Ignorance in business is expensive

The strategic mistakes I have made in business have come from not knowing enough about what I was getting into.  

In some cases, I heard a warning amongst the hype, but I wanted to believe the positive aspects of a decision so badly that I ignored the signal.  Just because you have ten reasons you should do something and one you should not, doesn’t mean the one reason won’t blow everything up if you move forward.

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is great.” – Saul Bellow

I can say looking back that I should have gathered more information before making a significant move that would cost me a lot of money, effort or time.

Ignorance is expensive.

Being in business takes courage

“Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker

You know this is true.  When you are in business you risk it all on a bet – a bet on yourself.

This is why you need to improve yourself, your knowledge, your experience and the knowledge of others experiences, your skills and abilities (especially with others), and your emotional well-being.

You wouldn’t bet on a person who was a wreck, would you?

What would Elon say?

“I’d rather be an optimist and be wrong, than a pessimist and be right”. – Elon Musk

You are going to attract more of what you expect.

Are you optimistic?

Be a dealer in inspiration

“Leadership is not wielding power, it is inspiring people.”

Adding more to your life creates problems

Your life is full.  I don’t know any business owners who have much free time – because they fill it.

But you can’t get more into a schedule of commitments that is already full.  

Adding more without taking something out will create stress and mediocrity.

Yeah, yeah- you are Superman, and you can do anything. 

But you can’t do everything.

If you want to add something, you have to take something away through delegation, deferment, or abandonment. 

Choose.

Three Steps at a Time

When I was a kid I’d go up the stairs two steps at a time, and sometimes three.  It’s a challenge but you get there faster and it’s more fun.  You may have done the same thing at times – let me know.

It’s the same with your journey toward your business goals.  You can pluck along today doing stuff, one step at a time – or you can go up three steps today.

How?  You identify the highest priority things that if tackled, will make tomorrow much better than today.  You go after the major roadblocks.  You do the difficult things – or at least you THOUGHT they were difficult, so you have been putting them off.

Not all activities pay off the same.  Do the things that will pay off the most.

Take three steps at a time – you’ll get there faster!

Reflection

He felt like it was all falling apart.  Problems loomed tall over his day, and his frustration at their numbers showed on his face.  The people he had to work with were pitiful and seemed to deliberately foul his progress.  He was on a roller coaster, the highs being hopelessness, and the lows worse than that.

One Saturday morning he decided to do something different.  He took things off his schedule for the weekend and simplified his days.  Then, while he had his calendar open, he did the same for his week.

He took a breath and looked out the window to the horizon.  He asked ‘what is important to me?’  He sat there for a while.  It was quiet.

When he got up he went to eat but decided to change up what he ate.  Then he went outside for a walk.  It turned into a jog in the woods.  

When he came back he cleared his desktop.  Then he tackled the garage.  They had been bothering him for a while – maybe a year.  

He called his daughter, and they caught up with a long conversation.  He said, “I love you”.  He texted four more people during the day, telling them he cared and thanking them.  

Good, long sleep.  Two nights in a row now.

On Monday he smiled at people at work, and they smiled back.  He tackled a few nagging problems with ease and came up with creative inspiring ideas.  His coworkers picked up on his energy.

His world had changed, simply because it was his reflection.

Learn from your mistakes – quickly.

It’s ok to make mistakes.

It’s not ok to not to learn from them.

The marketplace will punish you, over and over again until you learn. 

And if you are a leader with people counting on you, it’s irresponsible not to learn from mistakes made by you or your organization.

What mistakes are you making right now? 

What do you need to learn fast so you can adjust fast and get better results?

Unattainable goals appeal to heroes

We’ve heard not to set goals that are unattainable.  But how do we know they are attainable?….that others have done it with a good chance of success?

If we never try anything where the outcome is unknown, then we will never do anything groundbreaking.

Unattainable goals appeal to heroes.

Heroes are not completely rational.  Yes, the dumb would-be heroes die trying crazy things, but the smart ones just might change the world – or your industry – or your company.

Run experiments in your business

What experiment could you run in your business?

Try some different communication to customers. 

Make special offers and bundles.

Ask employees ___________________ .

Have a contest to see who can __________________ .

Make it in blue and red.

Change the packaging.

Try this and see what happens….

Write a story about ________________ and send it to __________________ .

Change something and measure what happens.

What experiment will you run right now?