Remember the excitement of getting a new game when we were young? It was always kind of rough when we started playing, because the rules were usually foreign to us and (if we wanted to play the game properly) we had to keep referring back to the rules to get our bearings. Running our business is a lot like learning …
Benefit of the Doubt
We all like to think that we’re right about everything. But we’re not. “To err is human” is ingrained in our psyche, but so is “I got this.” When we make mistakes, which inevitably is going to happen, how our clients respond to our errors depends on how we came across to begin with. If we were loud and boastful, …
The Real Mistake
We all make mistakes. It’s part of being human. No matter how much practice and preparation we subject ourselves to, it’s still gonna happen. Making mistakes isn’t the bad part. The bad part is what happens when you refuse to learn from your mistakes, and you keep making the some ones over and over again. That’s the real mistake.
Get a Move On
We all want to solve issues as soon as we can. Get ’em in and out the door as quickly as possible. Often, it’s a good move. Taking care of potential problems when they’re small, before the explode into a major production, is always good practice. But, just because we’re in a rush to get to the finish line doesn’t …
Eliminating Competition
It’s a question that all new business owners ask: What can I do to compete against all the other companies out there that are already doing what I do? Maybe the answer isn’t to try to figure out some special sales gimmick to try and corner an already crowded market. Maybe we just need to create our own market; one …
What Do You Do?
We’re often asked what we do for a living. It’s a standard ice-breaker question whenever we meet someone new at a party or event. What we don’t realize is that the success of our business often comes down to how well we can articulate what it is we do. Answering someone’s question at a birthday party doesn’t really matter that …
Deep Dark Secrets
Lots of businesses think that they’ve figured out the secret sauce, and then proceed to try to guard their secret with their lives. But, let’s get real. It’s not like we’re living in the year 1903 anymore. Everyone has access to everything, and sooner or later, the secret’s gonna get out. What happens then, when all your competitors are doing …
Taking Steps
Offering a service to your client is a one-off event. Like doing a home inspection; it happens that one time and it’s done. The journey to become excellent at what it is you do, however, is not a one-off event. It’s a life-long undertaking. It’s important that we don’t confuse the steps we take along the journey for the journey …
Don’t Be Stupid
If you’re trying to be the best (insert your profession here) in your market, It you want to be know as the go-to authority on a subject, If you’re attempting to be memorable, If you’re endeavoring to be better than all the other options out there, It’s stupid to think it’s going to be an easy thing to do. If …
Dunning-Kruger
When we first start out in our businesses, fresh from learning “everything” we need to succeed, we tend to overestimate our abilities. And once we’re old, grizzled veterans, the opposite happens, and many of us start to underestimate what we’re capable of, which often prevents us from growing and expanding our business reach. In psychology, this is called the Dunning-Kruger …