“Papa needs a new pair

of shoes!”

Stop rolling the dice  with your business! When your car tires go bad, you somehow afford to get new ones. When your feet start scraping the pavement (hopefully before that!), you figure out a way to get new shoes.

But these are steps you take  (I know, it’s a cute segue, but no pun intended) on your own because you’ve (sorry for this) been around the block with bad tires and shoes (probably when you were in high school?) and you have enough common sense to know when it’s time to get replacements.

Who tells you  when it’s time to replace all or part of your business foundation?  Your accountant? Your customers? Your employees? Your suppliers? Your Mother? Are you open and receptive to their input? Do you make it difficult for others to offer up their opinions about your business?

     Are you  a business hardhead?

     Sometimes,  you know, it just makes sense to be pro-active and get broken stuff fixed before having to face a parkway breakdown at rush hour, before heading into a major meeting with your shoe-bottom flopping, before the competitor down the street puts out a better quality product with better service at a cheaper price (now there’s a nightmare!).

     Hardheads  think the above situations are solved by improvising. So what? they might say, tires go and car breaks down? I’ll just hitch-hike! The shoe deal? Hey, duct tape works wonders, or, okay, Gorilla Glue. And the better/cheaper guy? No problem! A lotta people will pay more for less; you just gotta trick ’em!

     NOPE!  Not only will hardheads lose their shirts, and probably their farms, they simply won’t survive. Period.

     First of all, TRUE entrepreneurs take ONLY reasonable risks.  They don’t roll dice. Very few ever even buy a lottery ticket. BEFORE tires go, shoes wear, or business foundations crumble,  TRUE entrepreneurs take action  –not the Scotch Tape and rubber bands quick-fix variety.  They improvise but they don’t downgrade.  They may find or make a better deal for tires or new shoes, but they won’t de-value the quality.

And guess what? TRUE entrepreneurs ASK others for feedback continually.   They WANT to know what and how to adjust their product and service offerings to better satisfy market demands.

Are you taking the time  to ask those around you, especially customers and employees, what they think about what you sell, and how you sell? It needs to be as much a part of your daily routine as brushing your teeth… or gluing your shoes back together!

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