How to build a successful business you love

Though the desired outcome of any business is always going to be profit, there are so many other things that you need to think about when you are an entrepreneur. This is something that you are going to spend a lot of time on. In fact, while you are setting up your business, it won’t just be a day job but a lifestyle too. It is vital that you enjoy yourself.

So what is the secret to building a business that you love and is successful too? Well, there are actually 3 secrets…

Focus on what you love

The first thing to think about is what you feel passionate about and enjoy doing. Feeling passionately about great food is all very well but if you don’t enjoy being in the kitchen or working as wait staff, a restaurant is probably the wrong business for you.

When you spend most of your time at work, it has to be something that will bring you joy. If you aren’t interested and having fun, the business will quickly start to suffer as you disengage. This isn’t like a job at a company where you can just interview for something else, when you are investing in a business, you have to be sure it’s what you want to do!

With this in mind, you should also see which services you can outsource. So, if you aren’t hot on accounting, get an accountant, if you aren’t great with IT, get IT support. The more you can outsource or delegate (which we’ll get to), the more energy you will have to focus on the core of the business – the bit you are enjoying doing.  

Build up slowly

The next rule is to build up slowly. Start by offering a small selection of services or products or even just one and do it really well. For example, you could set up a solo marketing company and start by offering content only. Once you have established yourself and you are feeling more confident, you could then start offering social media or web design.

Building up your company will likely tie in with employing other people with complementary skills. The most important thing is that you make sure that the work is there before you hire someone to do it. Which brings us neatly on to…

Hire the best employees and delegate

Hiring the best people doesn’t mean the most qualified or experienced, it just means the people who will bring the most value to your business. This might be a recent graduate with some great ideas or an old timer looking to pivot into something new. Think in terms of diversity of people and ideas and you should come up with a great team who work really well together.

Once you have built up a team who are working really well together, you should gain the confidence to start delegating parts of your business more completely. This will give you a chance to look at your business from a management point of view and guide your staff rather than have to steer all the time. And that is when you know you are truly successful.