Most of us set up our businesses with a lot of excitement. We are very motivated to make it a great success. Most of us feel overwhelmed very soon. Prioritizing our time and where we spend it is very challenging. We often find ourselves going around in circles, achieving much less than we expected. This is where our biggest learning curve tends to be. Looking back on my own experience, I can identify 9 important keys to success.

1. Be Competent In Our Area Of Expertise And Experience.

We need to be recognized for knowing what we do, being current and up-to-date, moving with the latest ideas, thoughts and approaches. This means that we need to be reading the latest magazines, newspapers, and online information related to our professional or industry area. We need to be committed to ongoing professional development and training. Most importantly, we need to have the skills to communicate it if we are in an area where we are training and developing others. We can get information very easily today, but to be able to make it relevant to our professional lives in a way that makes a difference to the way we work requires communication skills, good people skills, good ‘soft skills’.

Most entrepreneurs will say they don’t have time to do this, but it’s vitally important in these times of great change that we stay at the forefront of our industry.

2. Learn Business Skills – Grow and Develop Them.

Many people start a business because they are passionate about what they do and want more control over it. Being good at what we do does not automatically translate into running a successful business. To do this we have to spend as much time working on our business as we do on it. Many people do this with a trainer; others will attend trainings and workshops, both live and online. Joining professional and industry groups also helps here because ideas are shared. Taking the time to do focused work on marketing and promotion, planning and implementation, among other business development tasks, is crucial to your success.

3. Be innovative: propose new ideas and approaches.

We have to get out of our comfort zone and try things that we may not have tried before, for example new approaches in the way we do things. This is especially important in these difficult times. More importantly, we must always think ahead of where our industry is. What could disrupt my industry? This is an important question to ask yourself. A long-term industry like car manufacturing is disappearing from Australia. Some auto parts businesses saw it coming and diversified their businesses some time ago, so now they don’t feel the impact of it all. Others stuck their heads in the sand and did nothing and now have to close their businesses. Are we seeing the trends in our industry and diversifying before our business becomes irrelevant?

4. Be aware of the big picture.

Based on what has been said above, if we stay within the ambit of our narrow area of ​​experience and expertise, we may miss the boat. In this global village in which we live now, we must be aware of what is happening in our professional or industrial area in that global environment. Through technology we can build a global small business. Through social networks we can engage and connect with people from all over the world. This is a very important way to stay ahead of current trends and thinking. It also offers opportunities to take our business beyond Australia.

5. Acquire digital awareness and technological literacy.

The fact that I even cite this as an element on how to be successful is a revelation of my age and times! It’s taken for granted for Gen X, Y Z. So if you’re a baby boomer, commit to learning as much as you can and interacting with this digital environment. A few years ago, I was a technophobe and progressing to where I am now was quite difficult and painful, but older entrepreneurs can and should do it. We can engage the younger generation in our organization in a reverse mentoring role, helping us understand the technology they are connected to.

6. Have Good Support Structures.

This is absolutely essential. Having a partner who supports what I do, backs me up with their time, energy, and even finances in the early stages, has been crucial. Sharing the upbringing of our children in times past was also vitally important. Having the courage to involve staff when we don’t feel like we have the money, instead of trying to do it all ourselves, can pay off big! Starting with a personal assistant or bookkeeper to do all the paperwork so we can get on with building the actual business can make a world of difference. I have created a team of reliable support people around me (web developers, graphic designers, IT technicians, marketers) whom I can call to support my initiatives. Most of these activities are outsourced.

7. Development and maintenance of networks.

It is the people we meet who also help us grow and develop our business, profile and reputation. Therefore, it is vitally important to develop and grow those networks. I am a committed networker with the absolute belief that our network is our net worth. We need to be selective about where we network, meeting and building relationships with people who will help us develop professionally and grow our businesses and who we can also make a contribution to their business. Maintaining those relationships is just as important.

8. Have a Flexible Business Plan.

It is important to clarify what our short-term and long-term goals are for our professional or business life. Planning to achieve this is essential. Making step-by-step action plans on how to get there is very helpful. There needs to be simple graphics instead of detail pages. With the world moving at the speed it does and things changing rapidly, our plans must be flexible and we must be agile managers, able to change quickly if situations demand it; otherwise we fall behind and get stuck in the past.

9. Cash Flow Maintenance.

This is the biggest challenge in any business and that is probably why I have left it for last. As the business grows, as our business plan is implemented, this ceases to be a problem. It can break a business if not managed in the early stages. It will also break relationships if we find ourselves working long hours in our business to maintain cash flow while neglecting important family members. Getting advice, training or mentoring for this early on can be very helpful.