3 Mind Tricks to Ensure They Can't Say No

Everything I know about making smart requests I learned from my children. Okay, maybe not everything, but their requests certainly pack a refusal-proof punch. Case in point:

My kids: Mom, can we go to the park?

Me: I am kind of busy right now, maybe later.

Kids: *sad and deflated* Can I at least have a candy bar, then?

Me: *weighed down by guilt* Okay, but just one.

Now, I am not claiming that they are doing it on purpose, but there’s a reason this request style works so well. Yes, it's backed by research. It even has its own name.

The Three Techniques

This is what social psychologists call Door in the Face technique, which is one of the three techniques I am sharing today to help you move past the first no to an eventual yes.

Door in the Face (DITF)

This request begins with the expectation that it will be turned down like a metaphorical door slammed in your face. Then that request is followed immediately by a second, more realistic request, which in comparison seems quite reasonable.

Initial request: Can I take the next week off?

Second request: Can I take Monday off and work from home on Tuesday?

In a study conducted to test this technique, participants were given an initial outrageous request--to volunteer as a Big Brother or Big Sister at a detention center for two hours per week for two years--which no one accepted. But when followed by a smaller request--to chaperone a group of kids to the zoo--the compliance rate went up by 50 percent. That's how powerful this technique can be.

Foot in the Door (FITD)

Here's how it works: You ask for a small favor that typically requires minimal involvement and crank it up to something bigger right after the person accepts your initial request. There have been numerous experiments to test the efficacy of this technique, and it has proven to be extremely effective in gaining compliance.

There is another psychological principle at play here known as Cognitive Dissonance. That simply means that because a person complied with the initial requests, in his or her mind, he or she has become the kind of person who will do this sort of thing and wants to try to maintain this image. 

Initial Request: Can you lend me your car jack?

Second request: Can you lend me your car?

See how it works?

Leveraging Automaticity

In his groundbreaking book Influence, Robert Cialdini explains how easily automatic response patterns can be triggered, even with invalid signals. In an experiment conducted by social psychologists Langer, Chenoweth, and Blank, researchers approached people standing in line to use a photocopier with one of the following requests:

May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?

May I use the Xerox machine?

May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?

Here's what compliance to each request looked like:

90 percent 

60 percent 

93 percent 

The researchers concluded that when you give someone a reason when making a request, the compliance goes up, even if that reason is not very good. Here's why: The word “because” triggers an automatic reaction in the human brain that signals the request is justified.

Take a Tip from Bezos: Customers Always Need a Seat at the Table

When starting a new business, it's understandable that the main focus is to develop an innovative product or service that will cause the market to stand up and pay attention. It's also clear that entrepreneurs need passion and endless supply of energy to create a new business from that innovation.

But a good idea and passion are not enough to sustain a company in the long term. Groupon is a cautionary tale. Founder/CEO Andrew Mason was fired for a plummeting stock price and poor business performance just fifteen months after the second largest IPO in US history. In Mason’s resignation message, he imparted this “wisdom” on employees: “Have the courage to start with the customer.”

Mason learned, too late, what Jeff Bezos always knew. He founded Amazon.com with the mission to be the "Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company." Interestingly, for several years he resisted attempts to define precisely what he meant by "customer-centric," according to Bill Price, former Amazon.com Global VP of Customer Service. Eventually Bezos said he meant, "Listen to the customer and invent for the customer."

These days, we're all familiar with Amazon.com and enjoy its effortless buying experience for an ever-increasing array of products. Bezos, in a 2011 video, elaborated on his approach:

1. Obsess over customers. “If you’re truly obsessed about your customers” Bezos says, “it will cover a lot of your other mistakes.”

2. Invent. “You need to listen to customers, they won't tell you everything. You need to invent on their behalf. Kindle, EC2 would not have been developed if we did not have an inventive culture.”

3.Think Long Term. “Most initiatives we undertake take 5 to 7 years before they pay any dividends for the company.”

