- Servicing a Niche Market – If you have a business idea that services an established and possibly untapped niche, then your business will only ever be as big as that niche. And niches are, by definition, small. So to will your business remain. The biggest and most successful businesses are not about niches, they are about everybody.
- “Nobody Else is Doing This” – Is something I commonly hear before or after the pitch for a potential business idea. It’s possible that nobody of earths 7 billion people except you have ever had that idea OR (more likely) it’s a bad idea that will never make any money. If nobody else is doing it, consider seriously that it may not be a sound business model.
- Paying Yourself First – An often touted investment strategy this catchphrase is often mistaken applied to business cash-flow to delay paying creditors. Firstly, if you don’t have enough money to pay your creditors first then there is something fundamentally wrong with your business but moreover, there are great benefits to paying bills first. Many will offer discounts for early or pre-payments. Also if you prepay before the end of the financial year you can reduce your taxable income.
- You Have To Spend Money To Make Money – In many cases, like retail, sure. But in many professional services this simply isn’t true. In these cases, time is money and you have to spend time to make money. Knowledge and Time are able to be traded readily for money and almost all knowledge these days – is free. Your investment is an intellectual effort. Make it.
- The Customer is Always Right – While this is a humble and noble sentiment, especially in customer service, a jerk who becomes a customer is still a jerk. Don’t waste your energy trying to make them happy, cut your losses and move on. You don’t have to be a jerk about it either, just “break up” with them, tell them it’s not them – it’s you. Maybe you can still be friends, but you can’t be their supplier.
2 Comments. Leave new
There are now 7 billion people on earth 🙂 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population
How time flies! Updating… 😉