20 Habits of Highly Successful Business Owners

Everyone knows that small to medium sized business are a major contributing factor to stimulating our economy. As one of these small business owners, its vital for you to understand the several top habits of the highly successful business owners in order to help strengthen your community, personal and overall business success.

As you read below, take notes and see how many of these habits you currently implement. Then see how many you actually need to start. Now please forgive me for any errors this may have as I am not a professional writer (yes I am actually writing this and not hiring some blogger to do it for me.)

The purpose of me writing this is to give business owners some different-yet highly successful habits they can begin to implement into their business that will begin yielding positive results as they move into 2016 while taking some golden nuggets that they can begin to harvest right away.

As we come into the 4th quarter and then the new year, some of these habits will be vital to ending your 2015 year out strong and getting a fast yet successful start for 2016.

Successful business owners: 

1. Create and Pursue highly focused goals with challenging deadlines: Successful business owners are constantly setting, obtaining and resetting highly focused goals. Goals don't have to be set in stone, in fact they can and will change over time. When you hit a goal, reward yourself and your team, then re-set a new higher goal. This should be broken down into Annual, Quarterly, Monthly and even weekly or daily goals to ensure you are on target.

As you enter the 4th quarter, NOW is the time to start reflecting on your previous 3 quarters performance, make any adjustments you need for the 4th quarter and from there start planning your 2016. Make sure they are extremely specific goals with challenging yet obtainable deadlines. Push yourself and your business into the best year yet.

Question: Are you ready for the next quarter or year?

2. Make logical and informed decisions: How does a business owner expect to make great decisions for his/her business if he/she is not well informed to make an intelligent decision? Be sure to make logical decisions based on obtaining the correct information and doing your proper due diligence. This goes for every major business decision. Taking immediate action after you do your due diligence will help jump start you in the right direction.

3. Take Decisive and Immediate Action: Once your due diligence is done, its vital that you take decisive and immediate action AFTER you have been informed. The key is to get the due diligence done as quickly and as precisely as possible, then take immediate action. Successful business owners are the doers and not the naysayers. When these successful business owners say they are going to do something, THEY DO IT. Procrastination is not an option.

I am sure you have heard that saying "Action speaks louder than words" well it is very true in business. Taking decisive and immediate action will force you to move into the direction of your goals. These successful business owners map out their goals, then once they have it mapped, they take immediate and decisive action to start accomplishing those goals.

Too many business owners "TALK" the talk but do not "WALK" the walk. In fact many take their sweet time to make a decision and by the time they make a decision, the opportunity has passed. Don't be a naysayer, take action!

4. Maintain a "DAILY" to-do list: Most successful business owners have a prioritized list of "to-do's" that they need to make sure is complete or is being checked off daily. Now this can be delegated and reported back to them or it can be a collaborated team effort. However, they organize their to do lists every day and check the to do's off as they get accomplished.

You can do this in the morning before you get to work or you can do this at the end of your day planning for the next day. Do what ever works best for you and your schedule BUT DO IT. Are you tracking your daily to do's? How are you monitoring what is getting done vs. what is not getting done? Are they prioritized by most important tasks to least?

5. Wake up 3+ hours before work: About 45% of successful business owners do this. Most entrepreneurs work around the clock and much longer than a typical 9-5 work day and sometimes having that earlier start can give you a little more time to organize your business or personal thoughts. It may also give you some personal time before you start your long day.

As an example, I typically use the mornings to knock out my workouts and focus on me and my personal development time to start my day out right. No excuses!

Questions: How do you start your day? What are your current habits when you wake up? Could they be adjusted for the better?

6. Take care of their health & family: To many business owners, this isn't even a forethought. They simply throw this out the window. They focus, focus, focus on their business working long tedious hours and never take the time to set up an appointment with their most valued client and employee-THEMSELVES.

