Encourage Independent Thinking

Encouraging independent thinking among your team members will generate new ideas and give everyone a stake in your business’s success. To make it happen, you must be willing to listen and engage with everyone, taking advantage of the different experiences and perspectives of your team members.
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Document Your Philosophy

Do you know what your business stands for? Do your team members? Do your customers? A great corporate culture is an important contributor to a business’s success, and documenting your philosophy is a foundational step. Then you need to communicate it to everyone and make sure you uphold it.
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Bad News Doesn’t Get Better with Age

Small business owners have to deal with reality. You cannot solve a problem by ignoring it. Bad news will not get better with age. An open culture means being open to honest feedback of any kind, whether positive or negative. Mistakes are ok, but you have to recognize them and move on.
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The Brand of You

Everyone talks about brand. But in a small business, the most important brand you can build is the brand of you. All the little details of how you run your business will communicate your brand to customers, much more than the things you say your brand is. That brand is you.
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What Does Your Business Believe In?

For your business to really succeed, it needs to be about more than just a product. You need a deeper purpose guiding your decisions. Companies that have something they really believe in have a better chance to succeed. Find the beliefs and values that make you unique, and let them guide your decisions.
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Invent Your Opportunities

You never know which opportunity will end up being the one that really turns into something big, but if you don’t ever try, then you’ll never get anywhere. You have to always be thinking, always moving, always improving. The one thing you can’t do is sit back and wait for things to happen to you.
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How Do I Innovate?

It’s easy to say that businesses need to innovate. But it’s a lot harder to actually do it! Successful innovation comes from your business’s core insights—the way you think and the way you use your resources, knowledge, and skills.
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Don’t Fall in Love with Your Ideas

Being excited about your idea is a good thing, but you need to stay objective about it. Remember that for every idea that works out and turns into a great success, there are many others that don’t. It takes a lot of strength to move on, but sometimes you have to do it.
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To Succeed, You Must Be Willing to Fail

It’s not use to be afraid of failing. Everyone fails. The difference is how you respond to adversity and failure. Successful people get up, think about what happened, identify ways to get better, and use that knowledge to succeed the next time. Do you see failure as an obstacle, or an opportunity?
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Success Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Do you ever wonder how people at the top got to where they are? The answer is simple: hard work and fundamentals. It can be tempting to look for a shortcut to success, but the only route to lasting, sustainable success is through perseverance and a focus on getting the basics.
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