[For Business Owners] Traits of People You Must Never Get Involved With

2020/3/7

Article illustration: I Do Not Work with Customers Who Haggle.

This title looks like recycled copy that goes viral on YouTube lol

(and everyone's thumbnail even strikes an "✕" pose, lol)

Since you, reading this, are surely a battle-hardened business owner, this may be a bit like "preaching to the choir"...

but to survive the harsh post-COVID era and push both your business and your life to the next level, you must choose the people you associate with more carefully than ever.

So this time, riding the wave of a trendy theme, I'll list the traits of people business owners must never get involved with.

I share information focusing on the mindset for after the novel coronavirus subsides, and on the "work-style reform," "life-style reform," and "digital transformation" that can overcome even a crisis.

People whose catchphrase is "because everyone else does it"

A classic case of not thinking for yourself.

This may seem to have nothing to do with business owners, but "people who only care about cases from the same industry," and people who say of other industries' success stories, "our company (industry) is special, so we can't adopt that kind of thing," are birds of a feather.

"Everyone else does it, so I'll do it too" means commoditizing yourself, and lowering the value of yourself and your business.

Above all, there's no wealth at the end of the road everyone runs down, and even if there is, it gets devoured in no time.

"The masses are always wrong." (Earl Nightingale)

"Think Different" (Steve Jobs)

Takers

You may have seen the message "Those who give will be given to. Be a Giver" in high-minded business books.

But here's an inconvenient truth: that only applies to people who properly return what you give.

Most of the time you don't get the returns you expect, and if you give to one of the takers who inevitably lurk among them, it's not unusual to be exploited to the bone.

If you read Marx's Capital, you'll understand. You have to choose who you deal with.

For business owners in particular, watch out for takers in the guise of business partners.

For example, people who demand a so-called "friends' price"—a discount you're given no say in.

Whether to give a friends' discount is something the service provider should decide as a favor, and if they really are your friend, the proper thing is to pay the regular price plus something extra, like a tip.

People who aren't hungry for technology

The world is chaotic right now, but at the same time technology has proven its worth as a solution and keeps evolving day by day.

I believe that if you decide to use technology, this is an easy era to live in, and even if you don't, simply adopting a future-oriented mindset can make you more positive.

But in times like these, if someone isn't hungry for next-generation technology, they are turning their eyes away from a solid solution.

Such people also tend to show a lack of respect for technology.

Solutions using technology demand strong thinking ability, but the output is often surprisingly simple, so it's not unusual for people to haggle over the price, ask for free support, or, in the worst cases, try to "pay" you with a free meal or drinks (am I a university student intern? lol).

Solving problems with IT is a truly respected skill that "makes the previously impossible possible" and "solves worsening social problems with high performance at reasonable cost."

My services and my company's services also hold that philosophy, so frankly, our prices are high.

However, we only maintain good relationships with customers who understand that.

People who don't invest enough

There are two kinds of investment: self-investment and business investment.

Self-investment

We business owners carry out the activity of "creating and delivering value" throughout our lives, but sustaining it in these rapidly changing times isn't easy.

What is essential for that is knowledge and thinking ability.

Needless to say, these are obtained through self-investment.

And now that AI is starting to eat into the domain of knowledge work, you need to polish your knowledge and thinking ability to the fullest and keep at it until you're in your coffin.

"In the economies of developed countries, the basic resource, the basic investment, and also the cost center is the knowledge worker."
"Knowledge workers work not with physical skills or muscle, but with what they learned through systematic education — that is, with concepts, theories, and thinking." (Both by Peter Drucker)

Business investment

You should invest funds unsparingly in things that grow your business.

Digital tools that improve productivity, excellent personnel and partner companies, advertising that brings in high-quality customers, marketing campaigns, and so on.

Some small businesses have an exploitative culture in which they try to push through using only free digital tools, or try to beat down the prices of partner companies and personnel.

This is no good.

Low prices come with low-price quality, and the time spent on them often goes to waste.

Also, not investing enough in your business is a sign of an exploitative "as long as I'm fine" orientation, so there's no denying they may be the takers mentioned earlier.

If it were me, I'd regard someone who haggles down the transaction amount as having "a lack of business-investment awareness" and wouldn't deal with them or would stop dealing with them.

Shortsighted people

There are the terms "long-term strategy" and "short-term strategy," and you should also avoid people who only look at the present.

As the saying goes, maintaining the status quo means decline: they think as long as things are good now, that's fine, or that their current business will last forever, or even when facing a crisis they try to get by with superficial fixes.

Because they don't deal with the root cause, similar crises may come again, and the consequences may fall on you too.

By the way, Takafumi Horie, known as Horiemon, always says something to the effect of "live in the present rather than the future," but this surely doesn't mean rejecting long-term strategy and "as long as now is good, that's fine."

Don't worry needlessly about the future. The future probably won't turn out as you predict, so don't be bound by plans. Rather, sow lots of seeds for the future now, and then throw yourself into this very moment (without ever being chased).

That must be the gist.

It's clear from his guiding principles such as "the power of multitasking" and "the separation of tasks," and from his challenge to the future in the space development business.

Summary

There are other traits of people you shouldn't associate with—"people who mistakenly think you'll do anything for them," "people who complain a lot," "people who talk to you overly casually," "people who yell," "the information-poor," and so on—but I'll stop here for now.

Sorry for "preaching to the choir" again, but I think it's important to have your own "litmus test."

Associating with people you shouldn't associate with is a waste of your life, and by taking a scalpel to that, you can raise your productivity quickly.

Also, as they say, "you are the average of the five people around you," so you can't overlook the influence on yourself either.

So I'd be glad if this becomes a trigger for you to widen your perspective and think about things like "customer segments you shouldn't deal with," "employees you shouldn't hire," "business owners you shouldn't deal with," and "acquaintances and friends you shouldn't associate with."