...a message to every business owner

My decision to leave the banking industry in 2016 wasn’t an easy one.

 

In late 2015, I had been offered a promotion at the investment bank I was working for to drive the global strategy efforts of its Equities business out of its London office. In all honesty, I was paid relatively well (relative to a summer intern), didn’t have to work too hard (sorry, but most senior bankers don’t), and was promised a fast-track promotion path to supercharge my ascent up the corporate ladder (though the promise was probably worth as much as the paper it was never written on).

 

Admittedly, with all the problems facing the investment banking industry, as well as the plethora of issues tied to Brexit, looking back on my decision to leave was made a lot easier; I would have taken a major pay cut from the devaluation of the GBP alone (assuming I’d even be able to keep my job). But it wasn’t the reason why I left. Like so many working in the industry, I was unhappy with the never-ending politics that plagued the internal workings of most banks, which made it nearly impossible to get even the simplest things done. Towards the tail end of my career, I began feeling like more of a glorified marketing rep who was responsible for rubber-stamping senior management agendas rather than someone responsible for driving real – albeit oftentimes painful – change (i.e. the job I was supposedly hired to do).

 

Before I joined the bank, I had the privilege of testing the waters at a leading international strategy consulting firm. It was a great experience; I learnt a lot, met some extremely intelligent people, and had the chance to flex my brain muscles in a way that I would have never been able to whilst working in an in-house role. However, I also realised that the firm’s clients were spending a fortune on services that, in my opinion, added little-to-no real value. More often than not, we spent most of our time validating what our clients’ most senior stakeholders wanted to say, supported by reams of data and mystifying (i.e. extremely confusing) visuals that were churned out during 80-90+ hour weeks by junior consultants with zero understanding of the banking business. Objectivity was frequently thrown out the door, and back came that good old rubber stamp; only this time, it had a different logo on it.

 

Something was seriously broken. But no matter how many different companies I worked for, or how senior in the organisation I was, I knew job-hopping wouldn’t solve my problem. With that in mind, I decided to set up my own strategy consulting firm.

 

Launching a business is a daunting task, especially in the strategy consulting field. Most (but not all) of my colleagues thought my vision was completely insane – namely, going head-to-head with the McKinsey’s, Bain’s, BCG’s of this world to create the leading global financial services strategy consultancy by the time I was 55. In some respects, so did I. “Nobody has competed with these guys in over 40 years, what makes you think you can?!”, they would snigger. “That’s exactly why I think this industry needs a shakeup”, I would calmly respond.

 

There was also one question I continually asked myself that gave me the courage to jump ship: how many companies who had worked with these firms really believed they added value that was commensurate with their exorbitant fees? In my experience, most of these companies (and even their employees) would say one of a few things:

 

1.    “Um, what am I supposed to do with this 500-slide PowerPoint deck?”;

2.    “Thanks for telling me what I already know in a 500-slide PowerPoint deck”; and

3.    “Wow! Now I know China has a population of 1.4 billion people and fits on the top right corner this 2x2 matrix on your 500-slide PowerPoint deck.”

 

… I’m just joking. One deck I saw was over a thousand slides long. Take that, Lord of the Rings Trilogy!

 

In fact, I once saw a post on LinkedIn from a leading international strategy consultancy titled: “How to supercharge your digitalisation efforts.” Number two on their list of five key strategies was, verbatim, “Invest more than your competitors, but not too much more.” I will let you form your own opinion about the value of this revolutionary advice.

 

But back to the point of this piece (and ending my minor rant about the big consultancies), I want to talk about some of the realities I have faced (and often continue to face) in running a business. To my LinkedIn connections, I’m sorry if I have ruined your homepage experience with my firm’s daily posts about our latest thought leadership reports and press coverage. But underneath the title of CEO and the global visibility of my firm, there are a lot of moving parts, many of which are far less glamourous.

 

Here are 10 lessons I’ve learnt as a CEO:

 

1.    BE GRATEFUL

 

I believe there are two kinds of people who start their own business: those who are natural-born entrepreneurs, and those who can no longer stand to sing from the corporate hymn sheet for another day…because it was written by tone-deaf composers.

 

As for me, I think I might be a bit of both. I have always felt much more at home as a leader than a follower. I also knew I could never stand the “status quo”, which most people I have worked with can attest to. To this day, I wake up every morning flooded with ideas on how to change the world (and grow my hair back). In my line of work, this simply means how to make the companies we advise (including the one I founded) “work better” (or smarter). But in my early years, my creative spark was often dampened by those around me, including my high school teachers, university professors, bosses, and even some of my close friends.

