1. 5 KEY SUCCESS FACTORS: THE FOUNDATION
FOR SUCCESS
BY ADMIN
APRIL 5, 2016
POWER AND WEALTH
Walk into any bookstore in the country and you’ll find 8,742,126
books on the topic “key success factors“. John Maxwell has written
over half of them. And look, we get it.
There are a ton of people hungry for a slice of that big pie called
success. And there’s plenty of information that can be very useful,
but the truth is 90% of it is fluff.
If you’re not careful, you can waste your time and money on
something you already know. With that said, it’s time to tell you
something you already know. Except maybe in a way you’ve never
thought of before.
Key success factors can mean a lot of different things, but in this
post we’re going to get down to the nitty-gritty, 100%, completely
honest truth of what it really means to be successful.
First let’s define the word success. The general concensus on success
now-a-days means having lots of money, cars, and expensive
clothes. But you can be successful and have none of that.
Success is the act of setting a goal and achieving it.
2. It can be easy or hard, it all depends on what you want to be
successful at.
I mean, successfully opening a jar of mayonnaise isn’t quite the same
as developing a multi- million dollar startup...I think. And that’s
really what it comes down to isn’t it?
We’re not talking about opening a jar of mayonnaise. We’re talking
about starting a business that will replace your full time job, figuring
out how to lead a team of employees, finding new and better ways to
promote your brand so people know who you are, or just waking up
in the morning with a goal in mind that people said was impossible,
but somehow finding it within yourself to achieve it anyway. So
yeah...not a jar of mayonnaise. The path to success can be hard.
Really hard. But we’ve got 5 key success factors that will help push
you through it. These factors are the only guide you really need to be
successful. They are the foundation, everything else is just icing on
the cake.
The Top 5 Key Success Factors to Always Remember
1. Your Vision
successful, key success factors
The first factor of success is probably the one thing that most people
think they have, but they really don’t. Your vision is what you’re
working for. It’s literally the reason why you’re doing what you’re
doing. The vision you have for yourself in whatever goal you’re
trying to achieve is indescribably important, and without it you’re
almost guaranteed to fail. For example when we started
Suspendermen, we had a vision of a company that will lead young
men to a higher level of success through the ideals of being a true
gentleman.
We have the desire (or vision) to see our company featured in Forbes
magazine with the tagline “A company that helps young men
discover their inner gentleman.” In 5 years we want to dominate the
men’s lifestyle industry and help create successful entrepreneurs.
You have to see your end goal. Write it down. Look at it everyday
and it’ll be what guides you through the hard times when you might
want to quit.
2. Planning
planning, planning for success, successful plan
3. Vision is the bigger picture, but your plan is how you’ll get there.
Laying out a step by step plan is not an option, it’s a requirement for
success. It’s number two in this list of key success factors because
without a plan you WILL fail. Yes the famous cliche applies; “If you
fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Let’s say for the sake of this post you’re trying to start your own
business. Planning and organization is 80% of the battle and
execution is the other 20%. Your battle plan can come in many
forms but the most common is a business plan and marketing plan.
Your business plan contains the objective of the business (mission
statement), you’re budget, a list of you’re assets and liabilities, future
financial projections, a study of your competitors, etc. And you’re
marketing plan is even more comprehensive because it’s basically a
plan of exactly how the business will make a profit.
There’s a lot that goes into a business and marketing plan, but
without it you can get lost in the day to day tasks of trying to achieve
your goal. It’s easy to lose focus and put energy and money into the
wrong part of your business.
A plan will keep you on track and help you invest your energy on
what will give you a bigger return for your efforts. It’s a living
document that can and will guide the growth of your business.
Here’s a free download for Business Plan Template (36 downloads)
Another aspect of planning is creating a list of daily tasks to
complete that will further your objective. For instance if you have a
personal training business, one of the things you should do everyday
is post to your social media accounts and interact with potential
customers. You should be providing encouragement to people who
are trying to make better health choices.
That is a task that if done everyday will convert to paying clients.
Take time and develop your business and marketing plan. Create a
list of daily tasks to complete everyday that will further your success
and 80% of the battle is already won.
3. Will Power
Without a doubt this is my favorite on the list of key success factors.
The vision is the end goal, your plan is the map, but will power is the
vehicle you’ll use to get through the potholes and obstacles that’ll be
placed in front of you.
4. As such, it has to be a strong vehicle. Your will power has to be
unbreakable. Let’s put it this way; if you’ve ever wondered why some
people are more inclined to be great leaders, millionaire
entrepreneurs, or just generally more successful than most, your
answer is will power. And yes, some of them were born with a silver
spoon, or had an easy environment growing up and attentive
parents, but you’ll find that most successful people had none of that.
