People Plan. God Laughs.Plan Anyway. 54 Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way. Este artículo no está disponible.People Plan. God Laughs.Plan Anyway. 54 Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Many people will ask me why I decided to write this book. The answer is simple. After collecting nearly fifty years worth of experience in business and even more years of experience in life, I wanted to share what I learned with my associates, clients, friends and most of all with our many children and grandchildren. Being more of a technical writer than a storyteller, I enlisted my friend Jack Cashill, a skilled writer and editor, to buff things up a bit. He did not disappoint. Nor did my friend Tom Kerr, the artist whose clever illustrations enliven the book. More essential still were my wife, René, and her Mom, Nana. They shared with me their biblical wisdom, business insights, family stories, and personal philosophies. In fact, many of the most important thoughts in the book come directly from René. Thanks, Honey! There is a reason we describe a professional s craft as a practice. The word suggests that the most memorable way to learn is by practicing our craft and making mistakes. In fact, this book reads like a catalogue of mistakes I have made and lessons I ve learned from making them. I could not have learned these many lessons without my clients, past and present. 1 Lead and Teach by Example. 2 Love What You Do. 3 Don t Let Your Good Clients Subsidize Your Bad Ones. 4 If a Friend Needs Help, Help. 5 Don t Hold a Good Person Back By Keeping a Bad One. 6 Too Much Busy Work Can Lead to Too Little Business. 7 Two Administrative People Can Do Half the Work of One. 8 Money Can t Buy Anyone Happiness. 9 Invest as Much as Possible in Resources, Including Yourself. 10 Quality, Speed, Price Pick Two. No One Gets All Three. 11 It s not What You Want. It s What They Need. 12 If You Can t Eliminate an Expense, Reduce It. 13 You Don t Need More Associates. You Need Smarter Ones. 14 Get Over Your Precious Self. 15 If You Can t Do Business With a Friend, Who Can You Do Business With? 16 Better to Praise Than to Scold. 17 Play Moneyball for Fun and Profit. 18 If You re Selling Yourself as a Professional, Dress Like One. 19 First, Get an Estate. 20 Two Strikes and You re Out. 21 The Perfect Can Be the Enemy of the Great. 22 It Takes an MBA to Succeed in Real Estate. 23 Never Take the Government Any Government as a Client. 24 Too Many Chiefs, and You ll Drive the Braves off the Reservation. 25 Nothing Happens Without a Sale. 26 The Easiest People to Sell to Are Salespeople. 27 When in Doubt, Deduct. 28 Find the Fair Market Value of an Asset or Pay for Your Ignorance. 29 Don t Confuse Wanting Space with Needing Space. 30 Talk to Your Leaders Like They Know Something. 31 80 Percent of Success Comes from Just Showing Up. 32 Don t Show Up Unless You Mean It. 33 If You Don t Know Where You Are Going, Any Road Will Get You There. 34 Remember, Trust Takes Years to Build, Minutes to Destroy. 35 There s No Better Time to Do It Right Than the First Time. 36 If You Don t Toot Your Own Horn, Who Will? 37 People Support What They Help Create. 38 To Increase Revenue or to Decrease Cost? That is the Question. 39 If it Smells Like a Bankruptcy, it Probably is. 40 You Can t Spend it All, But You Can Invest it All Away in No Time. 41 It Takes More Than One Problem to Cause a Plane to Crash. 42 You Are a Luxury I Can No Longer Afford. 43 Opinions Can Change Over Time. Principles Are Forever. 44 Under-Promise and Over-Deliver. 45 Nothing Wrong with Having an Attitude if it s a Good One. 46 Be the Best Ditch Digger You Can Be. 47 Work Hard, Play Hard! 48 Who s on the Bus May Determine Whether You Get There. 49 If You Really Want to Achieve a Goal, Write it Down. 50 Prior Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. 51 Just the Facts, Ma am. 52 Never Give Up, Never Give In. 53 Life is the Only Teacher That Gives the Test Before the Lesson. 54 Whatever You Do, Start with the End in Mind.