 

Despite the obvious cynicism I carried through much of my corporate career, I am eternally grateful for every experience that has come my way. Good or bad, I have learnt so much on this mud-filled (and sometimes turd-littered) journey – from developing new skills, to building new relationships, to dealing with adversity (or, roughly translated, the ability to handle “first-world problems”). To be frank, there is no way I would have been able set up my own business without going through the things I did.

 

I am especially grateful for everyone who told me my ideas would never work, because I love a challenge – the harder the better.

 

LESSON #1: Be thankful for what you have been through, including all the bad times, because you will never develop thick skin if your career path has been nothing but a walk in the park.

 

 

2.    DON’T TRY AND DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF

 

It’s common for people starting their own business to try and do everything by themselves. Some of this is due to a basic desire to minimise overheads (given you no longer have a salary), while other parts reflect a fear of ceding control.

 

The fact is, you can’t do everything on your own. Focus on what you’re good at and work with people who complement your skillset. If I look at my own weaknesses, I know hands-down that I’m terrible at multitasking (I often joke that I struggle to sleep and breathe at the same time) and loathe any kind of admin, so I brought a COO and EA into the firm as soon as I could. I can’t tell you how much more bandwidth this has given me, allowing me to focus my energy on where I can add most value.

 

One of the main reasons I attached my own name to the company was to hold myself accountable for the firm’s vision, culture, and quality of work (FYI – for those of you who haven’t sussed the acronym yet, it’s Q&A). While it can be exhausting at times to be the face of a company, I am lucky to be surrounded by an outstanding team and to have set in place a work culture where everyone is encouraged to speak up and call out bullshit when they see it.

 

To run the business effectively, I have been forced to let go of many things. But I have only been able to do this by creating an environment that is built on complete trust and full transparency. There is nothing my team doesn’t know, as we are all in this together.

 

LESSON #2: Don’t try and do everything yourself. To run a successful business, finding (and entrusting) the right team is everything.

 

3.    TAKE A POSITION

No matter what you do, what you look like, how nice you are, or what you say, not everyone is going to like you. The sooner you realise that, the more at peace you will be.

 

I believe one of the most important things in the consulting business (and any advisory business, for that matter) is to take a position. It’s easy to just sit on the fence because you’re unlikely to ever rub anyone up the wrong way.

 

In my field, I regularly read reports by consulting firms that fail to take a position on anything, most often due to a fear of offending their clients. As a result, you end up reading endless thought leadership papers that culminate in advice such as: “Invest more than your competitors, but not too much more”. To add insult to injury, half a rainforest is destroyed printing this stuff.

 

Taking a position, of course, comes with its own challenges. First and foremost, you could be wrong (though “wrong” can admittedly be a relative term, depending on what you’re talking about). But in my opinion, being wrong about a well-reasoned argument, supported by facts and hard data, will always be better than sitting on the fence. In consulting, people pay for advice, and you’re never going to earn a real name for yourself by saying “’I’m cautiously optimistic” or “what do you think?”. However, always back up your view with facts and real-life examples and not just random conjecture. Unsubstantiated advice will never be more than just your personal opinion (which you should keep for your Facebook status updates).

 

You are also going to have your dissenters. In some cases, you’ll even have your haters (more commonly known today as trolls). That’s only normal. In fact, the only universal truth I know of is that the human race has never (and will never) unanimously agree on anything. If you don’t believe me, know that there are almost 160,000 followers of the Flat Earth Society on Facebook (i.e. people who believe the earth is flat). If you happen to be part of that 160,000, I apologise for any offense caused, but would love to exchange notes with you (including satellite images of the planet – which I have obviously photoshopped).

 

I remember the stir my firm caused after releasing our infamous “Fool’s Gold?” report in January of this year, forecasting the price of Bitcoin to fall below ~USD 1,800 by the end of 2018, and the market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies to plummet from over USD 800bn to USD 223bn during the year (note: we did a decent job compared to the other forecasters in the market…and all my friends have since asked me to pick out their lottery numbers, which I can also say with 100% accuracy that I will be wrong).

