If you lead your business with love, empathy, and the ability to have free time that allows you to have quality time with friends, family and loved ones, this post is not for you. But if money, data, or analytics are the motivating factors in your life, read on because…

This is going to piss off some people and expose a polite lie we all like to tell each other.

In business, you can bucket everyone into one of these categories— customer, employee, partner, and other.

There is no “friend” category, even though we should all be nice to each other.

You have a limited amount of time, so you can’t be hopping on the phone to give free consulting all day long or meeting people in your “free time”.

Because that’s time away from your family, your health, and your business. And if it’s business, your priority is to your customers, employees, and partners.

Be careful that the giant “other” category doesn’t become such a distraction that you lose sight of your customers, employees, and partner.

I see a lot of you so enamored with trying to become an “influencer” that you forget you have a business that needs your attention.

I’m guilty of this, too, which is why I need the wake-up call once in a while, like this note, to be clear about priorities.

If someone “might” become an employee, client, or partner, it’s okay to spend time with them. But don’t fool yourself by using that as a blanket exists to squander most of your time.

If there’s no clear value, you’re just wasting your precious time.

If you find yourself wandering about, likes scrolling through the Facebook newsfeed, consider if there’s something more important you should be working on with your family, friends, health, spiritual needs, or business.

This concept just relates purely to business. Outside of business, I spend quality time with my friends (and yes, I’ve met some friends along the way who started out as business contacts first and do value them and will do anything for them), and give back to the community through free content and workshops.

These are great things to pursue outside of business but do not confuse the two and think that when you are hanging out with a friend, you are working.

What do you say?

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other organizations that have many locations. He has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs because of his partnership with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Companies like GoDaddy, Fiverr, onlinejobs.ph, 7 Figure Agency, and Vendasta partner with him to create training and certifications. Dennis created the Dollar a Day Strategy for local service businesses to enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring. He's coaching young adult agency owners who serve plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians in conjunction with leaders in these industries. Mr. Yu believes that there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers need to be certified and licensed. His Content Factory training and dashboards are used by thousands of practitioners.

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