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Almost every business has access to the following three important people as a part of their business life. But the difference between the successful business owner and one struggling for success could lay with how they leverage the relationship with these people:

1. Do You Know Your REAL Customers?
I cringe when I ask a business owner to tell me who their target audience is and they respond with “everybody.” Wrong answer! You want to clearly identify the people that are most likely to buy from you, then build all your strategies on reaching those people. Yes, you may have sold occasionally to a 23-year-old woman, but seven of the last 10 of your customers last week were women between 35 and 55-years-old.

2. Do You Know Your INDIRECT Competition?
One of the first steps of effectively managing your business success is identifying your direct competitors. But it does not stop there. You must also identify your indirect competition. These are places other than your direct competitors where your potential customers are spending their money or time instead of with you. A restaurant’s direct competitor is obviously another restaurant, but the option of a customer staying in and eating at home is indirect competition. A fitness center’s direct competition is another local fitness center in town, while their indirect competition could be a popular online weight loss program or even a health food store.

3. Have You Identified an INDUSTRY Mentor?
Choose a business or business owner that is where you want to be when you “grow up.” This is a person that has the same or similar type of business you have and is at a level of success where you are striving to grow to. This is really great if you’ve identified someone outside of your own state or area but in a similar-sized market. This gives the mentoring business owner the comfort of advising a non competitor while still sharing insight and advice that is relevant to your business needs.

It may seem overly simplified, but knowing these three types of people is the difference between working on your business rather than working in it.