Neglecting your health and your family is a recipe for disaster and heartache. I have seen it all to many times. Divorce, hear attacks, bankruptcy and much more. Heck when it came to my health (being an avid fitness guy) I started seeing myself fall into that trap and realized I am no good for myself, my family, my clients or my business if I continued to allow my health and mental state to go down hill. I immediately took action just as you can and should do and trust me when I say I promise you will begin to feel better if you are not already taking good care of yourself.

By not taking care of yourself, you are fogging up the mind, decreasing energy levels, slowing down the decision process, increasing blood pressure and possibly self sabotaging your relationships and business. There are harmful elements that can be happening in the back ground to you and your family by not working on this balance.

Question: Are you moving at least 15-30 minutes day? Are you going for a walk, work out, hitting up a spin class, doing yoga, or have enrolled into martial arts class? Do everything you can to work just as hard on your health and family as you do your business. Make the proper appointments with you and your family as they will thank you for it.

7. Read 30+ Minutes per day (ABL- Always Be Learning): Successful business owners are almost obsessed with learning new things. You should have a deep burning desire to better yourself and your business. It doesn't have to always be about your business. In fact it can be about personal development, public speaking, leadership, love, spirituality, or anything you like. Just ABL- Always Be Learning and creating new skill sets.

As I described above when waking up early, I personally take this time to not only work out but read a few chapters of a new book every morning until I finish it, then I start a new one. This is a daily thing. By reading daily, it keeps my brain in a constant state of learning, growth and improvement. This can be said for you as well. Never stop learning and never stop growing. No excuses.

8. Taking full responsibility for your mistakes-OWNING IT: There is something to be said when a business owner takes full responsibility for something that went wrong in their business versus pointing the finger at someone else. As an example when an employee makes a mistake, the owner might realize that mistake was on him/her due to not ensuring that employee was properly trained or what ever that case may be. They take on the challenges of the mistake and look to remedy the situation.

Successful business owners do NOT make excuses, they own it, take full responsibility and fix the situation. Then while learning from that mistake, they ensure it never happens again.

Question: Are you taking full responsibility for things in your business and personal life or do you point the finger at someone else?

9. Focus on making small continuous improvements: If you are not evaluating and making adjustments or improvements to yourself, your education and your business, then your competition may leave you in the dust. Successful business owners are always making small continuous adjustments to improve their overall business and life. Adjustments such as establishing new positive HABITS. Never stop learning, never stop growing by making those continuous improvements to your education, your health, your family,  your business and your HABITS. 

One of my favorite books "Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson talks about all the little things that add up over time. It's all about HABITS. Its all about making those small continuous improvements "DAILY" that add up over the years to be something MASSIVE. Lets face it, empires like Facebook or Microsoft are not built over night and neither will your business. However, it can be built up when you enforce these new habits and make small continuous improvements daily.

Question: What small improvements/adjustments are you doing daily or weekly that are making a difference in your business?

10. Measure & Track Their Progress: Successful business owners constantly measure and track their progress. You can't fix anything that is not measured simply because you don't know its broke. There is that saying "If its not broke then don't try to fix it." Well how do you know if a process or system is broken when you are NOT tracking results or progress of that process or system?

Question: How are you tracking your results or are you?

11. Listen to Audio books during commutes: Over 63% of the nations wealthy always educate themselves. Whether they are driving to a meeting or flying home, they always plugin and listen to audio-books when reading is not an option. Educate yourself during your commute make it an education on wheels time. For some people this IS their only alone time.

Question: How are you spending your drive time? Are you listening to the radio stations top 40 or are you utilizing your drive time as Ford/Dodge/Chevy/Hyundai/Toyota University?

12. Are Relentless: There is much to be said about relentlessness. To be a successful business owner you got to be relentless and quick. The fast eats the slow and being focused on relentless determination will help you get to where you need to be. Many missed opportunities are typically due to slow decisions. Recognize the power of SPEED to get things done quickly and efficiently. By accomplishing this while being relentless you will stand out among the crowd.

Question: What was the last thing you did that was considered relentless?