Customer-centricity is not a black-and-white proposition. Most companies can claim to be customer-centric to one degree or another. Companies generally evolve (and sometimes devolve) through four stages of development under the leadership of the CEO.

All four stages are at work at Amazon.com. Providing personalized and relevant recommendations (stage 1) is one crucial feature at the digital shopping site. But it is Bezos' relentless focus on customer-driven innovation (stage 4) that sets Amazon.com apart from 95% of companies. Bezos has said that “inventing and pioneering requires a willingness to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”

In the early years, Bezos was criticized for allowing customer reviews because negative reviews would detract from Amazon.com’s job to “sell things.” Bezos held his ground, because: “We don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions." 

In 2005, CustomerThink gave Amazon.com a customer-centric leadership award. In an acceptance letter, Craig Berman, Amazon’s director of platform and technology communications, said: "It is simply in our DNA to approach our business by starting with the customer and working backward, and for the past ten years we have stayed laser-focused on this core principle."

Amazon.com keeps innovating to serve existing customers by expanding what it sells and how consumers access its content (e.g., Kindle). It has also been a pioneer into new markets like cloud computing with Amazon Web Services.

Bezos is famous for leaving an empty chair at the conference table and letting attendees know it's occupied by the “the most important person in the room” – the customer. He backs up that symbolism with an array of metrics, 80% of which relate to what customers care about. Customer-centric business leaders excel at institutionalizing these five habits:

1. Listen to what customers value and seek their feedback on their experiences.

2. Think objectively to make sound, fact-based decisions.

3. Empower employees with the resources they need to please customers.

4. Create new value for customers, without being asked.

5. Delight customers by exceeding their expectations.

Launch your business with an innovative offering, be passionate about what you do. Just don't forget that for long-term success, customers always need a seat at the table.

7 Things That Separate Average People From Amazing Performers

There's a radio show whose host has a decades-long, running joke about a town in which all the children are above average. Work long enough, however, and you'll discover that the opposite is true: Most people are actually below average.

I don't mean this as an insult but rather as a statistical truth. The extremes in any group can make the average misleading, especially when there's a floor above zero. As a result, however, it is easier than you might imagine to improve your performance way above average in just about any endeavor.

Yet, few succeed--perhaps because most give up before they even get started. Here are the seven key things that a small minority of people do to jump from meh to amazing:

1. Achieve a level of competence.

All else on this list flows from this first point. You don't have to be the No. 1 expert in your field when you begin, but you do at least have to know what you're talking about.

So if you want to be an elite sailor, you have to learn the basics of sailing; if you want to be an elite marketer, you have to learn the basics of marketing. Don't just pronounce yourself a "guru"; instead, start by putting in the grunt work and learning the basics of whatever field you care about.

2. Think of the future.

We've seen before that great leaders see the future differently. The same applies to anyone who hopes to improve in any field. You will simply be more likely to succeed if you start with the end in mind.

A highly successful colleague of mine offers simple advice to college students: Map your career by looking up the LinkedIn profiles of people you want to emulate, and then plan backward.

3. Set goals worth fighting for.

It's surprising how many people don't think hard about whether they're chasing a goal that is worthy of their efforts. They wind up following someone else's dream--a career that others have picked for them or life choices that someone else has made on their behalf. They find it hard to succeed, and they're unsatisfied even when they have achieved the goal, but they can't figure out why.

As a wise person once said, "It's better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb rather than halfway up one you don't."

4. Leverage technology.

We live in an era of unprecedented technological progress. Thus, it's also an era in which ordinary performers can leapfrog ahead of their competitors simply by applying new technologies to their field before others do.

These don't have to be dramatic or groundbreaking improvements.  As an example, the online jewelry retailer Blue Nile has its roots in a Seattle store that happened to be one of the first to build a website. What would happen if you were the first salesperson in your company to use a smart new organizational tool or the first athlete on your team to use new and better equipment?