 

Given the global media frenzy around cryptocurrencies at the time of its release, it was no surprise that our report was splashed all over mainstream and social media, including Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. And what an uproar it caused, given the vast amounts of money that many retail investors (and “crypto enthusiasts” (aka evangelists) had pumped into this mysterious new asset class). One Twitter user who commented on my Bloomberg interview remarked that I couldn’t even HODL my hair (he was right, I couldn’t). Another disgruntled HODLer sent an email to my company account, saying:

 

Dear Benjamin,

You run a second-tier strategy consulting firm.

Please don’t opine on things you have no authority to speak about.

Anonymous

My staff were taken aback and asked how we should respond. I didn’t get their concern; I was actually flattered. We had only been in business for 18 months and this person already considered us a second-tier firm. I thought we were 4th- (or at best 3rd-) tier? So, thank you, Mr./Ms. Anonymous, for your vote of confidence.

 

As a stand-up comedian, I can draw many parallels with my time on stage. Ask any comic and they will tell you that it’s impossible to make everyone in the room laugh (unless there is only one person in the room who loves your jokes), given humour is entirely subjective. I have had the privilege of performing for an audience of up to 2,000 people, and amidst the roar of laughter (or, as my friends would say, “sympathy chuckles”), I would always end up locking eyes with one that person in the audience who had their arms crossed whilst shaking their head disapprovingly. While I die a little bit inside every time this happens, I remind myself that this is my “position” as a comedian and that I can’t please everyone.

 

This doesn’t mean you should be obnoxious or blissfully unaware of your audience. It’s important to know when you’re going off course (and when you’re genuinely being annoying, like this article is) and to adapt accordingly. This requires brutal self-reflection, including the ability to admit when you’re wrong and move on. In comedy, this can mean changing your material when you notice the audience drifting off, or simply knowing when to cut your losses and get off stage. But it doesn’t mean you should be afraid to tell a new joke or have an opinion. Testing new ideas is fundamental to growth.

 

LESSON #3: What other people think of you is THEIR business, not yours. You’re always going to have people who disagree with you, but if you put forward a logical position and express it tactfully, you’re likely to at least win their respect (and gain a loyal following along the way).

 

 

4.    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS…BUT STAY HUMBLE

 

It’s important to promote your business. While some people frown upon self-promotion (note: re-read point (3) for a quick reminder on why you can’t please everyone), I believe there is nothing wrong in sharing your ideas and expertise.

 

I have been fortunate enough to see my company regularly featured in the media. I am thankful that this coverage has come without needing to spend any money on marketing or advertising, because the line item for this in our budget was “?”. One could say we’ve been lucky (and I agree there is always an element of luck), but I believe we also have something interesting to say and never sit on the fence.

 

Nevertheless, it’s important to stay humble. It’s hard for me to explain exactly how to do this (and maybe some of our followers think we are the antithesis of humility), given the concept of humility is also subjective. However, there is no need to put yourself down or feign humility as people can easily detect false modesty. By the same token, be careful not to brag to the point that your marketing efforts feel like spam and become utterly annoying. Try to find the right balance…and I will try to swallow my own advice.

 

As part of this process, learn to say “thank you” when people compliment your business. Always try to compliment others on their success as well, as encouragement tends to be reciprocal.

 

For those who disagree with you, it’s fine to defend your position, but never shove your views in anyone’s face (see point (3) once again), even if you’re right, as it will only detract from your personal brand.

 

LESSON #4: Get out there and promote your business, because if you don’t believe in what you’re doing, nobody else will.

 

5.    NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK

 

Networking is one of the most crucial aspects of building a business and goes hand-in-hand with promoting your firm.

 

The reality is that nobody will know who you are when you first start out (perhaps not you personally, but your business). This is because building a brand takes time. Many of your first clients are likely to come from your existing relationships or referrals from people you know, as they did for my business. However, as individuals, there are only so many relationships we have (and even fewer than we can properly maintain). As such, you will need to start seeking out new customers if you want your business to grow.

 

Most of you have probably heard the saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. While very true, I still believe you need to know your stuff if you want to build a credible brand. However, while demonstrating your firm’s capabilities is undoubtedly important, you will struggle to win new business if you rely solely on the quality or uniqueness of your offering. That’s why it’s common to see some of the brightest employees slaving away without recognition for years on end, whilst some very average performers climb their way to the top of the corporate pyramid. Similarly, in business, many start-ups with the brightest ideas go unnoticed and end up failing due to a lack of recognition within their relevant networks.

 

Even if you’re an introvert and dread having to engage in small talk with a room full of strangers, I can guarantee you that more than half of the room feels exactly the same. Most people will feel relieved you took the initiative to strike up a conversation…unless it’s at the urinal.

