Every entrepreneur should take these 5 business lessons from Oprah

folarin okunola

February 22, 2017 11:26 PM

When she was at the top of the TV game, rather than renegotiate her salary, she renegotiated the ownership of the program, the studio where it was produced and a stake in its distributor.

Oprah Winfrey

No one can say Oprah Winfrey is not one of the most inspirational people to walk the earth. In business, life and everything in between, very few have come close to Oprah's level of success.

While not everyone can have Oprah's kind of success, there are important business lessons today's entrepreneurs can learn from her many decades of business endeavours.

Here are five of them:

1. Success takes time.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking the business is just gonna start making money overnight.

But the truth is that it typically takes two to three years to build a solid foundation and ensure the business is steady.

Same thing happened to Oprah - it took about three years for the Oprah Winfrey Network to get its foundation settled. Make sure you have planned, not just for the business, but to support it - and yourself - financially or otherwise for about three years before you know if the venture will work.

2. Promote yourself.

Oprah has built her brand around being her and this makes her her brand very consistent. You can tell how efficient this strategy is because just about everybody on the planet knows who she is. Take a feather from Oprah here and be willing to promote yourself, your business and your services consistently.

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3. Work with great talent.

Just as Oprah has mastered the art of self-promotion, she's also surrounded herself with incredible people. Not only does she hire people like Adam Glassman, her creative director for the oprah magazine, internally, she has also launched the careers of designer Nate Berkus, self-help guru Dr. Phil, personal finance goddess Suze Orman, and many others.

4. Craft an amazing deal.

Oprah has always known how to set up impressive deals. When she was at the top of the TV game, rather than renegotiate her salary, she renegotiated the ownership of the program, the studio where it was produced and a stake in its distributor. That's part of what helped her become a billionaire.

See where you can improve your deal-making skills and value proposition to push up the long-term value of your business.

5. Give to get.

"You get a car! You get a car!! YOU get a CAR!!!" You can't think of Oprah without her giveaways. Her giveaways create excitement and engagement, not only from her viewers, but everyone else who heard after the fact.

You may not have cars and lavish gifts like Oprah does, but you can start with free samples of your product or service.

Try your hands at these tips and may the force be with you. Enjoy!

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