IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE

I’ll try to state this as scientifically and clinically accurately as possible. 

Success will not be sustainable if you start the journey with advanced technology or the latest trendy app.

 Since 10,000 BC (or before), entrepreneurs and business owners have learned that to be successful at anything, you cannot start by doing the fancy stuff first. You must learn the ancient and basic rules of success. Then you must apply these foundational rules and master them first before you can even consider getting cute. 

One of my most cherished mentors gave me the secret years ago. He said, “There are distinct similarities between a 50-story skyscraper and a three-bedroom house. Without a solid foundation, both would fall over.” 

I have been a successful business coach for nearly 20 years and an entrepreneur and start-up junkie for 20 years before that. And, I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, that the foundation to all success is mastering these basic business principles that every strong business survives and thrives on. Basics that are derived from failure, the kind of failure where hard lessons are learned. Integrating them into our strategic plans, and then only then, do we take any riskier action. 

The great NFL “dynasty” coaches will always say their secret sauce was blocking and tackling better than any team in the league. Look, it’s no secret that I am frustrated by the number of books and theories that abound on what it takes to be successful in business and life. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has a cure. And that’s ok if you master the basic foundational rules of success. 

It has been very clear over the years about how I feel on the subject.

 It’s street fighting basics. It’s also a real-world application. You cannot do anything fancy until you master the basics.

One of my new clients, in the early days of building a startup, said to me, “Ok, big shot business coach, so tell me what these basics are then.”  We’ve identified about 14 foundational ingredients for business and personal success. This list includes Priority management, Written Goals, Clarity, sales, marketing, leadership, communication, and more.

When I’m speaking to a group, I suggest that, if they do nothing else, they must do these six things to create or strengthen the “foundation” of their business. 

1. WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN. Even if no one will ever see it other than you, writing a proper business plan will give you insight and focus on precisely what you want and the obstacles to achieving it. It also forces you to ask questions that might never have been asked otherwise. This is imperative if you want to start a business, and equally important if you’re considering a career change. 
2. BE WILLING TO ADAPT and CHANGE AS YOUR CUSTOMERS AND MARKET CHANGE. It’s estimated that 93% of businesses launched today will be out of business within two years. One of the reasons is simple. The business owners were complacent, believing they had all the answers, stuck on basic market research, and, over time, had no idea how their market or consumers had changed. And this attitude shut them down. They persisted in doing things the way they had always done them, rather than learning and adapting to their constantly evolving market. If you don’t continually adapt, your customers will find other options. And the reality is that today, with our capabilities of instant research and communication, any business, in any business niche, CAN BE REPLACED. 
3. PROTECT YOUR MONEY! Establish a system of checks and balances that are tied to metrics. You absolutely must know what good looks like. You must know when a marketing resource is or isn’t working. It is a waste of your budget to hold onto a strategy long after it has become ineffective. If it doesn’t work, stop now and move on to another strategy; never continue doing something just because you believe you need to. Protect your money! Use tracking metrics and learn to fail quickly. 
4. PROTECT YOUR TIME! As a businessperson or business owner, you must manage and protect your time. You should only be doing high-priority tasks that, if not done, would result in a vast and negative consequence. Your job is not to do everything; your job is to do only the most essential thing. This is a timeless concept. German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Never allow the most important things in life to be at the mercy of the least important.” He reportedly said this in 1780. This is not a new concept. Ask yourself this question throughout the day, “Is what I’m doing right now the highest priority thing I could be doing right now to move my goals forward?” If your answer is no, then stop. Simple. Most people spend most of their day on low-priority tasks. The “winners” of the world are highly selective in anything and everything that they do.
5. LEARN TO SELL. Here’s the truth. No matter what you think of sales, you will need to learn how to sell. Whether you’re asking a banker for financing or dealing with a customer, nothing happens in business or life until you’ve sold something, be it a product or service or an idea. You must learn how to sell.
6. WORK HARD and CREATE MASSIVE VALUE. The concept is simple. If you work very hard on high-priority/high-consequence tasks, you create significant value. Dedicate yourself to always creating value, and you will always have, as a result, massive success and the rewards that follow. 

These are just six essentials you need to master. And, if nothing else, do these six. Of course, you can choose not to master any of these skills, and they are skills. If this is your choice, understand that you will be easily and instantaneously replaced. Don’t blame the economy, or the politicians, or the weather. If you do not continually improve your value, you will be left behind, wondering what happened.