Business Owner's Blog

Posted on : April 25, 2008
Try to NOT Make Everyone Happy
	Seth says: If you are willing to satisfy people with good enough, you can make just about everybody happy. I’d say If you want to make everyone happy you’ll HAVE to be satisfied with good enough. [read the whole story - it’s kind of funny in a sad sort of way - and you’ll see what [...] ...»

When Do You Take Your Hand off the Steering Wheel?
	Probably Never. When you’re on a winding road with lots of potholes and a strong wind, you grip the wheel tighter. But even on a smooth highway, you can’t just let go of the wheel and start typing on your Blackberry. So what does this mean to you? The number one complaint I hear from entrepreneurs [...] ...»

The Frustrating Part about Employees
	Animal trainers have a saying “It’s never the animal’s fault” Because animals don’t speak, trainers need to find non-English methods to communicate what they want. If the animal doesn’t perform, they try to find a better way to communicate, they don’t blame the animal. It helps to take this approach with employees: if they don’t [...] ...»

In Praise of the Generalist
	First, there are the things you know. This means you know the question and you know the answer. Then there are things you know you don’t know. This means you know the question but you don’t know the answer. And finally there are things you don’t know that you don’t know. This means you don’t even know [...] ...»

My Garbage Man Knows My Job
	I got the blue plastic tub for free and turned it into a garbage can because it used to hold car wash soap so I didn’t want to use it for a compost bin and we turned the old garbage can into a compost bin. Do you know how much money they want for [...] ...»

Fewer Tips for Start-ups
	Thanks to an email from Will Hill and Paul Graham’s latest essay I’ve shortened my advice (so you get to do less reading) 1. Make something people want. As obvious as it sounds this advice is often ignored. Well not exactly ignored, but confused. Inventors especially, are apt to confuse the word “people” with the word “me”. [...] ...»

Get More Done by Doing Less
	Doing any thing takes time - agreed? We are limited to 24 hours each day - right? So, the number of things we can do is limited by time - are you with me so far? Most entrepreneurs respond to this truth by trying to do as much as they can every day. But what happens is they [...] ...»

Tips for a Start-up
	Dan Pink turned me on to this post by a guy named Jason and this one by Mark Cuban (at least I’ve heard of him) with tips for start-ups. I was mildly distressed by the focus on tech and software companies. What about an old school company that makes stuff out of atoms not bits? [...] ...»

The Difference Between my Wife and Me
	This post is not about what you think. It really is about business. First a little background. I started a company in 1991 when I lived in Texas. Two years later I moved to Connecticut but the company stayed Texas. I’ve run it long-distance as a “remote control CEO”. I had to [...] ...»

Want Effectiveness and Productivity? Use a Checklist!
	I mentioned this before but I don’t think I gave it the focus it deserves. The focus it deserves is actually in this New Yorker article and a shorter one in Fast Company. But consider this key quote If someone found a new drug that could wipe out infections with anything remotely like the effectiveness of [...] ...»

Business Owner's Blog | Cheri Alguire

Business Owner's Blog