The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer

 

Starting a business can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also requires a lot of hard work and careful planning. As an entrepreneur, you are not only responsible for more than just the success of your business but also for deciding the kind of business you want to create and the way you want to run it. There are a few key questions that every entrepreneur must be able to answer about the business in order to succeed.

1. What is your business idea? What problem are you solving?

Before starting a business, you need to have a clear idea of what your business is going to be. You must know what problem you intend to solve with your business idea. It may be about developing a product or service or identifying a target market, or giving solution to a particular problem faced by individuals. This will help you differentiate yourself from your competitors and give you a unique selling proposition. Take some time to think about your business idea and make sure it is well-defined and feasible.

2. Who is your target market?

Once you have a business idea or you know what problem you are solving, you need to identify your target market. It is important to understand the needs and desires of your ideal customer so that you can create a product or service that will meet their needs. Identifying target market includes demographic information, such as age, gender, income level, and location. It also means knowing about their needs, wants, and preferences. Understanding your target market will help you tailor your products or services to meet their needs and make it easier to reach and sell to them.

3. How will you finance your business?

Capital is one of the key inputs in business that determine your business’s growth. There are several ways to finance your business. These might include personal savings, bank loans, grants, or probably investors. Think about the various financing options available to you and choose the one that makes the most sense for your business.

4. What is your unique value proposition? What makes you stand out from your competitors?

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what makes you stand out from your competition. Your unique value proposition is the reason why customers will choose your business over others. Your UVP might include factors like quality, convenience, price, or customer service. Identifying and communicating your UVP is an important way to differentiate your business and attract customers.

5. How will you reach your target market?

Once you know who your target market is, it is important to identify the ways to reach them. You must figure out how to reach them. It may be either traditional marketing tactics such as advertising or more modern tactics such as content marketing and social media marketing.

6. How will you generate revenue?

Business without revenue is a flop show that will close down soon. Every business needs to have a plan for generating revenue. This might involve selling products or services directly to customers, or it might involve finding other ways to monetize your business, such as through advertising or partnerships. Think about the various ways you can generate revenue and how you will implement them.

7. What are your short and long term goals?

It's important to have clear goals for your business. These might include long-term goals, like expanding into new markets or becoming a leader in your industry or short-term goals, like increasing sales by a certain amount over the next year. Having SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals will help you stay focused and motivated as you plan to expand your business.

8. What are the potential risks and challenges?

Business is always a risky bet and where there is risk, there is more chance of profit. It's important to be aware of the potential challenges and risks you might face. These might include competition, economic downturns, regulatory changes, or technological disruptions. Identifying the risks and preparing yourself and your business for potential risks and challenges will help you be better equipped to handle them if they arise.

Answering these questions will help you develop a solid foundation for your business and give you a better chance of success. Remember to be flexible and open to change, as your business will likely evolve over time. Good luck with your entrepreneurial journey!

5 Questions for Business Leaders to Ask during Uncertain Times

Business leaders have been pushing themselves hard to rebuild their businesses post the COVID pandemic. Just when everything seems back on track, the pandemic seems to threaten the world again with its recent surge. Not only COVID, we seem to be in times where there is inflation, geopolitical unrest, rising interests, cyber security issues, rising employee expectations, labor shortage, etc. Remember the Billy Joel song, “We didn’t start the fire”. This seems to be the business world’s situation today.

Businesses are hoping for a stable environment. During these times of uncertainty, they are caught between the need to act and the requirement for caution. There are numerous decisions that a leader has to make every day like deciding about increasing and decreasing the units of production, hiring and firing, installing new machinery, discarding the old ones, diversifying or divesting the business, etc. All such tasks require good decision making which, in turn, determines the outcome. A leader’s ability to make decisions may be hampered by a number of factors. It is important to have handy answers to some important questions. This will help make important decisions in order to see that one doesn’t face any obstacles.

First and foremost is to know how reliable the procedure you have in place for decision-making. Leaders should experiment with strategies instead of relying on the manual procedure. Sometimes the best answers to an underlying question is not in the handbooks or manual guidelines. But it's available from your experiences as a leader. Organise your thoughts and re-assure that your experiences are worth making wise judgements. It’s always helpful if you can include people with different backgrounds and expertise and varied perspective to have a well-rounded input in your decision-making.

Make yourself not to rush into the unknown without thorough research. Great choices are possible when we take a step back, look 360 degrees and then decide to go ahead. No matter how important the situation is, however hard you run short of time, pause for a while instead of deciding hastily and regret later.

Ask yourself, ‘how efficient is your current growth?’. In times of uncertainties, on one hand, there is always the risk of losing money, on the other, there is an opportunity to deploy more capital in a venture when others fear. If you know your markets well, this is the best time to expand. The risks may be more but the returns are rewarding. Check your growth matrix to find how further you can go.

Probe further if you are differentiated enough. Successful businesses work on changing their value propositions, strategize providing high-quality services, cross-sell, work on customer experience and reduce response times. These are the levers to differentiate yourself and become efficient. Remember sales are not easy to make. Why would customers choose your service or product unless there is something different you offer than your competitor? So maintain focus and work on your goal.

Another important question to ask yourself is how will you manage your business if the leading indicators start showing red signals. In this case, it is always advisable to do scenario planning in advance and keep a specific action plan to shift your course. This will help to reduce all the unnecessary cash burn. In times like these, it is not strange to have a sudden drop in demand for some goods and a spike in others. Markets will not reward you if you continue investing in the less-in-demand. Shift your course to what is required at the moment and save resources to have control of your market in the future.

How do you turn the current market dynamic to your advantage? Perhaps this is the most crucial of all. Sometimes you need not require more investments or more production to have more sales. The mere fact that your product or service can help your customers navigate the existing circumstances is strong enough to help you through uncertain times. Your marketing and sales messaging can play the trick to give you the edge. Make sure to let your customers know how your product or service can help them in the current market situation. If they see the benefit, you get the reward.

Reviewing this checklist of questions and answers can help your business sail through uncertain times. The present economic climate is something that business leaders did not have necessarily created, but it is up to them to find out how to get going.

Why Some Start-Ups Fail to Scale

The word "start-up" conjures up visions of people always ready to leap into the unknown, with no plans for failure. But what many don't realize is that founder burnout and failure are all too common during the start phase of a startup's life cycle. When you have the thought, “I'll create the next eBay,” it's easy to get too excited and throw caution to the wind. But with all of this excitement, start-ups often forget some of the most important aspects of growing a business.

