Ever heard this story? A man is walking along a beach where thousands of starfish have been washed onto the sand. He sees another man, scooping and bending, then hurling something out to sea again and again. When he catches up, he sees that the man is throwing marooned starfish into the water. “There are too many to save,” said the first man. … [Read more...] about Compassionate Selfishness
small business success
Do We Really Need Brass Balls?
Along with the notion that an entrepreneur has to be a ruthless warrior, there's another metaphor that gets used a lot for small business owners--you've gotta have brass balls. Apart from the irritating implication that only people with certain kinds of plumbing get to be successful, once you start meeting a lot of extremely successful people, you … [Read more...] about Do We Really Need Brass Balls?
Dumb Things Small Businesses Do #7: Following the Herd
Human beings are wired funny. We were given these giant brains so we could be creative, could think of new ways to do things, could come up with incredible new inventions. We even have opposable thumbs, with which we can make all kinds of nifty tools like the wheel, the printing press, and Twitter. But we also have a big scary alarm that goes off … [Read more...] about Dumb Things Small Businesses Do #7: Following the Herd
Dumb Things Small Businesses Do #4: Thinking It’s About You
Remember my hapless entrepreneur from last week? He dug himself a giant scary financial hole because he was so in love with his vision of his product that he didn't bother to get any feedback from actual customers. In fact, he tended to think of his customers as an annoying necessity. They kept calling with their stupid support questions, keeping … [Read more...] about Dumb Things Small Businesses Do #4: Thinking It’s About You
