Before I started my business, I was the CEO of a subsidiary for a very successful Japanese entrepreneur. He has 21 hotels across Asia, owns 3 public listed companies in the US, Singapore, and Japan, and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He’s a great mentor and has instilled in me some very important business values (mostly Japanese values) and has opened my world to look at the business from a multimillionaire’s and multinational’s point of view.
While I may not have agreed with everything he said or did – I totally respected the self-made man and his “hardcore” ways of getting things done. I have a habit of writing things down in my notebook early in life – this habit was inspired by Jim Rohn who said successful people must have a journal of ideas, I agreed, I followed and now I’m sharing… In the notebooks are plenty of ideas that I’ve cumulated throughout my working years and many of those ideas are shared in my training. Here are 12 lessons from page 01 of 10 of my notebook that I’ve learned from my ex-boss, Mr. S:
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Ask yourself, what is the worst that could happen?
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Communicate with your customers or your customers won’t communicate with you.
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Run your big company as if it’s lots of small companies.
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Look out for trends that will affect our business.
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Stop writing, pay attention and listen with your full heart. (i was writing down what he was telling me and he stopped me from writing, he’s absolutely right, from then on, I listened to what people say, and then later I write it/type it down.)
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I want new ideas every week.
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Your staffs are selfish, we all are. We want things that benefit us first. To find out what your people want, how they think, what troubles them, then use it and align it to how they can fulfill their desires through the company, that way they will fight to get things done for themselves through the company, wakarimasuka? <do you understand? in Japanese>
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Is it done? I asked you a question that can be answered yes or no. I don’t want stories. Is it done? <No sir> Why? When? If not?
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All ideas are good until tested.
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You have to go through your days as if it’s war. People can shoot you anytime. Keep your eyes open. Lookout. Yes?
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Tell me in 5 minutes what the whole thing is about. The 5 minutes is what sells, all the rest are just things to back up your claims. <on making a 1-hour presentation>.
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Why are you laughing? It’s not funny. When it’s funny you laugh. When it’s serious you get serious. Don’t mix it up.
I will definitely post all 10 pages of business lessons throughout my blogging days. Stay tuned!
Unconventionally,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster
Hanzo Ng is Sales Ninja Grandmaster, lingo for Chief Trainer of Sales Ninja Training, Asia’s #1 Unconventional Sales Training. Sales Ninja Training specializes in helping small-medium, listed and global companies transform their salespeople into the ultimate sales professional known as Sales Ninja. For more information on our sales, motivation, and leadership training, visit our website.
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