Jason Fried Quotes
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A fixed deadline and a flexible scope are the crucial combination.
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Even companies that do big business online struggle to be noticed by Google users. The Web, after all, is home to some 120 million Internet domains and tens of billions of indexed pages. But every company, big or small, can draw more Google traffic by using search-engine optimization - SEO, for short.
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I think the story is important in every business. Why do you exist, why are you here, why is your product different, why should I pay attention, why should I care?
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When it's all about the work, it's clear who in the company is pulling their weight and who isn't.
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Selling to small businesses and selling to enterprises take two very different approaches with two very different kinds of people.
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Being a salesperson prepares you for just about everything in business: how to listen, empathize, and persuade; when to back off and when to step in; and, of course, how to close.
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The reality is, risk is variable. Those in the financial world know it.
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A lot of people relate leadership to formalities. They believe that leadership is about being professional and strong and always right and being a booming voice. I just don't buy that. I think that leadership is a soft skill; it's a people skill.
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If you care about your product, you should care just as much about how you describe it.
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Your employees have lots of opinions about everything - your strategy and vision; the state of the competition; the quality of your products; the vibe in the workplace. There are tons of things you can learn from them.
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Remind yourself that other people's jobs aren't so simple.
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When you write like everyone else and sound like everyone else and act like everyone else, you're saying, 'Our products are like everyone else's, too.'
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Great people want to work on things that matter. Inevitably, a great person working on imaginary work will turn into an unsatisfied person.
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Many of the things we do at Basecamp would be considered unusual at most companies: paying for employees' hobbies, allowing our team to work from anywhere, even footing the bill for fresh fruits and veggies in our staff members' homes.
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If working remotely is such a great idea, why isn't everyone doing it? I think it's because we've been bred on the idea that work happens from 9 to 5, in offices and cubicles. It's no wonder that most who are employed inside that model haven't considered other options, or resist the idea that it could be any different. But it can.
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If an employee can demonstrate results produced in a way that the company didn't think possible, then a new way forward can begin to take shape.
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I've run into a lot of companies that invent positions for great people just so they don't get away. But hiring people when you don't have real work for them is insulting to them and hurtful to you.
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In almost every case, cutting things back is a way of favoring what is left.
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Give your employees a shot at showing the company a new way, and provide the room for them to chalk up a few small victories. Once they've proved that their idea can work on a limited basis, they can begin to scale it up.
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When meetings are the norm - the first resort, the go-to tool to discuss, debate, and solve every problem - they no longer work.
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Whenever I speak at a conference, I try to catch a few of the other presentations. I tend to stand in the back and listen, observe, and get a general sense of the room.
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Statistics rarely drive me. Feelings, intuition, and gut instinct do.
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When time, money, and results are on the line, it's easy for tension to build.
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Meetings should be like salt - a spice sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not poured recklessly over every forkful. Too much salt destroys a dish. Too many meetings destroy morale and motivation.