- Like
- Digg
- Del
- Tumblr
- VKontakte
- Buffer
- Love This
- Odnoklassniki
- Meneame
- Blogger
- Amazon
- Yahoo Mail
- Gmail
- AOL
- Newsvine
- HackerNews
- Evernote
- MySpace
- Mail.ru
- Viadeo
- Line
- Comments
- Yummly
- SMS
- Viber
- Telegram
- Subscribe
- Skype
- Facebook Messenger
- Kakao
- LiveJournal
- Yammer
- Edgar
- Fintel
- Mix
- Instapaper
- Copy Link
For quite some time now I have been an entrepreneur and a small business owner/operator. Working primarily on the Internet and utilizing many of the services offered on the Net, I have seen a definite need for better management practices among small business owners like myself who provide their products and/or services via the Internet.
It appears that many small businesses fail to address the 4 key elements essential to overall business success. In any business, including small and home-based businesses, there are 4 areas that remain constant when climbing the ladder of success and eventually reaching the top.
When operating your business, you must address all of these elements equally. The activities within each element can and do vary from business to business, but the elements always remain the same. However, the individual activities within each element sometimes need to be prioritized and scheduled into a sequence. This is where it gets tough.
You must first realize the fact that the 4 elements individually, can and will affect the overall success of your business.
- Financial burdens, shortcomings, overhead, costs and revenue are of obvious concern and each will break a company’s back.
- One unhappy customer can multiply into many, costing you profit and lost sales.
- Not keeping up on the technology surrounding your business can place you behind the rest of the pack causing sales to dwindle.
- Failing to maintain optimum efficiency can lead to lost profit as a result of wasted efforts and materials.
You can now see the importance of controlling the 4 main elements of business success, and define and control the activities within each of the 4 main elements. How do you do it?
You must first define and breakdown each of the 4 element in terms of how they apply to your business. You must then determine what needs to be measured and how you will measure it. This needs to be done for the overall 4 elements and the sub-activities or sub-goals within the elements.
Each of the activities within an element becomes a measurable factor of the element. Each activity has a relevant importance factor or weight within the main element that it resides. The resulting outputs or data collected over time provides you with.
- Up to date facts based on results not assumptions.
- Data that can be used to optimize each activity thus enhancing the overall performance of the element itself.
- A trail of how each activity is performing in relation to the element.
- The knowledge of knowing what is working and what is not working.
- The ability to better prioritize the activities into a ranking that will allow you to better focus your efforts.
When you operate your business based on analysis of the activities within the 4 basic elements of business success, you address your business success by assembling the overall picture which enables you see the picture much clearer.
It is my sincere hope that all who read this article will consider the importance of measuring their business, focusing equally on each element. In doing this, all will benefit. The customers will be better served, your efforts will be optimized, knowledge will be increased and overall success will be sooner realized.
Recommended Readings on Business Success:
- 10 Rules for Small Business Success
- Key Success Factors of Your Small Business
- 10 Steps to Small Business Success
- Key Success Factors of Your Small Business
- What are the Characteristics of the Great Companies?
Recommended Books on Business Success:
- The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success
- The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
- Business Success Through Self-Knowledge
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Article originally published on January 7, 2003
- Like
- Digg
- Del
- Tumblr
- VKontakte
- Buffer
- Love This
- Odnoklassniki
- Meneame
- Blogger
- Amazon
- Yahoo Mail
- Gmail
- AOL
- Newsvine
- HackerNews
- Evernote
- MySpace
- Mail.ru
- Viadeo
- Line
- Comments
- Yummly
- SMS
- Viber
- Telegram
- Subscribe
- Skype
- Facebook Messenger
- Kakao
- LiveJournal
- Yammer
- Edgar
- Fintel
- Mix
- Instapaper
- Copy Link
A truly great blog, love the information you provided on startup success factors!