Tag Archives: success

It’s Not About “Surviving” As a Working Woman But Keeping a Great Attitude

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My mom and me!

One of my earliest and strongest memories from when I was a little girl was watching and getting ready for the day every morning with my mom. Mom got ready for her work day while simultaneously making breakfast and helping me get ready for school. My mother ran the Anesthesia Laboratory at UCLA and it was a job that took up a lot of her time. Despite the constant hubbub at the hospital she dealt with, I also have vivid memories of her still attending each one of my cheerleading games and of her picking me up after school every day, without fail. Even later in life, when I had my own kids, she graciously watched them one day a week for me up until she retired – and now she’s at least two days per week!

All throughout my childhood and young adult life, there was no other option in my mind to be when I grew up than a hard-working career woman. My mom taught me from a very young age how to be strong in the workplace as well as in every other facet of my life.

That’s where my success all started: with my mom.

At some point along the way of growing up, I became acquainted with the company I would later own, MyCorporation. I joined in 2004 as VP of legal and business affairs, leaving behind a law firm partnership in Los Angeles. I thought the switch would allow for greater flexibility in my work life, plus I was excited to be a part of an entrepreneurial venture. A few years later, MyCorp was acquired by Intuit and I was appointed to run the company under them. In 2009, I purchased the division and began running the company myself, as a business owner.

Now I’m the mom with my two sons!

Since then I have been riding that entrepreneurial wave, and learning new lessons every day. Being an entrepreneur comes with its own sets of highs and lows. On the plus side, I have complete flexibility; if I need to pick my boys up from school I can do so on my own time so long as I accomplish everything I need to do for the day. I get to grow as a business woman and learn from every business venture in which I partake. And, of course, you learn to take the bad with the good. The pressure of having an entire business as your responsibility can be overwhelming at times – dealing with payroll and the daily employee matters aren’t exactly a walk in the park! But the freedom and flexibility it gives me are all part of being an entrepreneur and I wouldn’t trade any of it in for the world.

The biggest entrepreneurial lesson I have learned thus far is how to deal with those above mentioned employee matters. I am an attorney by trade, an individual contributor, so initially I was not used to addressing so many employee issues on such a regular basis (hiring, firing, employee reviews, conflicts, and so forth) but what I have learned to do is to try and stay ahead of the curve. I strive for constant communication, to be fair and not get too involved. This has enabled me to focus on the mission and goals of the business.

Coming into this business, new female entrepreneurs will hear time and time again of the stigmas women face in being entrepreneurs. Now having done it for years, I think being a female entrepreneur is actually an advantage. I’m a friend, wife, mother, and room mom; of course I can handle being an entrepreneur as well! Gender aside, keeping a great attitude and always seeing the best side of every situation are great business traits to have whether you’re a man or a woman. As my mom taught me from the get-go, it’s not about ‘surviving’ as a woman in the workforce, it’s about keeping great focus, treating others well, and, at the end of the day, getting done what needs to get done all with a smile on your face.

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Get a One-Month Free Coaching Trial with Summit Journey Coaching!

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Ever wonder what a vision statement is and what it can do to impact your life? Join Summit Journey Coaching on April 26th to learn more about the importance of having a vision statement by enrolling in one of their coaching classes with a one month free trial!

Summit Journey works to help you answer the question, “Is your life where you want it to be?” and helps to get it there in 15 minutes a day utilizing online success coaching. By enrolling before April 26th, users will be able to access a recording in the Summit Journey March lesson on becoming 25% better at decision making as well as have full access to all of the site’s tools and student community to work on implementing the lesson.

Enroll today to begin applying these coaching lessons into your everyday life!

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Join Summit Journey Coaching for a Coaching Webinar Dec. 19th!

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Save the date! On December 19th at 8 AM PST, success coach Ed Kelly and the gang at Summit Journey Coaching will be providing a webinar on “Why Resolutions Fail but Goals Succeed.”

In this webinar, you’ll find out why resolutions tend to fail but goals succeed in the long run and how you can be at least 75% more likely to accomplish what you want in 2013 by writing down your goals.

Register now (for FREE!) and rise and shine with Summit Journey Coaching tomorrow – they want to help you get started on planning your goals for 2013!

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Guest Post: Do You Wear the Captain’s Hat?

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As a business owner, you’re no doubt very familiar with long days and sleepless nights. Depending on your company’s size, you may have already figured out that babysitting, counseling, marketing, payroll, P&L, ROI, accounting and planning and hosting the company holiday party, are just a few of the many hats you’ve become accustomed to wearing throughout your daily life.

