Josh Kaufman

For some people (like me), business is more of a creative endeavor — a way to explore what’s possible, help others, and support yourself at the same time. From this perspective, as long as you’re making enough Profit, your business will continue to be successful.

Dunbar’s number” is a theoretical cognitive limit on the number of stable social relationships humans can maintain at one time. According to Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, humans have the cognitive capacity to keep track of somewhere around 150 close personal connections. Beyond this limited circle, we start treating people less like individuals and more like objects, and groups of people beyond this limit are likely to splinter off into subgroups over time.

Любой, кто старается убедить вас, что бизнес - сложная штука, пытается либо произвести впечатление, либо впарить ненужное

If you want an audience, start a fight. — IRISH PROVERB

People who are “unconsciously incompetent” don’t know they’re incompetent — they know so little about the subject that they can’t fully appreciate how little they know. That’s why every barber and taxi driver you meet is an expert on the economy and international politics.

Always remember that you’re a business, not a bank (unless your business involves Loans) — collect any outstanding payments as quickly as possible.

Roughly defined, a business is a repeatable process that: 1. Creates and delivers something of value . . . 2. That other people want or need . . . 3. At a price they’re willing to pay . . . 4. In a way that satisfies the customer’s needs and expectations . . . 5. So that the business brings in enough profit to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a solo venture or a billion-dollar brand. Take any one of these five factors away, and you don’t have a business — you have something else. A venture that doesn’t create value for others is a hobby.

Action comes about if and only if we find a discrepancy between what we are experiencing and what we want to experience. — PHILIP J. RUNKEL, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

If you encourage your prospects to Visualize what their life will look like after purchasing, you increase the probability that they’ll purchase from you.

Roughly defined, a business is a repeatable process that: 1. Creates and delivers something of value … 2. That other people want or need … 3. At a price they’re willing to pay … 4. In a way that satisfies the customer’s needs and expectations … 5. So that the business brings in enough Profit to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation.

Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution. — CLAY SHIRKY, PROFESSOR AT NYU AND AUTHOR OF HERE COMES EVERYBODY AND COGNITIVE SURPLUS

Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t. — SETH GODIN

If you’re interested in more detail on this topic, I highly recommend Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs by Karen Berman and Joe Knight with John Case.

You can’t operate a company by fear, because the way to eliminate fear is to avoid criticism, and the best way to avoid criticism is to do nothing. — STEVE ROSS, FORMER CEO OF TIME WARNER

"Zappos could easily advertise "free expedited shipping", but they don't-the surprise is far more valuable."