When we start to build it, the odds, undoubtedly, are stacked against us. It’s quite unlikely that we’ll be hitting a homerun. We won’t dominate the market. We won’t crush our competition. We won’t be the ones to break the internet. The odds are we’re going to get rejected, and when we do, we have two choices. We can whine, …
It’s Our Choice
For good or for bad, things are always happening to us. When stuff happens, it’s then that we’re faced with a decision. We have a choice to make. We can choose to act or not to act. The choice is ours. The problem is that when we choose to act, we find ourselves on the hook for whatever happens next. …
Shut Up and Listen
We’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years, especially when it comes to what we do for a living. Truth be told, we know a lot of stuff. The temptation that comes along with that much knowledge is to overshare. Our brain feels like it’s overflowing with wisdom, and we feel compelled to bless our clients with our wonderous …
Leap of Faith
Wiktionary, the free online dictionary, defines benefit of the doubt as “a favorable judgement given in the absence of full evidence.” When we start out doing something new, like marketing our fledgling business, someone giving us the benefit of the doubt (and trying our service) is about all we can hope for. We’re still an unknown. We don’t have a …
Spreading Ourselves Too Thin
Are we disappointed when we go to a concert and it’s too loud for us to get some reading done? Do we get upset when we can’t get a hamburger from the teller at our bank’s drive through lane? No, we don’t. We’re expecting a specific outcome from those interactions, and we’re not disappointed in the least (well, the hamburger …
Roll With It
Everyone embraces change when they start a new enterprise. We’re all receptive to trying different things, attempting to figure out exactly what we need to do to achieve success. But once we get a taste of the good life, things start to change. We become self-assured and complacent, thinking that we’ve got it all figured out and don’t need to …
The Real Tragedy
We all like to think that we’re an original. That we’ve come up with some great idea that’s unique, that’s special, that no one in the history of mankind has ever thought of before. And, the vast majority of us would be wrong. …There is nothing new under the sun. The Bible; Old Testament; Ecclesiastes 1:9 Hell, even that quote …
Dumb Enough to Click the Bait
If you own a business, you’re constantly bombarded with spam promising you wonderous results for your bottom line if you just buy their list of industry contacts. For my business, it’s a list of all the real estate agents located in my state. The spammers promise me that by buying their list (and using it to send a bunch of …
Yesterday’s News
All too often we find ourselves in a rut. Complacently following the same well-worn script. Indifferently repeating identical steps that we’ve traversed thousands of times. Desperately clinging to our worn out routines, so we don’t have to think about anything new. Until one day it happens and we find ourselves becoming that old dinosaur we used to make fun of …
Paying Attention to Criticism
Some people stubbornly resist any type of criticism. They can’t stomach even the smallest amount of negative commentary on their work, and move quickly to cut off any perceived challenge to their supremacy. We should welcome all criticism with open arms. Legitimate criticism provides an avenue for us to examine what it is we’re doing and gives us an opportunity …