Achieving business success is not an overnight thing. It’s a journey built on vision, commitment, calculated risk taking and a willingness to adapt. Regardless of the size—from multinational corporations to mom-and-pop companies—spas have an amalgamation of timeless principles while adjusting to the current realities of our time. In this document we will look at some of the key areas that will help build your successful business from inception to maturation and sustainability.
1. Establish a Purpose and Vision
Every successful business starts with a great “why.” Vision is what sets the purpose and direction of the company in the long term, while the mission describes how the company hopes to achieve the purpose. It helps guide the company how to satisfy your customer; whether you are solving a problem, enhancing an experience, or building something new, clarity to purpose helps set the process for all decision-making and strategies.
Examples of Compelling Visions:
Tesla: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Airbnb: “To help create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.”
Having a clear vision helps to attract employees, partners, and customers that share similar goals.
2. Conduct Market Research and Define Product Fit
One of the reasons entrepreneurs fail in their startup venture is they build a solution that no one wants. Market research helps to mitigate that risk. Market research generally helps with:
Finding target audiences
Understanding the pain points of customers
Understanding who your competitors are
Testing the demand before going to market
A good first step to any new market is to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP allows entrepreneurs to test and get feedback on their assumptions, validate ideas and refine their product before they make a huge investment in development.
3. Develop Strategic Business Planning
A Business Plan can often be seen as just a formality, but it is essentially a roadmap. A good business plan should address:
Executive summary
Market analysis
Organizational structure
Overview of products/services
Marketing & sales plan
Financial projections
By going through a Business Plan regularly month by month you can track your alignment against your original goals and assess whether any changes could be made to adapt to new challenges and opportunities.
4. Creating the Right Team
“No one achieves success in business, alone.” It may be a cliché, but it’s the truth of sustainable accomplishment. Being surrounded with the right people – people that have the skillsets, that are aligned with your vision, and who are flexible – makes all the difference.
Great businesses put their efforts into:
Leadership development
Parasitic culture
Transparent communication
Employee well-being and retention
Leaders who empower (not control) their employees generally increase innovation and loyalty.
5. Marketing and Brand Differentiation
Branding is what a business does to differentiate from the rest of the noise and clutter in a world saturated with content and options. Successful businesses invest time and money creating:
A unique brand narrative
A cohesive brand identity
A brand voice that connects to their audience
In today’s world, digital marketing is crucial. Digital marketing includes all of the following:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Social media
Email marketing
Influencers
Paid advertising (PPC, display, etc.)
Smart businesses begin monetizing their marketing strategy based on metrics they analyze, read, and then update strategy based on their data.
6. Financial Discipline and Funding
Cash flow is oxygen for a business, and you can’t just make money, you have to manage it effectively.
Key Principles:
Keep an effective budget
Track your cash flow
Be prepared for taxes and liabilities
Invest profits appropriately
Never avoid debt when you don’t have too.
For many start-ups, obtaining funding is one of the most important steps in the beginning phase. When it comes to funding, whether bootstrapping, angel investors, venture capital or crowdfunding, it’s important to be strategic about the funding model that fits your business, its size, goals, and tolerance for risk.
7. Utilizing Technology
Successful businesses make their mark with innovation. They embrace technology to, among other things, increase efficiency and improve customer experience and data driven decisions.
Some examples include:
CRM management software to manage customer relationships
Automation tools for marketing and business operations
Artificial Intelligence to help manage data and forecasts
Ecommerce platforms and mobile application to transact directly with consumers.
Collaboration Platforms and remote work technologies.
You cannot opt-out of digital transformation, you must embrace it as a foundation for your business.
8. Customer Focus
The best businesses are customer focused. This means, paying attention to feedback, exceptional service, personalization, and consistent value.
Happy customers become repeat customers and advocates for your brand. Investing in customer pleasure and loyalty is a better driver of growth than investing in more and more customers.
9. Resilience and Adaptability
No business journey is completely smooth sailing. Resilience is not only tested in the face of obstacles and challenges; rather, our resilience and adaptability come from uncertain economic downturns, pandemics and other technological disruptions, as well as rapidly evolving consumer behavior.
Some traits of resilient businesses are:
Ability and flexibility in operations – Businesses and owners need to be able to shift, change or pivot quickly.
Quick decision-making
Having multiple revenue streams
Strong organization culture
Learning from mistakes and failures.
Many of the most successful companies in the world today (think Apple, Netflix, Starbucks, etc.) have made quick pivots, either through product changes or the complete reinvention of the business when faced with adversity.
10. Ethical Responsibility and Sustainability
Today’s consumers care about values. Businesses that fail to respond to their social and environmental responsibilities will clearly lose public trust.
Distinct ethical responsibilities that an ethical business needs to meet are if they:
Treat their employees well,
Practice open and transparent governance,
Minimize their environmental footprint,
Give back to the communities they serve.
These are the same responsibilities taken on by for-profit companies, however we recognize that success today is not only about profit, but purpose.
Conclusion: Success is a Process and Not One Point in Time
The realization of a successful business, a successful enterprise, is not one moment or one success or “win.” It’s not even fully tangible in an exact amount, date, or lifetime. A successful business success is a continuous and evolving journey of problem-solving, bridging connections for people, and growing the impact businesses can have on the world. The journey requires vision, planning, passion, resilience, and recognizing that every step brings us learning (the wins and the losses.)
The true notion of a successful business is not only about making a profit, its about creating a business that provides something for the world, improves the lives of other people, and lasts after you are gone.