What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn...

Page 1 of 11

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper?

by Moya K. Mason
Short Answer: Many researchers say it is having a comprehensive business plan.
Survival is also closely associated with age and size of the firm. The longer a firm has been
in business the more likely that it will continue in business. The same is true of size. A
study of firms found that 85% were still in business after three years, if they had
developed a business plan at the outset.

Planning Plays an Integral Part in Success

HBS professor Nitin Nohria along with William Joyce and Bruce Roberson studied 160
companies to look for common management practices that succeed.
The dot-com boom of the 1990s had changed the rules of business forever, it seemed; all you
needed was a sexy IPO, cold nerve, and the magic carpet of momentum trading. But even as
entrepreneurs and venture capitalists were dismissing traditional business models as antiquated
and conventional business wisdom as old school, we found ourselves wondering if they were
right. For years we had watched new management ideas come and go, passionately embraced
one year, abruptly abandoned the next. "What really works?" we wondered. Our curiosity
prompted us to undertake a major, multiyear research effort in which we carefully examined
more than 200 well-established management practices as they were employed over a ten-year
period by 160 companies.
Our findings took us quite by surprise. Most of the management tools and techniques we
studied had no direct causal relationship to superior business performance. What does matter, it
turns out, is having a strong grasp of the business basics. Without exception, companies that
outperformed their industry peers excelled at what we call the four primary management
practices-strategy, execution, culture, and structure. And they supplemented their great skill in
those areas with a mastery of any two out of four secondary management practices-talent,
innovation, leadership, and mergers and partnerships.
We learned, for example, that it doesn't really matter if you implement ERP software or a CRM
system; it matters very much, though, that whatever technology you choose to implement you
execute it flawlessly. Similarly, it matters little whether you centralize or decentralize your
business as long as you pay attention to simplifying the way your organization is structured. We
call the winning combination the 4+2 formula for business success. A company that
consistently follows this formula has better than a 90 percent chance of sustaining superior
business performance.
The 160 companies in our study, which we call the Evergreen Project, were divided into forty
quads, each comprising four companies in a narrowly defined industry. The companies in each
quad began the study period (1986 to 1996) in approximately the same fiscal condition. Yet
their fortunes differed dramatically over the decade. One company in each foursome emerged
as a winner-it consistently outperformed its peers in the industry throughout our study period;
one a loser-it consistently underperformed against its competitors; one a climber-it started off
poorly but dramatically improved its performance once it applied the 4+2 formula; and one a
tumbler-it began the decade in good shape then fell far behind. Over the ten-year period,
investors in the winning companies saw their money multiply nearly tenfold, with total returns
to shareholders of 945 percent. By contrast, the average loser produced only 62 percent in total
returns to shareholders over the decade.
Winners, losers, climbers, and tumblers-with startling consistency, their fortunes marched in
lockstep with how well they performed on the 4+2 practices. Consider how Tennessee-based
retailer Dollar General, a winner in our study, fared during our research period compared to
Kmart. (The other companies in their quad were Target and the Limited.) Both companies were

