Mike Michalowicz's Blog, page 91

Episode 22: Engineering and Industry Domination With Kurt Shafer

Show Summary

Kurt Shafer, CEO of Invisco, joins Episode 22 of the Profit First Podcast. Kurt shares his story of how an inventor came to dominate the industry.

 

Our Guest

Graduated BSEE University of Southern California 1965

Field Engineer for Bendix, Magnavox, Harris.

Sales Representative for National Semiconductor, International Rectifier, Unitrode, Philips,

Harris, Intel, and others

Invented first commercial web cam software, SnapNSend, in 1995

Installed first whole house fan in 2008 and sold kits on EBay.

Invented first attic mounted 30 inch belt drive fan in 2009.

Trademarked “Ultimate Cooling Machine” in 2010.

Invented first automatic speed control for whole house fans in 2013.

Became first US firm to enter Australian market for whole house fans in 2013.

 

Show Quotes

The internet makes everyone (Big and small) look the same.

Consumers notice different and there is an appeal to something different.

 

Show Links

Kurt’s Website: http://invisco.com/

Kurt’s other website: http://wholehousefanguy.com/

Kurt Shafer on Twitter: @kurtshafer1

Kurt Shafer on LinkedIn

Show Sponsors

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

TSheets – The #1 customer rated time tracking solution!

Are You Using The Strategy That Puts You In Front?

During my freshman year of high school I played football. I sucked.

I sat the bench for every game and was effectively a human punching bag at practice. I was too skinny and too weak to tackle other players. I couldn’t take them down, no matter how hard I tried. That was until I found the magic of tripping. When I went to make a tackle, if got my feet tangled up with theirs they would go down. It worked like a charm. I could finally make tackles. But there was just one, not-so-little, problem… tripping is illegal.

You see, when it comes to sports there are rules. Rules that all players must abide by, otherwise they will be penalized or removed from the game. Rules are everywhere, not just sports. Laws, unspoken rules, guidelines – are all rules.

We live under so many rules and laws, that we start to believe there are rules for everything – that there are unbreakable rules even when not a single one exists. As a result, many an entrepreneur falls into the trap of believing their industry works the way it does because of rules. They believe their industry has rules that can’t be broken. They are wrong. Successful entrepreneurs know that “breaking” these non-existent rules is in fact the key to success.

Case in point, Tina Pennington and Mandy Williams, better known as Red & Black (hint: their hair color has a little something to do with it), are breaking the established rules of book publishing and marketing. Red & Black set out to bust every rule publishers & authors play by – and through their process created a way that is making their brand stand out. Big time.

After choosing the route of self-publishing Red & Black elected to skip the book distribution juggernauts of Amazon and Barnes & Noble and instead used RR Donnelley to both print and distribute the book. (They did it in 2009. Harper Collins announced a similar arrangement in 2011.) To establish instant credibility, they struck a deal with Neiman Marcus. Crazy, right?!?! Crazy like a fox. Neiman Marcus, which really doesn’t sell books, launched theirs. And now their book, “What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!” was getting lots of attention. The book sitting in the hands of mannequins in the window didn’t hurt either.

Instead of cold calling, or emailing, or snail mailing key influencers who could provide critical guidance, Red & Black wrote one-off press releases. A clever “dummy” press release using their father’s original last name (Weinberg), attempted to get the attention of Bob Weinstein – “Weinberg Sisters Want to Meet Weinstein Brothers.” Guess what? They did.

Instead of focusing on marketing to individuals, when asked to develop and teach a financial literacy program for KIPP Houston High School they stopped all marketing. Now their book is a state-approved textbook, which will result in book sales for years to come. Genius!

So, what’s the lesson? Think backwards! To find where the opportunities are, watch what others are doing and more importantly what they are not doing. Next evaluate your end objectives and goals, and figure out your strategy backwards. Start at the end, work your way back and leverage every single opportunity that the “rule followers” are not following.

Pulling this off does require one key ingredient that Black shared with me. When I asked her, “What is the key to executing a rule breaking strategy?” She responded, “Chutzpah.“

Breaking rules where rules actually exist, gets you nowhere. You’ll get benched (or become a human punching bag.) But where rules don’t exist, your commitment to break the rules is exactly what will bring you success. Get out there and get to breaking the rules. And don’t forget to bring your chutzpah. You’ll need lots of it.

