Contrary to what some people will argue, negotiating isn’t about winners and losers. It’s about building relationships.

If you walk into a negotiation determined to win at any cost, you could be setting yourself up for difficulties down the road. Ask your boss for a raise with an argumentative attitude, and your daily work life will suffer. If you’re a small business owner hiring an ad agency, doggedly fighting for a discount on your bill could potentially result in a grumpier agency who values your business less than their other clients.

Nothing exists in isolation and every interaction matters in the business world. But at the same time, you don’t want to set yourself up for getting trampled over and low-balled your entire career. So where’s the middle ground?

Here are some tips for being a better negotiator, without having people think you’re a jerk.

Make the first bid.

If a number hasn’t been brought up yet, many people naturally hesitate about making the first offer. What if you accidentally lowball yourself? What if you offend the person by starting with a ridiculously low bid?

But research has shown that negotiated outcomes often skew to the party who made the first bid. Naturally, this first bid will incline toward the person who made it. To illustrate: if you’re growing apples in your backyard and decide to sell a basket of them, and someone offers you one dollar, maybe you ask them to double their price, and get two dollars. But if you ask for five dollars off the bat, you’re more likely to get three or four. By making the first bid, you’re setting the tone for the rest of the conversation.

Have a best- and worst-case scenario in mind—but don’t express it.

It’s a good idea to have a price range in mind for whatever you’re negotiating over. If you’re selling a basket of apples, maybe you’re hoping for anywhere from three to five dollars. That way, you ask for five, but if you settle for three, you’re still happy. If you get offered two, you’ve already decided it’s too low.  

But be careful—if you tell your negotiating partner this range, they will immediately glom onto the number that they prefer. If you tell them you think your apples are worth between three and five dollars, they’ll say, “Sure, three sounds great.”

Keep your range clear in your head, but don’t make it public.  

Use nonverbal communication—including silence.

I’m sure you know all about the virtues of nonverbal communication—body language has been a key tool for communication for longer than verbal communication has even existed. Steely glares, puffed-up chests, open smiles and bowed heads all have their places in modern body language.  

All this holds true in business negotiations, of course. You might not want to cross your arms, for example, for fear of seeming too staunch and defensive. Open body language could help make people more inclined to concede to your side of the negotiation.

But beyond even just body language, silence is a powerful tool. In negotiations, both sides have reasons for their decisions, even if the other side doesn’t know what that reason is. People tend to get uncomfortable in silence—that can create an opportunity to stay silent and let them fill the awkward silence with continued talking. They might tell you something valuable that informs your decisions, allows you to assuage one of their concerns or concede an element to reach a compromise.

Take time to understand their position.

Instead of nodding away at what the other person is saying, actually listen to what they have to say. Understand why they’re taking this stance, and the negotiation will go a lot smoother.

This is a good rule of thumb in life, generally, but especially in negotiating: instead of responding to phrases with “I know, I know,” try repeating their points back to them. People appreciate hearing their own words—it makes them more likely to feel heard.

In fact, this may even help you understand their stance, which could make negotiating down your own side easier to stomach.

Use the power of numbers.

If you’re not convinced about the outcome of a negotiation, you’re not confident in deciding under pressure, or you want to strengthen your position, a good tactic is to make your side seem bigger by referencing other people.

It’s easy to overwhelm one other person in a conversation, especially in the absence of others. If you’re at the end of a negotiation but you’re still not sure, it’s a good tactic to say, “Let me run this by someone”—your wife, business partner, colleagues, friends, anyone. If the other person is worried about a worse outcome, they might drop their stance then and there; at the very least it will give you a chance to regroup and consider the deal from a fresh perspective.

The same logic applies to instances where you might be arguing on behalf of others, or if you have anecdotal evidence to back up your side of the deal. If you refer to the size of the group you represent, or reference authority figures or others who rely on you, it can make your arguments sound less self-serving and embolden your side.

People hate negotiating. Use that.

Nobody really enjoys going back and forth, often repeating the same points, rarely understanding the other person’s perspectives. It’s natural to want to wrap up a negotiation as soon as possible.

You can use that to your advantage. Patience is key. For starters, the person who concedes early is more likely to concede more than they want. They might figure that the negotiation simply isn’t worth their time and call it a day or the non-confrontational part of them will tell them to give up.

In reality, you don’t need to be argumentative to be an effective negotiator. You just need to implement these six helpful tips to improve your communications and relationships—ensuring a win-win scenario on both sides of the table.

