What's the No. 1 key to a successful business? A great business plan? No. Lots of money? No. Location, location, location? Close -- but what about all those successful restaurants that are hidden away? And with the Internet, location has become less important.
No, if you listen to the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce's three nominees for Small Business of the Year, none of them mentioned that stuff at the chamber's annual awards luncheon Monday. Rather, they said, the key is much simpler, much more obvious:
It's people.
It's getting good people and treating them well and empowering them. It's wanting more for them than they want for themselves. It's loving the people who work for you.
That's what has made small businesses Cudos, Dino's Chicago Express and Jani-King of Augusta so successful. It was clear in the three videos that introduced their nominations at the luncheon. And it was crystal clear as winner Audrey Snuggs, owner of Cudos awards and gift store, gave her acceptance speech.
She talked briefly about starting the business in her garage, and how her mother handed down her exemplary work ethic. But mostly, Snuggs wanted to talk about her team -- general manager and partner Sloane Wiggins and all the others. Snuggs wanted to make the award about them. And she did -- verbally engraving an award for each of them.
Snuggs said her mother would be proud of her sharing a stage with keynote speaker Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. But Isakson turned it around: He told Snuggs to tell her mother that he was proud to share the stage with someone like Snuggs, who represents the small-business backbone of America.
He's absolutely right.
Other Washington politicians love to blather about creating jobs this and that and blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of hooey. The truth is, people create jobs -- people such as Audrey Snuggs who are willing to put themselves on the line every day to achieve the American dream.
The successful ones do it by caring about people -- as Snuggs' mother taught her, paying their employees before themselves; paying vendors before they expect it; and to "not only be financially responsible but socially responsible."
That is what makes a small business successful. And it's what has built America.
Kudos -- or, rather, Cudos -- to them all.
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You are right that certain influences work wonders. Dino played first base for Lakeside and practiced hitting in his backyard off a tee everyday. He may not have played for Chicago (his parents's home) but the same ethics are at work here.