Knowing how everything works from the bottom up is key to managing properly.
Or in his words, no one can bullshit you when you know what it takes..
11 controversial lessons I learned from my father on running a small business.
While these lessons are not the gold standard.
At times I've seen these to be true.
A Thread.⤵️
Knowing how everything works from the bottom up is key to managing properly.
Or in his words, no one can bullshit you when you know what it takes..
Obviously you can't do everything yourself. You have to be in charge of following up constantly to make sure it gets done, and done right.
Taking out loans is okay if the work is there to pay it back. The last thing you want is for work to slow down and you'll be stuck with a lease bill.
When disputes and rumors start going around. Get all parties involved together to narrow down the truth.
Take care of your employees, but don't mix business with pleasure. If you get too friendly your employee becomes a great friend, not only will emotions get in the way. But they will try to get over on you.
Obviously the cost to hire and train a new employee is far more than paying a good employee a little more. But you can't have your employees thinking you need them more than they need you.
Six figures a year and vacations are nice. But those sort of things are short-lived if you don't have a company anymore.
Reinvest to keep your equipment nice and maintenance-free.
When your company is small or just starting out, keep unnecessary expenses out.
Surr a brand new vehicle or a fancy office building is nice. But is it necessary?
Keep in mind we are talkin about a small bootstrapped business. Grown from the ground up.
Getting too big too fast will cause you to lose control of the day-to-day operations. This causes work quality to go down and cost to go up.
Separate yourself from the competition by giving out bonuses and incentives. But remember once you start doing this you set a precedent. They will expect it every time.
My father started his business with a partner, and they had different ways of doing things.
People would ask him, why are you doing it his way?
He would say there can only be one boss. When he retires I'll do it my way.
Retweet the first tweet, and follow.
https://t.co/7tFKouKYwg
11 controversial lessons I learned from my father on running a small business.
— SeekMastery (@SeekMastery) February 18, 2021
While these lessons are not the gold standard.
At times I've seen these to be true.
A Thread.\u2935\ufe0f pic.twitter.com/xLApjcsg7Q
More from Business
The American business community is speaking with a unified voice - NAM called to invoke the 25th Amendment; the Business Roundtable and Chambers of Commerce urge a peaceful transition of power; all have denounced last week's violence. What might this mean? A few implications:
1/
This isn't just PR - bad politics is bad for business. Here, the Harvard Business Review makes the business case for democracy (leading essay by
Historically, business has been a crucial ally for democracy. Mark Mizruchi shows how business helped secure democracy after WII, through organizations like the Committee for Economic Development (see also his @NiskanenCenter paper: https://t.co/xoqUUN1nCD)
3/
My book examines how business groups formed to lobby against patronage and corruption, and in favor of institutional reform, in the 19th c. (https://t.co/FnNhZUupBG)
For a summary of business’s role in American democracy over the 20th century, see
Today, corporations are cutting off PAC $$ — Wall St banks (JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup), big tech (Microsoft, Facebook). Many more corps have suspended donations to members of Congress who contested the certification of election results last week
5/
1/
This isn't just PR - bad politics is bad for business. Here, the Harvard Business Review makes the business case for democracy (leading essay by
Historically, business has been a crucial ally for democracy. Mark Mizruchi shows how business helped secure democracy after WII, through organizations like the Committee for Economic Development (see also his @NiskanenCenter paper: https://t.co/xoqUUN1nCD)
3/
My book examines how business groups formed to lobby against patronage and corruption, and in favor of institutional reform, in the 19th c. (https://t.co/FnNhZUupBG)
For a summary of business’s role in American democracy over the 20th century, see
Today, corporations are cutting off PAC $$ — Wall St banks (JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup), big tech (Microsoft, Facebook). Many more corps have suspended donations to members of Congress who contested the certification of election results last week
5/
You May Also Like
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
