All too often, as business owners we try to be everything to everyone, offering our clients a dizzying array of products and choices. We may have good intentions, wanting to provide whatever products we think our customers might need, or we may have suspect intentions, looking to vacuum up every last dollar from our client’s wallet. Regardless of our motivations, …

New. This one word is enough to strike fear into the hearts of business owners. It means giving up a well-worn routine. It means we’re going to have to relearn something we thought we already knew. It means that we’re going to have to take some time out of our schedules that we weren’t anticipating. It means we’re going to …

It all comes down to how much we care. We can do the bare minimum and skate by. We can stick to the script and do what we have to. We can follow the rules exactly as they’re written, providing the least amount of value that we can get away with. And, technically, there’s nothing wrong with that. Lots of …

Pleasing a customer is a difficult proposition. We’ve done this a million times. We already know exactly what everybody wants. We think we’ve got it down. And we’d be wrong. Maybe we’ve got a good idea of what most people want, but there’s no way we can know what everybody wants. Well, maybe there is. We can just ask them.

We often hear that we’ve got to experience things firsthand before we can master them. Aristotle said “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” He’s telling us that we need to get our hands dirty in order to gain mastery of a subject, but that doesn’t mean that first-hand experience …

Just because it’s worked before, doesn’t mean that it will keep working. Things change all around us, every day of our lives. Nothing stays the same forever. What makes us think that our business will? Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. John C. Maxwell

We all try our hardest to make what we do look easy. We smooth off the rough edges. We stick to the script. We plan incessantly until everything’s perfectly timed to the second. We’ve got the whole thing down to a science. But, maybe we don’t have to. Would it be just as impressive if some of the warts remained? …

Knowing exactly what we’re doing is a wonderful feeling. Being in the groove. Muscle memory. Following procedure. But our well-worn routine can also be a place for us to hide. Instead of going out on a limb, trying something different, or being edgy, we simply fall back on what’s already working. “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” we ask. …

Too many small business owners can’t make the jump. They get stuck in the “it’s my business” mindset. Even though they’re growing, expanding, and hiring new employees, they just can’t make the shift. They keep doing the same work that got them where they are now. They’re answering the phones, they’re sending the emails, they’re cooking the meals, cleaning the …

We’re all guilty of concentrating all our efforts on bettering our product: the thing that we’re selling. Whether we’re selling a service (acting as a real estate agent) or delivering a product (like a home inspection report), we put a tremendous amount of energy into making sure that we’re providing the best product possible. And we’re doing it all wrong. …