Nothing prepares you for the rigors of real-world Business Ownership. Business school has its place, but it won’t give you those strange moments of clarity, that only come during real-world business chaos.
If you’re working as hard as you can, but still feel like you’re not really achieving much, this is a collection of unfiltered lessons from the trenches. Some are practical. Some are mindset shifts. All are real.
Let’s skip the theory. Here’s the real curriculum.
1. Say ‘No’ to almost everything
This is a tough one for business owners, because you are naturally wired to want to do more. “Let’s take on the next ‘great’ idea, so we can grow the business". But unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn’t work that way. The more you choose to focus on, the more thinly you spread yourself, the more chaos you’ll have, and the poorer your results will be.
Your success in business is in direct proportion to the number of things you can say “No” to. And be prepared, it does take serious discipline and courage to say no to almost everything. It won’t be easy.
2. It’s never the perfect time to take action
Don’t let perfect stand in the way of Better, is something I remind my Business Owners of regularly. Waiting for the perfect time, or situation to do something important is a mistake. As is trying to get ‘something’ perfect before you implement or launch. Progress comes from getting started, and then making improvements on the run. Frustration in Business comes from waiting until everything is perfect, timing is right, and the stars are aligned, before taking action.
“A good plan executed, is far better than a perfect plan carried out next week” General Patton
3. Being Optimistic makes your brain work better
Yes - it’s been proven in numerous studies that Optimism and a sense of possibility literally makes us smarter. A few quick ways (there are loads more) to help you feel more optimistic:
Focus on what you have (write them down regularly);
Look at what your business was like 5-6 years ago;
Surround yourself with people who have an abundance mindset; and
Have a beginners mind - train your brain to spot new possibilities.
4. What don’t I see?
The majority of dumb decisions in business, are normally a result of only having one voice in the conversation, when the original decision was made. It’s always best to have someone to bounce ideas off - particularly important ones. The problem with diagnosing your own disease, or defending yourself in a courtroom, is that you have too much emotion, and not enough perspective.
5. Spend more time doing what you’re good at
Q. What do you find effortless?
You will have more success in business if you spend more time doing what you’re naturally good at, and enjoy, than you will trying to get better at things that you’re not.
It might be that you’re great at Sales, and not great at keeping track of the numbers in your business. You could be great at building relationships and supporting your employees, but terrible at marketing. Whatever you are naturally good at, and find effortless - ramp it up. Double down. Spend more time doing it, and delegate most other tasks in your business. Watch what happens.
6. As emotion goes up, intellect goes down
In business, emotion and intellect work inversely. When making important decisions in your business, being emotional just doesn’t help I’m afraid.
If you’re deciding:
should I do this?
should I not?
should I take action?
what should I do?
Try to take the emotion out of it. Even ask someone whose opinion you really value. Your decisions will be so much better.
7. Do Less, if you want to achieve More
Truth is - most of the tasks on your to do list, don’t make a scrap of difference to your businesses results. Sorry - it’s the truth. Key is to identify the two or three things each day, that will move the needle - and do them.
Strive to be effective, not efficient. Efficiency is getting more done in your day. Effectiveness is doing the important things that move you closer to your goals. Confusing Activity with Results is a major saboteur of business success.
The hard part will be blocking out all the noise throughout the day. This is where you need to be selfish- and stay focused. The definition of self-control is to choose the important over the urgent.
8. Your inbox is not your friend.
Your inbox is filled with other peoples’ goals, not yours. Your inbox wastes so much of your time and energy, and creates a level of anxiety. Being alerted to a new email that comes in, even if you don’t do anything about it, costs you time in having to refocus on what you were doing.
Believe it or not, you only need to look at your inbox a couple of times a day. In fact, many business owners could look at it once a day, and not affect their business. For anything important, the sender should call you, not email.
Start by turning off all audible and visual notifications of incoming emails. This alone will give you an extra 30-60 minutes more time each day, to think about real business results.
9. Trust your gut (after all it’s actually connected to your brain)
Intuition is a perception whose origins we don’t fully understand – but we shouldn’t ignore it. And don’t confuse intuition with impulsiveness. Impulsiveness is the urge to do something to meet an emotional need at that moment, which often leads you down a path you’ll regret.
Trust your gut instincts. Research published in multiple social science publications shows that in some instances gut decisions are better than endless pondering, and logic.
There’s no doubt that logical thought has its place in decision making. Logic is a tool, and not the only one in the box! Try noticing how your gut feels about a decision. It’s often right.
10. Never, ever, give up.
“Good things come to those that wait. But only the things left behind by those that hustle.” Warren Buffet
If you want something badly enough, you will find a way to get it. Perseverance, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated qualities of the successful business owner. Just because it didn’t work this time (and it often doesn’t), change it up and try again. Try another way. If you keep showing up, you will break through.
Business owners frequently get what they deserve, but only if they have:
The courage to go for it
The guts to ask for it, and
The willingness try again, when it doesn't work out the first time
Keep hustling!
11. “You got a minute?”
When you’re team are regularly coming to you saying “You got a minute..?” You know it’s never a minute. So when this happens, try to take it standing up. They’ll be more concise with their explanation. And if you feel it’s going to be longer, suggest that they schedule a time to talk, so you can give the issue the attention it deserves. And let them do the scheduling.
12. Small wins are more important than big wins in Business.
When our brain is focused only on those big wins, we tend to neglect the one-little-forward-step-after-another moments - the small wins, that lead to big break throughs. In essence, without the small wins, we tend not to receive the big ones. The idea is to create as many opportunities for small wins as you can. And this applies to your Employees to - making progress has the most positive effect on employees motivation.
13. Be decisive
In most cases, making the decision is the most important thing. Procrastination does more damage to business owners mental health, and confidence than people realise. Even if it’s not the right decision, it’s almost always better than no decision.
Sign of real leadership is making the decision, and then having the courage to live with the outcome. You can’t change what happens, but you can change what happens next.
14. Business owner accountability
The best part of Business ownership is not having a Boss.
The worst part of business ownership is not having a Boss.
Find someone who can keep you accountable
15. Entrepreneurial Discipline and Structure
We all want freedom – that’s why we started our own business. And we hate structure. Unfortunately, the truth is - the price of Entrepreneurial success is Discipline and Structure.
It may sound counterintuitive, but having one or two regular meetings (same time-same day) each week with your key people, will actually give you more freedom in your week. Because the rest of your week is yours, and you won’t be worried about what your people are doing, because you’ll know.
Being in business is hard. And without structure, it’s harder than it needs to be, and substantially less rewarding.
16. Value of Downtime
Spend a handful of hours each day going hard in your business. But then spend the rest of the day going slow. Take walks. Read books. Get a long dinner with friends. Either way, avoid the anxious middle where you never truly relax or truly move forward. You just spend you 8-10 hours meandering along.
17. Invest in your health
Not necessarily for the physical benefits, but for the mental benefits. Exercise significantly improves your mental health, via a better mood. It has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety, and will even enhance your cognitive function, through better blood flow to the brain. And you don’t need to invest in a personal trainer, just a daily walk, or something you know you will do almost every day.
18. Thank You cards
I know it’s 2025, and sending personalised hand written Thank You cards sounds ridiculous. But they actually work.
In fact, they are actually more effective than they were 30 years ago, for building relationships. Because they’re so unique. They sit on someone’s desk, and you and your business gets remembered. For a small investment in time and cost, it’s probably the best marketing investment you can make these days.
