Owning a business is empowering. It carries with it a sense of strength and accomplishment when you tell people you’re a business owner. Truly successful business owners though, in most cases, lose the ego. They know when to say enough is enough. A choice they made isn’t working and it’s time to change. They know that you never know whose help you might need and when you might need it.
There are generally two ways egos get in the way of good business. The first is believing that you have all the answers and you can’t be wrong. You might be getting solid advice from smart people with lots of experience but they don’t know what you’re going through. They’re just missing the key information that you have. The truth is…that’s probably not true. If you are doing something that isn’t working, it doesn’t matter why. It doesn’t matter if people can’t see your vision and if you could just show them it’d be OK. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea. None of that matters. If it’s not working, stop it. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t give things the time they deserve. Businesses, new products and services, they all take time. But know when to cut your losses. You’ll be grateful later.
The second is in your communication with other people. This is also how to be a decent human but many business owners fall into this trap. Salespeople too. I once talked to a man at a networking event that sold health insurance to companies. It was something I had been curious about for my staff and I asked him about it. He asked what kind of business I owned and I told him a dog walking company. He literally turned his back on me to talk to my friend, an accountant, who told him that I had a staff of 20 that I was looking to cover. While we weren’t dramatic about it, we both walked away. In the grand scheme of things, this is pretty small. It was one, maybe two, sales and not likely to change his life. This can happen on huge scales though. You see a man in jeans and a t shirt one morning and you’re a jerk at the coffee shop because you’re stressed about getting to your interview on time. You go in, you made it, awesome. And then you meet the guy in the jeans, now in a full suit, holding your future in his hands. This is a bit of a movie moment but things like this happen. You just don’t know who you’re talking to so be nice. You’re not better than anyone else. Everyone deserves your respect even if they aren’t holding your future in their hands. People that know that, will thrive.