Just because you have something new to offer, doesn't mean that you'll succeed. Many things have to go right for a start-up to survive and continue to scale. The scale-up phase of entrepreneurial ventures is a huge challenge. There are a large number of reasons why this is so, but here are just some of the important ones.

Some founders lack the ability to select the right investors. Most entrepreneurs have no idea who they should talk to or what they should say in order to get a deal going. The most important thing is that you need a team that will support you and work towards your vision. You don't want to be alone with this task, so find people who are willing to do it for you. You can also try looking for investors in your network, but it may take longer and require more effort than just approaching someone who lives in another city. Start-ups are hard and money is tight, so if an investor is willing to step in, it's better than nothing at all!

One of the most common reasons for startups to fail is their complicated business models. A simple business model is one that doesn't require you to do much more than provide a product or service and then charge for it. You don't need to build a website, hire employees, etc. In fact, those are luxuries that many startups can't afford because they're still building their companies. But eventually, if you stick with it long enough, you'll get there! The most successful companies have simple business models that are easy to understand, and they have a clear purpose. If a startup's business model is too complex, it can be confusing for investors and customers alike.

In most startups, there's one thing that's more important than anything else and that is keeping employees. And if you're not able to do that, your startup is probably going to fail. It's true that some startups are able to keep their employees around long enough for them to build something amazing, but they're the exception—they happen so rarely! The majority of startups fail because they can't retain key employees. So the key to success is to have loyal, efficient and happy employees.

You know what else is common? Firing people! It's not just about not being able to retain them; sometimes it's just a matter of having to let go of someone who wasn't working out anymore. But if you don't have any other option than firing people, then firing them is going to be inevitable.

Other reasons for failure is when founders don't have a clear vision for their business. They may be too busy worrying about getting their product out there and making it work, or they may not have the skills to get it done. Either way, it's important for founders to spend time defining what they want their company to be before they start building it.

Founders may be unable to scale fast enough to meet customer demand or keep up with competitors. That's because entrepreneurs, especially those who have not scaled up a business before, don't know what they don't know. Scaling up a business is hard to do, and doing so requires changes that aren't easy for entrepreneurs to make.

Negative profitability is one reason that keeps coming up time and time again. While some people will be surprised by this statement, positive or negative profits only happen when your business makes sales. It happens when your production costs are more than your total revenue for a specific period. Startups should find ways to cut down the costs to see profit.

Takeaway: If you want your start-up to scale, you'll want to do things like keeping it simple and having a clear vision of where you want it to go!

How Leaders should respond to public criticism

Public criticism is never easy, but it can be especially difficult for leaders. The Twitter case is still a fresh example. Elon Musk’s recent faceoff with employees and Twitter customers is an extreme case. Leaders are fair game. When you are the leader of a company, you can expect that some people will not like your decisions. This is fine. It’s not up to you to please everyone. But there are ways to handle public criticism so that it doesn’t get in your way or create stress in you.

Understand that your job is not to be perfect always. It is simply to be better than those who criticize you — which means you need to accept their criticisms and learn from them, not use fairness as a gauge to respond. But there are some ways to steel yourself and respond well.

The first thing to keep in mind as a leader is that public criticism is just as much about what people say as it is about how they say it. If you take someone’s criticism too personally, it can make a negative situation even worse. It’s important to remember that people are expressing their opinions based on their observations and experiences — not facts.

The next thing to keep in mind is that public criticism does not always mean that someone is right or wrong about something — just because someone feels strongly enough about an issue that they want to share their opinion publicly doesn’t mean they are right or wrong.

Try not to let their criticism get under your skin or make you defensive. The best way to handle this is by acknowledging their concerns and then explaining why they are wrong (even if it takes a while).

Accept the criticism and try to understand why the criticism is made. Try to find some common ground. If there are things you can agree on, try to make that connection stronger. For example, if someone says something negative about your team (or even your product or service), it’s important to acknowledge that this person has a point — but then go on to explain why their opinion is wrong or incomplete. If possible, make sure that there are those who agree with them so that they feel listened to and heard by those in power (and answerable). If possible, offer some solutions so that they feel like they’ve been heard and understood by those in power (and answerable).

Accept and don’t use fairness as a gauge to respond, Set the record straight with facts, not emotion. When it comes to public criticism of your organization or yourself, do not respond by attacking the messenger (or by trying to turn the tables on them). Instead, focus on correcting any mischaracterizations or inaccuracies in their remarks so readers can see what actually happened.

The key here is balance — making sure that you address all sides of an issue equally. If you tell one side nothing (with no explanation), others will assume you agree with them (which may be true). But if you give equal weight to both sides of an argument and explain your reasoning behind any decisions made (even if they didn't work out), people will see.

Humility and transparency go a long way in building the armour needed for holding your position. Hiding and protecting oneself can make things worse while transparency favours the bold. When people you lead are angry or frustrated and hurt, show them empathy. Don’t gaslight your team members. If you want your team to thrive, you need to empower them, not hold them back or try to micromanage them. You need a team that can take ownership, and this means giving them permission to make mistakes and not punishing them for it when they do. It also means encouraging them to challenge themselves and their ideas, but always providing feedback in a way that fosters growth rather than criticism. Remember your humble posture does not convey guilt or remorse, as people often think it to be. It simply shows that you care.

In the face of scrutiny, step back and look for new lessons. Think of your next course of action to lead differently. Don’t base yourself on unfounded assumptions. Leaders who embrace their critics are not afraid to buck the traditions. But at the same time, they take action to fix things in a proper way. Good leaders know well that people don’t forget and they always look for what progress you have made. They know how to come out of criticism and make their company and brand shine even stronger.