Instead they had an unnerving amount of will power.
In order to be successful in whatever you want to do, you have to be
willing to do whatever it takes. If you look at that statement it can
seem like a simple, understated fact. But there’s a lot that goes into
it. Doing whatever it takes means making sacrifices, making
uncomfortable decisions that’ll scare the crap out of you. It means
taking the time to learn new skills, going home to work on your
business after a 12 hour shift. It means less money, less sleep, less
time with friends. And to top it off, there’s no guarantee that what
your doing will work.
If you’re promoting your brand using social media, you may have to
try different platforms and it could take months to see any results.
Are you willing to wait that long? Can you deal with not making any
real profit for the next 6 months to a year?
Then there are personal problems that will get in the way.
Your girlfriend or wife may not support you. Your friends may stop
inviting you out because you’re always working. You’ll get frustrated
because it’ll seem like you’re not making progress or the progress is
too slow.
Will you quit? It pays to think about all the unforeseen problems
you’ll be facing, because make no mistake, there will be problems.
You will struggle. But what you have to remember is that the
struggle is just part of the journey. Take William Nobrega for
instance. He’s the CEO and founder of CQS International, an
ecommerce insurance company that uses location based mobile
technology to generate instant sales. But before his ultimate success,
William had another startup that he sank an immeasurable amount
of time, money and energy into only for it to ultimately fail.
However, in early 2014 in a small room in Hong Kong, instead of
wallowing in the misery of a set back, William had an idea for
5. another startup. And even though he was completely broke and had
almost zero resources to work with, he wouldn’t let that stop him
from finding a way to make his dream a reality. Fast forward to
March 6, 2015 and CQS International is now valued at over $170
million.
The point is to never give up, dig deep and even when it looks like
you might fail, keep pushing forward. “Never quit,” Nobrega said. “If
you believe, and you really need to believe, then you would be willing
to sacrifice everything to achieve the mission. If you are fortunate
enough to serve with the right team, they will have the same
mentality. You will run into obstacles all along the way, but how you
deal with them and how you overcome them will determine your
success. A team that’s cohesive will work miracles.” – See more at:
Business News Daily
4. Consistency
I know it’s pretty obvious why this is another one of our key success
factors, but humor us anyway. Being consistent in anything will
produce results. It’s not a matter of if, but when. After all, the whole
point of being successful is getting the results you want.
Consistency also gives you the ability to test what’s working and
what’s not. It can give you information on where you should put
more of your efforts. Not only that, but being consistent gives you
the foundation to be truly great at something. Doing the same
“thing” over and over again for a long period of time gives you the
experience to do that “thing” very well. It’s why concert pianist play
so beautifully, or why an artist can paint a picture that will bring
tears to your eyes. It’s the reason writers can use words to bring
entire worlds to life, or how a bodybuilder knows exactly what to do
to sculpt his body. It’s because they’ve been doing the same thing
over and over for years.
And remember, that just because they’ve been doing the same thing,
doesn’t mean they been doing it the same way. Over the years
they’ve learned how to perfect their craft by learning new and
different ways to do it. Success and consistency go hand in hand. It’s
very difficult to have one without the other.
When you get up every morning at a set time and work on your
business for a certain number of hours a day while making sure you
hit every item on your agenda every single day, that’s a step towards
consistency.
6. And it’s one of the best key success factors to master.
5. A Flexible Mind
Ok, let’s be honest for a minute.
What you’re doing might not work out. Does it mean you’re a quitter
or that your dream will never become a reality? It doesn’t have to.
There are thousands, if not millions of start ups that fail every year.
It could be because the person who owns it didn’t research the
market enough, or that they didn’t work hard enough to promote
their brand.
Maybe they lost all of their starting capital on a bad idea and went
bankrupt. Or maybe a family member died, or they got sick, or....
The point is that nothing in this world is guaranteed. As smart,
organized and determined as you are, sometimes life gets in the way.
The question is how you’ll handle it, if and when that moment
arrives. Having the ability to change course and make the decision to
try something new is not the same as quitting.
If your product doesn’t sell after putting countless hours of time and
money into it, you should have the ability to make the adjustments
that your audience is asking for.
Reset. Readjust. Ask yourself, “Is this the best way for me to achieve
my goal? And if it’s not, then what is?”
I know that when we started talking about key success factors we
were talking in terms of starting a new business or venture. But
success is not just about business or money. It’s not just about start
ups and being an entrepreneur. Success is simply the act of setting a
goal and achieving it.
Losing weight, getting a better job, finding love, opening a jar of
mayonnaise, starting a business...
These 5 key success factors will work in every facet of life. Learn
them. Master them. Be successful.
@suspendermen
