The Freestyle Entrepreneur

Sometimes it’s not good enough just to be good enough, or even to have a good plan.  I’ve known people — including myself — who have been hammered on and hammered down at times by everything from financial setbacks to relationship upsets, to debilitating physical health problems to their own creepingly painful and dark mental […]

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As a businessman, I have learned that the one sure way to destroy what you are trying to build is to cut ethical corners.  The real irony is that it is almost always the finger-snapping smart alecks, the know-it-alls, who end up getting entangled in their own cool schemes and easy-mark snares.
 
The fact is that […]

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Just a quick reminder, in case you forgot:  Life is tough, sometimes challenging, occasionally downright brutal.
That’s how we grow, how we become stronger, both physically and spiritually — by running those ten miles, by pumping iron, by sticking with a tough project, by working through a difficult relationship … by just surviving sometimes. 
Enjoy this day […]

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Rumor has it that we’ve become a nation of whiners.  I think that’s because the media and certain political groups feel they must promote victimization to keep their audiences. 
Economically speaking, we criticize Bill Gates and Sam Walton and McDonalds (but, curiously, never Walt Disney), because their companies  make too much money, a simple-minded complaint.  […]

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Don’t love what you do.  Do what you love!  When I first started my business nearly 25 years ago, I would leap out of bed every morning at 5:30 eager to get down to work.  I loved it.  Well, I admit that over the years, there were some long stretches when I found myself bored, […]

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Keep good records.  Track your activity.  Maybe in a go-go economy, you can afford to slop along and stay in the black.  But survivors and thrivers in business these days know which products make the biggest profits; which customers generate the most sales; which employees are worth their wages.
 
Most of all, don’t just set goals […]

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Enthusiasm is the key to success in sales. 
Yes, it’s good (sometimes even important) to know your products and to understand proven selling techniques.  But the catalyst, the spark, the firing pin to a successful sale is enthusiasm.
Tell your story and tell it with passion and excitement.  Work hard.  Make money.  Have fun.  — jri
“A salesman […]

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I don’t think I’m the only one.  As a business owner, I find myself pretty much constantly thinking about (actually, worrying about) money, about sales, about taxes, about getting clients, about losing clients, about making sure that every project is top notch.
In other words, I’m a bit paranoid.  And that’s good.  That keeps me on […]

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One of the people I admire most in this world is Winston Churchill.  He was tough, abrasive, brilliant and, it seems to me, single-handedly  threw up the sea wall that stopped the advance of Hitler in World War II.
 
He was pure determination.  And for that reason, he was perhaps the deciding factor in winning the […]

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It’s not about luck.  It is about work, focus, goals … and downright determination. 
Just as important, success is not about never failing, getting an easy ride, or even being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.  If you never give up, you will succeed — maybe not today, maybe not next week, maybe not […]

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When I was young(er), I saw business dealings as winner-take-all propositions.  I wanted the whole pie! 
Then I learned that the best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.  Rather than battling it out with competitors in a bunkhouse brawl in which everybody came out bloodied, I now have […]

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The best part about being in business is that there are no guarantees.  It’s not a pony ride at an amusement park; it’s an extreme adventure without a safety net. 
 
I still get the biggest thrill in the world when I land a new contract…and just about die from despair when I lose an existing client.
 
The […]

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I know a man in his late 30s who can barely read and has no math skills. But I admire him because, last month, he set the bar impossibly high … at least for himself.  He plans to have his GED (high school graduate equivalency diploma) within two years.
Will he make it?  Beats me. But […]

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I know business owners who, if they did the calcs, would find that they make somewhere between $5 and $10 an hour.  They could make the same income, maybe even with benefits, clerking at the Quickie Mart … AND get to go home at night without a care.
Sadly, strangely, proudly, that’s just not us. It […]

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