It’s interesting, Apple claims to have served billion application’s to it’s iPod Touch/iPhone customers, in just 9 months. That’s huge! and surely a successful business concept. Considering that several Apps on the Store are for sales, ranging from $0.99 to $9.99. And of course there are the expensive ones selling around $14 – $20+.  That’s definitely a lot of Revenue, both for Apple and the developers. So what is it that makes Apple so successful? Why is it, that this one company does so well doing, what they are doing, while others just keep fumbling  – even after trying to imitate the same idea?

Apple definitely has the edge when it comes down to innovation (Disclaimer: I personally use the iPhone, and just can’t get over the possibilities of the product. I am sure even Apple, might have surprised itself, with the possibilities of it’s own product).

These are a few things , In my opinion. where Apple has got the equation correct. And what other business can do a little bit of learning from.

1. Innovation - Allow innovation within the organization, you will be shocked to discover the creative pool  within your own company.

2. Encourage Creativity – following up on the above point, Creativity will give you the edge over competition.

3. Research and Development – While several businesses shy away from R&D, there is a great ROI hidden from Research and Development, you just have to know how to get it right.

4. Invest in Usability – Again several companies don’t invest in usability testing of their products, which render’s a probably ‘great’ idea to just another ‘good’ idea.

5. Invest in your EMPLOYEE - while this might seem absurd to some, but it’s as important as coming out with a successful product. When an employee is looked after well (I mean monetarily and Emotionally), they will stretch to the extremes of their talents to develop your business. And I think that is the most simplest but most powerful formula for any successful business.

6. Marketing – There are the marketing gurus (MBA’s and IIM) who think no end of themselves, but none of that helps when it comes down to the reality of the market, and surely there isn’t ‘One’ formula that will get it right for you all the time (which you probably used in the last organization and got you lot of compliments).

7. Know your product well – If Apple didn’t know what their iPhone/iPod well, they probably would have never been able to dig into this goldmine. And make sure each and every employee understands your products.

8. Know your Target audience And then target it well – If your a mobile company and think everybody using a mobile is your target audience, you probably should go burn your B-school degrees right now. Apple, understands this well, they know what group of the market will appreciate their product  (and in turn be employed for them for free! talking about and showing-off the product everywhere they go) and won’t mind paying a premium for it. This in turn will inspire the other market groups to have a desire to ‘want’, which will ensure that they convert their ‘want’ to a ‘need’ and when they finally buy this product, while they don’t feel bad about the huge hole in the pocket they just created! (A very nice way of working through the psyche of a ‘save money’ customer), eventually the target audience doesn’t seem so niche as they initially had projected it. Either, it’s pure ‘Luck’ (which, I really doubt) or it’s a ‘master piece’ strategy. And it’s simple. (Also, not to forget they have a really great product there – but that’s isn’t all you need to have a successful business – you need a good plan).

9. Price your product correctly - Based on the above point, it’s important to price your product correctly. While, you might wonder, was it a  smart thing for Apple to set the price of the iPhone at a premium. Had they set the set the price lower, they would have had a large customer base. Think again, if you had to choose between short term growth or long term dominance, what would you choose? Also, when you create a product that the owners will be proud of, you can be assured of a  loyal customer base. And, if you see every other individual showing of the same phone, your sure to get turned off. So probably you will cut down a few million customers with the high price, but then these guys will spend on accessories – be it hardware or software – There you have another successful business venture – The Apple Store.

10. Lastly, Involve your (potential & current) Customers & Communities – Several companies are realizing, how important it is to involve the customer in further developing, improving and extending the product. They are the ones who will use your product and decide it’s fate, so why not let them have a say in the product life cycle and the direction it should go, the Internet is full of examples. Bottom-line, let your customers help your business to grow.

It’s dog’s world, you do a lot of hard work, put in all the energy you have with real passion and in the end, things go bust

It happens to everyone at least once in their life (for the lucky few, but for others a couple of times at least – like a seven year cycle). Worst, for some it could keep happening again and again. None-the-less, such scenarios are tough to deal with, especially when you look around and see others seem to be doing good or at least seem to get luckier by the day. And you wonder, “that person’s really not all that great but he still seems to get the best things coming his/her way all the time! What the heck is wrong with me then! ”

You tend too loose hope and wish this world would come to an instant end! “Yeah! that would be great, that will be an end to all the misery of life, no more depression, no more stress, nothing to every worry about – it’s game over.”

But, we know that this is never going to happen! probably it could if you give up your life or something like that! But then really what was the point of living all these years! You don’t even have a clue what to expect next – after death. (Do you really want to take that risk – it could be worse then )

Or, you look at it from a different perspective. Probably your already at the worst phase of you life or may it could get a little more worst, but after that it just can’t get any worst! When you already at lowest of lows, it can’t get any lower. From here the only way is up, and isn’t that the same direction you wanted to head – ‘UP’.