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 2 of 11
in roughly the same financial shape in 1986, but Dollar General grew steadily, showing healthy
profits year after year. Meanwhile, Kmart floundered, its market share plummeting from 30
percent to 17 percent between 1990 and 2000. (We confirmed our findings in the five years
following the study period.) Both companies' performance was directly linked to whether or not
they adhered to the 4+2 formula. In the strategy practice, for example, Dollar General never
wavered from its focus, which was to provide quality products at a low price to low- and fixedincome consumers. Kmart, by contrast, couldn't seem to decide whether it was focusing on lowor middle-income consumers. What's more, it got distracted by a major foray into specialty
retailing, moving even further from its core customers. At the same time, Kmart was trying to
compete with Wal-Mart on price-a losing battle and in direct conflict with the organization's
effort to go upmarket.
The eight essential management practices we cite are not new, nor is their importance
particularly surprising or counterintuitive. But implementing our formula for success is not as
simple as it sounds. Companies can all too easily forget or ignore the basics, as we saw in the
waning years of the last century. And succeeding at the eight business practices can be hard
work. Maintaining a laserlike focus on strategy alone, year in and year out, can be grueling. Yet
the winning companies in our study were running full tilt on six tracks at once-impressive when
you consider that a single misstep on any of the six can be fatal. Indeed, some of the companies
that were deemed winners during our ten-year research period have since stumbled in one
dimension or another-for instance, Dollar General lost its focus on the values in its culture and,
as a result, recently had to restate its earnings. It's much easier to be a tumbler than it is to
remain a winner. Our research found that less than 5 percent of all publicly traded companies
maintain a total return to shareholders greater than their industry peers for more than ten years.
And so, it seems, there is value in being reminded from time to time what really works.
Excel at four primary practices
The primary management practices-strategy, execution, culture, and structure-represent the
fundamentals of business. But what does it mean to excel in these areas? There are myriad tools
and techniques available to help executives master these practices. To improve execution, for
example, leaders can employ TQM, Kaizen, or Six Sigma, among others. The conventional
wisdom about what works best shifts with the times. Our research shows that while such tools
and techniques are helpful and even necessary in streamlining execution, for instance, or
developing strategy, there is no single, obvious choice that will bring a company success. There
are, however, hallmarks of effective strategy, execution, culture, and structure-which virtually
all of our forty winners demonstrated for ten solid years. That's no small accomplishment,
especially given the limited resources companies have and the unpredictable pressures they
face.
Making 4+2 work for you
Besides identifying the management practices that can significantly affect a company's
performance, we've developed a list of behaviors that support excellence in each practice. The
practices and accompanying mandates are outlined below.
Primary management practices
Strategy
Whatever your strategy, whether it is low prices or innovative products, it will work if it is
sharply defined, clearly communicated, and well understood by employees, customers,
partners, and investors.
Build a strategy around a clear value proposition for the customer.
Develop strategy from the outside in, based on what your customers, partners, and
investors have to say-and how they behave-not on gut feel or instinct.
Continually fine-tune your strategy based on changes in the marketplace-for
example, a new technology, a social trend, a government regulation, or a
competitor's breakaway product.

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 3 of 11
Clearly communicate your strategy within the organization and to customers and
other external stakeholders.
Keep focused. Grow your core business, and beware the unfamiliar.
Execution
Develop and maintain flawless operational execution. You might not always delight your
customers, but make sure never to disappoint them.
Deliver products and services that consistently meet customers' expectations.
Put decision-making authority close to the front lines so employees can react
quickly to changing market conditions.
Constantly strive to eliminate all forms of excess and waste; improve productivity
at a rate that is roughly twice the industry average.
Culture
Corporate culture advocates sometimes argue that if you can make the work fun, all else will
follow. Our results suggest that holding high expectations about performance matters a lot
more.
Inspire all managers and employees to do their best.
Empower employees and managers to make independent decisions and to find
ways to improve operations-including their own.
Reward achievement with pay based on performance, but keep raising the
performance bar.
Pay psychological rewards in addition to financial ones.
Create a challenging, satisfying work environment.
Establish and abide by clear company values.
Structure
Managers spend hours agonizing over how to structure their organizations (by product,
geography, customer, and so on). Winners show that what really counts is whether structure
reduces bureaucracy and simplifies work.

Simplify. Make your organization easy to work in and work with.

Promote cooperation and the exchange of information across the whole company.
Put your best people closest to the action.
Establish systems for the seamless sharing of knowledge.

Secondary management practices

Talent
Winners hold on to talented employees and develop more.

Fill mid-and high-level jobs with outstanding internal talent whenever possible.
Create and maintain top-of-the-line training and development programs.
Design jobs that will intrigue and challenge your best performers.
Keep senior management actively involved in the selection and development of
people.

Innovation
An agile company turns out innovative products and services and anticipates disruptive events
in an industry rather than reacting when it may already be too late.
Relentlessly pursue disruptive technologies to develop innovative new products
and services.
Don't hesitate to cannibalize existing products.
Apply new technologies to enhance all operating processes, not just those
dedicated to designing new products and services.

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 4 of 11
Leadership
Choosing great chief executives can raise performance significantly.
Closely link the leadership team's pay to its performance.
Encourage management to strengthen its connections with people at all levels of
the company.
Inspire management to hone its capacity to spot opportunities and problems early.
Appoint a board of directors whose members have a substantial stake in the
company's success.
Mergers and Partnerships
Internally generated growth is essential, but companies that can master mergers and
acquisitions can also be winners.
Enter new businesses that leverage existing customer relationships and
complement core strengths.
When partnering, move into new businesses that make the best use of both
partners' talents.
Develop a system for identifying, screening, and closing deals.

