Some people need to build a full time income in their business before they can feel comfortable leaving their jobs. Perhaps they have a family and mortgage, and they need to know their income is solid before taking the plunge to full time.

Others have to leave their jobs before they’ll get busy and start their business. For them, they need the ‘sink or swim terror’ to inspire them to take massive action.

No matter which camp you fall into, here’s what’s true for nearly everyone:

– Your reason ‘why’ isn’t just a nice thing to have – it’s crucial for your success. The bigger your reason ‘why’ when you’re starting your own business, the more likely you will stick to it and do whatever it takes to succeed.

– To make your fledgling business a success, you need massive, undistracted action. For example, consider taking a week off from work, moving into a motel room away from all distractions, and creating your own product and sales funnel.

– If you don’t know how to do something, you have 2 choices:

A: Learn to do it yourself. This takes time and will often derail any momentum you had. For some, it will mean putting off starting the business for weeks and even months.

B: Outsource it and move on.

– Nearly everyone does better, accomplishes more and reaches success faster if they get a coach. Just sayin’.

– Once you taste success, you will never go back. I’ve almost never seen someone make money in their new business and then drop the whole thing to go back to a job. Once that fire is lit, there really is no turning back.

– Having your own business is not only financially freeing, it also instills a sense of self confidence that enhances almost every other aspect of your life.

– Starting your own business means overcoming your related fears, whatever those might be. Once you achieve success, you’ll find you’re able to overcome even greater fears and accomplish more than you dared hope back when you were safely enslaved. Errr… I mean employed.

If there’s a bottom line to this, it’s this: Decide what you’re going to do. Give yourself a deadline. Then move heaven and earth to get it done, and you will succeed.

In life and in business, we tend to hate two things mainly: criticism and hassle. And why wouldn’t we? We all want a drama-free life without people telling us what we are doing wrong – that’s human nature. Complaints and additional work can be a bit demoralizing.

However, in business (especially online as vendors of a product or service), whether it is justified or not – we are always at some stage going to have to deal with complaints. And as much as that is something no one wants to face – we must learn that no matter how good we are, everyone has their own level of quality and a different perception of what they want to experience. Plus, things don’t always go smoothly – our connection can be slow, a tool may not work or something may not go to plan. It is alright in these moments for customers to get frustrated. That’s ok.

The only thing you must realize and prepare for is:

1. Complaints will happen and sometimes it’s not your fault.

2. Learn how to deal with complaints in an effective way that serves and protects both you and the customer.

If you don’t accept the above facts – you’re going to get an unhappy customer, leading to bad reviews and counter-productive word of mouth. So, understand that when complaints happen it is not so much about the complaint itself – it is how you deal with it that will be how you are measured by them. That is, not what went wrong but how you treated them afterwards.

Don’t think if you get a complaint online that the world is over and that you are bad at what you do and certainly don’t take it personally. The best thing you can do next in this situation is focus. Focus on what you can do to now rectify the situation. Unhappy customers become happy ones when they have an experience of something going wrong and note that it is dealt with swiftly, professionally and most of all – with care and politeness.

Often we can get so caught up by the insult of a complaint, we can fuel even more complaints with our harsh and defensive reactions. Or we may even not bother to fix it in the way we should because it seems like a pain.

Here’s my recommendation:

Respond to complaints calmly, confidently and completely.

Every complaint is an opportunity to turn around a dissatisfied customer – respond quickly and positively. Remember your brand is easily damaged, and the last thing you want is for people to be actively spreading bad stories about your business. A complaint that is dealt with well can often result in a loyal customer, one that has the experience of how sweet you were when they were quite cross. In doing this (as opposed to getting annoyed with them) gives them refreshed trust in your brand and the confidence to buy again. Why? Because they now know if things do go wrong they will be sorted out quickly.

And that is worth much more to your business, your reputation and bottom line than trying to be perfect. Customer complaints, and your positive and helpful response to them can actually become a strength builder for your business and brand.

Things that entertain us – well, that’s not entirely our choice. When you satisfy your need for entertainment, (eat ice-cream, watch a movie, win a game) the reward centers in your brain fire off a weaker dose of the same chemical rewards that you would get for actually gathering rich food, finding a partner and winning a fight.

These chemicals stay in your brain telling you the behavior that triggered them is really good for you and forcing you to seek more of this ‘high’ state. Essentially, you don’t need entertainment, you won’t die without it- but the more you have, the more you think you need… you want it like a drug.

Advertising is the biggest business on the planet – why? Because they know this deep addictive need in human beings to want to be entertained so they weave a good feeling story or an adventure into their product brand and just like that – people are buying four pairs of the same shoes with different shapes on it.

I guess the lesson is this: Want someone to buy your products? Want someone to love/remember you?

ENTERTAIN THEM. Make them laugh or cry, make them say yes! Make them want more videos, more options, more of your approach. Give them value.

This idea dates back to the Roman era when the Colosseum delivered people to their death in the name of entertainment; showing how important it has been to us for centuries to feel occupied and given a certain standard of entertainment in order to maintain interest. This fact doesn’t escape us as Internet marketers. Just because we are not film directors doesn’t mean we cannot use what we have and know to entertain and keep people engaged with us.

My first bit of advice is this – we live in social media times so it is irrelevant if your business is well-established, new or you are selling nails and think you don’t need to know what the ‘crowd’ is doing – because you do. Make sure your social media strategy is up to date and always try to be ahead of what is happening. What are people interested in? What’s happening now? If you don’t know what is going on, I’ll bet that your competitor will and I’d say they’ll use that strategy to keep people entertained, and focused on their business – not yours.

In the same way as a face-to-face conversation, make sure your posts, tweets, content and images are unique and entertaining. People get bored in dull conversation all the time so it’s not a surprise that uninteresting social media webpages and irrelevant, boring posts will not get people coming back to your social media page or engaging in your online ‘conversations’. No talking about you? No sales. It’s really that simple.

Invest a little in finding out what really gets people talking and update yourself to be authentic, current and cool. Maybe you’ll find your inner entertainer in all sorts of unexpected ways, and in turn create more of a tribe following for your business that you can grow to ever-increasing heights.