What Makes a Business Successful? Top 10 Elements

Maybe you’ve just come up with your first business idea or are looking for ways to grow your business.

Either way, you need to know what makes a business successful. 

After all, you want to avoid being one of the more than 50% of businesses that fail in the first five years, right?

That’s why today, I’m going to show you how to create a thriving business in just ten steps.

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Key takeaways: 

✅ Start with a business model that is profitable and relatively simple to start (such as a coaching or consulting business) 

✅ Research your clients so that you understand everything about the problem you’re trying to solve 

✅ Create a product or service that offers the most value to your customers by focusing on results

What is a successful business? 

Typically, a successful business has long-term profits and growth.

But success is different for everyone. 

For me, success is more about freedom and happiness.

It’s:

• Building a life you love
• Making your clients/customers happy
• Earning money

So how can you make your business successful? Keep reading to find out.

The 10 best ways to make your business successful 

Remember, what makes a business successful depends on your definition of success.

It’s different for everyone!

But whatever the definition, there are some strategies you can use to bolster that success.

Let’s take a look at them:

1. Find the right business idea and model
2. Understand your customers
3. Set clear goals
4. Provide value
5. Adopt a success mindset
6. Organize your finances
7. Have the right systems
8. Learn to prioritize
9. Have a vision
10. Get support

1. Find the right business idea and model 

Most people think that a revolutionary idea is what makes a business successful.

But that’s not true – you just need one that: 

• Offers value
• People are willing to pay for
• Can be started ASAP for very little upfront cost

Believe it or not, your best idea stems from the skills and knowledge you already have.

So think about a couple of things: 

What you’re good at and what people ask you to help with.

Chances are, you can package and sell that knowledge or skill.

For instance, my very first business was digital advertising consulting. And as a consultant, I used the skills I already had from my day job to help small businesses with their ad campaigns.

You see, it’s all about productizing your knowledge, which you can learn more about in this video:

But remember: Choosing the right business model is equally as important.

I recommend coaching or consulting because you get to use the knowledge and experience you already have. Plus, they’re highly profitable one-person businesses.

Here are some of the most profitable niches for coaches and consultants:

• Relationship coaching
• Health coaching
• Life coaching
• Management consulting
• Business consulting
• Education consulting

If coaching or consulting isn’t for you, some other profitable business models include:

• Freelancing 
• Content creation
• Course creation
• Digital products
• Subscriptions

I’ve rounded up a list of 14 here.

And I’ll show you how to choose a business model in this video:

Action steps: 

✅ Brainstorm 10 existing skills you have that you can package into a coaching or consulting package

✅ Narrow down your list to a few ideas

2. Understand your customers

Before you can sell your product or service, you have to know who you’re selling to and what problems you’re solving.

In other words, you have to find your niche. 

I’ll teach you how in this video:

But it’s not enough to just have a niche – you have to know what that niche wants.

And that’s where market research comes in.

All too often, I hear my clients say things like, “I’m already familiar with the market – I’ll just go for it!”

I can’t emphasize this enough: 

Don’t do that!

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not conducting market research to get to know your customers and understand if there’s room for you in the market.

Doing market research is what makes a business successful and future-proof because it shows you:

• Who your audience is
• What their problems are
• How you can help solve them
• How your idea fits into the market

Otherwise, you’re just putting out what you think the market wants, which might be very different from what they actually care about. 

I’ll tell you more about why it’s so important in this video:

Action steps: 

✅ Look at your ideas from the last step and think through what niches you could focus on

✅ Find a few social media groups (such as Reddit or Meta) where your audience hangs out and ask them if they’d be willing to answer market research questions in exchange for a short consulting/coaching call 

3. Set clear goals 

A huge part of what makes a business successful is setting good financial and business goals.

Why?

Consider this: People with challenging goals are 34% more likely to love their job and 14.2 times more likely to be inspired.

More importantly, setting a goal makes you 43% more likely to achieve it.

But they have to be the right goals – ones that are realistic and help you create a vision and plan for your business.

And they can’t be too big, because a goal that’s unreachable is just a dream.

So, instead of thinking, “I want to get a lot of customers in the next six months,” you might think more along the lines of, “I want to get three customers in my first month.”

That’s a SMART goal – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

And if your goals make you nervous…

Good.

Thousands of studies have found that setting high goals enhances performance, motivation, and determination. (Just make sure they’re not unreachable!)

I’ll teach you to set good business goals in this guide.

Action steps: 

✅ Define what goal you’re working towards (for example, taking your business full time) and break it down into milestones

✅ Break down your first milestone into actionable sub-goals

4. Provide a valuable product or service   

At the end of the day, the value that your business brings to the table depends on your ability to solve a problem.

Whether it’s a small, everyday inconvenience or a significant industry challenge, you have to address a specific need to be truly valuable.

It’s all about identifying what your customers want and finding a way to fill that gap with something you already have experience in.

Whatever you choose, keep your focus on the client! Understand their needs, preferences, and pain points. 

And as you grow your business, set clear, measurable goals to make sure you’re meeting these needs. Be willing to make changes when you need to! 

For example, I iterated my flagship course Employee to Entrepreneur over two years to make sure I created the best course for my clients. You don’t necessarily need to work on your product or service for that long, but the point is that you should do whatever you can to create an incredibly valuable product people want.  

Hear more on how to highlight results and value in your pitch here:

Action steps: 

✅ Ask potential customers how they would describe their problem, as you interview them on your market research calls 

✅ Iterate your product/service as you get client feedback to ensure it offers clear value 

5. Adopt a success mindset   

Beyond what you offer, a key part of what makes a business successful is how you approach it.

