A personal story about people who don’t deserve to be entrepreneurs

Our small company is approached or in contact each year with dozens of entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. They contact us for a broad range of topics, most of the time marketing-related, but for those of them who have already launched their business there’s a question that comes over and over again: “how can I make more money?”

Well that’s an excellent question that can have many different answers. Yet, like in every single business, there are a few basic things you need to master if you want to succeed.

I got the call from this entrepreneur a few weeks ago. He explained that he had two companies and that he was struggling to get new clients. He wanted to get help on the sales and marketing side to look more attractive; common stuff. And he wanted to have his situation quickly investigated he said.

I moved 2 other appointments in my agenda and we set up a meeting for the week after. An Outlook invitation was sent and on the day of the meeting a reminder by sms too. You already see what’s going to happen, don’t you?

It’s time to have the meeting and he doesn’t show up. After so many years in Belgium I’ve learned to be patient and give him a call after 20 minutes to know what’s going on. “I forgot the appointment” he said …

My take:

If you can’t manage your agenda or if you can’t remember which appointments you’ll have in two days from now you’re in big troubles. No, it’s not about Alzheimer. It’s about discipline. It’s 100% about your ability to manage your life.

So guys, believe me. If you can’t manage your agenda and can’t remember your appointments you have nothing to do in business and you can’t run a company. If you fail you’ll have nobody to blame but you. You’ll be 100% responsible of your failure because you need at least some basic skills.

Let me warn you a last time. If you are this kind of guy, don’t call us. We don’t want to do business with you.