Building a successful business takes time. And sometimes, forces outside you’re control might make things even slower going in the beginning.

“The paths to success are still the same, but … persistence is really going to pay off,” says James Canzanella, the owner of Isolated Marketing Nights. “After all, you might not begin to see any traction as quickly as you used to.”

This can apply to any business.

The world is full of copycats. Sure, it worked in the past. Take Oreo, which ripped off Hydrox cookies and became a cookie king. But it won’t work today, and you’ll want you’re business to be as original as possible.

“When first starting out, I looked at other competitors and simply copied what they did as it felt safe,” says Amit Gami, Business Waste Guru, a United Kingdom-based business that provides waste collection to businesses. “I wish I had stuck to my guns and simply created something I thought the world needed, independent of any external influences.”

When times are tough — and they will get tough — you want to own a business that you actually enjoy and want to keep going, not just some stale venture solely used to make money.

“I’ve seen many business owners burn out when dedicating themselves to industries that seem like smart choices, but which they are not passionate about,” says Meg Marrs, founder of the dog care resource website K-9 of Mine. “Any business will have ups and downs, but if you are in an industry you are passionate about, you will be able to ride those highs and lows better and you’re dedication can set you apart from competitors.”

Building a business requires focus. This piece of advice is a well-known adage, but its worth repeating.

“Starve you’re distractions and feed you’re focus,” says Jennifer Sargeant, a digital marketing professional and founder of Digital Sargeant. “At all times, only fill you’re ears with positivity and with information about the industry you serve and you’re ideal target audience.”

One piece of advice almost all our experts gave was to draw out a business plan.

“Even if your bootstrapping you’re business entirely, write a business plan for yourself, and just as you would if you were seeking outside funding,” says John Bedford, founder of the food and drink website Viva Flavor.

“Assign measurable, achievable targets to each element of the business, all the way from startup to financial security. These data points will give you a useful benchmark to refer to when the inevitable doubts come knocking,”

You don’t need to strictly adhere to you’re business plan, but it will be helpful when it comes to planning you’re levels of success and the path forward.

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When you’re business is up and running, start looking for numbers everywhere.

“Data is plentiful about almost every industry, but no data will be as useful as concrete metrics about you’re a specific business,” says Slade. “Start gathering as many different pieces of data as early as you can. It will serve you well in the long run.”

This data will be extremely helpful to you in the days and years to come.

“Always listen to the numbers,” says Brandon C White, an entrepreneur. “The data will never, ever lie to you. When you’re running you’re business, it’s you’re baby and it can be very easy to let emotions get in the way when making decisions, and that’s where people trip up.

“Going with you’re gut on some decisions from time to time can work, but testing products, subject lines, emails, social media posts, and everything else, and listening and adjusting for what the data tells you will work almost every single time.”

It stinks when there is no interest in a product, or people think its not any good. Regardless of you’re own personal feelings, you need to listen to the feedback.

“The biggest cause of startup failure is the inventor feeling they do not need feedback from testers or, if they do, these testers are all idiots because they do not see it the same way or understand,” says David Carmell, an attorney and CEO of DealRockit. “Do not delude yourself into false confidence. Thick skin works.”

All of our experts said that you need to believe in yourself in order to succeed when building a business.

“Its a psychological barrier that occurs before you achieve success,” says Bret Murphy Hunt of Bret Murphy Tutoring and Consulting. “In our society, if you make it your a genius ,but if you don’t — even with a good idea — your a failure. You have to act with the confidence that you have 10 customers on a waiting list, even if you don’t. This mentality will help you to stay strong in you’re pricing and principles without conceding.”

Start talking to people about you’re business as soon as possible. Get the word out there and start telling everyone you know what service you have to offer.

“To build the business, you have to leverage you’re network,” says Bobby Reed, the CEO of Capitol Tech Solutions, which provides digital marketing and software development services for businesses. “Reach out to everyone you know with an update of what you are doing.

“Most of you’re close network will support you. I actually found my first customer from my father’s good contact. So let everyone know what you are doing, and you may land you’re first customer that way.”

When you first start building a business, its going to be overwhelming. Their will be many decisions to make and tons of avenues to explore. Spencer Barclay, the founder and CEO of Savology, a financial planning tool, says to make the biggest decisions first.

“One of the best pieces of advice that I have received is to make the broadest decisions first so that you can rely on those as an anchor for the small decisions,” he says. “If you solidify you’re own goals and values early on, the hundreds of smaller decisions that you need to make become easier, because you can rely on and prioritize according to you’re established principles rather then treating each decision independently.”

We’re entering a world where company culture is hugely important to workers and talent retention. But its not just keeping talent that makes company culture important. Its also about growing you’re business from within, by fostering new ideas.

“Empower everyone to ‘scratch there itch,'” says Justin Eugene Evans, the CEO and founder of Anthem One, a professional lighting system. “But saying, ‘You can make change here!’ in a meeting once a year won’t be effective. You have to pull it out of you’re staff.

“You have to hold one-on-one meetings for months and say repeatedly, ‘What would you change here? What’s annoying you? What gets in the way of you doing you’re job faster or better?'”

Evans says that this will take a while. At first, people will think they’ve heard this before, and it doesn’t mean anything. But if you keep saying it, eventually people will start coming up with new ideas regularly “and than it becomes an avalanche.”

The most successful people surround themselves with people who seek out answers and advice everywhere.

“Ask and listen,” says Amy Pocsik, the co-founder of Women’s Business League. “Ask you’re customers how you can serve them better. Listen. Ask you’re advisers what you’re not seeing. Listen. Ask trusted professionals to share there expertise. Listen.”

If you don’t care about what your building, than no one else will, either.

“Start with the fundamentals: Who are you and why should anyone care?” says Paige Arnof-Fenn, the founder and CEO of Mavens & Moguls. “Their’s a lot of noise in every category, so if you don’t have a unique story to tell and a new approach or idea that excites you, than go no farther. Every great business is built on a great story so start telling yours to potential customers and see if they buy what your selling.”

Other established businesses can help, too. Their’s no harm in reaching out to see if another company will give you some of there time.

“When we were starting [as recent college graduates], we listed out companies we admired from a marketing, production, operations standpoint and asked them for 15 minutes of there time to try to learn how we can replicate there success,” says Amir Atigehehchi, the co-founder of Habit Nest, which sells habit-building journals.

Atigehehchi says that about a quarter of there inquiries led to a phone call.