Leading a business especially if you are a startup can be tougher than you have already anticipated it to be. Setting up the basics is made easier though with templates and pieces of advice available online, in books and through mentors. All the following basic formulas are present in your business plan which you made right before taking the plunge – your product, the management, the mission, vision and objectives, market, and strategies. The business plan should be complete with a series of milestones, forecasts, analyses and projections to serve as a gauge to guide the owner and the team.
However, the success in starting up and sustaining a business lie beyond what is merely stated in the business plan. Aside from the reality that your day to day operations will not go as planned, important core principles which you probably have already heard from the successful businessmen, are not available on your business plan.
The following are the five of the best core principles an entrepreneur like you should keep in mind:
Execute efficiently and effectively.
All your ideas are as good as nothing if they remain as ideas alone. Your great strategies must be partnered with a flawless execution to achieve a competitive advantage and be more attractive to markets. Time, money and effort are resources you should not afford to waste so worship your timeline, manage your finances well and make sure that what you do makes sense.
Contingency plans are crucial as well as your proper judgment.
Product and customer value is priceless.
Quality is everything. This may appear too many times in your notes but to emphasize more its importance is still an understatement. The quality of your products or services make you and will definitely be the first thing that will break you. Always take extra caution on quality control and exercise assurance every minute of the day.
Consequently, this same quality is what draws customers to your products or services. Give the same care and importance to the value your customers give to your company.
Your employees are your partners.
You may be the owner and the manager but that doesn’t mean that you will succeed without other people. After you select the right people, treat them as partners or shareholders. You will not learn how to handle people overnight so practice your right judgment in choosing them then consider them your family as you move forward. A leader is a motivator. Set the right attitude in the workplace, remove barriers in communication, and make sure everyone is entirely committed to the company and what it does. Create an empowered team.
Categorize risk.
In every endeavor, there are risks at stake. You have to learn how to categorize these risks like how you rate your objectives from the bottom to the top priority. Removing risks are possible but you will not be able to remove all of them at once. As mentioned, your resources are limited, learn to attack in the least costly but most effective manner.
You must have a hedge.
In cases beyond your control like terrorism or economic downfall or plague, you must not go down along with your affected business. If there is no way to save the company from these kinds of events, make sure you have a downfall. Believe in the saying that you must not put all your eggs in one nest. Be proactive. Diversify if you must. Be in more than one place at the same time.