13. Start What They Finish: Successful business owners always finish what they started. Being relentless in finishing what you started. Having the strong mental attitude to keep you moving forward. Constantly keeping to do lists while  checking them off, by plugging into education and self motivation will help you stay on track and finish what you have set out to accomplish.

Question: What have you started and finished lately?

14. Willing to get uncomfortable: Getting uncomfortable is the successful's way of being comfortable. They have switch the motherboard out for just the opposite outcome. They have had a major shift in the way they thing. Working outside of your comfort zone, is the only way you can expand. It's the only way to push yourself while forcing you and your business to really grow while making the necessary changes needed to bring the positive results you set out to accomplish. It's eliminating and overcoming that fear of taking a risk or changing the way you do things. Its not being afraid of the unknown and not pushing yourself or your staff to new heights.

If you stay in your box (comfort zone) and not make the adjustments needed to build and maintain a strong business, then other competitors will pass you by taking on your market share. Lets face it, its only a matter of time before either you or your competitor moves to the top simply due to someone willing to no longer be comfortable.

Question: So how comfortable are you with getting uncomfortable? 

15. DELEGATE-Create a Team of strong professionals to work with: This is KEY when building a successful business. You simply can NOT do everything yourself. Having the proper team is IDEAL to running your business like a business and not a hobby. By having a solid team of professionals, you will have ease of mind knowing that certain parts of your business are being handled by a trusted professional. Someone that has strong skill sets in that particular area vs. having you having to do something you know nothing or very little about. Start putting your "POWER TEAM" together. This can be internal employees or contracting consultants. Just make sure they have YOUR business' best interest in mind and not theirs.

Questions: What does your power team look like right now? Does it need some work?

16. Spend time with positive people & maintain a positive attitude: Have you ever noticed that successful people hang around other successful people? Well that isn't by accident. Ups and downs happen to every business owner. The difference lies in a business owners determination and strength of mind. To help with keeping the mind strong, these individuals set out to be around other like minded positive and influential people who can help lift them up and vice versa. There is something to be said regarding the energies of upbeat enthusiastic successful people that its so contagious you have to get more of it. Be sure to align yourself with others who are already where you want to be and learn from them while building wonderful long lasting relationships.

Question: Who is in your trust tree? Who are the people you hang out with that you aspire to become like or aspire to obtain their level of success? If the answer is no one, then its time to go hunting. 

17. Learn from every mistake (no mistakes just lessons): Every successful business owner looks as a mistake not as failure, but that of a new lesson in education they didn't know until that moment. Now that they have fully experienced this "mistake" and they make sure that this "learning lesson" is never forgotten and to never do it again. They take what one may look at as a negative situation, and they spin the positive into it to help them GROW to become more. Again this is part of getting uncomfortable and expanding your thought process. A mistake is nothing but a mere learning lesson to help you move up the learning ladder or in other words move up the success ladder with your business.

Question: What was the last mistake you made that you didn't realize is a great learning lesson? Go back and think about this for a moment. You may just have an AH-HA moment.

18. Avoiding the trap to make things perfect: You can waste time trying to make every thing perfect, or you can work "ON" your business, take action and get results. Many business owners fall into this trap. There is nothing wrong with wanting things to be perfect, but news flash..... We do not live in a perfect world.No matter how perfect you think you have something, it can always be improved.

Successful business owners do not SWEAT the perfection aspect, why because they are focused on bringing in revenues, and making constant small adjustments to get their business which brings them closer to perfect. But as you constantly change goals and make adjustments to your business your ideal of perfect itself can and will change. Simply put do not focus on perfecting your business, focus on improving your business over time and focus on growing your business by utilizing some or all of these habits.

19. Knowing the right time to obtain capital: Successful business owners utilize the power of leverage. They know that the absolute best time to borrow money is typically when they do NOT need it, when their business is healthy. Why, because that is the ample time lenders are willing to give it to you whereas when you "NEED" it may steer good lenders away.  