25 signs you might be an entrepreneur

 

1. An entrepreneur never gives up. They don’t have no in the dictionary.
2. You are full of confidence and passion. You believe and make others believe in possibilities. Your optimism pulls everyone towards you.
3. You are always on the go for finding answers to questions surrounding you and see opportunities to make things better. Like a curious child, you try to find out why people do the things they do.
4. You may not be coming from a family of businessmen but you hate the idea of working for somebody else. You have the ability to connect with people of your caliber and make partnerships. You are a free soul. You hate being dictated about what to do.
5. You don’t fear taking risky bets. Don’t worry, it’s inbuilt in an entrepreneur’s DNA. You love spending time in your endeavor more than anything else. Some of you even might have dropped out early from college or university to start something of your own.
6. If you were at job, you probably have changed jobs several times as you did not like somebody being bossy around you.
7. For you, the definition of job security means being your own boss.
8. You have a competitive spirit and keep yourself updated on the new entrants in business ownership.
9. Holidaying with friends or family is a gone thing as you are constantly busy with tasks related to your dream, your idea.
10. You might have been earning well with a 9 to 5 job, yet you took the plunge to work for yourself 18 hours a day with less pay.
11. You see opportunities everywhere. The smallest of a problem catches your attention and you find business ideas through your innovative solutions.
12. You are logical and brave. You know how to make the wrong things right. You are a problem solver.
13. People love hearing you and you command authority.
14. You have been business-oriented even as a kid. You knew how to sell balloons even on your birthday.
15. You love reading quotes from successful entrepreneurs to keep yourself motivated.
16. You complete any project to the end with success. You measure completion based on return on investment.
17. Like Elon Musk, you have unrealistic dreams. You give yourself completely to realise your dreams. You are good at replicating but may even invent something really out-of-the-box.
18. You are a rule-breaker, not a law-breaker. You will bend rules to make everything run smoothly.
19. You know how to bring people along to work under you. You are great at designating roles for others.
20. You are super-quick at learning new things. You know the importance of staying ahead in a rapidly changing world where regular cars might soon get replaced with flying cars.
21. You are energetic and charismatic. People find you determined and a go-getter. You inspire people with your talks, and your work.
22. You have a paucity of time taking a full night’s sleep. 40 winks under the desk are something you do all the time.
23. You have done your market research well and know what your customers want. You know how to convert their wants into purchases.
24. You surround yourself with quality people, whether it's LinkedIn or the physical space.
25. For you, time is money and your time is worth more than platinum and gold.

If you don’t see all the 25 points in yourself, never mind. Entrepreneurs are always in the making just like their innovative ideas all the time. You will develop more of these traits over time and might add some new ones that others might want to imbibe. After all, entrepreneurs are born to add; add meaning to creative businesses.

Growth of Patanjali, the Mega Brand of India – A case for study

The story of Patanjali is not like any other businesses in India. It is unique because it is an empire created by a baba. Yes, Baba Ramdev, the yoga guru of the masses, is the man behind the brand called PATANJALI. Baba Ramdev’s name is enough to make Patanjali what it is today. He is the mascot of the brand. His years of hard work in promoting yoga and Ayurveda is what has helped him create Patanjali into a mega brand today. A not very old entrant into the FMCG sector of India, yet it’s giving all major FMCG businesses in India a run for their money.

Along with Acharya Balkrishna, Baba Ramdev, in 2006, created a massive consumer goods company with headquarters in Haridwar, Uttrakhand. Their aim is to utilise ancient science and wisdom to produce products for customers. Its business model deals with products ranging from ayurvedic medicines, herbal products, cosmetics, detergents to biscuits, noodles and other snacks under one umbrella brand, Patanjali. It is a modern business empire, but there is nature and naturalness in everything they do. It resonates even in their brand slogan that states Prakriti ka Aashirwaad, i.e. blessing from the nature. It has a massive network of around 4500 retail counters to sell about 900 varieties of products. It also has 10K plus Patanjali Chikitshalay (clinic) and Arogya Kendras (wellness centers) all over the country.

Who are Patanjali’s Customers?

Patanjali is like any other FMCG company that produce and sell products of regular consumption and use. So how did it grow so quick into a 10K crore company in a short span of just 16 years? Not difficult to agree; it is the result of the readymade customer base that Patanjali could create much before it frayed into the FMCG sector. The massive 500 thousand plus branches of Patanjali Yoga Samiti with equal number of teachers in them have followers from cities and rural areas, in every age group. It started in North India but soon spread its branches rapidly to other parts of the country. Patanjali has a dedicated family of loyal customers.

What does Patanjali Sell?

The different varieties of products that the company sell are:

• Food & Beverages
• Ayurvedic Products
• Detergents and Cleaning Agents
• Cosmetics & Personal Care Products

Some of the best-selling products from the house of Patanjali are:

• Patanjali Chyawanprash
• Patanjali Cow's Ghee
• Patanjali Giloy Amla Juice
• Patanjali Honey.
• Patanjali Makhana
• Patanjali Kachchi Ghani Sarso Oil
• Patanjali Tulsi Ghanvati
• Patanjali Tulsi Panchang Juice
• Patanjali Aloevera Juice.

What made Patanjali successful in the competitive FMCG sector?

Patanjali’s competitors are some of the top-notch companies viz. Dabur India, Marico, Procter & Gamble, Nestle Ltd., HUL, Himalaya Herbal Healthcare, Colgate-Palmolive, Adani-Wilmar. Not only in India, the company is also competing with these big players exporting its products to Canada, the USA, Mauritius, and the UK.

Patanjali’s business strategy is simple yet unique in every regard, be it in production, pricing, branding & promotion, and distribution.

Production:

Patanjali produces some 900 types of products in various categories. It has also forayed into clothing with Patanjali Paridhan. Looks like, it does not want to keep anything untouched. Its main production plant is in Haridwar. In Nepal, it runs the Nepal Gramodyog, mainly engaged in the mineral and herbal business. Patanjali also acquired Ruchi Soya, in a strategic move, to boost its food products line. Not only this, Patanjali Foods has one of the largest palm oil plantations in India having 60K hectares.

Pricing

Among several players, Patanjali knows how to play well in the pricing aspect. Patanjali understands that it cannot conquer the market with higher prices. Premium pricing is not something its huge middle class but a dedicated customer base may be able to take so easily. Hence, it basically follows the reasonable pricing model. Its products are 5-10% below the average price offered by its competitor products. This helped Patanjali to penetrate the market faster than other FMCG brands. Price comparison is another tactic Patanjali successfully applies.

Distribution

Patanjali has strategically cut down its distribution costs by establishing its own stores. It encourages individuals to become franchisees of the brand. Small business owners are part of this franchisee network helping sell the company its products through the length and breadth of the country.

Patanjali Clinics (Patanjali Chikitsalayas) are being set up in different tier cities in India. The patients that come to these clinics eventually buy products from its stores and become customers of the company.

