When I went into business many years ago, I told people I owned an envelope company. I had business cards printed that identified me as an "envelope salesman." I described myself as an entrepreneur.

All of those facts are still true, but incomplete. What I and our company really do is provide customer service.

Well sure, Harvey, you say. But isn't that just a part of the whole operation?

Absolutely, positively, irrefutably, NO. I am in the service business, regardless of the product I make and sell. If my service is lacking, my business will be sent packing.

To validate my thinking, I recently visited with John Tschohl, president of the Service Quality Institute. John has spent 33 years focused on customer service. He has written hundreds of articles, as well as seven books on the topic. You've probably heard him interviewed on television or radio. He has been called the "guru of customer service" by USA Today and Time and Entrepreneur magazines.

Even the most successful companies are in constant competition for business. What sets them apart often boils down to one factor: outstanding customer service. John offered up some stellar advice for creating a service culture, no matter what business you're in.

First, you've got to understand you're in the service business. "Most companies think they are in manufacturing and retail; airlines don't know they are in the service business," he said. "Southwest Airlines is successful because they understand they're a customer service company -- they just happen to be an airline."

Second, you have to look at all the policies, procedures and systems you have in place "that make life miserable for customers," John said. "You could have the nicest people in the world, but you could have stupid hours, stupid rules, stupid procedures, that just burn the customer." When you make it that difficult for customers to patronize you, they find someone else who is more accommodating.

Third, you have to have empowerment. "Every single person has to be able to make fast power decisions on the spot, and it better be in favor of the customer," John said.

Fourth, you have to be more careful about whom you hire. "The service leaders hire one person out of 50 interviewed, sometimes one out of 100, but they're very, very, very careful," he said. "Look for the cream, the A players, instead of bringing on B and C players."

Fifth, educate and train the entire staff on the art of customer service with something new and fresh every four to six months. "Let's say you want to create the service culture. No matter if you have a hundred or a thousand or a hundred thousand employees, you better have something new and fresh, so it's constantly in front of them," John said. "So when they wake up every day and they go to work, they say, 'Fantastic, I'm taking care of customers!'"

Finally, measure the results financially so that you know the impact it's making on revenue, sales, profit and market share.

Everything you do, according to John, should be built around the concept of creating an incredible customer experience. He cites Amazon as one of his favorite role models.

"At Amazon, they've got technology, speed, price," says John. "They've got everything. If I'm on their website and I want them to call me, they're going to call me back in one second. That's speed. When you place an order, you can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And 60 seconds later, you get a confirmation."

I realize Amazon is in a class by itself, and most businesses aren't ever going to achieve the growth or profits of that gargantuan company. But John's advice can be translated to companies of any size. A one-person shop can provide great service because it often has personal contact with its customers. Bigger companies have more resources available, which should enhance the service experience.

Perhaps the simplest way of creating a service culture is a variation of the golden rule: Treat your customers as you wish to be treated.

Make your customers excited that you're in business. Make them grateful that they have the opportunity to buy your services or products. Make them feel like each one is your most important client. Make your service so outstanding that they wouldn't think of doing business with anyone else.

And then find a way to make your service even better!

Mackay's Moral: Customer service is not a department; it's everyone's job.

Watching the Academy Awards is like the Super Bowl for me. I never miss them, and that's not just because I have a son who is a film director in Hollywood. I just love to go to the movies.

From a business standpoint, the three most important lessons that were presented at this year's Oscars were delivered by one individual -- Ben Affleck. Make that four, because he also talked about how you have to continue to work at having a strong marriage. Fortunately, that's how I feel about my marriage too, so I can second his opinion.

Affleck offered life lessons, to be sure, but every business can benefit from them as well.

This also goes for business partnerships. They take work to keep them thriving. You can't just go through the motions and assume everything will be OK.

The next great business lesson that Ben Affleck touched on was the importance of mentoring and developing a network. You might recall he said, "I never thought I would be back here, but I am because of so many wonderful people who extended themselves to me, who had nothing to benefit from it."

Affleck was referring to winning his first Academy Award in 1997 for best original screenplay for "Good Will Hunting," which he shared with Matt Damon. Over the years, he has reached out to a lot of people in Hollywood to help him learn the movie business and advance his career. Members of the academy were able and willing to help him, even though he wasn't necessarily in a position to reciprocate.

I call that reciprocity without keeping score. Simply stated: What can I do for you without expecting anything in return? No quid pro quo. If you live your life this way, two magical things will happen:

1. Over time, people will find ways to do remarkable and unexpected things for you that make your life easier.

2. When you're knocked down for some reason, you are likely to find the most astonishing human network of support you could ever imagine.

