by Adedayo Ademuwagun

Entrepreneur often get too engrossed in chasing profit that they neglect to build their business for the long term. It’s one of the reasons why most businesses don’t outlive their founders even if they happen to stick around for a while.

But you don’t want to be like those entrepreneurs. You want to build something that will still be here in decades and maybe the next century  — something you can pass on to the next generation. Such longevity is possible.

Here are 6 things you should do to build a business that lasts.

1. Develop and communicate a strong vision

Long lasting businesses have one thing in common, and that’s a clear strong vision. Your vision is what’s going to motivate you and guide you on as you navigate through the business world. It’s something you want to pitch to your customers, employees and investors to make them want to get behind your business and be part of it.

It’s got to be something that resonates with the people and is relevant to the times right now. It’s got to be unique and purposeful, and you have to clearly communicate it to everyone you work with on the business so that they know what you stand for, why you exist and what you hope to accomplish with your business.

2. Create an involving environment

If you want people to get involved and get behind you, you’ve got to create the environment that makes people want to do this. You’ve got to involve them. If your workers feel disconnected from your business, they’ll simply do the job as a job that they’re getting paid for and not as something they feel strongly about.

So they probably won’t be motivated to go the extra mile for you or want to make a lasting impact with the company. They’d just want to do their work and move on to the next one.

Customers would also act like that. To them it’s just going to be another business that they patronise and nothing more really. But you want your customers to feel like this business is their business and that they’re a part of it, and that by patronising the business they’re helping the business accomplish something that really matters. That’s one thing durable businesses do.

3. Go the extra mile for customers

Some businesses focus on making a profit. Some businesses focus on making customers and keeping them. The second type of businesses often outlasts the first type. It’s simple. They go the extra mile for their customers.

Durability is the ultimate profitability. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture. Put in more to improve your services and make your products better so that the people who pay for them are more satisfied. Yours should be a business that adds value to its customers and shows that it cares about people and not just their money.

4. Contribute to the public good.

What are you doing for the community your business is based in? What are you doing to contribute to making things better there? How are you touching people? These things are a must for a business that’s looking at longevity.

You’ve got to start from somewhere. One day you hope to be making an impact on a national and then international scale. Start from where you are. Do something public spirited.

5. Keep your staff happy working for you.

Businesses that have a high employee turnover are probably doing something wrong that’s hurting their chances of having a long life. There’s got to be a reason why employees just won’t stay at the company for long, and if you can’t keep people working in your firm for a while before they’re out the door and you’re again hiring new people, how’s this business going to last for decades as you envision?

The basic thing here is to try to keep your staff happy working for you. Decent pay. Nice work conditions. Cordial relationship. A happy staff is more productive and more likely to stay longer with the company and want to build with the company. That’s probably what you should be shooting for.

6. Keep innovating and reinventing

Facebook started as just some college kids wanting to meet girls and have a laugh over pictures. Now it’s used for just about everything from shopping to activism. That’s because the people who run the company keep reinventing the business and adapting to the changing circumstances. You should take a cue from that.

Work on building a business that’s dynamic and constantly reinventing its services and processes to meet the latest needs, stay ahead of competition and serve people better. That’s the way to go if you’re going to build a business that will last for a long time.

Twitter @_Adedayo_.