My wife is incredible.
(…yes, that equals brownie points for me.)
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In all seriousness, she really is great. I often find myself learning quite a bit from her simply by watching how she interacts with life. I didn’t realize it at first, but many of these lessons are actually very valuable to entrepreneurs as well.
Here are my top 4.
Lesson #1: Be classy and work hard.
One thing I love about my wife is that she’s not afraid to roll her sleeves up and work hard. If we go somewhere important, naturally, she fits right in with elegance and class. On the other hand, if she sets a goal for herself she’s not afraid to buckle down and put in work.
This is an excellent mindset to have in business. Being an entrepreneur isn’t always as elegant as everyone would like to think. There are plenty of people who talk a good talk but fail to back it up with any substance.
Work hard and be a class act.
Lesson #2: Marketing is more than important..it’s everything.
As many of you may know, my wife is finishing up a masters degree in Internet marketing and is in charge of our marketing efforts at Beckon. Before we decided to launch Beckon, I had the typical CEO mentality towards marketing. I knew marketing was important but it didn’t really top the list of priorities.
Boy was that mindset wrong.
Marketing is the most important aspect of business. Period. Marketing is much more than nice logos and advertisements; rather it’s a process that determines who you target and what you sell to them. If you’re serious about selling products you need to understand product life cycles, identify realistic objectives for you products, and develop a solid marketing strategy.
Excellent businesses have excellent marketers.
Lesson #3: No business at the dinner table.
I’ve talked about this a few times before but it’s certainly a lesson worth mentioning again. You need a break from business every now and then. At our house, we’ve agreed to not talk about business at the dinner table. It’s a great way to slow down and realize that there are other important things in life. The interesting thing about this, though, is that a brief shift in focus seems to actually help strengthen your initial focus.
Over the years, I’ve realized that it’s useful to approach business relationships with a similar mindset. You can’t just talk about business all the time with people. You need to find some other common ground and be willing to build relationships with people. Business is human and Ā it requires a human interaction. Know when to seal the deal and don’t try to force things.
Lesson #4: Good communication is crucial.
Over the past several years I’ve watched quite a few of my friends get married. It’s been interesting to watch and see just how different people communicate. Fortunately, my wife and I are both fairly patient people and usually try to clarify if we don’t understand each other. However, you can imagine theĀ consequencesĀ of poor communication.
The same is true for business. As a business leader, it’s tempting to bark out orders and, if performed incorrectly, assume that your employees are wrong. The truth is, there’s a good chance you didn’t explain it very well. One thing I learned early on is that most people think and see the world differently. If you can, you need to be incredibly specific with people and gear your message towards them.
People tend to have a good understanding of themselves. Try to put yourself in their shoes and speak to them in a way they understand.
The Challenge
If we look, we can often find valuable wisdom and insight right in front of our face. Just because you have certain experience listed on your resume or a formal education in business doesn’t mean you should close your mind to learning from others. In reality, we can learn the most from watching and listening to those around us.
Challenge yourself to watch, listen, and learn from someone today. I think you’ll beĀ surprisedĀ at what they can teach you.