If you are just starting out, or perhaps thinking about launching into the entrepreneurial world of business, hang onto your hat(s). You’ll need to learn how to wear them all, whether they fit or not, if you want your dream to become a successful reality.

In his book “The Peter Principle,” author Dr. Laurence J. Peter explains, “Everyone in a hierarchy, from the CEO to a low level intern, will inevitably rise to his or her level of their incompetence. Incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do.” In other words, you reach a point where your talents find their limits. You simply cannot perform beyond those limits to reach the next level that’s required to see any further success.

I own two companies at this time; one of them is a very successful remodeling company in the Midwest and the other is a marketing & publishing company in Las Vegas, where I train others how to start, launch and market the company of their dreams. I’ve learned a couple of things throughout my years of building businesses, both for myself and for others.

When you first launch a business; you work within every role from the janitor to the president. You make the sales calls, package the product or service, perform the work, invoice the customer and collect the balance. You wear all the hats night and day. But at some point, you have to realize the importance of taking off some of those hats and letting someone else wear a few of them in your place if you ever hope to build a successful, lasting business. On a daily basis, I implement the following five important principles to run two very different companies.

1. Analyze

What do you need to do today to reach your goals tomorrow, next week and next year? Running a remodeling company that sells 400 jobs annually requires the daily planning of all sales, administration and production, all within a very tight schedule. Writing books, newsletters, shooting videos and blogging require extra time. Daily action produces results, which keeps content flowing for your subscribers and insures that projects meet completion deadlines.

2. Recognize

Which talents do you possess and which talents don’t you possess? Writing books, blogging, shooting videos, training and helping others succeed requires fresh ideas and creativity. Editing, developing and SEO requires cutting edge technical skills and knowledge of a communication world that changes on a daily basis. I create all of my content, products and services while relying heavily upon others to produce it.

3. Recruit

Family member, friend or neighbor, hire someone or find a partner? Learn to utilize all of these sources when appropriate and surround yourself with support at all times. You can only take an idea to a certain level by yourself. Recruiting others to fill in the talent gaps will provide feedback, critique and inspiration, not to mention help with daily tasks. My wife became my Office Administrator, a friend turned into a Division Leader and my IT guy turned out to be the CTO of one of my companies.

4. Delegate

Hand out the hats that don’t fit you and never put them on again. The annual revenue generated from my remodeling company is performed by multiple crews who know how to paint, install siding, roofing, answer phones and organize the office, just to name a few. My job is to make the phone ring, develop products and services that help others succeed. I’m a marketer, not a carpenter. I’m a writer, not an editor. I create and allow others to administer my creations.

5. Action

Use your team to fulfill your dream. When I recruit someone to perform a task that I can’t perform, I let them do just that, perform the task. Once you’ve recruited your team of talent, let them shine and excel. If you can learn to harness, direct and then manage that team, you will accomplish success beyond your wildest dreams. We quadrupled our sales in our second year, tripled that amount in our third year and then doubled those figures in our fourth year. I had to learn very quickly the importance of letting my team perform their talents while I concentrated on growth and management.

Most of us know what our strengths and weaknesses are deep down inside, but admitting we need help and allowing others to wear the hats that we ourselves can’t wear alone is a bit humbling when it comes to your own company. However, if you can focus on performing the tasks that fall within your talents and let others focus on those areas where you lack expertise in, you will find the freedom to run your business with a much more successful outcome.

Recruiting people along the way to avoid the “Peter Principle” will allow you to keep your eye on where you wanted to go in the first place and by doing so, allow you to captain your ship on the high seas of success!

About the Author:
Jeff D. Hostetter is a business owner, trainer, speaker and author of the book, “Only Failures Can Succeed.” You can follow him on his blog Only Failures Can Succeed, or at twitter @OnlyFailures.

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E is for Entrepreneur

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We had a slight hiatus from our weekly ABC’s of small business, but this week we’re back with the letter E! And what better to immediately come to mind than our favorite type of person, the one who takes the plunge and follows their heart to start up that side project they’ve been hard at work at and are passionate about, than the entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs are the backbone behind any great business, big or small. They organize and operate a business, monitor the activities within it, and take financial risks to starting up their company and keeping it going and the great word of mouth spreading.

