You cannot add anything

Every resource is finite. If you try and add something, you are really replacing or diluting something else.

Let’s say I add a new marketing message to my website. That’s really diluting the existing marketing messages. And, it might also replace an old message in the prime spot of the website.

Or maybe I add a new marketing stream or product to my range. Resources are always finite, no matter how large. The time and money going into that development is not going into my existing marketing streams or products.

Always think in terms of replacing and beware of dilution. Is the new thing good enough to be worth replacing the current one? Or would I be better off-putting the extra resources into the existing item?

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Most decisions are made Emotionally, then justified Logically

How people’s emotional brain chooses to buy, then hands over to the logical brain to find the excuse to make that purchase.

Emotional Brain vs Logical Brain

Let’s say I see a swanky ad for a brand-new mobile phone

My emotional brain sees it and goes:

“oooooohhhhh… that looks awesome… I want it…”.

Kudos to the marketers.

Then it passes over to your logical brain to find the excuse to buy it.

"I’ve been looking for a while now”…

“The battery really is starting to go on my old phone”…

“The contract is nearly up so it’ll not cost me much”…

These are not the real reasons. These are the excuses I could tell my friends.

The logical brain is here to justify the purchase. But the real decision? That was made by our emotional brain first. Your product needs to scratch both itches.

This is true in most business decisions, too

Will re-branding really help our sales or just my business ego?

Has that employee really improved on their own, or do I just not want to give a disciplinary?

We are all human, and recognizing our inner caveman with its emotional brain is key. When is the logic we tell our colleagues the real reason for the decision?

Be honest with yourself when the emotional caveman starts driving the decision-making bus. Ego and pride are dangerous things in business.


You might also be interested in our Simple Guide to Making Better Business Decisions

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Do it Right or Not At All

It's completely fine to not do something in business. In fact, you should not do lots of things.

We’ve all heard it from countless sources over the years - Do it right, or not at all.

The problem is that what most people actually mean is do it right or do it right.

In business, the ‘Not at all’ part is the most important.

Not at all is a good choice

There’s always a choice to not do something, and it should be considered.

• Social media account

• Blog

• New working hours tracking system

You don’t have to have any of these. Each is there just to serve a purpose - perhaps finding new clients, or communicating with them.

If you already have a stream of new clients, and an effective way to communicate with them, then you don’t need the above. That purpose can be fulfilled another way.

Another grain of sand on the beach

Creating a new blog, launching a new company Facebook account, another website in Google - a half-done job is like throwing another grain of sand on a beach and hoping someone will find it.

In digital marketing we talk about the 10x user experience - can you make a blog that’s 10x better than anything out there? If not, don’t waste your time. A half-done marketing job will still cost money, but bring none of the benefits. It’s OK to not have a blog, to not have social media, or anything else.

A rushed job costs money without benefits

Let’s say I’m looking for a new working-hours tracking system. Aim: find a system that’s faster to use and gets better data out.

A rushed job will still cost money to implement, yet achieve neither.

If you don’t have the time to do it well, no problems. Another option is to save your time and resources until you have the time to do it properly.

It’s OK to say “we cannot do that well, so let’s not do it at all”. A poorly done job still incurs the costs, yet brings the same benefits as not doing it all at.

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Everything needs a plan

Even a five-minute phone call needs a plan. It might only take 10 seconds, but that’ll be the most productive 10 seconds of your day

Think & plan more = do less

We’ve all been there. You hang up the phone, then realise you forgot to ask them about the second point. Oops. Not great for efficient use of time, not great for looking organised.

It doesn’t matter if the job is small or large, everything needs a plan. Even a five-minute job needs a plan. That plan might only take you 10 seconds, but it’ll be the best value 10 seconds of the whole job.

The process of planning forces you to think through the task, from top to bottom. It allows new ideas to pop to mind on how it could be done better and faster. I’ve just changed a five-minute job to a three-minute job. I’m now 66% more productive. Go me.

Having a plan, written down in front of me, keeps me on track during the task too.