5. Put others first.

There are a lot of selfish people who are nevertheless amazing, so although selflessness is a moral good, it's not exactly what we're talking about here. Instead, this is a corollary of the second piece of advice above, when we think of envisioning the future--specifically how we'd like people to react to us--and then figuring out how to get there.

In dealing with people, do you want them to like you more? Do you want them to buy your products? Do you want them to tell others about your services? Envision that result, and work backward.

6. Treat people with respect, and expect them to reciprocate.

Lest you be concerned that the last bit of advice can be a bit Machiavellian, it's simultaneously important to treat others with respect. From the basic to the grandiose, you need their help in order to be successful, and you can't expect people to help you if you don't treat them well.

At the same time, don't forget the other side of the coin. It's hard to treat people with true respect--rather than being obsequious or disingenuous--if you don't respect yourself first. So set the tone and show that you expect to be treated with respect, too.

7. Value honesty and transparency.

You don't have to share all your deepest secrets, but honesty and transparency are usually the best policies. Usually when we hold on to information that others could use to make better decisions, it's because we're fearful--afraid they will choose another solution, be disappointed in us, or even achieve greater success than we will.

Transcend your fears by pulling back the curtain. The little bit that you might risk will be nothing compared with the gains you'll receive in trust and unexpected benefits.

25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Regardless of your definition of success, there are, oddly enough, a great number of common characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. You can place a check beside each characteristic that you feel that you possess. This way, you can see how you stack up. Even if you don't have all of these characteristics, don't fret. Most can be learned with practice and by developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself, through strategic planning, to reach those goals in incremental and measurable stages.

The Home Business Musts
Like any activity you pursue, there are certain musts that are required to be successful in a chosen activity. To legally operate a vehicle on public roadways, one must have a driver's license; to excel in sports, one must train and practice; to retire comfortably, one must become an informed investor and actively invest for retirement. If your goal is success in business, then the formula is no different. There are certain musts that have to be fully developed, implemented and managed for your business to succeed. There are many business musts, but this article contains I believe to be some of the more important musts that are required to start, operate and grow a profitable home business.

1. Do what you enjoy.
What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't enjoy what you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business--or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, chances are you won't succeed.

2. Take what you do seriously.
You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked and not staying motivated and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don't take them seriously because they don't work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory. Little do these skeptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the number of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.

3. Plan everything.
Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business planning is so important because it requires you to analyze each business situation, research and compile data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as revealed through the research. Business planning also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take you from point A to Z and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual plan or segment within the plan.

4. Manage money wisely.
The lifeblood of any business enterprise is cash flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for services, promote and market your business, repair and replace tools and equipment, and pay yourself so that you can continue to work. Therefore, all home business owners must become wise money managers to ensure that the cash keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There are two aspects to wise money management.

1. The money you receive from clients in exchange for your goods and services you provide (income)
2. The money you spend on inventory, supplies, wages and other items required to keep your business operating. (expenses)

5. Ask for the sale.
A home business entrepreneur must always remember that marketing, advertising, or promotional activities are completely worthless, regardless of how clever, expensive, or perfectly targeted they are, unless one simple thing is accomplished--ask for the sale. This is not to say that being a great salesperson, advertising copywriting whiz or a public relations specialist isn't a tremendous asset to your business. However, all of these skills will be for naught if you do not actively ask people to buy what you are selling.

6. Remember it's all about the customer.
Your home business is not about the products or services that you sell. Your home business is not about the prices that you charge for your goods and services. Your home business is not about your competition and how to beat them. Your business is all about your customers, or clients, period. After all, your customers are the people that will ultimately decide if your business goes boom or bust. Everything you do in business must be customer focused, including your policies, warranties, payment options, operating hours, presentations, advertising and promotional campaigns and website. In addition, you must know who your customers are inside out and upside down.

