About two years ago, I took a great trip to Europe. I saw the Coliseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted his great work. I stood 15 feet away from the incredible statue “David,” saw the Vatican, stayed in a 200-year-old hotel in Venice (where the streets are only water!), and visited the ruins of a 2000-year-old city (Pompeii). As I marveled at these landmarks of history, I remembered other landmarks I have seen. I remembered my trip the year before to Paris where I stood in awe of the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's tomb and a 1700-year-old church in Cologne, Germany, called “The Dom.”

The Coliseum is 2000 years old! One of my friends told me that when he saw it for the first time he got choked up. It is hard not to just marvel at an incredible building that I had seen so many times in books and movies. Then I got to thinking...this building has been here 2000 years, and I saw a LOT of things on that trip that had been around 500 years, 1000 years, 1500 years and more! They were built to last and they have.

You have a choice in your business. You can build it to last for future generations to marvel at and the current to take notice of. Or you can go for the quick fix, the fast buck and on to the next. There is no doubt which one I recommend.

Here are a few tips to build a business that lasts:

• Tell the truth—it sounds simple and it is, but not everyone does it

• Stay in contact with your customers either via email, phone call or card. The easiest person to make a sale to is someone who has purchased from you in the past

• WORK! It has been said that nothing does as much for a man's soul as a hard day’s work. Give it your all

• Insure that your product is top notch and listen to your customers for improvements

• Duplicate yourself—You can do it by training others to do what you do; regardless, find a way to expand your reach

Two thousand years ago Rome was the center of the world, and they left monuments to remind us of that today. They built their city to last...and it has. Build your company, life and business to last and leave a legacy. You will be glad you did and so will those yet to come.

Go for More this Week!

Ron White