Picking up from where we left off in an earlier article entitled “Keep your door open and other street-smart business advice,” here are more nuggets of business wisdom from those who know what winning (and losing) in business is all about.
The following business management advice are from entrepreneurs featured in the SERDEF-UP ISSI book “Dreamers, Doers, Risk-takers: Iskolar ng bayan gives back the enterprising way.”
The success of your partners is the success of your business. Partners include business associates, customers, clients, suppliers and, most of all, employees.
Invest in the holistic development of your people. Skills must be backed up by good moral values. Organize value formation seminars for them.
In business, one can expect to win some and lose some. There is no cause to be ruthless just to win and win. As business calls for judgment calls, there are times you will miss or miscalculate. If you do, charge it to experience and look forward to the next time you can do better.
– Antonio Jon, JTS Corporation
Invest in your people’s personal and professional development. It will go back to you, redounding to the growth and improvement of your business.
– Jose Aliling, Jose Aliling and Associates
Never sacrifice quality to profit. Quality must be maintained at all times. After all, customers are willing to pay a premium price for a premium product.
– Isagani Belarmino, Letty’s Buko Pie
Honor your debts; pay creditors on time. Never cheat your customers; remain true to them. Be fair to your employees. Contribute all you can to the community.
– Edilberto Bravo, U-Bix, Inc., Bravo Coffee
Look for qualified people and harness their talents; don’t micro-manage. Let people speak out their minds; be open to new ideas; don’t shoot down any idea as something that will definitely fail.
– Rodolfo de la Cruz, Medicus, Inc.
Respect all people in your organization, including the lowest man in the totem pole. When people make mistakes, never humiliate them. Sloppy work should not go unnoticed, though. We document a mistake in writing and discuss it with the concerned employee.
– Vicky Jardiolin, Natasha and Confetti
Here are more success tips from Entrepreneur Magazine’s Emerging Entrepreneur of 2011 Adam Nelson and Entrepreneur of 2011 award winner Lee Rhodes,
Put your networking skills to work. Find people you can learn from. What you may not need from them today, you may need tomorrow.
Don’t be swayed by naysayers. Some people do not understand the whole story. Weigh the pros and the cons and decide after careful consideration.
Keep taking risks. Don’t be afraid to try. Adopt the motto: “Fail cheap, fail quick.”
Hire your weaknesses. As an entrepreneur, you’re probably a big-picture person and the details aren’t as important, but they will be and they will come back to haunt you. If you’re not good at [something], make sure you have someone beside you who is, as you grow.
Finally, from a conference called the Business of Software:
Be so good they can’t ignore you.
Don’t make good software (or any product or service), make star software (or any product or service).
Behind every supposed technical problem is usually a human problem. Fix the cause, not just the symptom.
Improve the experience, not just the product — and everybody wins.
Don’t make customers happy. Make happy customers.
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Photo: “Business of Software – Peldi Guilizzoni, Balsamiq” by Betsy Weber, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved