Business Brink

I've recently taken up running... partly because I have to prepare myself to run a 1/2 marathon in the beginning of March. I've never been a runner and one of my friends asked me if I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon in Moab, UT -- I've never been to Moab and I've never run a 1/2 marathon, so how could I say now?!

There are some very positive things I'm getting from my training that I find to be helpful as I strive to build my business. Here are a few:

- it's great for clearing the mind
- it teaches commitment skills (there are moments when you tell yourself, "hey, just walk for a minute... catch your breath..." but if you resist the temptation and keep running, there is a great feeling of accomplishment and confidence waiting at the end of your run)
- it's good for the body (obviously)

Just like when I'm running, it's easy when you're trying to start a company to seek easier routes, or, dare I say, give up. Don't do it. Resist. And I don't mean that changing your course is giving up... sometimes things don't work out as planned and it's important to be able to detect this and adapt accordingly. I'm just saying don't ever give up on trying your best to use your talents to become the best person (entrepreneur, friend, father, husband, boss, employee) that you can be.

I recently had an experience where I was invited (and hired) to help a new start-up to build a brand. During the course of trying to nail down a business name, another consultant (and friend of mine) took offense to my blunt opinions about how to come up with a good business name. As a result, he recently declared to me that he wants nothing to do with me. I was sad to hear this, and I'm still trying to figure out how business discussions and opinions got so personal to call off a friendship.

So, the downfall of opinions is that you're going to hurt someone if you give your honest opinion, whether you like it or not. It has been like this for opinions since the beginning of time. And the stronger your opinions, the more hot and cold people become towards you, I'm finding.

So is it worth it to give your honest opinion? I suppose it depends... if your wife asks you if you like a chair that she's in love with, don't crush her happiness by telling her that you don't like it (it's better to soften it by saying it's not your favorite but it makes you happy that she loves it so much). But if you're doing business and success depends on doing the best you can, you need to give your honest opinion, and be flexible to adapt to others' opinions if it make more sense. In retrospect, I wonder if I could have communicated more clearly to him that I wasn't out to "get him" in the least when I gave my opinions.

Unfortunately in this case, an opinion about business turned into something personal. My friend made up his mind that I was trying to hurt him, when, in reality, I was simply doing what the client was paying me to do... give my honest opinion.