Oops. I meant to share this with you weeks ago.
For my first column of 2018, I went back and contacted a few of the ambitious entrepreneurs whose businesses I had profiled in the first half of 2017. An editor of mine long ago said, "You can't do enough follow-ups," so I followed up to see how they're faring and what they learned over the past year.
In my experience, you can learn a lot from other entrepreneurs. Our journeys are all different, but many of the obstacles are common ones.
You can read the story at the Post website here:
http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/0104-biz-rs-spence-review-fpe
What did they learn?
Here are a few examples of the lessons 2017 dealt out:
“I had a birdie chirping in my head that it might not work out. Now I know what that sounds like, so I am going to listen to that bird in future.”
“We learned that you need to understand what other market pressures and priorities your customers may be facing, and work with that challenge to demonstrate your value proposition to get to the top of their priority list.”
“Be totally forthright with potential competition, even when you’re not sure how they may react to your vision.”
“Understanding your customer is the most important thing you can do as a business."
“I learned that nothing is done in business until it’s done.”
“Things only work out if you make them work out.”
Now go back and read the full story.
http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/0104-biz-rs-spence-review-fpe
I'd love to know what lessons you're learning.
Leave a comment or email me at rick@rickspence.ca if you'd like to share your thoughts on how to deal with the hard knocks of business. And please let me know if I can use your comments in a future column.