Besides, the Arogya Kendras (wellness centers) that they have also help sell its products. The yoga teachers working herein suggest fitness exercises and Patanjali’s ayurvedic medicines and supplements, generating revenue for the company.

Branding and Promotion

Patanjali has been able to save huge money by not engaging any celebrities in its advertising campaigns. Baba Ramdev is the sole face of Patanjali. He is a brand himself, a yoga guru followed by millions. His cult status helps to promote the products. His image as prakritik person and believer of Ayurveda has created a perception of good health and wellness among the masses. Perhaps no other celebrity could have expanded Patanjali at a breakneck speed as Baba did.

Other strategic moves that helped Patanjali expand fast

Patanjali sources its products directly from farms cutting the role of intermediaries. This reduces its procurement costs of raw materials. Back in 2019, Patanjali's strategic move to acquire Ruchi Soya, a food manufacturing company, gave a boost to its production line.

Patanjali promotes its products under one umbrella brand and that is Patanjali - the name that everyone trusts and does not engage in any celebrity advertising or endorsement. It helps Patanjali save huge costs on promotion and advertising which it utilizes on developing other aspects of the company.

It banked upon its customers’ growing love for swadeshi or Indian products, educating them about the benefits of nature and natural products. The shdudh (pure) desi (indigenous) pitch has resonated well. Larger players that earlier focused on technology and modern science have now realized the importance of shifting to ancient science and wisdom. But Patanjali started its journey as a house of products manufacturing products on ancient Indian science, thereby getting the edge. Patanjali has effectively marketed itself as the source of this wisdom. It’s obvious why customers would prefer the source then the peripherals. This is helping Patanjali add customers every day and hence generate more sales and revenue.

The other benefit of putting Ayurveda and ancient wisdom to use lets Patanjali get tax exemption as well. It has also helped Patanjali expand its manufacturing units on lands bought at discounted rates.

In the conclusion, I can only say that Patanjali’s success story is an inspiration for all. This is a case for study due to its unique and successful business model that grew on a loyal customer base and word of mouth. It is the story of a baba who grew from being a yoga guru to a successful businessman.

How can small businesses increase sales through brand awareness

 

Brand awareness is extremely important if a business wants to succeed in a competitive business environment. As an entrepreneur, on the lookout for growth and success, it is necessary that you work on increasing your brand awareness. Brand awareness is a marketing concept defined as a consumer's ability to recognize or recall the brand in sufficient detail to make a purchase. It is related to the trace in memory, which we can measure as the consumer's ability to identify the brand under different conditions.

In common parlance, brand awareness means the number of times your brand or product name comes up in conversations. The more often your brand name pops up, the better chances you have for generating interest and sales. So, proper brand awareness can have a positive impact on your product sales, and hence your business’s growth.

Importance of brand awareness in driving consumer Behaviour

Consumer buying decisions are based on brand awareness. During the product selection, consumers generally go for those brands which they recall. It may also be that the consumer recalls a product in the context of a specific product category. However, awareness increases the probability that other products of that same brand also become a part of the consumer’s consideration set. Like in the case of Nestle’s Maggie, noodles as well as its spice sachets ‘Maggie Masala Magic’, sold separately, are also hot sales.

Brand awareness is, thus, necessary for two important reasons:

It increases sales

Consumers choose brands with strong reputations. The visibility of your brand will embed a picture in the consumer’s mind. Growing your brand will help to boost your sales. It will give you a competitive advantage. When people are more familiar with your brand, they are more likely to buy your products. On the contrary, if they do not associate your business’s name or logo, they might opt for something else. Let them know what makes you or your product unique. Visibility influences buyers’ trust in you. Trust can drive sales. However, you must also be careful of customer service to your client. Poor service can hurt brand awareness.

It increases loyalty

By building brand awareness, businesses can also build customer loyalty. It is a critical component of increasing revenue. Finding new customers can cost many times more than selling to your existing customer base. However, a small percentage of customer retention can drive a 25-95% increase in your sales revenue.

Strategies for Brand Awareness

Certain marketing tactics can help small businesses in creating brand awareness for their products and services. Marketing strategies help in promoting a brand message in a target market. Some of the brand awareness strategies that small business owners can implement are:

Create a logo and tagline

A creative and catchy logo for your small business can help you stand out in the crowd. You need not spend thousands of dimes to make a logo ready. If you are even slightly creative, there are a number of free platforms like Canva, Designhill, 99designs, and many more, where you can create a design of your own. Otherwise, you can always hire an expert to design one for you.

Create a catchy tagline, as well, to jingle with your logo. Some taglines become the song for the ears. And believe me, it helps retain customers always. The Tata Sky tagline, “Isko laga dala to life zingala’ has never left buzzing in our eardrums. We are the proud customers of the brand since the time it arrived in the market. So, spending some time, energy, and money on the logo and tagline is worth it!

Make Social Media Work for your business

Small business owners! Why worry when Social Media is here? It has a huge share in creating many renowned brands today. Make use of the easiest marketing tools like Facebook Page, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. to make your presence felt in the targeted customer segment. Social media penetration can never be overlooked if you want to create a buzzing sound in your prospective customer’s mind. Even large companies with strong market sense have pages on these sites. Think on creating a longer relationship with the users to make them your customers. Create content that imprints in their minds, so that your brand becomes the first name they recall during their purchase spree. But make sure that you do not overwhelm them with too many posts.

Tie-up with Social Media Influencers

Influencers have a huge fan following of their own. So whatever, they market, their fans agree to it. Hence, cooperating with them can help you reach a further audience, which otherwise would have been out of your reach. Influencers help spread your product and services’ content, and thereby build brand awareness for you. They also legitimize your message that the audience finds hard to not believe. However, you need to choose the right influencer for building awareness for your brand. There needs to be synchronicity in what they do or believe in, and what your brand stands for.

Work on Search Engine Optimisation

These days, business is for those who rank high on Google pages, who are search engine optimized! According to Search Engine Watch, businesses listed at the top of Google’s search, receive around 35% of the traffic. This percentage decrease with descending listing rank. Small businesses thus need to put more effort into this aspect to build brand awareness. SEO is not just about keywords; it includes technical aspects as well, for example, page loads, page feeds, and loading speed. You can try out some free tools like Bing Webmaster, Google Analytics, MozCast, etc. for doing the SEO part or you can take the help of some SEO professional. SEO really works for your visibility among your competitors.

