I am a real sucker for success stories; I love to read about the small start ups of big businesses. When I found this article on MSN I felt the need to share, the article is titled Turning Points: How small businesses made it big. It discusses the business strategies and philosophies that allowed small businesses to exploded into an international market and sustain their brand over the years.
Here are some business success tips from market leaders:
Follow or Start a Craze. This was the key to success of Lu Lu Lemon. This Athletic apparel company was founded in British Columbia Canada in 1998. With the help of the active lifestyle movement and the yoga trend Lu Lu Lemon has become a leading international athletic apparel manufacturer. Yoga has been around for many years and practiced traditionally in the Eastern World. It recently exploded in the Western World and Lu Lu Lemon took an old tradition and made it trendy. This small Canadian Athletic company grossed over $450 million last year.
The Right (Low) Price. Wal-Mart is successful because people always want to save money. Of course business owners want to make money, but by cutting into his profit margin a little bit the founder of Wal-Mart ensured this store would be known for everyday low prices. A good reputation keeps clients coming back over the years. A steady flow of business is better than hoping for a big sale. Wal-Mart started as a Discount Store in Arkansas, it now earns over $400 billion in revenue per year.
Keep the Profit but not the Cost. Mc Donald’s learned the key to success is a strong brand name. Mc Donald’s started as a family business and learned the importance of a franchise name. After rapidly expanding throughout the US, McDonalds opened its first franchised restaurant overseas in 1967. There are currently over 33,000 Mc Donald’s franchises operating today.
Appoint a Good President. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman was not the companies first President. Sean Parker, the founder of Napster was actually named as Facebooks first president in 2004. Sean is most notably known for his contributions to drop the “The” from the title and rename the site facebook.com, as well as his aggressive focus towards global expansion. Facebook currently has over 600 million users worldwide.
Sign a Contract to Become Mainstream. This is a business strategy that helped Microsoft become a household name. After signing a contract with IBM to become the sole operating system on all of its computers, everyone with an IBM computer was now a Microsoft client. Today, almost 90% of all computers run with a Microsoft operating system.
Get a Celebrity Endorsement. If you had to get a celebrity endorsement Oprah would be the celebrity that you would want to have. I don’t fully understand the Oprah craze but it seems that everything this woman touches turns to gold. With the Oprah seal of approval in 2003 the share price of Deckers Outdoor Corporations, parent company of UGG Australia, soared from $5.60 per share to over $56 per share.
To view more of the small business success stories click here.
(Photo by Berd)
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
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