As small business owners, we’re called on to provide our clients with information that they likely didn’t know before they hired us. In the role of “all-knowing sage” to our customers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of talking over their heads, offering them specialized information that’s second nature to us but often Greek to them. While we know …
Hit the Road, Jack
What are we to do with those customers that aggravate the shit out of us? We’ve all got them. Yes, they’re contributing to the bottom line of our business, but they’re way more trouble than they should be. Why can’t things just be easy, like when we’re working with the rest of our customers? The rest of our customers… Hmm… …
Running in Circles
Running a business. Kind of ironic that they call it “running,” because it seems like that’s all we do. Running here; running there. Trying our best to put out the fires before another one starts. Working hard to figure out what minor issue needs our attention, all while trying not to forget that the reason we’re working is to put …
Take It or Leave (It)
So many businesses in today’s world seem to be indifferent to their customers, acting as if they don’t care if someone gets offended, as they’re sure that another customer will come right along to take the place of the irate client. They seem to radiate a misguided confidence that since they’re the ones with the product, the paltry little customer …
Haunting Success
There’s a quote by Carl Gustav Jung that (shortened) says “You are what you do, not what you say.” That’s true in every walk of life, including the business world. But, when you’re operating a service business, and your product is based almost exclusively on what you say, the words that come out of your mouth become almost as important, …
They’re Watching You
It’s easy to do the right thing when someone is watching. But what are we going to do when we’re all alone, when we can slide by, when no one will ever know? Those are the times that really test us. Those are the times when our true selves really shine through. Trust is built when no one is looking. …
Do Something Nice
On a day that’s set aside for us to show thanks, why don’t we actually take a moment to do that. No matter where we are in our business journey, it’s likely that someone helped us get there. Whether we’re just starting out, and should be thankful for those people in our lives that encouraged us to try, or we’ve …
Hiding From the Work
We often spend our days overwhelmed by the amount of work we’ve got to get done. It seems like we’re forever running, falling behind, never reaching the end of our pile of “important” things to do. But the truth is that, all too often, we’re simply hiding. Doing all the little things, the busy work, that we can find to …
Make Some Noise?
We’d all like to be noticed. “Look at me” is an often repeated mantra in today’s world, and seems to be the default setting for too many of our businesses. We imagine that if we could simply get more eyeballs on us, success wouldn’t be far behind.. Instead of simply screaming more than the next loudmouth, why don’t we try …
Hiding
Business owners spend a lot of their time hiding. Designing a logo. Thinking up a cool company name. Working out their color scheme. Coming up with some crazy tag line. Redesigning their website again… for the ninth time. It’s all hiding. Wasting time on things that don’t really matter that much, just so they don’t have to do the hard …