Good advice is like good music, you should listen to it. We here at Fargo INC have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a lot of good advice from some of the best minds in our business community. There is rarely an interview we do where we don’t ask ’what advice do you have for other business owners.’ In celebration of this, here is some of the best business advice we received in 2020.
“Listen and communicate to your employees. Everyone wants to have input and contribute to the work that they do. Provide your staff the ability to give their opinions and thoughts on how to grow as an organization and they will become invested in the work they are doing. If you say you’re going to follow up on something, follow up and then let the employee know what you did so they feel that the company takes action on feedback.”
Kayla Linn, Vice President of People and Culture at Eventide
“Be better than your competition at what’s important to your customers.”
Governor Doug Burgum on improving direct sales
“Communication is key, especially in uncertain times. When your first reaction is to wait until you know more, you need to be honest with your team members about what you do know and what you don’t.”
Steve Hallstrom, Flag Family Media/Fieldstone Group
“You need to be prepared to say yes when it scares you. You need to be willing to work hard, and you need to have mentors.”
Michelle Kommer, former Commissioner of Commerce and current Owner of HighRoad Partners
“Set a goal each week to meet one new person from our community and have a virtual meeting or coffee with them. Focus on someone that may not be in your normal sphere of connections. It’s easier than it sounds—volunteering is a great place to start! You just have to make the effort. In one year, you will make 52 new connections and exponentially expand your network and perspectives of the community!”
“Life requires an investment in your fellow man. What mean by that is you have to engage with each other. For me, that meant building relationships with the people I worked with and the people I worked for. I didn’t do that via text. I didn’t do that via Twitter. I did it via one on-one conversations. I still think that is probably the biggest advantage that those who are good at it have over others. The ability to develop relationships and the ability to develop trust are very important.”
Dave St. Peter, President and CEO of the Minnesota Twins
“Setting people up for success sets your business up for success. If you have a great employee that isn’t doing great, look at what they are great at and what they enjoy doing and put them in a position to do that. Then, find people to fill in the areas that are left. Have an accounting manager that is amazing at accounting, strategy and process development but hates managing people? Then create a role that uses those skills to the maximum and find someone that loves the people management side. You end up with super productive, happy team members that are fired up to do their jobs every day versus a great employee who is bad at, dislikes or just avoids core parts of their job. Nothing says you have to stay in the organizational chart boxes.”
Sarah Koustrop, Chief Strategy Officer at National Hospitality Services
“Get a password manager! The average person today has over 100 unique logins/passwords they have to track. As a bookkeeper, I have different logins for every client and a password manager makes it easy to organize, keep track of them all and keep them more secure than a spreadsheet or piece of paper.”
Maddie Schultz, Owner, Blue Cypher Bookkeeping
“Look closely at social media and identify areas that are beneficial for you and your business, as well as those that are draining your energy. Cut the draining ones out of your life. The reduction of mental noise will be immensely helpful in staying focused on what matters.”
Peter Schott, CEO and Co-Founder, Genesis Feed Technologies
