10 Rules for Entrepreneurs

Long time entrepreneur and regular contributor to Inc. magazine, Norm Brodsky has spent nearly 30 years in multiple ventures. In the October issue of Inc., Brodsky shares what his experiences have defined for him as the 10 rules for being a successful entrepreneur. The article is titled Secrets of a $110 Million Dollar Man.

1. Numbers run a business. If you don’t know how to read them, you are flying blind. You don’t have to be the accountant, but you need to understand which numbers are important and why, and then develop the habit of monitoring them closely.

2. A sale isn’t a sale until you collect. The sale does the business no good until the cash it generated is in hand.

3. When your short-term liabilities exceed your short-term assets, you are bankrupt. A certain level of liquidity is necessary to keep the business running in the short-term (12 months or less). A bill collector this year couldn’t care less about the 5-year sales forecast.

4. Forget about shortcuts. Plan and work with forever as the goal.

5. Cash is hard to get and easy to spend. Get it before you spend it.

6. You have no friends in business, only associates. There must be some distinction between your personal life and your business life or both will be soured.

7. Don’t focus on the top line. Gross margin is the most important number on the income statement.

8. Identify your true competitors, and treat them with respect. Competitors can have a strong influence on your reputation.

9. Culture drives a company. In the long run, the boss’s most important job is to define and enforce it.

10. The life plan has to come before the business plan.

To read more on these ten rules, see the entire article available here. For more entrepreneurial advice, check out Norm Brodsky’s column Street Smarts. Brodsky’s most recent book mentioned in this article, The Knack, is now available. This book contains other insights from his entrepreneurial experiences. It was co-authored with Bo Burlingham.