Secrets to building a successful business

When we talk about investing or investments, many people think about businesses, land, property, time and resources, among others. But actual sense investing starts with you as an individual. And then if you are a business owner, entrepreneur or organisational leader, it’s also about investing in your team? The people that work with you? (Note I said the people that work with you and not for you.)

But what does it mean to invest? According to the dictionary, “When you invest, you put time or money into something, hoping there will be returns greater than what was originally put in. You can invest your hopes or emotions in a person... The money, time, or hope is called the investment. Investing can also mean to endow with power or quality.”

So, a key objective for investing is to get back a return greater than what was originally put in. It is also not just about money but includes time, hopes and emotions. This is why when relationships break up, the lament is about the time and emotions spent together that they now feel wasted. The same can also apply to business and customer relationships. You see, people buy from people they trust, know and like.

You are probably thinking that’s not true? Not everyone who buys from me knows me? And you are right... they may not know you individually but they know your brand or company. This is why over the years, many companies spend millions of dollars in personifying their brands so that their target consumers can relate (trust) to them.

They spend more in advertising so that their consumers feel like they “know” this personified brand and the last step in the process is that if they like it, then they will buy it. The whole process described is an investment - it involves a lot of time and resources. But is this where the process starts? The answer is no. Here’s why? Behind all these companies and brands, you have people; without whom none of this process would evolve. It takes us back to my first statement: Investing starts with the individual.

Everything starts with an idea, which is birthed in an individual’s mind. And as my mentor says, every idea is birthed twice. First in the mind and then secondly when that idea is acted upon, the results are evident. Think about the phone in your hand. It was first an idea in someone’s mind, before it was designed and then manufactured.

The same goes for the pen, book, house, car, dress, shirt and literally everything around you. This is why Dr Myles Munroe spoke about the richest place on earth being the graveyard...not the oilfields, gold or diamond mines. This is because the graveyard holds a lot of dreams and ideas that were never actualised - books, music and poems never were written, and inventions that never saw the light of day.

So how can we begin to invest right to get the greatest return? It starts with three principles of Live, Learn and Lead.

'Live' is not to be confused with the fact that you are breathing. You see there are many people who are “walking dead”. I’m not referring to the movie series here but to the fact that they are alive but are not living. They’re numb to what is happening around them and operate almost like “zombies” in autopilot mode. These are people who have no motivation to discover anything new or change what they have always done.

No wonder the results stay the same - as the saying goes, you cannot do the same thing over and over again and expect to see a different result. To live is to be in touch with what is happening around you; whether as an individual or organisation. To live is to understand that “fast has become faster and forward has become shorter”. This reality has been brought closer home by the Covid-19 crisis. As a result of this understanding, an individual or organisation becomes swift and agile in their decision-making.

They respond and do not react to situations. They also adapt and change quickly when the need arises. To live is to be responsive to your customer needs and knowing when to pivot and in which direction. To live is also about having a growth mindset that embraces change. John Maxwell says it is possible to grow without changing but you cannot change without growth. Those who grow without changing are the “walking dead” and keep doing things the same way and getting the same results.

The next principle to investing for the greatest return is that of Learning. For one to effectively learn, they have to be ready and willing to learn, unlearn and relearn. Is this supposed to be a tongue-twister? It’s more than that; let me explain. What got you here, will not get you there so we must keep learning new things all the time. Yesterday will not get you through today. To learn is to try something new and different.

It's about finding something better and something bigger. Learning, unlike school, does not have an end date, but its like new technology that gets upgrading over time as the need arises. This calls for creating room for the new by unlearning limiting beliefs and practices that will not advance you as you adapt to change and a growth mindset. To relearn is about refining what has been learned and preparing to repeat the cycle.

The third principle brings together the Live and Learn is to Lead. Leadership is all about influence, nothing more, nothing less. This is not about a position but a disposition that everyone has. Anyone can be a leader and it begins with leading oneself. What is required is a clarity of vision and influence to overcome barriers in accomplishing desired results. Our mind plays a big role in influencing how we lead because it informs the strategy and decision-making process approach.

Leading is also about providing strength to the people being led, making relational leadership essential. In this context, a leader’s role is to cast the vision and inspiring others with a plan and follow through to actualise it. A leader must exemplify self-awareness in providing a strategic plan to solve problems and be ready to engage and involve people at every level of execution.

Leadership is all about making a difference and this brings us back full cycle to having a purpose for living. These three principles form a foundation on which any investment can be built upon and is guaranteed to stand the test of time. Ignore them at your own peril, work them and you will reap your greatest return.

 -Ms Masila-Achola is founder and executive director of Value Connect