Media Entrepreneurship

Every entrepreneur wants his or her business to grow and prosper. In order to make this happen, though, entrepreneurs must feed their business’ values to achieve sustainability.

To ensure that their businesses are growing at a steady rate, entrepreneurs must:

• Establish the purpose of the business – Every entrepreneur should know why they do what they do, as once they identify their motives, it will guide every decision within the business thereafter. It is important that entrepreneurs refocus their purpose and motives to ensure that their team is consistent and constantly aligns with the business’s path.
• Build a brand – To successfully build a brand, it is crucial for entrepreneurs to determine their target audiences. Instead of trying to please everyone, entrepreneurs should focus on building emotional and personal connections with a certain group of customers who have a particular interest in the brand. The focus on this connection will naturally bring these customers closer to the brand and its products.
• Nurture partnerships and collaborations – Because businesses need attention in different areas such as design, development, finance and sales, it is nearly impossible for entrepreneurs to do everything by themselves. It is beneficial for entrepreneurs to build teams with individuals that have specialized skillsets in order to perfect these different areas of business.
• Have a high customer retention rate – The customer retention rate should be considered from the moment a customer and a brand come in contact. If customers do not have a pleasant experience with a brand from the start, it is difficult for the brand to get a grip on who it is tending to and whether or not it will be able to build a customer base.
• Build a community – Entrepreneurs and their businesses need support. Without a substantial community behind it, businesses may begin to lack structure and lose their sense of purpose.
• Secure repeatable sales – Businesses will have difficulties staying afloat if they are unable to secure repeatable sales. In order to achieve these repeatable sales, entrepreneurs must ensure that their teams are happy, productive and ultimately able to produce quality product.
• Be flexible and adaptive – Without solid leadership in place, it is difficult for entrepreneurs to maintain businesses that steadily grow. A business’s leadership must be flexible and able to adapt to every stage of growth that the business faces. Not only does this require leaders to be self-aware, but also strategic.

While successful businesses also require attention to their business models and ecosystems, these are the main points that entrepreneurs must focus on in order to ensure that they breed sustainable businesses.