Top 5 Bits Of Advice For Business Growth
I’ve had my own business since I was 9 years old. I’ve started, bought, sold and helped out in several different kinds of companies over the thirty odd years since that point.
I’ve tried everything I’ve always needed to do, and I’ve had plenty of fun. Some of the highlights : I worked on Wall Street, I helped take a company public and I ejected one of the most important VC names in the country right out of my office. I’ve worked on designing a quality management system for a leading dairy company. I’ve worked with many of the most important names in the offline and online space, and I’ve seen the guts of a large amount of the most important firms in the US.
I made my first million the old fashioned way. I worked my butt off. And I’ve got a lot to show for it, for which I’m both humble and thankful. Understand this, I am a successful entrpreneur and I’m happy about it.
Why am I sharing all of this with you? I’m getting there.
Folks always ask me if I have any recommendation for being successful. They ask if I could name the things I suspect have contributed the most to my success. Id like to share my observations from thirty years of business experience. They’re applicable both offline and online.
Here are my top five pointers for success :
1. Always confirm all of your e-mails and phone calls get returned. I make a lot of contacts and requests thru email, phone or maybe in person. I’m absolutely surprised at the quantity of people who dont trouble to return the request. It is classless and disrespectful to disregard someones request, and it makes them angry. Angry people tell folks how you have maltreated them. The less folks out there speaking unwell about you the better.
When I was an iso 9001 consultant at Modem Media I got between 1000 - three thousand e-mails a day. I was buried in e-mails. My aid went in and cleared out e-mails when she could, forwarding the ones she was aware that she or one of my underlings could handle. But she left the rest for me. I might spend at least an hour a day returning them. Sometimes all I said was Call so-and-so or Thanks for the warning, but many of them got answered. The concern was clients, then managers then standard people. If youre not going to answer correspondence from clients or peers, dont give any person your email. Funny thing about most of usif you’ve an email and invite us to use it, we think a solution. I’ve written three e-mails to Darren at ProBlogger.net. He’s not answered a single one. While I believe some of his things is good, I find his unresponsiveness disappointing and I dont find him as authoritative as I used to.
I sent an email to the President of Staples on a Saturday afternoon a few years ago. I got a personal reply from him the following day (Sun.), and we resolved my problem with the help of one of his EVPs. If he’ll reply to one of my mails, so can Darren.
2. Help anyone that asks. It doesn’t matter what it is if somebody asks that you help them and you can do it, do it. Whether it comprises rolling up your sleeves, writing a check, giving some precious time or just answering a question from someone that doesnt know as much as you, suck it up and do it.
3. Always know more than the majority about your industry or business. I’ve always been a technologist, so this has been engrained in me since I was sixteen. Read about things in your field every day. Go to a convention or trade show now and then. Participate in consultations or forums, on or off-line. It’ll keep you attached to the people in your industry and make you a guru. The web is an extraordinary tool for getting this done.
4. Treat your workers like gold, because they are . In my own companies my workers get away with a lot. They’re well paid, get surprise benefits all the time and can pop up and vanish as they please. Some take advantage, but they dont last long. Being a jerk to your employees will always come back to bite you. It’ll also mean that you’ll get hosed a number of times, but you probably would have anyhow.
Make the office fun, cushty and as casual as you can. Show your staff by example how you would like them to treat shoppers and co-workers. They’re going to follow your lead. If they hate coming to work it’ll show in what you produce, this was a major feature that I spotted while designing the quality management system I mentioned earlier.
At Modem Media I organized an annual barbeque in the front carpark. We had pork, BBQ sauce from Texas and masses of other stuff Im not going to get into here. It was a tiny gesture but it went a good distance.
5. Acknowledge everyone who helps you advance, especially those that did not gain from it. This is another thing that I am surprised more folks haven’t caught on to. I announced in an earlier post that I regularly comb my log files for folks who’ve social bookmarks pointing to this blog site and send them a quick email thanking them. I stopped counting the quantity of people who email me back startled that I would make the effort to thank them. Why shouldn’t I? They took time out to help in promoting my blog, and got nothing in return. A thank you acknowledges their effort and time and firms up them as a supporter. Trust me, you need all the allies you can get.
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