"Execute The Basics, Flawlessly"

Sometimes I think about all the businesses I've failed at and wonder where the hell I went wrong.

If I had to self diagnose my business personality, I would definitely say that I
am a serial entrepreneur. There is something intensely exciting about starting a new project and watching it come to fruition. However, sometime between the first buds and fully ripened fruit, I seem to lose interests. Not completely, but enough to want to move on to the next start-up.

Problem is, this always occurs right around the break even point and never before profitability.

I doubt that I'm the only one with this affliction, because all of us have been very close to true success and have fallen short.

This past Sunday I read an article about McDonald's and how they are thriving despite the faltering economy and deepening recession. A couple of years ago this was not the case, but McDonald's simply went back to their roots. The company revisited the way they operated and returned to "executing the basics, flawlessly," according to Bob Goldin, a food industry consultant.

Of course McDonald's pockets are way deeper than mine (and yours, and our momma's put together), but there plan makes all the sense in the world. They had the money and organization to carry out the execution of the plan, but so do you - if you tap all your resources.

Whether you sell chewing gum or chartered flights, music or machine guns, you still have to "execute the basics, flawlessly." Your product might be different, but the skill set remains the same. You have to know the people you are selling to or working with, the product you are selling, and the place where you are selling it. Your price has to be competitive, but profitable to you. And lastly, you gotta be able to promote your self and your company. McDonald's refers to it as the "five P's", I consider it the pentagon of profitability.

So what ever business you are in, have been in or have failed at (like me), are thinking about starting, or struggling with, take a step back and figure out if you are truly executing the basics flawlessly. My suggestion is that if you can see at least five ways to improve in each category: "people, products, place, price, and promotion," you should be able to increase your business by 25% this year.

In college, they tell you to keep it simple students, in business, it's more about executing the basics.......flawlessly of course.

-whatdabusinessis.com