Don’t Mix Business with Pleasure

by admin on February 26, 2010

valley june 23 2007 050
Photo by akseabird
Do not miss business with pleasure. Time and time again, this sentence has been repeated in movies, musical lyrics, newspapers; in fact, as we all know it is quite popular. However, whoever coined these words, really gave it a good thought.

Life in today’s business world is aggressive and harsh. Companies try to outwit one another. There still exist pockets of secret trade wars between Nations. Our offices are battlefields: no body joke with promotion opportunities. Secret coups to take over Corporations happen every day. People are smart; they are prepared to press the right buttons at the right time. In addition, co-workers are not always friends; they are literary rivals.

A lot of businesses fail because people tie business with pleasure. First, let’s make it clear that when we discourage people from mixing business with pleasure we are not talking about doing what you hate to do. You must love and enjoy what you are doing, however, refrain from allowing opportunities pass you by just because you would rather love to live close to your beautiful girlfriend or spouse instead of taking up that new appointment and relocate to a better city. Having said that, there are instances where a little of this may be required.

The fact is, if all businessmen and women mix their businesses with pleasure 24 hours of the day and 365 days per year, the world’s economy would be far worse than it is today. In principle, there is time for everything. One can truly make their job fun, however it must be between you and an inanimate object, and that’s your job.

Once I was away in Buenos Aires in a beautiful sea resort and there was this old man who came about that time with his dear wife. We started talking and he told me about his business principles. He believes everyone is a business rival, including his wife. “I don’t mix business with pleasure’’, he said.

One other secret I learnt from this grey beard Argentine man whose white hairs glinted gold was the fact that he sees his business empire like not his own. I mean he feels the business belongs to someone else and all he is doing is helping that person build the business. All business decisions he takes is for the prosperity of his business.

Thirdly, when it comes to business he doesn’t keep mutual friends but good business friends or partner. To put short, he doesn’t joke with business. Also he doesn’t allow sentiments to cloud his business judgement. Whichever business he does with a friend he expects to make the same level of profit as any other one, no special treatment. This is a good business principle to adopt. We can just go ahead and add sending a thank you card or gift thereafter.

Now, there’re many lessons we can learn from this Argentine friend of mine. It all goes to show that we must have timetable for everything; and also never mix business with pleasure. There is a difference between giving one a thank you gift and giving a discount of your product or services. To put bluntly, don’t ever mix business with pleasure.

Related posts

{ 0 comments }

Climbing the Stairs of Wealth

by admin on February 16, 2010

299373361 37543647da m 150x150 Climbing the Stairs of WealthThe American economy after the great depression climbed the stairs of wealth. Today we have a giant and superpower called the United States of America. The member states of the European Union followed the same path. In much the same way, many great families started off from a humble beginning to greatness. And if we talk about business tycoons in the UK and Australia, the same storyline of a humble beginning at one point or the other will be repeated. Man himself started small. Christians believe in Adam and Eve modest beginning; and science believes in the Stone Age man.  Great multinational companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, HP, Coca Cola, Pepsi and Ford, just to mention a few all had their modest beginnings.

All these go to show that there is no age limit to start thinking of making money. No land is totally useless to offer opportunity. In fact ground zero is the most important part of a business empire. Without it no business mansion will stand. So when people find themselves in such a state as ground zero, it is an even important avenue to move up to the top. In fact, one can easily tell if they are on the second floor of a building when coming from the ground floor than to say where one is heading to when coming from an unknown floor.

Many people that inherited their wealth are not aware of where they started from and where they are going to. But someone from ground zero has an objective to move up – climb the stairs of success. From ground zero you can choose the business area that fits your lifestyle, interest, and talent. People who inherited a certain level of the stairs have to follow their family business even when they don’t really like the business or have the necessary education or skill to move the family empire to a greater height.

Step-1:

Let’s say a man plans to make millions in profit annually and right now he can barely afford an apartment. To climb up the stairs of wealth, he must draw a time table. Next, come out with what it is he can do very well that nobody can do, or to be more realistic, few people can do. This must be what he enjoys doing. Make plans to sell the idea and make profit. Obey the rules of customer satisfaction by placing the customers first. Serve and obey them like Kings and Queens which they are.

Step-2:

When the business start making profit, think of better ways to expand, more markets to capture, what is it that competitors don’t do that you think you would really enjoy if you were not an operator in the business yourself. You don’t have to know everything, employ people that know. You don’t have to be an inventor of all ideas, copy and modify some from competing businesses that are making it. Be careful of patent rights so you don’t get sued.

Step-3:

Believe it, there are millions of ways to change that business; all you have to do is discover the ways and be the first to profit from it before the crowds join you.

Step-4:

Be aggressive with competitors and a slave to customers

Step-5:

Switching from one business to another does not apply to all business ventures, however learning when to back out of a business and reinvest the capital on a more profitable business market is what counts. This is necessary for profit and growth. If there is a potential of growth in your present field of business, then you need not change gears.

Related posts

{ 0 comments }

Hot Opportunities to Invest

February 16, 2010

Investment is all about putting money to get profit back in return. It does not make any business sense when someone pumps cash into a project and nothing comes back as profit. Or put differently, very little comes back to the pocket. This is why there is a need to identify new trends, analyse market [...]

Read the full article →

How to Invest Wisely

February 4, 2010

Investment means taking risk. No matter how meagre the money one has in the bank they can always invest it on something. A truly rich man is someone whose money brings more money to him. Wealthy people don’t sweat all day long in factories just to get paid at the end of the month. To [...]

Read the full article →

How to Create Wealth

February 2, 2010

Wealth creation is something that has been greatly talked-about. It is at the very centre, the backbone of all business seminars. Everyone no matter how wealthy they are search anxiously for new ways to make wealth. Little wonder why people attend business schools because it can help them figure out how to make money, manage [...]

Read the full article →

Top Secrets of a Millionaire

January 6, 2010

Photo by TechShowNetwork
Millionaires truly have secrets.   By using the word millionaire, I am talking about those lucky persons that have stockpiled fortunes from ground up. To put short, there are unique behaviours that are characteristics of the rich in our societies. A careful observation will help you identify some of these secrets. Some say the [...]

Read the full article →