Everyone In Business Should Be On The Lookout For

When I started out as an entrepreneur, almost 10 years ago, I began by reading many books on business. Each promised to give me the answer to all of my problems, endless motivation, happiness and of course to make me insanely wealthy for the rest of my life.

But I am still waiting for a book to be published that really explains the hardship we all face as entrepreneurs. There are many hardships I have faced while building my business, in this post I want to focus on what I believe is the greatest danger of all for start-up entrepreneursthe shark.

The shark is the supplier or customer who wants to take you for all youre worth, they want to beat you down so you feel worthless and eventually break to their will.

Unfortunately it has been in my experience that well over 95% of all the people I have worked with have fitted into this category.

You need to spot these sharks as early as possible. So many people seem only to be concerned with the whats in it for me (and only me) instead of building long term and valuable relationships.

I suggest that when beginning a relationship with any new customer, client, business advisor or supplier it is so important to let them know where you stand. What do you want out of the relationship and how do you see them playing a part. But remember, every relationship has a honeymoon period - even in business and you have to monitor how things are progressing week by week, even daily.

Are you both still getting what you thought you would or has it become one sided?

Don't be afraid to stand your ground no matter how big their business might be or how good the opportunity looks. Get into the habit of good and professional practices, like signing mutual NDA (Non-disclosure agreements) when starting any discussions, it can be a great show of character when they refuse to sign.

I also think communication plays a huge part and I always suggest setting up regular phone calls, face to face meetings and even circular email communications, there is a huge amount of new software available that can help you do this too.

It can sometimes seem that you have to be aggressive and self-centered to get on in business but that is not true, you just need to stick to your values.

I love helping people and seeing their business prosper, for no other reason than if I have the knowledge why not pass it on! And now I only surround myself with other nice guys.