Why You Should Always Grab Your Own Darn Coffee (& 3 Other Things That I've Learned About Business!) ♥

Now sure, I'm no Donald Trump, and sure, I DID just drop a forkful of two-minute noodles into my lap (gulp!), but that doesn't mean that I haven't learned a pointer or two about business, now does it?! (Answer: no!) Yes, it does make me a fool who can't use a fork properly, but oh, you didn't come here for THAT revelation, now did you?! (Or did you?!)

From eternally backing yourself to always grabbing your own darn coffee, here's four tips and tricks that I've learned about business over the years, and I would love to hear your personal pearls of wisdom! (Unless one of them is ''Corrine, you will never impress anyone with noodles on your lap'', because oh, I KNOW!)

1. Be Nice To EVERYONE

The delivery man! The cleaners! Everyone! Actually, maybe I should clarify my stance on ''everyone''. That unpleasant person in Accounts who never has a friendly word to say about anyone or anything? You don't have to sit outside in the sun having lunch with them every single day, but it's still a fine idea to smile and be as polite as you possibly can towards them. Yes, they're potentially as (un!)delightful to be around as a suede boot in a rain storm, but you never know when you might need a helping hand from someone (even the most unlikely of people), burning bridges rarely benefits ANYONE, and even if it makes me sound fruitier than a bag of mandarins (or, uh, like an idiot!), I'm an enormous believer in karma. You can't always pick your colleagues and sometimes life flings some questionable cards in our direction, but playing the cards that we're dealt with as gracefully and optimistically as we can is SO much more rewarding long-term than carrying on like a pork chop and emersing yourself in their nonsense.

2. Always Grab Your Own Darn Coffee

This is a piece of advice that my father gave me, which, while it used to make me think ''huh. That's interesting!'' as a child, I never fully understood the importance of his sentiment until years later as an employee. He had served as a General Manager for a NUMBER of companies, but was still adamant that it didn't matter how highly you ranked: you were never too important or busy to grab your own darn coffee!

Okay, so if your best friend in Advertising is going to pick up her morning latte` and offers to pick up yours too, that's hardly an offensive task, right? Right. But if the only words uttered to your receptionist each day are ''I'll have a decaffeinated coffee with skim milk, thanks'', well, that's just kind of demeaning and shoddy. Pick up your own darn coffee, or, for extra excellence points, pick up your own coffee and everyone else's - your staff will respect you so much more!

3. When It Comes To Money, Don't Bat An Eyelid

Fact: I have a useless pokerface. I realised this while playing poker one evening and somebody said to me ''jeez Corrine, you have a useless pokerface!'' But, I digress.

One of my earliest lessons in business was remaining unflappable in the face of money, which was taught to me by one of my first managers. He knew that I was about to meet with someone senior to discuss a promotion and salary offer, and knowing that I had only recently finished high school and was used to hourly rates (and fairly minimal pay), had the inkling that I would be undeniably a little TOO excited about this proposal. And boy, was he correct! In fact, had he not advised me to act somewhat indifferent and seemingly unphased when discussing salaries, I probably would have started squealing and cartwheeling around the office at their first offer. Not wise. If you fall over yourself at somebody's first offer, why would they make you a second offer? Don't settle for $60,000 if you know that you're worth $65,000! It's also an incredibly useful tidbit to remember when you're hawking your own products: if you were an artist and somebody offered you $3,000 for one of your paintings and you looked at them incredulously and started laughing uncontrollably, how likely is it that they would invest in one of your pieces? Always act as though you're worth what you're being offered, because you are! Which brings me to my final piece of advice..

4. Always Back Yourself

I mean, look at you! Wow-WEE! How could you not be impressed?! Why wouldn't you feel confident in selling all that?!

Whether you're flogging your business, a product or yourself in an interview, ALWAYS back yourself and whatever you're trying to ''sell''. People can sniff a lack of confidence a mile away and honestly, if YOU don't believe that the rainbow coloured cravats that you're designing are spectacular, why would anyone else? You have a HECK of a lot to be proud of, so for goodness sake, reflect that in your attitude, posture and speech!

♥

xoxo