My Most Helpful Bits Of Advice For Success In An Industry
I’ve had my own business since I was nine years old. I’ve started, purchased, sold and helped in several different types of firms over the 30 odd years since that point.
I’ve tried everything I’ve always needed to do, and I’ve had a lot of excitement. A few of the highlights : I worked on Wall Street, I assisted in taking a company public and I threw one of the most important VC names in the country right out of my office. I’ve worked on designing a quality management system for a leading dairy company. I’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the offline and online space, and I’ve seen the insides of lots of the most important firms in America.
I made my first million the traditional way. I worked my butt off. And I’ve got a lot to show for it, for which I’m both humble and thankful. Understand this, I regard myself as a successful entrpreneur and I’m happy about it.
Why am I sharing all of 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 suspect have donated the most to my success. Id like to share my discoveries from 30 years of business experience. They’re applicable both offline and online.
Here are my top 5 pointers for success :
1. Always ensure all your emails and calls get returned. I make a lot of contacts and requests thru email, phone or even in the flesh. I’m absolutely startled at the number of people who dont trouble to return the request. It is classless and disrespectful to ignore someones request, and it makes them indignant. Indignant folks tell other people how you have wronged them. The fewer folk out there chatting sick about you the better.
When I was an iso 9001 consultant at Modem Media I got between 1000 – three thousand mails a day. I was buried in mails. My helper went in and cleared out emails when she could, forwarding the ones she knew she or one of my underlings could handle. But she left the rest for me. I would spend at least an hour a day returning them. Often all I claimed was Call so-and-so or Thanks for the heads-up, but most of them got answered. The priority was clients, then chiefs then standard folks. If youre not going to answer correspondence from clients or peers, dont give any person your email. Funny thing about most of usif you’ve got an email and invite us to use it, we predict a solution. I’ve written 3 emails to Darren at ProBlogger.net. He has not answered a single one. While I believe some of his stuff is very good, I find his unresponsiveness disappointing and I dont find him as authoritative as I used to.
I sent an email to the President of Staples on a Sat. afternoon a few years ago. I got a personal reply from him the next day (Sun.), and we resolved my issue with aid from one of his EVPs. If he’ll reply to one of my e-mails, so can Darren.
2. Help anyone who asks. It doesnt matter what it is if someone asks you to help them and you can do it, do it. Whether it comprises rolling up your sleeves, writing a check, giving some precious time or simply responding to a query from someone who 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 16. Read about things in your field each day. Go to a seminar or trade show now and then. Participate in discussions or forums, on or off-line. It will keep you connected to the people in your industry and make you a guru. The web is a dazzling tool for getting this done.
4. Treat your workers like gold, because they are . In my personal companies my employees get away with a lot. They’re well paid, get surprise benefits all the time and can appear and disappear as they please. Some take advantage, but they do not last long. Being a jerk to your workers will always come back to bite you. It will also mean that you’ll get hosed a couple of times, but you probably would have anyhow.
Make the office fun, cushty and as casual as you can. Show your people by example how you would like them to treat shoppers and work mates. They’re going to follow your lead. If they dislike coming to work it will show in what you produce, this was a major feature that I spotted while designing the quality management system I discussed earlier.
At Modem Media I arranged a yearly barbeque in the front carpark. We had pork, BBQ sauce from Texas and plenty of other stuff Im not going to get into here. It was a small gesture but it went a long way.
5. Acknowledge everybody who helps you advance, particularly those who didn’t gain from it. This is another thing that I am startled more folk haven’t caught on to. I said in an earlier post that I regularly brush my log files for folk who’ve social bookmarks pointing to this blog site and send them a quick email thanking them. I stopped counting the amount of people who email me back startled that I would take the time to thank them. Why shouldn’t I? They took time out to help in promoting my blog, and got nothing in exchange. A thank you recognizes their time and effort and firms up them as an ally. Trust me, you need all the allies you can get.
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