Jim Connolly Marketing

  • Home
  • About
    • About Jim Connolly
    • Jim’s small business marketing newsletter
    • Top Marketing Tips for 2026
    • Privacy Policy
    • How I use cookies
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
  • Let’s Grow Your Business

10 Habits of highly effective business owners

Updated February 2022

By Jim Connolly | September 8, 2017

 

business development
charles deluvio

Here they are in no particular order.

So, let’s get started.

  1. They value their time. Time is your most valuable asset, yet many people surrender control of it. Guard your time. If you do, you’ll always have enough time to do all the things that matter each day.
  2. They are approachable. If you want people to get in touch with you, they need to feel comfortable doing so. Some business owners are distant. Others are snarky. Warm and approachable is way more effective.
  3. They are brave enough to risk being wrong. They know that the only people who never fail, are the people who lack the courage to try, (which is failure in itself).
  4. They avoid costly detours. Don’t waste your time on shortcuts or growth-hacks. Shortcuts to success fail you on 2 fronts: Firstly, they’re seldom shortcuts. Secondly, they never lead to meaningful success. Instead of looking for shortcuts or hacks, look for the most direct, proven route.
  5. They demonstrate leadership. Leadership is something you do. It isn’t something you self-proclaim. It’s an ongoing habit. So lead. And be very suspicious of anyone who calls themselves a leader.
  6. They listen with intent. They listen to their clients. They listen to their marketplace. They’ve figured out that the more they know, the better their decisions will be. This allows them to create better products, better services and massively better relationships with their clients and future clients.
  7. They are useful. They’ve figured out that the more useful they are, the more the marketplace will value them. This is closely linked to number 9.
  8. They know that they can either be criticized or be ignored. There’s no middle ground. Every decision you make either helps your business stand out or camouflages it.
  9. They turn up. If you want to remain relevant to your clients, customers and marketplace, you need to turn up regularly with something useful. A newsletter, blog, vlog or podcast are proven ways to achieve this. Bonus: By showing you can be relied on to regularly share ideas, you start earning the trust of your marketplace before they even speak with you.
  10. They commit to lifelong learning. They read the books. They get expert advice. To see the effectiveness of this approach, we only need to look at those who take the opposite route. Those who don’t study and think they can do everything themselves, place a very low ceiling on their potential.

I hope you found these ideas useful, my friend. If you did, get to work on at least one of them today.

IMPORTANT: If you want to make more sales, boost your profits and grow an amazing business, this will help you!

Creative Marketing Tips

Get my best ideas delivered direct to your inbox. Just add your email below.

You can unsubscribe at any time. I respect your privacy.

Jim Connolly

Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I use creative marketing to help small business owners increase sales, boost profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

Featured by

marketing advice, marketing help

Categories

  • AI (7)
  • Blogging (407)
  • Business development (493)
  • Copywriting (307)
  • Creative Marketing (1,668)
  • Email marketing & mail shots (187)
  • Professional development (545)
  • Social media marketing (358)

Hosting provider

20i hosting

Search

Recent posts

  • Sign your work. Grow your business August 17, 2026
  • Get creative: Let others market your business for free! August 7, 2026
  • Traditional marketing is dead July 27, 2026
  • The stupid game July 13, 2026
  • Hey! Not so fast! July 6, 2026
  • How to get your fees right June 23, 2026
  • A 3 shot espresso for your business June 17, 2026
  • Unproductive? You’re probably just bored June 12, 2026
  • Make AI grow your business June 8, 2026
  • It motivates people to take action, now June 4, 2026
  • Is your business one of the 50% that prospects now avoid? Probably! May 30, 2026
  • Give your best ideas away for free. Here’s why May 12, 2026
  • AI is wiping out your competitors. Now take their market share May 5, 2026
  • Powerful words for your marketing toolbox. Part 2 April 29, 2026
  • Your social media is sending an important message April 27, 2026
  • When was the last time? April 23, 2026
  • Jim, why are my sales numbers down? April 20, 2026
  • The secret sauce you were looking for, is here April 15, 2026
  • A few things worth learning, from the top small businesses April 9, 2026
  • Be optimistic. Because all this is true April 2, 2026

Creative Thinking?

My Creative Thinking Website
  • Home
  • About
  • Let’s Grow Your Business

Copyright © 2026 Jim Connolly