You Are Never Going To Make Enough Money; Here’s Why

Yes, you read that right. I’m here to break the bad news to you. You aren’t ever going to make enough money! You simply can’t ever make enough money. It’s the trap of entrepreneurship. But understanding the reasons for it, and knowing the alternative to what you should pursue, can help spare you a lot of time, stress and chasing.

You’ll never make enough money because, as you climb the mountain of financial success, you can see farther and farther. And what you see is that there are many other mountains that are way taller, and people are climbing on them. So, no matter how good a job you do at getting to the top of the mountain, you will still feel as though you haven’t reached the top, and you may just drive yourself crazy by continuously trying to reach the highest summit.

Here are some of the reasons why you aren’t ever going to make enough money:

Keeping up with the Joneses. This is probably the biggest problem that people face when it comes to financial issues. For every step of the ladder that you climb, you find there are people a step ahead. So you will continuously try to keep up and be more like them. It’s like a cat chasing its tail: you will keep going, but never feel like you have been successful at reaching what you are after.

Your odds are 7 billion to one. The planet’s population recently hit 7 billion people. Sure, you want to be the richest person in the world. But let’s be honest, there is only one richest person in the world, so out of 7 billion people you have a lot of competition to be number one. There is always going to be someone more successful and someone with a lot more money.

More financial success equals more financial stress. If you think about it, you can probably relate to this scenario right now, no matter where you are financially. The more you make, the more you buy, which means the more stuff you need to maintain. It becomes a circular trap. If you make more, you will need to maintain more, which will amount to a whole lot of stress and pressure to keep making more.

You have probably read a lot of articles in the past that pump you up to believe that, when it comes to financial success, the sky is the limit. That’s because the author probably knows it is what you want to hear. But the truth of the matter, after going over the reasons above of why it’s not possible, is that it’s a pursuit you should stop focusing so much on. You will get more enjoyment out of life when you take the focus off of making ‘enough’ money and put it on what you should be pursuing, which is happiness.

Being happy is about being content and satisfied. When you have that, you will not have the stress and the feeling that you are a rat on a wheel, just running and running, never reaching that financial destination you were after. Happiness comes from within, and the more you are grateful for what you have, and derive contentment and enjoyment from it, the more good things will come to you. So set your sites on the pursuit of happiness, rather than on making enough money. And don’t just say you want happiness. Define it, by thinking about what elements bring it to you. Know what it is, so that you can seek it out, recognize it, and be grateful once you have attained it.

Like Aristotle once said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

SXSW Author’s Dinner With Sam Horn, Daniel Pink, Nilofer Merchant, Nir Eyal

SXSW 2015 was amazing (albeit a bit overwhelming).  After speaking about Profit First at the Austin convention center, my friend (and awesome author of the new book, Stand Out) Dorie Clark scheduled a dinner for some of the authors who were at SXSW.  Here are some selfie’s I was able to get:

Daniel Pink, author of Drive and To Sell Is Human, and me at SXSW.

Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How (and other great books) and I. Not sure why my camera was stuck on black & white, but of the three pics we took… all were black & white.

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, and I hanging out at SXSW.

I fell in love with the book Tongue Fu! by Sam Horn the day I read it.  During the dinner I sat right next to Sam, and now have fallen in love with her. She is an amazing thought leader!

 

Dominate Sales With Old School “Face-to-Face”

I remember when people thought you were really crazy or strange if you dated or married someone you met online. Now people think it’s really strange if you meet someone by actually showing up somewhere in the flesh and shake hands and “do lunch.”

It’s the same thing with face-to-face sales. Everyone’s so busy tweeting, FaceBooking and meeting on LinkedIn that no one’s doing face-to-face sales, and man, are they missing out!

Actually getting to meet a live person you can do business with is like getting a home-cooked meal instead of a micro-waved mystery meal. Both will feed your stomach, but the real meal feeds your soul, your need for that personal touch. Face-to-face sales deals are the same way and some of us are starting to notice the trend of face-to-face sales numbers exploding because of their ability to influence people and close deals.

Other than the people who share your home or office, how often do you really meet new people, in person? Am I right? Since so few people do it, and they do it less and less, meeting someone new and being together face-to-face to talk business gives you a huge advantage over some blurry face on a flat screen television. Real people don’t have voices that echo, or drop out when you go through a “dead zone” on the way to the conference hall.