Related: Keeping Your Customers Satisfied -- It's All in the Details

7. Become a shameless self-promoter (without becoming obnoxious).
One of the greatest myths about personal or business success is that eventually your business, personal abilities, products or services will get discovered and be embraced by the masses that will beat a path to your door to buy what you are selling. But how can this happen if no one knows who you are, what you sell and why they should be buying?

Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools that the majority of home business owners have at their immediate disposal.

8. Project a positive business image.
You have but a passing moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with whom you intend to do business. Home business owners must go out of their way and make a conscious effort to always project the most professional business image possible. The majority of home business owners do not have the advantage of elaborate offices or elegant storefronts and showrooms to wow prospects and impress customers. Instead, they must rely on imagination, creativity and attention to the smallest detail when creating and maintaining a professional image for their home business.

9. Get to know your customers.
One of the biggest features and often the most significant competitive edge the home based entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is the he can offer personalized attention. Call it high-tech backlash if you will, but customers are sick and tired of hearing that their information is somewhere in the computer and must be retrieved, or told to push a dozen digits to finally get to the right department only to end up with voice mail--from which they never receive a return phone call.

The home business owner can actually answer phone calls, get to know customers, provide personal attention and win over repeat business by doing so. It's a researched fact that most business (80 percent) will come from repeat customers rather than new customers. Therefore, along with trying to draw newcomers, the more you can do to woo your regular customers, the better off you will be in the long run and personalized attention is very much appreciated and remembered in the modern high tech world.

Related: Why You Should Never Prejudge a Sales Prospect

10. Level the playing field with technology.
You should avoid getting overly caught up in the high-tech world, but you should also know how to take advantage of using it. One of the most amazing aspects of the internet is that a one or two person business operating from a basement can have a superior website to a $50 million company, and nobody knows the difference. Make sure you're keeping up with the high-tech world as it suits your needs.. The best technology is that which helps you, not that which impresses your neighbors.

11. Build a top-notch business team.
No one person can build a successful business alone. It's a task that requires a team that is as committed as you to the business and its success. Your business team may include family members, friends, suppliers, business alliances, employees, sub-contractors, industry and business associations, local government and the community. Of course the most important team members will be your customers or clients. Any or all may have a say in how your business will function and a stake in your business future.

12. Become known as an expert.
When you have a problem that needs to be solved, do you seek just anyone's advice or do you seek an expert in the field to help solve your particular problem? Obviously, you want the most accurate information and assistance that you can get. You naturally seek an expert to help solve your problem. You call a plumber when the hot water tank leaks, a real estate agent when it's time to sell your home or a dentist when you have a toothache. Therefore, it only stands to reason that the more you become known for your expertise in your business, the more people will seek you out to tap into your expertise, creating more selling and referral opportunities. In effect, becoming known as an expert is another style of prospecting for new business, just in reverse. Instead of finding new and qualified people to sell to, these people seek you out for your expertise.

13. Create a competitive advantage.
A home business must have a clearly defined unique selling proposition. This is nothing more than a fancy way of asking the vital question, "Why will people choose to do business with you or purchase your product or service instead of doing business with a competitor and buying his product or service?" In other words, what one aspect or combination of aspects is going to separate your business from your competition? Will it be better service, a longer warranty, better selection, longer business hours, more flexible payment options, lowest price, personalized service, better customer service, better return and exchange policies or a combination of several of these?

14. Invest in yourself.
Top entrepreneurs buy and read business and marketing books, magazines, reports, journals, newsletters, websites and industry publications, knowing that these resources will improve their understanding of business and marketing functions and skills. They join business associations and clubs, and they network with other skilled business people to learn their secrets of success and help define their own goals and objectives. Top entrepreneurs attend business and marketing seminars, workshops and training courses, even if they have already mastered the subject matter of the event. They do this because they know that education is an ongoing process. There are usually ways to do things better, in less time, with less effort. In short, top entrepreneurs never stop investing in the most powerful, effective and best business and marketing tool at their immediate disposal--themselves.

