Your business doesn’t have to be a unicorn to be remarkable. Just significant!

09 Feb Your business doesn’t have to be a unicorn to be remarkable. Just significant!

In the pursuit of success, entrepreneurs often dial up the hustle and turn themselves into nervous wrecks as they push themselves to succeed faster, better. If that’s you, ease up. While a successful business is the goal, you don’t have to have to be a big slammin’ unicorn to make your mark in business.

Here’s why…

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The entrepreneurs we’ve worked with are some of the most successful people in their fields. They’re tenacious and gritty, passionate and curious. They worked hard on their expertise, learning as much as they can to grow themselves and their businesses into something noteworthy.

You might think these are super successful folk making a mass impact on the world and raking in million-dollar profits. Perhaps they’re even invited to appear on 76 podcasts a week. Well, not necessary.

Our clients are regular people who found a way to make a sustainable living from doing what they do best whether it’s coaching, building schools, cyber security, marketing or e-commerce.

They reached their “here” by focusing on one simple objective: Using their business to continually solve the problems of their clientele. Day by day. Year after year.

Our clients’ successes are humble. You won’t necessarily spot their names in Forbes Top 30 or find them featured in magazines. However, they’re rather well-known and acknowledged by their community.

Why does this matter?

In entrepreneurship, true success is not only defined by how much money your business can make. It’s about how significantly it can help customers.

New entrepreneurs often start off their journey on the wrong foot by placing importance on the rewards of entrepreneurship instead of what value they can provide. This looks like desiring the outcome of a successful business.

However, the picture of success is painted sensationally, looking like tidal waves of profit, industry reputation and networks with cool people. A private jet. Etcetera etcetera.

What a setup for stress and depression…

Truth is, only 1% of the world’s population travels for lifestyle or work in a private jet. Striving to get your business into that percentage is a lofty goal because it takes more than hard work and a unicorn idea to place yourself there.

What you are privileged to have, however, is the ability to CREATE your own opportunities.

As an entrepreneur, you have something profitable to offer the world be it ideas or a skill, service or a product. Or simply, by being Y-O-U.

“Great entrepreneurs have the ability to change the way we live and work, on local and national bases. If successful, their innovations may improve standards of living, and in addition to creating wealth with entrepreneurial ventures, they also create jobs and contribute to a growing economy.”

– SHOBHIT SETH, Investopedia

Small or big, ALL companies contribute in their own ways to the ecosystem. Notably, over the past 10 years, entrepreneurial projects have been playing vital roles in national economies, spurring progress and discovery, driving innovation, and creating jobs for the populace.

According to a study, SMEs are responsible for more than 90% of radical innovations today. This means that the entrepreneurs are no longer just the creators of a new business BUT are potential changemakers.

That means, no matter how small your company is, it can absolutely make an impact as long as it provides some kind of value.

Wait. That sounds overly simplified, you say. What about sustainability? What about money? If there are payrolls to make and overheads to pay — not to mention, bills and a family to feed — how does settling for small lead to a financially sustainable path?

Allow us to change your perspective.

Presently, it’s 2022. And there are teenage entrepreneurs out there running businesses by doing something as ordinary as mixing classroom glue and naming babies in China. That means it’s less about extraordinariness and more about filling gaps.

In other words, it returns to being able to provide value.

While money is important to fuel your company and livelihood, it shouldn’t be the only measure of value. The real questions you ought to ask are bigger. Like…

 What kind of problems are you solving?

• How can your business idea, or product help make someone else’s life easier?
• What is the greater value you are providing here?

Remember, a business doesn’t have to be extraordinary to be successful. It just needs to continuously solve problems for others.

Think about it this way: We all know a great neighbourhood restaurant, a wonderful bakery or a cosy bookstore we love to go to. The one thing they have in common is they’ve been running sustainably for years.

Being significant to your customer is more important than being impressive.

A small business, humbly packaged, is totally capable of generating sustainable profit if you know the kind of value you’re providing exactly. As an entrepreneur, people do business with you because you have something unique to offer that fits their needs.

You could be their favourite coffee place because you’re passionate about Arabica beans. You could be their preferred life coach because you have the wildest, esoteric insights. Or you could be that wildcard consultant who ALWAYS has a solution for the odd gaps in their business plan.

When you know WHAT you can contribute to the bigger socioeconomic picture and HOW your business might help someone else, you are in the best position to meet a demand.
Oprah Winfrey says it best…

“Don’t worry about being successful but work towards
 becoming significant and the success will follow.”

– Oprah Winfrey

So, make your business as useful as possible. Solve problems. Create jobs. Go for breadth instead of heights. Be extraordinarily good at the work you do.  Figure out more ways you can make your customers’ lives easier. That way, you’ll continually build significance without needing to strive to be a unicorn.

Besides, unicorns are one in a billion. And your business doesn’t have to be one to be successful.

All it needs to be is SIGNIFICANT.

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If you’re an entrepreneur looking for business guidance but aren’t sure where to start, or how, come chat with us.

Hello, we are 8S2Business! We are business consultants with more than a decade of experience helping businesses put their ideas in motion.

 We currently provide consulting and professional training to help support entrepreneurs transition their businesses.

To learn how we can help you, drop us an email at [email protected].
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