Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. —Tony Robbins, author, professional speaker. As an entrepreneur, your success depends greatly on your ability to ask the right questions. However, few people understand the enormous value of mastering this art. I would argue that several entrepreneurs—business professionals, too—have no idea that […]
View Post Competitive Advantage, Customer Objections, Marketing, Paul Cherry, Sales, Skills
Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets. —Steve Jobs, cofounder, Apple As a sophomore in college, I cofounded a Latin jazz band called Río Negro with a Puerto Rican friend of mine who played congas. We loved everything about Latin music and […]
View Post Apple, Atlanta, Bill Clinton, Latin Jazz, Rio Negro, Steve Jobs, Super Bowl
I hate weekends because there is no stock market. —Rene Rivkin, Australian stockbroker, entrepreneur. A few months ago on a Monday morning, I updated my Facebook status with the following: “I absolutely love Mondays. Not so thrilled about Fridays.” I anticipated some lighthearted criticism from my friends, but I didn’t think that my sanity would […]
View Post Easybeats, Employees, Facebook, Friday, Friday on My Mind, Happy Hour, Motivation, Payday, T.G.I.F.
Hire slow, fire fast. —Unknown. I recently received a desperate call for help from one of my mentees, who is working hard to grow his new clothing company. He sought advice about how to deal with a lazy business partner who is preventing the company from moving forward. My mentee wrote, I have been working […]
View Post Attrition, Human Resources
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. —Henry Ford, founder, Ford Motor Company. The two kinds of entrepreneurs are those who create markets and those who do not. On the one hand, the entrepreneur who creates markets is considered a revolutionary. On the other hand, the entrepreneur who […]
View Post Amazon.com, Blue Ocean, Blue Ocean Strategy, Cirque du Soleil, College, Forbes, George Lucas, Harvard Business Press, Henry Ford, Jeff Bezos, Lexus, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Dell, Nike, Phil Knight, Profit, Ralph Lauren, Red Ocean, Renée Mauborgne, Revenue, W. Chan Kim, Wall Street
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. —Proverbs 27:17 The average person is intimidated by smart people. I know firsthand: Whenever people find out what I scored on an SAT exam, they are shocked. (I have very proud relatives.) Some try to stump me on the spot with a complex riddle or math […]
View Post E. James Rohn, Hewlett Packard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, SAT