I grew up near the ocean. Spent a lot of time at the beach and on boats and in the sun and I love eating outdoors when the weather permits.
My wife, on the other hand, grew up in mainland China.
As you can see from the picture, not much sun worshiping going on there ;)
So I ordered a 14’ (4m+) square deck umbrella before the beginning of the Summer.
Memorial Day weekend was here and I was pumped!
After the first 15 minutes of unpacking things, I realized the base I had would not support the new umbrella…and it would take 3 weeks to get the proper base delivered.
This reminded me of something I learned as an apprentice in a woodworking shop in my teens:
“Measure Twice, Cut Once”
In business, it’s critical to have checks and validation in place to avoid costly mistakes.
When working with business owners, I often get pushback about the additional overhead of putting some of these practices in place…until there are problems.
🔅 Did you ever have a software update go out that caused big problems?
🔅 Did you ever have a wire transfer go out that was not supposed to?
🔅 Did you ever miss a clause in a customer contract that cost you considerable money?
🔅 Did you ever take a shortcut on a critical hire only to regret it later?
Putting these critical checks can be done in a lightweight manner.
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