Partnering with local businesses

Always remember, your customers are everywhere. All you need is a proper search. Local markets can be the first step to your growth. Partnering with other local businesses can propel your visibility and brand awareness. It is like working with social media influencers. You can always team up with respected complementary businesses of your locality. That way, it protects the market share of your partner and increases awareness of your product. If you are a caterer of energy bars, try tying up with the local gyms.

Keep Doing Remarketing Campaigns

It’s not unusual for buyers to visit your shop or website, and leave without buying. Remarketing helps to convert the unconverted buyer into your customer. Remind your customers about your presence from time to time. Run engaging ads or offer freebies on your products on your websites, and other websites as well. Once they start seeing your business everywhere, they will definitely make another attempt to complete their incomplete business with you. Purchase! The benefit of remarketing is that it will give a larger-than-life image to your small business. This way, in no time, your business will become larger in the true sense.

These first-hand brand awareness strategies will help your small business grow leaps and bounds. So readers! do add any other strategy you know for our small business owner friends. Comments are always welcome!

Tactics for Small Businesses to Stay Afloat and Grow during Economic Downturn

 

 

Global economic indicators suggest that economies worldwide are entering the phase of recession. Many countries are on the verge of total collapse as they are unable to repay their loans. Sri Lanka has been seeking economic packages to run the country. Pakistan and Nepal are also going the same way. Their Governments have already asked their people to cut down on unnecessary consumption. Lebanon is also ailing economically. Images of long queues of people struggling to buy fuels and essential commodities are everywhere.

Developed countries are also facing the brunt. Earlier it was the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. It has given a major jolt to the commodity markets worldwide. The countries being the key exporters of many commodities such as wheat, sunflower oil, fertilizers, and energy, the entire production and trade is under disruption. Prices of wheat and sunflower seed oil have been skyrocketing as Ukraine has been unable to export the commodities to the European countries. Energy prices have soared. Living expenditures are at their height. Not only Europe, but Africa is also suffering due to the war. Inflation is at its peak in the United States. Recession has begun to set its foot in India as well. The world over is becoming hawkish under such circumstances. Investors are becoming awry of the markets. Recession, for sure, is at our doors.

Economic downturn hits all: developed and underdeveloped countries, rich as well as middle-class people. It brings a fall in demand for goods and commodities, and hence a fall in the aggregate sales for businesses. Large businesses have greater resilience to cope with economic shocks. But, small businesses are more vulnerable to changes in the economy and get hit harder for the reasons cited below:

• The performance of the entire business depends upon the competencies of just one or a few persons.
• As they are already small, downsizing, to cope with rising costs, is also difficult.
• Small businesses have less diversified economic activities, and this makes them susceptible to poor demand-related shocks.
• Financially also, they are much weaker.
• Their inventories are also limited.
• They depend heavily on credit.

Handling and surviving recessionary trend, is, therefore, more difficult for small businesses than the bigger ones. However, small businesses can adopt some strategic tactics to manage their businesses during downturns and grow. Strategies may vary with resources, capabilities and abilities, and perception of threats and opportunities. An entrepreneur’s response to such downturns should be guided by the cyclical nature of the industry they are in. The extent to which recession is affecting their competitive environment should also be taken into consideration.

If you are a small business owner, below are some strategies to strengthen your business during an economic downturn.

Realign your business model to create multiple revenue streams: 

You can’t stick to just one specific, product, service, idea, or strategy, even when the economic sky is clear and blue. You need to be proactive and try everything to understand what works for you and then steer accordingly. It’s even more important to pivot when the aggregate demand for products and services slows down. If you had a B2C model, try going B2B, and the other way round. Make sure you are venturing into the allied areas just to ensure that the deviation does not pull you off the track. If you sold soaps to customers before, try selling soap-base to small soap-making businesses as well.

Break free from the local market mindset: 

One need not sell just locally when there is an option to sell globally. Businesses today need not be the traditional types. There is no need to worry about filling the pipeline with inquiries to get confirmed orders. There are readymade platforms with ready-to-serve customers. Go digital. Make your store available in the online space. If you already have one, try out other online marketplaces as well.

Monitor your inventories well: 

Monitoring inventories do not mean holding those so tight that might result in sales loss. During the slowdown, demand slows. Hence, inventories need to be such that it's neither more nor less. It’s about maintaining a balance between converting inventory to cash and retaining the ability to fulfill new orders. Small businesses may take the help of low-cost tools to manage their inventories. Some of those are Zoho inventory, Orderry, Quickbooks Commerce, Vyapar, etc.

Scan your environment for possible association with other businesses: 

During the economic slowdown, people are on the lookout for bargain deals. It’s tempting to get butter for half the price with their usual bread buys, right. So, networking and associating with businesses similar in line with your business can be a great way to push sales. Consider forming alliances with other businesses. If you sell flowers, collaborate with your next-door chocolatier. Your special friend would always appreciate some flowers with chocolates. That way, you may also discover new opportunities, customers, staff, and business partners with little or no cost.

Keep investing in your existing customers:

It’s comparatively cheap to maintain your existing customers than to acquire new ones. This is true for all seasons and times. But, during the economic slowdown, people cut down on their expenses. Persuading new customers to try your products and services for free for a short time can be a method to retain your customers. Therefore, it's crucial to invest in your loyal consumers. Promote the goods and services to this clientele. Give discounts, freebies, or supplementary offers while putting an emphasis on establishing long-lasting connections. Your clients' problems should all be resolved. Let your consumers know how much you respect their experience and pleasure. You can navigate challenging market conditions if you have a highly happy consumer base.

Keep an eye on your spending: 

The path to recession is long and hard on the wallet. So reduce wasteful spending. Pay strict attention to your budget and cash flow. Of course, cutting costs without sacrificing high-quality goods and services is difficult. However, being innovative with your company expenses may be incredibly beneficial. Make sure you have a solid understanding of your financials and a defined business vision.

Worse has not yet begun. However, you must plan how to make your small firm recession-proof as a business owner. It's critical to take preemptive measures before the economy plunges much more if you want to stay afloat.

Spiritual Entrepreneurship

Spirituality is a topic generally related to theology but has been becoming an important area in the field of economics, especially entrepreneurship. The world has been changing. The way people do business has been changing. Entrepreneurs today do not see entrepreneurship only as a way to accumulate wealth and income for themselves, or for a few individuals in society. Entrepreneurship is going beyond the realm of self-uplift. Entrepreneurship is more of the generation and distribution of wealth for all. It is not separate from society. More and more businesses are coming into existence that focus on societal well-being, environmental balance, and human development which are aspects of spirituality in work.

