Building a World Class Women-Owned Company
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Here are 3 Tips to help you build your world class company:
#1 Start with the End in Mind
On September 12th, 1962 President Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. On July 20th, 1969 Niel Armstrong walked on the moon. When Kennedy made that statement, he had no idea how we would get to the moon, he just knew that we needed to do it. This is one of the most important things you need to know about your business. Where are you going? What is it that you ultimately want for your business? The first step is to decide where you want to go. Then you take a step in that direction and keep going until you get to your destination. Many will tell you that you need a detailed map to get to your destination. I don’t believe this is necessarily true. What you need is a destination, a brief synopsis of how you’ll get there and then get going in that direction. Lao-Tzu said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Take that step.
#2 Learn from Others
How old were you when you finally realized that your parents actually knew something about life that may benefit you? You were probably in your 20s and probably made lots of mistakes because you didn’t listen to them. It’s the same thing with business. Don’t wait 20 years to wise up this time. You don’t know everything about your business or how to grow your business! Someone else has more knowledge or experience than you in some aspect of your business.
There are many ways to find valuable information. You can network with others in business, join a mastermind group, hire a business coach, read blogs, attend seminars or conferences, find a mentor, etc. There are also thousands of business books out on the market written by and about the greatest businesses and business people of all time. Read about how they built world class companies, what good decisions they made, what ideas they have and what failures they experienced and learn from them.
Here are a few of my favorites:
The E-Myth Michael Gerber
The Blue Ocean Strategy W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
Good to Great Jim Collins
Built to Last Jim Collins
#3 Be Persistent & Expect Failure
I’m sure your parents told you to never give up. Now I’m telling you: the absolute only way you’re going to make it in business is if you’re so passionate about what you’re doing that you can handle a lot of disappointments and failures. When a contract doesn’t come through for you or you get turned down for that business loan, you’re just going to have to figure something else out and keep on going! Edison said: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
OK-I’m going to say the big scary word: failure. How many of us have not started something or tried to implement something big in your business because we’re afraid of failing? I hate to be the bearer of bad news; but you will fail, probably many times. Now, let’s change your perception of failure and take the fear out of the word.
First of all: If you are not failing, you are not trying hard enough! You aren’t reaching far enough! You aren’t thinking big enough!
Second: If you know unequivocally that you will fail: you can expect it, learn from it, get over it and move on!
Lastly: If you never start because of your fear, you’ve ALREADY failed!
Do you know that Edison failed 3000 times when trying to create the light bulb? You’d think after a few hundred failures he’d get pretty discouraged. But not him, he said: “I learned 3000 ways it won’t work, so now I know how does!”
So the next time you think: What if I fail? Stop yourself and say: What can I LEARN?
I sincerely hope some of the things in this article will help you on your entrepreneurial journey. Your success is truly my success, the world’s success and success for the next generation! There is no doubt: BIG THINK entrepreneurs make the world a better place!
I wish you great success!
Stacey Kammerman