Author: Michael Munger

Necessary Business Skills I Learned from My Dog

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Be Giving of Your Best StuffProbably the most important habit to form in this brave new economy is to be giving of your very best all the time. When my dogs want to play, they dig through their basket to find their best toy. They recognize that it is no use having toys if you’re only going to save the best ones for a rainy day.

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Be like my dog. Always give your best stuff to your customers, and give like you’ve never given before.

If you’re attempting to build a relationship with a new customer, why would you pick

your throw away products as your first impression? Give them one or two of your

best ideas that they can take home and use themselves. We want your prospective

customers to think, “Wow, if this is the stuff he gives away for free...imagine how good

the for pay stuff will be!”

How Not to Give UpA dog never stops selling. “You want to walk me,” his eyes say. “Feed me again.” “Let’s play more fetch!”

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Adopt the positive attitude that everyone wants to do business with you again and again! It’s all about confidence and loving yourself. As business owners, we often get slammed with affronts: a customer complains, someone refuses to pay a bill, you get a citation from the county that your grass is too tall. Each of these can take its emotional toll on you, and if you let it, it will eventually make you tired.

Remember, be like my dog: always assume that everyone loves you, and never stop wagging your tail.

ResilienceSometimes, my dog behaves badly. He relieves himself in the wrong place, or he tears something up that he shouldn’t have. So, he gets sent to his basket as punishment.

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We have a cage for the dogs, full of blankets and pillows. They have been trained that this is their “safe” place. So it’s the first place they run when

they are scared, but it’s also the place where they are sent when they are punished. When punished, they tuck their tail between their legs, and run to their cage. As soon as they sit down, they stare back out the door as if to say: “I know that you

still love me.”

So, next time you have a client “tear you a new one” or life just doesn’t go your way, do not fret. Just sit down, smile, and know that you’re still needed.

AmbitionWe have four dogs. Rafael is the smallest. He has no idea how small he really is. He doesn’t let his size dictate anything about his life.

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At night, my wife and I get into bed, and the dogs join us (yes it’s crowded). Every night before we sleep, we tell the dogs, “foot of the bed”. They will instantly get up, and wander to the foot of the bed, and lay down for the night. By morning, three of the dogs are still at the foot of the bed. Rafael, however, has moved to the dead center of the bed. Not only has he moved to the center, but he has slowly and methodically edged both my wife and I to either side of the bed until he occupies the middle 80% of the bed.

Don’t ever let the size of your company dictate the size of your business. Stop calling yourself a “small business owner”. Your business, despite its apparent “size” should be anything but small.

Lofty GoalsWhen I was a kid, my mother got a new puppy who we named Pierre. As was customary in our family, the new puppy spent the evenings in a cardboard box with a sock that contained a ticking clock to simulate the mother’s heartbeat.

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The box stayed within arm’s reach of the bed at night so if there was a problem we could instantly take care of him. But Pierre saw there was a problem with this arrangement: the lack of freedom. He tried to jump out for several hours, but never made it.

The next morning, we found out what true determination really was... Pierre realized he could not jump out, so he slowly stripped away the cardboard from the side of the box, piece by piece, all night until there was a hole. It was the puppy version of the Shawshank Redemption.

When you are staring down a seemingly insurmountable problem in your business just remember: when you strip your problems down piece by piece, a solution (or hole) will always present itself.

Michael Munger (username: DrDamnit) has been a member of the Experts Exchange community since 2003.

Michael has achieved Genius status with almost 2 million points, and has earned 13 Experts Exchange certifications. He also serves the community as a Topic Advisor and Page Editor.

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