What is the best business advice you ever received?

Bryan Lazorik

Aside from paying your taxes on time, I’ve received other sage advice from mentors and peers through the years. Though I cannot rank one as the best, the following tidbits have ranked in my top three:

1. Have passion in what you do. Some people tell me it must be hard to be passionate about cleaning. I don’t agree; I’ve always been passionate about helping people. Providing our clients with a clean, healthy environment is something to be passionate about.

2. Be a perpetual student. My goal is to learn something new each day, so I dedicate a small amount of time every day to reading a book, an industry publication or newspaper…even if it’s just five minutes.

3. Make time for yourself. As entrepreneurs we tend to dedicate 110 percent of ourselves to our business and often times our personal life, social life or even our own health pays the price. Someone once told me: “If you’re not happy, your business won’t be happy.” Such a simple statement, but it has so much truth. We need to remember to take time to recharge our batteries and re-motivate ourselves.

Donald Kattengell

During summer vacation from high school and college I would work for my father. This provided me with experience and I was able to attend the industry trade shows, which exposed me to even more equipment. Everything looked and sounded great so I would try to persuade him to purchase the new equipment.

In 1983, I was hired as the director of special services. One day the president and CEO of National Building Services called me into his office and told me, “Donald, you can buy any equipment you want as long as the company makes money. It may look great to have a warehouse full of equipment but the equipment does not make money just sitting there.”

Even after 26 years in the business I find myself wanting to buy the newest machines available but I take a minute and think, “Will we make money with this equipment?”

Mary Conrad

1. Always go the extra mile in everything you do. This will pay big dividends in growing your business and will help enrich your relationships and your life.

2. “Build a fence around your herd.” Strengthen the relationships with your current clients.

3.Keep good business records. Track everything and review your business stats regularly. Then fine tune your business plan and market strategically.

4. It is important to keep your face and business out in the community. Networking, community events and expos are great marketing opportunities for service oriented businesses.

5. Follow up on leads with persistence.

6. Find a good mentor, consultant or coach who can work with you in building your business and keep you on track.