Moore Bookkeeping

Your parents probably told you to brush your teeth, make your bed, and eat your vegetables every day, so that you’d develop into a healthy adult. What routine tasks are as vitally important to the growth of your company?

Here’s a list of daily must-dos from a few business gurus.

1. Set priorities. Make a list of your priorities daily. “I have clients make a list of 20 things they have to do in the next couple of weeks. I have them break them down into three columns, top priority, priority and routine. Once all items are in the correct column they start with the top priorities and move on to the next column. Creating this tool every evening for some is needed to stay focused on being productive, not busy. There’s a difference,” says Rich Schuttler, author Everyday Leader Heroes. “Failing to plan means they won’t get done. Too many people believe they can manage this without formalization, but few can,” he says.

2. Crunch some numbers. Identify your top three success metrics — and track them daily. These metrics may include: number of new customers, number of repeat orders, inventory of key products, etc. By recording this data daily, you’ll ensure that you stay on track toward meeting your business goals and can address any issues as they occur, says Fred Lizza, CEO of Dydacomp, a provider of order management solutions.

In addition, check sales from the previous day. Small-business owners who don’t know sales from day to day are unaware of what’s happening in real time. “A day without sales is like a day without sunshine, with a storm coming,” Schuttler says.

3. Make customers a priority. Every day, focus on getting more clients or customers. “Too many business owners get bogged down in paperwork, logo design, networking conferences, and the like. The primary thing is getting customers to buy your product or service, keeping them happy and figuring out how to get more,” says Jonathan Watson, media director for RecordsFerret.com, which conducts record searches. Talk to your customers every day.

4. Be present. Walk around. Ask how things are going, and remind staff members that you are available if they have any questions or concerns. Talk — and, more importantly, listen.

“Catch an employee ‘doing something right,’” Lizza advises. “It is important to recognize employees’ successes. Happy employees create happy customers.” Give your people developmental feedback to enhance their performance, too. Don’t wait for an end-of-the-year review.

Use your product or service daily, too. “If you make something, you should try to find a way to use it every day,” says RJ Bardsley, senior vice president at Racepoint Group, a communications agency. How else will you know what you could do better?

5. Read. “A lot of companies I work with are fighting for market share with two or three competitors. A quick news scan in the morning provides context for every discussion you’re going to have throughout the day — with employees, reporters, customers,” Bardsley says.

“The key is to read quickly. Scan three publications, set up a news feed on Google, or set up a reader in WordPress. Spend no more than 15 minutes a day.”

6. Move forward. Realize two things: First, procrastination is a decision, even if your goal is to avoid a decision. Second, your goal needs to be success, not perfection. “When you’re 80 percent ready, go,” says Linda Henman, author of Landing in the Executive Chair.

“Don’t be afraid to take a chance just because you might fail,” says Fran Tarkenton, co-founder of SmallBizClub.com. “Our most important lessons come from failures.”

7. Stop to think. “Business owners can’t be creative and innovative when they’re running around at 100 miles an hour with their hair on fire. Neither can anyone else when they see that in the owner,” Schuttler says. “Go to the gym, take a walk, run, meditate. Find a way to reduce stress and stay healthy.”

Dawn Reshen-Doty, president of Benay Enterprises, adds: Ask yourself, “What can I do today to be a better employer, service provider, or human being? Taking a few minutes to focus on the bigger picture can make everything come into focus.”

8. Look back — and ahead. At the end of each workday, reflect on the day, assess its outcomes, and self-correct the next day what needs to be done better or over. As Schuttler notes, “Failure to review the past often means it gets repeated, and in small businesses, small problems repeated over and over mean disaster.”

Meanwhile, take 30 seconds a day to reflect on where you’re going to be in three years, Bardsley advises. “It’s a good practice, and sometimes provides the inspiration you need to keep moving things forward.”

What to Do Every Day to Succeed in Business | Intuit Small Business Blog.

Success comes in all shapes and colours. You can be successful in your job and career but you can equally be successful in your marriage, at sports or a hobby. Whatever success you are after there is one thing all radically successful people have in common: Their ferocious drive and hunger for success makes them never give up.

Successful people (or the people talking or writing about them) often paint a picture of the perfect ascent to success. In fact, some of the most successful people in business, entertainment and sport have failed. Many have failed numerous times but they have never given up. Successful people are able to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and carry on trying.

I have collected some examples that should be an inspiration to anyone who aspires to be successful. They show that if you want to succeed you should expect failure along the way. I actually believe that failure can spur you on and make you try even harder. You could argue that every experience of failure increases the hunger for success. The truly successful won’t be beaten, they take responsibility for failure, learn from it and start all over from a stronger position.

Let’s look at some examples, including some of my fellow LinkedIn influencers:

Henry Ford – the pioneer of modern business entrepreneurs and the founder of the Ford Motor Company failed a number of times on his route to success. His first venture to build a motor car got dissolved a year and a half after it was started because the stockholders lost confidence in Henry Ford. Ford was able to gather enough capital to start again but a year later pressure from the financiers forced him out of the company again. Despite the fact that the entire motor industry had lost faith in him he managed to find another investor to start the Ford Motor Company – and the rest is history.

Walt Disney – one of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products didn’t start off successful. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! In 1922 he started his first company called Laugh-O-Gram. The Kansas based business would produce cartoons and short advertising films. In 1923, the business went bankrupt. Walt didn’t give up, he packed up, went to Hollywood and started The Walt Disney Company.

Richard Branson – He is undoubtedly a successful entrepreneur with many successful ventures to his name including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Music and Virgin Active. However, when he was 16 he dropped out of school to start a student magazine that didn’t do as well as he hoped. He then set up a mail-order record business which did so well that he opened his own record shop called Virgin. Along the way to success came many other failed ventures including Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes, Virgin Vie, Virgin cards, etc.

Oprah Winfrey – who ranks No 1 in the Forbes celebrity list and is recognised as the queen of entertainment based on an amazing career as iconic talk show host, media proprietor, actress and producer. In her earlier career she had numerous set-backs, which included getting fired from her job as a reporter because she was ‘unfit for television’, getting fired as co-anchor for the 6 O’clock weekday news on WJZ-TV and being demoted to morning TV.

J.K. Rowling – who wrote the Harry Potter books selling over 400 million copies and making it one of the most successful and lucrative book and film series ever. However, like so many writers she received endless rejections from publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like ‘it was far too long for a children’s book’ or because ‘children books never make any money’. J.K. Rowling’s story is even more inspiring because when she started she was a divorced single mum on welfare.

Bill Gates -co-founder and chairman of Microsoft set up a business called Traf-O-Data. The partnership between him, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert was based on a good idea (to read data from roadway traffic counters and create automated reports on traffic flows) but a flawed business model that left the company with few customers. The company ran up losses between 1974 and 1980 before it was closed. However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen took what they learned and avoided those mistakes when they created the Microsoft empire.

History is littered with many more similar examples:

• Milton Hershey failed in his first two attempts to set up a confectionary business.
• H.J. Heinz set up a company that produced horseradish, which went bankrupt shortly after.
• Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, the company he founded. Only to return a few years later to turn it into one of the most successful companies ever.

So, the one thing successful people never do is: Give up! I hope that this is inspiration and motivation for everyone who aspires to be successful in whatever way they chose. Do you agree or disagree with me? Are there other things you would add to the list of things successful people never do? Please share your thoughts…

read more via The One Thing Successful People Never Do | LinkedIn.