Is my business successful?

So you dreamed about having your own business and being the master of your own destiny. But why do you want these things? What do you believe will follow from being a successful business person?

How do you know whether or when your business has become successful? What factors determine this success and how can you measure it?

Some people would argue that success means money. Some would say that, unless you never have to check your bank account again before you buy anything, you are not successful. Money, material things and a certain type of lifestyle are what some would say are the measures of true success.

Some, on the other hand, would argue that success can be measured in many different ways and what makes one person happy does not necessarily make another happy. There are those who would love to be millionaires and there are those who are already millionaires but have not yet found ‘happiness’.

There are indeed many very wealthy people around but many of them seem yet to be looking for happiness. So it could be argued, therefore, that money does not make you happy.

Success of your business to you may mean that you now have a comfortable lifestyle. It may mean that you have managed to design and sell a certain product which has given you brand recognition for something that you have a passion for. It may mean that you are reaching people who you always wanted to reach. Success for you may mean that you have managed to help someone and make a difference to their lives through your business.

Whatever success means to each of us, there is no doubt that society tends to measure success in terms of the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear. Others judge us by our covers whether they admit it or not, and so we strive to be what other people want us to be in order to fit in. It follows, therefore, that we start to measure our own success by the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear – which can be a dangerous game to get in to.

So what makes a successful business in general terms? Is it one which is turning over millions; is it one which has become a household name; is it one which is turning over steadily each year and surviving the economic climate; is it one that has grown and has employed lots of staff; is it one which stays small but provides excellent service to its regular customers?

Whatever form success comes in, it is clear that it means different things to different people and it becomes ‘horses for courses’. A company could make millions but, in the process of doing so, makes thousands of people redundant and breaks every moral code in the business – or a company could make just a few thousand each year but that few thousand has allowed its owner to provide a better lifestyle for his or her family.

How do you measure your own success?

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