Steve Jobs was making waves across the interwebs last week when Walter Isaacson published an article in which he identifies these 14 factors that he highlights as keys to Steve Jobs success.

1. Focus
2. Simplify
3. Take Responsibility End to End
4. When Behind, Leapfrog
5. Put Products Before Profits
6. Don’t Be a Slave To Focus Groups
7. Bend Reality
8. Impute
9. Push for Perfection
10. Tolerate Only “A” Players
11. Engage Face-to-Face
12. Know Both the Big Picture and the Details
13. Combine the Humanities with the Sciences
14. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

A few of these factors are suspciously quote worthy, but the list still makes a lot of sense.  Steve Jobs engrained these into the core ethos of Apple and created one of the most successful companies in the world.  

Can these factors be applied successfully to a small business? It’s possible that embracing these factors might be the single most important thing a small business can do to guarantee their success.

LocalUp sites by their very nature already do a few of these very well.  LocalUp sites have laser like focus, online menus for a small region that target a specific audience.  The sites are simple, they do one thing and do it well. The local nature of the sites allows site owners to engage with restaurant owners and restaurant customers face to face.  Site owners become part of the community that develops around a site and feel a certain responsibility for keeping customers happy. The training provided by LocalUp to new site owners lets owners see the big picture, and daily site operations means they are fully versed on the details.

What is the most important factor to keep in mind when running your small business? Which factor do you think LocalUp site owners might struggle with?