business owner mistakes

Why Business Owners Tend to do the Wrong Things

I’ve been involved in the marketing sector since the early days on the Internet. And most recently, an exciting start-up and new Social Media platform called HEARIS – sadly, my contract is drawing to a close due to investor and financial problems.

The parallels in what I do in my Professional life are surprisingly similar to how you should be behaving in your personal life though.

 

Here’s why and what business professionals often fail to do:

Act With Honesty

You all know if you’re deceptive, in any way, in your personal life that those relationships eventually stagnate, go backwards and fail. And fail miserably.

transform through honesty
Honesty WILL be the true path to business transformation

With over 30 years in professional business, I’ve seen dishonesty in many shapes and forms. Business owners have a strong tendency to act as the lone-gunmen, to control every facet of what’s going on around them.

The failure to recognise true loyalty in their team is the biggest (by far) oversight any business owner will and does make. Some talk of teamwork when, in reality, it’s just lip-service.

Most business owners even believe their own bull-shit which is a shame.

 

Lesson to Learn

Honesty is a contagious human behaviour. It will be returned 10 fold, if only you can recognise it’s value and continue to fight the good fight, in integrating it into your businesses’ core values.

Talk the talk and walk the walk.

Encourage others around you to steer you back if you stray from the path and reward them.

 

Have Transparent Agendas

Can you remember meeting people through your life that have lied, for their own personal gain and your eventual loss?

sad face from bad agenda
Hidden agendas will eventually lead to disappointment and personal loss – you know that’s bad, right?

In the so-called dog-eat-dog business world, secret agendas are an expectation when they should be the exception to the rule.

An example of agenda honesty, on a minor scale, is my buying this site’s newsletter plugin called Wysija. Run by a great bunch of coders who have a similar outlook on helping others, just like the Magic Action Box plugin developers – who’s plugin I also bought.

I emailed them both with my agenda: they need to find a way to work together, integrate each other’s work and I’ll gain a great combination and they grow their customer base through an enhanced feature set.

My agenda was clearly stated as well as the win-win situation for them both. The rest is history since they’re now getting customers who would never have previously known about each other and I feel awesome for helping too.

 

Lesson to Learn

For a business owner, the concept is a simple one.
I win the game because I am transparently honest with my team … in everything I do and everything the business does. My team wins too since there’s always total transparency which translates to security, loyalty and trust.

 

Always Strive For Success In Others, Not Yourself

This is obvious and rarely implemented.

make others successful
Truth

Flowing from the last point, success breeds success.

There’s never ever been a successful entrepreneur who hasn’t first made other around them to be successful FIRST.

 

Lesson to Learn

If you will care … they will dare.

 

Breathe and Communicate … In the Right Way

Communication is the foundation of any relationship, professional or personal.

Business owners will typically run from one thing to another, at break-neck speed. It’s their endeavour to be in all places, to control all activity.

They know what needs to happen and it’s usually only them. Your team is the most valuable asset in any organisation. Unless you empower their skills and ability, place your trust in those qualities and the outcomes then prepare yourself for your own melt-down and business collapse.

Lack of solid understanding leads to mistakes, poor results and even more demoralised team members … since they’re usually kept in the dark, through no fault of their own. As it usually turns out, blame is eventually placed on them, directly or by unconscious innuendo.

 

Lesson to Learn

Communication and subsequent understanding has always been a two-way street. Recognise that obvious fact and don’t keep occupying both lanes while moving in the one direction. You’re going to eventually crash into an immovable object.

Go with the right flow.

 

Summary

  • Act With Honesty
  • Have Transparent Agendas
  • Always Strive For Success In Others, Not Yourself
  • Breathe and Communicate … In the Right Way

 

Speak Your Mind, With Your Opinion

Nice to see you made it this far so here’s what you can do next:

  • Do you feel disillusioned in how business owners tend to operate?
  • What’s one thing you took away from my post?
  • Click one of the Share buttons – your friends can then read this article too.

And thanks for reading too – Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s Why Business Relationships Are The Same As Personal 1

You know me already, I run GeekandJock.
My hobbies include photography, online trading, business consultancy and start-ups. If you have any questions on the site or my hobbies, shoot me a quick Hello message through our Contact Form.

