School Badges (Photo credit: psd)
Remember killing yourself to do well in school? Well I don’t know about you but I did. My parents told us school was important. As a small business, this article makes some very good points about forgetting all that you learned in school!
1. If you only do what you’re told, you’ll excel.
To be above average, or to achieve better than average results, you must do two things:
- Do what others are willing to do, and do it better, and
- Do what others aren’t willing to do
Otherwise, you’re just average.
2. Being micro-managed is to be expected.
Don’t expect someone to trust you to perform a task or service–and give you money to perform that service–until you’ve proven you can be trusted to perform that service.
Answer questions before questions are asked. Demonstrate your value before you are asked to prove your value.
3. Your time off is the highlight of the year.
If you feel you endure the workweek just to get to the payoff of the weekend, you’re in the wrong business. Find work you enjoy; then you won’t see time off as a chance to finally do something fun but as a chance to do something else fun.
4. Getting criticized means you failed.
Criticism is a chance to learn–and this time you’re getting paid to learn.
Never complain when someone pays you to learn.
5. Success is based on toeing the line.
If you want to achieve different results you’ll have to think and act differently. Do your homework, think critically, and don’t be afraid to create your own path.
Remember that life is very different after graduation. Conformity is death to a small business. You need to be better, faster and different in all ways to stand out. Do yourself a favour and forget those lessons you learned in school so you can shine as you grow your business in leaps and bounds!
Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!
Related articles
- Turn Criticism Into Money (coachtactics.com)
- Losing Hope: The small business nightmare (coachtactics.com)
- My teacher Oprah (coachtactics.com)
When I was restructured a decade ago, my outplacement company gave me an assessment to determine if I’d make a good entrepreneur. I failed the test miserably, claiming I was too risk averse and required too much structure to be a happy entrepreneur. Today, I’ve quit my day job and I am a happy entrepreneur.
