One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make, and I see it a lot, is not listening to input and suggestions.  Everyone has an opinion, some are good and some aren’t, but it’s important to listen to feedback because that’s what will make your business better.

You don’t have to implement every idea you hear, but some of the best ideas come from customers, partners, your friends, or random people because they come at it with a new perspective. You’re so involved in the business, it’s tough to see the forest for the trees.  At least listen to them, consider it, and then make a decision. There are a lot of smart people who know a lot more than you do.

Your mother will always love you

So many times I’ve seen people give advice to entrepreneurs and their attitude is “no thanks. I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing.”  They treat it like it’s an affront to their abilities.  If you’re not constantly getting input and feedback from people, how do you know if they like your product?  You can rely on just your own opinions, but that’s only 1 person. Your mother will always tell you that you’re a genius, so maybe that’s two opinions. Neither of which are going to help you.

Crowdsource your feedback and get a lot more out of it. Actively and often seek feedback and create a feedback loop so you can not only continually improve, but seek out new opportunities.

Just today I had someone give my unsolicited feedback on one of my videos.  I could react in one of two ways: 1) be offended or hurt that my video isn’t perfect and resent the input or 2) thank him for the suggestion on how I can improve, learn from it and take steps to improve on what I have in the future.

Continually seeking improvement with an active feedback loop is one of the keys to having an amazing product or service so put your ego aside when someone has some feedback for you.