| 7 Traits Advised For Adoption By Every Business Owner Posted: 30 Apr 2022 07:05 AM PDT  In my experience as a business advisor and angel investor these days, I seem to more frequently hear from entrepreneurs and business owners with "can't-fail" or "get-rich-quick" ideas. In my view, these are the least likely to succeed, partially because the people behind them have the wrong expectations and traits. The instant gratification approach just doesn't work in business.
In addition, I've always wondered why an inordinate number of successful businesses today were started by people born outside the U.S., including Sergey Brin (Russia) at Google, Elon Musk (South Africa) at Tesla, John W. Nordstrom (Sweden), and Pierre Omidyar (France) at Ebay. It seems like these emigrants would be least likely to succeed, with all their extra challenges. Perhaps that's why I was impressed with a classic book, "The Emigrant Edge," by Irish immigrant and successful business executive, Brian Buffini. He details the natural disadvantages and advantages of emigrants, compared to native-born business leaders, and highlights seven common traits that we both believe should be adopted and practiced by every business owner: - Develop and nurture a voracious desire to learn. In this rapidly changing world, there is no time for repeating the mistakes of others, or trying to repeat yesterday's success. Successful immigrants have found that they need to go out of their way to meet and listen to others, have new experiences, and learn from different aspects of life and cultures.
- Maintain a "do-whatever-it-takes" mind-set. Life favors the persistent and the willing. It's going that extra mile, and never giving up, that enables getting over the hump to success. Successful immigrants have been forced to get out of their comfort zone, do things they don't necessarily want to do, take risks, and make difficult decisions.
- Feel a deep-seated willingness to outwork others. Those who come to this country with little more than hope to their name know that to get what they want they must work harder and longer than anyone else. With native born new entrepreneurs, I sometimes feel a sense of entitlement, or hear the search for how little one can work to find success.
- Demonstrate a heartfelt spirit of gratitude. Not only should we be grateful for small successes in our business, we should also be grateful for the setbacks because from these we learn more. Gratitude has the power to change your thinking from pessimism, to making a difference in the world. Immigrants know to be grateful for what they have now.
- Practice the boldness to invest in the future. Immigrants certainly can't afford to let life's many choices confuse them. If they have a desire to succeed, they have to be bold and focus on a desired outcome. That means forgoing short-term returns, and investing in themselves, their vocation, and in other people. They put in everything they have.
- Have the discipline and commitment to delay gratification. There's no denying that instant access to most things is satisfying, but it has downsides too. Some business people develop the trait that if results are not immediate, it's time to give up. Successful immigrants learn to sacrifice, and understand that slow and steady often wins the race.
- Remember always to appreciate every step of growth. Immigrants may have started with nothing, but everyone has grown from their beginnings. Sometimes these steps are so small that they are lost or unappreciated, when they should be remembered and celebrated. Successful people enjoy and appreciate the journey, not just the destination.
I'm convinced that every person who starts a business should think of themselves as an emigrant turned immigrant, or one who leaves a known home base, to more permanently settle in or create another, hopefully better place. Think of the seven traits outlined here as the "emigrant edge." The sooner you can unleash these traits in your life and your business, the sooner you too can experience business success. Marty Zwilling |
| 6 Ways To Sustain Growth In A Maturing Global Market Posted: 29 Apr 2022 07:05 AM PDT  Most of you business owners I know are looking forward to the day when your product, team and processes begin to mature, and your business growth keeps tilting upward as you scale. You expect to relax a bit, and relish in the success that you see coming. Unfortunately, without your proactive efforts to counter predictable market challenges, early growth can quickly stall.
In my experience, there will always be growth challenges that you can't predict, including new technologies, economic downturns, and political changes, but I'm talking here about changes in the market that every good business leader should anticipate, including the following: Your targeted customer segment has a limit. No matter how excited your initial customers appear to be, every market has a saturation point on new and repeat sales. Often times, business owners are enticed by early adopters, but fail to prepare for the early majority wave and late adopters. Always have a next segment in your sights. Of course, don't forget to continually interact with your best existing customers, to find areas where you can increase customer value and squeeze out additional growth for your business. Offering customized products and personalized support are options often used. Penetrating new customer segments is not so easy. Stepping into unknown territories takes real customer acquisition marketing and new costs through social media, public relations, and advertising campaigns. Existing customer advocacy and word-of-mouth are no longer adequate to sustain growth. Start today with new customer acquisition efforts. In all cases, increasing your brand recognition is key, especially for international segments. The Internet has helped small and mid-sized companies compete on the global stage, so building an international brand is a realistic goal for more businesses. New generation of customers expect more service. The support currently provided by product service can become inadequate to satisfy new customers, as your growth and image becomes better known. Be prepared to create and train a dedicated support group that can keep up with your now large and growing install base of demanding customers. In fact, customers today look for a totally memorable shopping experience, from ease in finding your solution, through the buying experience, and including support. Real results show that new levels of customer experience may double your growth rate over time. Customers suddenly become very price sensitive. Early customers, with high passion and few alternatives, are willing to pay your price premium. Over time, continued growth demands that you be willing to offer discount options, and extra features to maintain your revenue growth curve. This calls for creative marketing as well as new cost reductions. I recommend that you look around you constantly for innovative pricing strategies, that may have evolved in other segments, but can be adapted to your market. Examples might include a "name your own price" option, free add-ons, or unlimited use terms. A new formidable competitor jumps into play. You may think you have the market locked up with your unique process, trade secret, or patent, but there are always ways for new players to grab your potential customers, or put the brakes on growth. Always be working on your next set of solution enhancements, or a new marketing campaign. Operational costs escalate as your business scales up. As your company scales into new market segments and new volumes, that single base location and small teams are no longer adequate. New real estate and office buildings were never in your plan. Start planning now for new operational costs, including people turnover, benefits, and training.
Every smart business owner knows they must resist that urge to rely totally on repeatable processes to assure continuous growth. In fact, quite the opposite, you should always be planning to re-invent your business, or at least introduce innovation on a regular basis. The pace of change in the market is increasing, and your ability to keep up is your key to sustained growth. Marty Zwilling *** First published on Inc.com on 4/14/2022 *** |
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