Your gut tells you something’s wrong. You’re doing things the way you were taught but not getting the results you expect.

Commonsense business advice often feels counterintuitive because it runs counter to what’s common. Yet our gut tells us common sense should be right.

Conventional wisdom has businesses moving toward greater automation, more efficiency, less human interaction. They are dehumanizing the process.

Business orthodoxy says that “if we can systematize and automate everything, people will never get it wrong.” That’s wrong.

Efficiency is for machines. Create a system, a process, dial it in, tweak it, optimize it. As long as the machine gets regular maintenance it will do what it’s supposed to do, how it’s supposed to do it. Human beings are not machines. They cannot be dialed in, tweaked, optimized. Even the best of human beings can be wildly unpredictable and irrational. Accepting these truths about the human element of business is core business heresy.

Table of Contents

1. Foreword by Rick Wilson
2. Introduction
   1. Joel’s Story
   2. Why Now Is The Time To Be Excited About Doing Business
   3. We All Know Something is Wrong
3. Time in Your Head
   1. Erase Fear. Embrace Change.
   2. Jumping to a New Curve
   3. Chaos
   4. Failure and Change
   5. Why Don’t Seagulls’ Feet Freeze?
   6. Giving Up vs. Failure
   7. An Insanity All Its Own
   8. Shining a Light on Scary Things
      1. Unconscious Fear & the Light of a Mentor
      2. Have Someone Else Hold the Flashlight
   9. Rose-Colored Glasses
      1. Choose Optimism
      2. Yes, You Get to Choose
      3. Optimism is Attractive
      4. Optimism Creates Opportunities
      5. Make Your Brain Work Better
      6. Expectations Impact Ability
      7. Optimism and Memory
   10. Making a Great Living Doing What You Love
       1. Believe That You Can
       2. It Makes Financial Sense
       3. It’s Only Fair
       4. Know What You Love, Know What You Loathe
       5. What Do You Loathe?
   11. Luck is Not a Mysterious Force of the Universe
       1. Choose Luck
       2. ONE OCEAN
       3. Picking Apples
4. Time with Other People
   1. Fair, Generous, and Persuasive
      1. The Bucket and the Basket
      2. Misguided Carrots
      3. Don’t Eat the Tea
      4. Corrupting Gift Culture
      5. The Magic Apology Trick
      6. Business Advice Two Centuries Old
   2. Know. Like. Trust?
      1. Real. Fake. Know the Difference.
      2. Earn the Right to Give Advice
      3. Speak Like a Human Being
      4. Building Bridges: Swim to Their Side
      5. Why Aren’t Business Ethics Ethical?
      6. Win/Win and No Deal
   3. Growing Trust
      1. The Four Components of Trust
      2. The Roots of the Tree: Integrity
      3. The Trunk of the Tree: Intent
      4. The Branches of the Tree: Competence
      5. The Leaves of the Tree: Results
      6. Earning Trust Creates a Cycle of Repeat Business
      7. Trust Fosters Word of Mouth
      8. Hacking at the Roots of Trust
      9. Roots Again: Clearly Define the Flaw
   4. Insiders & Outsiders
      1. Calling Your Client’s Name
      2. Your Ideal Client
      3. Why You Should Write an Annoying Ad
      4. All Poles, No Equator
5. Time in the World
   1. How Things Should Be Done
      1. Don’t Ask Technicians to Build on a Non-Technical Foundation
      2. There’s No Such Thing as Work/Life Balance
      3. Eggs. Baskets. Chickens.
      4. Shower of Choice
      5. False Frontery
   2. Getting Them Done
      1. Complacency Kills
      2. Direction Needs Motion Because Goals Are Moving Targets
6. Conclusion
7. Action Plan