Don't build other people's boat docks (unless that's your business)

A great lesson I learned from my father, who has been an entrepreneur his whole life (as a farmer, among other things), relates to staying focused on your core business.

We had put in a RV park one summer, as he was starting to find a way to transition out of farming. One of the tasks was to put in a fishing pier in the lake so that the campers could enjoy a day of fishing. He had the extra farm labor so he saved the $20K by doing himself.

He put in an extremely well built and beautiful pier, but the work was hot and messy (southern summers). Toward the end, someone else who had a house on the lake came up and starting asking my father about his work. At the end of the conversation he began badgering him about building a pier for his home and how much would my dad charge.

My dad kept insisting that he didn't do this for a living, but the guy insisted. So eventually my father said that he would be glad to build him a pier for $50K. The guy exclaimed, "Everyone else charges $20K."

My father's reply, "Look I told you I'm not in the business of building piers, but for you I'll do it for $50K." That was the last he had to hear about it.

His point, if you are going to go off task, make it totally worth your while, unless you want to be building another person's business while neglecting your own.