Page 183 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

The Curse of Assumption (COA)
When reviewing the book before publication I realised how many times I quote this and how important it is to take ‘Curse of Assumption’ out of all parts of personal and business life.
Never assume anything in business or you will come unstuck. If you assume or make decisions on assumption, often it comes back to bite you. COA (Curse of Assumption) will cost you money, and mistakes will happen.
Examples of COA:
Don’t assume that the supplier won’t give a discount – ask!
Never assume that the vendor won’t take your cash price for their property.
Never ever assume that the verbal communication was understood, especially in contracting – confirm in writing. Putting things in writing to prevent the COA is the biggy, and applying this rule will save you a lot of time and money.
In January 2016, I had to speak to the Solatube Licensee Network at a conference in Cancun, Mexico. During my talk there were some great ideas coming from the audience, and I said, ‘Give that person a chocolate fish.’ Afterwards, one guy asked what chocolate fish were. And another asked what KPIs are. Never assume.
I had a male hairdresser who often moaned about everything. I said, ‘You are too cheap. You need to put your prices up.’ He said that people wouldn’t pay a higher price. We argued this for years. At one appointment, to my shocked surprise, there was a notice saying that
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