How to Achieve Success in Business

Please note this article contains my own views and opinions and as such are not necessarily those of my employer.

1. Vision

Shut your eyes and visualise your business, what does it look like?

Success means something different to all of us; to Tom it might be to climb to the level of Director in the company he currently works in; to Richard it might be to create a business that employs hundreds of people and works internationally; to Harry it could be a business with no employees, but brings in a high personal income with flexibility to work when and where he wants.

So, what is your vision of success? Write it down or record yourself speaking it, describing as much detail as you can. Keep it safe.

2. Plan

When you drive the 472 miles from Southampton up to Glasgow, you're going to have a plan, even a simple one: car holds about 250 miles worth of fuel, so 2 or 3 stops for fuel, I'll need a break every 2 hours, so an extra 1 or 2 stops on top of fuel stops, play list of at least 6 albums or 7 hour audio book, factor in potential delays and alternative routes, etc etc. You get the idea.

Your vision is Glasgow, your business at this time is Southampton. How are you going to get your business from where it is now to what it looks like in your vision? Do a gap analysis and identify the skills, knowledge and resources etc that you need to create your vision in real life.

Remember, this is your roadmap to get to your vision, include specific, relevant detail, but don't include superfluous information.

3. Personal Attributes

It might seem that some of the people who manage to succeed get there because they lie, cheat and steal. That may be so, but I believe that if you are a good person with honourable intentions, you will get a lot further in life.

My acronym for the values I like to live by is MACIE:

Mental acuity - keep your brain sharp and keep learning.

Authenticity - be real, if people don't like who you are, that's their loss.

Courage - sometimes you have to be brave to take a step that doesn't necessarily have a known outcome or that is just plain scary.

Integrity - be honest and trustworthy with everyone you cross paths with, but especially yourself.

Energy - physical, mental and emotional energy is very important. Look after your mind and body, without them, you're not going anywhere. (Some might think I'm being a bit 'hippy' here - you can take this as literally or as 'hippy' as is right for you, but at the end of the day, if you suffer from a burnout, physically or mentally, you aren't moving towards your goals...).

4. Team

Nobody who has achieved any level of success has done it by themselves, there is a always a team behind them (large or small, supportive or technical). Make sure you have the right team behind you, in terms of the skillsets and experience and also the right attitude.

5. Work hard and smart

This one should go without saying, but unfortunately there are still those around who believe they should be handed success on a plate... erm, no.

Working smart is not a new concept, so I'm not going to go into depth here, there are plenty of articles and life hacks on how to work smarter; google them, read them and implement them.

6. Review your progress

Most of the above is fairly obvious, but remembering to periodically step out of your work and look at it from above is really important, both to see progress towards your vision and whether there is anything you can learn from hind sight.

Are you still on track or have you been knocked onto a tangent? Are things taking longer/less time than expected? Could you have achieved the last part of your journey faster, more economically or more innovatively? Did your plan not work? How could you change it so that it would work next time? Or if the plan did work, how might it have fared if a particular obstacle reared up?

I'd like to say good luck, but as Seneca* reminds us, "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". Follow my tips above and you should be prepared to grasp opportunities when they arise.

* for the less classically savvy amongst us, Seneca was a Roman Philosopher.