I’ll get right to it: an understanding of the kind of people your business needs and the willingness to do whatever it takes to bring out the best in them.
Despite all the factors required for successful business management, including product marketing, operations and finance, if you don’t have the right people in place, it’s like a new captain in charge of a ship with a sketchy crew. Doomed to failure? Not necessarily, but there will be a lot of scary near-misses, and a high risk of sailing into a disastrous storm that could’ve been avoided. [Read more…]
A writer friend of mind told me that when she is considering her next novel, she starts with one question: “What if?” What if a Southern Belle played flirty with a handsome Southern gentleman during the Civil War? Or, what if a widower found a letter in a bottle from his long lost love? And, from that, classics are born.
(Don’t make your business plan like the Great Wall of China. It’s pretty, but has no flexibility) 
Entrepreneurs are curious by nature, yet time and time again, we’ve come across entrepreneurs who say they are ready to start a business. Yet, in my meetings with clients, I ask some basic questions about running of the business, like, “why are you different?” or “How will customers learn about your business?” and “How are you pricing your effort?” or “Who is your direct competitor?” And, I get that look of fear, or of confusion. Yet, these are basic “business 101” questions.