There was a great article this weekend called The Rules of Trading. While this article is about stock trading, there is a lot in here that can be applied to running a business.
R U L E # 1
Never, ever, under any circumstance, should one add to a losing position ... not EVER!
This means, never buy more of a stock that you own and you have a loss in. For a business, this rule would be to never spend more money on something that is already losing you money. Don't send good money after bad.
R U L E # 9
Trading runs in cycles; some are good, some are bad, and there is nothing we can do about that other than accept it and act accordingly.
Business and the economy runs in cycles too. You need to prepare during the good part of the cycle for the coming bad part of the cycle. You need to have capital stored away to get through the bad times. When the bad times come, don't panic and have the patience to wait for the good times to roll around again.
R U L E # 12
In trading/investing, an understanding of mass psychology is often more important than an understanding of economics.
In the indie games industry, a lot of developers get confused between what they think is a good quality game and what sells in the market. They are making games that they like, not making games that the mass of people who buy games like. Because they don't understand the mass psychology of their market, they fail.
And the best rule of all:
R U L E # 13
Do more of that which is working and do less of that which is not.This is a simple rule in writing; this is a difficult rule to act upon. However, it synthesizes all the modest wisdom we've accumulated over thirty years of watching and trading in markets. Adding to a winning trade while cutting back on losing trades is the one true rule that holds--and it holds in life as well as in trading/investing.
This simple rule is how you can build success. Try a bunch of different things. Do more of what works and do less of what didn't work. Eventually, you will be doing mostly what is working. Note that this does require that you try doing new things occasionally (if you don't, you won't know if they work or not).
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