Affleck's next business lesson was: "You have to work harder than you think you possibly can." Success comes before work only in the dictionary. Hard work is not a bad thing. Sure, natural talent can make a big difference, but you still have to work hard at your craft.

Show me a .300 hitter in Major League Baseball, and I'll show you someone who bangs the ball until his hands bleed trying to keep his swing honed. Ask any surgeon about how much sleep he or she got for the eight to 10 years it took to get through medical school, internship and residency. Both these gigs take more than magic hands. They take lots of hard, hard work.

The next Affleck lesson was: "You can't hold grudges." Carrying grudges can be a heavy load. Just the thought of past pain pulls your energy down. Forgiveness is how you free yourself. You release your anger. You move forward. And you lighten up.

You will never get ahead of anyone as long as you are trying to get even. If you do get even with someone, you have put yourself on his or her level.

Affleck closed his Academy Award acceptance speech with his final business lesson -- and possibly the most important -- when he said, "It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life because that's going to happen. All that matters is that you gotta get up."

Trying times are no time to quit trying. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it; so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many people have thrown up their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success?

In business, prospects may seem darkest when really they are about to turn. A little more perseverance, a little more effort and what seemed a hopeless failure may turn into a glorious success -- like Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning best picture "Argo." It is perhaps more than a coincidence that the storyline for "Argo" also echoed many of these lessons. If you haven't seen this film, treat yourself to this deserving winner.

Mackay's Moral: Failure is not falling down but staying down.

Follow the leader. It's more than just a child's game; it's a fundamental skill in business.

John Maxwell is one of the most respected experts in the field of leadership. He's written more than 70 books, most of which focus on leadership. Many have graced the New York Times best-seller list.

You may have heard John preach on the Hour of Power broadcasts from the Crystal Cathedral. John's clients range from a National Football League team to West Point and a Fortune 500 company. More than 100,000 people listen to him every month and are members of the Maximum Impact Club. He's the source of countless quotes that inspire the lives of millions of people.

John Maxwell offered up so many golden nuggets when I recently interviewed him that I want to share some of them with you.

John warns: "Too often we get to the top of the mountain and say, 'Here we are as leaders. Come up here and join me.' We don't understand that you've got to go to where the people are.

"The first responsibility of a leader is to find out where people are and connect with them. Then when you connect with them, you can relate to them, and you can move them."

Relationships are the foundation of leadership. You have to develop trust. As John says, "People won't go along with you until they get along with you." You have to get close to your people and connect with them. This goes against the previous generation, which felt there needed to be distance between leaders and their people.

I asked John, "What kinds of leadership experiences do businesspeople often lack?"

He talked about how most people believe that experience is the best teacher, but he disagrees.

"Experience is essential to successful leadership, although I don't think experience is the best teacher. Just because you are getting older and more experienced, doesn't mean you're getting better,” John said. “I know a lot of people who are getting older, but even if they've done the job for 30 years, they're not getting any better. They're not growing. They're not learning."

John also talked about the Achilles heel for a lot of leaders: They get a little momentum going, and they celebrate but don't reflect. He thinks leaders should do more reflection and less celebration.

To reflect on his experiences, John asks, "What did I learn? What am I learning at this stage? And what am I going to change?"

He even has a reflection chair! "If you have a place to think, you'll start thinking," John reasons.

One of John's most memorable quotes is, "Change is inevitable; growth is optional." So I asked him to explain.

"Growth is not an automatic process. You and I will not grow automatically. It just doesn't happen,” he said. “We don't grow because we live. We don't grow because we breathe. We don't grow because we get a day older. If we're going to grow, we're going to grow because we're intentional about it. I've found that when I stop learning, I stop leading."

John feels everyone should have a growth plan. He believes you need to discover your strengths and grow them through a daily plan.

"Don't take the time to focus on your weak areas, because all you will do is get to average," he warns. "And people don't pay for average."

In addition to growing your strengths, John believes you have to do one more thing. Every morning you have to ask yourself the question, "Who can I add value to today?"

"When you do this, all of a sudden the influence index on your life just takes off like a rocket. People want to be around you. They like to be with you.

"I started teaching leadership because I truly believe that if a person could learn to lead, they would be successful. I began to realize that if I could help people change their thinking, they could change their life.

"It all goes back to the Zig Ziglar quote," he said. "'If you help people get what they want, guess what, they help you get what you want.'"

Mackay's Moral: "A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others." -- John Maxwell