In Brand New, Nancy F. Koehn offers interrelated "business biographies" of

six visionary entrepreneurs through more than 250 years of history.
All six built strong, meaningful brands and launched companies, often literally from scratch,
which have endured to this day. The six include Josiah Wedgwood, the eighteenth-century
British pottery and china manufacturer; H.J. Heinz, of the famous food company; Marshall
Field, the Chicago retailer; Este Lauder, who created one of the largest cosmetics companies
in the world; Howard Schultz, of Starbucks Coffee Company; and Michael Dell, of Dell
Computer Corporation.
Their genius, she points out, emerged through their ability to plumb the demand side of
business rather than just the supply side. All six were able to understand how rapid,
widespread socioeconomic change affected consumers' preferences and then not only
satisfy, but also anticipate buyers' evolving wants and needs. And they did so profitably.
Nevertheless, each, she writes, instinctively grasped the fundamentals of earning long-term
customer trust and loyalty.
Even though they didn't all use the word 'branding,' these three entrepreneurs knew that 'If we
build it, they may not necessarily come.' This is a lesson that we could all learn better in the
wake of the recent 'dotcom implosion.' Wedgwood, Heinz, and Field needed to make a market
[for a product and/or service] and show consumers why their respective offering improved their
lives. This meant appealing to them. Engaging them. And then, once consumers had initially
tried their product or service, earning their repeat business and their loyalty by creating trust
between the product, the company, and the consumer.
To me, that is the strategic essence of a great brand: For a company it creates distinction,
sustainable, defensible, and value-added differentiation. And clearly, that is what Wedgwood,
and Heinz, and Marshall Field used it for.
When you are making a market, who you choose as your initial customers and whom you
decide not to market to is critically important in defining what the brand and company will
become.
And he did it by listening to consumers. Wedgwood, Heinz, and Field all understood that they
needed consumer feedback. Success wasn't based on just what they offered as it came out of
their factories or-in the case of Field-onto their sales floor. Wedgwood conducted some of the
first focus groups on record with aristocrats and gentry about new vases. Henry Heinz went
door to door, or grocery store to grocery store, saying, 'What do you think about these pickles?'

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 5 of 11
Field walked the floors of his Chicago department store observing customer reactions to
merchandise, displays, and, of course, salesclerks. As each of these entrepreneurs gathered
consumer feedback, they adjusted their product and services accordingly.
Effective brand creation and management have a vital interactive component, and this two-way
communication served Wedgwood remarkably well.
The ability to translate individual creativity into sustained organizational capabilities is a key
success factor for entrepreneurs, says HBS professor Nancy F. Koehn.
First, each had a huge amount of determination and commitment.
Second, they also had the commitment to bring their offerings to large numbers of people,
to make a market.
A third important factor in understanding how these entrepreneurs created such
successful products, brands, and organizations is their individual knowledge of the
products. Successful entrepreneurs all know an extraordinary amount about the goods and
services they are offering.
A fourth factor has to do with recognizing talent. Somewhere along the way-and there is no
single defining, easily discernible, moment-each of the six entrepreneurs in Brand New also
developed the ability to identify ability in others: organizational and strategic talent, as well as
commercial imagination. Lauder, Schultz, and Dell-like the three entrepreneurs in the pastshared a willingness to delegate responsibility to talented people, to learn from these people, to
institutionalize the capabilities they were helping to develop, and create a company from them.
So in making the transition from the garage to company headquarters, one very important issue
is dedication: the wish to see a start-up become an institution. There is also the talent for
choosing other great institution builders, and the inclination and willingness to give them the
power to do this.
You must learn, as Howard Schultz once said, that successful businesses cannot sustain
themselves on exhilarating ideas alone. They require a healthy balance between the forces of
vision and motivating passion and those of process, structure, and efficient systems.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=2174&t=entrepreneurship
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?
id=2175&t=entrepreneurship&sid=2177&pid=2207&cache=t

The Right Team and Talent

"When launching a start-up, the most critical task, without question, is finding and assembling a
compatible team that possesses the appropriate expertise," advises Rosin, echoing the words of
Paul Maeder. "Ignoring this can put even the best business concept at serious risk."
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=2027&t=entrepreneurship

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, HBS Professor William Sahlman

suggests that a great business plan is one that focuses on a series of questions.
These questions relate to the four factors critical to the success of every new venture: the
people, the opportunity, the context, and the possibilities for both risk and reward.
The questions about people revolve around three issues: What do they know? Whom do they
know? and How well are they known? As for opportunity, the plan should focus on two
questions: Is the market for the venture's product or service large or rapidly growing (or
preferably both)? and Is the industry structurally attractive?
Then, in addition to demonstrating an understanding of the context in which their venture will
operate, entrepreneurs should make clear how they will respond when that context inevitably

