Business Rules I Actually Found Useful This Week
10 Years of Lessons Learned Summarized Into 30 Seconds
Just a Few Old Rules
The other night, I was up late. One of those nights where sleep isn’t coming and the blue light from the phone feels like company. I was scrolling, not really looking for anything, when I came across this video.
A fella named Alex Hormozi, who is much sharper and louder than I am, was rattling off a list of business rules. He said them fast, like he was firing them from a nail gun. A lot of it was that boilerplate stuff you see online, but a few of them stuck with me. They felt less like new-age hustle and more like old-fashioned sense.
It got me thinking about my work. About keeping the lights on at this MSP.
Promise late, Deliver early.
I thought about this one for a while. It sounds like a trick, but it’s not. It’s about honesty. When a client’s server goes down, the panic is real. It’s tempting to promise a fix in an hour to make them feel better. But things happen. A part is missing, shipping delays, etc.
It’s better to look them in the eye and say, "This is tricky. Let me have until tomorrow morning." And then you work half the night to get it done by 10 p.m. Showing up hours ahead of schedule feels like a gift. Promising the world and showing up late feels like a lie.
Learn fast, Trust slow.
This one hits close to home. In my line of work, you have to learn a new piece of software or a new threat every week. So you get good at learning. But trusting is different. You want to believe the best in people, in a new hire or a new vendor. You want to give them the keys right away.
But trust isn't built in a day. It’s built in the small hours, by watching someone do what they said they would do, over and over. It’s a slow process, like water wearing down a stone.
Give first, Ask last.
I’ve always believed in this, even if I didn't have the words for it. Someone calls with a small problem, a printer not connecting or a password that won’t work. The easiest thing in the world is to just help them. To spend five minutes on the phone and solve it.
You don't send a bill for five minutes of your time. You just give the help. The relationship that comes from that is worth more than any small invoice. The asking, if it ever comes, comes much later, and it feels natural by then.
Ignore opinions, Treasure facts.
When a system crashes, opinions are loud. "I think it’s a virus," "My cousin said it's probably the power supply." The panic creates a lot of noise.
But the facts are quiet. They’re in the system logs, in the error codes, in the blinking lights on a router. The facts tell you the real story. My job isn’t to listen to the loudest opinion. It's to find the quiet fact and fix it.
I guess I just think these rules aren't really about business at all. Not in the way we think of it, with spreadsheets and profit margins.
They're about character.
They’re about showing up, telling the truth, and doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. The work is just the work. The rest is just being a person someone can count on.