10 tips for successful businesses

Every day numerous businesses are launched and every day more are closed. I leave you here 10 practices that are common to many successful businesses:

1) Commit to the business.

Believe in him more than anyone. Believing in it means having passion for what is important that you choose something that motivates you, that you like, that you are passionate about.

If you like your job, you will try to do the best you can and the people around you will become infected with that passion. It's like fever.

2) Being original makes a difference.

The best thing is to choose a market niche with little competition but if you have it you must be original, make a difference with your competitors.

"All of us born originals and die copies." Carl G. Jung.

3) Motivate your partners or employees.

Money alone is not motivating enough. Constantly, day by day, you have to think of more interesting and new ways to motivate and challenge your partners or workers. Set high goals and encourage competition.

"Growth is a process of trial and error: it is experimentation."

4) Communicate as much as you can with your partners or employees.

The more they know how your business works, the more they will attend and get involved. Information is involvement and power.

"Talk that does not encourage action, rather than enduring it, is a torment to listen to." (Thomas Carlyle).

5) Appreciate and value your employees or partners.

We all like to feel valued and to hear that we have done something right. Sincere words of praise feel great and cost nothing (free but worth a fortune).

"Honesty is always commendable, even when it does not report utility, reward, or profit." Marco Tulio Cicero.

6) Have fun.

Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Relax, and everyone around you will relax. Have fun. Always show enthusiasm.

"The only duty is to have fun terribly." Oscar Wilde.

7) Listen to everyone.

The people out front, the ones who really talk to customers, are the only ones who really know what's going on outside of your business. Better listen carefully to their opinions.

"Sometimes listening patiently is more charity than giving." Saint Louis, King of France.

8) Exceed the expectations of your customers.

Give them what they want, and a little more. Let them know that you appreciate them. Guarantees your satisfaction.

"The whole is present even in the broken pieces."

9) Control expenses better than the competition.

In this you can find the competitive advantage. Obviously the expenses must be lower than the sales.

If you know how to spend less than you earn, you have found the philosopher's stone. Benjamin Franklin.

10) Swimming against the current.

Go the other way. Ignore conventional wisdom. If everyone is doing it one way, there is a good chance that you can find your niche in the opposite direction.

"Nobody became great by imitating." Samuel Johnson.