Building a lasting business is real hard work, yet it is worth the effort. If you do the right things to make your business grow, it will do and may even grow into a multinational if it has that capacity. Today, we bring you a few tips that will engender your business success.

Integrity of Heart

Lasting businesses thrive on integrity; businesses that have lasted for centuries have that attribute and that is why they are still standing today. Integrity in business means maintaining the standard of quality and keeping to ethical practices. The reason people stick to popular brands of chicken is because every single time they patronize the company, the chicken tastes great, if the company starts to lower its standards, maybe today the chicken is salty, tomorrow it is not well cooked, their clientele would drop.

Focus and Singleness of Mind

Focus means to concentrate one’s energy and resources on a single course or activity. Most of us can only do one good thing well at a time and if we desire to succeed, we must practice the art of concentrating our gifts, abilities and attention on the target God has set before us. Focus helps you to give your best shot at something and achieve more. Focus helps you to avoid distractions; and there would be distractions in business; things that would take you away from the vision you have for your business. To maintain focus define your goals clearly; discover your talents and capitalize on them.

Don’t be a jack of all trades; develop your skills, be a specialist in your field. This is called “Sticking to the knitting”. Find your niche in the market and seek to fill it through hard work and excellence. Exercise discipline to turn down (or refer) inappropriate opportunities (this is the gift of saying “no”). No one can do everything well.

Develop Persistence

Persistence is keeping at something despite challenges. It means that you have to be consistent in your business despite challenges. The profit may not come in the first few months of the start-up, but you need to keep at it, till you find practical solutions. So you don’t just pack up after a few failed trials.

Focus does not however imply rigidity; for the human eye to focus on a moving object, it must adjust itself continually. A wrestler uses the flexibility of his muscles to lock himself around his opponent and win the match. Being double-minded means allowing uncertainty about your goal to break your concentration

4. Determination

Doing business involves fierce competition in the market place and you have to do this with courage and endurance. Business is naturally competitive and you need to embrace that spirit because you are not there to run a charity organisation but to make profit. As you compete, strive to be excellent; excellence would stand you out among others. As you compete, play fair; play by the rules, don’t engage in sharp practices like others because integrity is one of your core values as a business person.

Building Business Relationships

Business is an integral part of human life and it flows through networks of relationships. Effective businessmen are always looking for promising people even if they are not immediately useful from a business standpoint.

Successful businesses thrive on strong networks and partnerships. There are vast resources lying in people that you can benefit from. There are strategic people you could meet and relationships that can take your business to another level. People are still responsible for every material resource on the planet. Right relationships with the right people means success in business.

The Priority of Prayer

As a believer, you need to commit your business to God. He is just as concerned about it as He is about every other area of your life.

Business people are continually confronted with situations that are ethically gray areas. Yielding to moral compromise is easy. In addition, there is often great pressure exerted by others to compromise for the sake of the group. Through prayer, believers can receive wisdom and deliverance. Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon are two biblical examples of men who by prayer and perseverance overcame evil with integrity and rose to God-ordained positions of wealth and influence.

To success in your business…