The 10 Secrets of Success in New Business (in English)

1. WHY A BUSINESS SUCCEED?

=> The key of any business (whatever activity it executes: a restaurant, a factory, a services company...) is to obtain enough sales (rotation) to cover the expenses and get a profit with the development of its activity. Saying it in another way: producing and selling enough each year to cover the "breakeven point".

=> How do business get this enough rotation?

a) Having a customers portfolio big enough: your sales will be higher if you have more customers. So you need to get a customers portfolio big enough to get sales that let you to cover your costs structure. If your fixed costs structure is high (and your margins small) you will need to have more customers (more sales).

b) Getting that those customers repeat the purchase regularly (getting their loyalty): all the companies have sales that come from sporadic customers and regular customers. In the majority of the cases, the sales that allow a company to survive (the real important) are the regular ones: sales that come from the same customers that repeat their purchase again and again. Because of this, the secret for getting stability in the company incomes is to achieve the loyalty of our customers portfolio.

c) Diversifying your revenue streams always you can: if you have the opportunity of developing and selling a new kind of product or service, marketing your products through new distribution channels or selling them to new customers, do it. If you are able to diversify and exploit new business lines, your sales will be higher and safer (you will not depend on just the same source of incomes and you will reduce the "demand risk").

d) Having enough production capacity: you have to make sure that your company will have the production capacity enough to produce the amount you need to get the rotation and cover your costs structure.

Another keys that your company also will have to control to get the rotation and profitability are the costs structure, margins and the product policy.


2. THE GLOBAL KEYS OF THE SUCCESS IN A NEW BUSINESS

1) PASSION. Stay passionate: love what you do. Don´t give up and believe in yourself. Passion is the fuel that makes the companies to improve.

2) WORK. Be a hard-worker and polivalent: starting a new business you will be available to do all kind of tasks.

3) TEAM. Choose a good partner/team: you will need somebody you can trust and be supported by.

4) MARKET. Know your customers/market: they are the heart of your business, the most important part of your company. Know your competitors too and their offer.

5) ADAPTATION. Convert your idea in a real business oportunity. Adapt your idea to the real market: make changes when it would be necessary. Diversify your business to new sources of revenues. Look around your environment and catch new ideas to develope.

5) MANAGEMENT. Manage the way and learn to manage: be your own boss. You must know by where you have to go, which tasks you have to do each day and which goals you have to get.

6) COSTS AND PROFITABILITY. Control the costs and profitability: have a low fixed costs structure.

7) IMPROVEMENT AND LEARNING. Everyday try to do things better: have a continuos improvement approach. Learn about mistakes and correct them as soon as you dectected them. If you make a mistake, try to correct it and avoid it next time.

8) CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION. Look for the customer satisfaction and loyalty above all.

9) SELLING AND COLLECTING. The key: sell enough and collect in time. Each month sell enough to cover your costs structure, and collect in time to attend your payments.

10) INVEST IN SAFETY AND PREVENT RISKS. Get along with administration. Note the law. Invest in safety and prevent risks.