How Often Should You Change Things?
You know how bad I think most small-business periodicals are. Fortune Small Business might be the worst. Staffed by a boatload of (I’m sure) very smart and capable (mostly) young women, it is full of feel-good stories and equal opportunity reporting. There is also an inexcusable level of innocence when…
READ MOREGood Manners Are Critical At Business-Related Social Functions
When you are attending a business dinner (or some other business-related social function) with your customers and colleagues, you have an opportunity to improve or degrade the opinion others have of you. Only a foolish person would ignore this fact. Here are a few recommendations, all based on very recent…
READ MORE“Winning Ways” And Team Work
“A team should be an extension of the coach’s personality. My teams were arrogant and obnoxious.” – Al McGuire (former basketball coach) In Dick Lyles’ book “Winning Ways,” a Ken Blanchard parable on success, Albert is hampered in business by his inability to work as a team member. His supervisor…
READ MORERemember Every Upcoming Event…Forever
“Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.” – Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895) Heres a trick that will help you remember all the important dates in your life. Start using it today and youll never forget another date. Get yourself a perpetual…
READ MOREThe Best Way to Surpass Your Peers and Rise To The Top Of Any Business
What’s the best way to surpass your peers and outdo your competitors? Work harder than they do. If that sounds daunting, consider this: Most people dont work very hard. Some people spend their time doing as little as they possibly can. Most do stay busy, but they are not always…
READ MOREHere’s To The Doers
“Many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks.” – John Lyly Entrepreneurs have big ideas, grandiose ambitions, and endless options. Line up10 of them against a wall and youll have a truckload of “what ifs” but only a pocketful of “how tos.” “Dont bother me with the small strokes,” they like to…
READ MOREWhat Role Should Fun Play In Your Business?
I’ve been thinking about fun lately. (Like money, its something we never seem to get enough of.) If you read the business press, you know that fun — having it, creating it, and promoting it — has been one of the primary business concerns of young dot-com entrepreneurs. Some of…
READ MOREWhy You Should Read The Daily Reckoning
“Man is, and was always, a block-head and dullard; much readier to feel and digest than to think and consider.” – Thomas Carlyle Instead of making the world smarter, the information revolution is making people dumber. Thats the argument Bill Bonner is making every day in his daily investment commentary,…
READ MOREA 6-Step Process That Makes Almost Any Decision Simple
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon Bonaparte Next time youre having trouble making a decision, run through this 6-step process: 1. Figure out what you want. What are the benefits that will come to you? Which of those is most…
READ MORESpeak More Powerfully By Saying Less
If brevity is the soul of wit, taciturnity is the backbone of conversational power. How many times have you found yourself in a situation in which, not being entirely confident about the point you are making, you speak too long in supporting it? Each added statement sinks you deeper in…
READ MOREBuy A Pack Of Index Cards Today
In Message #185, I recommended that you start to use index cards to keep track of the big and small ideas that come to you at random times throughout the day — ideas that could have a big impact on your life but are too easily forgotten if not written…
READ MOREGet Over Your Fear Of Cutting Prices
Norm Brodsky, Inc. magazine’s entrepreneurial columnist, speaks from experience. He’s one of the few business journalists who do so — most are experts or reporters — and consequently is one of the few I trust. He said something in a recent article that I want to discuss today. He was…
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