Best Method for Making Consistent Progress in Your Business

Sidd Pagidipati
4 min readMar 22, 2021
Measure your business goals

Progress is key if you want your business to be successful. Not everyone will come up with a revolutionary product that will disrupt the market and be a success from the moment it is released. Progress takes time and effort.

But even before you can measure progress, you need to know your business goals. After all, what metrics would you use to measure progress without knowing what to measure. Businesses that only take revenue into account as progress don’t last too long because it usually takes years for them to turn a profit.

You need to measure progress in various ways and understand the tiniest bit of it is good for your business. But how do you consistently progress in a business? The following tips should point in the direction of progression.

Be flexible

The importance of business flexibility has been a key takeaway from the COVID-19 pandemic. The more flexible your business is, the more adversity it can overcome.

Businesses that leave little or no room for change in their strategic plan will often fail. Yes, planning is vital for business operation and progress but you need to be flexible considering how the market changes. You should be able to pivot as the market changes. So, analyzing the market trends and adapting to them is progress in itself.

Many small and medium businesses might not have generated a lot of revenue during the pandemic. However, the fact that they pivoted and survived is a big deal.

Stay focused

Don’t expect your business to be a success right away, there will be plenty of ups and downs. Be prepared for numerous storms along the way but always keep your eyes on the prize. Be focused enough to zero in on your goals and don’t let little distractions in the form of hindrance deter you from them. Stay committed and make sure you perform all tasks to the fullest of your abilities, no matter how small. That will be key to the success of both you and your business.

A decision maker analyzing reports

Listen to your customers

Your customers can make or break your business. You want to nurture your relationship with them, this will help you understand how to progress your business. Contact existing and potential customers to gain feedback. Use the information provided to determine what works and what doesn’t. Ultimately, you will be more aware of your service/product and make any changes needed to improve your customer service.

Hire the right employees

Hiring the right employees directly links to your business’s long-term growth. You want a team of people that are on the same page as you, this way they will work with you to achieve the goals you’ve set out.

Businesses that have a high employee turnover rate have a difficult time progressing. The reason being management having to spend more time hiring and training people rather than focusing on progress. At the same time, hiring the wrong employees will limit growth. You need to be selective when hiring, ensuring the people you hire are on the same boat as you and understand your business.

Look to the future

No one can predict the future but you can plan for it. When planning, don’t just limit it to your business projections. You need to be on top of innovative technology and processes that can benefit your business. For example, retailers that were slow to digitize during the pandemic didn’t survive.

Always be on your toes if you are serious about business progress. Look for ways technology can improve processes and eliminate redundancies, making your team more efficient.

There are more chances of failure than progress and success in a business. Statistics show that 20% of businesses fail in their first year, 45% in the first five years, and 65% within ten years. If you want to run a successful business, you will need to beat the odds. Which requires some flexibility, determination, and creativity.

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Sidd Pagidipati

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InventCorp. Co-Founder and board member of Simile Software. Made to the Inc 500 #7 in 2009. https://angel.co/siddp