My Most Useful Hints For Profiting In An Industry
I’ve had my very own business since I was 9 years old. I’ve started, bought, sold and helped out in numerous different sorts of companies over the thirty odd years since that point.
I’ve done everything I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve had tons of excitement. A few of the highlights : I worked on Wall Street, I helped take a company public and I ejected one of the most important VC names in the country right out of my office. I’ve worked on planning a quality management system for a leading dairy company. I’ve worked with some of the most important names in the online and offline space, and I’ve seen the guts of lots of the most important firms in the USA.
I made my first million the old fashioned way. I worked my butt off. And I’ve got a lot to show for it, for which I’m both humble and grateful. Understand this, I am probably a successful entrpreneur and I’m happy with it.
Why am I sharing all this with you? I’m getting there.
Folks always ask me if I have any advice for being successful. They ask if I could name the things I believe have contributed the most to my success. Id like to share my observations from thirty years of business experience. They are applicable both online and offline.
Here are my top 5 tips for success :
1. Always confirm all your emails and calls get returned. I’m making a lot of contacts and requests through e-mail, telephone or maybe in the flesh. I’m absolutely startled at the amount of folks who do not trouble to return the request. It is classless and disrespectful to disregard someones request, and it makes them irritated. Angry people tell other folks how you have maltreated them. The fewer folks out there speaking unwell about you the better.
When I was an iso 9001 consultant at Modem Media I got between 1000 - 3k mails a day. I was buried in mails. My helper went in and cleared out emails when she could, forwarding the ones she realized she or one of my underlings could handle. But she left the rest for me. I’d spend at least an hour a day returning them. Sometimes all I announced was Call so-and-so or Thanks for the warning, but most of them got answered. The concern was clients, then chiefs then ordinary people. If youre not going to answer correspondence from clients or peers, do not give any person your email. Funny thing about the majority of usif you’ve an email and invite us to use it, we expect a solution. I’ve written three emails to Darren at ProBlogger.net. He hasn’t answered a single one. While I suspect some of his stuff is good, I find his unresponsiveness disheartening and I do not find him as authoritative as I used to.
I sent an e-mail to the President of Staples on a Sat. afternoon 1 or 2 years back. I got an individual reply from him the day after (Sun.), and we resolved my difficulty with assistance from one of his EVPs. If he can make a response to one of my mails, so can Darren.
2. Help anyone that asks. It does not matter what it is if someone asks if you can help them and you can do it, do it. Whether it entails rolling up your sleeves, writing a check, giving some valuable time or simply answering a query from someone that does not know as much as you, suck it up and do it.
3. Always know more than most of the people about your industry or business. I’ve always been a technologist, so this has been engrained in me since I was sixteen. Read about things in your field every day. Go to a seminar or trade show now and then. Take part in dialogues or forums, on or off-line. It’ll keep you connected to the people in your industry and make you a guru. The web is an extraordinary tool for getting this done.
4. Treat your employees like gold, because they are. In my personal enterprises my staff get away with a lot. They’re well paid, get surprise benefits all of the time and can come and go as they please. Some take advantage, but they dont last long. Being a jerk to your workers will always come back to bite you. It’ll also mean that you’ll get hosed a couple of times, but you most likely would have anyway.
Make the office fun, comfortable and as casual as you can. Show your people by example how you would like them to treat customers and co-workers. They’re going to follow your lead. If they hate coming to work it’ll show in what you produce, this was a major feature that I noticed while planning the quality management system I discussed earlier.
At Modem Media I organised a yearly barbeque in the front parking lot. We had pork, BBQ sauce from Texas and lots of other stuff Im not going to get into here. It was a small gesture but it went a good distance.
5. Acknowledge everybody who helps you advance, particularly those who didn’t gain from it. This is another thing that I am startled more folks haven’t caught on to. I said in an earlier post that I continually brush my log files for folks who’ve social bookmarks pointing to this blog site and send them a fast e-mail thanking them. I stopped counting the number of folks who e-mail me back startled that I’d bother to thank them. Why shouldn’t I? They took time out to help in promoting my blog, and got nothing in return. A thank you acknowledges their effort and time and solidifies them as a supporter. Trust me, you need all the allies you can get.
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