Fierce Competition When you become engrossed in all aspects of building and maintaining your business, you may find yourself developing a tunnel vision of sorts. It becomes incredibly easy to disregard what your competition is working on, and even who emerging competitors might be, when you’re dealing with matters of your own. After all, you’re busy building...
Growing Your Network Ideally, one relationship in the business realm should lead to another. If you put forth the effort to properly build a professional network, you’ll find yourself exponentially expanding your reach while simultaneously growing your number of leads. The fact is that business relationships are no easier to maintain than personal relationships. There is an...
A Pattern of Dishonesty It only takes one lie to damage the trust in an important relationship… and possibly the relationship all together. A lie is never worth the risk of damaging your reputation as an entrepreneur. A pattern of dishonesty will ultimately lead to you not being taken seriously, in business or in your personal life!...
Credibility is Key Credibility is one of the most important characteristics that an entrepreneur can hope to possess; do everything in your power to develop, demonstrate, and defend it. Keep your commitments, maintain trustworthiness, and prove that you are worth doing business with. Once your credibility is diminished, it can be very difficult to regain!
Mental Constraints We’ve all heard the adage that “you are your own worst enemy.” When starting a company of your own, it can be far too easy to let the voices of doubt hold you back from making those big, make it or break it choices that all entrepreneurs must face at some point or another. Was it nerve-racking...
The Danger of Taking Sole Credit for Your Successes Can you ever really take 100% credit for succeeding in business? I don’t believe that you can! Though you may be a major player in your business and an enormous factor driving the success, there are always background forces at play helping move the vehicle. The Melrose...
Connect all the Dots to Avoid Business Tunnel Vision I believe that the only way to get the entire picture on the state of your business is to evaluate each aspect individually and in respect to the operation as a whole. I like to refer to failure to do so as “business tunnel vision”....
On Business Relationships As my readers know by now, I believe in the importance of nurturing strong relationships. Much like personal relationships, successful business relationships take work and dedication. Like flowers, relationships that are not tended to will whither and die. But they can also blossom and grow! Consider attending regular networking events and trade shows...
Be Honest with Yourself It can be equally as damaging to lie to ourselves as it is to lie to others. While this certainly rings true in our personal lives, allow me to give an example that pertains to the business world. When you convince yourself that you’re doing better than you actually are, you don’t take the necessary...
Control Your Destiny Stay in control of your own destiny at all times! This has been one of the most important objectives in my life. If there was only one piece of wisdom I could offer, this would be it. Being a business owner allows you to take control of your own destiny, for...
