What makes your business distinct from the rest? It is essential to focus on this if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. You need to identify the characteristic that can make your business stand out from the crowd.
How do you do it? Follow the Ten Commandments to make your business the best.
Commandment 1: Thou shalt be Creative
Don’t sell a product or a service. Instead, make it your goal to sell an experience. Your business thrives on the way your business resolves a problem or improves an aspect of the customers’ life. Scale the joy that your product or service creates and deliver it to the customers in a systematic manner.
Commandment 2: Thou shalt be Punctual
Set a timeline for your tasks and get them completed within it. Making an associate wait for a meeting or a customer wait for a delivery is one of the worst things you can do to hamper your image as an entrepreneur.
Commandment 3: Thou shalt be Proficient
It will be of no use if you are a Jack of all trades. It’s best if you can be the master of your niche. The easiest way to establish your expertise is to become a regular contributor to relevant publications. This will drive more people to your business for advice and assistance in concerned matters.
Commandment 4: Thou shalt be Engaging
As a small business owner, you may have to invest your time in tasks (such as sending personalized thank you emails to new customers) that don’t seem to have any apparent profit. But it is these small things that often help you build a strong customer base. I occasionally receive emails from Argos.co.uk which aims at customers engagement.
Commandment 5: Thou shalt be Original
Well, rules are there for a reason; they ensure the smooth functioning of a newly established business. They also augment stability. But being steadfast about following rules isn’t going to work. Breaking one, occasionally, may lead to a unique experience or a singular breakthrough.
Commandment 6: Thou shalt be Motivating
When you offer employees a share of the success, it becomes easier to motivate them to work harder. Be it an incentive or a share of the business profits, it is imperative that you appreciate and encourage this business asset. Ikea is one such company that always motivates to employee rather then forcing them to meet target.
Commandment 7: Thou shalt be Experimental
An idea may seem a little offbeat at first glance. But you never know whether it will yield a positive or negative result until you try it. And the best thing about being a small business owner is that you can take risks and try out innovative ideas on a smaller scale to see whether they work before implementing or rejecting them.
Commandment 8: Thou shalt be Friendly
You need to be warm and welcoming to customers. But what do you do to others? You must be friendly; even to your competitors. You never know when a competitor may turn into a partner. Make sure you do not divulge a trade secret. Keep it professional. Rope-Barriers.com, a leading UK based supplier of rope barriers, always emphasizes the idea of serving customers with a smile and this is what has contributed to its growth.
Commandment 9: Thou shalt be Balanced
Don’t sacrifice your personal life just because you have to run a business. It will only lead to strained relationships and a stressed self. Learn the way to balance your professional and personal life. Also, make sure you get adequate time for yourself. Don’t give up on the things that make you happy for the sake of your business.
Commandment 10: Thou shalt be Yourself
Today, a small business thrives, not on the products you sell or the widgets you employ, but the relationships you create. If you are capable of creating and nurturing positive relationships with customers, associates, employees, and so on, you can be a success.
Pay attention to these simple and unorthodox points to work things out.
You cannot cater to every customer or get every deal. Don’t let your successes or failures go to your head. One will make you too much confident while the other will lower your self-esteem. Understand each to be a temporary phase of your business. And focus more on the long-term goal to create brand value.
