Competing on price has never been a sustainable concept. The only way to beat your competitor is to make less money. If you a small independent business, competing on price is almost impossible.  In the early 90s, Walmart was one of the most valuable companies in the world. Their business model was based on providing the best price. Yes, they did many other things right, but this was their key to…

The tortoise is resolute and focused on the end goal. Because he moves so slow, he is not able to flit off in many directions like the hare. He has a hard shell that protects him from the outside world. Regardless of what gets thrown at him, he continues down his path. We need to be the same if we want to be successful in business. We have to choose a…

The purpose of business is to solve people's problems for a profit. If that is the case, then before we build our product or develop our next great idea, we need to know the customers we will be helping.  Many entrepreneurs spend excessive time building and developing their businesses. Sometimes for years, only to come to the market and realise that they have no customers. Sometimes the product and the entrepreneur…

And how you can apply their techniques to your business. Twitter hit 100 million active users in 2011 and 10 years later have 300 million users – That is awe-inspiring growth - They are one of the most popular social media networks globally. However, compared to Facebook, they suddenly look slow and small Facebook hit 100 million users in 2008, and four years later, in 2012, they hit 1 billion, and…

Our brain reward system is designed to compete. It keeps us alive. When our ancestors caught a wild animal for dinner, their brains sent a shot of the pleasure chemical dopamine coursing through their system. Dopamine is one of the feel-good chemicals that our brain rewards itself with for doing something useful to keep us alive. Our brain functions the same way in the modern world as it did 10 000 years…

Successful entrepreneurs are problem solvers, but one of the problems they can't solve is that there are only 24 hours in a day. Though, from the outside, it seems that they get more done in a single day than us mere mortals can get done in a week. But, the truth is that they have figured out how to use less time to get more done. They generally don't fill their…

The relationship with your customer is like the relationship with your significant other. You have to work at it every day to maintain and improve it. If you don't keep things interesting and exciting, your partner will get bored and eventually move on to someone else. You may be the best partner for them, but it will grow stale if you neglect the relationship, and they'll start wondering what else is…

You hear time and time again that you should never give up. You have to go through the obstacles to get to success. Sometimes you need to fight on despite all the difficulties, but other times it may be wiser to quit. The sooner you quit going down the wrong path, the sooner you can start going down the right path. You may have been lucky enough like Tiger Woods to…

The customer is always right is a slogan that began when customer service and modern retail stores were just coming into existence. It was a helpful way to train someone in the 1900s who had no concept of customer service. Now in the 2000s, we know that the customer is not always right. Some customers can be unreasonable and sometimes downright dishonest. You may have bent over backwards to get them…

When you first started, you may have gotten your first customers by word of mouth, through your personal network or walk-ins to your store. You may now be experiencing a lull in your business, or you managed to catch your breath and are ready to grow to the next level. The next level, though, requires a strategy — a strategy for gaining new customers. A strategy doesn’t need to be complicated…