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Every business owner strives for one common thing: success. Regardless of your industry or the size of your business, success comes in different forms. Some business achievements are very public while others are internal and relatively silent. Regardless of what business you’re in, every business owner should strive for certain achievements that show they are constantly becoming more successful.
Paying More Taxes
Yes, you read that correctly. Before you stop reading, hear this one out. The entire point of starting a business is to make money. Yes, you will hopefully make money by solving problems and making a difference in the lives of your target market, but making money is the ultimate sign that a business is operating successfully on all levels. When you go up a tax bracket and pay more back to Uncle Sam, that is a concrete, mathematical sign that your business is making more money. Because you are making more money, you can feel a sense of accomplishment in having to pay more taxes. For this reason, business owners should always be looking for ways to report a higher income on their taxes, even if it means paying more back to the government each year.
Advice and Accomplishments
People seek advice from those they view as accomplished. If you want to do something then look for others, like Tracy Rawle, who have done it and find out how they got there. Similarly, it is a huge achievement when you are seen as someone in your industry who others turn to for advice and guidance. You may need to monitor exactly what you say and to whom so that you are not burying yourself by giving away all your time and secrets to competitors, but generally speaking, offering mentorship and networking connections actually serves to make you a better business owner rather than a weaker one. While you should not seek out places to give away your brilliance through unsolicited advice, you should always be looking to become such an expert that others want to be like you.
Business Awards
This is one to be careful of. There are lots of awards out there for business owners. Some are general awards for entrepreneurship while others are specific to your industry. You should strive to be honored with awards that have historically been signs of great achievement within your industry and for business owners in general. Be very, very careful, though, of awards that seem prestigious and actually are not. There are many awards out there that will make you feel very honored but will actually require you to pay for plaques, memberships in exclusive societies, and other components of the award. These awards are generally granted to multiple people at once and are available to anyone who pays the necessary fee. It is tempting to collect these awards and display them in your office, especially when you are on a path toward achievement and are desperate for some public recognition. These awards generally end up spoiling your chances of real achievement, though, because they are signs of arrogance. Focus on earning awards that are reputable and, when you do, display them with pride.
All business owners crave great achievement. In the midst of this desire they can lose sight of real accomplishments that happen along the way to being places in the spotlight. As a business owner, you should strive for internal achievements first and foremost. This gives you a strong pedestal to take out into the world when public awards and achievements are recognized by your clients, colleagues, and the community at large.
