Best Five Tips For Business Success

Posted on September 3, 2010
Filed Under Time Management |

I’ve had my very own business since I was nine years old. I’ve started, bought, sold and helped in many different types of companies over the 30 odd years since that time.

I’ve tried everything I’ve always wished to do, and I’ve had tons of fun. Some of the highlights : I worked on Wall Street, I assisted in taking a company public and I threw one of the biggest VC names in the country right out of my office. I’ve worked on planning a quality management system for a leading dairy company. I’ve worked with many of the largest names in the offline and online space, and I’ve seen the guts of a lot of the biggest firms in the USA.

I made my first million the traditional way. I worked my butt off. And I’ve got a lot to show for it, for which I’m both humble and grateful. Understand this, I am a successful entrpreneur and I’m happy about it.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? I’m getting there.

Folk always ask me if I have any advice for being successful. They ask if I could name the things I believe have contributed the most to my success. Id like to share my observations from 30 years of business experience. They’re applicable both offline and online.

Here are my top five pointers for success :

1. Always make sure all of your e-mails and calls get returned. I am making a lot of contacts and requests thru email, phone or maybe in person. I’m fully startled at the quantity of folk who dont bother to return the request. It is classless and disrespectful to ignore someones request, and it makes them angry. Angry folk tell other people how you have maltreated them. The less folks out there speaking ill about you the better.

When I was an iso 9001 consultant at Modem Media I got between one thousand - 3k e-mails a day. I was buried in e-mails. My assistant went in and cleared out e-mails when she could, forwarding the ones she knew she or one of my underlings could handle. But she left the rest for me. I’d spend at least an hour a day returning them. Often all I announced was Call so-and-so or Thanks for the alert, but many of them got answered. The concern was clients, then executives then standard folk. If youre not going to answer correspondence from clients or peers, dont give any person your email. Funny thing about the majority of usif you’ve got an email and invite us to use it, we predict a solution. I’ve written 3 e-mails to Darren at ProBlogger.net. He has not answered a single one. While I think some of his stuff is pretty good, I find his unresponsiveness disappointing and I dont find him as authoritative as I used to.

I sent an e-mail to the President of Staples on a Sat. afternoon a few years back. I got a private response from him the day after (Sun.), and we resolved my issue with the help of one of his EVPs. If he will be able to respond to one of my mails, so can Darren.

2. Help anyone that asks. It doesn’t matter what it is if someone asks you to help them and you can do it, do it. Whether it entails rolling up your sleeves, writing a check, giving some time or merely responding to a question from someone that does not know as much as you, suck it up and do it.

3. Always know more than most people about your industry or business. I’ve always been a technologist, so this has been engrained in me since I was sixteen. Read about things in your field every day. Go to a seminar or trade show every now and then. Take part in consultations or forums, on or off-line. It will keep you hooked up to the people in your industry and make you a guru. The web is an amazing tool for getting this done.

4. Treat your employees like gold, because they are. In my personal businesses my employees get away with a lot. They’re well paid, get surprise perks all of the time and can pop up and vanish as they please. Some take advantage, but they do not last long. Being a jerk to your workers will always come back to bite you. It will also mean that you’ll get hosed a couple of times, but you most likely would have anyway.

Make the workplace fun, cushty and as casual as you can. Show your employees by example how you want them to treat customers and co-workers. They’re going to follow your lead. If they dislike coming to work it will show in what you produce, this was a major feature that I spotted while planning the quality management system I discussed earlier.

At Modem Media I organized an annual barbeque in the front car park. We had pork, BBQ sauce from Texas and masses of other stuff Im not going to get into here. It had been a tiny gesture however it went a great distance.

5. Recognize everybody who helps you advance, particularly those who did not gain from it. This is another thing I am startled more folks haven’t caught on to. I said in an earlier post that I continually comb my log files for folk who’ve social bookmarks pointing to this blog site and send them a fast email thanking them. I stopped counting the quantity of folk who email me back startled that I would bother to thank them. Why shouldn’t I? They took time out to help in promoting my blog, and got nothing in exchange. A thank you recognizes their time and effort and hardens them as an ally. Trust me, you need all the allies you can get.

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