When Success is The Source of Failure

A friend's business is struggling. He worked very hard to build the business. When the business was doing well, he bought nice cars, investment properties and goes on expensive holiday. I was a bit jealous of him and that also inspired me to start my own business. I learned from his staff that when the business was doing well, my friend begins to enjoy the good life. He does not go back to the office as regularly. The deals that he won are a fraction of what he used to make. Most of his time is spend on low margin, low price business. He would claim his personal meal and travel expenses as business expenses. This drove up the company operation cost. The first few years, the business was able to absorb such unnecessary cost. Given that my friend's heart is not with the business anymore, the business has lost most of its key customers. This is an important lesson that I keep reminding myself. When I begin to taste small victory, I sometimes find myself not worked as hard. I thought I…