A Favorite Business Lesson

When I started my first software company way back in 1995 I knew nothing about running a business. I remember hiring a business coach, a man by the name of Kelly (keep in mind this was like 20 years ago when coaches for your business were unheard of).

At the time I was upset because I had invested a ton of time and money into an employee that I had to let go. My “star” employee had been downloading adult photos on company time for his viewing pleasure and some of them ended up in the mass software distribution files to my customers. Aughhhh!!!!

Kelly, being the great coach he was, asked me, “If the money you spent on this employee you had invested in a training seminar – and you walked away having learned what you know now – would you still be upset over it?”

Of course, my answer was “no”. Cue the wind to leave my sails. Paying to learn the information seemed pretty smart to me and I learned a ton about keeping better track of what my staff was doing. Plus, hiring, firing, and protecting our software releases.

I have never forgotten the lesson Kelly taught me that day. Not only did he change my perspective, but that one lesson easily saved me 10 times my losses over the next several years. Shifting my energy away from my big “loss” to the huge “win” of experience gained also helped me sleep much better at night and got me back to being focused on what I did best – making money!

Owning a business is tough stuff – and the challenges we are presented with change on a daily basis. Next time you find yourself fretting over money you can’t get back – perhaps you too can benefit from Kelly’s sage advice and shift it into a great lesson learned 🙂

xoxo