Do you learn from your past mistakes and keep pushing the envelope forward to create your next round of successes? Doing after action reviews on any activity is valuable. You get the chance to review what happened to plan out what you may want to do differently the next time the same type of opportunity presents itself. Many entrepreneurs already do this kind of evaluation and it helps grow their business.

The second part from Denis is where the gold lies in this quote. Do you rest on your past successes instead of focusing on creating new ones? One of the quickest ways to lose your success you have experienced is relying too much on what you have accomplished before. In today’s business environment, it is very much a “what are you doing next” environment.

In business much as life, if you aren’t growing, you are dying. This means staying on top of what your customers wants are and growing to meet those wants. This keeps you hungry and adapting to the ever-changing market. If you keep on doing the same actions without staying on top of what your constantly shifting customer base is looking for, you will get left on the sidelines. The examples are everywhere – Radio Shack, K-Mart, JCPenney, Sears, Circuit City, Borders bookstore.

Resting on your successes is one of the quickest ways to lose your customers to a business who is listening to their wants and providing them exactly that on a constant basis. Look at Apple and how it has evolved. It has created new markets by identifying what consumers are looking for often even before the consumer realizes it.

Do you want to be the Apple of your industry (pun intended) or the Borders bookstore? Never rest on your successes. Continue to look for new customer wants you can meet from your market. When you do this, your success will continue.