The Kickass Entrepreneur
  • About
  • Blog
    • All Blogs
    • Create Wealth (Investing)
    • Entrepreneur Interviews
    • Featured Top Posts
    • Growing Profits
    • Growing Revenues
    • Marketing
    • Positive State of Mind
    • Real Estate Investing
    • Retirement
    • Sales
    • Selling your Business
  • Book
  • Courses
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Contact
The Kickass Entrepreneur
Subscribe
The Kickass Entrepreneur
  • About
  • Blog
    • All Blogs
    • Create Wealth (Investing)
    • Entrepreneur Interviews
    • Featured Top Posts
    • Growing Profits
    • Growing Revenues
    • Marketing
    • Positive State of Mind
    • Real Estate Investing
    • Retirement
    • Sales
    • Selling your Business
  • Book
  • Courses
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • All Blogs
  • Featured Top Posts
  • Positive State of Mind

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of Them All? Shut Up and Listen to the Response.

  • November 5, 2018
  • 2K views
  • 5 minute read
  • Jeff Wiener
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Share
Tweet
Share

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?

I’m sure you’ve heard the story.

“Thou, O Queen, art the fairest in the land,” said the mirror.

Then one day, the mirror said to the queen, “Snow White, O Queen, is the fairest of them all.”

Well, Snow White became the object of the queen’s hatred.

The queen couldn’t stand to have someone fairer than she.

Of course, the story wouldn’t be the same if the queen actually made an effort to be fairer and gentler than Snow White.

Snow WhiteWhat if the mirror had told the queen that she wasn’t kind enough? In actual fact, Snow White was prettier than the queen, but let’s imagine (we can do that here), that the mirror had listed the five things that the queen needed to do in order to be the fairest in the land?

Would the queen have listened?

I’m going to hazard a guess and suggest that the queen likely wouldn’t have listened to the mirror. She would likely have thrown a rock at the mirror and continued believing she was the fairest.

It’s difficult for the queen to be objective about her beauty or, for that matter, her own faults.

First Place, Second Place, No Place

I recently coached three university teams for a business competition. The contest is open to current students from schools across North America who are currently running a business. The top prize is $50,000, and the second-place prize is $25,000—a lot of money, especially to a university student.

First Second and Third PlaceAll three pitches I coached had terrific businesses and business plans. All three were weak in the area of financials, and I shared pretty much the same advice with each of them. Two of the teams listened and made tweaks to their pitches. The president of the third team spent over 15 minutes arguing with me as to why he was unable to provide a 3- and 5-year forecast. Frankly, it shouldn’t have taken that much effort. He just refused to listen.

In the end, the two teams that did listen and made the necessary adjustments, not just to the financials but to the overall pitch, won first and second place. The team that didn’t listen didn’t even place. It’s no surprise. Their business idea was excellent, but the president was too stubborn to listen to constructive feedback and to handle criticism. He deflected. In the end, he lost. He will be a very difficult person to be in business with, and although he’s a smart guy, I definitely wouldn’t invest in one of his ventures.

Are You the Queen?

Do you listen to constructive feedback?

I can think of a few situations over the last many months where I’ve provided constructive feedback to an individual, and they refused to listen, which makes me question why they engaged me in the first place.

Given what I write about, I’m often called to help entrepreneurs with different areas of their business, and what presents as multi-year stagnant revenues and marketing issues might be something entirely different. Yes, marketing is likely a problem and needs to be addressed, but what initially seems like a marketing issue is oftentimes a deeper problem unrelated to marketing that needs to be addressed first.

For example, it’s possible the owner is micromanaging the staff, and the company will never expand beyond the skills of the owner. Or the company’s financials are a mess, resulting in poor cash flow. Both issues should be addressed prior to addressing the marketing.

Fixing the marketing or hiring a Director of Sales to grow the sales team could very well be a Band-Aid if neither the cash flow nor micromanaging are fixed.

I wrote a post titled, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Five Things You Can Do To Become a Better Boss.” In the post, I wrote the following:

People grow by being self-reflective and by making adjustments to their behavioral patterns. For those who are open-minded, that self-reflection can be cathartic. For those who believe they are perfect, that self-reflection might not result in improvement. After all, they believe they are perfect, so there’s no need to change.

