Business Tips

3 Quick Tips from the Business School of the Streets

By admin ⋅ October 16, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

In this series we suggest some random business tips. These are all taken from personal experience, and are not pulled out from the pages of any business school textbooks. Hopefully these will get you thinking about what you’re doing right, and what you need to do to get to where you want to be.

1. Never offer someone work on a “commission-only” basis.

“Commission-only” deals sound like a great idea - you have a great product, and if anyone helps you sell it then they can get a cut of the profits. You’re not out of pocket, because their commission is paid for out of the revenue from the client. Genius, right?

Not quite. If this were such a good idea, everyone who had their own product would become an instant billionaire. Ever wonder why they’re not?

It’s for two reasons. First, you love your product and believe that everyone is going to fall over themselves to buy it. They’re not. Second, if someone is pounding the streets on your behalf and you’re not paying them, then they are going to realize that your product is a dud long before you do.

Guess what happens then? Yep, they quit.

The flip-side of this is not to be suckered into doing any work for anyone on a “commission-only” basis. If you’re doing quality marketing work for someone, make sure you get paid.

2. Don’t Pee in the Pool

Once you start doing some good work for people, and it starts bringing in some cash, you’re going to get asked to do all kinds of ‘non-core’ things - joining new business ventures, opening nightclubs, and working on tons of other projects without getting paid for it (see number 1, above). The amount of random opportunities which come your way once it’s seen that your business is real could blow your mind, especially as a lot of them will sound like ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities.

Just one word - don’t.

Instead, focus on building your business without getting distracted by the offers which come in. Sure, it’s flattering, and it might make you feel like Richard Branson for a while, but introducing outside elements into your ‘winning formula’ is a sure-fire way to make it not so ‘winning’ any more.

3. Be Useful

If your main talent is turning up, fitting in, and doing what you’re told, you may be best suited to working in an office for someone else. You may find it hard to break out of your current situation, especially if you can’t take step back and figure out a way of making yourself useful.

You don’t have to be ‘indispensible’ during the early days of growing a business…but you do need to be useful.

Think of it this way - what are you doing to help? And why should you be paid for it?