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 6 of 11
changes. Finally, the plan should look unflinchingly at the risks the new venture faces, giving
would-be backers a realistic idea of what magnitude of reward they can expect and when they
can expect it.
A great business plan is not easy to compose, Sahlman acknowledges, largely because most
entrepreneurs are wild-eyed optimists. But one that asks the right questions is a powerful tool.
A better deal, not to mention a better shot at success, awaits entrepreneurs who use it.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=565&t=entrepreneurship

Dan Bricklin Suggests a Few Lessons That Have Made All the Difference to
His Success:
First, understand your true talent and what value you bring to an endeavor. Too often,
entrepreneurs don't value the work others do, and they tend to overestimate their own
contributions.
Second, don't wait to get started. Or at least understand that if you wait, you may have less
flexibility in making tradeoffs between the business and your standard of living.
No matter what, however, you must always be a careful spender. In every business I've startedwhether backed by venture capital funds, family investors, or my own bank account-I've
arranged my affairs so that on short notice I can afford to live without a salary for a year.
The final and most important lesson every entrepreneur must learn is this: You are not
your business. On those darkest days when things aren't going so well-and trust me, you will
have them-try to remember that your company's failures don't make you an awful person.
Likewise, your company's successes don't make you a genius or superhuman. To avoid this ego
trap, first you should consider the difference between pushing a tidal wave and riding one, and
second, you should accept that every business faces challenges beyond its control. Obviously,
these are difficult points to remember when you're heading for a rough patch, but I tell you
from experience, business failure is not the end of the world.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=2569&t=entrepreneurship

There are Four Basics of Success in Small Business:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Sound management practices.

Industry experience.
Technical support.
Planning ability.

Few people start a business with all of these bases covered. Honestly assess your own
experience and skills; then look for partners or key employees to compensate for your
deficiencies.
Additionally, you need a business plan.
A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals and serves as your firm's
resume. Its basic components include a current and performance balance sheet, an income
statement and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen
complications, and make the right decisions. Because it provides specific and organized
information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business
plan is a crucial part of any loan package. Additionally, it can tell your sales personnel,
suppliers and others about your operations and goals.
http://www.sba.gov/starting/faqs/busquest.html

The Three Criteria for a Successful New Business: a 100-year-old concept, an

antiquated industry, and a niche.

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 7 of 11
1. Number one, I want a concept that's been around for 100 years or more. OK, maybe less
than 100 years. The important thing is that it's an established concept, one that everybody
understands. It's not something new and revolutionary. Why? Because there is nothing more
expensive than educating a market. I found that out the hard way when I took my delivery
business to Atlanta in the early 1980s. At the time, companies there handled deliveries by
putting a secretary in a cab and sending her off with a package. The secretaries didn't want our
service -- they liked having time out of the office -- and the companies didn't know they needed
it.
2. Of course, if you're going to compete, you have to be able to differentiate yourself with
customers. Which brings me to the second criterion: I want an industry that is antiquated. I
don't necessarily mean "old-fashioned." I'm talking about a business in which most companies
are out of step with the customer. Maybe the customer's needs have changed and the suppliers
haven't paid attention. Maybe they're not up-to-date on the latest technology. In any case, there
has been a change, and the industry hasn't followed it.
3. That gave me my third criterion for a successful new business: a niche. In fact, having a
niche is critical to every start-up, but not for the reason most people think. It has to do with
those high gross margins you must have to make sure your start-up capital lasts long enough for
your business to achieve viability. If you're the new kid in town, you can't compete on price,
because you'll go out of business. On the other hand, you do have to get customers. That means
offering them more value at the going rate.
I don't mean to discourage the visionary geniuses out there. I'm all for advances in technology
and the creation of new industries. If you're another Thomas Edison, Fred Smith, or Bill Gates,
forget my criteria. Go right ahead. Change the world.
But most of us go into business with more modest goals. We're happy to wind up with a
company that survives and grows. If you're one of us, take my advice: Don't try to turn that
revolutionary new concept into a business. Find a great old concept instead.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19960401/1616.html

Culture is vital, in spite of the feelings of some managers that it's "soft" and
hardly worthy of the sort of attention devoted to manufacturing or IT.
Winning companies... design and support a culture that encourages outstanding individual and
team contributions, one that holds employees-not just managers-responsible for success.
Winners don't limit themselves to besting their immediate competitors. Once a company has
overmatched its rivals in, say, the effectiveness of its logistics, it looks outside the industry.
Employees may ask, for instance, "Why can't we do it better than FedEx?" If the goal is
unreachable, it still represents an opportunity for high-performing employees and managers: "If
we can't be the best at logistics, why not outsource it to a partner that can?"
http://www.internettime.com/blog/archives/000557.html

Is Entrepreneurship For You?

