• Be careful not to confuse revenue with profits. Don’t get “drunk” with large numbers. You can generate a ton of revenue and still have a failing business.

• Some people just seem to attract negativity. They’re black holes. Avoid these people.

• Being able to take criticism is one of the absolute most important traits you can have.

• If you can’t take criticism without being defensive you will always be stunted, limited, and stuck wondering why you haven’t reached your goals.

• Delegation is the 8th wonder of the world. Leverage is the 9th.

• Thinking you have to grind or hustle 24/7 is one of the best ways to be miserable and stay broke. The overwhelming majority of ultra-successful business people get lots of sleep.

• If you can’t describe the product or service you’re selling clearly and concisely in less than 30 seconds, you’re never going to sell much of it.

• It’s easy to give away equity in a venture, it’s much harder to get it back.

• Businesses are like wars in this respect: it’s easy to start a business, it’s much harder to get out of one.

• Choose your partners carefully because the honeymoon period never lasts.

• Choose a partner by how they’ll be during the worst of times, not the best.

• If you work with clients, charge more (but only once you’ve developed the skills and expertise required to back up your prices).

• If you’re an entrepreneur and you don’t love what you’re doing, stop doing it and find something you love. The hours are too long to be miserable. When you love what you’re doing though, it really never feels like work.

• You MUST be able to evolve with your industry. If people refer to you or your business as “old school” it’s usually not a good thing.

• Don’t be cheap. Reward those who bring value to your organization. Be willing to share in the riches if you want to keep your best people.

• You’ll rarely regret firing a “bad apple” too early. You’ll always regret firing them too late.

• Challenges/Crises are a natural part of owning a business. Once you accept this, you can learn to “love  disasters” because you see

them as fun puzzles to solve. Also, there’s almost ALWAYS a solution, you just have to find it.

• What “happens to you” rarely ever matters, it’s how you respond that counts.

• Be wary of becoming overextended. It’s better to do 1-3 things exceptionally well than to do 10 things “okay” (80/20 principle at work)

• Quickly launching a basic, functional prototype is almost always superior to taking months or years trying to make something that's “perfect.”

• Too many cooks really do ruin the soup. Having a diverse group of talent to bounce ideas off of is amazing, but someone always needs to be the final decision maker.

• Get on top of your personal finances. You'll often find that your business’ financial health is a reflection of your own personal financial health.

• It’s virtually impossible to overstate the importance of MINDSET. A brilliant man with a poor man’s mindset will almost always fail.

• Some of the highest ROIs you’ll ever get come from investing in yourself. This includes masterminds, coaching, and time spent reading books/listening to podcasts/talking with mentors.

• Being authentic, honest, and kind goes a shockingly long way. People are willing to forgive a LOT of your shortcomings if they like and trust you.

• Conversely, being abrasive, mean, or cruel is never constructive. Machiavelli shouldn’t be applied to business: it’s better to be loved than feared. People who are motivated by fear don’t go the extra mile for you, they aren’t truly invested in your vision, they will make decisions from a place of timidity and caution, rather than from a place of exuberance and creativity.

• Be obsessively possessive of your time. Schedule our your “deep work” in advance, and don’t budge.

• Say “no” more often. And when you do say “yes” – consider it to be a sacred commitment that’s been set in stone.

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.