Conceiving an idea that will make money means finding a product or service that people need. It sounds easy, but it isn’t! Eight out of 10 businesses fail in their first two years of operation. Often it has nothing to do with whether the business idea was average, great or even exceptional.
Of course a business idea needs to fulfill distinct market needs. However, there are other very important factors at play when a business venture either succeeds or fails.
I have started several businesses, each totally new concepts within the leisure, tourism and hospitality industries. Firstly there was Blue Mountains Expeditions, a small bushwalking and participatory adventure tour company. It was literally the first of its kind. People often said in the beginning, ”What? We go camping and we have to pay for it?”
Then together with my brother and a syndicate I started Bounty Voyages, running global adventure sailing tours and subsequently taking on the marketing of the First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage for Australia’s Bicentennial. Then we created and grew Select Hotels & Resorts International and later Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Along with four partners I am currently building a unique day spa business called Life Spa International. I’m also involved in Grimm”s Domain, a Hunter Valley retreat that is the idea of my friend Wolfgang Grimm.
A successful business is doing, not just thinking!
Each was, and still is, a great idea. However, many people have commented that they thought the ideas weren’t original, that they had conceived them first. That”s probably true, so surely it isn’t an idea that makes a business successful – it”s something far more powerful.
However, let”s not write off the importance of a good idea too soon. In this day and age, when so many market niches have already been filled, lateral thinking often must be used to find a new service or product or even a new market for an existing product or service.
Understand the business and the markets you are entering
We didn’t invent boutique hotels, but we made them a force in the marketplace. And to find a market niche often requires not only market research, but more importantly, experience. I had learnt how not to run a marketing consortia when I worked for Best Western – they didn’t inspire their members and their members didn”t enthusiastically support the motel network.
Although successful businesses are generally those that have been based on experience, experience alone is only a part of it.
These days I assist many people with their unique tourism and hospitality ventures by lending them the knowledge I’ve gained in my 20 years of specialist marketing. This doesn’t guarantee them success but does help them see their path more clearly. I can help them define more precisely their product or service by giving them a deeper understanding of their market – customers, competitors, overall business environment and what it could look like in the future. But no matter how lucid my marketing and communications strategies are, or how brilliant my advice, this will not assure them success.
Have a clear vision for your business
So what is it that makes a great business idea into a successful business?
The first, and I believe the most important, ingredient is vision. The successful entrepreneur must be able to project their thought to its ultimate successful outcome. They must not only clearly know what they want, but must have a total belief that it will be created and see how it will be achieved.
Because the most successful entrpreneurs are also pioneers, they must have a clear image of who they are and what they want to create. Without this ”vision of success” there can never be business success, which to me is the magical ingredient.
You are your business!
Having a vision that sounds good but doesn’t really make your heart beat faster won’t make your idea into a successful reality. Logic alone will not succeed unless it is also combined with gut feel. You also need drive, tenacity and passion. In other words, don’t just think the business – you must be the business!
It”s not enough to want to build a business purely to make money. Yes, it can be done, but often a business like that cannot be sustained. Most people who try it are motivated by fear – fear of poverty. That is simply not the way to achieve success.
Love what you do
For a business to truly be a long term success there must be passion – a strong desire to do something positive. That’s why I was able to create successful businesses in tourism and hospitality: I love it!
There will be many occasions when the vision is tested, when patience is frayed. You must always stay with the vision. It took years for me to make Select Hotels & Resorts the region’s foremost hotel marketing and reservations consortia for independent hotels, and to help establish Small Luxury Hotels of the World as the world”s most prestigious hotel marketing consortia for small boutique hotels and resorts. People said to me that it couldn’t be done, and at times I nearly believed them!
In the first years I didn”t make money. I supported the fledgling business with other income streams. And only after three years did the money really start to flow. What sustained me were my vision, my passion and my love for what I was doing.
Create a support system with those who share your vision
Let’s not forget that businesses are not just ideas, visions or markets — essentially businesses are people. A successful business must come from a vision that inspires each individual, thus creating not clones but compatible visions that work together. In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Instilling a successful culture in any business requires vision, and attracting like energy within people is the way to sustain a growing and evolving business. Create the support system you need and surround yourself with the people you know can make your vision succeed. You must have a supportive family and friends, as well as good employees and suppliers.
Sure, you can create a one-person business. However, you still need to inspire your customers and suppliers with your vision of success. A business is people and a successful business is ultimately successful people — people who have a shared vision, a love of what they do, and the experience and knowledge they need to navigate the path to success.
Seven strategies for success
So what are the things I’ve learnt along the way? Here are my seven magical ideas for success. These are not universal truths; they are my truths, the ones I”ve gained over 20 years of growing unique and successful businesses in the hospitality and tourism world. They may not fit your reality, but they certainly fit mine:
- Love what you do
If you don’t do something with passion, then your success will be limited. Your success will be in direct proportion to the energy and the love you put into it. - Always have integrity
Ensure that each deal you do is a win-win for both or all parties involved. If it isn’t, it will not work in the long term. - Take personal responsibility for your actions
As soon as you do not take personal responsibility for your actions, your energy flow and thus your business success will be blocked. - Strive to do your best in the ”now”
If you do your best work today, tomorrow will look after itself. Worrying about tomorrow is a waste of time. Sure, plan tomorrow, but don’t worry about it! - Always be true to your vision
Unfortunately the world is filled with negative energy such as jealousy, frustration and fear. Hold onto your vision and inspire others with it. Lose it and your business will wither and die. - Often the simpler the idea, the more powerful it is
You don’t have to invent new products or services, but simply look at existing ones in a new way. - Your first impressions are your best
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your psyche. Your ”gut instincts” are almost always correct – for selecting people (partners, staff and suppliers) as well as doing any business deal.
A successful business is the manifestation of the highest realm of creativity. It is positive thought in action. It is a vision of reality willed into existence by the clear focusing of positive energy. And a growing and evolving business is a vision shared.
