₦airaland Forum

Did you know that, according to the Small Business Administration, only a third of new businesses survive 10 years or more? What can you do to make your small business one of the thrivers? To find out, we asked entrepreneurs who have succeeded.

1. Love what you do.
The road to success is a hard one. But, according to Lisa King, owner of Brownie Points Inc., which sells gourmet brownies and holiday gift baskets, it's a lot easier if you're passionate about your business's purpose. "If you don't [love what you do], it's hard to be successful," she says. She adds that this helps you stay positive: "You need to maintain your optimism. Once it's gone, you're done."

2. Build a team immersed in your vision.
"For me, it's more than just hiring experienced people. It's important to demonstrate the type of organization we want to be," says Mike Mondello, president of SeaBear, which supplies fresh and smoked wild salmon directly to consumers. To bring to life the vision of building a seafood brand based on world-class, sustainable wild salmon, Mondello used a team meeting to showcase a fisherman whose way of catching fish resulted in a better end product.
3. Come up with innovative ways to solve problems.
Necessity really is the mother of invention. Just ask Robin Brocklesby of Creative Coverings, which rents specialty linens for formal events. When customers were having difficulty returning the linens they had rented, Brocklesby turned to UPS for a creative solution. The result was out-of-the box innovation: Return the linens in specially designed bags (with an estimated life span of 300 uses) rather than larger boxes.

4. Create a delightful customer experience.
Several components come together to win customers, and everyone at the company needs to know their own role in retaining customers. "It's mission critical that everyone on our team understands how they fit into the brand and what they bring to the value chain that delivers a successful customer experience," Mondello says.

King notes that shipping plays a vital role in her customers' experience, particularly since Brownie Points provides a perishable product. "You need to know that you're partnering with someone who can manage your shipments and make sure your packages arrive on time," she says.

5. Quickly learn from your mistakes.
Mistakes are inevitable. The key is to learn from them – fast. A decade ago during the holidays, SeaBear outsourced its call center. Customer orders were soon riddled with errors. "When a customer had a need outside the norm, the call center couldn't handle it with the customer care our own professionals could," Mondello recalls. The solution? SeaBear immediately stopped outsourcing and personally contacted all the customers who were negatively affected. Also, the company has learned to test any new process during a quiet time of the year.

6. Rely on people smarter than you.
You can't know and do everything. You must rely on others. "Surround yourself with people who know more than you do," King advises. "I was a schoolteacher [prior to going into business] and there were a lot of things I had to learn," she recalls. To fill in the gap, King selected vendors or has hired people who had the knowledge or skills she lacked.

7. Never sacrifice quality.
"The key to the success of any business is to establish a philosophy and have everyone in the business buy into it," says Larry Sweet, founder and president of Save-A-Load Inc. The company manufacturers load bars for truckers and delivery companies for the cargo area to hold items in place during transport. Sweet's philosophy of putting quality first has resulted in double-digit revenue growth since the company's founding in 1993. The manufacturer stands behind its product quality by providing a lifetime warranty and relying on UPS to deliver its best-in-class product to customers worldwide.

GO CHECKOUT THE SITE BELOW MY COMMENT
AND SEE HOW I STARTED ONLINE BIZ

Za'Galaticos

The reason why people are poor is because
of lake of information the internet have
made it easier for me to earn a living with
stress-free job sitting down at home and
banging cool cash legally on net through
INTERNET MARKETING i will unveil the
secret when my new site is ready

,,, Well for me i don't care
about his communication incapability
all i know is he is a man of JUSTICE



Pls NIgerians let face the fact & shun sentiment

I'm really impress
Weldon bro

No office address ?
or is it pay on delivery

Prize ?

For me:
PLAYER: Juninho
CLUB: ZA'GALATICOS ( REAL MADRID )
COACH: Jürgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund, Manager)

I wonder if our civil war
blood shed is up to what
we are experiencing now,,,,,,

Well Stated,,,

Than start digging your grave

Nonybb:
I rather suffer under PDP than rejoice under APC. GEJ TILL 2019 or we will make this country ungovernable and blow up oil pipe lines

Hmm,,,TAN is really working !!!

,,,,

ROBERT Mugabe's wife Grace is all set to take over from her 90-year oldhusband as Zimbabwe's new president as
over recent weeks she has conducted a whirlwind helicopter tour across the country addressing rallies

Grace Mugabe, 49, has been called many things since the moment when, barely out of her teens, she caught the eye
of the president of Zimbabwe as she tapped away in his typing pool. Since then, she married him in 1996 and is fondly
called Amai, meaning mother by her supporters, although her critics call her Gucci Grace and The First Shopper because
of her extravagant spending in designer shops around the world.

Others simply call her Dis Grace, especially those who believe she forced her husband to remain in power so she could plunder
Zimbabwe’s diamond wealth to fund her overseas shopping trips. Many Zimbabweans believe she wants the top job, which would make
her the first female dictator in modern history.

Over recent weeks, she has stoked such fears by touring the country by helicopter, holding mass rallies and pouring scorn on her
rivals. Her critics deride her as uncouth saying she personally threw an elderly white couple off their family farm, punched a British
photographer in the face after he snapped her on a shopping spree and claimed to have cursed a South African critic of her husband who committed suicide.
At a recent rally, Mrs Mugabe said: “The time has come to show people what I am made of. I had never dreamed of entering politics but
you have approached me and I am ready to go.

“Some say I want to be president. Why not? Am I not Zimbabwean too?”
One observer said of her: “She is an avaricious monster with a vindictive nature, who makes Imelda Marcos look mild by comparison. Every time she
speaks she creates lots of new enemies, just hitting out regardless of the consequences and I find her very cruel and spiteful, unlike her husband.”

@ Purplesummer !!!
I don't think he is Goodluck o,,,
cos some 1 must fall or die b4
he prosper though I like his attitude
very gentle & easy going but Naija
need though people that can chase
out those corrupt politicians

Why is it that we Nigerians don't
accept defeat ? we fail to qualify
because we were not good enough
period !!! we just need to go back to
the drawing board and get things right




Though its a shame but we have to live
with it & hopefully we will come back strong

We are now in a digitalize
society so the basic things
we need is INFORMATION





Dat is where the INTERNET comes in

$24.4 million for wetin
I will purchase it if only it
excrete $100 dollar note in
24 hrs

Dis is to show you that there is
no permanent enemy in politics

Na Jona u suppose ask dis question

I'm not here to criticize or show sentiment
so I will mention 5 states that have done
well:
Lagos State (APC)
Akwa ibom State (PDP)
Osun State (APC)
Kano State (APC)
Katsina State (PDP)

Investment with no return

Mehn,,,, dey dig your grave

Nigeria - India
99 - 1

NO pix for the exterior ?

No pix ?

SO FUNNY,,,

For what ?

I cant watch dat match



abeg I jst dey recover from illness
I cant afford to experience dat again

I fear Nigerians o,,,,
y are we so sentimental ?
things are not going well
pls let admit dat and stop
this Tribalism & Regionalism