Business Rules of Thumb
Filed in archive Management by Gregory Boop on March 12, 2008
Give advice to your children while they're young enough to believe you know what you're talking about. - Unattributed

Business rules of thumb can be immensely helpful for quick business analysis. During negotiations I frequently fall back on rules I have learned. Rules of thumb are those unscientific standards to apply as an estimate in any given situation. For example, going into business for yourself a good rule of thumb is to plan for 30 - 35% of your gross to be attributed to federal, state and local taxes, self-employment taxes and other taxes (adjusted by where you live). Or, the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) worked up in different ways such as: 20% of your customers create 80% of your income.
The other day I found the Business Rules of Thumb Wiki. It is entertaining, useful and allows you to contribute your own rule of thumb to share with the community. Some of my favorites:
- Rather than telling an associate, "You look good in that suit," tell the person, "That suit looks good on you." - Dale Carneigie
- A bad reference is as hard to find as a good employee. - Robert Half
These may be more quotes than rules, but you get the point. The site is driven by PBWiki an open source wiki/collaboration application. PBWiki is coming out with version 2.0 soon and you can read a bit about the application at the blog. Of course, my roaming did not cease after exploring PBWiki. If you are interested in creating a collaborative site for your business or group take a look at this post which does an excellent job comparing PBWiki, Wikispaces and the soon to come Google Spaces.
Finally, Widgetbox has a Rule of Thumb Daily Quote Widget by printedowl.com if you are in the mood for a rule a day.
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