NFIB

Two Decades of Small-Business Lessons
07/ 26/ 2005
by Harvey King

This month marks my 20th anniversary of running small businesses. I wish I could say I've learned all there is to know about small-business ownership from the past two decades. Unfortunately, I keep discovering how little I know. You know what I mean if, like me, you live with two teenagers. However, there are a few lessons I've learned along the way:

1. Beef up your line of credit when you don't need to. For some reason, a bank's desire to lend you money has a negative correlation to your need for it.

2. Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream is the best flavor to eat while wallowing in self-pity after a business set back.

3. You'll never feel more like a small-business owner than the way you feel the first time papers arrive letting you know you've been sued.

4. Change is good. Wait, no, change is bad. No, it's good. Change is inevitable.

5. The greatest marketing tool is a handwritten note. Unfortunately, I don't write such notes, but I make a practice of purchasing stuff from those who do.

6. If you're not organized, hire an obsessive-compulsive assistant. You'll make each other miserable, but you won't waste a lot of time searching for the reading glasses perched on the top of your head.

7. Curiosity keeps you fresh and alert. Not being curious makes you boring and old.

8. Hire really, really smart and talented people. Give them the resources and respect and authority necessary to do their jobs. That way they'll enjoy their work, and you won't have to work as hard.

9. Always pretend to be working hard.

10. It is okay to sit at your desk and read a magazine, especially if it's this one.

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