It’s really ‘mind over matter’, you can choose what you really want. ‘Matter’ will indicate that things around you are really bad and you have failed soo many times already, your just not made to succeed. But that’s when you need to tell your mind – ‘you haven’t come this far, to fail’. Remember the darkest part of the night night is just before dawn (sunrise).

Usually, the climb is the toughest before you reach the peak of the mountain!

This is definitely not the time to loose hope, instead gather all your strength and push forward. Move to win, you have to believe it to achieve it. But, you will tell that I have done that already, I am believing, I am pushing forward but I just can’t see anything happening for me! To that my friend, I have only one thing to say – The bigger your problem, the bigger you success

Don’t loose faith, cause after every dark night, there will be sunrise, and nobody can stop that!

I know there are experts, more experienced than myself and have been here for long writing/talking about success, positive thinking, leadership, relationships, technology, business and the works. So it’s just one more to the pack? One more minor addition that will go unnoticed? One more wannabe? What ‘so different’ about this one, there are thousands, sorry, millions out there in the wild wild web!

WRONG !

That’s exactly what I want to talk about in this post. ‘Know it and believe it!’ you aren’t just another addition to the pack, you aren’t another wannabe. There might millions but you aren’t ‘just one of them’ – you haven’t been crafted with the same raw material with the exact combination of chemicals! You are different; you have something that nobody else in the world has! It’s like a fingerprint – You just won’t find a duplicate!

That said, it is the common approach most of us take whenever we start something new, we approach it cautiously knowing the competition we face, knowing that the chances of survival are bleak. Sorry to disappoint you but you’ve already lost the battle. Here on, it’s going to be a tough road with lot of hard work, there might be returns (due to the hard work) but you won’t excel, you won’t be blessed abundantly.

However, if you choose to win, you have to behave like a winner, you have to know you are going to achieve what you left home for – nothing less. Don’t chase success, get it under you feet and know it for sure that it will follow you wherever you go. The first thing in that direction is to ‘Never’ let the thought of failure seep into your head, ‘never-ever’ doubt your capabilities!
(God’s made you perfect, don’t doubt his creation).

So there you have it, ‘You’ have to take the first step. Not tomorrow, do it Today!

Still wondering why the heading for this post is ‘Everybody can write’? I’ll say it as it is! Because everybody can write, it’s just a matter of believing you can. (Know it and Believe it)

Here I bring to you on the table, that special something that I was created with, that special ingredient that makes me different from the rest of the world! Join me on a journey to success as I, myself scale great heights and share from what I learn.

Do leave your feedback!

Jonah Ramball.

The brain is a powerful organ, equipped to look beyond what can be seen from the naked eye. Its performing capacity is the same for a dim-witted human being as compared to a genius. It’s a shame we fail to realize its power.

Some do, and they go ahead and make history. Reading news, articles or posts on success may give you a temporary adrenalin rush and motivate you to move forward with that brilliant idea that once struck you while sitting at a coffee shop watching the cars pass by.

You get all pumped up, the pen and paper is out and ideas start flowing, soon you run out of space to write – it’s like ‘magic is in the air’ feeling. Complex calculation are storming through your brain and your sure, ‘this is it!’ you’re set to go from nobody to somebody.

But not all is as rosy as you wished, next morning the paper is put under a book to be looked at a little later, before you realize it there are a dozen of books and papers lying over it. Dust mysteriously finds a way over your brilliant idea and couple of days later that idea is no more the ‘million dollar idea’. Worse, you find out that somebody else has already implemented it, it’s as if somebody literally broke-in to you brain and stole it! (Not to forget the million dollars he/she made from it!)

Don’t worry your not alone, there are many that go through this again and again, they have a dream, but they lack motivation. The problem is that they choose to live on motivation from people, objects or anything that is external.

But they have missed out the most important motivating factor, “themselves”. To truly succeed one has to master to art of motivating oneself. That is one of the best known secrets that anybody could offer to achieve what you want to in life.

You have to be able to push your self that extra mile, even when there is nobody is around to cheer you up. It is like bodybuilding, you might be routinely lifting 20 pounds – it might also have also started to seem boring and worthless. But you are going to stay the way you are, unless you push yourself to not only continue with that routine but also lift that extra 5 pounds.

Again, the brain is a powerful organ but the best part is that you can train it – and that’s exactly what you have to do.

Train your brain to motivate yourself, train it to see the bigger picture, to keep your eyes on the goal and not the obstacles in between. Talk to yourself to want to do better – don’t get stuck on doing just okay, you have to talk yourself into doing excellent; beyond excellent would be more correct.

Once you have mastered this art, you are an unstoppable force. No power of any magnitude can stop you from achieving your goal.

It’s not going to be easy but it is possible.