 

Businesses, like most things in life, are built on relationships – be it with your customers, your service providers, or even your competitors. The fact is, you want to work with people you know, trust, and get along with.

 

LESSON #5: Invest time and effort into building a strong network. You’ll be surprised by how much business comes in from the people you know…and the people they know.

 

 

6.    HAVE FUN

 

“Having fun” sounds like a line from Captain Obvious, but many businesses fail miserably at this.

 

The stress and sleepless nights that come with running a business means we often forget to enjoy ourselves. Worrying about never-ending costs while hunting for new leads consumes the thoughts of most CEOs when they lie in bed at night. Some bring this stress back into the office the next morning, much to the dread of their team. And I have never met anybody who works well under a boss who is a complete stress nut – everyone suffers.

 

As a CEO, you need to find ways to decompress. This could mean taking a random day off, exercising regularly, telling bad jokes (as I often do), or having a siesta to combat your post-lunch food coma. Just as important is ensuring your team has fun. After all, you spend more time with your colleagues than pretty much anyone else in your life, so you should learn to enjoy each other’s company.

 

There are a few things I do to try and shape a fun culture at my firm. In addition to weekly office drinks and team lunches, I occasionally take everyone down to the beach to “work” from a café. Admittedly, productivity falls about 90% when you’re in the ocean (it turns out laptops don’t work too well in water), but it’s great to change up the working environment and get some fresh air (for Hong Kong standards, that is).

 

Last year, I also hired two new staff members: their names were Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Unlike most companies I have seen with similar hiring practices, they’re not just there for decoration or after-hours use. I am also proud to say I hold most of the high scores and am the reigning office champion in Cards Against Humanity for essentially being a horrible person.

 

As a CEO, you need to set the tone from the top. If you come in to work every day stressed out, overly worried, and unable to have any fun, that’s exactly the type of culture you’re going to foster. Nobody wants to work in a company like that.

 

LESSON #6: Have fun. There’s no point getting to your destination if you haven’t even enjoyed the ride.

 

 

7.    NEVER STOP LEARNING

One of the most fatal mistakes in business is to think you know it all. With technological innovation driving rapid changes to business models in nearly every industry, you need to keep learning in order to survive.

 

However, it’s not just the ability to understand emerging trends that’s important for the survival of your firm. It’s learning from your mistakes. As a CEO, I have made more mistakes than I thought possible; from trying to do too many things at once, to focusing on the “wrong” clients, to spending far too much of my time on tasks that delivered little value. But it’s a learning process, and you’re bound to screw up at times. I have learnt far more from my company’s mistakes than its successes, including a better understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and can now avoid making the same mistakes in future.

 

I also believe it’s important to learn as much as possible from those around you. This can include being mentored by a fellow business owner within your network that you admire or look up to. Even better, try to learn as much as possible from your team. As a boss, this means letting your guard down and dropping the ego. I love being challenged by my staff, no matter how junior they are. Through building an environment where every employee is encouraged to openly share their views, we have improved our output, refined internal processes, developed new business, and have built a much better company as a result. I honestly believe my staff have taught me more far more than I could ever teach them.

 

LESSON #7: Never stop learning, because the world is not going to wait for you to catch up.

 

 

8.    HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR

 

For those of you who know me a little better, you’ll know that I’m a stand-up comedian. For those of you who don’t know what a stand-up comedian is, I tell jokes while standing up (though one day I’m going to bring a chair on stage to confuse the audience).

 

When I started my business, a few people I knew said to me: “are you sure you want to mesh your comedy persona with your profile as a CEO of a strategy consulting firm?” Their concerns were based on the belief that being a comedian would negatively impact my professional brand. While I could appreciate their concerns, my distaste for the status quo led me to believe that being a comic would actually help set me apart from every other strategy consultant out there (i.e. I could laugh at my own PowerPoints).

 

I absolutely love comedy and don my “other hat” with as much pride and professionalism as my day job. There are always going to be a handful of people who believe this sends the wrong message to more conservative clients, but I really don’t mind. My staff and I love working with people who like to have a laugh and don’t take things too seriously – a day in most offices can already be painfully boring as is! Interestingly enough, we established a number of new client relationships with C-suites who have attended my shows. In fact, most of my company’s clients have now seen me do my thing on stage…and no love has been lost, even after they hear me rip into my Chinese mum.