It makes sense. It’s Economics 101 — when a commodity becomes scarce, it increases in value. When basic face time with potential or existing customers dwindles, it becomes a scarce commodity, so its value increases. I don’t just mean monetarily. I mean in terms of social influence, trust and intimacy — all the things that have to be in place before you can make a sale. Skype is a good crutch in a pinch… but the experts assure me that getting a plane ticket and meeting the person still wins hands down over your one-inch high mug on a smartphone.

When we meet someone in person and shake their hand, see their smile, and get that solid gut feel about them, we build intimacy and trust. Which takes me back to the whole “dating” thing. Even when you meet someone online, the time comes, before you ‘seal the deal,” that you want to meet the person face-to-face before you go any farther. Business is no different. We do business with people we know, like and trust.

This is not a ploy by the hotel industry to get more people in their beds. Although they’re paying for some of the studies, like the Hilton Hotels’ study called “Why Face-to-Face Business Meetings Matter,” there are other studies too.

A new study by Oxford Economics, a global research firm, has shown that when companies cut their travel expenses and face-to-face time with potential customers, they’re cutting their own throat, er, profits, too.

The study showed that business travel directly leads to an increase in both corporate revenue and profits. For every dollar invested in business, travel companies gained $12.50 in added revenues and $3.80 in new profits. Try to make up that difference with tweets and FaceBook. Not going to happen.

It’s not just our cologne, the $100 we spent on teeth whiteners and the $50 lunches that convince people to buy more from people in face-to-face meetings. Psychologists and human behavioral experts all agree, we get more signals and information from people we experience in a three-dimensional realm — across the conference table, or at convention, or workshop or sales meeting — than we do in two dimensions via Skype.

There’s no better way to start a relationship, or close the deal on a sale, than doing it in person. That advice varies according to your industry of course, but stuff that requires personal interaction like coordination, consensus, timing and persuading others to do things, are better done in a group rather than on the company jumbo-tron.  If you’re negotiating important contracts, interviewing important people for important positions, or being empathetic and showing your million dollar customers you really do care, is best done face-to-face.

Episode 21: Customer Service and Profit Growth with Angie Strader

Show Summary

Angie Strader, CEO of 360 Wraps, joins Episode 21 of the Profit First Podcast. Angie explains the profitable benefits of keeping you customers happy.

 

Our Guest

Angie Strader has a business degree from Texas A&M and has 20+ years of professional management and leadership experience. Her career began as a police officer and hostage negotiator for eight years in the United States Air Force, as well as time spent as an entrepreneur and in corporate America. Angie is now the CEO of 360 Wraps, Inc., which began in March 2007. Located in the heart of Dallas/Fort Worth, 360 Wraps is the single fastest growing vehicle wraps company in the DFW Metroplex. 360 Wraps is certified as an Economically Disadvantaged Woman-owned Small Business, Service-disabled Veteran-owned Small Business and Texas Historically Underutilized Woman-owned Business – The three top certifications a business can be awarded for federal and state contract eligibility.

 

Show Quotes

To grow your company, take it one customer at a time. Get out there – meet people and network.

Profitability is in the repeat ability. You can still service all customers, but focus on one specific client base.

The best form of Marketing is happy customers. Make it easy for customers to do business with you! Establish that you can talk the talk, make their lives easier, and that you have an outstanding product quality; when you make your current clients happy they will share that word of mouth and advocate for you.

Have a great project management system in place to create an easy and more efficient work flow.

If there is a mistake, and if it’s our fault we fix it – whatever it takes.

If a customer is belligerent, demeaning, or disrespectful towards our team members, it is not tolerated and we let the customer go.

Creating a budget and sticking to it is how we manage to continue to grow our company, drive sales, maintain costs, and increase our profits.

 

Show Links

Angie’s Website: http://www.360wraps.com/

Find Angie on Twitter: @AngieStrader

Angie Strader on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiestrader

Show Sponsors

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

TSheets – The #1 customer rated time tracking solution!

7 Techniques To Help Permanently Remove Stress

The good news is that we are more productive than ever. Way more productive.  That bad news is we are more stressed than ever.  Everyone is.  It has become a global epidemic.

With all the amazing innovations in technology, you would think your productivity would be way up and your stress way down. For example, editing a high production video a mere twenty five years ago easily took one hundred hours.  Editing that same video today, can be done in about an hour with a higher quality standard.  That leaves ninety nine hours to sip Margaritas.  Theoretically.

The problem with the constant stream of technological innovations is that productivity has in fact increased.  Computers can do things perfectly.  And computers can do these perfect things faster and faster.  And when things go perfectly, you too get more things done faster.

