Ever wonder what it takes to be a successful businessperson? Did you know that the odds of making a business success is formidable, with the odds that 99% of enterprises that get started fail within the first year and only 5% of that 1 % make it past five years? Then it takes 5 more years for your finances to solidify and become accepted in the business community. These are hard facts, but for some strange reason it never seems to daunt your local entrepreneur when they dive head first into the strange world of business for the first, second, third or fourth try. Remember, you can’t succeed if you don’t at least try first.
Business is nothing new to the world, in fact business goes back thousands of years when the first business people, who were actually the first known prostitutes, bartered their specialized wares, (something that you couldn’t just raise in the fields or harvest from the land), which was, and still is – sex. Henceforward, the need for currency issued from “johns” became more and more in demand and the idea of bartering for your goods or wares caught on to other endeavors such as selling grains, spices, etcetera, etcetera.
Since successful business people tend to have a “savings” quality and thrifti-ness aura about them and seem to come off as grouchy crabs, it is wise to know the first basic rules of business – There is no love in business, this comes from the rule of prostitution which was really designed to prevent a way of getting too close to a customer, personally. Many a small business has suffered the woes of indecision, deciding between family and friends or business; or when pleasure is mixed with business, unless pleasure is your business.
Other traits of a successful business person is that they never seem to have enough time and always are hard at work. As the Bible well notes, there is profit in labour (although in those days it was slave labour and it’s illegal in Canada to own a slave). It is always wise to get good workers and be an example and work your ass off yourself to show who’s boss.
Never get the notion that the money belongs to you, first it belongs to the business and then it belongs to the government (or queen, king, dictator, you get my drift) because money is really an I.O.U. from them to you and then it just gets passed around for all its worth.
There are opportunities galore for making moolah, it just takes a special kind of person to recognize and take advantage of those opportunities (or chances). Many times entrepreneurs tend to sell just about anything under the sun but the wisest move is to observe your future customers and see what they buy or find out their needs. Find a niche, something that is truly yours (and or your partners) to fit then flog it out loud and in a place where there are people to hear what you say about your wares. Remember, not advertising is like winking at a pretty girl in the dark, you know you’re winking but does she even know you’re winking at her. You gotta shine light on you buddy, to help her see you winking at her.
Last and not least, you gotta know when to quit, because it you don’t quit when you recognize danger signals, you could stand to lose an awful lot. Quit while you’re ahead may seem cowardly business, but why did you go into business in the first place? Almighty moolah, that’s why.