How can you tell if you’re an entrepreneur at heart? You may have a few of these characteristics:

a) You’re not afraid to take the lead. Even if everyone else is shrinking back, you’re ready to move forward and take initiative.
b) You can and do make tough decisions for the benefit of others as well as yourself.
c) You’re driven to success and refuse to accept failure as an option.
d) Optimism is synonymous to your entire sense of self – the glass is always half full!
e) You welcome a challenge and live for busy days where time flies by.
f) All of the above!

Spot any of these characteristics in yourself? Give us a call at 1 (877) 692-6772 to get your business started. For everyone who incorporates or forms an LLC with us, MyCorp is always happy to assist you at the beginning of your ride to the top!

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Guest Post: 5 Strengths Women Bring to the Entrepreneurial Market

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Despite the fact that the world of entrepreneurship has been largely male dominated throughout history, the tide seems to finally have shifted, and over the last 20 years or so, women have been starting businesses at a higher rate than men.

Crystal Culbertson and Lisa Hufford may not be household names like Mary Kay Ash and Oprah Winfrey, but they both founded companies that made more than 10 million in revenue in 2010 and have experienced enormous growth in the last three years. How much growth? Try over 3,700% for Hufford’s consulting company, and more than 16,000% for Culbertson’s IT firm.

Even more incredible are the huge number of women under 30 starting successful businesses, like 15-year-old (!) Maddie Bradshaw, whose M3 Girl Designs earns $1.6 million annually. In fact, a recent Forbes article stated that women entrepreneurs will create over half of the 9.72 million small business jobs that are expected to appear by 2018.

So what is it that today’s female entrepreneurs are doing differently? The truth is that women bring a fresh perspective to the table that encourages a team atmosphere. Here are just a few of the reasons why women are becoming increasingly successful in the world of start-ups and small business.

Women tend to have stronger communication skills

Good communication is vital to the success of any business, and women, in general, have an easier time communicating with others than men do. Several studies have found that they are better at judging the meaning of nonverbal communication least (Hall, 2006; McClure, 2000), and a new study from the University of Montreal department of Psychology found that women are more likely to verbalize than act out their anger. This ability to better read their employees and more effectively handle conflict may keep employees more productive than they would be in other workplaces.

Collaboration is fostered better

One recent study from the journal Science found that the collective intelligence of a group rises when there are more women in the mix. The group members did a better job at perceiving each other’s emotions, demonstrating greater “social sensitivity.” This made it easier for members to take turns, listen to other opinions, and apply their skills to the task at hand – which in a business environment translates to better teamwork and overall results for the company.

Women may be more willing to seek outside expertise

We’ve all heard the stereotype about the man who won’t ask for directions when he’s lost, but it turns out that there’s more truth to it than you might expect. On average, men drive an extra 276 miles annually because they’re lost, compared to only 256 miles extra driven by women, according to a study by Sheila’s Wheels, a British car insurance agency. Over a quarter of men wait at least 30 minutes before stopping for directions, and 12% won’t ask for help at all!

Although it’s always hard to ask for help – no matter what gender you are – women may be more likely to seek assistance when they need it in the workplace as well, which can result in issues being resolved more quickly and also enables them to better utilize the expertise at their disposal.

Understanding the need for a flexible schedule

One of the main reasons why some women are choosing to start their own businesses is that they want to find a balance between their free time and their time spent at work. If they have families or a busy social life, they want to ensure these things are not pushed out by their work – and they may also be more willing to accommodate these same needs for their employees.

Why is that a good thing? According to research by the Corporate Executive Board, employees who are happy with their work-life benefits work 21% harder and are 33% more likely to stick with the company.

Women have better social skills.

Networking is an important aspect of any business, and some women may be better equipped for it. In tests for emotional intelligence, women tend to score better when it comes to self-awareness, managing emotions, empathy, and within social skills.

The higher scores for empathy can also help with leadership. Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., author of Emotional Intelligence, notes on Psychology Today that, “This kind of empathy fosters rapport and chemistry. People who excel in emotional empathy make good counselors, teachers, and group leaders because of this ability to sense in the moment how others are reacting.

The point of this post is to highlight the differences between men and women as communicators and as entrepreneurs, both male and female, begin to collaborate more, the change is sure to be a positive one.

About the Author:
Patrick Del Rosario is part of the team behind Open Colleges, one of Australia’s pioneer and leading providers of accounting courses and bookkeeping courses. When not working, Patrick enjoys blogging, travelling, and photography. You can find him on Google+.

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Guest Post: Can Your Small Biz Use Crowdsourcing With the JOBS Act?

