TryingTo Be All Things to All People
It takes courage to turn away a paying customer. But sometimes that is what you should do. Let’s say you have a business that repairs car brakes. You have three mechanics who work for you. One of them is a master mechanic. He can do just about anything. Someone comes…
READ MOREDon’t Let Anyone Tell You What You Can — or Can’t — Do
“I’d love to be in the communications business,” Sarah, an accountant, told me. “But I’m an introvert. Plus, I’m boring. So I studied accounting in college. And though I’m doing something I’m good at, I hate my job.”
READ MOREThe Only Thing That Really Matters
Why do some folks look back on their lives and say they wouldn’t change much? Or anything? Is there a formula? Some mix of love, work, habits, or attitudes that offers the best chance of a well-lived life? Researchers at Harvard have been examining this question for 72 years by…
READ MORENow or Later?
When you have an unpleasant job to do, do it right away. The natural tendency is to put it off and hope it disappears. And there are situations for which this kind of head-in-the-sand approach works best. Dealing with conflicts between subordinates, for example. My partner almost always ignores such…
READ MOREThe Best Way to 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 don’t work very hard. Some spend their workdays doing as little as they possibly can. Lots more stay busy, but achieve very little. They write…
READ MOREAs Swine Flu Increases, Smart Investors Take Advantage
When the swine flu scare first hit the newspapers, people were nervous. Then the government jumped in. They told us that swine flu was not very contagious. And they said it wasn’t even serious. “Don’t worry about it,” we were told. I was skeptical. And I was right. Now cases…
READ MOREThe 3 Essential Functions of Every Successful Business
What I am about to tell you is the most important thing you will ever hear about starting a business. (I have probably started more businesses than anyone I’ve ever met, so please forgive me for sounding like a know-it-all.) Ready? To start a business — any business — successfully,…
READ MOREYour Customers Don’t Want More Doom, They Want Room to Zoom!
For 30 years, I’ve been having the same conversation with my partners. The subject is: What do our customers want from us — doom or zoom? Do they want more news about how bad the economy is? Or how clumsy and/or corrupt the government is when it tries to “help”?…
READ MOREPay Yourself First and Get Rich Automatically
Take any financial planning book in a bookstore and you’ll see the same advice. If you want to accumulate enough money to retire someday, begin by budgeting. By listing expenses and limiting spending, they argue, you can have enough left over every month to save and grow rich. The problem…
READ MOREFive Squares a Day?
Americans were raised on “three square meals a day.” Most Americans are also overweight. So you might be interested to know that changing that time-honored habit can help you lose weight. French researchers found that a group of people who normally ate four meals a day actually gained fat when…
READ MORETap Into the World’s Best Ideas
Many, if not most, successful people attribute a share of their success to the books they read. To keep my mind bubbling with good ideas, I read one business or self-help book every week. I don’t read these books cover to cover. I use a speed-reading program I devised several…
READ MOREWish I Knew Then What I Know Now
In today’s essay, I pass along a bit of brilliance from Dan Kennedy. It helped me understand why, for example, harping on our lousy economy can be hurtful to your advertising. After that, I explain why budgeting is no way to save money, where I get some of my best…
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