It’s midway through January, in one of the most challenging years ever for business owners.

The opportunities ahead of you are huge. However, you need to get your plans into action in order to navigate the coming months and come out on top.

These evergreen essentials for business success will help.

• Don’t wait for permission. You don’t need it.
• Don’t wait for the perfect time. The time is never perfect.
• Don’t wait for inspiration to appear. Command it to appear.
• Don’t wait for the right opening. Create it.
• Don’t wait for someone to pick you. Pick yourself.
• Don’t wait for the initiative. Take it.

In short: If opportunity doesn’t knock… quit waiting and build a door.

Not long ago, these brands thought they’d arrived.

They were kings of the hill.

• MySpace totally dominated social networking.
• Blockbuster video owned home video entertainment.
• Nokia was the world’s leading mobile phone brand.
• And Internet Explorer had 94% of the web browser market.

Here’s what this means to you and your business, as you navigate the coming year.

Business success is a journey

Small and medium-sized businesses are at even greater risk of this threat.

It happens when a business grows to the point where the owner gets comfortable, stops steering wisely and starts to coast. Decisions are made on autopilot.

The hunger for success, when replaced with contentment, causes a business to plateau. And a business that plateaus soon becomes irrelevant, as their marketplace continues to move forward. The business becomes a dot in the rear view mirror. Growth is sluggish and unpredictable. They work hard, yet spin their wheels.

Here’s how to avoid this happening to you.

The art of steering your business successfully

The art of steering a business successfully, begins with accepting that you’re on a journey. And that your task is to navigate your business through the opportunities and threats ahead.

Remember: Even if you want your revenues and profits to remain the same, you still have to develop your business to account for lost clients / customers or new competitors eating into your market share, etc.

Here are a couple of suggestions.

Learn to identify the danger signs. This might include: Too many months or quarters of weak growth. Too long a gap since you last introduced a new product or service to your portfolio. Too few referrals. Too little awareness of new competitors or new trends.

Learn to spot genuine opportunities. This might include: Identifying gaps in your market. Finding ways to increase the value of your service. The introduction of new products for your existing clients. Seeking out new markets for your existing products. Improving your overall marketing strategy.

My first business mentor used to say that the reason so many businesses fail, is that failure is incredibly subtle. It’s seldom the result of one cataclysmic event or decision, but lots of small, daily errors repeated.

The way to avoid this is to grab the wheel of your business and embrace the art of steering. Fire your autopilot and take control.

The biggest lie in marketing is almost certainly not what you’re expecting.

Here it is.

If you ask the average, struggling business owner about marketing they will tell you the following: “I don’t have enough time for marketing”.

That’s a lie. 

And here are 30 examples to prove it

Whether these business owners know it or not, they are marketing their business all day every day. That’s because everything in business is marketing.

Here are 30 examples.

1. The eagerness you demonstrate for helping your clients or customers.
2. The cleanliness and age of your company vehicles.
3. The way you speak: From the words you use to the warmth of your welcome.
4. The experience you give your clients or customers, which they share with their friends.
5. The way you handle phone calls.
6. The causes that you or your business publicly support.
7. The prices or fees you charge.
8. The type of offers you use to attract new clients.
9. The range of services you provide, especially in relation to how similar they are to what your competitors offer.
10. The confidence you inspire in others when you connect with them.
11. The way you respond to email enquiries, both in the speed and tone of your response.
12. The content you use on your website.
13. The places you choose to advertise.
14. The type of advertising messages you use.
15. The groups your business belongs to.
16. The energy you have for your business.
17. The way you connect with people on social networks.
18. The time it takes you to make a decision.
19. The quality of the photos and other graphics you use.
20. The type of clients or customers you choose to work with.
21. The type of clients or customers you choose not to work with.
22. The leadership you demonstrate.
23. The guarantees you offer.
24. The flexibility you show, when a client or customer has a unique challenge.
25. The professionalism of your marketing copy.
26. The working atmosphere you provide.
27. The way you communicate with your clients or customers.
28. The way you handle problems, both internally and external (client) problems.
29. The regularity with which you achieve deadlines.
30. The way you and your team dress.

It’s all marketing

Everything your business does (or fails to do) is marketing.

That’s to say, it’s giving people a story about your business. It’s setting their expectations. It’s building confidence in your services or creating doubt. It’s telling the world what your priorities are.

In short, if you run a business, you are already engaged in marketing. And you’re doing it all day, every day.

So the question is never if you market your business or not.

The question my friend, is whether you’re doing it effectively or not.