Inadequacy

Emotions have no place in business, especially when a lot of money is involved.

Build relationships, create an amazing workspace, reward only those who are honest and diligent. But, always let your brain do the thinking, let it take care of all the decision making, the heart should stay out of it. Also, getting friends and family involved in business isn't always a good idea, and if they do get involved, then stick to the paperwork and maintain a fair bit of professionalism in the workplace.

Act and work like colleagues when working, and get back to being all "friendly" and being a family when you're back home.

---

ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵒᵛᵉʳᵃˡˡ ᶜᵒⁿᵗᵉⁿᵗ ᵃʳᵉ ᵐʸ ᵒʷⁿ ᵘⁿˡᵉˢˢ ᶦᵗ'ˢ ᵐᵉⁿᵗᶦᵒⁿᵉᵈ

---

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” - Henry Ford

---

So far, getting friends and family involved in business has been a failure; people talk too much, and do too little. They expect outstanding perks and rewards, for their inept efforts.

Then there's our expectations, all that unnecessarily positive assurance we confer to ourselves.

Expectations are good, opportunities are always there, but results aren't promised. No matter how sure proof your business model may look, always be ready for a few abrupt blunders. Things won't always go as planned, and once in a while it will go way better than what you had planned.

It's nothing less than riding on an old rusty roller coaster, where at least 2 out of the 10 times it will end up malfunctioning.

People these days say that starting a business is easy, and how they'd rather leave their job and have their own "business". Yes, it is easy, anyone can start a business these days.

Setup a page online, get some graphics work done, a bit of marketing, getting a few "hyped up" products and you're set. But, very few end up properly maintaining that business, and even fewer actually think about scalability, the long-run.

And people still wonder why 90% of small businesses fail within the first few years, while only 20% to 30% actually make it to their 10th year.

What I've learned from our own family business and from the handful of small startups that I've worked with, is that entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. The amount of ups and downs you will face, the time and effort you have to put in for the first few years, all that forced stress alone will push you towards taking the exit.

And who knows, one day your business partner may have a change of heart, disaster may strike. All that effort you've put in throughout those years, all gone in the blink of an eye.

There's also the workforce, the people you work with, the people who work "for you". If a few bad apples get in there, an incompetent bunch, then that alone will lead you towards countless hurdles.

Talking about the workforce, the jobholders, these days people like to bash jobs a lot. They compare it to "slavery" for some, and it's become quite a trend.

Yet, there's actually a fair bit of "security" when you hold a job or a "job worthy" skill at least. Even if the company you work for vanishes into thin air the next day, then you can just bet on your skills. If you're a master of your craft and know how to present yourself well, then another company will hire you in no time.

Yes, there's still that problem of "there's not enough jobs out there", but is that really true?

Just a few months ago I got the chance to go through a company's email, where probably a few hundred CVs were dropped. The good things is, most of the CVs did meet the criteria. Not too shabby, eh?

But, where it all went wrong was with the first impression, and how they presented themselves in their CVs.

Most of them just attached their CVs and were like...

"Hello, my CV"
"CV"
"My CV for job application"

Great effort! 👍 lol

The CVs were probably all good though, but that's also why non of them stood out, because they were "just good".

A few should've and could've easily stood out from the crowd, just from the use of proper words and sentences, attached to their CVs. Words have that power, and a good first impression alone can make all the difference in the world.

And sometimes...

"Your first impression, may just be your last impression" - Anonymous

---

---

---