We all know stories of those rising from humble beginnings to achieve outstanding success and how this revolved around their uncompromising work ethic. Yet get-rich-quick schemes still promise high rates of return for a small investment, in both time and money. Creating an impression to those foolishly drawn in of wealth with little to no risk and little skill, effort or time needed.

There is a common fallacy that if we start successfully in something and it grows, that this will continue and work at scale. But there are some real issues in this belief that those in business need to consider if they are to avoid the pitfalls and make the right choice.

When it comes to market share many believe that the goal should not be to gain your unfair share, but rather to gain optimum market share. A point at which there is a balance between market share, profitability and risk. The point that if you venture beyond there is insufficient additional profit and quantifiable benefits to compensate for the added risks you would expose your business to. Gaining your unfair share is not always the best venture.

Experts suggest that business owners should regularly spend 20% of their time working on their business rather than in it. The Pareto Principle supports this, suggesting that 20% of our activity generates 80% of our results. Research also confirms that not spending sufficient time working on the businesses is one of the underlying reasons for business failure.

Add the financial benefits to the other advantages award winners enjoy such as enhanced reputation, differentiation, free publicity, increased trust, a higher profile and better staff moral and the question is: Can you afford not to be adding awards to your marketing mix?

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Yet many companies make the mistake of investing in crafting the perfect website, exhibition stand, sales email, print advert, networking event or social media campaign and then sit back and do nothing with the enquiries generated. Something we have all experienced that creates a bad first impression and is unfortunately more common than you may like to believe.

Every business has competition. Even if not directly competing there is always an alternative way to solve the problem you are solving, even if your solution is ground-breaking. Whilst competition can be unnerving, distracting and at times you may often wonder if your competitors do things simply to annoy you, if viewed in the right way competition is really good for your business.

Whilst incentives may help to acquire new customers in the short-term, you had better hope that you have a plan to engage with them to establish an on-going, positive relationship, as in the long-term there is no better incentive than a great product and amazing service.

Understanding and positively embracing the concept of failure can become a Launchpad for positive change. As John Backus, the American computer scientist responsible for the first computer programming language said, “My willingness to fail, gives me the ability to succeed.”

Success gives us ammunition for the future regardless of merit, talent, aptitude, or social networks. When something succeeds, we learn what worked — and we can do it again. And the next time, we’ll probably do it even better.