I have been asked to give my opinions on owning a small business. I think I was asked because not only have I been involved in more than one successful, I’ve helped hundreds of others. I’ve been to the “School of Hard Knocks”– numerous times.
It did not take long to figure out that this assignment is not a simple one. I guess I have too many opinions. As you will see, one opinion leads to several others.
If you decide to bear with me, I will do my best to make it worth your while.
At this point you probably have several questions, one of which is, am I going to reveal the secret of owning and operating a business?
One seemingly successful approach to get you to read what I have to say, is to keep promising to reveal that secret, isn’t it? Well, I’m definitely going to reveal it– starting right now.
The secret is: IT’S ALL SECRET!!! AND YOU CAN’T FIND OUT THE TRUTH!!! Not from online gurus, not from Harvard Business School or any other college or university. And not from all the normal sources (i.e. attorneys, accountants, brothers-in-law, neighbors)!!!
The secret is: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE AND YOU MUST ACCEPT THIS RESPONSIBILITY!!!
Every business requires a nimble manager. One who is able to assess the situation and make decisions. Then of course when the situation changes, he has to reassess and make new decisions. But, the goal remains the same. Or, should I say, the GOALS remain the same.
Your goals may be different than mine. I don’t know yours, but these are mine:
My purpose on this site, is to share some opinions, experiences and frustrations.
Read on!
You may find other things you can relate to. And I hope you find some information that will help you move forward and avoid some rough trips to the “School of Hard Knocks”.
Let’s start at a beginning. When you decided to go into business, we assume you did what the majority of people do. You visited with your accountant, attorney, brother-in-law, neighbor– and then you went on-line and got all the information you could gather. You may even have taken some business courses in college. You did these things because you wanted sound business advice. Some charged money, some gave freely.
You got a bunch of advice. I did the same. Some of the advice I received, was conflicting. I was having trouble making a determination, of what to do, because of these conflicts. I couldn’t get rid of the question, “Why was the advice conflicting?” In trying to evaluate the advice, I decided to look at the motives of those who gave it to me.
Let’s start with my attorney: my opinion of his motives…
My accountant: my opinion of his motives…
My brother-in-law: my opinion of his motives…
My neighbors: my opinion of their motives…
Harvard Business School, or any other college or university: my opinion of their motives…
On-line gurus: My opinion of their motives…
OPINIONS AND MOTIVES
As I threatened early on, one opinion usually leads to several others. so my opinions of the above listed motives, are as follows:
1. To me, they seem to be very self-serving. That doesn’t necessarily negate their validity.
2. The thing that really disturbs me is that their self-serving advice is in most cases, incomplete, half-truths and sometimes just plain false.
Did I jump to the wrong conclusions? Or do my opinions have merit?
Let’s see.
Read on!
WHAT ADVICE DID I REALLY GET?
Here’s the advice I received:
1. My attorney’s advice was:
2. My accountant’s advice was…
3. My brother-in-law’s advice was…
4. My neighbors’ advice was…
5. Harvard Business School, and the other colleges and universities’ advice was…
6. On-line gurus’ advice was…
The reason that I disagreed with most of the advice given to me, by my professional and amateur advisers was that it really didn’t fit my situation. I had no intention of being part of the 84%.
MY OPINION OF WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR ADVICE
JUSTIFICATION OF MY OPINIONS