What Makes Companies Great? Bad?

People go into business with the intention of being successful. No one puts up a company expecting to fold or to go bankrupt. The goal is to succeed and in the long run, eventually become great.

What Makes Companies Great? Here are some important factors shared during the Traffic and Conversion Summit 2013 that contribute to a company’s success:

Great Leaders

Great leaders are: Fair. Calm. Inspirational. Mentors.

Competitive Advantage

Unfair advantages:

  • First mover.
  • Price.
  • U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition).
  • Selection.
  • Legal.

Measurement

  • Know your metrics. “What gets measured gets managed.””
  • Break even.
  • Cost to acquire a customer.
  • Product performance.
  • Employee performance (gross sales per employee).
  • Customer success.

Seek Opportunity

Where can we grow?

  • International.
  • Cross markets.
  • Line extensions (what else will your customer buy that you’re not selling?
  • Joint ventures.
  • Licensing.

Leverage

What can we leverage?

  • Other people’s money.
  • Other people’s idea.
  • Other people’s energy.
  • Other people’s trust.
  • Other people’s innovation.

Genuine Ethics

Who are you really?

  • Charitable giving.
  • Employee success.
  • Vendor success (the people you buy from need to make money, too).
  • Partner success.
  • Customer love.

Urgency And Commitment

How driven are you?

  • Commit or leave (nothing will ruin a good employee faster than them watching you tolerate a bad one).
  • Money loves speed.
  • Speed attracts talent.
  • Talent drives innovation.
  • Innovation drives value.

What Makes Companies Bad?

  • Lack of vision.
  • Lack of leadership.
  • Lack of commitment.
  • Lack of scalability.
  • Bad/no numbers.
  • Poor management.
  • Flawed business model.

Are You in No Man’s Land (Or Why Your Business Isn’t 20 Times Bigger Than It Is). Here are 4 Reasons Why You’re Likely Stuck:

Lack of marketing

  • #1 killer of small business growth. Marketing is the lifeblood of every growing business.

Lack of talent

  • Top people usually work for companies that are growing.

Lack of systems

  • This usually comes with good people (crucial to scale).

Lack of capital

  • To fund only growth after 1, 2, and 3 are addressed.

If you are a startup company or you are wondering how to take your company to the next level, use this list to assess where you are right now. Ask yourself if you are happy where you are or you would like to have a bigger slice of the pie and act accordingly.

Commissioned Work or Commissioned Creative Vision?

Creative ownership has always been a controversial issue. Demarcation lines have been difficult to draw with the coming of the information or digital age. As far as WordPress themes go, a piece of work that emanates from the WordPress author, known as the creator or artist, and transferred to the recipient often identified as client, becomes an arduous task because the artist is oftentimes unable to remove or distance himself from the work of “art” even if it has long left his hands.

For example, a WordPress developer or professional, commissioned to work on a project and whose work has been accepted by the client has intrinsically turned over all rights to his design and has received remuneration for it. In essence, the client now owns the work. However, the designer is still credited to the public eye and both are at the mercy of the terms and stipulations of the legal contract between them.

The coming of the internet/digital age has birthed governing rules such as Creative Commons or GPL where artists openly share the rights to their work to the public under specific licenses or terms of use thus complicating further the very delineations that are supposed to protect the interest of the artist. But where do you draw the line? In the eyes of the WordPress author, the output can be treated as artistic and creative output while to the client, the full rights to the use of the output, specifically, the WordPress theme created, belong to the latter once money is exchanged.

Discussions continue to be controversial. Schools train and teach multi media students how to treat their work and how to avoid exploitation or unjust use of their artistic output. But this is not so in the “real world” marketplace where copying is a “generally accepted” practice. It is not uncommon for a best-selling WordPress theme to birth clones and spin-offs of some sort in a matter of days. How do we address the idealism of upcoming authors and developers who are scared that their designs might get ripped off? The exposure and professional experience of seasoned web developers have given them the wisdom and resilience to cope with these real world ripoff concerns. But this should not discourage those who are can add to the pool of creativity because of fear.

Thankfully, there are many mentors within the WordPress community who are willing to give back to the community and pay it forward to those who are just starting. The dialog is also always ongoing. This is perhaps what makes the whole WordPress community strong and what makes its members continue to thrive.