Here's a few that REALLY HELPED ME grow one of my companies from a one man operation to 45+ employees and growing:
1) Do NOT be afraid to start small -- Giant companies are built one experience, one satisfied customer, one solved problem at a time. Many people have this "Get Rich Quick" and "Something for Nothing" mentality. If you have those notions, lose them... QUICKLY. While things may be small when you're building, things happen for a reason and it's your JOB to maximize your personal education from each experience and from each project.
2) It may take Money to make money but TIME is also money -- Not all of us can start off with $$$$ in venture funding. Indeed, sometimes having too much seed capital ends up with the company members feeling pampered and just friterring the cash away. I ought to know, I used to work for a venture capital firm in the Dotcom Mania of late 90's. The firm I word for funded several companies millions of dollars. All of them have gone belly up. I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes for my own personal ventures. Initially, I started 2 companies: 1 with $2000 in 1998 and 1 with $4000+ in 2003. My 1998 academic services company now makes $85 to $120K a year CONSISTENTLY since 1998. My second company is now at over 45+ employees. How did I do it? By realizing that some types of companies need FOCUS and TIME more than CAPITAL. By pleasing our customers and giving them what they wanted, we were able to turn the time we used in finetuning our services into a reliable asset which enhances customer value. Hence, we've turned time into MONEY. We were able to charge less and do stuff for free initially. This later paid off in the form of enhanced customer value which resulted in a loyal client base and high client value (they spend less but get more--our company is more efficient and makes more money even at lower rates). It is not QUICK nor is it EASY. But it can be done. Don't ever think you don't have enough money. If you have TIME you can turn it into money to fund your business.
If you need help turning time into money, you may want to try investing in leased offshore staffing to make your capital stretch further.
3) It is ALWAYS your fault -- The most crippling mentality to have when it comes to business is to always blame another person for your failings. Lose this. Even if it seems black and white that it is not your fault--OWN the situation and understand how you ALLOWED things to happen. It is only if we 1) OWN our failings and 2) LEARN from them that we succeed.
4) Inspired by Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad -- Grow your ASSET column. I began to look at my newer website developments/projects as real estate properties and strategic investments. Not all sites I develop should be kept. Others should be grown up to a certain stage then sold off to people looking for stable middling revenues. Others have the potential to be BIG acquisition targets. Regardless, some principles regarding real estate investment help in deciding a) what ideas to develop b) how to mold projects for maximum resale value c) how to mold projects for easier traffic/brand formation d) exit strategies f) MOST IMPORTANTLY, developing only ASSET projects--those that add value to your bottomline instead of "white elephant" projects that have the allure of "gee whiz" technology but are just liabilities that bleed your company.
Anyway, those are some of the principles that I implement across all my online properties. They work for me and I'm sure they'll work for those who take the time to implement them.
