Seven secrets for a successful business (and more) by Junaid Jamshed
About Junaid Jamshed
Junaid Jamshed was once a very popular name in the music industry and later was listed by The Muslim 500 as one of the World’s Most Influential Muslims for his involvement in charity work. He also owned a business in the clothing industry.
This article is based on one of his talks at a seminar and only lists down a few noteworthy points out of many. The below is just my summarized interpretation of the talk and may be inaccurate. Watching the referenced video on YouTube will be far more accurate, provided you understand the language.
Charity increases wealth
When money starts rolling in the market, inflation starts to disappear. Charity does not make you less wealthy, but in fact, increases your wealth in the long term. Collective happiness can be achieved by the act of giving whereas holding money though can make you rich, causes unhappiness in people.
He gave a simple example of how a business can be successful by doing charity. He explained that when you perform charity to the poor, to fulfill their personal needs, they end up buying the products you sell with the same money that was spent for charity in the first place.
Do business to benefit people, not just to earn profit
There are countless articles, books, and studies around the art of maximizing profit. There are also various ethical and non-ethical strategies to keep your money graph going up.
If you do business in a way that benefits your customers and people in general and earns their trust, your success will come over time and you will be a part of an environment where everyone is happy.
When buying something, pay the right price
It is very natural for people that when they buy something, they try to degrade the product by finding all possible flaws in it so that they can get away with paying as little as possible for the deal. On the other hand, while selling a product, we try to promote even the minute features of our product and make the most money as we can from the transaction.
The best price is not always the least price. When you pay an appropriate price for an item for what it is worth (or even more if possible, though that may sound stupid), it can help create a balance in society where both the parties are happy at the end of the deal.
Success of a business is not a measure of your wealth
Money should be spread out to people and should not accumulate in the hands of a few. When money stays with only a small part of the society, the gap between the rich and the poor keeps increasing and it adds to the financial imbalance even more.
When money is distributed a little more evenly, the financial imbalance tends to disappear.
Pay back to people who help you in your cause
There are times when you feel stuck and there is no way out. Some people help us out of such a situation just for the sake of goodwill. Helping them back does not only demonstrate a gesture of paying them back but also encourages such a selfless act in the entire community.
Keep re-investing the money you make
All money earned should not be considered as profit. Part of it has to also go back as a re-investment. One of the most effective ways of achieving a successful business is to constantly keep re-investing and expanding your business.
Return policy is not an impotent policy
Having a “no-return” policy does not only look like a red flag but it also in a way hinders customer satisfaction. Accepting returns may look like a small loss at that moment but can help you establish a good business eventually where the customer feels valued and they will be more open to trying your products knowing that they can return them if it does not work for them. However, what if your product is really good? The ratio of satisfied customers to unsatisfied customers will be far greater and make it easier for you to bear the loss out of those returned goods.