The Brain-Based Keys to Business Success

The keys to business success are not what you think.

If you're looking for a list of steps to follow, you've come to the wrong place.

Sure, I can provide a step-by-step template, such as:

- Conduct exhaustive research and find your niche.

-Stay focused on your niche and provide a coveted product to a hungry audience.

-Diversify your offerings, but keep them all connected to your niche.

- Monitor the competition, but don't obsess over it—you can't do everything they do, so focus on what you do best.

- Mirror what your competitors are doing well, but add a unique twist to these methods to create unique selling propositions.

- Perform detail record-keeping and ensure all your operational needs are met.

- Ensure your customers' needs are thoroughly met and grow your relationship with them.

- Engage in effective marketing techniques and split test whenever you can.

Blah, blah, blah!

This kind of template is not helpful because you have to get to the nitty-gritty of your field and learn all the details inside-out. 

Many times, you simply learn through baptism by fire and trial by error.

Let me tell you a secret:

The actual keys to business success are the things that you don't know. They're the things that everyone else seems to know, but you don't.

And if you want to be successful, then you need to go out and find those things—those secrets—and make them your own.

It’s easy enough to give advice about how to succeed in business; unfortunately, it’s not as easy to attain.

The real secret is knowing how to find out what works best for YOU—and then putting yourself out there to try new things until something clicks — for you and your prospective customers.

The Keys to Business Success - A Brain-Based Approach

It's no secret that when striving toward business success, it's important to have the right mindset. In fact, it's so important that I've created an acronym for it: PERSIST:

P stands for patience.

This can be a challenge for many people, because we all want instantaneous results—but in order to succeed, you need to wait patiently while you work on improving your business.

You might not see results immediately, but if you stay focused on your goals and keep working diligently every day, committing yourself to excellence, they will come eventually.

Businesses are always in motion—they're constantly changing and evolving to keep up with demand, stay ahead of competitors, and meet additional needs.

But if you want your business to succeed, you have to work through the slow periods that come with change. If you give up on your business because things aren’t happening fast enough or in how you’d like them to happen (which is inevitable), then you’ll never make it past those slow periods

Many businesses go through long periods of stagnation before they take off again—and even when they seem stagnant, there may actually be a lot going on behind the scenes.

It’s important not to lose sight of that fact: even if things aren’t moving quickly for you right now, there are probably still some big changes coming soon.

E indicates excellence. 

No matter what stage of growth your business is right now, it's important to strive for excellence in everything you do. This means doing everything with passion and care, so that customers feel confident buying from you and look forward to purchasing more products or services from your company again in the future.

In order to ensure excellence, a business owner must manifest integrity.

A business without integrity is like a house without a foundation: it will crumble under its own weight. Without integrity, you won't be able to keep your promises or commitments and will lose the trust of your customers.

If word gets out about this lack of integrity, it can spread quickly through social media and other outlets, damaging your reputation beyond repair.

Trustworthy companies benefit from sales, repeat sales, and word-of-mouth advertising.

Here's an unstoppable combination: Stellar product + fair pricing + honesty = business success. 

R represents resilience.

It’s inevitable that things will go wrong sometimes—but instead of letting setbacks get you down (which could lead you into making poor decisions), remember how important resilience is for business success.

You should learn from your mistakes and use that knowledge to succeed.

Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties. It’s a trait that’s important in business, where success depends on being able to weather the unexpected and bounce back after failure.

One example of a resilient business is Amazon.com. In 1994, Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos with $1million in startup capital. After launching their website in 1995, they had trouble getting orders fulfilled at first. They couldn’t keep up with demand and had to refund customers who hadn’t received their items.

However, instead of giving up on the idea of selling books online, Bezos doubled down on his vision for what Amazon could be and kept working hard until he got it right. Today, Amazon has a market cap of more than $1 trillion dollars—an incredible achievement for such an early-stage company!

S stands for self-confidence.

It’s important to note that self-confidence is not a trait you can just manufacture overnight. It takes time and practice to become confident in yourself and your abilities, but once you do, it will help you achieve your goals.

So how do you build self-confidence? There are three principal ways:

1. Believe in yourself! You can be successful and achieve great things in your life. All it takes is some encouragement from others (and even yourself) to get started on this path. Trust yourself and believe in your abilities. And remember to acknowledge and celebrate each small step along the way—no matter how small those steps may be.

2. Take action! Once you’ve decided what you want out of life, take action by setting goals for yourself and working toward them every day. If there’s something holding you back from achieving success (like fear), then overcome those obstacles by working on yourself so you can reach that next level of greatness.

3. Surround yourself with other people who support your goals—and vice versa. When everyone around you is encouraging you toward success, you’re more likely to pursue and achieve your dreams.

4. Remain positive that your hard work will pay off, and never let your optimism about the outcome waver when challenges arise.

I represents innovation. 

Innovation sets your company apart from the competition and allows you to stand out in the marketplace.

Innovation is also what makes it possible for companies to grow and prosper. It allows them to change their business practices to accommodate a changing environment.

But innovation isn’t just about coming up with new ideas and products—it’s also about making things better, faster, and more efficient.

But how do you innovate? How do you make sure your company stays on top of its game? Here are some tips on how to get started:

- Get creative! There are no rules for innovation, so don’t let yourself get stuck in a routine or fall into a rut. Experiment with new ideas and approaches every day in your work.

- Keep an open mind at all times; don’t be afraid to fail.

