Success, progress, making profit, having a smooth-running business is the heart desire of a business owner. Is that right? Yes of course. That is why you are here reading this post; to gather info that can aid you thrive. You are at the right place. Distilled knowledge awaits you at Prod Minds Empowerment Initiative. This is the beginning of an episodic post on Making Your Business a Success and this one talks about 2 things that knowing and applying it will make you run a successful business.
- Sustainment and Maintenance Doesn’t Happen on its Own
I remember a fact I got to know through Eric Edmeades, one of my favourite public speakers about elephants. The fact is an elephant eats 250kg of grass and 70l of water every day for sustenance. This was known through a research to know why elephants in the zoo live for about 7 years while elephants living in the wild live for about 70 years and they found out that the difference is about what they eat. Now that they knew the reason and took action, the zoo elephants lived longer as expected. This fact about diet applies to everything; there is something that is needed to keep another thing going properly. Food for humans physically, fuel for fire, sun for the moon etcetera.
What is sustainment?
Sustainment means to hold on to something. It is the maintenance or preservation of something to a certain period of time. E.g. the food we eat sustains us for some time before we get hungry again. Therefore, food is one of the things that sustains our bodies and without it there will be problem in our body system. Sustainment is for the purpose of making that which is sustained last in order to achieve a goal. Also, sustainment is employed to hold something that cannot keep itself without being sustained e.g. our mobile phones need batteries to work because it is the battery that keeps it powered for use. The screen, buttons and other plugins are intact but without the battery the phone would not work. Sustainment should be seen as a pillar that lifts and supports something aiding it to reach a certain level. Everything has another thing that keeps it going, something that can make it durable.
We have learned sustainment, what it means to sustain something and that everything has something that has the power to hold it firm. Since this is the case, a business has its own thing that can keep it alive. These things are the sole objectives of this post and we are going to treat them one after the other but first, the overall thing in this sustainment is your willingness to maintain your business and also act on what you learn.
- Have a Sustainment Action Plan
When we started Prod Minds Empowerment Initiative, I was very excited because for me I am now a business owner, a CEO, lot of people will register with us and I will have plenty money. I was concentrating on making money and making it quick. Unknown to me that there is something needed for me to keep the initiative running and successful. It was when nothing happened after launching the business and months went by and there was nothing going as we expected that I came to the bitter truth realisation that the business was not sustained right from the start. There was no sustainment plan for it to grow, make profit or even expand. We had to go silent for months to develop a sustainment strategy. What happened to us is common with new businesses. A lot of businesses are being started but after the owners realise the business has failed, they abandon it instead of finding a way to restart and sustain it. I was determined to pull through the challenge and I began searching google to find out why businesses fail and what is needed to make it work. It is in the process of my findings that I got to know that 80% of businesses and start-ups failed within the first 3 years of operation and this is why we made it our priority to come up with something that can aid youths start, sustain and maintain their enterprises. Therefore, write an action plan before you start your business or before you try venturing into business again and the result will please you.
In summary, we talked about 2 things that knowing and applying them will lead to a successful business. These things are knowing that sustainment doesn’t happen by itself and an action plan or a sustainment plan is necessary to achieve success in a business regardless of its kind. We trust that you find this post helpful and you will act towards the success of your business. Also, you will share this knowledge with others around you.
We wish you success in your business! Go make money as much as you desire! Thank you!
To be continued