The Laws of Business Success

By Donald F. Morgan

Law One - Knowledge is Power - Know yourself, know your business and know your customers - inside and out. Define, measure, articulate the basics about each - who, what, where, when, why and how.

The books to read to support this are Michael Gerber's excellent " E-Myth" series.

Law Two - Cash is King. Have twice as much startup capital as your pro-forma suggests, have a cash reserve equal to one year’s personal expenses. Have operating capital in your business (in addition to your startup capital) equal to at least three months of your pro-forma expense projections.

The book to read - "Small Business Cashflow" by Denise O'Berry ISBN 9780470040973

Law Three - Hire for Attitude, train for skill, love them to keep them. Remember, employees are not owners; they live in a different world.

You cannot make an unhappy person happy,
so DO NOT TRY, DO NOT HIRE.

See http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/04/hiring.html for more ...

Help good employees become great and keep them as long as they are growing. Always be looking for new members of your team that are even better than what you already have.

Law Four - What is not written simply IS NOT. Period. Write down everything. Have a written action plan, a written strategic plan, a written mission and vision statement (and share both your mission and vision with everyone!) and keep a daily diary.

The book, "The Checklist Manifesto" by Dr. Atun Gawande!

Law Five - Prepare for the unexpected - have good insurance in place, use professionals to guide you, build into all plans "worst case" scenarios (What if I have a stroke? What if a fire wipes me out? What about getting sued?)

Law Six – Customers matter – treat them well. Implement a customer relationship management program, train to it constantly and test regularly.

The Book – WAYMISH by Ray Consindine and Ted Cohn.

Finally, with a hat tip to the late great Dr. Asimov, the most important Law,

Law Zero -

UNTIL THE SALE HAPPENS, NOTHING HAPPENS.

The Books - "How I raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger and “Hot Prospects” by Bill Good.