15. Be accessible.
We're living in a time when we all expect our fast food lunch at the drive-thru window to be ready in mere minutes, our dry cleaning to be ready for pick-up on the same day, our money to be available at the cash machine and our pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it's free. You see the pattern developing--you must make it as easy as you can for people to do business with you, regardless of the home business you operate.

You must remain cognizant of the fact that few people will work hard, go out of their way, or be inconvenienced just for the privilege of giving you their hard-earned money. The shoe is always on the other foot. Making it easy for people to do business with you means that you must be accessible and knowledgeable about your products and services. You must be able to provide customers with what they want, when they want it.

16. Build a rock-solid reputation.
A good reputation is unquestionably one of the home business owner's most tangible and marketable assets. You can't simply buy a good reputation; it's something that you earn by honoring your promises. If you promise to have the merchandise in the customer's hands by Wednesday, you have no excuse not to have it there. If you offer to repair something, you need to make good on your offer. Consistency in what you offer is the other key factor. If you cannot come through with the same level of service (and products) for clients on a regular basis, they have no reason to trust you . . . and without trust, you won't have a good reputation.

17. Sell benefits.
Pushing product features is for inexperienced or wannabe entrepreneurs. Selling the benefits associated with owning and using the products and services you carry is what sales professionals worldwide focus on to create buying excitement and to sell, sell more, and sell more frequently to their customers. Your advertising, sales presentations, printed marketing materials, product packaging, website, newsletters, trade show exhibit and signage are vital. Every time and every medium used to communicate with your target audience must always be selling the benefits associated with owning your product or using your service.

18. Get involved.
Always go out of your way to get involved in the community that supports your business. You can do this in many ways, such as pitching in to help local charities or the food bank, becoming involved in organizing community events, and getting involved in local politics. You can join associations and clubs that concentrate on programs and policies designed to improve the local community. It's a fact that people like to do business with people they know, like and respect, and with people who do things to help them as members of the community.

19. Grab attention.
Small-business owners cannot waste time, money and energy on promotional activities aimed at building awareness solely through long-term, repeated exposure. If you do, chances are you will go broke long before this goal is accomplished. Instead, every promotional activity you engage in, must put money back in your pocket so that you can continue to grab more attention and grow your business.

20. Master the art of negotiations.
The ability to negotiate effectively is unquestionably a skill that every home business owner must make every effort to master. It's perhaps second in importance only to asking for the sale in terms of home business musts. In business, negotiation skills are used daily. Always remember that mastering the art of negotiation means that your skills are so finely tuned that you can always orchestrate a win-win situation. These win-win arrangements mean that everyone involved feels they have won, which is really the basis for building long-term and profitable business relationships.

21. Design Your workspace for success.
Carefully plan and design your home office workspace to ensure maximum personal performance and productivity and, if necessary, to project professionalism for visiting clients. If at all possible, resist the temptation to turn a corner of the living room or your bedroom into your office. Ideally, you'll want a separate room with a door that closes to keep business activities in and family members out, at least during prime business and revenue generating hours of the day. A den, spare bedroom, basement or converted garage are all ideal candidates for your new home office. If this is not possible, you'll have to find a means of converting a room with a partition or simply find hours to do the bulk of your work when nobody else is home.

22. Get and stay organized.
The key to staying organized is not about which type of file you have or whether you keep a stack or two of papers on your desk, but it's about managing your business. It's about having systems in place to do things. Therefore, you wan to establish a routine by which you can accomplish as much as possible in a given workday, whether that's three hours for a part-time business or seven or nine hours as a full-timer. In fact, you should develop systems and routines for just about every single business activity. Small things such as creating a to-do list at the end of each business day, or for the week, will help keep you on top of important tasks to tackle. Creating a single calendar to work from, not multiple sets for individual tasks or jobs, will also ensure that jobs are completed on schedule and appointments kept. Incorporating family and personal activities into your work calendar is also critical so that you work and plan from a single calendar.

