When customers walk into your business, the first thing they are seeing is the reception area, more notably the reception desk. What if your reception desk is dirty, or there are papers scattered about? Well, then customers may not want to do business with you.

This brings me back to something my old college buddy, Rick Thomas, used to say: “You can’t find success, you have to create it for yourself.” And it’s really true, a cluttered reception counter can be misleading to customers, yes, but they don’t know that your business is not also “cluttered”. You can’t expect people to know what you’re thinking, you have to make them know what you’re thinking. You do that by having a nice reception area.

Did I mention that Rick is now making nearly 7 figures a year? It’s true. The way this guy started out though, I’m not surprised at all. I went to visit Rick very early on in his career. He worked for a very small firm at the time, but he had his own receptionist. We were going out to get some lunch and the last thing he told his receptionist before he left was, “Make sure to tidy up your reception counters before you leave.” Doesn’t sound too strange, right? What is strange is that “the area” that he wanted “tidied up” had only a few papers scattered around. It was nothing too big. But Rick saw it as a problem.

I know what you’re thinking. “This guy Rick sounds like a real obsessive compulsive crazy person.” I can tell you, he wasn’t. In fact, Rick Thomas may be the most sane and logical human being I know. And right now, Rick is out there making tons of money while you’re leaving your reception desk dirty and making the same amount you’ve made for the past few years. What have you got to lose? Just give it a shot. Maybe you’ll make more money, maybe you won’t, but chances are you will. Rick Thomas did.

So, go out there. Keep that reception desk clean. And create success for yourself.

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