David Bowie was an enigma in the music and film industry. He was a man who believed that he had limitless abilities to reinvent himself, discover and succeed in any field that he wished, and that nothing could hold him back. As a businessman, his ability to reinvent himself in many ways for the continued growth of his product, himself and his career, has inspired people in practical manners. Taking inspiration from the way that he conducted his business, I found that there are 5 basic principles for business success that one can easily apply to his own style of entrepreneurship. Below are the 5 take away lessons I learned from Bowie that can be applied to an ever-changing business platform in the 21st century.
1. Failure does not refer to an end, failure means you keep trying. Failing is the best lesson that a person can have in life. It teaches lessons that are not going to teach in any business school. Instead of giving up, keep trying to sell your business, believe that the risk-taking will pay off in the end. A regular entrepreneur would be taken as little risks as possible and avoided failures at all costs, right from the start of the business. Remember, business is based on ideas. Ideas could bring success to the person, provided he learns to accept the failures that come with it. Why is a failure so important? Failure is the learning experience that teaches one to adjust and modify movements that will help the entrepreneur anticipate problems.
2. Constant changes are a part of daily business. Business plans were meant to be adjusted all the time. Business and career plans need to be adjustable at a moment’s notice. As a businessperson, the company objectives need to be flexible because of the ever-changing business climate. The business trend from 2 weeks ago may not be applicable this week. The ability of a business owner to change up his business plans midstream means that he is doing something valuable with his business and in the end, the acceptance of the target clientele will make the business gamble pay off.
3. Collaborate for success. Collaborations and cooperation with other people in a similar or related line of business brings about innovations using collaborative strategies. This form of networking often results in the best possible cooperation strategies, that are beneficial to multiple, related fields, is a strategy that could work very well for most businesses, regardless of its investment cost or business size. Partnerships create new start-ups that in the long run, helps to keep a small business more financially viable for its investors. To learn how to create strong relationships with clients, check out this business success essay example.
4. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Always come up with something new for your target demographic and clients. Granted, not all attempts to introduce new avenues in your business will be successful. Does anybody here still remember the McLobster product of McDonald's? The Hula Burger? Or the McPizza? Exactly. If McDonald’s can survive such terrible product launches, so will your company. Just like McDonald's, take a chance and do something unusual with your business. The important thing is that you drum up constant interest in your products and company brand. You never know what might catch on with your clients that could result in an increased chance of your business succeeding in the future.
5. Be an inspiration. As a business owner, it is your destiny to inspire your workers. Encourage them to be the best that they can be in the performance of their tasks. Inspire their creativity to achieve a better performance from them. By inspiring all the members of your team or business, the result will be a well-managed business that grew from the past bad decisions or failed attempts to launch the company. Using failure as an inspiration, mistakes will be minimized or totally avoided when developing new business ideas. It could also lead to a best-selling product idea or innovation for the company.
Business success is not something that happens overnight. It is something that is earned over time. Successful entrepreneurs know how to turn failure into success. A successful business person is ready to adjust his business plan at the drop of a hat because he can effectively read the market and its future direction. A business owner who is forward thinking will always find the opportunity to advance his business by inspiring his team members to think outside of the box, creating unique business ideas in the process.
Personally, I keep a can of Play-Doh on my desk. Why would I do that you might ask? The product is there to remind me of how a failed product launch, can result in an unexpected bestselling product. Play-Doh embodies the 5 principles for business success. Originally developed as a wallpaper cleaning product, it failed miserably upon its launch. Leaving its investors and inventors with an unusable product. By changing the product slant after cooperating and collaborating with others, a new product was developed, inspired by the most unexpected target clientele, children looking for something creative to do with their time.
That company is the embodiment of the 5 basic principles for business success and would do well as a business model for most startup companies. The inventors, Joseph and Noah McVicker did not give up on their product, even if it meant having to repurpose the product far from the original idea. The product developers were not afraid to try something new, based on product use observations. This was a failure that eventually led to the success of the product developers as they sold their product successfully toy manufacturer Rainbow Crafts, thus creating a successful business enterprise for the Vicker brothers. To this day, children still play with this product as a testament to the resiliency of the failed product launch that led to the top selling toy of the 20th and 21st century.
