So you have started your own business and are working on expanding it, but how likely are you to actually make it a success?
It’s never easy to judge if a business will do well or not, even if you have done all the research, talked with all the right people, have all the knowledge, and have the perfect team. You still wouldn’t be able to say with 100% certainty that your business would become a success. There is no way of doing business that takes away all the risk involved, at least not if you want to grow and expand. There is, however, a way of running your business that might increase the chances of it succeeding. The solution might sound simple, but it is far from easy.
COMMIT YOURSELF TO YOUR BUSINESS!
The magic solution is that the founders commit themselves completely to making the business a success. They must be willing to give all their effort, all their free time, all their mental and physical energy to building up the business for the two to three years it takes to turn an idea into a successful and stable company. Their commitment will then be tested in three steps.
1. Marathon Commitment
Committing to a business is easy for a few days, weeks, or even a few months. The real challenge comes when you have been working on a business for many months and nobody around you thinks it will succeed, you still haven’t gotten any kind of real income, your savings are spent, and you’re not really sure how you’re going to survive the next few months. This is where your mental stamina will be tested. You have to believe so strongly in yourself and your idea that you know it will work and that you are willing to continue without being able to see the finishing line.
2. Responsibility Commitment
When your company finally starts to turn around, you will be faced with the challenge of having a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and no one to lighten the burden. All of a sudden, you have dozens or hundreds of customers that expect you to provide the perfect product or service, and you must make sure that every one of them is happy. You start to get steady income, but you still haven’t reached the point where you can hire enough people to service all the demands, so you must make up for it by working long hours and 7 days a week. You start missing the previous phase because then at least you could take a day off once in a while and rest, but now there is too much going on and you can’t afford to rest.
3. Team Commitment
Finally, you are able to start hiring people, and your responsibility moves from your customers to the team that you are now leading. You must make sure that everyone you hire is going to be a great asset to the company and is going to create more value than the money you’re paying them. More than that, you have to be careful because just one bad hire could have a devastating effect on the company. Here is also where your skills as a leader come into play. You have to make sure that every one of your team is as motivated as you are and is willing to work hard to make your business successful.
So if you are committed enough to go through these 3 steps, then you and your business are likely to succeed.
True success demands commitment.
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