“Diversifying is a good way to play it safe.”  “It doesn’t matter what you want, it only matters what your customers want.” “There’s no such thing as a safe bet.”

These are three of my favorite entries in the 53 Ways to Become a Better Entrepreneur list that serial business-owner Neil Patel posted in a Quicksprout blog entry.  (I found his work through Stumbleupon, a great app for making serendipitous discoveries on the web.)

Here are a few others that resonated with me. I’d love to hear which of the 53 are your favorites!

•Don’t let emotions cloud your decisions.

•Accept criticism, no matter who gives it to you.

•Learn from your own mistakes.

•Learn from other people’s mistakes.

•Don’t get too greedy… pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.

•Spending money on good lawyers and accountants will save you more money in the long run.

•Don’t pick a stupid company name and if you do, don’t change it later on.

•Be agile because slow and steady won’t win the race.

•Don’t be afraid of the unknown.

•It is easier to save money than it is to make it.

•You don’t always have to innovate; there is nothing wrong with copying.

•Use your email signature to promote your business.

•Don’t be afraid of social media. It is a great channel for customer acquisition.

•You’ll learn more from starting your own business, than going to business school.

Patel links to several other blog entries from this list, including one about diversifying that is entitled “How Many Cookie Jars Is Your Hand In?” that has the wonderful illustration above.

Number 9 on the list of 53 Ways to Become a Better Entrepreneur is “No matter how successful you are, you shouldn’t stop learning.”  So I’ve signed up to receive free Quicksprout updates – you might want to sign up too.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder