10 business lessons you can't afford to learn the hard way

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Making mistakes is a great way to learn tough lessons, but can be costly in terms of time and resources.

Instead, take this wisdom from someone who's been there.

1. No one asks "how much does it cost" when it comes to being healed. If you’re selling product, your client will want to compare prices. If you’re in the business of healing people, you can charge whatever you want and prospects will gladly pay it.

2. Hire people you would want to fight alongside if you were heading into battle. When it’s life-or-death, a warrior does whatever it takes to stay alive and win the battle. It’s not good enough to pay people to do a job. You have to build warriors.

3. It’s not profitable to over-deliver on customers. It makes more immediate sense to pad your bottom line and only deliver what people pay for. But the truth is that you’ll always do better in the long run by delivering an outrageous customer experience.

4. The best opportunities for growth are always up the high road and deep into the game. Short term success is tempting but is often just a disguise for greed or selfish behavior. Live fit enough to position yourself to be able to win when it’s your time.

5. Goals matter. Quotas matter less. A mission matters most. If you don’t have a purpose, you won’t do the ridiculously uncomfortable things that separate a champion from everyone else making important sounding excuses.

6. It’s a waste of time to celebrate the good old days. So is worrying about the future. Make what you’re doing right now matter. Savor it. Obsess about how to do it better. Use the time you have to get closer to where you want to be.

7. Top performers use coaches to make them even better than they are. They join mastermind groups, seek out wise mentors, and pay for a coach, psychologist or therapist to keep their mind sharp and emotions in check.

8. Average happens automatically. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing or what you’re told you should be doing, you’re never going to be successful. You’ll chalk up a few wins and do better than some other people, but you’ll never win big.

9. There are plenty of tech tools to keep you scheduled, to remind you of what needs to be done, and to help you work harder. Find what works for you and use it like a religion. If you have to wonder if you’re forgetting something, you probably are.

10. What happened is less important than how people feel about what happened. Make people feel awesome. It won’t happen by accident so be deliberate. Have a plan. Turn that plan into a daily process. Breathe that process like oxygen.

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