Billionaire businessman Richard Branson defines entrepreneurship as an undertaking of an individual to make a difference in other people’s lives. If we carefully look, within this simple definition itself lies the meaning of an entrepreneur and spirituality in entrepreneurship. It’s not completely putting people before profits. But it is about creating a profitable business by making a difference in other people’s lives. For entrepreneurs who pursue spirituality, motivation originates from compassion and love for people, the environment, and society. Their businesses revolve around easing others’ lives. When I say this, most people would think of businesses and people who work around yoga, healing, therapeutic practices, etc. Of course, a person running a small yoga center is also an entrepreneur. Sadhguru and Sri Sri, with their world-renown ISHA and Art of Living Foundations respectively, are spiritual entrepreneurs making difference in society with their meditative courses and schools. I have high regard for them.

But one does not have to do traditionally spiritual work to be a spiritual entrepreneur. There are other businesses as well that defines the spirit of spiritual entrepreneurship. Many have made a visible difference in our lives with their highly successful businesses. I love to give the example of TATA Sons, time and again, to highlight spiritual entrepreneurship to its core. In India, around 28% of the population, as per 2021 data, is middle class. Every family dreams of having its own private car. But not everyone can afford it. Car was a luxury item around 15 years back. However, it was TATA Motors under the TATA Sons conglomerate run by Mr. Ratan Tata that made the dream of owning a car a reality for every middle-class family. In 2009, it launched the TATA Nano with a base starting price of 1500 USD. The brand had its fair share of success till it ceased its production in 2018. TATA Nano, I believe, is spiritual entrepreneurship in every regard. It was Mr. Tata who gave a thought to providing an affordable car to middle-class families when no other manufacturer did. He realized the need of thousands of small families who generally traveled on their two-wheelers. The group is into other philanthropic businesses as well. No doubt, this group is the world’s biggest philanthropist.

So, spiritual entrepreneurs are the kind of entrepreneurs who try to find solutions to future problems. There are so many examples of spiritual entrepreneurship. If you have watched Shark Tank India, you couldn’t agree more. Many budding entrepreneurs, contesting on the platform, have business ideas revolving around the motto of wellbeing. Jugadu Kamlesh (Kamlesh Ghumare) pitched a pesticide spray trolley mounted on a bicycle for making the lives of farmers easy. Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul’s Menstrupedia Comic is about menstrual awareness. Hecoll’s pollution protection fabric, Tinkerbell Labs Braille literacy devices for the visually impaired students, KAVACH- the anti-bullying App, etc. are some other businesses in the same league. All are about easing people’s lives.

We could see a whole lot of young entrepreneurs creating products and services that are beneficial for people and society. Some well-motivated entrepreneurs are turning up to green entrepreneurship to fix environmental issues through their business models. Vaibhav Anant’s (CEO of Bambrew) aim is to create alternatives for single-use plastics for a green environment. His company offers sustainable packaging solutions through products made of bamboo and wood pulp. Similarly, Mutha Industries is trying to add some green to the environment with its bamboo flooring materials. The very idea of edible cutlery itself is amazing. Chew your dinner plates too for zero leftovers! And spare the environment. For Vinay, the founder of the edible cutlery brand Thooshan, it is not purely business. It’s his motto to bring a change in the way people use plastics and to mitigate ways to reduce plastic cutlery from reaching landfills. Heard of Thaely, the sneaker brand made of waste plastic bags? That’s true. Plastic bags, literally called thaely in India is the raw material for this shoe brand. Ashay Bhave introduced this business to solve the menace of 100 billion plastic bags and bottles that suffocate thousands of marine animals annually.

I could keep on giving many other examples of entrepreneurial ventures that are driven by the spirit of do-good. It’s a different matter whether the websites proclaim it or not. I read through their vision and goals to categorize them. Opportunity and profits, no doubt, remain the undeniable parts of entrepreneurship but welfare, if it’s the original motive, is spiritual entrepreneurship. Otherwise, why would anyone want to pick up our garbage and convert it to compost? Why would somebody collect plastics to produce Thaely? Why would Jugadu Kamlesh not design some cars and sell them? And why would Vinay introduce edible plates? The answer is simple. These entrepreneurs are here to do business the spiritual way where service to people, society, and the environment is foremost. They are motivated to offer solutions to address problems of the future. So guys, if you are interested in entrepreneurship, choose the spiritual way. Spiritual entrepreneurship is the need of the hour.

What type of Entrepreneur are you?

Every person, whether he or she is an entrepreneur or wants to become one, idolizes someone in life. That role model we revere has a great part to play in our way of life, the way we carry out our businesses, and the way we see everything in life. We may mimic him or her in all regards. Fashion ourselves, brand our businesses, and follow everything that they do. But still, we are different. Each entrepreneur is different. Simply put, we can only idolize someone but are never 100% the same. Entrepreneurs come in all shapes, sizes, and styles, with different traits, different strengths, different skills, backgrounds, different sets of resources, and different goals. However, the one unique thing that entrepreneurs possess is their urge to create something out of nothing, be their own boss, and live life on their own terms. Different types of entrepreneurs lead their businesses in different ways. But most entrepreneurs go through similar struggles when it comes to finances, marketing, people, and managing themselves. Each has his or her own way of handling situations. You must be curious about knowing what type of entrepreneur are you. Whether you are the daredevil Branson type, or you are of the Steve Jobs or Jack Ma type, maybe the socially awkward Zuckerberg type or the flamboyant Elon Musk type? Could be more of a philanthropist Tata type, capitalist Adani type, or a mix of all these types? Knowing about yourself gives a clearer picture of how far you are in your journey. So let’s delve into the distinct types of entrepreneurs based on the work initiation in a business environment. Let’s determine where you belong.

The Innovators

These are the entrepreneurs who revolutionize. I mean, they come up with completely new ideas that altogether change our perception of products and services around. They turn their ideas into viable businesses. Innovators are the extremely passionate kind, or more so, they are obsessive about their ideas. They find new ways of doing things in everything that they do, design or produce. This makes them different from the crowd, even creating a new crowd. The first name that comes to mind when thinking of innovators is Steve Jobs who created Apple. This company remains an innovator type company even after Jobs. They surprise us with their products all the time. Microsoft’s Gates and Google’s Page are also the stand-out types. These innovators transformed our world. We cannot think of our lives without Google or Microsoft and a bite of Apple a day. So, if you are the innovator kind, it’s the customers’ good luck to have you around. Of course, innovating is tough. You may have to take all the bullets but you also get all the glory for being the first of your kind. You may need lots of capital to build your business but your monopoly stays around (for a long time). Ready to get your name on the innovators' list then?