But there is a curse.  Perfect, fast execution has resulted in perfectly high expectations.  As a result, we put more on our plate then ever before. We expect more from ourselves and others.  Since people aren’t computers. Faster doesn’t always happen. Perfect rarely happens. Expectations are not met. And we get stressed.

The key to permanently removing stress from your life, once and for all, is to learn the lessons of our less stressed forefathers.  As crazy as it sounds, those people from the colonial days did (or didn’t do) a few things that helped crush stress.  Don’t get me wrong, they worked really hard.  Every day was a fight to survive, let alone thrive.  But they did all the hard work with markedly less stress than us.  Here are the five ways they did it:

Stop Watching & Reading The News 

There is a old saying in the news industry – “If it bleeds, it leads.”  In other words the more shocking something is (e.g. violence, disease, misfortune), the more news coverage it gets.   This may attract viewers (and advertising money) for the news stations, but it also dramatically increases stress levels for viewers.  Our stress is invoked through the constant sense of danger.

The news is an artificial reality.  It is unlikely your normal daily life includes witnessing multiple murders and plane crashes and thefts and train wrecks.  But that is what the daily news drip shows us.  By refusing to watch or read the news, your stress will start to melt away.  Just like our colonial fathers couldn’t flip on the TV to “relax” in front of the evening news, turn off the TV and go out with some friends to talk (about anything but the news). And don’t worry about missing the “important” stuff.  When something truly important happens everyone will be talking about it and you won’t be able to avoid it if you tried.

Meet Outdoors

I stumbled across this little “aha” about a year ago, when I was struggling to find a time to meet with a colleague.  The only overlapping availability would force us to meet at a middle ground location, which was a state park. We both lamented about the fact that we wouldn’t have the availability of a conference room.  That is when my colleague had the great idea of meeting up for a hike and talking then.

Ends up, a conference room doesn’t offer much of a benefit, and nature has a powerful stress reducing ability.  Instead of being cooped up indoors under fluorescent lights, we were out walking and talking.  We in fact accomplished more than we expected.  And felt great in the process.

No surprise here, our forefathers wouldn’t go inside a small cramped hot room to meet (remember air conditioning was invented until the early 1900’s), they would go outside and find a nice shady spot to talk.   Do the same, schedule as many meetings as you can outdoors, and perhaps include some walking while talking. Getting sunlight and fresh air will reduce stress and may even increase productivity.

 Early To Bed, Early To Rise

On the topic of getting more sunlight, reduce your stress by getting more in sync with the hours of the sun.  For stress reduction, the more natural sunlight you have access to the better (disclaimer: I do not mean this in a sun tanning way, or direct sunlight – if you don’t already know that, too much direct sunlight is very bad for your skin).

Also, we typically have the most “mental willpower” in the mornings.  Start the morning with exercise – a good hour of walking, running, lifting weights, yoga, or your exercise of choice is the ultimate stress reducer.

Our colonial forefathers used the sun as a natural alarm clock and nightfall as the end of day work whistle.

Drink and Be Merry

The drinking part is totally up to you.  Being merry (spending time with others) though is a great stress reducer.  Time with others yields a few stress reducing benefits. First, it gets you away from the gadgets and second, it gets you talking.  No gadgets means tat the latest urgent demand can’t be thrust upon you and sharing stories, experiences, and problems is the ultimate way to vent stress.

Our forefathers surely got this right. They knew how to throw great parties, and even required the guys to wear wigs.

No Work On Sundays

Influenced by religion, many colonists would not work on Sundays.  They had more than enough work on their plates to keep going 7 days a week, but they were forced to take a break. In fact some colonies even made it punishable to talk about work on a Sunday.  Perhaps not the most appropriate way to force break time, but it worked and work related stress was reduced.

You also need to schedule an off day (or days) in your schedule.  These off days will not only recharge your energy, but will also recharge your ability to fight off stress.  Weekends are the obvious choice, since less people are expecting you to work then.  But that is changing hauntingly fast, so pick your off times and day(s) now and make it your hard fast rule now.

Do What Libraries Do

Technology has brought about unprecedented accessibility.  Believe it or not, there was a time when you couldn’t get a call while you were in your car, or out for a walk, or in the bathroom.  But now, that is no longer true.  We are connected via our PDA twenty-four seven and with that comes a relentless series of new demands and expectations.

