The Best Business Advice You’ll Ever Receive
image credit: plakka
A story from Liz Strauss that’s definitely worth repeating:
My father listened more than he talked. After a large sit-down at our house, a friend once remarked, “That meal was over an hour. The only word I heard your father say was bread. He didn’t even ask for the butter.”
When I told my dad, his reply made me laugh. He said, “I don’t like butter much.”
My dad left home and school in 1919. He was 12. Everything he knew about business and life he learned from paying attention to the world around him.
It was my dad who taught me to view the world as a lifelong business school.
Each morning when he drove me to school, my dad would point out people we saw and tell me what he observed. When we got the place where he dropped me off, we had a small ritual — a sort of script we would go through. I can’t say quite how it started, and I no longer remember it word for word. But it went something like this . . .
Dad would park the car, turn to me, smile, and ask, “What’s the score?”
I would answer the same every time, with words I had learned from him — bits at a time — over the years. To this day it’s the best business advice I’ve ever heard:
Learn your business from your customers. Understand their minds, their hearts, and their lives. Do what you do to make their lives easier. When a problem comes, leave them a place to stand and stand tall beside them. . . . And remember, everyone is your customer, even your dad.
Then his eyes would light with smile. He’d offer his huge, work-worn hand, shake mine, give a nod, and say, “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”
I’d answer something like, “Oh dad, you’re too cool.”
All I would add is to cherish the rituals and traditions. They make moments remarkably unforgettable.
Your turn: Readers, what’s the best business advice you’ve ever heard? Share it in our comments section below…
Wow, what an awesome story. Thank you so much for sharing such a great and foundational piece of advice!
this is great advice! i’ve learned that if your only goal is roi, then you’re likely to be disappointed quite often and probably miss out on the fun. also, be nice to people, but that goes for life.
This sounds like the best advice for sure!
I don’t know about the best business advice, but I can tell you first and worst (they are the same!).
When I told my former employer that I was leaving to open my own business, he told me, no lie – “You should be married first.” This from a guy not much older than myself, not all that long ago.
YUCK.
What a lovely story!
Some really great general advice I’ve read several places is to “Do what you love”. Simple, and for me, very true!
I also received a great bit of advice from Jena (over at http://www.modishblog.com/biztips/) when I discussed my first wholesale order, it was something to the effect of “If it makes you uncomfortable, don’t do it” again, something very simple, but as a new business person, it seems almost insane to say no to earning money, but indeed, we sometimes have to do that if we want to keep “doing what we love”!
[...] want to piggyback on Erin’s post on the best business advice by sharing a business mantra the keeps me going every [...]
What a lovely story – I can see you still cherish those moments!
The best and worst advice I ever received was from both my mum and grandma – and it switches between which is which depending on the occasion!
Mum: “The squeaky wheel gets the oil”
Grandma – “Good things come to those who wait”
And before you ask, yes, it’s a mother and daughter!
What a sweet story, it makes me miss my dad
Such perfect and timeless advice, clear and clean and to the point.
Thanks for sharing. Definitely one for the bulletin board.
great story! thanks for sharing! i have vivid memories of my dad always telling me to never be afraid to fail. i think about it often and it helps me to take the next step and do something risky, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. but in failing, you actually end up learning more!