10 People Who Will Destroy Your Business

1. The siren.
Sirens are those amazing and enticing people who come
into your business and completely distract you. More
than anyone else, these people have a way of stealing
your focus and throwing your efforts off track.
A lot of promising futures have been sacrificed to sirens.
Some people have sold their businesses for way less
than they are worth and others have given up on their
businesses to chase a get-rich-quick scheme than some
sirens pitched them. Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t
let an amazing person make you forget that you and
your business have something amazing to offer the
world, too.
2. The goat.
Goats are those wildly charismatic, big-talking and full-
of-luck people who seem to get away with everything.
These people have many strengths.
The problem is that they use their strengths in devious
ways. Goats have little ambition beyond convincing
others to make bad decisions. If you find yourself
constantly making bad business decisions every time
you’re around someone in particular, it’s time to cut that
person out of your business.
3. The elephant.
An elephant never forgets. Elephants are those people in
your business who never let you live down past
mistakes. They never let you live down who you used to
be or how many times you’ve messed up.
Don’t let an elephant pull you back into the past.
Everyone fails, especially entrepreneurs. If you’ve failed,
it means you’ve learned. So stay on track and keep
moving forward.
4. The hater.
Haters are people who want to be on top but don’t want
to work to get there. Instead, they want to push everyone
else around them down so it will seem like they’re on
top.
Haters are losers but they also can serve as a source of
motivation in a strange way. Don’t let haters into your
business but use them as motivation to make your
business as strong as possible.
Related: When Workplace 'Slackers' Derail the Cohesion
of a Team
5. The narcissist.
Narcissists are talented people who are too consumed
with themselves to take action. They’re especially bad at
taking team-oriented action.
A narcissist might even encourage you to put the image
of your business over its reputation. This is always bad
idea. When starting a business, it’s best to be
transparent and authentic. Don’t try to make things seem
bigger than they are and avoid trying to be something
you’re not. Instead, be real. Keep narcissists out of your
startup and stay focused on your reputation, not your
image.
6. The nemesis.
When you’re starting a business, sometimes you’ll have
to work with someone whom you can’t stand and who
can’t stand you. If you’re not careful, this can become a
major distraction.
Try to realize that what you don’t like about a nemesis is
probably something you don’t like about yourself or it’s
something that you like too much about yourself. Either
way, something is at odds with your identity and the only
way to fix it is to turn the mirror on yourself, not the
nemesis.
Your adversary can be your advisor in a way. If you
bring a nemesis into your startup, use this person to
learn about yourself. Once you do this, he or she won’t
be your nemesis anymore.
7. The Ares.
Ares is the Greek god of war. Ares-type people love
conflict. They are addicted to drama and winning at all
costs, even if there’s nothing to be won. Any time spent
trying to correct or even understand an Ares is a waste
of time. You are better off ignoring these people and
keeping them out of your business altogether.
8. The Dionysus.
Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, parties and pleasure.
Dionysus sorts are pleasure seekers who have very little
patience for anything other than instant gratification.
Be careful when letting these people into your business
because base pleasure of any kind is both addictive and
time-consuming. It’s important to have friends and have
fun, but you should never sacrifice your startup to a
string of late nights.
9. The black cat.
Some people can walk into a business and light it up.
Others walk in and kill it. Black cats are the latter. They
are the people who seem to have a dark cloud following
them everywhere they go.
These people are unlucky, negative and always
depressed. Don’t feel bad for these people. Odds are,
they like sitting in the pits. They like the attention it gives
them. So, let them sit. Just make sure they’re sitting
outside your business.
10. The fat cat.
Fat cats are those people who will come into your
business, throw a bunch of money around and offer you
the world. Whether these people are angel investors or
venture capitalists from top firms, don’t let their flash or
their cash distract you from the fact that they want to
control your company and make money off you.
Be very careful with whom give your business to. You
didn’t work this hard to watch your brand and reputation
go down in flames at the paws of some fat cat who is
now calling the shots.