I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for tips and techniques to grow my business.
In order to stay up-to-date on new tips and techniques, I read a lot of books from authors like Steven Covey and Tony Robbins (yes, Tony Robbins, who gets pegged as a motivational guy, but who is actually a super-brilliant businessman).
I also read a lot of blogs (Michael Hyatt, Razor Social, Business Insider, etc.) and newspapers (the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are my favorites, although I don’t always have a subscription).
Long story short — I have a steady flow of ideas coming my way about how to improve my business and how to improve my personal performance. Many of these ideas are delivered by people who have had massive amounts of success, so I listen to them closely.
But the best piece of business advice I ever got was from my brother, who is not a Wall Street icon or a famous blogger, he’s a very humble guy who goes to church every day and works as a piano technician.
From those humble roots came this game changing business advice, which is deceptive in its simplicity, yet revolutionary in its scope.
Let me explain.
As you know, software works by taking a line of code, executing that line and then moving on to the next line of code.
The best software has millions of lines of code that continuously build upon one another. The result is that the software runs amazing things like space ships, Google, your smartphone, nuclear power plants and other important stuff.
But if the first line of code is wrong in any of that software, then the whole thing goes kaput.
In other words, no matter how well-written and smart lines 2 through infinity are, if the first line of code is wrong, the it doesn’t matter what the rest of the code says to do — it just doesn’t add up.
Many people in business (myself included) need to examine their first line of code. After all, if your business decisions are made with an errant first line of code, then no matter how good the rest of your business decisions are, they won’t do squat for your business.
Let’s take a look at some flawed first lines of code:
I’m sure there will be a few people who disagree with my point-of-view that these are flawed first lines of code. After all, don’t all successful businesses put their customers first? (The answer is no.) And don’t businesses always succeed when they have happy employees? (Again, the answer is no.) And shouldn’t you always enter in to agreements that are win/win? (No — There are times where I’ve intentionally been the loser in an agreement in the short run, in order to ultimately have a win/win arrangement in the long run.)
That’s not to say that those lines of code shouldn’t be in your mix, it’s just to say that it shouldn’t be your first line of code.
So, what’s your first line of code?
The answer is going to vary depending on your industry, the company you work for and the job you’ve been assigned to do. But my first line of code — as the CEO of a marketing communications firm — is this.
This line of code is so important that I have it written on the white board in my office as a reminder. After all, I’m just like you in that I get distracted, side tracked and unfocused at times.
In fact, I probably suffer from that more than you do, which is why I have my first line of code written on a white board 3 feet from the tip of my nose.
Why is this line of code so important for me? Because if I don’t have a relentless focus on revenue generation for my company, then I don’t have customers or employees to worry about tomorrow.
Remember, there are other lines of code that follow this one — millions, in fact. But the first line of code (for me, anyway) has to start with revenue generation. After all, without revenues, your company doesn’t grow, and if your company isn’t growing, it’s dying.
All this begs the question — what’s your first line of code? What, given your role, is the first thing you should be thinking about as you execute your job?
Let me know in the comments below — it’ll be great to read them!
Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and 60 Second Communications, a marketing communications agency that works with national and international brands. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.
