The salary bill is every business's top cost. No people, no business. Unless you are a one-person army clicking away on the computer in a basement.
The best way to keep anyone happy is to be 'nice'.
Entrepreneurs, having undertaken all that risk, are under a lot of stress. Even then, it is very important you are nice to your people. The keyword is 'your people'. They didn't force you to take all the risk. Never project your feelings upon your employees.
The second best thing to keep employees happy is to communicate often, clearly, and listen a lot: Vision, goals, timelines, updates, suggestions, lots of praise, constructive criticism (always laced with a praise in start), etc.
The third best thing to keep employees happy is to reward them with physical (incentive money, gifts) or intangible (praises, support during tough times) rewards.
Finally, if you are upfront and transparent with everything (for example, even firing), people will be able to digest tough things easily.
Thank you for reading.
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