The Imitators

Everyone cannot be an innovator. But there is no restriction to being an imitator. Imitating a successfully running business in a new pack is also an art. The world may refer to these as ‘copy cats’ but I keep them in high regard. In fact, if you see, the majority of the businesses are copied-cats with a hat. I used the term hat because they bring something new to the primary business. It’s great and it works great in the market. We have choices of the same products from different brands only because of the copycats. As customers, we can bargain because we have choices. So ‘copycats’ is not something disparaging. It has its own worth. They put in great effort to observe the existing businesses, identify the deficiencies and replicate them to give a better solution. They improve the existing product or production process and enhance the attributes for customers. Don’t we enjoy it when we have Ajanta and Ashoka Shoes along with Bata and Crocs? We relish the Domino’s Pizza and the Pizza Hut offering as well. So trust me, if you are an imitator type, you are doing a great service. One best thing about being imitators is that refining your business idea becomes easier and less stressful. Plus, you can always learn and avoid making mistakes that the original makers made.

The Bootstrapper or Hard-worker Entrepreneur

These are the entrepreneurs who work hard. They are self-starters motivated by their dreams and vision. They may have tight purse strings but never fear risking the money they have into something they see an opportunity in. They start small but dream big and make it big. They dare to enter into highly-leveraged businesses. They can sell anything. Must have heard about Ray Croc, the man known for expanding Mc Donald’s into a global name from a mere local restaurant run by the McDonald brothers. Croc saw an opportunity in the business and created the restaurant’s operating system. He chose the unique path of persuading franchisees and suppliers to buy into his vision. And the result is what we see today, the Golden Yellow arches everywhere! OYO Rooms is another example of hard-worker or bootstrapping venture. Ritesh Agarwal, the man behind creating this multinational room aggregator business, persuaded hotels and inns to put his brand’s name on all booking services. It made him one of the youngest billionaires in the world today. Hard-worker types are thus action-oriented and always prepared. So if you are the type who senses the importance of small things and has the vision to make those effective and efficient, be proud. You are here to change the way businesses operate.

The Financers or the Money Magnets

The Financers are the richer guys. They have deep pockets and they buy promising businesses. If they find any business viable, they never waste time thinking. Instead, they pour in their money, acquire it and find the most suitable person to run it. They enter into businesses that are in existence. The advantage is that they don’t have to worry about innovation. Technically speaking, financiers are investors in a business. Some may not consider them entrepreneurs, but I believe financiers are the type of entrepreneurs who are into businesses through their investments. They study businesses to invest in. Warren Buffet is a financier entrepreneur whose company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has investments in companies like HP, American Express, and many more. So if you are the money magnate like Paris Hilton type, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you can be the financier entrepreneur. People with great businesses and ideas but less money need you around.

The Researchers

Researcher entrepreneurs are meticulous planners. They take time to decide because they believe in gathering all relevant information before putting their idea into full action. Failure is not an option for them as they believe they have analyzed and tested the idea several times. They rely on facts and figures more than their intuition and instinct. The drawback is that they fall victim to information overload. However, they possess the capability to direct the environment by creating demand for their products. Larry Ellision, Co-founder of Oracle is a researcher entrepreneur. Believe me, it takes hard research to earn such popularity as Oracle has in cloud-powered AI and machine learning. But it’s worth it. So, if you are somebody who has a keen sight for analysis and has the guts to turn your tests into products or services, you surely belong to this club.

The Fabian or the Wantrapreneur

As Seth Godin (author and entrepreneur) puts it, ‘the only thing worse than starting something and failing is not starting something!'. Wantapreneurs are of the second type. They have plenty of ideas in their heads yet fail to put them in force. Fabians are slightly different. They are not prone to sudden decisions and shy away from any innovation. These kinds of entrepreneurs vanish in due time. Kodak Films does not need any introduction, I guess. It was one of the top-notch companies at one point in time. But they failed to visualize the future of cameras, and hence failed to innovate. They didn’t adopt modern technologies nor did they make any notable modifications to their product line. The result is what we all see today. Nowhere is Kodak in the digital camera space. Panasonic also tasted the same fate. There is a reason why I put Fabian and Wantapreneurs in the same bracket. They only think but fail to act; they fail to decide. So if you have dozens of business ideas in your head, dare start one at least. I know you don’t want to put yourself on this list.

Now that you read this blog, you must have figured out the type of entrepreneur you are or the closest you belong. You must have recognized your possibilities and strengths. Once you know, it becomes easier to be in business and work for growth. Remember, success is not a miracle that happens overnight but a journey that continues throughout. The clearer the picture is, the smoother the journey. Keep going till you become somebody’s icon someday.

Why your new business doesn’t have customers yet?

Source: Dreamstime.com

No customers mean no business being in business. Individuals running businesses, big or small, know this well. They fret dry days without customer footfalls and visitors to their websites. It's true equally for products and service providers. In a highly competitive marketplace, some businesses face customer dearth in the beginning. This is mostly the case in online selling. But why is it difficult to find a niche base in a world full of people, people, and people? Why is it so that your business does not have customers yet but your competitor attracts many?

It is important to find the answers to these questions before the market compels you to pack your bags and say goodbye. Please remember that you came into the business to do business not to be out. So let’s find the reasons for such shortfalls and discuss the ways to get customers and grow our businesses.

The first issue new businesses face is their failure to identify customers and their problems.

It’s true that there is no dearth of people. But the problem is finding people who can become customers. Not everybody is a customer. For example, a healthy individual is not a customer for the doctor. A diabetic person is not a customer for a psychologist. Doctors are in business because there are patients with particular ailments. The same is with other businesses. For people to become customers, they need to have problems. Only when there is a problem, will they seek a solution. So, new businesses need to properly identify the problem that people face and for which they seek solutions. This way, you will have an idea about the type of product you can offer to people who can become your customers. Once you determine this, research your competitors. See what solutions are they providing. Try giving a smarter solution than your competitors. If you ask me why Maruti Suzuki is the largest car company in India year-on-year (with around 51.2% market share in 2022), I would say, they know who their customers are, and what problems they seek solutions for.

