Operating Principles for Business Owners
Steps to Successful Entrepreneurship
Lesson
II
Hiring Personnel
Lesson
I
Products or Services
Decide on the services or products you want to market and know as much or more about them than anybody else, especially your customers and competitors. Remember that there is a better way to do everything. Find that better way and you will be successful.
Remember that the people who represent you, more than anything else, determine whether your business will succees or fail. Hire the best you can find, train them to perform better than people working elsewhere and pay them twice the wages offered by others. By doing so, you will be able to attract the best personnel, reduce employee turnover, maintain the highest levels of quality and impove profitability.
A famous lawyer once said that he who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client. This saying also holds true to business owners who rely on themselves or other inexperienced people to handle complex legal, financial and insurance assignments. It is best to put these matters into the hands of the finest professional you can afford.
Whenever possible, try to learn what your competitors charge. When that information is not available, charge your customers two and one half times the amount your employees are currently paid. For example, if the current wage for a skilled employee is $30.00 per hour, your billing rate should be $75.00 per hour.
The difference between your current wage and your billing rate will be your profit instead of the profit of an employer. That difference can be used to build your personal wealth.
Lesson
IV
Use Professional Services
Lesson
III
Charging for Skilled Labor
Lesson
V
Presenting Yourself and Your Ideas
The most important lessons you must learn to become a successful entrepreneur is to properly present yourself and your ideas to the people you want to serve.
If you are successful in learning and practicing these secrets, you will become successful and profitable as an entrepreneur.