5 Tiny Business Habits That Will Make Your Small Business More Money Do these five things every day and you can make more money this year.
By Kc Agu
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It took me quite a long time to figure out one profound truth: Multi-tasking won't always help your business grow. So, for the entrepreneurs who are just starting: Start small. Don't try to do everything at once. Instead, focus on developing good habits you can fall back on later.
Here are some great habits to develop that can help you and your business make and keep more money.
1. Learn to be frugal.
Funny as it might sound, being frugal is actually a habit, and it's one every startup entrepreneur should inculcate into their overall strategy.
Having a big budget doesn't cut it. If you see a way to reduce cost as an startup entreperneur, dive into it. The more money you can save, the more money you can keep -- it's that's simple.
Ask yourself each time you want to buy anything, "Can I possibly get this cheaper elsewhere?"
Whenever you ask yourself this question, your brain goes to work and gets you ideas on how to lessen the costs of the overall purchases. If you keep at it long enough, frugality will become a core business habit.
Personally, I have a list I reference whenever I want to save or splurge on a purchase. For example, I know Hostsailor is super cheap for hosting newly started startups and Site123 is good for creating a do-it-yourself startup site.
Related: 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader
2. Track just one major business metric daily.
From past experiences, I've found that whenever I'm attempting to handle everything at once, procrastination tends to worm into the whole process.
If you're already inconsistently checking everything and trying to keep track of all, it will be better if you consistently focus on just one metric.
I challenge you to look over your business today and find one top metric and dedicate yourself to it.
According to a friend of mine, "Focusing on knowing your core business metric and doing a daily follow-up may sound weird. But what you're trying to do is make it a habit. We keep track of only the most important metric of our bike business and have turned that into habit."
He went on to add, "Making something that brings in the most money a habit means it will consistently bring in money, because habits take a constant shape in our lives and are hard to change. This truth works in business too."
I can't agree more.
Related: 5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich
3. Stretch your comfort zone once a day.
Our brains are naturally wired to save us from doing anything that will put the body under pressure. So, it tries it best to put us in a position where we are safe and comfortable. But, you can't make an impact from the comfort zone.
This is why it's imperative for you stretch yourself daily in your business. Put yourself under intense pressure to do something in your business that is overwhelming and can't possibly be finished in a day.
It's like telling a writer to write 6,000 words in a day when he averages just 3,000 a day. Or sending 100 cold pitches when you haven't done more than 50 a day.
It seems impossible, but you can do it if you focus on just one task and doing it perfectly well.
The more you take these massive actions towards your business goals, the more you accomplish in a week. And only action can propel a business to profit.
This tiny daily habit will make you outwork your peers in your field based on output you all produce. And this habit will affect your income positively because you're putting in more work and seriousness to our craft.
Related: Habits of the World's Wealthiest People (Infographic)
4. Learn one competitor secret a day.
Companies are ruled by trade secrets. While you may not be able to know all of your competitors' trade secrets, you may know learn a few tactics you can finetune and inculcate into your business.
Start your day with Googling a competitor to know what is happening in the news about them.
You can even take it further by subscribing to news aggregator sites. The more you know, the better your strategy will be.
Related: 11 Habits of Truly Happy People
5. Learn the art of delegation.
This is one of the fundamental habits that set the pace for more income in any business. We entrepreneurs all love to do the job because we think we can do it better than every other person.
This mindset was what kept my business from growing for a long time -- and it was terrible for my health. Overworking yourself all day isn't the best way to care for your health and grow your business.
Overstretch the businesss, not yourself or your health. Delegate responsibilities to others and focus on other stuff.
It will save you time, energy and money. Literally write an "I will delegate work today" somewhere in your office you can't ignore.Set it as a daily alarm on your phone. Don't stop until you automatically delegate easily and daily.
