Essentials of Business Success

Business is an art as well as a science. It's a matter of practical experience, judgment, foresight and luck. To be successful in business, you must master the basics of business success. Fortunately, all business skills are learnable. You can learn anything you need to learn, to achieve any goal you can set for yourself. There are no limits--except the limits you place on your own imagination.

There are three major reasons why businesses fail: lack of money, lack of knowledge and lack of support. By mastering the basics of business success, you'll gain the knowledge necessary to acquire the support and money you need for your business.
So just what are the essentials of business success? There are seven key areas of activity that determine whether your business will live or die:

1. Marketing. Your ability to determine and sell the right product to the right customer at the right time
2. Finance. Your ability to acquire the money you need, and account for the money you receive
3. Production. Your ability to produce products and services at a high enough level of quality and consistency over time
4. Distribution. Your ability to get your product or service to the market in a timely and economic fashion
5. Research and development. Your ability to continually innovate and produce new products, services, processes and responses to your competition
6. Regulation. Your ability to deal with the requirements of government legislation at all levels
7. Labor. Your ability to find the people you need, deal with unions, establish personnel policies, training and organizational development

And from this list, comes the very specific, identifiable reasons for business success:
  Having a product or service that's well suited to the needs and requirements of the current market
  Developing a complete business plan before commencing business operations
  Conducting a complete market analysis before producing or offering the product or service
  Thoroughly developing advertising, promotional and sales programs
  Establishing tight financial controls, good budgeting practices, accurate
  bookkeeping and accounting methods, all backed by an attitude of frugality
  Ensuring that there's a high degree of competence, capability and integrity on the part of key staff members
  Having good internal efficiency, time management, clear job descriptions, accompanied by clear and measurable output and responsibilities
  Developing effective communication among the staff and an open-door policy for managers, especially the business's owner
  Generating strong momentum in the sales department and placing a continued emphasis on marketing your product or service
  Making concern for the customer a top priority at all times
 Putting determination, persistence and patience at the top of the list on the
  part of the business owners
And now that you know the seven essentials of business success and the
identifiable factors involved in helping your company succeed, let me share the
top reasons for business failure. Thousands of companies were studied to
determine the reasons businesses fail. Here they are, in order of their
importance:
  Lack of direction. Business owners often fail to establish clear goals and
  create plans to achieve those goals, especially before starting out, when they
  fail to develop a complete business plan before launching their company.
  Impatience. This occurs when business owners try to accomplish too much too
  soon, or expect to get results far faster than is truly possible. A good rule
  to remember is that everything costs twice as much and takes three times as
  long as expected.
  Greed. When entrepreneurs try to charge too much to make a lot of money in a
  short period of time, failure isn't far behind.
  Taking action without thinking it through first. An entrepreneur acts
  impetuously and makes costly mistakes that eventually cause the business to
  fail.
  Poor cost control. An entrepreneur spends too much, especially in the early
  stages, and spends all their startup capital money before achieving
  profitability.
  Poor product quality. This makes it difficult to sell and difficult to get
  repeat business.
  Insufficient working capital. An entrepreneur expects--and
  requires--immediate, positive cash flow that doesn't occur, leading to the
  failure of the business.
  Bad or nonexistent budgeting. An entrepreneur fails to develop written budgets
  for operations that include all possible expenses.
  Inadequate financial records. An entrepreneur fails to set up a bookkeeping or
  accounting system from the beginning.
  Loss of momentum in the sales department. This leads to a decline in cash flow
  and the eventual collapse of the enterprise.
  Failure to anticipate market trends. An entrepreneur doesn't recognize changes
  in demand, customer preferences or the economic situation.
  Lack of managerial ability or experience.
 An entrepreneur doesn't know or understand the important skills it takes to run a business.      Indecisiveness. An entrepreneur is unable to make key decisions in the face of difficulties, or decisions are delayed or improperly made because of concern for the opinions or feelings of other people.
  Bad human relations. Personal problems and conflict with staff, suppliers, creditors and customers can easily lead to business failure.
  Diffusion of effort. An entrepreneur tries to do too many things, thus failing   to set priorities and focus on high-value tasks.
 Business success isn't a mystery waiting to be solved. It's an attainable goal, if you simply avoid the reasons for business failure and continually focus on improving the areas that are responsible for business success.

Keeping Your Baby Safe

How To Reduce The Risk Of Poisoning In
Your House Hold!

