Here’s a list of the top 25 “must do’s” in business….
These are sound principles and advice, and echo the main philosophies that I try to teach at The ECN Institute.com.
- You must develop the ability to see the needs and wants of others.
- You must find a market gap/niche.
- You must become a service and quality fanatic.
- You must get started.
- You must offer your original investors the chance to profit in a big way.
- You must start small.
- You must use the telephone/internet constantly for acquiring all kinds of information.
- You must hire the best people and generate entrepreneurial excitement.
- You must charge enough, meet problems head one, and collect your money up front.
- You must develop a strategy that helps your customers grow, improve or profit.
- You must constantly aim to become the dominant company in your industry.
- You must maintain honesty and integrity ALWAYS – and in all dealings.
- You must accept no freebies, government grants or subsidized loans.
- You must be generous to employees with wages, profit-sharing and benefits.
- You must see your company as national, rather than local or regional
- You must develop tenacity and perseverance to survive days and nights of anxiety.
- You must manage your company for constant mistake avoidance.
- You must win your customers back again and again.
- You must apply a fail-safe range of management checkpoints and controls.
- You must establish a corporate philosophy that stresses quality and service.
- You must develop an error-free reporting system.
- You must constantly seek to pay minimum taxes, but always stay within the law.
- You must diversify into those areas that fit into and supplement your existing business.
- You must find something worthwhile to do with the money you earn.
- You must sell your company or service only when you are no long excited about what you do.
And, arguably THE most important….
You must always remember that your customers
ARE the reason that your business exists.
It’s too bad that the current management of “Wal-Mart” forgot about these principles that Old Sam Walton followed when he built his first store deep in Arkansas. I am afraid that in their forgetfulness, it will not be pretty for them.
Others that have followed these same principles: Marshall Fields; JC Penney; Nordstrom’s; May Company; Saks; Macy’s; and so on…
