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Recently I was in the midst of transferring my business domain to a new server and when it came time to discuss payment I was told I could use one of two ways. I could either pay with a check, which meant spending the time
writing it out, locating an envelope and making a run to the post-office, or I could simply send payment through an online payment service.
All that sounded fine to me and I was ready to pay for the service online when unexpectedly the young man informed me, "If you pay with the online service they take a portion off the top so I don't know, I think it would be better for you to pay by check."
Now I don't know about you but for me I immediately started seeing red flags and skyrockets going off all around me. What was I doing? What was I thinking? Do I really want to do business with this company? I had been thinking of all of my clients that I could refer to them, but in the blink of an eye all that changed.
How many times have you automatically made a similar mistake? Do you invest all of your time and energy building your business and then when you begin to sense success you undermine that success with one wrong move? Maybe you have been building your 'baby' and are seeing a modicum of success and know it is time to hire or designate someone to do some of the routine tasks, but once they are hired you impede them in completing the jobs you hired them for.
What can you do to prevent yourself from being your business' own worst enemy? Think about what you specifically desire from your company. Do you want to have a mom and pop business that is totally hands on forever? If so maybe what you are doing is enough. By the same token, if you hope to create a successful business you have to grasp a couple of fundamental rules to learn to stay out of your own way.
One of the things that you need to do is, be aware. Listen to what you say and how you say it when speaking to others. Sometimes we as business owners tend to have so much on our minds that we don't take the time to effectively listen when others speak to us. When we do listen our minds are moving at such a fast pace that we find ourselves thinking about how to respond instead of truly listening to what the other person is conveying.
Worse yet, perhaps you suffer from the habit of expecting others to be mind readers. I recall an employment ad I read in a local newspaper it essentially said, if you are a mind reader this is the job for you. Stop and really listen next time. Really listen to what is being said.
Another landmine that we often lay in our path to success is ego. What I am intimating is that when you start to think more of yourself than others do you run the unavoidable risk of becoming overbearing and forceful. As a consumer given the option would you prefer to deal with someone that knows their business and shows a genuine interest in you and your needs or would you seek someone who is disrespectful of you and constantly letting you
know how superior they are. When the person I am dealing with begins to act like a know-it-all or comes off crass and rude I tend to look elsewhere for the services I need. Most certainly you should display your professional competence but be careful about the presentation.
These are some of the pitfalls we fall prey to in the course of our business lives. When you learn to avoid them you will begin to witness the floodgates of success open wide. Not only will your business reap the rewards but your relationships will too.
© Copyright 2005 Ginger Marks
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