Martin Cooney – who has written posts on GeekandJock.


22 thoughts on “Here’s Why Business Relationships Are The Same As Personal”
  1. You’re dealing with real people everyday, that’s why these business relationships are much the same as personal ones. You get to establish rapport and build trust, partnership and a steady alliance with the people that you serve.

    1. Why do you think a lot of business owners ‘don’t get it’ then, Stacey?
      Sounds like common sense yet it’s probably one of the biggest failings in business. Thoughts?

  2. Why business relationships are the same as personal ones is because you’re dealing with people. People who are trained to do their job well, and people who make decisions too, wise decisions and poor decisions. Professional decorum is all that divides the two

    1. Ahh, you got it in one, Caira.
      Everything in life is people. We are the building blocks and the reason for being. Personal and/or business.
      Great comment.

  3. Charming article. May I say that my favorite part is honesty, it encourages respect, trust, and a longer, stronger relationship with the people you meet every day

  4. It’s so true that managing a business is very much like trying to sustain a relationship. You really need to keep at it, remain true and consistent while discovering ways and means to keep it thriving and full of life :) Thanks for the engrossing read!

  5. Hi Martin! Thanks for the engrossing read–it’s so true that engaging in any kind of business is very similar to establishing and keeping a relationship harmonious. I’m glad you pointed out that we must have transparent agendas, this is such a critical facet in building our credibility as business owners and as lovers :)

    1. Exactly Joy – transparency in our lives is certainly crucial. It allows us all to avoid those hidden agendas that tend to permeate business and personal life.

  6. This is a great inspirational post for me!!! You wrote in terms of business operations, but I learnt a very crucial lesson through this post. I myself was feeling a bit uneasy as a friend of mine was stepping up in the ladder of success with a good job, good score and a good set of people and me, I don’t have a great job. After reading this post I realized that I should be happy for him and keep intact my patience, God must have stored something great for me as well. The quotation used in the post, was amazing. Thanks for the share.

  7. Hi Martin, I have nominated Geek and Jock for a Liebster blog award which is given to inspiring blogs. Your blog fits into that category for me. Relationships are not always easy but your blog inspires me to examine my relationships from new perspectives.

    More details about the awards are on my blog.

    1. Thank you so much for that, Angel.
      I gotta be honest to say I found this Liebster blog award a little confusing. Can you confirm that it is more a ‘spread the cheer’ via word of mouth than a definitive Award website?

      Again, we’re so incredibly fortunate to have you as part of our inspired readers.

      1. To be honest I was a little confused by it too at first and agree that it is a more ‘spread the cheer’ like you said than a real award.

        But then again I thought why not. It’s a fun way to get to know others and reveal a bit more about yourself too. Just writing within your own genre can get a bit boring at times.

  8. “Honesty is a contagious human behaviour”
    That’s an inspiring way to look at it. And I’d never thought of business vs. personal relationships in light of their similarities but this is a fine example that they are.
    Sometimes it seems when everyone’s trying to get ahead, things like honesty and genuine care and communication gets trampled

    1. Hey thanks for the visit, Mike and the comment too.
      I’m so glad you found some of my words brought value to your day.
      And in my experience, honesty really is contagious. That’s in business and personally.
      When you fail to be honest in a personal relationship, bad things will generally happen.
      Same for business owners … if they only realise it, in time.

  9. I include myself in this since I’ve had 2 previously failed businesses due to simply thinking I’m right on everything dang thing and not placing my trust in staff that I knew loved my business, what they did and how they did it.
    Not trusting your staff was a big learning curve for me and brought a lot of heartache to my life.
    If that’s one thing you get from Martin’s thoughts, you’ll do far better in business success. Trust me.

    1. Well, you’re actually one of the lucky ones, Gary.
      Thanks too for sharing your own experiences – how’s the business life going now that you’ve discovered some of these ‘lost’ but fundemental areas? I’m betting you’ve never looked back once you’ve gained your team’s trust and admiration that you’re not one of these know-it-all owners who listen and act, in faith and transparency.
      Please do let us all know when you have some time.

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