It is truly difficult to point out the golden rules followed by entrepreneurs for one reason only -there are no standardized methods in the business. Every entrepreneur worth his or her salt will have their own set of rules that have helped them reach the peak in their respective fields. This also depends on the industry they are in. Manufacturing businesses will have specific operational necessities that will be completely different from the trading sector.
But generalisations do exit with a few common threads running through the business world irrespective of the type of venture. These can then be said to be the golden rules governing most accomplished businesses.
Starting small – This is of paramount importance. It is crucial to test the waters first before taking the plunge big time. This includes conducting a market survey regarding the acceptability of the product at a later stage and formulating a business plan that takes into account the financial outlay in initially. Successful entrepreneurs do not invest heavily especially in setting up infrastructure, irrespective of whether it is by breaking into their savings pot or opting for credit limits from lenders or financial institutions. There is an exception to this rule of course. Those who have highly successful running ventures often diversify into new businesses on a large scale in keeping with their market stature and reputation and also because they can absorb losses if any.
Diversification – Flourishing businessmen do not put all their eggs in one product – they usually branch out into different fields to keep their options open in tune with fluctuations in the global economic scenario. This is particularly true for those in highly volatile ventures like real estate or stock trading. These are sectors that rise and fall with the tide of global recession or boom or even natural calamities. Hence, such entrepreneurs always prefer to hedge their bets and keep a buffer between them and any misfortunes that might strike one of their businesses. The case of Stephen Blignaut is a case in point. He is one of the stalwarts in Australian business and has a large number of organizations under his control, both nationally and internationally. While his primary activity is importing and distributing advanced state of the art anti-ageing beauty devices, he is also into stock market education, developing mobile phone applications and daily deal websites.
Incorporating advanced technologies – This is very important. Not doing so can be disastrous for any business operations as the norm today is conducting trade and commerce at the speed of light. Hence all thriving entrepreneurs adapt to newer technologies, not only to increase efficiencies but also for maximizing management information systems (MIS). In today’s business world, those who have more information at their fingertips pull ahead of the others in the race. This is only possible if infrastructure, both software and hardware are installed to process data generated by their operations. However, to beat this set-up, the buzzword now is outsourcing key business functions to agencies that have all the systems in place and hire highly trained professionals to man them. Thus, this is another golden rule that most entrepreneurs follow today.
These are just a few examples of the golden rules. As said before there is no standardisation in this respect.