By Loida Velilla, PhD. , November 1999

A group of successful entrepreneurs was asked to what was due their success. This is what they said.

The key to their success was due to business knowledge, market awareness, hands on management, sufficient capital, fine products and service, advertisement, hard work and perseverance.

They are very careful with money, shrewd and hard-nosed. They know all the time where exactly is the firm financially and they have a good credit line.

They say that a business plan is essential, useful and informative. They wouldn't start a business without one.

When hiring people they look for the best person and are willing to pay for it. They consider the personality of the employee to be more important than experience. They tailor assignments to the personalities of the employees, encourage them to talk about the business, work alongside them whenever possible and try to talk privately to everybody once a week. They are unhappy when the employees are unhappy, resigning, abrupt with customers, late and not dedicated to their work. They consider employees a very important element in business success.

They keep in touch and listen to their customers, keep very careful financial records, a good relationship with the employees and trying new techniques.

They trust themselves, their customers and a few employees.

They believe that the best marketing tool is word-of-mouth, a good location, attractive signs, advertising and community events.

They are aware that competition is every where, cunning and a constant threat. They believe that the competitive advantage is experience, understanding what the market wants, confidence, a detailed plan and conducting a business ethically.

For those who would like to start a business they advice to work for someone else in the field first, to learn about budgeting, to write a business plan and to study marketing.

A successful entrepreneur is consumer oriented, has creativity, discipline, flexibility and technical proficiency.

How do you measure up? Are you willing to do what it takes? Visit us next month when we will update "Making it in Business."

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Last updated on March, 1999
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