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The biggest danger on the planet is overconfidence.

͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

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The biggest danger on the planet is overconfidence.

Brent Milne

Jul 31

READ IN APP

man in white crew neck t-shirt wearing black framed eyeglasses

Actually, overconfident people.

Because they believe that they are right, always.

Higher education is supposed to teach you how to think, but it’s currently more likely to teach you what to think.

And that is a problem because a person with an education is likely to be in a position of power, influence, or both.

And that can lead to significant overconfidence.

Honestly, it has little to with online business unless you follow a guru who is is full of their own importance.

Which reminds me of an experience I had in my early days.

I was on the email list of a person called Mr X.

He had apparently made a lot of money for a T-Shirt company with his Google ads, and I wanted to learn how.

I set up my first campaign, following his instructions, and had a disappointing result in the first week.

So, I emailed him, told him that of the 200 keywords I had listed only 1 got any traffic.

His response was to rip into me for only having 1 keyword.

He hadn’t read my email, so he responded badly.

I never emailed him again, and I unsubscribed from his email list.

He qualifies as a supremely overconfident person in my book.

No doubt you have either had or heard of people having similar experiences.

That experience set my efforts back considerably as you can no doubt imagine.

That’s why I will always respond to emails with kindness even if the question or statement doesn’t really deserve it.

I’m not assuming that anyone reading this is overconfident, but there is one guaranteed way to ensure that you don’t fall foul of that unwelcome badge.

Question the statements, look for opposing view points.

Then decide for yourself.

Remember lies do not become true with repetition.

I want to hear your opinion on this.

Regards,
Brent.

July 30, 2026July 31, 2026

Observations

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Observations

Brent Milne

Jul 30

READ IN APP

Over many years of working, running a business, and talking with business people I have developed a different approach.

Most people will tell you the customer is always right.

And that is often true, so you should listen to them.

But, they are also rude, arrogant, misinformed, obnoxious, and wrong.

One business I dealt with had a button on their cash register labeled ET.

I asked the boss about that button and he explained that it added 10% to any sale.

He called it Entertainment Tax.

It was reserved for those customers who were difficult.

I love that.

When I ran my own service business I was often asked by new customers for a First Timer discount.

Usually phrased as – In the interest of future business.

My response was always, yes, definitely.

I’ll take 10% of this bill off the next one, in the interest of future business.

Most customers are great people and appreciate the service you supply.

Some will drive you to distraction, won’t pay on time, and generally make your life difficult.

I learnt to fire them.

I worked out that I didn’t need everybody to be a customer.

I wanted good people as customers.

So, I sacked the bad ones, and ramped up the service to the good ones.

You can do the same online.

It’s your list, and they stay at your pleasure.

I’m putting together a collection of observations like this to help you navigate business more smoothly.

Some you’ll like, some you won’t.

These are my observations, not rules, just guidelines that I’ve found helpful.

At some point these observations will be collected into a book I’m calling Field Notes.

Look for that.

Regards,
Brent.

Sugar Puff

Posts

301979 is your Substack verification code

919199 is your Substack verification code

281233 is your Substack verification code

856608 is your Substack verification code

458626 is your Substack verification code

776159 is your Substack verification code

446238 is your Substack verification code

464096 is your Substack verification code

The biggest danger on the planet is overconfidence.

The biggest danger on the planet is overconfidence.

Observations

Observations