There have been plenty of companies that hit their peak too soon and fall miserably to the bottom of the market, where they lay sad and forgotten. These companies have one thing in common: they couldn’t see the future. Of course, this is ridiculous; no one can see the future. I don’t mean the “That’s So Raven” kind of future seeing, but I mean the calculation and anticipation of the company’s long-term success.
Some businesses are so obsessed with week-to-week survival that they bury themselves in short-term statistics that tell then nothing about the future of their company. They want to know how many clicks their website got, or how many users signed up this week, or how many products were sold. These are all wonderful statistics to have, but you need to start thinking about the long-term.
There are a few things you can check to measure the durability of your business. After all, what a company needs is for it to grow and last a long time, as opposed to tripping over the finish line that came miles too soon. One thing to check (with an impartial perspective) is the quality and irreplaceability of your product. If you sell something that tons of other businesses sell, too, then most of your profits will be wasted away on the competition. To escape that problem, your product needs to be 10 times better than anyone else’s. Products that are entirely new and nearly impossible for someone else to duplicate are key to creating successful monopolies.
The second thing you can check is potential for popularity. Being smart about how you spread your product can help determine future success. This is kind of common sense, but now that the times are a’ changing, you should focus on the modern aspects of today’s marketing schemes. If everyone is online, don’t spend more money on poster-ads than on web banners.
Third thing: does your business have the room for growth? Peter Thiel, author of zero to one, once wrote, “A good startup should have the potential for great scale built into its first design” (51). If a business wasn’t built to become huge, then it will never grow bigger than its design allows.
The last thing is branding. The image of your business should be attractive and modern. However, keep in mind that you could have the best branding in the world, but your business would not launch unless your product is amazing, too.
Overall, there is no set way to make your business a roaring monopoly. The only thing business owners can do is keep learning and finding new ways to lead their company to success.
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