10 things I have learned about business and start-ups over the last 10 years

It’s 10 years since the end of Performancing, and I just had a work anniversary at Copyblogger/Rainmaker Digital, so what have I learned in the last 10 years?

1. You’re not the customer – Empathy is paramount.
2. No sacred cows.
3. No ideas are “stupid”. I told Mike Stelzner he was crazy to start a new conference. Yeah.
4. There are no stupid questions, other than the one you don’t ask but need to.
5. No blamestorming. Just stop that, now.
6. No “succeed or fail”, just experiments and learning.
7. Don’t be a dick.
8. Don’t let someone else be a dick if you can help it.
9. But tell someone privately if they are being a dick.
10. Plan, communicate, implement, iterate.

PS.

I intentionally made this into a list post because I know it will irritate some people, hence breaking rule #7 😉