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PROFIT+GROWTH

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In the land of the blind, even the one-eyed man is king.

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I struggle with perfectionism, and this quote helps me on a couple of different levels.  I’ve been blind to many things in my life, and I’m always grateful to the kings who’ve helped show me the way.  It really did not matter how many eyes they had — they knew more than me.

In Business:

What value can you bring to your market?  Chances are, you know plenty about one or more particular subjects that others don’t.

In Chip and Dan Heath’s excellent book, Made To Stick, they talk about the “curse of knowledge.”  When you know something, it’s easy to assume everyone else knows it, too.  You also forget what it was like not to know.

If you ever find yourself looking for a new business idea, ask yourself what questions people seem to come to you for help with.  Perhaps this is an area of expertise or specialized knowledge that people might be willing to pay you for. 

You don’t have to be the world’s foremost expert on the subject either.  As long as you know a little bit more than the people you’re helping, the service you’re providing them is valuable.

In Life:

I mentioned earlier I struggle with perfectionism.  The most damaging effect it can have on a person’s life is procrastination from thinking you always need to know just a little bit more before you begin anything.

I just need to read one more article, watch one more instructional video, attend one more class… then I’ll be ready.  But all that extra knowledge isn’t necessary to begin.

If I’m blind in a certain subject, I just need to know enough to get one eye open.  Then I can learn more about the thing while I’m simultaneously doing the thing.

So remember…

In the land of the blind, even the one-eyed man is king.

— Desiderius Erasmus

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.

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This quote is a close cousin to, “Nothing means anything until you give it meaning,” but it’s different enough that it deserves its own place on my list.  I particularly like the use of the word “retraining.”

In Business:

Substitute the word “Prosperity” for “Peace” and you have a world-class business quote.  They’re really not that far apart when you think about it.  For a business to be at peace, it needs to be prospering.

There have been many variations on the adage that businesses are either growing or shrinking — there’s no standing still.  I agree.  So growth, even slow and steady, is the mode you always want to be in.

In Life:

I mentioned before that I like the use of the word “retraining.”  I like that it rejects the notion of a “permanent personality,” where you’re locked into a certain way of thinking and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’m not a big fan of trying to change other people.  But I am a fan of trying to change yourself.  That’s where all meaningful change begins.

One dangerous thing about this quote, though, is that pessimists use it to justify a negative outlook.  Pessimists always think of themselves as “realists.”  I’m sure you’ve heard a pessimist in your life say, “I’m not being negative; I’m just being real.”

Pessimism is a safe, weak choice we primarily use to keep us from taking action.  “Why bother?” the pessimist asks, “It probably wouldn’t work anyway.”

Problem avoided — on to the next gutless choice.

Optimism is risky.  There’s risk of failure, risk of disappointment, risk of not being taken seriously.  To me, however, a life without any risk is not a life worth living.  I’ll choose optimism.

So remember…

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.

— Wayne Dyer

Everyone is the hero of their own story.

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When former Saturday Night Live cast-member Mike Myers was promoting his original Austin Powers movie, he did an interview with Parade magazine.  The reporter asked him why his Dr. Evil character was still so lovable.  He said that his mother, who was very active in the theater, told him, “Remember: the villain is always the hero of their own story.”

I’ve altered the quote slightly to make it more universal.

In Business:

When you think about it, this quote is actually very similar to “The customer is always right,” which, in my opinion, does more harm than good, especially to the small business owner.

For example, let’s say a woman opens a bakery, fully embracing the old adage, “The customer is always right.”  It doesn’t take long before she starts hearing all the wacky ideas from her customers about what baked goods she should sell: doughnuts with gravy on top, chocolate-covered quiche, onion upside-down cake, and so on.

She starts thinking, “The customer is always right?  What a load of baloney!”

Pretty soon, she completely rejects the entire notion — even scoffs and sarcastically laughs at it now — and never gives any credence to any suggestions or feedback she gets from any of her customers.

“This is what I’m offering,” she thinks to herself.  “If you don’t like it, then leave.”  And they do.

I’ve always thought the old adage stops short and could do with a makeover. 

It would be better to say, “In their own mind, the customer is always right,” or “The customer always thinks they’re right.”  That puts the responsibility back on you, the business owner and expert, to determine if the customer is actually right or not. 

It keeps you in the game, open to new ideas and evaluating them, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and summarily dismissing the whole concept that your customers could actually help you improve your business.

“Everyone is the hero of their own story” is a better way to think about customer service, suggestions, and reviews. You should even apply it to the negative ones.

In Life:

 It can go one of two ways for a hero.  If they triumph over whatever adversity or obstacle stands in their way, they are “victors.”  But failing means they are “victims” of those obstacles.

