Mastering the hard lessons of running your own small business

Learn to avoid the “hard lessons” of business before they find you

Hard lessons in life and business are usually the end result of someone denying the truth until the truth kicks their ass. We call these lessons, “hard,” because not grasping these ideas earlier in our careers, or life, cost us so much time and money doing everything, “the hard way.”

Small business owners are often forced to learn these lessons quickly when things go bad. You wake up someday with about $10 left in your account, and a letter from the landlord that you are going to get booted for failing to pay the rent, and all of a sudden you now are now open to a few new ideas.

Waiting until the shoe of doom is heading for your business is just too late. Master these lessons not only in your business, but understand how they can also affect your career.

(1) The importance of one single sale

We get so busy being busy we become too busy to make any money. Then, suddenly, we become really scared because the business isn’t performing.

We show up every day. We put our hours in and beyond. We start work minutes after crawling out of bed, and we are still sitting up at the kitchen counter at midnight looking at the numbers.