Fear of failure is a major issue for many entrepreneurs. While it’s important to be cautious and thoughtful in business, it’s also important not to let fear of failure stop you from reaching your full potential.

Let’s look at two types of fear: fear of failure and fear of success. Fear of failure can keep you from making decisions and taking risks. It can lead you to be overly cautious and miss out on opportunities that could lead to success.

On the other hand, fear of success can keep you from taking action because you believe you don't deserve success. Alternatively, you may think that once you attain success, you will be incapable of sustaining it. 

Being afraid of either one will hold you back, but as an entrepreneur, it’s important to find a balance between these two extremes so that your business remains on a positive course.

- Set aside time in your day for creative thinking and problem-solving. This can be as simple as a dedicated hour once a week, or it could mean carving out space on your calendar every day at 3:00 PM. It’s important to set aside time specifically for these activities so that they don’t get crowded out by work-related matters like emails, meetings, and other obligations.

- Listen to feedback from your employees and customers—and use it. Encourage them to give suggestions about what could be improved upon within the organization itself (as well as outside of it) and take those suggestions seriously when considering changes that might lead toward innovation. 

- Come up with a list of challenges that you face, and then try to find solutions for each one of them (even if they’re not perfect).

- Think about how technology can help you solve these challenges.

S stands for savvy selling.  

In order to be a successful salesperson, you have to be able to understand what people are looking for. Being able to do this is key because it allows you to connect with your potential customers and make them feel like you understand their needs and desires.

Understanding your clients' needs is also important because it lets you know how best to approach them. If you know what they're looking for, then you can tailor your pitch accordingly.

The best salespeople are the ones who have the most empathy for their clients. They understand what their clients want, and they help them get it.

That’s why good salespeople are great listeners. They don’t just hear what prospective customers say—they note their tone and body language, so they can really understand clients' points of view. They also ask questions in order to get more information.

Again, it's about being able to understand people’s needs and desires so you can help them solve problems or achieve goals through your product or service.

Now let’s talk about neuromarketing, which is basically understanding how human brains work in order to better market products and services.

Behavioral psychologists have been studying this phenomenon for decades now—and it turns out that our brains don’t always behave rationally! Marketing has grown because marketers have learned how to take advantage of this by using subtle cues like colors, fonts, free offers, advertising verbiage, and more that trigger unconscious reactions in us.

John Assaraf, author of Winning the Game of Business, looks at it this way: Neuromarketing is a business strategy that uses neuroscience to influence buyer behavior. It goes beyond traditional marketing, which focuses on the customer’s conscious mind, and instead aims to trigger unconscious responses by appealing to their emotions and subconscious desires.

This can be done through slogans or images that trigger an emotional response in the consumer. For example, if you’re selling shoes, you might use a picture of someone running on a beach or jogging down a street with your shoes on their feet. You could also use phrases like “You’re going places” or “Inspired by success."

These types of words have been shown to elicit positive emotions in consumers because they make them feel like they’re already successful at whatever they aspire toward doing with your product or service—and that’s exactly what we want them to feel when they buy it.

According to Assaraf, neuromarketing is based on two guiding principles: that consumers respond positively to certain stimuli and negatively to others, and that consumers are not always aware of their own preferences.

Neuromarketers try to influence consumers' purchasing decisions by appealing to both these principles. This can include everything from playing music with a faster tempo during an exercise class so that participants are more likely to move faster, or even changing the color of shelf space in a store so that shoppers are more likely to buy products placed on those shelves.

(See the video below to better grasp the all-important concepts of neurosales and neuromarketing.)

As an entrepreneur, you need to learn how to harness the power of human psychology to get your customers to buy your products or services.

T represents teamwork.

A key to business success is a reliance on teamwork.

Hiring the right outsource support, finding effective mentors, establishing joint ventures with knowledgeable partners, adding reliable employees, etc. all help you achieve success.

If you want to be successful in business, you need to surround yourself with people who are going to help you succeed.

Whether it’s a mentor or an important partnership with another company, there are many methods you can use to expand your business network and strengthen relationships.

And remember, view customers as partners, too. Customers are the backbone of any business. Without them, you’re nothing but a man or woman sitting in an empty room trying to figure out what you’re doing wrong.

Customers serve as motivation to strive for excellence; they’re the reason your business exists at all.

And yet many companies don’t bother listening to those customers! They don’t ask for feedback—they just take it for granted they know best on how their product should be marketed or priced or distributed.

Consumers are key stakeholders in any business. They have unique insights into what makes them tick, and they can help you improve your products and services if you hone your relationship skills.

Final Words - Become Business Minded

The brain and character attributes are keys to business success.

In recent years, the field of neuroscience has made huge strides in understanding how we think and behave. We now know that the brain is an organ that is constantly adapting to its environment and responding to our experiences.

This means that our thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships all impact the way our brains work—and this affects our ability to succeed in business.

In order to be successful in business, you need a strong character foundation built around the “Persist” acronym: patience, excellence, resilience, self-confidence, innovative thinking, savvy selling, and teamwork can help you advance and expand your business beyond measure,

These traits will help you build trust with your colleagues and clients; they will make it easier for people to work with you because they feel heard by you; they will help you overcome challenges that arise during business dealings.

Moreover, they will help guide your decisions so they align with your values; they will help resolve conflicts more effectively; they will inspire you to adapt and change methods when you have to improvise or revise plans; and they will help you remain steadfast in your belief that you can succeed as you embrace a “never give up” attitude.

This “persist mentality” may be the key to business success.