You will face setbacks, challenges and problems. You have two choices how to deal with them: in a negative or a positive manner. The former leads to additional stress, possible new enemies and your business freezing until things are resolved. The latter leads to respect from others, and your business keeps moving forward. Which path…

Christopher Columbus discovered the America’s, making himself wealthy and famous, and leading to Spain becoming the greatest empire of it’s time. Crossing the Atlantic was a good risk to take. The downside was limited (ie: Find nothing), versus an upside that was virtually limitless. Well done Christopher. Apply the same logic in your business. Manage…

Look around you. Watch the news. You’ll quickly realize how hard business is for other people. The temptation is to feel sorry for the other guy. Don’t. Your sympathy is worthless to him. Just be grateful for what you have. Appreciate what you have. Be happy, that in spite of all your challenges, you’re still…

Stay away from perfection, that way lies slowness. Always striving for perfection is a sure path to getting stuck whilst your competition races ahead. Rather don’t be perfect, that way you can be good. Being good means accepting flaws as a necessary price for speed & momentum. Speed & momentum are more important than perfection….

There are plenty of speed-bumps on the startup road. When you’re small, you feel them more. You risk damaging your venture if you hit the speed-bumps to fast. So you have to drive carefully, slowing down for every bump on the way. Another reason to grow fast. The bigger the car, the less you feel…

Just because Bob dislikes Joe, doesn’t mean Bob will protect you from Joe. So don’t put energy into cultivating Bob as an insurance policy against Joe. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re reliant on Bob. Better to take care of yourself. If you can’t fight your enemies buy yourself, don’t make enemies.

If you uncover scandal/dodginess with a person/business you’re considering hiring/dealing with, pause. Reconsider. Ignore all proclamations that it was a “once-off”, that there will be no more unexpected surprises. Wherever you find cockroaches, you will find more cockroaches

Don’t get clever with the tax man. Get into the habit of staying away from the line. Resist little things like claiming private trips as business travel. Or expensing your social golf. As your business grows, it gets easier to hide questionable behaviour. But, as your business grows, you become a more prominent target for…

You’re young. You’re hungry. You want to get ahead. Impatient energy is a good thing. Just be careful you don’t take too big steps. The way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Want to build the world’s biggest bakery? Start by selling bread to people who live walking distance. Then bread…

Some people are domain experts. Maybe a bit emotional, maybe a bit racist, maybe a bit sexist, maybe a bit dogmatic. Negatives aside, absolute pros in their field. Remember: He may be wrong in all other areas of life, but he’s right in that area of his domain expertise. Put aside your instinctive distrust of…

Steven Bradbury is an Australian that one the gold medal for speed skating at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. Australia + speed skating is generally not a gold medal combination. How did he do it? He managed to qualify for the final thanks to his competitors being injured in the semi’s. He…

Do you hesitate to ask people for feedback? Worried about what they’ll say? Afraid of criticism? Don’t be afraid. Feedback is the only path to improvement. It might be awkward, but better that than failing because you don’t improve. Ask for feedback. Don’t be afraid.