7 Habits of Highly Successful Creative Business Leaders

Optimism is a true sign that you’re a creative business leader. You’re the type of person who continues climbing the mountain despite the freezing temperatures or hardness of the terrain. Quit.  Nah.  The word’s not in your vocabulary. That’s great!  But (you had to know a ‘but’ was coming) if you’ve been in business for three years or longer, you know it takes more than optimism to keep a business thriving.

7 Habits That Can Take You and Your Creative Business to the Top

Successful creative business leaders regularly practice 7 habits. Start practicing these successful business habits so you can position your business for more winning sales and record setting net revenues.

• Track business cash flows – In his autobiography, John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing Company (e.g. Ebony magazine), said he checked the financial records at the start and close of each business day. When you track business cash flows, you can quickly spot trends, changes and areas demanding your attention.
• Invest and save – Just as investing and saving helps to grow your personal finances, it also helps to grow your business finances. Intelligent investing and saving can ensure you have sufficient cash flow during challenging economic seasons.
• Study the market – Research, study and know the market/s your business operates in. Anne Wenzel of Econosystems says, with the right research and business acumen, your company can survive any economy. Researching and studying the market requires you to know who and where your customers are. You also need to know the habits of your customers (e.g. where they grocery shop, if they attend church regularly, if they are married or single). You also need to know whether the industry your business operates in is on a decline or upswing, and what key factors are moving the industry in certain directions.
• Focus and keep it simple – Create clear and well defined business goals and objectives. Listen to your gut and focus on your goals without taking over-complicated steps to achieve your business objectives. It was a key to Steve Jobs success as noted in a May 25, 1998 BusinessWeek article, where the technology genius said, “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
• Be open to change – Not much is certain in this world; howbeit, change is. Don’t be an ostrich. Don’t bury your head in the sand when you experience cash flow, sales, customer relations, etc. challenges. Address those challenges directly. Be willing to increase or decrease staff hours, purchase or sell parts of your company (major corporations do it all the time), enter new business arenas or take on temporary work for another employer (especially if you’re a solopreneur) to help keep your business in the black.
• Build a successful business team – As your business grows there will likely come a point when you’ll have to build a successful business team in order to continue to meet consumer demand. Even Oprah Winfrey had to concede to this. In a Hollywood Reporter interview and when discussing changes at OWN, Winfrey shares, “I’m allowing for Sheri (Salata) and the team to plan two days of full surprises. I’ve given up control for the last two days. It’s a lot to relinquish.” Oprah Winfrey goes on to say, “It’s a completely different show than when we first started and it was four people sitting in a row. I was booking guests myself, and then going out to the Limited and shopping after. The time has changed! I used to go to the Limited and buy a $29.99 dress and then tequila shots for everyone. Those days are over. It’s time to bring this phase to an end.”
• Stay optimistic – Keep your optimism!  You’re gonna need it to move through some of the “I’m not sure how this is gonna turn out phases” that owning and managing a business bring.  But stay aware and awakened.  Accept facts, continue to work you vision, know when to build a team and usher in change.

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