Daccanomics
What is the definition of success for us? Increase in sales? Getting company funded? Taking the company to IPO? Whatever the reason may be, you need to make sure nothing gets in your way of success. There are many factors to take into consideration while you think about what is it that is stopping you from your success. Make sure you are not one of the reasons. There is a common phrase used in the world of business
Perfection Is The Enemy Of Success
While entrepreneurs are always looking for perfection, they often start late. As an entrepreneur, you need to remember that perfection is impossible to achieve and there will always be more you can do. So rather than aiming for perfection, you can try close to perfect. Launch as soon as you can and let your customers give you the feedback that you want. Once you get the feedback make sure you work on it as soon as you can.
Many companies that have extinct either waited long enough to achieve perfection or didn’t take action after getting feedback from their customers quickly when needed. Companies that are not connected to their customers have no chance in business and are destined to fail. With that being said, let us look into what’s stopping your company from success.
1. Judging your business based on a great year
You were doing okay in business for quite a long time. Everything was going well. You even started to make revenue and suddenly you made a superlinear growth. The business was booming and you had the most amazing year in sales since you started out.
Should you be happy? Of course, you should be happy. But also you need to be concerned and shouldn’t start to judge your business based on one year report. Take a while to see future projections.
If the growth is static, great job. If you are also growing at the same rate the next year, Congratulations. But if you start to see sublinear growth in the next year it’s bad news for you. Look into your business strategy and see why last year worked out well for you.
2. Making quick-fix campaigns
Sometimes the quick fix campaigns can help your business to grow for a certain period but in the long run, it’s not helpful. You can’t follow the same strategy again and again and expect customers to stick around. Play with your strategy and make sure to have a basic philosophy. Once you have a static philosophy you will have customers who will be turning into returning customers.
3. Flattery
People like to be flattered and appreciated. They don’t want someone to tell them about their flaws. They don’t want to be judged. This is where successful entrepreneurs differ from the rest of us. They don’t get flattered. You can say whatever you want to impress them, they just won’t get intimidated. They rather want people to tell them about their flaws. Because only then they can make themselves better. Once your business starts to grow there will be a lot of people praising you.
Your employees will try to keep you happy, your friends will start to give high praise. No one tries to offend someone in power or position. As you grow you surround yourself with Yes men. Don’t do that. Listen to all the high praises and let the compliments leave your ears.
Remember most of the compliments are fake. People who try to benefit from your position usually try to win you with compliments. So before you start smiling and let yourself dive into those compliments think about the intention behind it. Let go of these compliments and take action on your flaws.
4. Don’t isolate yourself
As your business grows, you start to get isolated from the people around you. You start to get further away from the close ones. Suddenly you start building a wall around you and people find you hard to reach. You get away from your customers. You get isolated from the people you work with. No one talks to you, because you are important.
You are big. You are beyond reach. And suddenly you become irrelevant. Suddenly you have no idea about the world around you. You become the goliath and people start to fear you. So never disappear from your employees, customers, the people you love, and the people you work with. Isolate from your haters not from everyone around.
5. Revisit your business plan
Sometimes the business might not work out as expected. One of the campaigns might fail drastically. Your customers might start to get pissed off. And the sales might drop dramatically. So what do you do? Give up?
No. Revisit your business plan. Look for the mistakes. Look for things that didn’t work out. Keep changing until you find the perfect business model for you. The world of business is dynamic and it keeps changing every now and then.
So if you don’t look back once in a while and look around you, you gonna end up failing. It is very much important to revisit your business plans every once in a while. See what is working for you and what is stopping you from success.
