Read the list regularly and every time a different observation might stick in your. I promise you that each one of the following principles, rules or tips is worth thinking about.

I have researched this list, but they were ALL acid-tested in my own life and in my own business and I vouch for each one of these personally.

Nothing academic, no long-winded explanations; just the facts.

Add your comments and your rules of success by replying to this post.

PRINCIPLES
Passion is THE foundation of any successful enterprise; more than capital, more than marketing – more than anything else is PASSION. If you are doing it for the money, you will probably fail. If you do because you feel you have to, you will fail. If you do because your dad expects you to, you will fail. There is no substitute for passion.

Purpose: You cannot build a successful business if you cannot systematise what you do in the business and start leveraging other resources (particularly human resources) to execute these activities. This purpose (vision) is translated into specific objectives, which are then measured.

Perspiration: Effort is the third principle. Call it focus, call it discipline call it hard work; but there is no easy way to make money. There are many ways to do it (inheritance, gamble, marry it etc) but he one I like most is working for it.

Productivity: If you want to succeed (in business and in life) you have to be productive. This means you must efficient and effective; you must be focussed and get things done.

1. Choose your customers wisely, because you will be spending an awful long time with them if you do your job right.
2. Ask … (the customers what their pain is…)
3. Ask … (for help from people who know more)
4. Shut up.
5. Listen.
6. Get endorsements and use other customer’s satisfaction to acquire new customers.
7. Customers don’t buy [products, the buy solutions.
8. They don’t buy features, the buy benefits.
9. Discounting is a race to the bottom. Value your solution appropriately; then make sure it works and charge according to its value
10. Be honest, even if it goes against your short-term interest.
11. Continuous learning. Whatever you know today is sure to be out of date tomorrow.
12. Build a system that is geared towards serving customers. If you have to intervene and ‘manually’ address issues, then you are failing your customers. (System is not equal to machine.)
13. The business model is more important than your strategy. (It helps if you can express this as a ‘metaphor’ or an analogy – or even in terms of another brand. e.g. ‘The Apple of coffee mugs…)
14. Your ability to change (quickly) is more important than point of difference.
15. It’s the little things that count. How well do you know what these little things are? How well do you execute these little things?
16. Say ‘yes’ and then figure out how.
17. Authenticity can not be faked.
18. Show up.
19. And show up on time. It is more important than being right: 80% on Monday is better than 99% on Friday.
20. Certainty does not come from following others and doing the same – it comes from persistently showing up and trying something new.
21. Be flexible in your approach, but fixed on the outcome.
22. Prepare like an athlete – even for the day-to-day stuff. Spend twice as long preparing for a sales call than you spend on the call.
23. Opportunity often masquerades as failure
    It is not about winning, it is about a PB (personal best effort).
24. You don’t have to win all the time, just more often.
25. Doing is the acorn from which the oak of achievement grows; not planning to do.
26. There are no shortcuts.
27. Especially in these challenging times, a positive state of mind is not a guarantee of success, it is a prerequisite.
28. The market has no memory – it does not remember your past failures; every new day is a blank sheet. Write your own future.
29. Pressure brings out the best in champions and the worst in losers.
30. Success is simply the decision to do the best you can. And then doing the best you can. It is that simple: Decide, then do it. That’s all folks. You don’t measure it by the bottom line – and if you can accept that, then your eyes might be opened to opportunities that you would not ordinarily have seen.
31. Knowledge >> Credibility >>Trust >>Relationship >> Mutual Rewards.
32. ‘Sales’ is more important than ‘Marketing’ – and that comes from a marketer…
33. It takes preparation to be ready when luck strikes…
34. Fail forward. (Tom Peters OR Mary Kay Ash.)
    If it can be measured it isn’t worth doing.
35. Become AWARE of your impact on other people; change what does not work.

