The Keys To Success In Business

Success in business has nothing whatsoever to do with salesmanship, little to do with a knowledge of your company’s products or services. It is owing to some far more basic fundamental principles which will determine your success or failure at anything you do in life.
They are your A,B,C’s, Attitude, Belief and Consistency. Taking them in reverse order.

Consistency:

We get up every morning, we brush our teeth wash, get dressed have breakfast. We are consistent in our actions. We do it every day. We need to do the same in being consistent with our tasks associated with our business for the days that we have chosen we are going to work, be it 1 or 7 days a week. We need the 6 marbles in our left pocket or left side of our bag and transfer 1 marble to the other side every time we have carried out a positive action i.e. seeing a customer, talking to someone about the business, etc. etc. We need to do it consistently. We need to have transferred all 6 marbles (better still 10) by the end of the day. We need to concentrate on the actions not on the result. I’ll repeat that, we need to concentrate on the actions not on the results. When we go mountain climbing, if we would continually look at the summit we would soon trip up and fall. We need to concentrate on every step at a time, one after the other and as surely as the sun goes down we will reach our summit.

Belief:

An absolute and genuine belief in our business, it’s products and services and what it can give it’s customers.

Attitude:

Possibly the most important of these three but useless on its own. It’s no good having the best attitude in the world if one’s sitting on one’s own in a closed room not talking to anyone. So what is attitude apart from how one feels about oneself and others. I describe it like this. Your face is transparent, totally transparent and your attitude shines through whether it’s positive or negative. The first second that a prospective customer sees you maybe even before you see him, your attitude comes through. The customer sees it, maybe only subconsciously and will react accordingly. We all know that the first thing any salesperson has to sell is themselves even before they open their mouth. If they can’t sell themselves they might as well turn round and go home and go back to bed. If they can’t sell themselves they wouldn’t be able to sell packet of peanuts or a Mars bar.
Another description of attitude, when I took my 14 year old daughter recently to Disneyland Paris we went one evening to an aquatic circus. Very unusual, people diving, dancing and somersaulting on water. It was a spectacular show. What made it even more enjoyable (we were sitting on the front row) was the fact that all the performers without exception were obviously really enjoying themselves. They were loving every minute of it and gave it their all. Their attitude really shone through like a beacon and this made our enjoyment total.

So when we get up in the morning and do our consistency things let’s get a really big warm smile from within feeling good about ourselves and keep that all day. When we go about our business we need to keep out good attitude with us. If we can’t also be in the place where we are physically there’s no point being there in the first place. It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction that it’s going.

So those are my 3 all important ingredients that determine one’s success or failure at anything in life.

How to achieve the perfect work-life balance

Many successful entrepreneurs are de-prioritizing achieving a work-life balance in today's work culture of high pressure and competitiveness. According to a recent study of the 1.7 million respondents who agreed they suffer from excessive work hours and job stress, a whopping 64% admitted it was 'self-inflicted' and was taking a toll on their lives. 81% of the respondents said work was adversely affecting their health while 46% felt it was affecting their interpersonal relationships.

There is no rule as such for what a proper work-life balance is. Your personal circumstances, whether you are in your late thirties, married with children and living with in-laws or a swinging single, fresh out of university, determine your priorities. The bottom line is simply to invest some quality time for yourself, to allow yourself the chance to stop and smell the roses rather than letting work and strain overcome you only then you will be able to manage a successful business.

Identify, identify:

A good way to start is, to keep track of everything you do in a week towards meeting your goals. Identify avoidable activities by figuring out how to by-pass them. Next for important chores, try to improve your efficiency. Jotting down daily 'to-do lists' is a great way of managing your day-to-day affairs, rather than leaving things for the fag end, when your productivity level is at its ebb.

Grab some sleep:

Another simple way of improving effectiveness is to get enough sleep. You may feel guilty for sleeping that extra hour, but it may be worse if you don't. Sleep deprivation may result in more mistakes at work and therefore, force you to spend an additional two hours rectifying them.

How to make your people respond

As a business entrepreneur, you cannot do everything yourself, you have you get the full support of those who work with you. And sometimes it is important to look for that something that will change your focus, albeit for a while.

Does this sound like double Dotch to you? If it does then remember that it is the simple and innovative things in management that count in the end. Things like conversation. How often have you had a conversation-no, not work related-with your team members? Try it and see what a difference it can make.

As an entrepreneur you do have a lot at stake as far as deliverables go. But equally it is the people with whom you work that can give you those deliverables. So it would be in your interest not to only focus on the things you have to do, but set your sights on the people you have around you. Get to know them personally. Find out who has what strengths and hone in on them.

Sometimes a little tweak is all it takes to make that magical difference. For example, ask yourself how often you have had a conversation with your colleagues- not work related, but just fun related. Try it and see what a difference it will make to you and your team. Remember, you can not do everything yourself, you have to get the full suupport of those who work for you or with you. So, it makes sense to get to know your team.

When you show an interest in your team as real people you will find that you will get their support and have a whole load of willing, capable and enthusiastic people around you.