Epic Gazette

Epic App Solutions has been around for about 25 years. One of the reasons we are still here is simple: I do not listen to everybody.

That does not mean I think I know everything. I do not. Anybody who owns a company and thinks they know everything is already in trouble.

There are parts of my business I understand extremely well because I have spent decades learning them. There are other parts I deliberately hand to people who understand them better than I do.

Ownership means knowing enough to understand what is happening, putting the right people in the right places, and not letting everybody with an opinion steer the ship.

If somebody calls me and says, “Hey, I need you to write this check,” my answer may be: nope. Wrong person.

“But you own the company.” Correct. And that is exactly why I built systems and put other people in charge of things they are better qualified to handle.

If I personally have to approve every check, every code change, every contract, every design, every purchase, and every decision, then I have not built a company. I have built myself a very complicated job.

The owner should not be the accountant, attorney, programmer, project manager, salesperson, marketing department, HR department, janitor, and final authority on every subject.

That is not leadership. That is a bottleneck.

I will listen. I will learn. Then I decide whether that opinion actually belongs in the room.

There is a difference between being stubborn and having a filter. After 25 years, I have a pretty good filter.

Everybody has business advice. Everybody.

Your customers have opinions. Your employees have opinions. Your family has opinions. Your friends have opinions.

The person who has never owned a business has a surprising number of opinions about how you should operate yours.

That does not mean those people are stupid. It means not every opinion deserves the same weight.

If my attorney tells me something about a contract, I listen. If my accountant tells me something about taxes, I listen. If an experienced developer tells me why a system is going to break, I listen.

Sometimes the people closest to you give terrible business advice because they are thinking about you, not the business.

Sometimes a business owner has to say no. Sometimes a customer is wrong. Sometimes an employee is wrong. Sometimes you are wrong.

The goal is not to become arrogant. The goal is to understand who actually knows what they are talking about.

Hire people smarter than you. Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Listen to experienced people. Then make the decision.

People hear the word “owner” and imagine somebody sitting behind a desk with absolute authority over everything.

Technically, an owner may have enormous authority. Practically, using that authority constantly is one of the fastest ways to destroy a functioning organization.

I own part of Epic App Solutions. That does not mean I should walk into every part of the company and override everybody because my name is attached to it.

If your finance person has controls around spending, follow them. If your development team has a deployment process, follow it. If your project director owns a project, respect the structure.

Once employees learn that the rules only matter until the boss wants something different, the rules stop meaning anything.

“Because I own the company” is not a technical argument. It is not an accounting principle. It is not a security policy. It is not a deployment plan. It is not a legal opinion.

Ownership gives you responsibility. It should not automatically give you permission to ignore the system.

Here is an easy way to find out who your real friends are after you own a business: watch how they behave when they walk through the door.

A friend should want your business to succeed. They should want your employees treated well, your customers happy, and the business profitable.

What they should not do is constantly show up looking for free stuff because they know the owner.

That is not friendship. That is access.

“Come on, hook me up.” “Put it on your tab.” “We brought everybody. Take care of us.”

Your employees are working. Your customers are paying. The electric company is not giving you a friendship discount. Your vendors still send invoices.

The problem starts when someone expects the freebie.

A real friend should probably be one of your best customers. They should tip. They should clean up. They should treat your staff well. They should recommend the business.

If somebody comes into your business, annoys paying customers, creates extra work for employees, acts like a wise ass because they know you, and then wants everything free, they are not supporting you. They are costing you.

Business owners spend enormous amounts of time worrying about branding: logos, websites, advertising, signs, social media, photography, and marketing campaigns.

Then somebody they know walks through the door and destroys the atmosphere in ten minutes.

Your customer does not always know who works there and who does not. They only know what they experienced.

If somebody is sitting at the counter getting loud, insulting people, demanding free drinks, arguing with staff, or acting like they own the place, customers may assume that person represents the business.

The same thing happens online. Sometimes the people trying hardest to “defend” their friend’s company make the company look worse.

Spend money there. Recommend them. Treat employees well. Bring good people.

If there is an event, help make the event better for everybody. Do not show up and make yourself the event.

You do not get permission to behave badly because you know the owner. You should probably behave better because you know the owner.

You are making their job harder. Eventually, successful business owners learn that sometimes you have to remove people from around your business even when those people call themselves friends.