Nathan Neil on the Four Agreements on Entrepreneurship

I’ve been an entrepreneur in some fashion over the last fifteen years, and one book that has been the cornerstone of my journey is “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. I keep this book on my dresser and read through it frequently because of the four agreements that are discussed. These four agreements are so useful as we’re building a foundation mentally for entrepreneurship. Let’s go over these Four Agreements together.

Don’t Make Assumptions

I’ve even written my own books, expanding on some of these agreements discussed in the book. In my book “Can We Fly Perseverance and the Entrepreneurial Spirit,” I quoted William Faulkner, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you dare to lose sight of the shore,” which marries up to the agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz. This is in terms of don’t make assumptions.

In the book, he mentions that those who find the courage to ask questions, express what they want, communicate with others very clearly, and create a life with much less drama can agree not to make assumptions and find out for themselves what puts you on a good path. Another parallel from this I drew, and that same book I wrote, was about the Wright brothers and their building of the first aircraft in the United States; everybody didn’t think that they could take flight, but after multiple attempts, they did, and we found out that men could fly.

Be Impeccable With Your Word

I find a lot of value in this book. The first one is relatively easy, but maybe you’re missing it: the book teaches us to speak with integrity when talking with clients and prospects. To say what we mean and mean what we say. We use the power of our word to direct our customers and our employees to do what we would like them to do. This also is very important when you’re setting expectations for a new customer; if you promise them that this will change how their business works, you promise them that they will generate a lot of sales from it. You don’t; you can’t get that trust back, so meaning what you say and saying what you mean and being impeccable with your word is one of the core building blocks of Entrepreneurship, at least for those who want to approach it from a solid moral footing.

Don’t Take Anything Personally

One of the other things that’s talked about in that book that I struggle with is not taking anything personally; you have to remember that you’re in business, and when you’re in business, people have to make decisions that are best for their business.

We get upset when others say things about our service, but what we have to do is look at it objectively, don’t get too personally attached to it, find out if we did make mistakes, and if we do, find out how to correct them so they don’t happen again. If there are no mistakes, don’t take it personally; it is just that person’s business decision. Going back to not making assumptions, ask the essential questions. Don’t leave any question unasked, and just following this one agreement can completely change your life, and it’s like that with all four.

Always Do Your Greatest

The final agreement is to always do your best. That’s pretty self-explanatory. Do whatever you can to ensure that you do the best possible job. When you take all these things together, you have not only a framework for entrepreneurship to launch your own business but also a moral footing to ensure that you’re in business for the right reasons, doing things to help people.

Now You Can Fly

Throughout my journey, I’ve started many companies, one of which is LaunchUX, a website and development firm. The lessons in this book can play out daily, and it’s how I react that determines the response and how it impacts our company. Website development is a highly competitive field, and to be highly competitive, we find that following The Four Agreements sets the stage for the service that we provide, and it can set the stage for you, too.