Business Advice - The Best from 17 Business Owners
Gandhi Ramsaroop
St. Louis Telecom, LLC
“The best advice I have received is to ‘eat my frog first.’ In other words, daily we are tasked with things that we do not want to do and have a tendency to put off. If we do our hardest, least desirable, task first, the sense of achievement will increase your confidence and have a tremendous effect. The rest of the day will seem easy in contrast. Eat your frog!”
John P. Walsh
St. Louis Data Destruction, Inc.
“The best info that I ever received was to be honest and personable with customers. When I went to buy my first car, I actually went to six different dealerships to buy a car. I heard six different sales pitches and thought to myself, I am looking at the same vehicle. It was being presented six different ways with six different sales tags. I could not understand why. My father explained to me that everyone of those companies was selling the same product, but tried to sell me on why to buy from them. I finally made my decision to buy from someone who took the time to get to know me and understand me as an individual and fulfill my needs. Keep in mind that people buy from people they like and trust. If you keep that in mind, you will be successful.”
Kelly Luckett
Green Roof Blocks
“Someone once told my partner Mike and me that the only way we could move up the ladder was to find someone to do the job we currently occupied. That tenet has helped us build our business from a two-man operation into a 35-employee economic powerhouse. Every time we wanted to expand or branch out into other areas we had to first move someone into the role we were filling, leaving behind the precedent for advancement within the company. Now we have a corporate ladder in place allowing entry-level employees to ascend at the same time top-level managers are considering retirement.”
Phyllis Weiss
Image Works Public Relations
“The owner of a design firm told me she had 12 designers working for her. She admitted that she personally was not making any more money than when she had 2 designers working for her, and most of her time was now spent generating a larger client base to keep all employees busily working. To this day, I take her comments to heart. Having a boutique-size agency is ideal and works well for me. There have been times we could have grown even further, but it might have destroyed the synergy and working environment. When companies have the opportunity to expand, the question they might ask is, ‘What is there to gain, and are the rewards worth the challenges?’”
Steve Hughes
Hit Your Stride—Speaking/Training/Coaching
“Persistence pays. In the past year alone, I landed two big pieces of business simply because I never stopped calling. I won’t let go until I hear ‘no.’ My approach is to walk the fine line between persistent follow-up and restraining order. Works every time.”
Wendy Gauntt
CIO Services, LLC
“Write a business plan. Follow it. Simple but effective—and hardly anyone ever does it!”
Sandy Jaffe
The Booksource
“‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ If a decision-maker asks that question, and the answer is ‘if the worst that can happen is acceptable, go for it.’ Doesn’t mean you’ll be right all the time. I’ve made lots of mistakes. But no mistake ever put us out of business or was so destructive that we couldn’t move forward. If the decision-maker never asks that question, the organization might act too conservatively and not grow. It’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s worked well for us”
Don Barnes
PeaceFrog Productions
“The best advice I’ve received regarding my business was from Frank Dunne, the small business lawyer that helped me get started. My original plan was to offer every service I could provide, thinking the more I offered the greater the probability I would land jobs more quickly. Dunne suggested that I offer just one of those services—the one I was most interested in pursuing—and focus my efforts on it. Taking that advice was the best decision I’ve made regarding my business.”
Gill E. Wagner
“‘Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.’ I’ve seen fear paralyze the decision-making process of thousands of people with whom I’ve worked over the years, and therefore cost them countless opportunities. On the flip-side, I’ve also seen thousands of chances taken that resulted in wonderful things happening, and I’ve never seen a mistake made that couldn’t be overcome. My dad taught me that.”
Iris Salsman
Salsman Lundgren Public Relations, Inc.
“Since we’re in the PR business, the best advice I ever received was from the late Al Fleishman when we started our agency. He said the most important thing to do every morning—before reading the mail or getting started on projects—is to read at least three newspapers to find out what’s going on in the world, the region and our own community. According to Al, if you’re not well informed, you can’t be effective. It’s a principle I follow to this day. Of course it’s easier now that we have the Internet!”
Douglas A. Schukar
DAS Acquisition Company/USA Mortgage
“The best business advice I ever received was the words from the infamous Jim Collins, author of ‘Good To Great.’ Regardless of the product one sells or the services one provides, it’s all about your people. Get the right people on the bus and get the wrong people off the bus, then, and only then, will you start to see where to drive it.”
Daryl S. Spector
Executive Mortgage Group Inc.
“The best advice I received was to concentrate on building your own empire one brick at a time. Don’t build your own empire by destroying others’ (empires).”
Jonathan Jones Consulting, Inc.
Management Consulting and Coaching
“I had a manager tell me ‘Life is not fair.’ At the time, it really ticked me off. But the longer I thought about it, and learned to accept it, the wiser he became. Now, my mission is to make life more fair for others.”
Ken Boyd,
Accounting and Benefit Cleanup
“The best advice I ever received: Price your product or service profitably. If your prospect won’t pay a price that creates a reasonable profit for you, don’t do the business. This is particularly hard for the new business owner who needs any business to meet cash flow needs. To avoid this problem, create a business plan that allows you to cash flow yourself while you search for profitable clients.”
Douglas J. Eisenhart
Ironhorse Innovations, LLC
“Hire smart and talented people. Surround yourself with people that are more talented than you and will challenge you to improve your performance and decision-making. Source: My father.”
Ian Miller
Ice Ventures, Inc.
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. A manager I worked for early in my career passed along this advice. It’s been true in every position I’ve held.”
Louise Wiedermann
Project Technology Consulting, LLC
“The best advice I received was from a mentor: ‘Do not try to manage that over which you have no control.’ In other words, if you’re not the person in charge, you may be able to influence or persuade, but probably not control the outcome.”
on May 1st, 2007 at 9:57 pm
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