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Building a business makes relatively sane humans do some insane things. The past 10 years have been the modern day gold rush for tech. And I mean that in the sense where lots of people risk everything and make nothing while a few hit it big.
And that “gold rush” culture makes people do desperate things for business survival.
Founders make an infinite number of tiny decisions every day, and it’s easy to get decision fatigue. In a moment of weakness, you may do something dumb that hurts you, your team, your company, your brand, or any one of a thousand other things.
So here’s an easy rule of thumb to help you make decisions: keep it classy.
Seriously, it’s that easy. Just ask yourself, “Am I being classy?” If the answer is anything other than “yes,” you’re likely taking a route that may have short-term gains but long-term negative consequences.
You don’t want to be a low class business. You never want to leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth. You’ll almost always regret your decision later on if you go the low-class route.
Copying others’ product designs, badmouthing competitors, taking advantage of customers, overworking your team…there are just so many problems that aren’t solved but actually completely avoided by keeping it classy. Don’t make it harder on yourself by choosing the low-class option.
Successful businesses, the ones that survive the ups and downs, are built on having class. Sure, the occasional bad apple slips through and for whatever terrible reason the universe lets them succeed, but nobody actually wants to be the sleazy used car salesman. Deep down, we all want to be respected by friends, family, peers, coworkers, and customers. That doesn’t come from taking the low-class route.
Make decisions you’re proud of. Decisions that, although maybe not the easiest route, don’t leave you feeling icky at the end of the day.
Keep it classy.