23. Take time off.
The temptation to work around the clock is very real for some home business owners. After all, you don't have a manager telling you it's time to go home because they can't afford the overtime pay. Every person working from home must take time to establish a regular work schedule that includes time to stretch your legs and take lunch breaks, plus some days off and scheduled vacations. Create the schedule as soon as you have made the commitment to start a home business. Of course, your schedule will have to be flexible. You should, therefore, not fill every possible hour in the day. Give yourself a backup hour or two. All work and no play makes you burn out very fast and grumpy customer service is not what people want.

24. Limit the number of hats you wear.
It's difficult for most business owners not to take a hands-on approach. They try to do as much as possible and tackle as many tasks as possible in their business. The ability to multitask, in fact, is a common trait shared by successful entrepreneurs. However, once in a while you have to stand back and look beyond today to determine what's in the best interest of your business and yourself over the long run. Most highly successful entrepreneurs will tell you that from the time they started out, they knew what they were good at and what tasks to delegate to others.

25. Follow-up constantly.
Constant contact, follow-up, and follow-through with customers, prospects, and business alliances should be the mantra of every home business owner, new or established. Constant and consistent follow-up enables you to turn prospects into customers, increase the value of each sale and buying frequency from existing customers, and build stronger business relationships with suppliers and your core business team. Follow-up is especially important with your existing customer base, as the real work begins after the sale. It's easy to sell one product or service, but it takes work to retain customers and keep them coming back.

12 Habits of Really Successful People

Years go by, fashion changes, but the things that really successful people do each day are timeless.

Here's a case in point: Mad Men, the hit television show about the partners and employees in a 1960s advertising agency, now entering its seventh season. I've written before about how the real star of the program isn't Don Draper or Peggy Olson but the advertising agency itself. More than that, if you take notes, you'll see that the plot lines and characters offer great examples of how to get ahead every single day--and how not to.

1. Trust your creative side.

Series protagonist Draper's title is "creative director," which has to be one of the most apt job descriptions ever, given his penchant for reinvention. However, he does seem to understand how his creative mind works. Among his practices, he'll spend a lot of time thinking about a creative challenge, then forget it, allowing his subconscious mind to do the heavy lifting. 

2. Fake it until you make it.

Draper is secretly living another man's life, and with the development of another character, Bob Benson, it looks as though he's not the only one. When the firm was small, it would go out of its way to try to look bigger and more accomplished. You don't want to be dishonest or disingenuous, but you do want to visualize what success would look like and behave as if you already fit the part.

3. Get ahead of your customers.

Here's the key to advertising. Dealing with people effectively is about finding a way to help them get what they want. The challenge is that so few people are truly self-aware. Thus, your mission is to figure it out for them and find a solution to a problem they didn't even know about.

4. Think bigger.

Olson rose from secretary to creative director. Joan Holloway is now a partner bringing in new accounts. Both characters have reached higher levels than they originally dreamed of, only to find that the prize for climbing a mountain is often another bigger mountain. Plans change, goals shift, but it's the people who are willing to dream bigger who actually accomplish things.

5. Plan ahead.

Mad Men opened years ago with its characters facing a professional challenge. The U.S. government was about to start cracking down on cigarette advertisers, and the firm needed to find both a new way to pitch its tobacco clients and a new direction to find more clients. This required long-term thinking that didn't exactly come naturally to all of the characters. 

6. Don't be afraid to quit.

The show is about beginnings and endings, over and over and over--fired clients; fired employees; marriages, business deals, and client engagements that the characters walk away from because they're not working out. From the destruction each time comes a new opportunity.