Focus on the Aims

The most important part of your plan is your aims. What are you trying to achieve?

That should be your start point, your continual reference point, and the stick by which you measure the outcome.

Making a conscious plan for every task you do reduces mistakes and increases the effectiveness, as it forces you to consciously think through everything you’re going to undertake.

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The Good vs Perfect Trap

Why doing something too well is just as bad in business as doing something too badly.

Every task in a company has a correct quality level

Doing something too well is a big fat waste of time and resources, and is bad for your business. For each task, your first job is to pick the quality level and stick to it.

As Good as Possible Trap

Lots of business people fall into the trap of doing tasks as well as possible. That often means putting too much time into relatively minor tasks, and so taking time away from what matters. Just because you could do it better, doesn’t mean you should.

Doing your Best is Good Enough Trap

Equally, doing your best at something isn’t necessarily good enough. If you are not an expert, and something is critical, the required level might be above your own skills and experience. Be wary of saying that you did your best - it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you reached the required level.

Good Enough is the perfect level

Look at the importance of the task to your bottom line. That should dictate how much time and effort goes into a task.

Any more is wasteful. Any less is equally damaging to your business.

When do business people do too much?

When it’s not that important

Some jobs just don’t have much effect on the bottom line. So don’t do your best, do your fastest. Then get on to the things that matter.

When it’s a personal interest

Imagine a chef who runs a restaurant - they are probably tempted to spend too much time on the menu design, and not enough on your marketing plan. After all, food and cooking is their passion in life. But maybe the marketing plan is more important to business success.

When personality type is very detailed

Be aware of your own personal bias. If you love detail, you might be spending too long on the minor tasks

When personal pride gets in the way

The design of your business cards will have diddly-squat effect on your profit margins. Any more than 2 minutes thought on it is time you are not spending on what counts.

When designing for themselves

You are an expert in your field. But your target market are probably not. You should be adding features to your product that your clients would notice and appreciate. Anything more is a waste.

When do business people do too little?

When it’s boring / like pulling teeth.

I’ve seen countless businesses make plenty of money, just to give the majority away to the tax man because they paid no attention to the accounts. It doesn’t matter if you enjoy it or not, understanding tax and accounting is one of your most important jobs.

When personality type is more gung-ho.

Most of us entrepreneurs tend to over-estimate our own judgement and are happy to decide on a finger in the air. Be aware of your own personal bias - are you really giving the due diligence to major decisions?

When personal pride tells you it doesn’t matter.

Some people are proud to not know anything about a topic.

“I’m not a nerd, I don’t know anything about computers.”

Like it or not, you are going to spend 10 hours a day using that computer, so not putting any time or effect into the choice will likely cost you a lot in the long run.

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Business has no place for negative emotions

Negative Emotions = me deciding to shoot myself in the foot

Things go wrong. Things break. Clients complain. Contracts fail. It’s part of the risk we signed up for, and should not be a surprise when they happen.

I should not be upset when something happens that I knew could occur. Indeed, these negative emotions will only serve to damage my own business.

If I let myself get upset, angry, or frustrated about it, then it’ll distract me from the work at hand and cloud my judgement for all other decisions. And then there’ll soon be more issues, but this time I’ve created them myself through poor judgement.

By allowing negative emotions in, I’m damaging my own business and ruining my own day. It’s up to me to decide which way things will go.

We are not all robots though

Emotion is instinctive. Negative emotions will not disappear on their own.

The aim is to be conscious of the damaging effect of negative emotions in business and take action to reduce it. Some businesspeople find things like mindfulness very beneficial. For others, it’s fitness and taking care of themselves. For some it’s just being conscious never to indulge a negative emotion that arises, it’s only going to damage their own productivity.

Real business is not like TV. There’s no place for negative emotions in business, they only serve to cloud your judgement.

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Why Reasons Don’t Matter

Why a business owner should never try and justify an issue to themselves with a reason

I have a great reason why that’s not done…

The product list on the website is out of date BUT we’ve not managed to find anyone to look at it.