PRACTICES

1. Have an unlimited advertising budget for ads that work. (Seth Godin.)
2. Place ads in publications AND place your market reads. Be sure to reach the non-English speaking market as well.
3. Advertise in creative locations such as park benches, hoardings at construction sites (especially inside a shopping centre), your own car (with magnetic decals that can be removed if you really have to) or sidewalks (use a chalk artist)
4. Inexpensive advertising opportunities exist in Yearbooks, School Newsletters, smaller trade publications and notice boards.
5. Project your own ‘advertisement’ (a simple PowerPoint slideshow) on to a wall or window at night.
6. Send out a FREE sample of your product with a special "two for one" offer − this enables your customer to get a first hand experience of your product in action AND the "two for one" offer maximises your average transaction value.
7. Offer FREE lessons on your service: tax rules, make−up, sewing, hair styling, skincare, gardening, building a pergola etc. By seeing how to get the best use out of your products they're more likely to buy.
8. Always sell one ‘cut-down’ or very basic version of your product (especially service) that is suitable to trial.
9. Hold joint promotions with other businesses. You can offer their products as free gifts when customers purchase at your shop and vice−versa.
10. Offer a free mystery gift with every purchase over $x – where the trigger value ($x) for the offer is greater than your average sale. (Get freebies from your suppliers and/or handout your own branded promotional material.)
11. Bundle your products together like cosmetics companies do. Package some of your poorer selling products together with your most popular lines and promote them as a package.
12. Pick the slowest day of the week to hold a one-day sale. (Perceived scarcity is a key driver of purchase decisions, so be sure to limit the time and quantity (really!) because customers will catch you out if you keep repeating or extending and it diminishes the value of your offer.
13. Offer free after sales service − cleaning or maintenance of purchased product.
14. Offer your customers discounts for each referral they provide.
15. Create a unique lapel pin based on the products you sell to wear at meetings.
16. Always carry business cards with you. Give them freely and ask permission to leave them in places your target market may visit. Print the products you sell or services offered on the back of your business cards.
17. Print a tagline for your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets, e-mails and invoices.
18. Develop a website to showcase your products, services and location and use a memorable URL and include it on all marketing materials.
19. Get a memorable local or toll-free phone number.
20. Use an answering machine or voice mail system to catch after-hours phone calls. Include basic information in your outgoing messages such as business hours, location, website, etc.
21. Include customer testimonials in your printed literature.
22. Show product demos or related videos on a television on the sales floors during store hours.
23. Create window displays in locations away from your shop. Airports, hospitals, and large office buildings occasionally have display areas they rent to local businesses.
24. ALWAYS guarantee your core product. (It does not have to be a price guarantee, but a quality or satisfaction guarantee.)
25. With every invoice, send something nice (from a lollipop to a special offer) to ease the pain. With every transaction, stuff the bag with a reason to return. (A special offer printed on the receipt.)
26. Ride on the coat tails of every sales promotion offered by the suppliers; but stick to your core categories. (Don’t promote non-core items too heavily because customers will get confused and/or saturated with too many messages.
27. Create an opt-in email or print newsletter for your customers. Fill each edition with specials, tips and other timely information.
28. Send hand-written thank you notes to important customers every chance you get.
29. Use brightly coloured envelopes and unique stationary when sending direct mail pieces.
30. Sign up for a newsletter or join online discussion groups in your industry.
31. Use students (or sporting groups that you sponsor) to distribute flyers in exchange for the sponsorship.
32. Ask friends and best customers to write a personal endorsement (in their own handwriting) on a postcard and mail it to their 10 best connections.
33. Always use a PS if do send out a sales letter and write that out manually if the quantities allow.
34. Spray a scent on the direct mail piece if that is appropriate. Commercial scents are available: from freshly mown lawn to the smell of coffee and all kinds of natural scents are available (http://www.air-aroma.com/).
35. Package your knowledge by creating special information brochures, white papers introductory reports and newsletters and distribute freely – or at most offer as an incentive when people sigh up for your monthly newsletter. You can alternatively (physically) conduct monthly clinics about a product or service you offer or schedule semi-annual seminars on related "how-to" information for your industry.
36. Loan your facilities to other groups for a meeting place.
37. Join a trade association or Chamber of Commerce or organization related to your industry.
38. Book a celebrity guest for an event at your store. Use people in your industry or television news anchors or local authors.
39. Volunteer your time to a charity or non-profit organization. Give a speech or volunteer for a career day at a high school.
40. Donate your product or service to a charity event or auction.
41. Send newsworthy press releases as often as needed. Submit to the local newspaper, trade journal or other publications. Create a press kit and keep its contents current so that it is easy to include in your press releases.
42. Create an annual award and publicise it.
43. Choose a regular customer to spotlight as a Customer of the Month. Create a brief write up to submit to the local newspaper about the customer and be sure to give he or she a copy of the article as well as have one framed to hang in the store.
44. Become the official …
    a.    supplier of transportation to the football team
    b.    supplier of stationery to the chamber of commerce
    c.    photographer of the dramatic society
    d.    plumber to the Orchid Festival
45. Provide free t-shirts with your logo to your staff to wear and distribute specialty products such as pens, mouse pads, or mugs with your store's logo. This is relatively cost-effective if you can get it in the hands of enough people or the right opinion leaders.
46. Some great promotional material (e.g. funky t-shirts) that may be highly prized items (think Pirelli Calendars) can even be sold at cost.
47. Create a unique lapel pin based on the products you sell to wear at meetings.
48. Placemats, coffee cups (take-away) and such high volume items are good advertising opportunities – but be sure to pick carefully. (A dentist advertising on a coffee cup (real case) is not a good idea because the associations are all wrong – especially for the coffee shop.) You must pick sympathetic brands.
49. If a competitor goes broke, negotiate with the Telco to acquire the number (toll free or otherwise) and have all calls to that business routed through to your business.
50. Give your product away to Key Opinion Leaders. (Designers have celebrities wear their clothes; restaurants have politicians eat for free. How many plumbers can claim they fixed Pat Rafter’s loo?)
51. If you sell B2B, make sure you have more than 1 connection inside your client company.
52. Never try to up-sell. Start with your best, most expensive option and allow the customer to trade down to a level where they are comfortable.
53. Odd price points (ending in a 3 or a 7 for instance, is more effective than any other price point.)