The “New Rules” of Business
As you may know if you have read much of my material, I’m a bit of a comedian and satirist. I grew up on a steady diet of Mark Twain, Douglas Adams, and my personal hero, Kurt Vonnegut.
Today’s thought was sparked by modern satirist, Bill Maher. He has a part of his show – as well as a book and blog – called New Rules where he talks about one thing, and then comments on a “new rule” that turns it on its head. That process got me thinking about how this might apply to business.
I have been in one form of business or another since I was 15 years old. Since I recently turned 50, if you do the math, you will see that a good part of my life was lived in the B.I. era… Before Internet.
It never ceases to amaze me just how much business has changed. And the best part is that, for the first time ever, the playing field has been leveled to the point where anyone with the right attitude and willingness to learn, and willingness to work hard, can start a highly successful business.
So, without further ado, let’s get to the New Rules:
Old Rule:
The company tells you when, where, and how you must work.
New Rule:
The office has been replaced by the coffee shop, the desktop has been replaced by the laptop, and board meetings have been replaced by the Mastermind Group.
Old Rule:
In order to start a business, you had to beg and plead with banks or venture capitalists and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even millions) just to get it off the ground.
New Rule:
Anyone with an idea, a laptop, and $100 can launch the next big thing that takes over the world.
Old Rule:
Any business you start, assuming it survives, may well be run for the rest of your life, and even handed down to future generations whether they wanted it or not, because of the huge finances involved.
New Rule:
Because the entry requirements are so low, you can start and stop as many businesses as you like, even creating an entire portfolio of small, independent, income-producing businesses (i.e. websites) that provide you with as much or as little as you need to maintain your perfect lifestyle.
And, last but not least, my personal favorite…
Old Rule:
An “entrepreneur” is someone who went to business school, earned a fancy MBA, learned how to come up with ideas, find funding, launch a business, rent a huge office and warehouse, hire and manage loads of employees, and work 150 hours per week for the next 40 years.
New Rule:
You don’t go to business school to learn how to start a business. Business school is where you go to learn how to run someone else’s business. Instead, you launch a business with a laptop and outsource everything you can’t or don’t want to do to freelancers willing to do the job on the cheap.
This is what makes Wealthy Affiliate such an amazing opportunity for us all.
Today, an entrepreneur is someone who no longer follows the Old Rules.
Today, an entrepreneur is someone who makes their own New Rules.
And if you are reading this right now…
Today, YOU are an entrepreneur!
Recent Comments
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I'm still having a struggle trying to get my MP3 player to load my playlist, but my 12 year old granddaughter says she can "fix it for you Grandma*' when she gets home from chorus! I swear...I didn't know it was broke! Smart aleck kids!!
Thanks AJ for the post! 🙃
Yay Us Indeed!! 🌟
Liz*
Great post, AJ, but once again I have to disagree with well, nothing. I love this business. I ain't making a dime - yet! But I'm as happy as a fat kid in a cake shop. It's like building a house. You work like hell on it and every now and then you back off and admire your work, and daydream about how great it's gonna be to move in. If you put the work in, it can't NOT happen!
Good insight tino the changing e-commerce environment.
Am just getting the feeling even in WA we are not sellling per se. Rather getting people to be educated in digital commerce and in turn educate others.
Classic AJ, so true, we are living in some of the most exciting in the whole of our recorded history.
Everything that has passed over the last 200 years is going to be dwarfed as AI starts to make itself felt in the marketing world, it is absolutely mind-boggling.
Early adoption is the key to staying relative.
The rules of business are definitely going to be overhauled, everything to date is merely the warm-up act.
We ain't seen nothing yet.
I really like that image, thanks for the reminder.
So true! I would love to share this one on social media too.
My daughter doesn't realise how easy she has it - maybe if she reads this she will get an inkling.
Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Louise
Be my guest. I claim no ownership. My daughter actually sent it to me because she said I've turned into one of those you-kids-get-off-my-lawn, "Back in my day..." guys. lol
Love it!
And I may have had a tape deck like that and would wait by the radio to record my favourite songs ... then get really annoyed when they'd talk over the end of the song :)
Hahahaha... oh my goodness, I thought I was the only one who did that back in the day! lol
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I remember those early days. I still have my phone/fax / answering machine combination. I actually still have an old scanner. Found old postcards I sent back and then other mailing pieces setting up my old fashioned long distance recruiting funnel! Good remembering adds motivation to all of us who were there during that time.