Creating and running a business can sometimes be like wading through treacle with both hands tied behind your back. Despite the many desires and aspirations of business owners, it can so easily become far too difficult to succeed… the result being lack of enthusiasm, motivation and drive.

So what’s going wrong?

Well, the short answer is… Somebody else’s rules.

“You have to do it this way”, “you can’t do that”, “you must adhere to this way of working”… blah, blah, blah! …and funnily enough, rules are not the greatest source of motivation!! – so it makes sense that the business owner can easily feel stifled by such things.

Unfortunately, business is stuffed full of badly thought out conventions and rules. Some have purpose but sadly many do not. Let’s take a few examples, starting with an easy one…

Any decent business must have a nice office or premises

What? …Exactly who came up with this nonsense!!!???

So, you’ve just started in business and immediately you are dragged down by concrete boots of rent/mortgage, heating, lighting, general upkeep …the list goes on. But here’s the thing, does a business owner who takes this plunge ever wonder do they ACTUALLY NEED that office?

What’s wrong with the spare bedroom at home?

No spare bedroom? …well how about the spare rooms at your friends or family?

No friends? …well how about your kitchen table?

None of the above need cost you a penny and straight away all of your profits are just that… PROFIT! Rather than rent or money for bills!

There is nothing more demotivating than winning a sale only for those funds to immediately go up in smoke on unnecessary expenses.

The customer is always right

Nothing in life is “always” true, and this statement about the customer is an obvious example of this! Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying customer service has no place – in fact, I’m saying the exact opposite.

Pandering to the ‘problem customers’ and trying to uphold this ‘always right’ mentality can cause you all manner of hassles. Time, effort and money can be quickly wasted as you try to resolve their unreasonable demands…

The whole time that is happening you are not spending time with those customers who are the lifeblood of your business.

Every time you give a problem customer an over inflated sense of self-importance something else in your business suffers… other good customers have to wait, your family has to wait because you had to work late, your profits are reduced by endless expense and refunds…

But hold on – Who’s business is this?

Did you set out to create a business which gave you and those close to you a better life? …or did you do it to become punch-drunk from endless crap from moronic customers?

The answer to this is simple and again (for some) breaks another one of those rules: FIRE THE PROBLEM CUSTOMER!

I have a good friend who regularly ‘fires clients’ and his business increases as a consequence. He has more time, more money, more energy for those things which are important like good customers, family and friends.

So, yes, the customer is always right when you want to make them feel good about doing business with you… BUT… it is only the GOOD customers who should enjoy this luxury… FIRE THE REST!

And now for my favourite…

You must have a business plan and this is how it must be done

Yes, having goals and direction are a marvellous thing… however, ironically, most business plans don’t place enough focus on the idea of goals and direction!

Looking at a typical template, say one given to you by the bank or enterprise agency, and the goals and direction part (aka the Vision / Mission Statement) is often the SMALLEST piece of the template! But hold on, surely all the planning material that follows that initial section is BASED on the goals described…

That’s like quickly deciding the end point of a journey and then spending lots of time and effort planning, only to find when you get there it wasn’t where you REALLY wanted to go in the first place!

Personally, I believe it is this lack of focus on goals and direction which means many business plans NEVER get read! Again ironic, you spent ages creating the map and then once complete you never looked at it!!!

Now that’s just three of many nonsense rules and conventions which are forced on us as businesspeople. There are many more – so feel free to add your own in the comments section below.

For now, everytime you feel that you SHOULD or MUST do something then take a second and ask yourself “Does this actually benefit me? What would happen if I didn’t do this?” – and then act accordingly.

Because always remember…

The greatest advances in any area of life have often been found when people are willing to ‘break the rules’ and step out of the confines of the perceived box (of rules).

So go on, tell me your frustrations below…

What rules are attempting to crush your success? …what have you done about them? …what advice can you offer others when wishing to curb the convention and boost success?

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