Libraries prohibit talking and cell phone use in their facility and you can do the same, plus some.  Setup rooms in your office and house where PDA use is prohibited.  If simple rules with “PDA Use Prohibited” signs are not enough, you might even be able to get a cellular jamming device in those rooms.  But don’t stop there, setup “library hours” at your office.  This is a one or two hour block of time, each and every day, where you and your team are to only work on projects.  There is no email during this time, there is no phone calls, no interrupting colleagues and no PDAs.

Work actually gets done and stress goes down.

 Say Goodbye To The Joneses

The most common measure of success is money.  If the guy down the street has more money and stuff then you, he is “more successful” then you.  The “keep up with the Joneses” way of determining the quality of your life in relation to your peers is an unwinnable game.  Unless you are the wealthiest person on the planet (there can only be one), there will always be a “Jones” with more than you.  It is the ultimate stress trap.

Instead make a conscious decision to judge your success by the degree of stress you experience.  Less stress is more success.  This is not a magic, overnight cure, but by labeling success and progress by reducing your stress, you will overtime make changes to reduce stress.

The Journey Of Entrepreneurial Success

First, be “crazy” enough to pursue your passion.

Second, find purpose in what you do since it will see you through the tough times and give you more momentum during the strong times.

Third, keep asking your best customers how you can serve them better. Then do it.

Fourth, align what your best customers want with what you want. If you just cater to your customer’s wants, your business will succeed but you will resent it. If you just cater to your wants, you won’t have a business.

Fifth, systematize everything but not all at once. Start with the things that take you the most time and are repetitive. Endeavor to systematize those things so they are consistently completed by other people or other things.

Sixth, hire people with the right attitude, intelligence, energy and values to do what you systematized.

Seven, realize that regardless of your company’s size, financials or how much recognition it gets, you are a success. It’s all about the journey.

6 Ways To Make Your Business Look Bigger Than It Really Is

It was one of the first school yard tricks I learned.  Puff up my chest by holding in my breath, spread my spindly arms out super wide, and walk on my tippy toes without looking like I was walking on my tippy toes.  Three quick adjustments and I was able to make myself look (slightly) bigger then I really was.  When I pulled it off right I was able to avoid being picked on and when I was really lucky I would even get a wink from a cheerleader.

I wish I could take credit for the “look bigger then you really are” trick, but I can’t.  This method for protecting yourself from an attacker or wooing a suitor has been around since the first animals walked this planet.  Blow fish blow up by magnitudes. Peacocks spread their massive tails. Humans puff their resumes.  And you know what?  It often works.

Businesses can can look bigger then they really are, too. It doesn’t require lying (that will come back and burn you anyway).  It just requires “puffing the chest” and “tippy toe walking” in the right places, at the right time, in front of the right prospects.

Before I tell you how to do it, you need to know why you may want to do it.  As a general rule prospects have more confidence in bigger companies.  At a subconscious level, a larger company automatically indicates that it is a successful company. After all, anyone can start a business by themselves at a snap of their fingers. But growing a company to dozens of employees, or larger, must mean you are doing something right.  It creates a subconscious shortcut for your prospects.  Bigger translates to a safer choice.

Here’s how you make your business look bigger:

 Market To One Niche – A laser focus on one niche market affords you the time to appear at all the industry events, even if your entire corporate team is just you.  By concentrating all your efforts on one industry niche, you will frequently meet the same people.  The more often they see you, the more likely they are to conclude that “you are everywhere.”  To those select people, your business is bigger.

One Website, Multiple Physical Addresses – Instead of listing one mailing address on your site, considering listing multiple physical addresses.  I used this method with one of my companies and listed ten mailing addresses in major cities throughout the country. Each address was a corporate office where one of my friends worked.  While I never received mail at these locations, I did land a major client this way.  They told me that a company with so many locations clearly “knew what they were doing” and decided to call us without considering our “tiny” competitors.

An 800 Number With A Professional Voice System – No one cares about saving money by calling toll free numbers any more, but an 800, 888, or 877 number implies an established business.  Back your 800 number with a professional voice mail system (not an answering machine), where people can navigate the phone system to get hold of you.  Also, don’t use a single digit extension, instead use a system that allows 3 or 4 digit extensions.

No Titles On Business Cards - When your entire corporate team is just you, you have to wear multiple hats.  Walking into a client to do the service work with a card that says “President” may not convey the message of size or depth you want to.  Sometimes the title “President” is exactly what you want. Other times “Technician”, “Sale Rep”, “Controller”, or dozens of other titles will serve you better.  When you don’t have a title on your card, you can introduce yourself any way you like. Perfect for being bigger.