In business, there are no guarantees. There is simply no way to eliminate all the risks associated
with starting a small business - but you can improve your chances of success with good
planning, preparation, and insight. Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses as a
potential owner and manager of a small business. Carefully consider each of the following
questions:
Are you a self-starter? It will be entirely up to you to develop projects, organize your time, and
follow through on details.
How well do you get along with different personalities? Business owners need to develop
working relationships with a variety of people including customers, vendors, staff, bankers, and

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 8 of 11
professionals such as lawyers, accountants, or consultants. Can you deal with a demanding
client, an unreliable vendor, or a cranky receptionist if your business interests demand it?
How good are you at making decisions? Small business owners are required to make decisions
constantly - often quickly, independently, and under pressure.
Do you have the physical and emotional stamina to run a business? Business ownership can be
exciting, but it's also a lot of work. Can you face six or seven 12-hour workdays every week?
How well do you plan and organize? Research indicates that poor planning is responsible for
most business failures. Good organization of financials, inventory, schedules, and production
can help you avoid many pitfalls.
Is your drive strong enough? Running a business can wear you down emotionally. Some
business owners burn out quickly from having to carry all the responsibility for the success of
their business on their own shoulders. Strong motivation will help you survive slowdowns and
periods of burnout.
How will the business affect your family? The first few years of business startup can be hard on
family life. It's important for family members to know what to expect and for you to be able to
trust that they will support you during this time. There also may be financial difficulties until
the business becomes profitable, which could take months or years. You may have to adjust to a
lower standard of living or put family assets at risk in the short-term.

There is not a single management skill more critical to your personal and
professional success as an entrepreneur than learning to delegate.
There is much more to delegating than meets the eye. It does not mean to simply hand out
assignments. It is a science and an exercise in understanding one's self. Read more at:
http://www.sba.gov/managing/growth/delegate.html

Top 10 Small Business Tips

Launching your own business is tough and the line between success and failure can be fine;
smallbusiness.co.uk's Top Ten small business Tips help you make the right decisions from the
outset.
1. Involve your family
If you have a husband or wife or children, involving them in the decision to go it alone is
important. Your home atmosphere should be very supportive, particularly in the early stages.
Your family could also be useful as a sounding board, helping out with the odd task or
providing feedback or finance.
2. Analyse your personality
You need to ask yourself if you are the right person to start a business. Compile a checklist with
the help of the following questions: Can you work long hours? Can you take criticism? Will
you be able to cope with financial insecurity? If your business struggled in the early stages,
would you continue? Write down the reasons why you are starting a business.
3. Make sure your product is a must-have not a nice-have
Once you've got an idea you need to know that people will need it enough to want to buy it.
Many people opt to begin a business by using a skill that they have acquired in their spare time
as a hobby, such as jewellery-making.
4. Your idea doesn't have to be new
Trying to sell a product that is new can be an uphill struggle. Being first is not always best, as
you have to educate a market and convince them of the need for your product. So don't be put
off if your idea has been done before - think about how you can do it differently, by including
an additional feature or benefit.

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, inn... Page 9 of 11
5. Know your market better than your competitors
Carry out as much market research as possible. Find out about your market place, concentrating
on areas such as the demand, your competitors and the size of the market. Talk to potential
customers, suppliers, competitors, distributors and ex-employees of competitors.
6. Toe-dip
Everyone has different motivations for starting a business, and toe-dipping means you can test
your idea out without risking everything. You can carry on earning money from your job while
you are starting up. Use your spare time to carry out your market research.
7. Be honest about your weaknesses
Identify what you do well and what you do badly, dividing it into areas such as financial,
marketing, operational and general management. Be honest with yourself, but also be realistic.
Try and get someone else to evaluate your answers - another person's perspective can be very
valuable. Identifying your weakness will help you to recognise what you are good at, and which
areas you will need to find someone who can do a better job than you.
8. Get a good mentor on board
Remember - two heads are better than one. Seek out the advice of a family friend who has the
experience of being in business, or someone who is recommended to you, or someone you are
close to. Consider giving them a share of the profits or equity in your company in return for
advice.
9. Justify every assumption in your business plan
But remember that whatever you write down is not set in stone. Your business plan should have
longer-term objectives, estimates and forecasts - try to make as many of your goals as possible
measurable. The two most important reasons for having a plan are to show to outsiders if you
need to raise money, and to help you keep your business on a planned course, so you can spot
when things are not going to plan.
10. Keep your business plan succinct
An ideal format for your plan, if you intend it to be for outside use, is to have between three and
ten pages of text that draw out the important points, plus a series of financial figures. Excessive
detail should be confined to appendices.

