Starting a business is hard, to survive and thrive is a big challenge. 9 out of 10 new business will fail after 1 year. The initial days for any business are especially hard. There are some things that are essential for your business survival. These are the things to note
1. Craft a vision
Without vision you will be distracted, without vision you will lose hope and motivation. Why are you doing what you are doing? What is the end result that you wish to achieve? A better life? More income? Or perhaps to make the world a better place? Business success is possible, but the important thing is that you do not give up before you see the breakthrough. You need to keep on persevering and not give up and results will eventually come. Write a vision, and put it in front of you where you can always see it. Look at it and stay focused on the vision.
2. Set goals based on your vision
Your long term vision must translate into yearly, monthly, weekly and even daily goals. Set goals that you can clearly measure. For a business, your goal is normally your profit. How much profit do you want to make in a year? There is no right or wrong figure, but rather how much profit you desire. Bear in mind that the higher the amount you set, the harder it is to achieve them. A goal must not be too small or else it will be boring. Big goals are good but if you don’t believe that you can achieve them, you may become demotivated or even paralyzed with fear. Start with a medium-sized goal that you can achieve and you will get emotional boosts when you achieve your goals which will motivate you to do even more.
3. Keep track of your progress
See how your business is performing against the goals that you have set and see if you are making progress. If you have missed your target too many times, it is time to take drastic action and do things differently. If you are not making any profit for many months, you need to be alarmed! Get some help, seek advice or take drastic actions! People who don’t track their progress will be caught by surprise and their business die an unnecessary death. It is normally not one big bad news that kill a company, but rather a series of small bad news ignored.
Craft a vision, break your vision into goals and keep track of your progress.