Professional Website - This should be a no brainer for any size company.  If you want to put on a good impression that conveys confidence it is mandatory that you have a professional, functional site.  This is particularly important if you are small.  A professional site will give your prospects more confidence, and by default make you look a little bigger (or at least more accomplished) than it would otherwise.

Corporate Mailing Address – A home address listed as your office address assures that customers will see you as small.  Even if you are managing hundreds of employees from your home office, a home address makes you look tiny.  Setup a corporate address through a office space sharing program, or through a friend who will allow you to use her corporate office for your mailing address.

Bigger businesses naturally attract prospects more easily.  Bigger businesses naturally scare away the competition a little more easily.  Nature has proved it works over and over again. Now you can do it to.

Guess what?  Size does matter.

 

The Lessons My Dog Taught Me About Entrepreneurship

I’m a bit of a business lit junkie: I love reading stories and advice from fellow authors and entrepreneurs. I dig tales of overcoming adversity, and I enjoy getting fresh insights on the challenges we all face as small business owners.

The other afternoon, I thought I was taking a little break from the biz world, though, as I took advantage of a sunny day (one of the rare ones this winter) to throw the tennis ball for my dog, Daisy. She never tires of the game, chasing every ball down and faithfully dropping it at my feet. It occurred to me that a surprising amount of the good business advice I’ve read is actually played out in the way my dog interacts with the world. You don’t necessarily need an MBA to figure out what’s important in the business world. Maybe you just need a little lesson in canine values.

Here’s what I observed:

1. Basics matter.

My dog doesn’t care if she wears a diamond studded collar from the latest doggy designer. She doesn’t prefer bottled water from some exclusive spring in the Swiss Alps, and she couldn’t care less if the dog next door doesn’t care for her. My dog wants food, shelter, and companionship, and everything else … well, doesn’t really matter to her much. If her basic needs are satisfied, she’s satisfied. The next time I’m fretting over what kind of paper I want my business cards printed on, I’m going to remind myself that much of what we worry about isn’t important at the end of the day. We need to take care of the basics.

2. Training matters.

When we first got Daisy as an adult rescue, she was a bit of a terror (there was a reason she was returned to the shelter 5 times, and we were her “last chance.”). She chewed on things she shouldn’t, jumped on people, howled constantly, and she didn’t always “go” where we wanted her to (ahem… outside). She wasn’t inherently bad, though. She was an angel inside, she just needed training. She needed consistent structure. Just like our pooch, employees need to be trained, and they need to have crystal clear, consistent expectations. You can’t constantly change the rules and expect your staff to pull it off. Instead, you need to lay down rules, establish the consequences if the rules aren’t followed, and you reward good behavior. Taking the time to properly train your dog (and your staff) always pays dividends.

3. Play matters.

At the end of the day, my dog passes out, exhausted from a full day of activity. If there’s a day when she doesn’t get as much exercise as she needs, she’s out of sorts. She’s grouchy, doesn’t sleep well, and she’s – quite frankly – a pain in the ass. When we spend the time to take her for a walk or a run, though, she’s a dream. If she gets enough tennis ball time, she’s not only happier, but everyone else around her is happier, too. She and I have a lot in common. When I’m slammed at work, I used to have trouble finding time to exercise, until I realized that getting in a workout made my outlook much sunnier. Physical exertion is essential for my mental health, and makes me better at everything I do. Take the time for physical activity. And if you are ever passing through Boonton, New Jersey, join me for a hike, run or a session in the weight room. Daisy has the most fun playing with others, and us humans do too.

4. Trust matters.

My dog is super friendly, but she’s wary of people she doesn’t know. She’ll nose around, checking out that new person smell, and she’ll observe for a while before she’ll let her guard down. She’s rarely picky, but there are some people she never really warms to. She’s smart. Waiting for folks to demonstrate that they’re trustworthy is just good business. Whether it’s hiring an employee for a trial period or using split testing for a new ad concept, it’s wise to start slow – take baby steps until you’re certain that a person or a plan is sound.

So I’m not going to abandon my entrepreneurial endeavors in favor of throwing tennis balls with my dog. But I am going to remind myself of the simple values that should guide the way I approach my business. What matters? What values should I keep front and center? The basics, training, play, and trust: that’s what really matters, and I learned about it from my dog, Daisy.