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Recently, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) passed amid much hoopla about how this legislation would be the stimulus that jumpstarts the economy and enables people like you and me to invest in all of these startups without becoming accredited investors, as was previously required by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now if you’re a small business owner, the floodgates will open, and you’ll be able to raise tons of money to accelerate your business, right? Probably not. While the SEC is still in its evaluation stage and the actual regulations have not been written, some things are already clear from the text of the JOBS Act bill itself. First, you will only be able to raise a total of $1 million in the course of 12 months, and individual investors will only be able to contribute the greater of $2,000 or 5% of net income if they make less than $100,000 per year or have a net worth of less than $100,000, and they will only be able to contribute the greater of 10% of the net income or net worth of the investor if the investor makes or is worth more than $100,000 and not to exceed $100,000 (see Section 302(a) of the text of the bill for details). So, raising $1,000,000 will require either at least 10 high income/net worth investors or at least 500 lower net worth investors, and probably many more than that.

Furthermore, the SEC will only allow you to raise money if you raise it through an approved platform. Given that sites like Kiva.org, Lendingclub.com, and Kickstarter.com are already available on the market for fundraising purposes, I would expect a similar platform to be created for the small business crowdfunding market.

Before you decide to raise money through crowdfunding, consider the following things first:

1) It’s better if you can give rewards rather than equity. While equity is cheap, if you achieve the success you envision through the raising of capital, then it will be expensive in the future. Let’s say that you give away 10% of your company in exchange for graphic design services or getting a website up and running. These exchanges won’t cost you any cash out of your pocket, but if you sell your company for $2 million later, that’s $200,000 which is not in your hands. You’ll lose out on the upside from the equity you gave away. It’s better to give credit and make these clients VIP customers or do something special which rewards their contribution but allows you to keep ownership.

2) Do you have a compelling story? I expect the requestors of funds to outnumber the sources of funds, at least in the beginning. For every 5 people with a dream, there will only be one person who can fund the dream. Therefore, your story has to REALLY stand out to get funding. One good way to create participation desire is to have original and interactive rewards. Take a look at these projects and see what sort of nifty rewards the founders offered their backers.

3) Don’t use this source of funds to pay off bills or to cash out. The money you’re raising has to go to something which is going to dramatically improve both top line and bottom line results in your business.

4) Do you have a track record of success? Are you making a profit yet and have clients and sales established? If you said yes, and you can make for the case that crowdfunding will only accelerate the process that you would have taken anyway, you probably have a chance of receiving funding.

5) Is there a perception of overnight success in what you’re offering? A lot of people will throw $10 or $20 at projects that they think will be the next Facebook which often causes them to disregard the fundamentals in the process. There has to be just as much sizzle as steak for your small business, as many of the investors will be, by and large, uninformed and uneducated ones who are hoping to be able to tell their friends that they invested in the next Google or Facebook despite their lack of knowledge about how to properly judge a business plan.

Overall, the criteria for successful fundraising through crowdfunding will be the same as what is used to raise money through venture capital and private equity markets now – do you have a sustainable model which projects a high level of growth without an unrealistic hockey stick profit projection? If so, then crowdfunding might be a very viable alternative because of the paucity of VCs and the high cost of going to them if you are successful later.

If you want a great guide for how to launch a successful crowdfunding project, check out Natalie Sisson’s great study on it. These projects succeeded because, as I mentioned above, they told compelling stories, were moving and impactful projects as a whole, and had founders that were able to reach and connect with a large audience.

About the Author: Jason Hull is a candidate for CFP Board’s certification and passed the CFP(R) exam in March 2012. He is a Series 65 securities license holder. He is the owner of Hull Financial Planning.

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4 Tips to Running a Successful Online Automotive Business

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Running a successful business requires dedication, hard work and a commitment to providing something that your potential customers can’t find with another company. My company, AutoMatStore, has enjoyed a lot of success since it was first created, but that success didn’t just happen overnight. It had to be generated through plenty of planning, preparation, and patience.

If you’re thinking about starting your own online automotive business, you’ll need to know a few things to ensure that you’ll be as successful as possible.

Quality Counts

The quality of your products really does count. Whether you’re offering discount auto air fresheners, custom seat covers, leather accents for the dash or something else, you need to make sure that your customers aren’t disappointed when they open the package. Satisfied customers tell their friends and family about their experience with your company, and strong word of mouth marketing is worth more than all the paid advertising you’ll ever do.