Everyone’s favorite stories to tell other people are the hero/victor stories.  But their favorite stories to tell themselves are the hero/victim stories.

You can see people’s faces light up when they launch into a hero/victor story.  It can be something as big as “I ran into a burning building and saved a baby,” or as small as “This guy thought he was going to get my parking space, but I got in there right before him.”

People don’t light up when they tell their hero-victim stories.  It’s usually just some excuse-making tale that revolves around them being well-intentioned and evil forces getting in their way.  These range from, “I was going to become a doctor and help people, but my parents/teachers/friends didn’t believe in me,” to “I was going to eat healthy today, but somebody brought in another office birthday cake and I had to be sociable.”

Once you realize everyone is the hero of their own story, your job becomes two-fold. 

First, it’s up to you to examine the stories you tell, particularly the ones you tell yourself, and try to keep your hero/victim stories to a minimum. 

Second, realize that all the stories you get from other people are hero stories, and if you ever want to persuade them to take a certain action or just get along with them in general, don’t ever try to recast them as anything but heroes in their stories.

This will go a long, long way in creating successful relationships with anyone you meet.

So remember…

Everyone is the hero of their own story.

— Mike Myers (Mother)

Be the change you wish to see in other people.

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Yes, it’s a classic.  And, boy, is it ever worth reading again. 

Another variation I like, courtesy of Steve Chandler, is to see yourself as the problem in a given situation, even when you know you’re not really the problem.  “Because if I’m the problem,” Steve says, “I can also be the solution.”

It’s a great way to get those creative, problem-solving juices flowing.

In Business: 

Never settle for having a copycat, me-too business. Always strive to have a business that so over-delivers on its promises that your customers feel compelled to tell others about it.  Not just friends, but total strangers.

My wife and I were in a great seafood restaurant years ago, and she mentioned she would like to find a really good Chinese place, too.  The couple in the booth behind us overheard, and immediately sprang into action. 

They told us about a Thai restaurant in the next town over. We told them we’d have to give it a try in the polite, “let’s do lunch” kind of way, but that simply would not do.  They made us promise we would try it.  Yes, they were more than just satisfied customers; they were evangelists!

We did try it… and they were right!  Best food ever!  Now my wife and I are unpaid evangelists for this place, too.  We’ll tell people within 100 miles about it when given the slightest opportunity.   Man, I wish I was there right now.

No matter what your business offers, “be the change” that turns customers into evangelists and leave your competitors in the dust.

In Life: 

Actions truly do speak louder than words.  There simply is no other way to lead than by example.  We should all strive to be, at a bare minimum, a positive influence on those we’re around.

So remember…

Be the change you wish to see in other people.

– Gandhi

U = I – R (Unhappiness equals Images minus Reality).

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I can’t say enough about Dennis Prager’s masterpiece, Happiness Is A Serious Problem.  It is must-reading for anybody who would like to be happy right now — or for those who are considering adding happiness to their lives in the near or distant future.

In Business:

You’ve probably lost count of how many times you’ve sat down at a fast-food restaurant, unwrapped your burger, and thought, “Gee, that doesn’t look anything like the one they showed in the TV commercial last night.”

You went in with an image of a “10,” but you got a “2.”  So your unhappiness with the burger is an “8.”  This is the ultimate customer satisfaction equation.  You can use it for every aspect of your business.

Is your advertising promising a 10, but you’re only delivering 3s and 4s at best?  When people call your office, is it reasonable to expect a 6, but your phone system turns the experience into a 1?

You can use this equation to over-deliver, too.  Again, that’s the way to create evangelists out of your customers.  If they’re used to getting 5-level treatment everywhere else for some mundane experience, what can you do to rock their world and give them a 9?  That would give you a “minus 4” unhappiness number.

Lower is better.  Now you’re so low that you’re into minus numbers, which actually moves the customer satisfaction dial over to where we dreamed of being: happiness territory!

I think you need to deliver a 0 for a satisfied customer, a minus 2 for a customer who will refer friends and family to you, and a minus 4 and below for a customer who feels compelled to tell a complete stranger about you, if given the opportunity.

In Life:

As Mr. Prager states so well in his book, “If unhappiness is measured by the difference between your image and your reality, unhappiness can be reduced by either dropping your images and celebrating your reality or keeping your images and changing your reality.”

More than that, I think the formula is a tremendous help in identifying the causes of your unhappiness.  We often find ourselves in an unhappy mood, but are not exactly sure how we got that way. 

“What happened?” we might ask ourselves.  “My day was going fine earlier, now I just feel like going home and climbing back into bed.”

It’s great to be able to play back the last few hours and ask, “What happened where my reality fell far short of my images?”  The answer tends to jump out pretty quickly.

So remember…

U = I – R (Unhappiness equals Images minus Reality).

– Dennis Prager

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