When I say capital funding that could mean a large line of credit or some type of financing tool that allows them to draw from when their business needs the additional capital. Now some may not qualify for a credit line and only qualify for a term loan, well that term loan can be utilized for many things including building or establishing the proper reserves for your business to weather any future storm.

You see one of the biggest mistakes business owners constantly make is looking at obtaining capital only when they "NEED" it vs. when they "DON'T" need it. They don't think they need it because their business is healthy or doing well. Here is the problem with that. When a business owner "NEEDS" capital funding is typically when their sales have dropped, they have more expenses coming up that they can't afford, or they have too many outstanding receivables tied up that are not paid causing significant cash flow challenges.

Well I hate to break the bad news, but banks and lenders "DO NOT" want to lend to a businesses that is unhealthy.  This means a significant amount of NSFs, low average daily bank balances, inconsistent revenues, poor personal credit, poor corporate credit (due to untimely payments to vendors) and much more. Now don't get me wrong, there are other aspects and "NEEDS" that a business might encounter that do not have to do with cash flow issues such as purchasing a large amount of inventory to improve margins and bring a larger ROI. However, I am talking about the masses that seek capital when they truly need it due to major cash flow challenges.

The successful and the wealthy understand that if they can KEEP their own money and use someone else's to make them a nice return on their investment, that is the ideal way to go so why use their own hard earned dollars? This is called arbitrage or leverage.

Leverage used correctly yields high returns and the best time to get funding is when your business is healthy which is most likely when you think you don't need it because things are going good. Now don't get me wrong, you can obtain funding when you "NEED" it, but it typically comes at a higher cost if your business falls into that "cash flow challenged" or unhealthy category.

The key and point I am getting at here, is do it when you are healthy to get the optimal funding options for your business. When you need it may simply be too late and your options tend to fade or yield higher costs. Every business that wants to grow needs capital to do so.

By obtaining capital while your business is healthy, you can and will typically get a much better approval from a lender due to your business being in a position of financial strength while being able to easily service its new debt vs that of a position of financial weakness. Set yourself up for success by looking at financing options while your business is healthy. 

If your business is not healthy and you need capital financing, make sure no matter who you work with has a game plan to help put your business in a stronger financial position and get you out of any high cost loans they may have put you in.

Question 1: As you plan out your 4th quarter and 2016 year, are you financially prepared to weather ANY storm that may come your way? 

And Finally...........

20. Build a business to sell: Most of the nations wealthiest business owners with a net worth over $5 million and annual revenues over $160k or more sold their business to help generate an influx of wealth and then started another business venture or re-invested it elsewhere. By building a business to sell the right way and by creating the right team of professionals to assist with your business and its growth, your business can be worth far more than you ever imagined to another company or buyer. But it takes building that business to sell the RIGHT way versus the wrong way. Even if you don't plan on selling, make sure you build it as if you do plan on selling.

Why should you build it to sell even if you know you are not going to sell?

Well great question. Things change and your kids may not be the backup plan (having kids take over the family business) you always hoped. Besides building a business as if you were to sell it for the highest dollar is creating amazing habits that you can utilize to keep your business healthy, fully capitalized, self sustainable and profitable. Lets not forget those habits and skill sets are fully transferable into starting another business venture.

CONCLUSION: There you have it 20 top habits of highly successful business owners. Thanks for reading this post as I hope you enjoyed the read and have began to start putting things into action.

Here at Obsidian Capital Investments, we pride ourselves on being one of those valuable "Professionals" to help you build your business to sell. By focusing on the financial and credit aspect of your business with our capital funding and VCFO-Virtual Chief Financial Officer services, we can help assist your business with improving your overall capital reserves, credit, revenues, bankability and overall profitability.  Be sure to contact us if you would like to setup a complimentary SWOT and financial analysis or have any questions regarding any of the above mentioned habits. 

Now take these golden nuggets and get yourself on the path to the greatest year yet, 2016.

Thanks and here is to your success!

Joshwa Fuchs

Obsidian Capital Investments