Success is a word that acquires a special and different meaning for each person. Obviously being successful does not imply being happy, they are different concepts. But being happy in this life I firmly believe that it makes you successful. And both can also co-exist.
When they asked me how I can be successful, I asked myself, in what part of my life. But surprisingly putting me to write, I came to the conclusion that I am successful in all phases of my life and my concepts are based I think in the same.
I hope my experience is useful for you.
1. High adaptability to changes:
This is one of the main characteristics that we should all possess in all situations of life, and not strictly speaking of the work. The flexibility of a person, whether boss, director, employee or entrepreneur, is a fundamental part of success, especially when uncertainty and insecurity is a constant in life.
I had to overcome several things in life, an accident left me paraplegic as a child, and to be able to study being a person with disability, to get a job, to have a child and get married as a young person without prior planning … (you know what it means) , to be without work for bankruptcy of a company, to be employed as a computer operator and later to be head of many companies, to be unemployed again (by own decision) and start a business for finally decide to be a female entrepreneur.
2. Focus your effort:
Since dreaming is free you can do it big. Here the theme is not to change goals every time, because what ends up happening is that you do not get anywhere. Put goals and focus your effort to finish them one at a time, better if you can several, but this is not easy. Each stage is a different challenge. Example, if you want to finish your studies and you must work to pay for them, focus on that, it takes a lot of effort …..I had to do it.
3. Cultivate relationships:
Here I mean all kinds of relationships, business, family, friends, and clients. Never it is a lost of time to meet people, especially if it is about your environment and if they are hardworking people with whom you can develop a bond of friendship better! This will then serve to remind you them you when there is a business opportunity. Develop your contact networks, since networking is one of the bases for your professional or commercial success. Developing a large network of contacts can allow you to raise capital when you need it, new clients, evaluate your employees; validate business ideas or the public exposure favorable to your endeavors.
4. Investments in Marketing:
Usually there is always little budget for this topic. It is a constant. We must be creative and be able to achieve with less, more.We must recognize that both sales and Marketing are present throughout our lives. We are ALWAYS negotiating; we are ALWAYS selling something or buying something. Therefore a simple change of LOOK that seems little can be an interesting investment in Marketing, sure that when talking about Marketing THE FIRST that came to your mind were PROMOTIONAL ARTICLES, FACEBOOK, JOURNALS etc. Not always the best Marketing comes from these sources, although all of these are necessary, the best Marketing is what people think about you, your work, your company. You have to remember that there is always a client in front of you, or are your employees, your bosses, your partner, your family etc.
5. Strength:
Or high resistance to failures, they are always present. Murphy’s law is seriously enforced. When you think that everything is perfect, something happens that makes it imperfect. This characteristic of being “strong” is fundamental to be successful, because it makes you recover from the disappointments you may encounter on your way. Do not measure your staff by your measure. Do not expect from others the same as you are and that you give, especially for example, your partner, your children, your partners in the company, your employees. You can be many times disappointed if you are not prepared for it.Prepare for failure and you will succeed. The knowledge of your specialty will give you strength, the knowledge of the people gives you strength and everything that gives you strength is, in my opinion, a solid base for your success.
6. Knowledge and Forecast of all aspects related to the business world:
To achieve success you must have a vast knowledge of many aspects of your business. You need to have accounting, legal, economic, and financial & tax knowledge, but you must take into account that at some point you should be assisted by professionals trained in a certain subject. Normally you will not have ALL the control, but if you can have the control of most of the things, it’s fine and you can handle it.Remember to be especially dedicated to observe financial forecaster in your business and be prepared to have contingency plans. Be creative when problems arise.
7. Take risks and be Extraordinary in what you do:
Take risks to differentiate yourself from others, of course, as long as they are calculated and you have a plan “B”. If you want to be a successful and effective person, you must be the first to arrive and the last to leave your place of work. If you want to debate or express an opinion you must know better than anyone else that subject or otherwise hire good advisers. Or as they told me once, you never really know everything, but make it look like you know it.
And in fact there were 7 rules, but this last one is not a rule, rather a suggestion of mine is “BE HAPPY” with what you do. “Be happy” with your life. Not everything in life is money, although it helps a lot, but remember, even if you have “ALL” money in the world, if you are not “HAPPY”, it will not be worth it.
And if you do not agree with me, look at the number of suicides of wealthy people, supposedly successful, and they don’t want to live because they are not “HAPPY”.
About the Author
Katherine Colombino is the CEO of Software & Services Consulting SRL.
