Here’s what we will cover today:

• Discover what most entrepreneurs miss about success 

• See if you know the answer to yesterday's trivia

• Stay up-to-date on retail trends and hot business opportunities

Quote of the Day

“If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”
~Zig Ziglar

Today’s Tip

Too many entrepreneurs and business owners forget what’s worked in the past and stop doing those things.

This critical mistake is best explained with a story. There was once a young man who had just graduated from college with an engineering degree. He did what most of his classmates did and got a job as an engineer. Within the next few years he got married and had his first child – and then another child.

But after working “for the man” for twenty years, he decided to start his own engineering consulting firm. While business was slow at first, he built up his firm over the years. 30 years after founding his company, he was generating millions of dollars in annual revenues.

But then, at the age of 72, he died. And he left the business to his 71-year-old wife.

Now his wife had never run a business in her life. She spent most of her days at the country club golfing and dining with her friends.

But within a year, she doubled the firm’s profits.

How did she do it?

Simple. She visited the company a week after her husband passed and sat down with the management team. And then she told them to do two things:

• Make me a list of the 5 things that worked the best in the last 12 months

• Make me a list of the 5 things that worked the least in the last 12 months

The list of things that worked included items like upselling current clients, getting new clients from partnerships they formed, and their program that hired and trained new sales reps. The things that didn’t work included radio advertising, sponsoring trade shows, and a new service offering that just didn’t catch on.

So, the widow made one demand: Do more of the 5 things that worked, and stop doing the 5 things that didn’t work.”

The management team listened. And within a year, the company’s revenues and profits both doubled.

Yes – it’s that simple. Your company should do more of the things that are proven to work and less of the things that haven’t worked.

Unfortunately, most business owners don’t do this, and here’s why: we’ve been told throughout our lives to improve our weaknesses and “never quit” – and we carry this lesson over to our businesses. So, when something doesn’t work, our first impression is typically to “work on it” or try to fix it.

However, that’s generally not the best solution. A much more effective approach is to do more of what is already working since those are the things that are proven to work. Why try to fix an unproven concept when you already have figured out a winner?

Today’s Resource

Turn Doubts into an Actionable Business Plan

What’s stopping your business dreams? Is it the overwhelming feeling of where to begin, or the fear of falling short in front of investors and lenders?

PlanPros.ai eliminates those fears. 

Our AI software doesn’t just help you start; it gives you a roadmap to grow, fund, and succeed, all in minutes. 

Answer simple questions, and watch as we transform your idea into a professional business plan with financial projections, strategies, and investor-ready designs.

Don’t let doubt hold you back another day.

Trivia

Today’s Question: French–Lebanese–Brazilian businessman Carlos Ghosn escaped Japan in the middle of the night on December 30, 2019 by flying to Beirut while possibly hiding in a large black audio equipment box. Ghosn was facing trial in Japan and claimed he "escaped injustice." He was facing false accounting charges related to his 17 years as the CEO of what auto manufacturer?

Previous Question: THINK was the company motto for more than 40 years, for the company often referred to as "Big Blue." What is this frequently acronymed company?

Previous Answer: IBM

IBM, frequently referred to as "Big Blue," got its start in hardware and prospered in that business for decades, becoming the top supplier of mainframe computers.

News

2024 Retail Foot Traffic Shows Modest Growth Amid Economic Challenges

Study Highlights America’s Most Popular Side Hustles and Entrepreneurial Hotspots

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