Ensure Satisfaction

One of the most important lessons we learned running AutoMatStore is the need to really stand behind your commitment to customer satisfaction. In a way, this is the best chance you have to make your company stand out from all the rest. There are plenty of competing companies out there offering the same type of product as you – and your customer service is how you differentiate yourself from the competitors. Make sure that you’re doing everything in your power to make your customers’ experiences positive, enjoyable and streamlined. Be transparent in everything. Be honest, upfront and take care of questions, complaints and suggestions as soon as possible. A proactive stance toward customer service can be enormously rewarding.

Create Simple Websites

For online websites, you have tons of design options available to choose from, but remember to stay simple. Overly complicated designs, layouts and navigation systems will turn off potential customers. With my company, one way we were able to make navigation simpler was by implementing three ways to find what the customer wanted – we offer the ability to shop for floor mats by type, by brand and by vehicle. The navigation is easy to read and easy to use, with no complicated steps involved.

Your goal is to make it easy for them to find what they want and then pay for it – if your website design is too complicated, potential buyers are going to leave and go somewhere else. You can’t afford that. Every single website visitor is a potential customer. Make it easy for them to buy from you and they’ll reward you with business.

Make Valuable Information Available

One of the things that today’s consumer wants is access to information – and they don’t want to pay for it, either. You can set your company apart from others by providing vital information about your products or services, the buying process, selecting the right product or something else. For example, if you are searching for information on All Weather Floor Mats, the “Floor Mats by Type” has a yellow sticky note that links to a free guide on choosing the right mats for your car. That has been a huge element in our success, and our customers love the fact that we help them make the right decision for their needs, rather than forcing them to “go it alone”. We also make it easy for our customers to contact us; we explain our return policy clearly and even provide free color swatches through the mail.

In the end, your success hinges on how well you serve your customers, the value that you can offer them and your ability to stand out from your competitors. Make it count!

About the Author:

Don Elfrink is the owner and operator of AutoMatStore, an auto flooring company based out Columbia, Missouri. Before AutoMatStore, Elfrink was the operator of an automotive production site. AutoMatStore focuses on all-weather, logo, carpeted and molded car mats.

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Guest Post: 6 Things I Wish I Knew Starting Out as an Entrepreneur

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Today we’re featuring a special guest post from Justin Krane at Krane Financial Solutions! Ready to make the leap of faith and start your own business? It may be one of the riskiest moves you choose to make but the rewards will be in spades after. Justin Krane tells us today about his entrepreneurial journey and the six things he wished he had known starting out.

It was another business conference, and I was in the room with another 300 financial planners. The room was really cold, the AC was maxed, I had forgotten my sweater and I was freezing!

It was a scenario I’d been in so many times but I had no idea that this session would change the direction of my life.

Out comes the motivational speaker guy. I started to tune him out until I realized he was blind. His name was Jim Stovall, a former Olympic weightlifting champion who had gone blind over time. He told us that he had changed his life because he had changed his mind.

I was thinking, here was this amazing athlete to whom fate had dealt quite a blow and yet he wasn’t bitter. Instead he was brimming with life because he’d made a mental adjustment. The longer he spoke, the more he made me realize that I was playing a mediocre game in life, and that I was resistant to doing anything about it. It was like he was speaking directly to me.

Back then, I wasn’t happy working for a large financial services firm. I had been there for 13 years. But secretly, I wanted independence, autonomy and to feel the thrill of running my own business. The problem was I had no idea how to run a business!

As a Certified Financial Planner ™ professional I obviously knew how to financially plan. So I decided to put those skills to work for my own future business. I made some assumptions and forecasted my future results as an entrepreneur. I based my planning on 3 scenarios: best case, medium case, and worst case. I modeled out my revenue, as well as fixed and variable expenses.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was freaking out when I was planning this stuff. I kept asking myself: Do I have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?  Am I willing to forego a steady paycheck in order to have my own business?

I decided to go for it. I felt like a young bird jumping out of the nest, learning to fly right away. There were no training wheels or life jacket.  And for the first few weeks, it was a wild ride that lasted well into the first year.

Today, I am still a Certified Financial Planner, but I have developed a niche where I work with entrepreneurs. I help them unite their money with their life and business. My goal with all my clients is to help them get an amazing return on their lives.

It’s gotten easier the longer I’ve been an entrepreneur. But looking back, here are the things I wish I had known when I first became an entrepreneur:

1)      Love what you do. Do the things in your business that you love to do – the things you are really good at.  While making money is important, you have to focus on what you love, otherwise you will burn out. There will most likely be parts of your business that you really don’t like to do. Farm that stuff out. Delegate. If you don’t have the money to hire staff, start small. Hire a virtual assistant. Spend a few bucks to take something off your plate.