7.  Have fun.

The show is known for its unflinching look at a kind of 1960s debauchery, with all kinds of drinking, sleeping around, and drug experimentation. It's a really unhealthy way to live your life, but it also seems to be the way that the characters blow off steam--and they've got a lot of steam. Don't become an alcoholic philanderer, but be sure to have fun (in healthier ways, I hope). 

8. Get a life.

This is where so many of the characters on the show fall down, because they have success only at work, and rush from one failed relationship to another. They seek to solve others' problems only when there is something tangible in it for them: a new client, more money, something they want. Don't follow their example. Remember the old adage that on their deathbeds, people rarely say they wish they had spent more time at the office.

9. Leverage technology.

In the early years of Mad Men, the new technology was television, which was quickly becoming the most effective medium of its time to communicate marketing messages. Part of the protagonists' success involved their ability to pivot and take advantage of it. The technology has changed--boy, has it ever--but the lesson is the same. You can either be an early adapter or an also-ran.

10. Enjoy the roller coaster.

If you're going to be successful--whether in building a business or elsewhere--you're going to have a lot of ups and downs. It makes for great drama on television and for some stomach-churning in real life. If you can't enjoy that kind of volatility, then find a safer, more secure path. You'll be happier and so will those around you. Every day, remind yourself that whether today was an up day or a down one, there will be many others to balance it out.

11. Care for and feed your network.

Half of the characters' jobs on Mad Men are simply to manage relationships with the firm's clients and to network and schmooze with potential new clients. Heck, Draper first got hired after meeting Roger Sterling, getting him drunk, and showing up the next day claiming he had been offered a job. Sterling had been too drunk to remember doing it. These are some morally questionable choices, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from them.Every day, reach out to at least one new person, and to someone you've been out of touch with for a while.

12. Go where the action is.

In real life, Jimmy Fallon recently moved The Tonight Show back to New York City, but in the world of Mad Men, Johnny Carson is about to head to Los Angeles. One of the themes for the new season is the idea of new beginnings, especially out West. Today's new frontiers are more global but no less real. (As someone who has recently expanded the client base of myghostwriting business to Asia and the Middle East, I have seen this firsthand.)

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups

Anyone who has started a business has his or her own rules and guidelines, so I thought I would add to the memo with my own. My "rules" below aren't just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them, as well.

1. Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cure All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but aren't as expensive to pay.

Related: Mark Cuban on Why You Should Never Listen to Your Customers 

6. An espresso machine? Are you kidding me? Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.

8. As far as technology, go with what you know. That is always the most inexpensive way. If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista, ask yourself why, then use it. It's a startup so there are just a few employees. Let people use what they know.7. No offices. Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom. There is nothing private in a startup. This is also a good way to keep from hiring executives who cannot operate successfully in a startup. My biggest fear was always hiring someone who wanted to build an empire. If the person demands to fly first class or to bring over a personal secretary, run away. If an exec won't go on sales calls, run away. They are empire builders and will pollute your company.

9. Keep the organization flat. If you have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail. Once you get beyond startup, if you have managers reporting to managers, you will create politics.

10. Never buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo-embroidered polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, it's okay to buy for your own employees, but if you really think people are going to wear your branded polo when they're out and about, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money.

11. Never hire a PR firm. A public relations firm will call or email people in the publications you already read, on the shows you already watch and at the websites you already surf. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the email of the person publishing it and send them a message introducing yourself and the company. Their job is to find new stuff. They will welcome hearing from the founder instead of some PR flack. Once you establish communication with that person, make yourself available to answer their questions about the industry and be a source for them. If you are smart, they will use you.

12. Make the job fun for employees. Keep a pulse on the stress levels and accomplishments of your people and reward them. My first company, MicroSolutions, when we had a record sales month, or someone did something special, I would walk around handing out $100 bills to salespeople. At Broadcast.com and MicroSolutions, we had a company shot. The Kamikaze. We would take people to a bar every now and then and buy one or ten for everyone. At MicroSolutions, more often than not we had vendors cover the tab. Vendors always love a good party.