As a business owner, I spend time watching other businesses, not just our competitors. I watch many different types of businesses.
I find it absolutely fascinating to watch what they post on social media and to read their newsletters.
Over the years, I can tell when a business is struggling and when they are successful just by what they post.
Even more interesting than that, I can see the mentality of the owners change as well (particularly when they have some success). More often than not, I see the ego start to blow up. Power starts to go to their heads.
That's really sad to me; because although the owners of the company were the drivers of success, they could not have done it without their employees or contractors or....most importantly: customers. It's always a team effort.
I can speak from experience on this one. Until we started added significant staff, we were small potatoes. We wouldn't be where we are today without our team; we struggle as a team, and we experience success as a team.
Not all business owners can handle success. They are so focused on empire building that they forget how they got where they are. This attitude becomes evident in their social media posts and email newsletters. Instead of talking to or trying to engage customers about how the business owner's service or products can benefit the customer.....all the posts become about the owner/company. Instead of educating customers, the newsletters (in particular) become shoving their greatness down the customer's throat. I see it all the time.
As the owner becomes successful, they become more and more greedy. I've said this before. When your focus becomes money, you lose focus on everything that is truly important.
So, I watch. I watch the story unfold.
I know how easy it could be to just sit back and let revenue roll in, but that's the wrong perspective.
When business starts growing, business owners need to fight even harder for every dollar. Because when they start to focus on how GREAT they are....there are smaller competitors sneaking up on them.....taking away the customers that the Power hungry business owner has forgotten how to take care of.
Those can be some of the hardest lessons to learn.
