I want to share a business secret with you. It’s a secret that you may know already - a least mentally. Yet it’s a secret that often separates highly successful businesses from the less successful ones.
Are you ready? Okay…
No matter how well developed your business is; no matter how many years you’ve been doing it, how many customers you’ve served, how much money you’re making - your business will forever be a work in progress.
I heard this years ago from a colleague and fluffed it off with the usual, “yeah, of course!” But I was missing the juice of it. Only recently have I gotten a clear understanding of what it means. And only recently have I taken a close look at how having an unfinished business is the secret to success.
Thomas J Watson, the one-time President of IBM, once said, “Whenever an individual or business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.” In other words, progress is necessary for a business to attain success.
And what does progress mean? According to The New Oxford Dictionary progress is the, “advancement or development toward a better, more complete condition.”
From these ideas, it’s easy to see that successful business are always in progress. And how could they not be?
If you run a business, you likely know more today about who you are, what you do, who you serve and how you serve them then you did when you began. Hopefully, you’ve taken what you’ve learned and applied it to your business - changing what doesn’t work, or what’s incomplete, for methods that are.
You see, a business will always be in progress because everything always is. It’s simple, really. So the real question isn’t whether your business is in progress - because it is. The real question is whether you are honoring the progress in your business. Are you making changes and adjustments as you learn more? If not, why not?
Is your business a work in progress? How?
What’s one thing, today, you can do to advance your business toward a better, more complete condition?
My name is Dawud Miracle and I'm a
21 responses so far ↓
I always find myself drawn back to the continuous improvement model. As consumers and trends evolve, so must we. The business that is standing still is actually going backwards as the times move past. If it is a website or the entire business model, ongoing evolution is critical. Always maintain a continuous improvement model …the only way to fly!
Dave
Progress is the ladder to success. It is really a continuing process and one should never stop to achieve his goal. It is the process of being succesful
theGypsy,
So true. I phrase it differently, but it’s the same idea - business owners need to be in a state of constant development.
How has that helped your business grow?
lei,
It is, without a doubt. But how do you, personally, keep moving up that latter?
Your business is a live entity which is always growing. There for you have to adjust and capitalize every day your business changes. I really like the way you phrased it.
Definitely agree. Innovation and change are the things that most successful companies are good at. It would be difficult to meet the needs of consumers if you’re not adapting to the changing world and constantly working to better your competition.
I had made a fairly detailed comment on the 17th inst and it was not posted. I am trying this as a test case. I have sent separate emails to you.
This is most peculiar. In any case, since the system seems to be working, let me try and convey the same thing that I had commented earlier.
The point that you make is a crucial factor in any human endeavor. All creations, including businesses go through a sigmoid curve, nothing fancy, just a “S” shape modified slightly. You start at the bottom by taking a dip, when you are investing, start to come up, when your revenues start to flow, grow steeply up, taper off and start a downward slope. All businesses and products go through this cycle. The trick is to become aware when you are about to reach the plateau and start a completely new sigmoid curve to keep the process going by innovating the product or the service or just about anything. Without such intervention, the business too, like any other organism in nature will get born, grow, decay and die. By innovating, you are renewing the process at regular intervals.
You just nailed it!
When I first started reading I was thinking the same thing that you had thought - Of course.” But then I read farther and read the line, “Whenever an individual or business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.” I had forgotton about that - and it is very true!
My business is constantly changing, whether it be because I see improvements that need to made or because I want to educate myself in a certain area.
Thanks for the reminder.
I was beginning to get a little complacent over the last few months. Just the kind of thing I needed to read. Thanks.
Paul,
Really, it IS a living entity. It has a birth, a life and it will have a death. It will grow and develop like a child. It will eat, sleep and need to use the bathroom…
Jayson,
And, if you’re an entrepreneur it’s important to keep growing with what you learn.
Home Recording,
Nice way to put it. And I think it’s important to realize that dying is always part of the cycle. It may not mean the dying of your business, rather it could mean the death of old ways of doing things to make room for new ones.
Affiliate Marketing,
Got the hammer in my hand…
Brooke,
For me, this is one of the most important pieces of having a successful and sustainable long-term business.
Dining Room,
I understand. I sometimes do the same thing.
An unfinished business will always have room to grow, adapt, and change which are the key elements to surviving in todays market place. Having the ability give an unfinished business what it really needs– potential
For me, this is one of the most important pieces of having a successful and sustainable long-term business.
Florida,
True. And it’s just common sense. You can never plan for what you don’t know. And you can’t know until you try something.
oyun,
I hear you. How best do you stay balanced between getting things done and staying open to change?
true, only an unfinished business can grow unstoppable.
Good business secret but it is neither new nor inovative idea.keep going to invent new business secret.
Social Media,
Exactly.
Business Pro,
Thanks for your feedback. Over the years I’ve found that it’s not the ’secrets’ that make businesses successful. Rather it’s the execution of what’s known. Thoughts?
Reading through your post, it struck me that there are parellels with lots of things in life.
Launching a new website or web application.
Building relationships with your partner.
The property ladder.
All of these things require constant evolution and development, exactly as I agree you should aim to do with your business as a whole.
Web Design Essex,
I certainly agree. And it’s one of the major reasons that your business should always be under development. You’re going to grow and change all the time. And hence, so will your business.
I must say that this was a very valuable article and this is something that I will hold unto.
There are personal reasons and this is that my father had a successful business too and he just thought that he was settled and did not strive to make it more better. He was happy with what he was and had.
And then came the fall and the fall was bad and it even affected my education. Now I have a start up and I need to make ends meet.
Thanks for the article again.