By James Altucher an investor, programmer, author, and several-times entrepreneur. His latest book, “Choose Yourself!” (foreword by Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter) came out on June 3. Follow him on Twitter @jaltucher.

This is going be a bullet FAQ on starting a business. No joke. If you’re a lawyer, feel free to disagree with me, so you can charge someone your BS fees to give the same advice. If you can think of anything to add, please do so. I might be missing things. If you want to argue with me, feel free. I might be wrong on any of the items below.

There are many types of business. Depending on your business, some of these won’t apply. All of these questions come from questions I’ve been asked.

The rules are: I’m going to give no explanations. Just listen to me.

Work on your business NOT in your business.
By Anonymous (with a little editing from Eric Gilboord)

At an International lumberjack competition two finalists were chosen, a Canadian and a Norwegian. As a final task they were each given an equal sized parcel of forest to clear in eight hours, armed only with their axe.

Whoever cleared the greatest amount of forest would be declared the winner. At 8 AM sharp the horn sounded and the two lumberjacks began chopping. They seemed equally matched, going stroke for stroke, until at 8:50 the Canadian heard the Norwegian stop. So he kept going, eager to gain an advantage.

At 9 AM the Norwegian resumed and again they were matched stroke for stroke, until at 9:50 the Norwegian stopped. Seizing the opportunity, the Canadian kept going, until the Norwegian began again at 10 AM. This happened throughout the day, with the Norwegian stopping at ten minutes 'til the hour until resuming on the hour. 

When the horn sounded to end the competition, the Canadian was brimming with confidence, certain that he had won, only to be devastated when he heard the Norwegian had beaten him.

"How is that possible," he asked the Norwegian. "Every hour you stopped for ten minutes. It's not possible that you could have chopped more wood than I did."

The Norwegian looked at the puzzled Canadian, smiled and responded, "every time I stopped, I was simply sharpening my axe. And you kept making yours duller" Every stroke he took was deeper and he needed less strokes to knock the trees down.

So Eric what does this have to do with me? 

You should ask yourself - Are you so busy cutting the forest (working in your business) that you don't stop regularly to breathe, take a rest and sharpen your blade (work on your business).  Now if you're like many entrepreneurs who need permission to stop working here you go. Stop working in your business.