One Selfish Benefit For Living By the New Rules of Entrepreneurship

So after publishing my rough draft of the New Rules of Entrepreneurship, I thought I might have left out something substantial — the benefits.

I probably didn’t include them in the original draft, simply because I feel the rules are our responsibility, you know, the one about being decent human beings, regardless of the benefits.

But although I don’t think these rules should be mandatory, I do think it’s good to state the compelling benefits of doing business by the rules.

(By the way, I just added this to the conclusion in the draft of the New Rules, which you can help shape and edit here.)

So here’s what you do ….

• Play and live by the rules. (It’s also just being a decent human being by the way.)
• Don’t take or settle for less.
• Always associate yourself with those who do and act the same. (In fact, demand it.)
• And guess what … you will attract quality people into your business and life. 

Do good and right by people consistently, and you will attract quality team members, partners and, yes, customers. 

That’s the big, huge, enormous benefit. I’ve seen it happen. Over and over and over again.

Why will you attract quality people simply doing what’s right?

Because doing right and good, caring and serving others instills trust, respect and loyalty. 

And we are all attracted to people we can trust and who we respect.

Team members want to work for those who have values and live by them. Think about it: Do you want to work for a jerk or scumbag? Quite the opposite, we’re drawn like magnets to people and companies who have similar values.

(Sidebar: The New Rules is actually one of the best pieces of recruiting advice I could for your business. I know it’s the primary reason I’ve been lucky/blessed to work with the amazing people we have at iThemes. And it’s the reason why people continue to want to be a part of our team.)

Partners want to do business with you because you can be trusted to deliver on the promises you make. And that after you make an agreement, you’re not out there trying to undercut them somehow.

(Sidebar: This is the reason why I count some of the business friends and partners I have met as some of the best friends I have in LIFE. There are too many to name here and they know who they are.)

Customers want to know you believe in something, that you stand for something, and that at the basic level, you’ll do what you say you’ll do for them too.

Good, quality people are drawn to other good, quality people because we’re playing with the same rulebook that says we respect and value each other. We want the best for each other.