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The Best Business Advice I Ever Got

The Best Business Advice I Ever Got

Sep 28, 2009 -

I've gotten a lot of good business advice over the years, but a simple phrase from my first boss, Jonathan Morgan, takes the cake:


"Make it happen."


Jonathan didn't share this phrase as advice, of course--he shared it as a marching order.  But it's still the best business advice I've ever received.


Because "making it happen" is ultimately what success in business is all about.


Successful startups, for example, make something out of nothing--products, productivity, and jobs, where before there was only air.


To do that, they have to overcome obstacles that kill their lesser brethren.  They have to fight inertia and fear.  They have to press on when it would be easier to give up.  They have to figure out how to use limited money, materials, and ideas to solve real problems--and they have to do it better and faster than established competitors.


They have to, in short, make it happen.


And the same can be said for all businesses and businesspeople.


"Make it happen," of course, is mostly a mindset.


It is a mindset that says "I don't know what the future holds and what trouble will come, but I have the resources, creativity, and authority to get the job done.


"I won't get discouraged.  I won't listen to the voices--my own included--telling me it can't be done.  I won't take no for an answer.  Come hell or high water, I'll make it happen."


So, as my old boss Jonathan would say, stop obsessing about the thousand reasons why you and your business probably won't be able to do something or shouldn't be expected to do something or really don't want to do something...


Just make it happen.


Tags: advice, henry blodget, the business insider

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Article Comments (1)

  • CEO

    (Sep 28, 2009)
    This is by far, the best advice to give, though I strongly suspect it can't be given, it has to come from within. In my own start-up I must utter this phrase 5X a day: "If I don't get to this, make this call, finish this agreement, close this deal, or proof this landing page, nothing happens." This isn't to say the larger team plays a huge role, of course they do. But it does reflect the unique circumstances an entrepreneur finds themselves in. This simple phrase is the fuel of my day. No doubt about it. Thanks for sharing Henry. Paul @fanminder.com.

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Henry Blodget

CEO/Editor in Chief

(The Business Insider)

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