 

I recently read that Goldman Sachs’ new CEO, David Solomon, moonlights as a DJ. All I can say is that’s pretty cool, and kudos to him for not hiding it. In no way do I see this detracting from his professionalism; it only serves to humanise him. I have a lot of friends at Goldman Sachs who are genuinely inspired to work under such leadership, so hats off to you, Mr. Solomon, for bringing diversity to the next level.

 

It’s really important to keep your sense of humour in business. You’re going to have some awful days where you “e@t sh#t” (as a fellow business owner likes to put it), and laughter will help you get through it. It’s also one of the best ways to cut through tension in difficult meetings and build a rapport with your clients; don’t forget, it’s the only language we all speak, irrespective of our race, religion, or gender (all of which are also great fodder for my standup routine).

 

LESSON #8: Have a sense of humour, because nobody’s ever had a bad time laughing.

9.    STAY THE COURSE

 

Running your own business isn’t easy. Coming from a lineage of Quinlan men who are all entrepreneurs, my old man always reminds me of the same thing whenever I hit a brick wall: “Benjamin, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it”.

 

As the CEO of a new business, there are going to be sleepless nights, restless days, and weeks (if not months/years) where you’re not earning any revenue. All the while, you’ll be racking up costs and being told to piss off (politely) by your target clients…or, my absolute favourite; not being told to piss off and just being completely ignored. This is only normal and comes with the territory, so you need to be able to handle rejection all the time.

 

I know many senior, big-name executives who struggle to set up on their own. It’s not easy when you’re accustomed to a certain lifestyle (and steady paycheck). You’re going to need to make sacrifices and make them fast, because every business owner knows there is no such thing as instant gratification.

 

I also see an interesting trade-off here. When you have had a long and successful corporate career, you are typically in a much better financial position to set out on your own, but it’s an issue with mindset that holds many of these individuals back. Young, cash-strapped business owners tend to be much more fearless, but they know there is only so much runway (and only so many months they can survive on instant noodles) before they need to start commercialising their product or service.

 

I have only told a few close friends this, but my company has been approached by a number of global consulting firms in the past year looking to either: (1) buy the business; or (2) hire me and my team. These offers have been extremely flattering. Moreover, I would be lying if I said I was never tempted by a big corporate machine handing me a regular, sizeable paycheck each month. However, I also remembered our company slogan (and my overall vision for the firm), “Strategy with a Difference”. By joining a large firm, irrespective of my role or title, I’d be going back to the exact same thing I left in the first place. My team also had little interest in joining another consultancy because of our company’s unique culture and business model. With that firmly in the back of my mind, I walked away from every offer.

 

While we operate a much smaller engine room than a global consultancy, we are often invited by major financial institutions to part of an RFP processes for different strategic projects. In the line-up are the usual suspects (i.e. the big strategy consulting houses). Without exception, we end up as one of the top two proposals in the mix. From there, one of two things happen; we either get the gig or we are told by the clients that it is going to go with the big name, largely for political reasons (i.e. they have a better known “rubber stamp”). It can be frustrating to lose out on projects when you know you have the strongest proposal and most qualified team, and I occasionally wondered if joining a big-name firm would have made life easier. In the short-term, maybe. But I keep reminding myself that we had already earned a spot at the big boys’ table (and that 4-5 other global firms were still in line behind us).

 

All CEOs know that things take time. There is no such thing as an overnight success. As hard as the slog may be, always remember what you set out to do.

 

LESSON #9: The unhappiness of failing is short-lived, but the regret of never giving things a proper go will stay with you for life. Believe in what you set out to do and stay the course.

 

 

10. DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

 

If I made a dollar off every email asking me for career advice, I’d make Jeff Bezos look poor.

 

It’s only normal for people to seek out guidance from those around them. It helps us centre our thoughts, address our unconscious biases, and focus our attention on what really matters. More often than not, however, I found most people asking for career advice were simply looking to assuage their professional insecurities, particularly with respect to making a “bad” career decision.

 

Let’s face it. Your career path is going to be LONG, and most of us are going to spend the better part of 45-50 years of our lives on this planet toiling away behind a desk. As we enter the final stage of our student lives, we are abruptly confronted by one of the biggest questions in life: “what am I going to do for the rest of my life?” More often than not, the biggest mistake many people make is thinking their first career choice will be their last. It’s not.

