Be Nice to EVERYONE

By far the rule (tactic?) that has yielded the best results for my business has been BE NICE. I can't tell you how many entrepreneurs I know blew leads, burned bridges, and generally screwed up opportunities because they weren't nice to people they met along the way. I knew from day 1 I was going to need a lot of help reaching my goals, so it was important to be nice to everyone I met because you never know when someone is going to play a critical role for you. And that role could be weeks, months, or in some cases YEARS away, but you couldn't have known it when you first shook hands.

Here's one example: an angel investment group expressed an interest in investing in my company nearly 8 months ago. But they wanted to see more "progress" before they were comfortable. So I kept up with bi-weekly status calls, multiple trips to another state for meetings, and completing tasks that were not really critical at this stage, but I did them because the investment group wanted to see them done. All the way, I was nice to every member of the group. I grew frustrated and annoyed at all the hoops I was jumping through, but I stayed nice. Last week, the group wrote me a two sentence email saying they weren't interested in investing. No explanation. All that work and I got a two sentence email. BUT...a few individual members of the group phoned me and said they wanted to invest in my company outside of the group. Why? Because I was nice, I did what they asked, I achieved the progress they wanted, and they grew to trust me. I built a bridge.