What would you say to a small businessman to encourage him?

Question

What would you say to a small businessman to encourage him?

Answer 1

Never give up, try as much as your body will let you.

Answer 2

suicide is painless

Answer 3

Price your goods or services to make a fair profit.  You can't continue in business if you are working for free.

Serve your clients beyond their expectations.

Always be truthful.  Don't be afraid to tell someone something you think they don't want to hear.

Treat your vendors and employees fairly and well.

Invest in your future with appropriate savings for marketing, retirement, continuing education, and technology upgrades.

Own up to and remedy your mistakes.  Someone who fixes a problem is someone who can be trusted to do the right thing in the future.  It is an opportunity to bind your customers to you.

Set short term and long term goals for yourself, employees and the company and work toward implementing them.

Find mentors and allied professionals and listen to their advice.

Know your competitors as well as you know your own business and find something you can do better than any of them.  Exploit that niche.

Schedule relaxation time.  To do your best work, you need to refresh and re-charge.

Be open to change and ready to adapt as your market changes.  If something doesn't work, be the boss and change it.

Don't be afraid to fail.  Failure is a learning experience, an expensive one, but still a learning experience.

Trust your gut.