thin basket

Focus! However, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify, but don’t spread yourself (too) thin. One by one, valuable pieces of advice, yet, combining them makes them somewhat contradictory.

Moderation in all things is certainly one of the keys to success in life. The issue is that the same effort today could feel like you’re spreading yourself way too thin tomorrow, perhaps due to lack of sleep.

Due to the variability, it’s nearly impossible to determine a proper balance between focus and diversification in business activities.

All your eggs in one basket is a risky enterprise. Half an egg per basket is obviously impractical from a logistical point of view. If one egg per basket is the bare minimum, the question begs itself: how many baskets can you carry?

pattern breaker

Two weeks into a streak, something comes up and… bye bye newly built habit. Working out in the gym every day can take as little as a runny nose as an excuse to skip a session. Maybe two. Before you know it, you stopped going altogether.

Humans are creatures of habit. Patterns take time and effort before they start to stick, but once fully established, they become hard to break. Before the habits you wish to pursue become an integral part of your life, they’re fragile and prone to suffer from curveballs. There will always be curveballs. Life will throw you one or multiple when you least expect it.

Some curveballs can be foreseen, and others can’t. Identify precisely what causes you to break important patterns so that you can anticipate maintaining your streak better.

humblebrag pie

Thinking you know all there is to know probably won’t get you far. Arrogance and a certain reluctance or unwillingness towards learning are lousy character traits for entrepreneurs.

Confidence, on the other hand, is an absolute must. Failing repeatedly and climbing back up requires a special kind of superpower. Without it, launching or running a business proves to be a rather substantial pain in the neck.

Finding that perfect balance between humility and confidence is a lifelong quest.

reach isn’t the goal

Reach — the ability with which you can address people — alone is not enough. Working day in and day out to build a following on numerous networks and social media sites is not a goal in and by itself.

Why pursue an extensive reach? So that, when you talk to people, preferably as many as possible, they listen.

Being able to reach ten million people is potentially valuable. Still, without your crowd engaging with your message, the value of that particular audience rapidly declines.

How to build an audience for your business? Optimize (individual) relationships and scale them up, one by one. The other way around, chasing big numbers first might look nice on paper, however, a large crowd refusing to take a desired action, isn’t worth all that much.

customer is boss

We all have to answer to someone. “I just don’t want to work for a boss (anymore).” If I had a buck for every time, I heard somebody using this particular reason to rationalize self-employment…

Customer is king, is a very well-known expression. My claim is: customer is boss.

Even as the m/f/x running the show, your responsibility lies with providing added value for your customers. At the top of a big firm, part of a large conglomerate, your so-called bosses might be overseas. Heading a public company might mean that your shareholders are actually your boss.

Unwillingness to work for a boss is a lousy reason to engage in entrepreneurship. Even though “boss” is a terrible word, we all have to answer to someone.

keep climbing

Reaching a summit is rarely easy. Vince Lombardi Jr. once said: “The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” Climbing a traitorous, icy road with a vehicle that’s perhaps ill-equipped to do so can be scary. With rear-wheel traction, no snow chains, or winter tires, you’re (literally) up for quite the challenge.

Don’t stop moving. Whatever you do, keep the momentum going. Slowly but surely. Once you come to a standstill, it’s tough to beat inertia, regain traction, and start moving again.

Always keep climbing. In an entrepreneurial career, many challenges will manifest themselves. Common says in the intro of “The Food,” “slow-motion better than no motion.”

Even if it’s a tiny baby step, don’t give up and keep on moving.

no days off

Vacationing at an exotic destination is currently off the table due to travel restrictions because of pandemic measures. Even if it was an option, the word “vacation” still sounds foreign to many entrepreneurs. As a business owner, primarily consumer-oriented, with a global presence — supporting customers in different time zones — taking time off isn’t always a possibility.

Like Wale sings in the hook of “No Days Off“: “Ambition over everything.” While many entrepreneurs inadvertently share this idea, it has a lot of self-destruction potential. Nothing lasts forever, and working incessantly isn’t viable in the long run.

The question begs itself: how to take time off as an entrepreneur?
Warren Buffett said: “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” My claim is this: the second most important investment is investing in things that save you time.

As you go, try to invest in time-saving initiatives. Some processes might even be suitable for (semi-)automation. It might take a while, but surely, after some time, you’ll be able to reap the benefits and gradually enable yourself to take time off.

goliath and goliath

Assuming big companies only work with other big companies, the process of growing a small company (into a big one) is laborious. To land a big company as a customer of your (currently) small company is challenging. How to grow a company when you’re David and Goliaths in your industry only work with other Goliaths?

What if the big incumbent’s solution leaves no stone unturned and genuinely is incredible? What if Goliath can service the entire market and excels at doing so? Finally, what if part of their proposition is an incubator where Goliath looks for small fish, allowing them to hitchhike and help them grow into Goliath themselves. Even if they don’t turn out to be a Goliath in the end, as long as they get it right now and then, they’re still winning.

Stuck in a seemingly impenetrable market. There is bound to be something in which your (currently) small company can outperform Goliath. Perhaps a niche? Maybe a level of personalized service? Keep looking for that gap until you find it.

beautiful duty

Throughout the last couple of years, interest in “corporate social responsibility” is steadily climbing.

Great. More interest could result in more awareness, which in turn could result in pressure. That pressure could eventually translate into consumers’ altering their behavior, buying from different vendors, with greater corporate social responsibility.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few horror stories regarding the lack of corporate social responsibility. Ranging from how raw materials are sourced, to the way workers are treated, to false emission claims. The list goes on. Those are the stories that surfaced. Suffice to say that there is a multitude of similar reports that haven’t (yet) surfaced. Once you notice, it’s grueling to look the other way.

Some businesses have more potential than others to contribute to corporate social responsibility. Even if it’s just a little bit, maximize yours today.

minimal individual

Sometimes the job gets lonely — first one in, last one out. At the top, you have a clear overview because you’re far away from everything.

Entrepreneurship rewards individualistic behavior. Tread carefully. Go too far down that rabbit hole, and there will be nobody left to pull you out. Individualism is heavily influenced by society and (sub)culture. Rewarding individualistic behavior doesn’t mean collectivism is penalized. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

Smart people will save your business. Another plea for networking, you say? Yes, indeed. While it’s crystal clear that networking is an essential aspect of growing as a person as well as growing your business, the tenser the circumstances grow, the easier it is to forget. Similar to getting plenty of sleep and eating healthy food. When the going gets tough, these are among the first things out the window.

If you haven’t yet, make a recurring reminder, task, or appointment to network every week.