I have news for you … if you believe you’re perfect, then you’re probably the queen.

If you’ve been stagnant in the same crappy job, or your company sales have been flat for a few years, it’s likely something you’re doing (or not doing).

Queen or Not, Invest in Yourself

Your best return on time and dollars spent will be from investing in yourself. What that means is improving your skills, connections, general and industry knowledge, and then—and most importantly—your health and fitness.

Approach your investments and learning from the perspective that there is always room to improve.

People have no problem throwing money away on clothes they don’t need, large homes, fancy cars, and so on, but they balk at the prospect of taking a $1,000 course, a few days off to attend an industry conference in another city, or hiring a consultant to provide honest, objective feedback when required.

Whatever it is you choose to do, once you recognize that you need to make some changes to the way you’re doing things, approach the change as a personal challenge, with an open mind, and listen to the feedback. If someone is willing to provide you with constructive criticism, maybe, just maybe, there’s a hint of truth in what they’re saying.

Before you go, I think you might be interested in reading this post titled:  Sell Me This Pen. I Tackle the Wolf of Wall Street Sales Riddle. Do You Know the Right Way to Sell the Pen?

And here’s another:  Watch out For Peter When You’re Growing Your Business or Rising the Corporate Ladder. Peter Can Kill Your Business If You’re Not Careful

______________________

Are you a younger entrepreneur? Here’s another interesting article I wrote:

My Response to an 18-Year-Old Who Wants to Become a Millionaire by the Time He’s 30.

My goal is to help entrepreneurs scale their business, improve profitability, and then, use those profits to create massive wealth. Subscribe to my blog to receive my latest thought on scaling your business and creating wealth.

Download my book and Amazon bestseller (number 1 in business, number 1 in non-fiction).  You can get your FREE copy here.

 

Thank you for your interest in THE KICKASS ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE TO INVESTING. Three Simple Steps to Build Massive Wealth with your Business's Profits. Please check your email to confirm the book download. Form: 400529

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Related Posts:

  • Sell Me This Pen Interview: 3 Experienced Sales People Provide…
  • Sell Me This Pen. I Tackle the Wolf of Wall Street Sales Riddle. Do…
Share
Tweet
Share
Related Topics
  • feedback
  • leadership
  • management
  • snow white
Jeff Wiener
Jeff Wiener

You May Also Like
cybersecurity
View Post
  • Featured Top Posts

How to Keep Your Company and Employee Data Safe

  • January 25, 2021
  • Meg Rivera
VPN proxy servers
View Post
  • Featured Top Posts

Myths Debunked: US Proxy Servers vs VPNs

  • January 19, 2021
  • Meg Rivera
entrepreneur
View Post
  • All Blogs

How to Become a More Successful Entrepreneur

  • January 15, 2021
  • Monica Serreon
online presence
View Post
  • All Blogs

Targeting Your Online Presence to Other Locations – Easier Than You Think

  • January 14, 2021
  • Monica Serreon
online business
View Post
  • All Blogs

7 Online Businesses Set to Thrive in 2021

  • January 14, 2021
  • Monica Serreon
The Top 1% of Wealth Canada
View Post
  • All Blogs
  • Create Wealth (Investing)

The Top 1% of Wealth Amounts for Canadians in 2021

  • January 8, 2021
  • Jeff Wiener
marketing strategy
View Post
  • All Blogs

4 Ways To Create A Marketing Strategy For Student Small Business

  • January 4, 2021
  • Monica Serreon
young successful entrepreneur
View Post
  • All Blogs

How to Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur

  • December 30, 2020
  • Monica Serreon

Join 6,472 Entrepreneurs That Get My Business Building and Wealth Creation Posts by Email

I can teach you how to build a successful, profitable business, and turn that into millions in personal wealth.

