An article in “Yahoo Business Insider” yesterday summarized 3 strategies that Mark Cuban believes are core to running a successful business. They are interesting and provide sound insight into a keen business mind. The first: Understand “Adding Value” versus Benefiting From a (Good Economy). This goes to the heart of understanding the key to good business: adding value. If you are simply in the right place at the right time, you will ride the “wave” for a while, but eventually the tide changes and your business becomes challenged. Sound business owners always ask “how are we adding value?” when considering every product and service offered by their company.
The second: “Win the battles you’re in before moving on to new ones” reminds us to keep the focus on our core products and services, and win those opportunities. There are only 24 hours in a day, and the key to business success is “time and focus.” If we are doing fairly well regionally and a national “big box” retail opportunity arises should we jump at it? Not necessarily. Big box retail is an entirely different game – a matter of tightly managing every step of the process to minimize cost and maximize return. Cuban notes that keeping the focus on that existing business until it is strong and dominant puts a business in a much better position to undertake expansion and growth in the future. Expanding too soon is a cornerstone of business failure.
Finally, “Don’t Drown in Opportunity” is closely related to the second. Mr. Cuban notes that “If you are adding new things when your core businesses are struggling rather than facing the challenge, you are either running away or giving up,” Cuban writes. “Rarely is either good for a business.” If core offerings are struggling we need to address them. A successful business shouldn’t just abandon a core market because of head winds, turning left and right as new opportunities arise. The decision to expand product/service offering should come from a position of strength, as well as opportunity. Fix the challenges in your core offerings before expanding into new markets.
The team at Allen Barron has experience managing international businesses and advising business owners in all phases of a businesses life cycle: from start-up to selling your stake. Managing that business is an investment in your economic future as well as the company itself. How do you grow from $1M to $5M? How do you survive the first critical three years in business?
Call us for a free consultation at 866-631-3470 and learn about the business advisory services, and genuine expertise and experience our team can bring to foster the success of your company.