5 Suggestions to Building a More Successful Business
Based on the writings of Jim Connolly, a professional blogger that I subscribe to.
How can I make my business more successful? A huge question to cover in limited space,
but consider studying the business development advice along with examples. I have
focused on 5 traits that I see as important to any successful business owner or manager. I
am hopeful you find them useful.
How can I make my business more successful?
…by doing all of the work. One significant difference between the most successful
business owners and everyone else is this:
 The most successful business owners do 100% of what is required for success
 The average business owner does 100% of the things required, as long as they
remain in their comfort zone.
The different results from this mindset can be enormous. The successful business owner
knows when their business needs something and does it. The typical business owner
sees the same needs, than weighs their actions based on how comfortable they are about
meeting them. Ifthe actions take them out of their comfort zone they don’t address
them, even though the business needs action.
True example. A business owner sold his business to a new owner who tripled sales in 6
months. The former owner was frustrated because all of the things that the new owner
did were things that he had considered, but failed to do, because he considered them too
risky. Over the 10 years that the previous owner had the business, he feels his fear of
stepping out of his comfort zone cost him $15,000,000.
Lesson: “Action is the Fundamental Key to all Success”, Pablo Picasso. Leave your
comfort zone and make the right decision rather than the easy decision.
…by connecting with the right people, in advance of when you need something. To
build and maintain a successful business we all need the help and support of our piers. A
successful business is all about people. One of the key differences between successful
business owners and those that struggle is the manner inwhich they connect with people.
Successful business owners think of the people whose help that they may need in
advance. The deliberately and regularly make contact with these key individuals. Than
months or years later when they need advice or help, it’s available to them.
Struggling business people wait until they need help then pester strangers with their
requests for a favor.
Never begin a business relationship by asking for help from a total stranger, even if they
are in the same business. Make the connections first. Get to know your piers. Show
respect and be human.

The most successful business owners go way beyond this. They actively seek out ways to
be of value to their piers, in advance. They remember that giving and receiving begins
with the giving part.
Lesson: make the right connections in advance so that they are there when you need
them.
…by having a wide base of clients and customers. The most successful business
owners already realize the danger of having too few, high volume customers. They make
sure that they have a wide array of business clients that they serve rather than a few
clients that are responsible for a huge portion of their business income.
The typical small business does exactly the opposite. They often have a small number of
clients who are responsible for the bulk of their income. When they loose just one
customer or client, it can have a very serious impact on the overall business. In some
cases it can cost them the business.
To build a successful business, your business needs to be resilient and robust. It needs to
have a wide array of customers, none of whom control too big of a share of your revenue.
If you currently find yourself in this situation of having too few clients controlling too
much of your monthly revenue, make correcting this problem your number one priority.
It is a lot easier to improve your base of business clients now, rather than after you have
lost a major customer or client.
Lesson: don’t put too many eggs in one basket.
…by using proven strategies, not tactics. One of the biggest mistakes people make
when trying to build a successful business is to copy the tactics of their successful piers,
rather than developing and learning from their own strategies.
Example: there are hundreds of new social networking sites that fail every year because
they try to copy what Facebook and Twitter already do (tactics). They create a social
network that has no users. If they focused on the strategies that worked for Facebook
and Twitter, such as developing something unique, viral and valuable, they stand a much
better chance of being successful.
When you copy someone’s tactics, you become a copy of the original. Copies are of little
value.
The challenge is discovering the successful strategy; it is often hidden and requires work
to develop. We can easily see the tactics of successful business owners because they are
visible. Discovering the successful strategy behind those tactics takes a lot more
detective work. Fortunately many of the world’s most successful business owners and
managers have written books on their successes or have been interviewed. This allows
us to gain invaluable insight into the strategies that made their business so successful.
No successful business in made up of a series of tactics; they are all based on strategic
plans.

Lesson: read all you can about successful business owners and managers; use their
expertise to help you “think strategic”.
…by getting the help you need. Few business owners are equally good at every
business discipline. Without exception all of us are stronger in some areas, especially
those areas that we find more important and interesting. At the same time we all find
ourselves weaker in areas that are equally important to the success of the business. If we
do not realize our areas of weakness, they can have a huge negative impact on our overall
success. This leaves us two options.
1) Learn to become stronger in areas where we recognize weakness.
2) Hire appropriate expertise in the areas where we are weak.
Lifelong learning is essential to our business success, however business owners cannot
be expected to learn to be an expert in every area. So we need to hire help wisely.
For example: if you need a new or revised website, one that looks professional and stands
out from the ‘template’ used by millions of other businesses; it pays to hire a talented
designer. You could spend months trying to learn how to design a satisfactory website
only to see that it is no better than any other DYI website out there. You would have
saved nothing by creating a less than an attractive, interactive website and would have
lost hundreds of hours of your time which was needed in other areas of your business.
Every successful business owner has learned that they need to hire the talented help
their company needed. Conversely, many failed businesses have tried to do it all
themselves. Reserve DYI for your home projects, DYI accounting, IT, legal worketc.
make zero sense, especially in today’s super competitive economy.
Lesson: leave DYI for home projects, hire help wisely.
In summary, what traits make some business owners more successful than others?
1) Do 100% of what is required for success, even if it takes you out of your comfort
zone. Don’t miss out on expediential growth because you made the easy decision.
2) Actively seek out talented individuals and network with them on a continual basis,
ahead of when you may need advice or help. Remember that “giving” is an
important starting point in any relationship.
3) The old adage about not having all of our eggs in one basket still rings true today.
If you currently find yourself in this position, make correcting the problem your
#1 priority.
4) Life-long learning and reading are important to successful business owners, learn
all you can from successful people and use this knowledge to think strategic.
5) DYI projects at work have the habit of removing you from your business for
untold hours; lost time can never be reclaimed. Hire talented people and manage
them correctly.