The four sure-fire keys to business successWritten by Benjamin Okeagu
Success comes in a variety of ways. A lucky few, bred with proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, have success thrust on them by heritage. The greater majority achieves it old-fashioned way, through "sweat, blood, and tears." Ever noticed something unique about latter group? Observe carefully and you'll find following four distinctly defining traits:Business Ownership: Most successful people have their own businesses. The popular saying that you cannot get rich working for somebody else appears true now more than ever. A recent survey puts proportion of authentic business ownership at only 5%. Granted that entrepreneurial trend is at an unprecedented peak in a generation, but far too many new businesses are of fleeting kind, and survey refers only to abiding business ownership. With business ownership estimated at only 5%, that means that rest of us are content with "jobs", faithfully enriching already bulging coffers of a select few. Consider that fact next time you hear how economy is booming, and how many more new jobs it has created. An astounding 95% of us provides impetus for that boom. They offer a good product/service: Find a need and feel it, and your success is assured. One of greatest difficulties in starting a business is determining a need to meet. The typical consumer's needs usually involve desired products or services of one form or another. A good product/service is one that is brimming with consumer benefits. The benefits may take form of saving people money and time. Another good set of benefits may be to make people healthy, youthful, and vibrant. It is not hard to think of easy examples that fit any of these categories. Why do you suppose E-commerce has lately soared to incredible heights in such a short time? Because it promises significant savings, and lure of stress-free shopping from comfort of prospect's home. What about those ubiquitous nutritional supplements? It too promises something people crave…health, youthfulness, and longevity. The thing to remember here though is that promises alone are not enough. To truly succeed, you must deliver them. They yearn to help others succeed: Ray Kroc revolutionized this idea and in time others followed. I'm referring to idea that success is more quickly attained by helping others succeed. Look around you today, and you'll see a McDonalds on just about every block, because that man hit upon notion of setting up franchises as a way of inviting others to share his good fortune. Notice too, that businesses that succeed most are those who've embraced aspects, if not whole of Ray's model. I recently read an interview by Tom Moniham (founder of Dominos Pizza) where he credited precisely such a model with bulk of his success. Much contemporary network marketing philosophy is an offspring of this model. My grade school teacher used to say: "One good turn deserves another." The evidence is compelling … successful people have discovered awesome secret that one good turn does not merely deserve another…it invites another!
| | Who Are Your "Most Likely" Customers And What Do You Know About Them?Written by Noel Peebles
You'll notice I've used words "most likely" in above question. Why didn't I just ask who are your customers? That would have been too easy. Effective research is all about asking right questions. If I'd just asked who's your customer, you might have been tempted to answer "Well, I suppose everyone who pays me is a customer." Yes you're right, but I already knew answer to that. When you think about it, a "good business consultant" is not one who has all right answers. I believe it's opposite. A "good business consultant" is one who knows all right questions to ask. >From experience I've found that if you ask right questions, answers will eventually become obvious. I've also discovered that many owners of small businesses know right answers, it's just that they've never asked themselves right questions. That's why I reworded question to ask -who are your "most likely" customers? To answer that accurately you will have to really think about it. When you do, you'll soon conclude that your "most likely" customers are different from "Joe Public" (the general population).
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