Become your own boss in three easy steps

Some people look down on simple business. They’ll say ‘you just own your job’ as if it’s pitiful. Don’t let them get to you: it’s still better than not owning your job. I’d argue that hiring yourself out is the original capitalism and the very foundation of America. But for self-employment to work...

Get a clue, win the game

 Across all industries, 25 percent of startups will fail in the first year. By the fourth year, it’s 50 percent. And the leading cause of failure?  Incompetence.  About 46 percent of firms go pear-shaped because leadership hasn’t a clue what they’re doing. More specifically, they suffer from at le...

Accidental excellence

My personal goal is to make everything easy. I don’t like problems—so I’ve built my business to achieve “simple” in three easy steps.The first key to trouble-free is being okay with leaving money on the table. I have a price I charge per foot for each style of fence, and it rarely changes.

The no-haggle edge

This is an old contractor trick. I know; I’ve done it myself. When we don’t want the job, we over-bid it. We can’t just say “We don’t want your business,” even though that’s what we mean. Instead, we offer a deal you can’t accept. And if it turns out you do accept, we grin-and-bear-it all the way...

The Nordstrom secret revealed

How can a retail store have a culture in which employees and management are so good at making customers happy?  Do they have marathon training sessions? Are the rules super strict? Do the managers have magical powers? It turns out that it isn’t any of these things.

Mickey D’s, why have you forsaken us?

Used to be that sending a kid to work at Mickey D’s for the summer meant you’d get back a half-man/half-mattress that now had some sense of work ethic. He’d know the basics of customer service, accounting and getting along with others. I’m not sure it happens like that anymore.

Faster than the speed of…

I’ve never had one of their subs and probably never will, but I know who they are and I associate them with the answer to the increasingly common question: “What can I eat in the next 20 minutes?” They’ve labeled themselves as fast, but they didn’t have to. They could have made taste or freshness...

Invasion of the nerds

 if you find yourself with nothing to do next weekend, even if you can’t cobble together a Squirrel Girl costume by then, consider bringing the family downtown for the day. The kids will think it’s hilarious and you may realize that these geeks are pretty cool cats after all.

Leading by lying

Want to get your people on board to implement a new process or product? Present it so the staff believes that success is only a matter of course. No need to talk about the hurdles you face, or the competition, or the risks. Those are your problems, not theirs.

Say what? Keep it simple!

All companies—and all managers of people—and everyone who writes for the public— should consider the reasons behind simplified communication. English is complicated; you and I define words with varying degrees of certitude. And I’ve never even heard of some of your words, let alone know what you m...

Riding the rails

If you think a day and a half on a train sounds boring, you’re right. But kids are at their best when they have nothing to do but exist. Phone service is spotty, so you get to be a substitute for their friends. They’ll talk to you, and you can just be together. That’s pretty nice.

Rip-off or just good business?

Economists say that the price of X is determined by the market.  If you’re willing to pay $34 for an ice cream cone, then:

    a) That's what it’s worth, and
    b) That's what I should charge.