2)      Diversify your revenue streams. Create a business model where there is more than one way that you can make money.  Get leverage and scale.  Create a product or a system that gives you passive income. Do not trade hours for dollars.

3)      Be conscious.  A financial planner talking about consciousness?  Yes.  You have to be aware of what it is that you want. Think of it this way. You are either taking steps towards your goal or away from it. I have a sign in my office that says more of the same equals more of the same.  If you want a different result, do different things.  Be conscious about what it is that you are really doing every day. One way to do this is to share your ideas with a peer group like a mastermind.

4)      Educate yourself. Study successful entrepreneurs. What have they done that has made them successful? How do they think? How do they create? What makes them smart? For example, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook to make a social impact. He cares about how people communicate and share information.

5)      Spy on your competition. Know what your competition is doing. What’s working for them? What is their messaging and branding telling you? How can you be different from them? There is plenty of business to go around.  Your competition may be your co-opetition. There may be a way you can cross promote each other’s services. Set up Google Alerts for the top 5 people in your industry.

6)      Spend at least 50% of your time marketing.  Yes, put valuable content about your services or products in the market place. No one knows you. So you gotta get out there and make it happen. People need to hear and see what you are offering. Block time and set aside a few days each week that is solely dedicated to marketing.

Decide to be an amazing entrepreneur.  Challenge yourself to kick some butt!  You’ll love the journey.

Justin Krane is a Certified Financial Planner with Krane Financial Solutions. Follow Justin on Twitter @justinkrane.

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Taking Your Business to the Top!

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What inspires big business leaders and entrepreneurs? How do the best leaders at the top, the Donald Trumps of the business world get their drive and motivation? The beginning of a new year is a great time to get your inspiration on and grow your business. How do you do it and not lose sight of what you started along the way? These 4 tried and true tips are the ultimate to keep in mind that successful entrepreneurs everywhere use to get to the top!

1. Set Football Field Goals

Picture a football field. The goal is to run the ball to into the end zone and score, right? Along the way you hit different field markers, 5 yards, 10 yards, 15 yards and so on. You can’t get to the end without passing these markers. The same rings true with goals. What about a Hail Mary you ask? The receiver must run past and the ball must fly over each yard before they reach their destination.

There really are no short cuts when creating goals. Consider making smaller goals, or check points, you can reach on the way to your bigger goal. Many successful entrepreneurs do the same. Take sales, for example. If Apple hopes to do 2 billion more dollars in sales in 2012 than in 2011, you can be sure sales numbers will be monitored by quarter. Create a sub plan for your large business plan so that you can monitor your success. This way, if things aren’t working, you can fix it quickly and stay on track to achieving your bigger goals.

2. Think Outside the Box

Sometimes doing what you love isn’t enough to be successful. Consider taking your business to the next level. Think about ice cream makers, Ben and Jerry. According to businesspundit.com, the now-legendary duo decided to open a business after taking a correspondence course on the art of ice cream making. They discovered that just about the only college town without an ice cream shop was Burlington, Vermont. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan, they leased an old gas station in Burlington, purchased equipment, and began coming up with ideas for “unique” flavors. Twenty years later, the company was taking in $237 million in annual revenue.

What is unique about your business? What information, software, or recipes do you have that could make your business even better? Take a step back and try to look at your business from a different angle. Consider asking friends or customers for ideas or feedback. Business introspection combined with thinking outside the box will help you join the ranks of successful entrepreneurs.

3. Become an Athlete-Visionary

It might sound corny, but we believe that actually picturing success can work. Sometimes we have to step away from business in order to help our business. Many successful business owners attribute mind and body focus to their success. Our own CEO, Deborah Sweeney, is a spinning queen. She believes in a healthy lifestyle which therefore transfers over into a healthy business attitude. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind, therefore giving you a clear and focused head with which to make good business decisions. Focus on your goals, visualize success and make sure your body is in line with these thoughts and goals so that you can truly achieve success!

4. Listen, Don’t Hear

We are sure you know the difference between listening and hearing. Regardless of how long your business has been around or what type of business you have, there are businesses that have been around longer and that are far more established. When you turn on the morning news and hear information about Microsoft, Kraft, or even a successful mom and pop deli in New York, listen! You never know what tips you may pick up. Keeping your ear to the ground is crucial in terms of both staying current and continuing to be successful. Remember when your parents used to tell you to listen to your elders? The same lesson applies in business!

Creating a healthy and profitable business is no easy task. Take these tips to heart when it comes to taking your business to the top!

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