1. Identify people’s needs

Become a receiving station that picks up needs everywhere. Without a need there is no value to add. Offer a skill or product that fulfils a need. Many business are industry-centric and prioritise competition and increased profit margins.

While this attitude is key in success, the little-known secret is that being customer-centric will yield both competitive advantage and financial returns.

2. Be inspired

Find the things that make your soul sing and prioritise those in your day. The most important thing for me in business is to have fun with what I am doing. Every day should be an opportunity to play and explore and see a little bit of magic.

Related:Lessons From Self-Made Millionaire, Marnus Broodryk

Running a business is not merely about slaving your days away with nothing but material benefits as the goal. By choosing a business that feels like making money out of a hobby, effectively you will be playing more than working.

3. In tough times always remember why you have started your business in the first place

When your WHY is big enough the HOWS take care of itself. It is the glue that makes us believe in ourselves and the magnet that attracts others to support us.

We all lose track of why we are doing things, particularly when they are complex and take forever to get them done.

Find ways and means to keep the WHY of your business top of mind. This reason will be your compass when you feel like you have lost your way and your life jacket when it seems like you are drowning.

4. Delegate low priority actions to people and applications

These days there are lots of tools that can help make your life a little easier online. The more you share your actions and your knowledge the more doors open for you and your people will be more fulfilled when they continuously learn new things all the time.

Encourage your employees to identify anything and everything that can be delegated or automated. Any business owner will tell you how possessive they are of their business and that if they had the time and energy they would do it all.

However, the smart business person understands the power of synergy and how delegation will yield results greater than what they can achieve on their own.

5. Work effectively and efficiently

It is easy to confuse activity with productivity. Prioritise your actions and teach people who work with you to do the same. If you don’t, your time will fill up with distractions that are not important and therefore it will erode your profits.

Related:Growth Lessons From A R780-Million Business

Money flows to those who have the most order and organisation. Identifying and implementing a hierarchy of priorities has the cascading effect of doing what is at the pinnacle and then watching how magically those efforts flow to the base. This is called working smarter than harder.

6. Continuously research and innovate

This should apply to everyone in your team. Research and innovation can be done in the smallest ways. It does not always have to be this big glamorous thing that we are working on.

Knowledge is the precursor to experience and every ounce of energy you put in gathering and organising information in your mind is the building blocks to your outer reality.

Knowledge gives you certainty. When you have certainty, the whole world believes in you. We live in the information age that puts knowledge at our fingertips. However, it is only those who actively access that information who will reap the benefits of it.

Related:7 Lessons For The New Entrepreneur To Take Into 2019

7. Surround yourself with quality people

You are the sum of the people you hang out with. This applies to employees, customers, partners and people in your personal life. In general, people are good, but not all of them are good for you. Have the courage to distance yourself from those who cost you more than benefit you.

Benefit those that you value. Most of all, just like you would interview someone for a job, honestly assess whether some people qualify to be part of your life vision.

8. Save as much as you can

Your liquidity will stabilise your emotions in business. When we master our emotions, we master ourselves and we become masterful in business. Financial anxiety leads to financial blunders.

Making financial decisions for your business from a place of financial frustration leads to short-changing clients and long-term loss of integrity.

Related:Business Lessons From Women For Women: If You Have To Fail, Fail Forwards