According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), approximately 20% of startups fail within two years of their launch, and 45% within 5 years. These statistics highlight the fragility, uncertainty, and unpredictability of a business in contemporary times.

However, these stats don’t show the number of businesses that survive, establish themselves, generate revenues, and provide jobs to potential candidates. How do they do that? What steps do they take to adapt to and thrive in an ever-evolving economy?

Mastering the art of entrepreneurship requires resilience, consistency, and willingness to adapt to challenging situations. For an entrepreneur, it’s a constant quest for knowledge and a resolute commitment to growth. Take a look at the following golden principles to make your entrepreneurial quest a success.

Identify Your Market Niche

Before taking a leap of faith to start your business, you must identify your niche market and the existing supply-demand gap. This is the first step toward success. Moreover, you need a solid business plan with sound leadership and a skilled team to run it.

Your Vision and Mission Should be Customer-centric

Success in your business endeavors is highly dependent on customer satisfaction. If you are planning your business strategy nowadays, do ensure to put your customer at its center. You must conduct extensive market research to determine their concerns, needs, feedback, and suggestions to understand how you can make your business unique and better than your competitors. You should provide customized solutions, and results beyond expectations to win their trust.

Embrace Financial and Legal Literacy

Having a strong and functional financial plan that’s in compliance with the legal requirements, is important for grabbing the right business opportunities. Understanding and adhering to regulations is essential to avoid financial penalties, such as health licenses, fire safety approvals, and other legal statutes. Managing your finances is integral to your business’s growth and revenue generation. Therefore, invest smartly and build strong client base to cash on every opportunity.

Validate Your Idea

After the stakeholders provide your business venture the green light, create a minimum viable product (MVP) to check your product’s or service’s acceptance rate in the market. Gather all the feedback you get from the consumers to make adjustments and fine-tune the final product. McDonald’s presents a great example in this regard. The fast-food giant which initially sold modest kiosks; however, with its consistent efforts to improve its product range it’s now worth a whopping $194.51 billion.

Networking and Sales

Remember, your network is your net worth. Building strong relationships with other entrepreneurs, mentors, and potential partners is crucial. Attending industry events and conferences can provide you with various opportunities to expand your network and gain valuable insights about your potential prospects and clients.

The next step in your entrepreneurial journey is generating revenue by selling products or services to customers, which is the prime responsibility of the sales team. They identify potential customers, nurture relationships, and close deals. They are also the focal persons who establish a business’s reputation within the industry.

They often have firsthand knowledge of customer needs, preferences, and market trends. They can also provide valuable insights to the sales and marketing teams to help them make informed decisions. They may also contribute to building and maintaining a positive brand image through their consistent and considerate efforts on digital marketing platforms.

According to Jeff Masquelier, the author of Promoted, sales professionals drive business growth, by nurturing customer relationships, and fueling a company’s long-term success, through generating revenues. In this book, Jeff presents captivating and engaging details about the triumphs and challenges a sales person has to face before tasting success in this demanding yet rewarding field. The book is a collection of personal accounts and short stories, each revealing what it takes to master the art of promotional sales.

If you’re new to the field and looking for a guidebook to navigate the highly competitive field of sales, Jeff Masquelier’s Promoted is the right book for you!

Buy your copy now. It’s available on Amazon.