The second issue is the failure to differentiate between customer wants and demands.

New businesses must know that there is a difference between wants and demands. Wants are wishes that are influenced by factors such as society, culture, values, and individual personality. Wants reflect the desired preferences for specific ways of satisfying our needs. A person is thirsty but wants something sweet. So he would choose Coca-Cola or maybe Sprite over water. On the other hand, an individual may want to have a Louis Vuitton handbag but lacks the ability to buy it. Want is a desire for benefits but are optional, i.e. it’s not necessary. Only when wants are backed by the ability to purchase, it can be termed demand. Without demand nothing sells. Hence, new businesses must be in a position to identify the demands. Let me give an example of how Colgate has been able to convert the wants of the people into demand. There is no denying the fact that Colgate has been dominating the oral care market in India for a long time. Its target customers are the middle class and lower class. With different brands offering solutions for oral care, Colgate has seen a slight dip in its share. But it has emphasized its oral care solution keeping in mind the price sensitiveness of its consumers. Therefore, a 13-gram pack of Colgate is also available on shelves. Colgate has remained a leader as it has offered a product that even the low-income group consumer can afford to buy without compromising their oral health.

The third reason why the new business does not have customers is that they fail to reach them.

Communication is important to reach the targeted audience. Businesses fail to garner customers because their marketing techniques fail. Consumers should have knowledge of a product that can solve their problems. They should know what the product or service is all about in order to make any buying decision. Your target audience needs to know why they should choose you over your competitors. If we go back to the Colgate example, TV commercials are the main way of communicating the product to the customers. It helps to penetrate the larger customer base in India. You won't see any Louis Vuitton ads on television in India. What if Louis Vuitton starts marketing itself on primary Indian channels through advertisements. I wonder if the costs incurred would fructify into any leads. See here, the target market for the company is the wealthy middle-aged women. These consumers have the need to feel prestige wearing or carrying it. The masses don’t. So it adheres to premium advertising policy in fashion magazines.

The point to be made here is that new businesses must strategize on the marketing part. Picking up the proper marketing technique is crucial to making an impact on the minds of the customers. It may be anything like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TV commercials, banners, newspaper ads, or organic ways like word-of-mouth. Choose properly so that the message reaches the intended customer. Remember that customers are king and they decide whether you play the game for long or go back to the pavillion.

How Important is Focus and Thinking for Success in Business

Good focus and clear thinking are ingredients of success in business. Our focus determines our thinking, and our thinking determines our decisions. The greater our focus, the clearer is our thoughts, and the better our decisions. Why only business, focus is necessary for our everyday lives as well. The quality of our thinking determines the quality of our life. So it’s almost a black and white thing. If you can focus well, you succeed, and if you cannot, you fail.

In this era of digital revolution, we are bombarded with a hell lot of information; information from all sides and quarters of life overpowers our minds. No escape, technology is both a boon and curse. These days, we see a lot of young people of our generation becoming obsessed with technology. They, literally, cannot stop staring at the mobile screens and fiddling with its buttons. It may sound absurd, but this is also stopping us from focussing. Simply put, we hardly focus, and rarely think, nowadays.

But do you know, how important is focus to think clearly? Focus means the centre of our interest or activity. Focus is the state of producing clear visuals. So unless we know what is our centre, how do we visualize success? In business, decisions regarding men, money, meetings, products, etc. are activities that entrepreneurs need to engage themselves with. These are or should be the centre of interest. Our decisions determine success and its rate. Business decisions are not something to take in the blink of an eye. Many great businesses rose and fell, and many others got immortalized based on business decisions that entrepreneurs took.

So focus is extremely important to make good business decisions. Focus is necessary to eliminate information overload. It transforms negative thinking into positive action. There are various ways to practice focus. The yogic way, the Zumba way, etc. etc. There are different ways, tricks and games that help to focus. This article is not about how to focus. Maybe we shall try discussing it in our next articles. Today, we will simply talk about the importance of focus and thinking in business.

Let’s consider that our focus is on having the best workers for our factory. The number one rule for success in business is to cut the losses when you realize it. Bad investment, bad hire, bad relationship; cut these losses. The faster you cut your losses, the faster you grow. Now that you know that your focus is on people, people and people, it’s always necessary to think about the consequences. What consequences hiring or firing workers can have? If the consequences are big, it’s always better to take time to think. Hiring an important person for an important position can have tremendous potential consequences. It determines the future of your business, and not to mention, a great amount of salary too to the new employee. The issue is big as the focus is big, i.e. a better workforce. The longer you take to make the decision, the better the decision will be. Now take the opposite scenario. Suppose, you know your accountant is not being honest at his work. And you have to take the call. When it comes to firing, it’s been said that the best time to fire a person is the first time it crosses your mind. The longer they stay, the more it’s going to cost you. In this case, you need to think quick. You know what’s your focus, right. All that matter is the honesty in your business transactions. You just need a replacement. The consequences are small. Probably, you have to deal with a few days of bookkeeping issues till your new accountant is on the rolls. But it will spare you financial and mental suffering. Fast thinking is intuitive, automatic, and reactionary. Management experts say that fast (people) decisions are invariably wrong (people) decisions. But I believe, it’s not always so, especially when you focus well.

Now let’s say you want to expand your product or services line. What do you need to do? Where should your centre of activity revolve around? Is it that you need to do some research, innovate, or invest in technology to improve production. Anything else? Just think, take time, and see the pros and cons. Greater focus on each of these individual aspects helps you think clearly about the choice you need to make. When you focus you visualize the solution. If you find that your focus is technology, you automatically start thinking of ways to get the technology you require. With companies that use technology, especially knowledge-based, internet-based, etc., chances are your model is obsolete. Companies that profit is quick to change their business model. It does not mean that the model is wrong but one should be open to the possibility that the model is obsolete and sticking with it may result in bigger consequences. Competitors may eat away the market share. Keeping your focus area in mind helps to act in a timely manner. You have to make sure that you stay true to focus, something like laser focus, to materialise great things. Focus on what truly matters. Focus is the gateway to all the thinking. As you focus, you think and when you think, you foresee the consequences. And when the consequences are considered, you make wise decisions. Not to mention, wise decisions help create great businesses.