It doesn’t matter what they offer – the most successful business owners in the world all share one thing:

An entrepreneurial mindset.

We naturally focus more on our failures than wins, and that’s totally normal. 

It’s called the negativity bias.

But when you shift your thinking and embrace an entrepreneurial mindset, you start seeing challenges and obstacles as opportunities.

If you don’t have that yet, you can learn it. 

I had to learn to reframe my thoughts, too.

For example, instead of thinking, “I’m falling behind my competition!” shift it to “Growth is never-ending, and I just need to focus on one thing at a time.”

Here are some other mindset shifts to work on:

It’s hard work, but it’s worth it.

Because you’ll become the kind of leader you need to be to run a successful business: Disciplined, focused, and constantly learning.

If you want to learn more about entrepreneurial mindset shifts, check out this guide.

Action steps: 

✅ Identify the things you’re telling yourself about your ability to succeed 

✅ Reframe those thoughts to more empowering thoughts – and remember to remind yourself of that reframe whenever you catch yourself thinking those thoughts 

6. Organize your business finance  

To succeed, you HAVE to know exactly what’s going on in terms of your finances, including your business costs and profit margin.

Not knowing is detrimental. 

In fact, money problems are why 82% of small businesses fail.

That’s why it’s so important to start a business with as few costs as possible.

Of course, it’s nearly impossible to launch a business for free. But coaching, freelancing, and consulting are some of the most inexpensive business models out there.

And once you’re up and running, organizing your money doesn’t have to be complicated. 

It can be as simple as opening a business and personal account and tracking your spending in an Excel spreadsheet.

Action steps: 

✅ Track your most important metrics (business costs, sales, and profit) 

✅ Track your leads and sales calls to understand how you can improve your business and generate more revenue 

7. Build the right systems 

This is going to sound weird, but bear with me.

A big part of what makes a business successful is getting it to a point where it doesn’t rely on you to keep going.

And that means having the right systems in place.

Even if you’re just starting out, this is something important to think about. 

Because the quicker you can systematize, the better.

I’ll explain more in this guide.

But in short, the systems to have in place are:

• Lead generation
• Sales 
• Delivery 
• Money collection 
• Finance tracking 

For example, if you build up a traffic source that brings in traffic and leads to your business, you have a lead generation system. 

Here’s a great example of a system I use in my business right now:

Action steps: 

✅ Look at what you’re doing in your business that you can automate or make more effective with processes and tools 

✅ Start with the systems that will help you leverage your time and money in the best way right now 

8. Prioritize what matters 

I can’t emphasize enough just how important it is to focus on the right things, especially early on in your business.

For instance, when I started my business, I had a website… that no one looked at.

I wrote dozens of articles… that I didn’t pitch.

And I created an email funnel… that nobody saw.

I was wasting all that effort on things that didn’t matter when I should have been focusing on getting my first clients and giving them what they wanted.

You’ll find that when you focus on the right things, you’ll do more by doing less.

There’s one other crucial thing to mention here: Doing whatever your competitors are doing isn’t what makes a business successful.

In fact, what makes a business successful is constantly thinking, “What matters most to my customers right now?”

Why?

Because you can dedicate more time and energy to solving your customers’ problems.

And remember, they bought from you because you’re not your competitors – you’re YOU. 

👋High five to that.👋 

Action steps: 

✅ Ask yourself, “What’s the smallest step(s) you can take right now to get to your first subgoal?” 

✅ Schedule time in your calendar to focus on those steps (and skip all other steps for now) 

9. Have a vision 

When you start a business, you have to know what you’re working toward.

You have to have a vision.

Think of your vision as an overarching view of what you want to achieve in your business in the coming years.

How do you reach that vision?

By following your mission statement.

For instance, my vision is to help people build businesses.

But my mission is: “To provide aspiring entrepreneurs with inspiration and actionable advice so you can build your own hugely profitable and meaningful business.”

See the difference? 

Action steps: 

✅ Ask yourself, “What is it I do, so that my clients [blank] so they can [blank]?” 

✅ Edit your response into a one-sentence mission statement 

10. Get support 

This is probably one of the hardest things for new entrepreneurs to get comfortable doing.

But knowing when to ask for help is what makes a business successful!

I’ve asked for help in my business every step of the way. 

Early on, I spent thousands of dollars on advisors, mentors, and coaches, all of whom helped me figure out how to get to where I am today.

Even now, I ask for help. 

I outsource most business-related tasks to a team of contractors. And I couldn’t scale my business without them!

You see, outsourcing lets me focus completely on things only I can do, like creating video content. They handle the rest – and it pays off.Plus, it increases efficiency by 25% and customer satisfaction by 10%.

Of course, the kind of help or support you want might be different. 

Investing in programs like Employee to Entrepreneur or hiring a coach or consultant are great places to start.

But here’s what it all boils down to: 

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I talk more about that idea in this video:

Action steps: 

✅ Ask yourself, “What is something other people could do and that’s taking up your time?” 

✅ Look for people (contractors or employees) who can help take off those tasks from your plate

What’s next?

And there you have it! 

Now you know exactly what a successful business looks like – and what makes a business successful.

But at the end of the day, those tips aren’t enough on their own. Because having the right strategy is what really makes a business successful.

Are you still trying to figure out where to start? 

Don’t panic! 

Because I can show you the exact steps I took to scale my business to six figures in just a year.

You can download my FREE step-by-step PDF to learn more:

Read more:

How to Succeed in Business

The Benefits of Owning a Small Business (+ Drawbacks)

Most Scalable (& Profitable) Business Ideas to Start This Year