SFS Minute 907: Customers Notice Consistency More Than Excellence
Release Date: 01/17/2026
SFS Minute 919: Everyone Is Making It Up a Litte
School for Startups Minutes
Imposter syndrome, signal before success, fronting, putting on the suit. These are all phrases that mean the same thing, projecting success before it happens, and we entrepreneurs must do that. You have to let people know about your successes. You need to brag on your own behalf because no one else will. The important thing is this: you cannot lie. You cannot stretch the truth, but you need to be aggressive in tooting your own horn because no one else will. But don't lie. You end up in jail like Elizabeth Holmes.
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SFS Minute 918: You Will Celebrate Absurdly Small Wins
School for Startups Minutes
Entrepreneurship is hard, and we hear it a lot, so we will celebrate absurdly small wins because we need to. The first time you get a sale will be monumental, and the first time you get an unsolicited referral will feel like magic. The first time you get an email that says, “I found you online,” it will be one of the greatest moments of your life, right up there with a child being born. I got an email one time. I was so excited, I ran out of the house, jumping and screaming with joy. My neighbors and wife thought I was crazy, but entrepreneurship will do that to you.
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SFS Minute 917: The Smallest Things Will Drive You the Craziest
School for Startups Minutes
Freedomnetwork.com. Another thing that new entrepreneurs discover is the stress and the way that it affects you, most likely all of that stress. The stress of feeding your family and growing the business will affect you in the smallest, weirdest ways. You will suddenly be upset because the password doesn't work. The printer is not connected, and that will drive you over the edge. Be careful with your stress. Entrepreneurship is not easy.
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SFS Minute 916: Your Family Will Never Fully Understand What You Do
School for Startups Minutes
Another thing that new entrepreneurs don't understand, but will eventually learn, is that their family will never truly understand what they do. They'll give you polite expressions like, “Do you get benefits?” or “Is this just a phase?” or “Will you get a real job?” And I promise you, the confusion never goes away because we do things that are new and exciting and different and don't fit into familiar categories. Just learn to live with it.
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SFS Minute 915: You Will Miss a Paycheck
School for Startups Minutes
This week, I want to talk about things that entrepreneurs don't know until they get started. Little things that sneak up on them, and then they discover that the truth of entrepreneurship is maybe not as glamorous as it may seem. One of the things that entrepreneurs only find out once they get started is that you will miss a paycheck every once in a while and pretend like it's okay, that your other bills are more important. You have to pay for the marketing because the ad has to run this weekend, and then you don't have enough money to pay yourself. I think it's almost a rite of passage in...
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SFS Minute 914: Customers Notice When Your Respect Their Time
School for Startups Minutes
Customers notice when you respect their time. The best example of this, and we all joke about it, is when the cable company says they will be there between three and five. I remember when my son got his very first apartment, and he called at 3:15 and said, Dad, the cable company's not here. What am I going to do? What should I do? Should I call them and check up on them? And I was like, son, you'll be lucky if they're there between three and five tomorrow, not today. We laughed about it, and we all know the bad thing about cable companies is they are never on time. Make your business...
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SFS Minute 913: Customers Notice When You Set Clear Expectations
School for Startups Minutes
Customers notice when you set clear expectations, even if the news is not good. Our local power company is very good about sending texts telling us when the power outage will be over, and they update that information every 30 minutes or so. Because of that, I trust the information implicitly, and I have more respect and trust for our local power company. I know that sounds crazy, but they do a pretty good job.
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SFS Minute 912: Customers Notice Your Tone Before Your Solution
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Customers notice your tone before your solution. Tone communicates intent faster than any other information. Calm, respectful responses build confidence before the problem is solved, whereas impatience and defensive responses increase concern, even when the answer is correct. Customers remember how the interaction felt more than they remember whether it was fixed or not. Tone, and whether you're smiling, matter a lot.
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SFS Minute 911: Customers Notice When Policies Matter More than People
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Customers notice when policies matter more than people. We don't like it when a rule replaces judgment. That “that’s our policy” feels final and impersonal, even if the policy makes sense. We must acknowledge that sometimes the customer's uniqueness and personal situation need to be considered. Policies should guide decisions, not eliminate discretion.
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SFS Minute 910: Customers Notice How You Handle Small Problems
School for Startups Minutes
Last week I talked about things that customers notice about you or your business. For example, I talked about the new apartment that I just rented, and they asked, do you have pets? I said no. I had to go on a website and validate that I don't have pets and that I don't intend to have pets. It took me 20 minutes. I will never forget that. This week, we're going to do five more things that customers notice about you and your business. It's okay if a business or a friend makes a small mistake; we accept that. That's okay, we are willing to forgive if, quickly and with a polite tone, the business...
info_outlineAs a customer, I am not excited about the big sale. I am excited about how I get treated day in and day out. Consistency builds confidence. Customers prefer knowing what they are going to get and not being surprised. Inconsistency makes for uncertainty. Businesses grow by meeting expectations reliably, not by exceeding them. Occasionally, predictable performance is the best answer.