused them to receive many awards from the time they started till date and they keep getting better with each passing year.
As at today they have branches in several nations of the world and other international TV stations partner with them.
The reason why I shared this story is because I want you to know that success does not have to start big. You can start small and grow your business and that is the real success in business.
So what does success in business really means?
Success in simple term means to achieve your goals. We have a lot of goals in life which makes success have several meanings.
In business, success can be said to be attained when the business is growing. You can say you are successful when your business starts having new branches.
You can also say your business is successful when your customer base keeps increase. It is the joy of any business owner to get new customers daily.
Another thing that makes business owner satisfied is when they birth new products and services in addition to existing ones they have already.
Businesses also get satisfaction by satisfying their customers. Testimonials from customers can go a long way to inspire business owners, it also increases the credibility of the business and this can be seen as a sign of success.
When customers keep patronizing your business and they stay with you for years, that is also a sign of success because one of the things to do in business is to maintain your customers.
It is easy to get customers but it is not easy to sustain them to keep patronizing your business.
Success in business can also be measured by the profit that is being made by the business. One of the goals of every business is to keep increasing their profit each year.
If the profit of the current year is lesser than that of the previous year, most business owner do not term it as success because they want to keep increasing their profit each year.
Success is relative to each business depending on their goals. 10 million might be success to one business and it might not be success to another company based on the goals they’ve set.
Businesses are sometimes rated by the number of staff members they have because the more staff members they have the more salaries and bulls they will need to pay and this shows their financial stability level.
Organizations also boost their ranking by employing well educated staff members and they can even go to the extent of sponsoring their staff members to further their education.
All these can be seen as success in business based on the goals that has been set by the business but one thing is certain, that no business set goals to fail,, they all set goals to be successful.
Let us also look at some keys to success in business.
Get knowledge
One of the keys to being successful in any business is acquiring the right knowledge you need to operate the business.
If you do not have knowledge about the business you are going into, you will make a lot of mistakes, you will also end up wasting resources, time and money.
Be smart to get the required knowledge you will need to start your business rather than experimenting.
Set goals
Goals are specified dreams that have a duration which it should be achieved. A dream without a time frame cannot be said to be a dream, it is just a mere wish.
Setting goals make you work faster, it makes you prioritize the right thing. One of the reasons people don’t see their dreams come true is because they do not prioritize their activities.
Make plans
Every successful business you see out there make plans and that is one of the reasons they are successful.
When you fail to plan then you are planning to fail. That means when you do not plan, you are indirectly making a plan which you are not aware of and that plan is a plan of failure.
If you want to be successful in business, make sure you have a plan. Plan your day, plan, your week, plan your month, plan your year and plan your business.
Make effort
One of the reasons people do not succeed in business is because they never make effort.
You will see people with ideas but they do not try it out because they are scared of failure but what they do not know that it is even better to fail at an attempt than not making efforts at all.
Failure could sometimes be a form of lesson to us if we take our time to pay attention to details, we will be able to learn one or two things from our failures which can in turn birth huge success for us.
Get help
When you ask for help, you will be able to get to your destination faster. For instance if you are traveling and you are using a GPRS route finder, you will notice that you will get to your destination faster because you have a device helping you with directions.
But when you travel without a GPRS route finder and you don’t know the route also, you will make a lot of mistakes trying to help yourself to get the route to take.
Getting help from others saves you time, it pays to get help from others. So, allow others to help you when necessary.
Be accountable
One of the major reasons why most startup business fold up within their first year of existence is because there is no accountability.
I have heard business owners that spend all their profit and capital on pleasure and they don’t have anything to invest again when their funds are all spent.
Add value
Adding value to others is a vital key when it comes to succeeding in business.
Don’t just do a business because others are doing it or because you just want to get busy. You should get into business because you genuinely want to add value to others through your skills and knowledge.
In order to build a business that succeeds, grow and last, you need to add value and keep adding value to others.
The moment your business stops adding value to others then you should be sure that you are on your way to closing that business.
Never give up
For every successful business you see at the top, you should be sure that they faced a lot of obstacles but they were successful because they never gave up.
One of the difference between people that succeed in business and those that fail in business is that the successful ones never give up, they keep trying even if they’ve failed several times but those that fail give up at the slightest challenges they face.
Focus
When you focus on too many things at the same time, there is a high possibility that you might not get any of the things you are targeting.
When you focus on one thing, you are likely to achieve that which you are targeting.
This law also applies in business, when you focus on running several businesses at the same time without being established in one already, there is a high possibility that you might fail in all.
You should know what you want, focus on it and go after it till you achieve your goal.
Be diligent
Being diligent is more important than being skillful. Every customer wants to do business with a company that is reliable rather than a company with quality service but they are not always available to deliver their services.
One of the reasons why customers will keep patronizing your business is because they trust you and that comes as a result of being diligent in business.
Getting customers to patronize you regularly also contributes a great deal to your success in business.
Conclusion
At this point, you should have the meaning of success according to your own definition.
You can succeed in business if you know and apply the keys to success. These keys will work for you only when you try them but it will not work for you when you read them and don’t try them.
Wishing you success in business.