Business Insights

One thing I have learnt over the last three decades in business is that we never stop learning. Nor should we. Our industry like many others is constantly evolving.When I started back in 1992 there was not internet, email or social media. By comparison life was pretty simple.

As JAZ has been going for over 30 years, there is so much I can share with you on how our business has survived the last three decades, but it would take a lot more than a simple blog.

What I would like to share with you are three key learnings that have come from each decade that hopefully will be beneficial to you.

In the first decade the hardest and most challenging thing was to learn to say “NO”.

In the early days we fell into the classic trap that if you had a heartbeat and a cheque book we wanted to do work with you.

It took me nearly 10 years to have the courage to say “NO”, and I still today I remember as clear as anything the day I said “no” to a client. It’s not that we want to be difficult or hard to get along with, rather it’s acknowledging not everyone is right for your business.

Pareto’s principle is that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients so it makes sense to focus on this 20% as the other 80% are going to consume a lot of your time for little reward.

Learning to say “no” is just one part of the equation, learning how to say “no”is the other.

In the second decade the most important thing I learnt was to be adaptable.This means accepting and embracing change.Dr Spencer Johnson wrote a great little book called “Who moved my Cheese” which is all about adapting to change.

As I have mentioned our industry has gone through massive change with the web and social media coming into play.I have no doubt more change is on they way.

Covid itself has forced many changes in particular working remotely as many companies incorporate this into daily life.