Learning to ride the business bike
It is only natural to wonder about “what ifs?” which are the choices we might have made in our lives but didn’t. Mostly we will form a view when it is too late to change. That is because as time passes we have the benefit of experience and feel we might have made a better choice.
So my choices might have been:
- Should I have gone to that college? – No idea.
- Should I have proposed to that girl I was madly in love with? – Yes.
- Should I have emigrated to Canada in my twenties – Maybe but at least now I am not far from my parents who are really getting on a bit.
- Should I have bought that house thirty years ago? – Probably yes.
- Should I have found out what problem my colleague seemed to have with me over twenty years ago? – Yes.
- Should I have bought our current house -Yes.
- Should I have taken that job? – No, bad decision but I learned I was darned good at what I do so took away positives.
So we do at least have some of the answers after we learn from experience. What is important is both to learn and also not to have any regrets, because they distract us. So if I should have proposed to that girl all those years ago, at least I did propose to my wife much more recently and I am very happy that I did and she accepted. 🙂
When we start out in business we do make mistakes. We waste money on directory listings, we get caught out by scams. We try to compete on price rather than value for services when that should not be our market. We don’t differentiate ourselves from the competition.
We should learn from our experience. I think I have learned a lot about running a business. When we get on our bikes for the first time we have to learn how to ride them. I am sure I don’t know all the answers in business, as no one does. I am still willing to learn. Have you learned any harsh lessons which helped you make a better business?
