In the “game of business” it would pay to know about the important things, what they are. To me my list is fairly short. To you they might be different altogether.

1. Product and or service – You better have something of value to offer or they won’t buy.
2. Leverage – Your time, you work hard, then over time you create a business system that leaves you out of it so others can do it for you, you get the big rewards for the risk taking.
3. Leverage – Your money, If you started with little or a lot you want to end up with more.
4. Leverage – Your passion/ideas, You want to get into business perhaps because you have a passion, it may have started as a hobby or an insight into a possible business and now it has you in a tight vice like grip, and as time goes on it becomes even more compelling. So use it to your advantage and let the passion provide the energy drive to motivate you to make it work.
5. leverage – People. Just because you have an idea or passion doesn’t mean it can’t be improved on, so utilise others to either work directly with you or to gain more information from to make your product/service all they can be. People are the soft resources that make the hard resources a reality.
6. Systems – At first they might be crude systems to get you going, but over time these should evolve into more elegant devices to make a positive difference (save time, save money, improve health and safety).
7. Get creative – Note I did not say “Innovate”… Creativity can assist with problem solving and give your business the edge, there are lots of ways to do it. Having an idea is just the beginning, getting things to evolve into practical outcomes might take some harder work, that’s where other practical problem solving might come into the equation.

There that’s a start… do you have any other points to add?