#Rick Mapperson
The risk of being too nice in business
Having good relationships with your clients is critical to overall business success, making it important that everyone you’re directly associated with sees you as a ‘people person.’ Despite this, being too nice can lead to low productivity and smaller profits.
The risk of putting your head in the sand
Have you ever buried your head in the sand in an attempt to ignore a problem or evade an angry client? We’ve all tried it. But does it ever work?
The risk of not getting a second opinion
It’s vital small business owners find ways to get a helpful second opinion, Rick Mapperson blogs. “One of the greatest lessons I have learned in the 20 years of running my own business is to never hesitate to get a second opinion. Just because we may be experts in our chosen field of business, it does not mean that we are competent or have expertise across all aspects of our business.”
The risk of getting into a price war
Rick Mapperson blogs about the danger of entering into a price war with your competitors. “As a general rule, the only person who ends up winning in a price war is the consumer. Competing on price or reducing your prices, even if spending is down, is not always the answer.”
The risk of not looking after yourself
Rick Mapperson blogs about finding out the hard way it’s vital you take good care of yourself. “Have you found that if you are working long hours trying to get through a large task, that if you put it aside until you have had a good sleep, that you can complete the task in half the time?”
You are not a superhero
As a small business owner it can look as though you’re a superhero, and sometimes you can even feel like you’re superhuman. The cold and hard fact is you’re not.
How to make big decisions
Rick Mapperson blogs about tackling those big business decisions. “Decisions involving money or long-term investments are always hard. For you that might mean increasing your business’ marketing budget, purchasing property, altering your budgeting or spending, agreeing to take out personal insurance, committing to an ongoing donation to a charity or taking on a new project.”
Technology risks in business
Rick Mapperson blogs about the risks to business of a heavy reliance on technology. “Ask yourself an obvious question: ‘If the technology that I use in my business were to suddenly become unavailable, for whatever reason, would it affect my ability to do business?’”
The risk of making rash decisions
Rick Mapperson explores the danger rash decisions pose to your business. “We need to understand our own emotions and how we operate so that we don’t make a decision that we will later regret.”
Do you run away from sales pitches?
Rick Mapperson blogs about how our natural reaction to sales pitches may mean we’re missing valuable business opportunities. “Sometimes a bad sales pitch is in front of a very good business.”
Use your competition to grow your business
Rick Mapperson blogs about how we can use our competitors to get ahead. “While you should not run your business constantly looking over your shoulder to see your competition, it is important to understand the market in which you operate and what your ideal customers are looking for.”
Is your business unique?
To achieve a competitive edge blogger Rick Mapperson challenges business owners to think hard about what makes their business unique.