As an entrepreneur I’ve only regretted a couple things:
- When I hurt people unnecessarily
Its easy when you have power, money and status to be rude to people, embarrass people, and crudely fire people. I’m ashamed to say I’ve done this too many times when I could have been more humble and respectful, and should have had more compassion for the other person’s situation.
If its within your power to help a person at little or no cost, help that person.
- When I don’t listen to my wife
My wife loves me (phew), and she knows me better than any friend or family member. She instinctively knows who I’ll get on with, but sometimes can’t put the gut feel into words.
I have overridden her gut feel with my hard logic many times, and I have paid the price many times.
When it comes to business partners, my wife always knows better.
- When I don’t listen to Destiny
Sometimes something you really really really want to happen is not something that should happen. By all means stick to the entrepreneur mantra of “Never give up”, but at some point you must look to the Heavens and ask yourself, “Am I on the right path?”
This applies for for love, business and life in general. I’ve always been given an answer. Sometimes it wasn’t the answer I wanted and so I ignored it. I’ve always paid the price.
Nowadays I listen to Destiny.
- When I don’t tell the truth
Business regularly presents you with uncomfortable choices. Eg: You can either make more profit or you can tell your customers the truth.
It has happened to me many times. I’ve mostly chosen to tell the truth, but sometimes I simply didn’t have the guts, and so I lied and made short term profits.
The irony is that lying always results in less profit in the long term. But sometimes the pressure is so intense that you close your eyes and eat the frog.
If you can’t always tell your customers the truth and make a profit there is something wrong with your business model. Never put yourself in that type of situation.
If you can’t change your business model, change your business.