If you own a small business or you are managing a company, sometimes you think you’re hot shit. I am here to remind you, you are not. There is always someone smarter, richer, better looking, more athletic, etc. than you are. So, drop your ego and consult with others when making a decision. Now before I go further, let me clarify..
Here are a couple prerequisites for peoples opinions we do not care about.
- Individuals who do not have experience in the field we are concerned about
- Individuals who are not where we want to be
- Individuals who are playing a completely different game than us
- Individuals who do not have our best interest in mind
- Individuals who do not want to see us succeed and want their old friend or family member back
- There are more to add to the list, but you get the point
So, when making decisions, consult others, use your accountants, use your attorneys, use your mentors or coaches, use your peers who have experience in what you are doing, use anyone who can help you make an educated decision with the lowest downside. It just may save you a hell of a lot of money, time, and stress. Let me give you a personal example.
Back when Ryan and I were a few years into business, we were reading about S-corps and how much tax benefit they could have for small businesses. At this time in our business, money was tight, we were growing fast, and reallocating most of our profits back into the company. So, any savings to us, could help drastically. So, we talked with his wife, whose a CPA and she started the filing process. After we had filed and got things in progress, I was chatting with our attorney about some questions I had on the S-corp filing. He asked if we already filed, I told him yes. He said “Shaun, why did you not call me to consult”? I said “I did not think it was a big deal, it seemed like a straight forward process”. He proceeded to inform me, our rash decision just cost us $10,000. I do not remember the exact reasoning, something to do with when we filed or how we did, we would have saved $10,000. So, our decision we made to save money, just cost us a good chunk of our money.
This was the day I changed and the day I started consulting before making rash decisions.
There are times to make decisions on the fly and there are other times to consult. When those decisions can cost your profit margins multiple percentage points, spend a little time consulting to make sure you are making a sound decision.
The game in business is to win, the only way to win is to outlast. So, if it takes you an extra day to consult, so you do not lose a bunch of money, have the patience, do the due diligence, and WIN!
Your life Tutor
-Shaun Tutor
Tutors of Life 