Being a business owner can be challenging, distressing, frightening, fun, rewarding and exciting - often all in a single day! The term ‘roller coaster of emotions’ is one that most business people can relate to. Getting a business right is a formula that starts with the owners skills, knowledge, experience and perhaps more importantly, their mindset. You can own a business that provides enjoyment, freedom and material gains or you can own a business that negatively affects your health, robs you of time with your family and ultimately never gets anywhere. The important thing to realise is that when it comes to perspective and how you see your business - you have the choice.

Have you ever wondered why some businesses grow and become successful while others stagnate or fail? Owners of successful businesses are different to their less successful counterparts in a number of ways, all of which you will learn about in this book. Importantly, successful business owners know their own limitations and understand that doing something well comes with costs and consequences. Learning how these people operate and understanding their language will help you to make better decisions.

Many business owners limit their options by making decisions based on what is going on within the business at a particular moment in time rather than looking outside for resources. For example, some business owners make plans based on the current balance of their bank account or next months projected revenue. Or during a particularly busy period a business owner may fill a vacancy out of desperation rather than take the time to get the ‘right person’. All of these perceived influences or restrictions lead to poor decisions and end up costing the business in the long-term.

A business owner needs to determine what skills they possess themselves and what other resources are required to complement them. The skills, finances, knowledge and other resources needed to develop and grow your business are available – you just need to know where to find them and how to get them working for you. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is thinking they have to do everything themselves!

It’s simply not possible to efficiently build a successful business alone. I often use the analogy of building a house - few people would attempt to build a house without assistance. Most of us realise that to build a solid, workable structure you need to employ an architect, the right bricklayer, plasterer, carpenter, plumber and electrician. I have never met anyone that would begin to build a house without having the appropriate project plan, finance and team of experts in place at the start. Yet many business owners attempt to build a business by themselves, with little capital and only minimal planning.

I began my first business in 1998. A year later I had learned that it took a long time to be an ‘overnight success’. Things needed to be done methodically, efficiently and consistently well if we were going to succeed at all. Doing things right may take longer but the extra effort always pays off in the end - a lesson we learned the hard way but you don’t need to. Once my partners and I realised this, our business began to grow but if it hadn’t been for our investors backing us despite our mistakes we may never have survived. I remember one Friday afternoon in our early days celebrating the fact that we had sold $16,000 worth of product in one week. We thought we had it made. Four years later, sales of $110,000 to $120,000 a week were not surprising. Although we eventually did seek the advice and input of specific expertise I am convinced that had we done so right from the start we would have avoided many of the costly mistakes and enjoyed earlier success.

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