YOUNG CHILDREN WILL EAT AND DRINK
ALMOST ANYTHING!
Keep all liquids and solids that may be poisonous out of their reach. Use child−resistant packaging to help prevent poisonings with medicines and household chemicals. Each year poison control centers
report nearly one million children under the age of five are exposed to potentially poisonous medicines and household chemicals.
Medicines (especially iron pills and food supplements containing iron), household substances, insect sprays, kerosene, lighter fluid, some furniture polishes, turpentine, points, solvents, and products containing lye and acids are most frequently the cause of accidental poisoning among children.

ALWAYS RETURN TO SAFE STORAGE IMMEDIATELY (locked up − away from children) Never leave a bottle of aspirin or other pills where children can reach it Return it to a safe place immediately after using.

MEDICINES ... are often swallowed by young children who find medicines where their grandparents have left them. Grandparents − and all adults − should use child−resistant closures whenever young children are around. Keep medicines out of reach − and out of sight − of all children.

HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Read labels before using any household product and follow the directions carefully. Store these  products so that children cannot reach them. Always resecure child−resistant packaging.

KEEP ALL PRODUCTS IN ORIGINAL CONTAINERS
Never place kerosene, anti−freeze, paints, or solvents in cups, glasses, milk or soft−drink bottles, or other utensils customarily used for food or drinks. Never transfer products to a bottle without a
child−resistant closure.

DESTROY OLD MEDICATIONS
Pour contents down drain or toilet, and rinse container before discarding. Do not put container with its contents into trash.

KEEP FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS SEPARATED
Cleaning fluids, detergents, lye, soap powders, insecticides, and other everyday household products should be stored away from food and medications. Death could be the result of a mistaken identity.

NEVER CALL MEDICINE "CANDY"

Success Principles

An adage says “if wishes were horses, beggars will ride”.  Many people wish they are successful – healthy, wealthy, rich, brilliant, outstanding – but are not. Why? Yes, you do not succeed by wishing.  You choose to succeed by applying the principles of success in your life or any area you desire success.

Success is not guaranteed to every human who walks the planet. However, the potential for success is bequeathed to each of us at birth. Success is not an accident or the result of believing that life owes it to you.  Success is not: power, fame, wealth, prosperity, happiness or independence. Once gained, there is no guarantee that the success you have achieved will be maintained indefinitely in any recognizable or       anticipated form. If success is lost, it is not destined to elude us forever. Success is a choice.

You need to know these principles.  When you know these principles; what they are, what they mean to your life and how to put them into action, you will find that success and its by-products: good health, happiness, wealth and satisfying relationships will be yours. These principles works in any part of the world you find yourself.  They are not limited to the developed countries as people think.

Obedience

One of the key principles of success is obedience to your Creator.  God already desires that you succeed so He deposited in you all that you need to be a success.  You need Him to understand what to do at every point in time.  I keep telling people that in whatever profession you are, whatever career you want to pursue, there is written in the Book of books what it takes to succeed in it.  No wonder, the opening verse urges us to meditate on the Book day and night and make sure we obey all that is written in it. I purposely underline the word ‘then’ in the verse.

The word ‘then’ shows a result that comes from an action. The action here is being obedient to this Book of the Law, even as you read; study and meditate on it day and night. The result is that you make your way prosperous and have good success. Take the verse in proverbs 22:29 “Do you see a man diligent and skillful in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” People who have made great success in their chosen career and businesses have been men who are diligent and skillful.

See you for more success principles.

You Are Born to Succeed

Majority of people has misconceived notion of what success is.  As we examine what success is, we will equally see what it is not.

Success according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is, “the achieving of something you have been trying to do, with a good result.”  It is commanding good results in succession, i.e. having continuous progress.  It is achieving God’s plan and purpose for your life.

As Bishop David Oyedepo defines it, “true success is the accomplishment of an assignment or the attainment of a desired end.  It is the end product of discovery or the product of purpose”.  It is the (inborn) innate desire of every human being; everybody craves after it, everyone celebrates it.  There is an adage: “failure is an orphan, as success has many mothers”.

Success is neither possessions nor position.  Possessions and position is part of the heavenly packages that comes along with it.  It is not synonymous with secular possessions and position.  It is more than that. It not having all the riches in the world and still trying to figure out how to have more of all the riches in the world.  It includes other life-transforming blessings such as joy unspeakable, long life, material wealth, mental wealth, good health and all other things including getting to the peak of your career that you can imagine of.  

Success is not all about having enough money or material things or being the best in your profession. It is encompassing in all aspects of life.  It is not a wish. It should be a keen desire which transcends everything else and back up with determination, diligence and dependence on your Maker.  It is achieving a good result of what you desired to do.

God‘s will for us is success.  He has done everything to make us succeed.  He has made a grand design of success for us.  But not everyone is successful because Success is a choice!