Thank you for your interest in THE KICKASS ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE TO INVESTING. Three Simple Steps to Build Massive Wealth with your Business's Profits. Please check your email to confirm the book download. Form: 400529

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

Recent Posts
  • man at construction site 1
    4 Common Contractor Mistakes: How to Avoid Them
    • January 27, 2021
  • Fax-Ready Multifunction Printer 2
    10 Factors to Consider When Buying a Fax-Ready Multifunction Printer
    • January 26, 2021
  • cybersecurity 3
    How to Keep Your Company and Employee Data Safe
    • January 25, 2021
  • Girl talking over the phone while using the laptop 4
    Registering a Business: a Step-by-Step Guide
    • January 25, 2021
  • stock trading 5
    What is the Future of Stock Trading?
    • January 21, 2021
Featured Posts
  • how to become wealthy
    The Entrepreneur’s Secret to How to Become Wealthy and Build a Personal Fortune
  • Sell me this pen, Wolf of Wall Street
    Sell Me This Pen. I Tackle the Wolf of Wall Street Sales Riddle. Do You Know the Right Way to Sell the Pen?
  • what net worth makes you rich?
    What Net Worth Makes You Rich? The Average Net Worth to Make it Into the Top 1% and How to Get There
Categories
  • All Blogs (207)
  • Canadian Financial Products (3)
  • Create Wealth (Investing) (55)
  • Entrepreneur Interviews (10)
  • Featured Post for Main Menu (4)
  • Featured Top Posts (23)
  • Financial and Investment Calculators and Economic Data (12)
  • Growing Profits (19)
  • Growing Revenues (79)
  • Growing Revenues (43)
  • Marketing (14)
  • Positive State of Mind (35)
  • Real Estate Investing (12)
  • Retirement (16)
  • Reviews (6)
  • Sales (6)
  • Sell Me This Pen (3)
  • Selling your Business (15)
  • SEMrush (1)
  • Top Products (3)
  • Uncategorized (38)
Follow us
Author
Jeff Wiener
Jeff Wiener
Jeff sold his company to private equity in 2017 and is now semi-retired. Jeff spends time…

    CHECK OUT MY BLOG, AND SUBSCRIBE

    about
    The Kickass Entrepreneur

    Expand Your Business, Improve Profits, Create Wealth

    Expand your business, improve your profits, and create wealth. Each one of the three can be elusive goals. Follow the right steps, and you, too, can create financial independence. It is possible … you just have to take the right steps.
    NAVIGATION
    • About
    • Blog
      • All Blogs
      • Create Wealth (Investing)
      • Entrepreneur Interviews
      • Featured Top Posts
      • Growing Profits
      • Growing Revenues
      • Marketing
      • Positive State of Mind
      • Real Estate Investing
      • Retirement
      • Sales
      • Selling your Business
    • Book
    • Courses
    • Podcast
    • Resources
    • Contact
    TAGS
    apartment BATNA Business business failure business growth business sale Capitalization Rate CAP Rate cash cash flow Creating Wealth Discipline entrepreneur entrepreneurship excel goal setting Growing Business investing investment real estate M&A marketing Marketing KPIs Mergers and Acquisitions | M&A | Entrepreneur Blog Millionaire millionaire next door mistakes MUR Negotiation Peter Principle Profit profitability real estate retirement revenue Revenues sales sales management scaling business Semi-Retirement Blog | Entrepreneur Blog | Small Business Blog small business Stagnant stocks success Thomas Stanley wealth
    RECENT ARTICLES
    • man at construction site
      4 Common Contractor Mistakes: How to Avoid Them
      • January 27, 2021
      • No comments
    • Girl talking over the phone while using the laptop
      Registering a Business: a Step-by-Step Guide
      • January 25, 2021
    • stock trading
      What is the Future of Stock Trading?
      • January 21, 2021
    • workplace
      4 Ways to Protect Your Employees in The Workplace
      • January 14, 2021
    • accounting
      7 Tips for Boosting Efficiency in Your Accounting Department
      • January 13, 2021
    • cryptocurrency
      The Value of Trading and Investing in Cryptocurrency
      • January 8, 2021
    The Kickass Entrepreneur
    • About
    • Coaching
    • Book
    • Blog
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Disclaimer
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Input your search keywords and press Enter.