Five tips to run a successful business

Kuza biashara had a community engagement day on the 3rd of October 2018, where a number of entrepreneurs were invited to learn, connect and grow their business. The speaker, Mr. Edward Ndegwa was invited to give the topic of the day, “How To Grow Your Business”. As an entrepreneur who has built five successful businesses and one failed one, Mr. Ndegwa gave several tips to the entrepreneurs who attended the workshop.

Evolve

As an entrepreneur, it is important you recognize that the world is dynamic. Technology as well as techniques keep changing. You have to make sure that you are up to date with current trends. If you were using the traditional ways of marketing, then you would need to change to the new ways such as social media. In other words, do not get stuck in one way of doing things. Just because you think your way is the best doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best. So constantly keep up to date with what’s happening around you and be willing to learn new tricks.

Reputation

Reputation is everything when you are starting out. Create trust between you and the people you interact with. No one wants to do business with an untrustworthy person. Having a good reputation will come in handy when you need financial support or someone to vouch for you when you’re engaging with clients and investors.

Resources

As an entrepreneur, use what is readily available to you at the time. Do not use scarcity of resources as an excuse as to why you haven’t started your business. Start with the idea and the little resources (financial or human) that you have and work to expand them.

Alignment

Make sure to align your goals with who you are and your values. Live within your means as it will take your startup some time before it starts making you money. This means that most of the initial profit will need to be recouped back into the business. Do not be in a hurry to acquire the latest car model or move to a posh estate because you feel that your new status of ‘entrepreneur’ requires you to. Who you are at this point is a startup and your goal is to take it off. Shake off anything that does not add value to that process.

Pitch

You have this great business idea, what is the next step you think you should take? Find investors and clients abroad? Wrong. Pitch to the people closest to you before you can take the idea farther. Also remember business don’t do business with business but people do business with people so pay attention to details by listening and pitch according to client. Each client is unique.

Final word

Mr Ndegwa emphasizes that entrepreneurship should be about solving a problem rather than just making money if the entrepreneur is to succeed.

If customers are the lifeblood of a business, employees are the primer that ensures each cog is working smoothly. Organizing training and empowering sessions for your employees may cost time and money but the investment is worthwhile in the long term.

However, how do companies empower their employees without overspending and possibly spreading themselves too thin? Here are six steps you can use to boost your employees’ skill set.

1. Do One-on-One Consultations

Companies that consult with their employees one on one instead of through group meetings can obtain more accurate information that they can actually use to make improvements in the workplace. A conducive environment keeps your employees happy, keeps them focused, and allows them to grow personally and professionally. They can only tell you what sort of work environment they want and what’s wrong with the current one they have if they feel comfortable divulging that information. Foster an environment of free and open communication it by doing regular one on one consultations with your employees.

2. Keep Them On Their Toes

Stretch assignments are by far the best way for employees to learn and grow. As their supervisor or employer, you are in a spot to seek out opportunities that are aligned with your employees’ specific developmental needs and professional ambitions. You don’t have to pinpoint the most qualified employee for a challenging project or assignment. Instead, think about pairing the right project with the right person.

3. Help Them Get Certified

Certification and licensure help build the credentials and trustworthiness of your employees. Not only does it help validate the competence and reliability of your workforce to your shareholders and consumers, but it’s also required by law to get certification to be able to work in certain jobs and industries. For web developers, getting a certification in IT systems is a good investment of business capital towards empowerment of employees. For businesses in the food industry, a food handlers card is a worthwhile investment that takes little time to prepare for and complete.

4. Fine-tune the Hiring Process

Bringing the right people on board is perhaps the first actionable step towards composing a workforce with the right skills. Employees with a high degree of motivation and involvement tend to develop faster as professionals. If you bring in people who don’t even want to be in the profession or industry they are currently in, it will be more exhausting to train and improve them. On the other hand, those who want to be inspired and supported can quickly grow into their role when offered even a small support.

5. Volunteer Your Time Into Mentoring

Based on an excerpt from a Harvard Business Review, today’s fleet of supervisors are mostly overworked and no longer offer their golden nuggets of advice and wisdom to subordinates in the form of mentoring. Companies should support and incentivize their department leaders to pass on their industry experience and techniques to employees.
Mentoring sounds overwhelming at first, particularly for high-level management staff that has little to no experience. However, today’s employees are more than just busy, obedient drones that are okay with being given a set of commands and then performing them no questions asked. They seek professional growth and support.

6. Be Willing to Put in the Resources

No real and lifelong change can start without a real investment of resources and commitment from the company. Enriching your employees’ ambition and skill set takes regular training, seminars, coaching and mentoring, and other educational tools and resources.

Final Thoughts

Being supportive of your employees can have far greater benefits as opposed to the initial costs over time. By empowering more of your employees, your business grows faster and is afforded more opportunities in terms of potential new ideas and more innovative solutions.