Nine Lessons Learned for Start-up Success

The following are "nine steps to success" that are based on many "real-life" lessons of
successes and failures.
1: GET SMART
You may know a lot about your product or service, but not be knowledgeable about the
practical aspects of starting and operating a business. Take advantage of available information
as well as the various support organizations such as your local Small Business Development
Center, the Small Business Administration, and the Service Corp of Retired Executives.
2: GET ADVICE
You cannot be an expert on everything. Get assistance from as many sources as possible. Talk
to your attorney, accountant, banker, friends, family and the competition.
3: PLAN
A major reason for business failure is lack of planning. Failing to plan is a plan for failing.
Prepare a strategic plan for your business that clearly defines your mission, your present
situation, your strategies, and where you want to be in the next three to five years. For more
information on strategic planning, visit: www.tsbj.com/editorial/03050503.htm.
4: PROTECT YOURSELF
Before you start operations, make certain you are insured and protected legally. Select a

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, i... Page 10 of 11
business legal structure (talk to your attorney, if necessary) and develop an insurance program
(talk with an independent insurance agent).
5: HIRE LATER
Delay hiring employees as long a possible. The legal complexities of hiring and maintaining
employees (even one!) can be daunting and take up a lot of time. A better option may be to
"outsource". Outsourcing is becoming more affordable as the business-to-business industry on
the internet continues to become more popular.
6: USE A COMPUTER
Operating without a computer will put you at an immediate disadvantage, financially and
competitively. It is simply too valuable as a time-saving tool. Don't be overwhelmed at the
apparent complexity of a computer. Once you begin, it is quite easy to use. You will want a
computer to take advantage of the Internet to send e-mail messages and search the world wide
web for information. It is also an invaluable marketing tool.
7: PERSIST
There will be good times and bad times. Be persistent and stubborn-view any failure as a
learning experience and an opportunity for additional success.
8: VISUALIZE SUCCESS
Keep your goals in mind and expect that you will achieve them. Don't lose sight of your goal(s)
-keep striving.
9: ACT ON A GOOD IDEA

Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs Studies show that the

personalities and individual characteristics of the entrepreneurs who start new
businesses may be the most important factors of success.
An individual's management skills have become so important that venture capitalists have
begun to revise the way they look at potential new venture deals. Rather than betting on the
"horse" (i.e., the business idea and the business plan), they are now much more likely to bet on
the "jockey" and look for someone who has a history of successful past entrepreneurial efforts.
These investors have come to realize that a good business plan does not necessarily make a
good business, but a good entrepreneur can, whether the business plan is optimal or not.

The 12 Steps (Advice) to Entrepreneurial Success

Step 1. Understanding Yourself

Step 2. Getting Things Done
Step 3. Apply Yourself- Don't Be Lazy
Step 4. The Importance of Getting Organized
Step 5. Keep Your Emotions in Check
Step 6. Learn to Say No
Step 7. Practice the "Golden Rule" in all of Your Affairs.
Step 8. Avoid the Perils of Expansion
Step 9. If You Want Success Ask for it. And Keep Asking.
Step 10. Manage Your Money- Your Most Important Asset.
Step 11. Recognize The Risk
Step 12. A Sure Way to Fail: Quit too Soon! -http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/dec01/entrepreneurial_success2.html

The lesson? To greatly increase your chance of success, find out as much as
you can BEFORE you open your doors.
Talk to people who run their own businesses, especially businesses similar to yours, and get a
realistic understanding of the time, financial, and emotional resources necessary. Keep your

What Causes Small Businesses to Prosper? - success, business plan, start-up, strategy, i... Page 11 of 11
eyes open - not to the possibility of failure, but to the very real demands of running your own
business. -- http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/2004-05-06success_x.htm
Related Papers
Research on Small Businesses
Worldwide Business Startups
What Causes Small Businesses to Fail?
Truth About Franchising
Copyright 2013 Moya K. Mason, All Rights Reserved

Back to: Resume and More Papers