About business experts on X...

I see a lot of crappy business advice on X.

If only there was an "X business advice" ETF I could short I'd make so much money.

I know this is basic, but many entrepreneurs don't heed this advice.

Make more money than you spend. The metric is: income minus expense, that's your playground. There's two sides to that equation. Increase income and decrease expense. If you read the old business masters they focused on controlling expense, especially in the growth phase. They never abandoned that principle as they became huge operations. If there’s one thing I hear daily that irks me it’s “you have to spend money to make money”. My mind immediately goes to, they’re about to ask for another big spend increase.

IF you go in debt, only go into "good debt," google it. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but if at all possible you should have cash reserves that could pay off the debt if needed, I know this isn't realistic at first, but this would be priority #1 once I get cashflow. This kind of mentality towards debt will help your business function in the real world, not some VC wonderland. Debt is all about the rates, if you get a good rate, I'm all about it.

More about my views on debt another time.

One more principle that's been my guiding light across all of the different businesses I've run is...

A culture of excellent service.

It's shocking how many business owners don't understand this. You're getting paid for a "service" yet you're too proud to get your hands dirty. This changes from the top down, but a big step is to hire servant-hearted people. I can't say this enough.

Look for people that are cordial with those under their responsibility, that get up to open doors for others, that look to provide service in a friendly manner.

As a business-owner it's extremely easy to get disconnected from the thing that matters the most, your customer. Appreciate them, serve them, not just in a transactional way, but truly find what they need and solve the problem for them. Without them you’re sunk.

Most CEOs flushed with VC money forget that all too quickly.

Take a break from expense reports, or marketing, or developing your app and make real-life connections with the people behind your sales. Make them happy with what they paid you to provide. That’s what creates loyalty.

You won't regret it.