The accounts are a bit behind BUT we’ve had software issues holding us back.

We planned to put aside time to look at the long-term strategy BUT we’ve had too many day-to-day things to deal with.

The problem with justifications is they imply that it’s okay if the reason is justifiable. A great reason can, psychologically, let me off the hook. And, If I’m off the hook, I’m less likely to fix the problem.

The “But” Filter

Every time I hear myself trying to put a “but” into a sentence, I stop. Jobs are not done, so there are consequences to deal with. The reason why they are not done does not matter.

But the reasons don’t matter

The product list on the website is out of date means lower sales. That’s all there is to it. Why the product is missing from the website does not matter. What matters is that it is missing.

No long-term strategy means your business is probably going in the wrong direction. Why you’ve no long-term strategy has zero effect on the outcome. The best, most watertight reason will not magic you a long-term strategy.

Don’t justify when things are not right. A job is done, or not done, that’s all that matters. The reason why it’s not done is irrelevant, so don’t give yourself any excuses.

The Employee Mindset trap

When moving from employment to self-employment this can be a bad hangover.

For an employee, a good justification is a watertight reason why you did all you could, your hands were tied, and therefore you still deserve your full bonus.

There’s no space for this when you move into running companies.

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It’s All My Fault

Why a small business entrepreneur should view everything as their fault - the good, the bad and everything in between

A high opinion of ourselves…

As entrepreneurs, we tend to have high opinions of our own abilities. It’s an inherent trait of the type of person who’s willing to run a company and take on the competition.

This self-belief can be our Achilles heel though when it blinds us from our own needs to change. Something’s not right. Well, I’m perfect, so it must be the other party that’s at fault. I’ve heard the following countless times:

That staff member makes countless mistakes

My web design agency is useless

The clients never read the documents properly

Baked into these statements is the idea that the other party is at fault, and implicitly that I’m not at fault.

When something’s not right, I’ve two choices:

Option 1: Blame them

Blame the other party. This makes me feel good, too. I did everything right, I’m great. It’s the other person who’s not able to do their job.

And if I did everything perfectly, why would I change how I approach the same situation next time?

My plan is to do exactly the same next time around, so most likely ending up in exactly the same situation.

The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

- Albert Einstein (probably)

Option 2: Blame myself

Instead of blaming someone else, I’m going to blame myself. It’s my fault that the staff member made a mistake - because I didn’t recruit well enough, because I didn’t train them properly, because I didn’t manage them properly.

Now, it’s my fault, I’m going to make a change next time around and stop the issue from happening again.

It doesn’t matter who’s fault it was

I never worry about whose fault something actually is. Yes, my supplier might be totally useless. But it’s something I’ve done that’s put me in that situation. I need to change what I do, otherwise I’ll end up in the same situation again.

The Improvement Mindset: Blame Myself

There’s only one person that I can change - myself. Everything else around me is just a product of what I have done or not done.

A poor staff member? - that’s my bad training, my bad management, my bad recruitment process.

A useless web design agency? - I didn’t put due time and attention into selecting them. I gave them a poor brief. My expectations of what’s achievable in that budget are wrong.

Clients never reading documents properly - My expectations, in terms of what I can ask them to read, are off. I’ve not put the time in to distil the documents down to the key information. I should have taken the time to chat through the key points in person.

By blaming myself for everything, I am being open to the fact that I need to change something I do. And, if I want things to be better, change is a requirement.

For good things as well as bad

I also ‘blame’ myself for all successes too.

By taking the credit, I’m acknowledging that my actions had some part to play in the outcome, and I must repeat those actions next time to get those great results again.

Wow, that staff member is brilliant - I must keep up the staff management and motivation because something is working in there

The web design agency is exceptional - all the work I did on my supplier selection process worked. No shortcuts next time, I’ll keep doing that

Take responsibility for everything, both good and bad. With this mindset, you can fix the cause of the problem, learn and improve.

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