Keys to Small Business Success
By Kenneth Sumerford, MBA
The following list of keys does not cover all the areas but it does include most of the keys that I have found, over the last 35+ years, to be required for business success. Use all the keys to pursue greatness.
1. Formal and informal education, especially: schools; universities; and books. Read at least 3 books on a subject before you attack that specific opportunity. To keep up with your competition you always need more education. A combination of formal and informal education gives us the power to solve problems and capture opportunities. Education also allows us to better assess risks and potential rewards.
2. Intelligence. It takes a certain level of intelligence to be successful in a field of work or an occupation. Some fields such as nuclear physics take a lot of intelligence. Small business takes intelligence because business is art and science. About 49 percent of Americans are above average in intelligence. You can “rent intelligence” by hiring specialists.
3. Experience. Education is the best way to learn except in those many cases where there is no reasonably accessible source of information or the education (usually formal education) takes too much time. For example, if I need to know something more about marketing (it was in my MBA program) I cannot afford to spend another year at university.
4. Hard work. There is no substitute for hard work in a field. Hard work builds endurance, faith and experience. We need to earn our money. An “easy, simple way to make money” is the lure of crooks and fools. There is dignity, pride and productivity in hard work in an honorable occupation. Sweet is the victory when education, experience, natural gifts and hard work have been applied in producing a product or service that benefits mankind.
5. Natural talent. Each individual should use their God-given talents to create personal, family and national wealth. Natural or inborn talent puts you ahead of the pack of those people who have little or no talent in that area of endeavor. Seldom is there any substitute for natural talent. Education and experience are not substitutes for such talent but can complement it. When you have the talent for doing something, hard work is often fun and satisfying.
6. Diligence. Accomplishing a substantial goal requires dedication, sustained effort, intensity and perseverance. Intensity and perseverance is often why some talented, ambitious and sincere people succeed while those without passion and perseverance fail. Twenty months of diligence and hard work is worth more than two months of great effort and wonderful goals.
7. Wisdom. There is no substitute for wisdom. Our intellectual resources include data, information and wisdom. Wisdom is the accumulation of information and the ability to filter, organize and compare different segments of information to reach the correct conclusion. Wisdom provides the power to connect-the-dots when enough information is not available to reach a correct, proper result with regular understanding.
8. Planning and proper execution of those plans. Goals and planning go together to give a high probability of success. Failures are inevitable in planning and execution of even good plans. Wise individuals: learn from failures; set new plans; and use better resources and tactics to meet modified goals.
9. Honesty and concern for the benefits to customers, employees and contractors, vendors and the country. If the workers and nation fail, then the business environment grows worse. A strong, favorable business environment is the soil of many highly-profitable companies. Honesty builds trust and respect.
10. Spiritual variables including: truth; nobility; justice; purity of thought; virtue; and beauty. (Bible, Philippians chapter 4, verse 8.) Truth is essential to honesty and wisdom. Realistic plans and down-to-earth goals require the truth. Nobility and justice are required for a stable, thriving economy. Purity of thought clears the clouds from our thinking and enables us to use efficient thought processes. Virtue is quality of character and lets people know we are honest and will try to do the right thing. Beauty is an essence and quality that can penetrate the darkness and hopelessness we often find in the real world. Beauty displays our products and services as high-quality and specialized.
11. Courage and toughness. Proclaiming the truth, doing justice, preserving beauty and building a business all require courage. You have to be tough to survive battles in life; in several you will be defeated. Toughness and courage are used to fight and win the next battle.
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