 

My working life has been nothing short of random (and hilarious). My first-ever job was at university, working in sales at a glamour photography studio – one of those places that used so many filters that customers ended up looking as ridiculous as the “selfie addicts” on Instagram. My job was to convince customers to take out a small mortgage and purchase as many of these photos as possible. To earn a bit of extra cash, I also worked the graveyard shift at a Sydney nightclub on the weekend, cleaning up the vomit of patrons who had a penchant for one-too-many tequila shots and jaeger bombs.

 

Finding my first internship was just about as glamorous. After spending the best part of my teenage life institutionalised at an all-boys boarding school, university felt like unsupervised parole. I seldom attended class and my grades were nothing to write home about (especially to my Chinese mother, where “A” stands for “Average”). However, the companies I was applying to had relatively strict academic cut-offs, and the internship application process felt like being on the receiving end of an interminable “swipe left” session on Tinder.

 

Fortunately, after dozens of rejections, I finally landed a role at a Big 4 accounting firm as a tax consultant. While the company was great, the role was about as exciting as listening to Melania Trump speak about…well, just speak. It was 2005 and I saw many of my friends wander off to the greener pastures of investment banking to earn the mega-bucks. I wanted in.

 

After some careful planning and lots of perseverance, I jumped ship to a global investment bank in Sydney, working in corporate strategy and internal M&A. About 20 months in, I set sail for the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong (my home town), escaping the joys of Australia’s 47% personal income tax rate, only to hand my newfound tax savings over to the landlord of my Hong Kong apartment (otherwise known as a coffin, just smaller). Rent aside, the geographic switch was great. But less than two years in, I was getting itchy feet (not tinea) and felt I needed a new challenge. I made a lateral move to work in the bank’s Group Client Coverage team, dealing with its largest accounts in the region.

 

Of course, the career itch didn’t end there. I was always hungry to try new things. From the bank I went into a strategy consulting firm, underpinned by a long-suppressed desire to prove my intellectual prowess in front a corporate boardroom. At times it was hard – I was married to my laptop, flew more than a pilot, and my best friends ended up being the guest relations managers of every hotel I frequented. I didn’t care that they were paid to be friendly with me; I just enjoyed whatever human interaction I could get beyond my Blackberry.

 

After enduring what was nothing short of a baptism of fire, I took a sabbatical to recharge. However, it wasn’t long before the lure of a big paycheck and fancy corporate title (i.e. senior slave) had me clamouring back into the banking industry. I was the Head of Strategy for a global investment bank’s regional equities business. But the shine soon wore off, and just two years later, with somewhat of a disgruntled expression on my face (and FAR LESS HAIR on my head), I left the bank to set up shop on my own.

 

The point of this story is twofold: (1) nothing succeeds as planned; and (2) it can take time to find out what you enjoy doing for “work”. You also never know where you’re going to end up. Be thankful for what you learn in every job and take that knowledge with you into the next phase of your career. When you look back, you’ll be surprised how much you’ve learnt from the companies that you had once tried so hard to escape.

 

In my view, the holy trinity in a career involves three things: doing what you love, doing what you’re good at, and making money (and increasingly, for the millennial generation, it’s about giving back, hopefully in a more substantive way than “liking” posts on social media).

 

In my experience, most (but not all) companies who are willing to pay you a lot of money do so for a reason – you’re not going to enjoy the job, be it the nature of the work, the hours, or the stress / risk that comes with the role. But despite knowing what they are getting themselves into (e.g. working until 3am every day churning out endless PowerPoint slides), a lot of people still end up chasing the almighty buck. I have asked many of these individuals whether they would still do their job if I took away their paycheck. The answer is always an immediate and resounding “no”.

 

My two cents: if you love something, you are more often than not likely to be good at it. And if you’re truly good at something, you can end up being the master of your craft, which you can then start to charge for. It doesn’t always mean you’re going to be a millionaire, but I can’t recall a single person I have met in life who has a passion for their profession, is genuinely good at what they do, and hates their job. However, it goes without saying that we have all met a lot of miserable wealthy people.

 

LESSON #10: There are countless ways to make money, so find one that makes you happy. Life is far too short to work for a paycheck that compensates you for being miserable.

 

 

You might be asking: “why did I spend my lunch break writing this article?”

 

The truth is, it’s to remind myself and every business owner that we’re not alone and all face very similar issues. Beneath the strength (and success) we would like to project to the rest of the world, we are only humans at the end of the day. And with the territory comes making countless mistakes, hitting endless speedbumps, and occasionally completely screwing things up.

 

But remember: there’s a reason you got out of bed one day and decided to start your own business. Don’t lose sight of that.