OK, so in business today we are taught all sorts of ways to communicate… You can do this in social media but not in person. You can raise your voice in conversation but don’t ever use all caps in an email. It really seems like the rules and exceptions of business etiquette never end… Well I am here to tell you that they are all a bunch of silliness and in my opinion unnecessary…

Yep, the dog trainer is gonna stick his flag in the ground on this topic of business etiquette and tell you there is only one rule “Keep it Simple Stupid” Now trust me there are a few things that fall under that rule but they all follow the KISS principle… Ironically they are also the same things I teach dog owners everyday….

  • Before you speak consider what it is the other person wants… When training dogs I tell owners your first goal should be to convince Fido to look at life from the standpoint of “what will make mom and dad happy”? If the dog makes mom and dad happy then the dog ends up happy because he will get what he wants… In other words if you consider others more than yourself in conversation I think we can safely assume that your business etiquette is good…

  • Always say please… Another thing I stress with dog owners is that dogs should always say please before getting or requesting anything… I actually teach this by using “sit” as the way a dog can say please. The fact is if we all learned a little impulse control, and requested things with a please rather than simply demanding things our business etiquette would be better as well.

  • Something I do not talk about much in my dog training or my blog is the idea of Buddhism… It is something that can help shed light on this conversation as well… So I share the following three ideas with you not with the idea of conversion but to help with the ideas of; business conversations, dog training and even with the ordering of a “Big Mac & Fries” 

  • Pretty Simple Just Remember 3 Things:

1.       Is it True
2.       Is it Kind
3.       Is it Necessary


In many aspects of our life we can answer yes in two out of three but rarely all three. I guess our Mom’s were right if you don’t have something nice to say… Don’t say anything at all… 

In full disclosure I still struggle mightily with this topic and by no means want to come across as being good at it. It is a battle I fight daily, I can only hope to pause before I speak think of these things and get better every day…..

But I do promise that the work you put into these ideas will not only make you a better Dog Trainer but also a better business owner and person as well!

Good Luck

Mike

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