Remember when everyone’s dream was to go to space or become president? Now it’s to start their own company, preferably one that’s worth a billion dollars within the span of five years. With success stories like Facebook, Airbnb, and Uber, it’s hard not to say, “Dammit, I should’ve thought of that.”

Well, that right there is the attitude to avoid. Coulda, woulda, shouldas about a company that already exists won’t get you very far. What will get you somewhere is thinking about the opportunities that are still out there. While we can’t gift you with a billion-dollar idea in the space of an article (trust me, we’d be taking that beauty to market right now if we had it), we can give you a few tips to start thinking like an entrepreneur and find the next big thing.

Always Be On The Lookout for Needs

Listening and reading is important for any aspiring entrepreneur. In order to make money, you’ve got to understand what people’s needs are, since they will only exchange money for things that bring value to their life. Listen to your friends, to people on the subway, watch the news, and take note of what people complain about.

If you notice a shared complaint across the board or a frequent complaint among people in a specific demographic (i.e. women between the ages of 35 and 45, young fathers, etc) you’ve found yourself a pain point. And based on these complaints, you have proof that this pain point either doesn’t have a solution in the market, or the existing solutions haven’t marketed themselves well enough. Both scenarios equal opportunity.

Example: Sara Blakely turned a desire for footless pantyhose into a billion dollar company. Spanx is 100 percent owned by Blakely and has made her a billionaire, simply because she noticed a need for shapewear that didn’t leave lines or bulges.

Appeal to the Human Desire for Connectivity and Belonging

You don’t have to come up with a tangible product in order to become an entrepreneur. Consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Once our physiological and safety needs have been met, we require a sense of love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Failing to find these things can feel devastating. Entrepreneurs can create tools that make meeting these needs simpler.

Example: Consider Facebook. Facebook is what it is because it helped people establish a sense of community (through inclusion as well as exclusion) with its friend requests and “likes”.

There are even more recent examples of startups that leveraged this need for love and self-esteem. An app like Tinder or Bumble helps people find love (or lust) with the added bonus of knowing anyone you talk to is interested in you too because they chose to swipe right.

Improve an Already Existing Product or Industry

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel to be an entrepreneur. It can be as simple as improving an industry with issues of its own. Or taking a process that people already execute and making it simpler.

Example: People have been offering short-term rentals for a long time, but Airbnb came along and centralized the experience. Not only that, it introduced a sense of community and accountability to the process by offering host protection insurance and encouraging reviews. And it grew by taking advantage of high volume events where hotels fill up quickly, like the Democratic National Convention. In short, they built on an existing industry.

Look For Industries That Lack Innovation

This is a challenging one, but if you have the skills or the energy it can pay off. Typically, industries that are slow to change are complicated or heavily regulated industries. Think banking or insurance. Additionally, these industries rely on trust, making it harder to win new customers. But if you can come up with a way to improve them, and you’re one of the first to do it, you’re in for a sweet payday.

Example: Square, co-founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, offers a payment processing platform for small business owners who need unique tools to grow their business. It’s not unusual for small business owners to only accept cash or debit because of the fees and machinery involved in accepting credit. Platforms like Square have made it accessible for small business owners to receive payments.

Stop Thinking You Need To Become a Giant

It would be really cool if you could create a company that rivals Facebook, Amazon, or Google, but making that your standard of success can be paralyzing. There are successful entrepreneurs who have built their fortunes from creating great companies that attract the attention of bigger companies who buy them out. And then this gives them the funds to go off and pursue their next big idea.

Example: A couple of Google’s big acquisitions include ITA software (for $700 million), which powers Google Flights, and Skybox Imaging ($500 million), which introduced more accurate imagery for Google Maps. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion and Whatsapp for a whopping $19 billion.

If there’s one thing entrepreneurs have, it’s the ability to problem solve. Anything that makes a tremendous amount of money solves a problem whether it’s a tangible problem or an emotional problem. If you can keep these tips in mind, you’ll be that much closer to your multi-million (or multi-billion) dollar idea. And when you do hit it big, don’t forget your friends at Hatchbuck.

Whether you’re planning a picnic in a park or a holiday dinner at a local restaurant, company events can be an exciting way to bring your team together. It’s fun to get to know your officemates outside of a formal workplace setting.That said, not everyone looks forward to company events.  

Whether you say so or not, your employees will likely view these gatherings as obligatory. That can put pressure on team members who have many responsibilities outside of work, such as young children or aging parents, or simply have a long commute. Though they may never speak up about it, they may actually view these events as a burden.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold any company events. Many people genuinely enjoy them, particularly around the holidays. According to a survey by cloud-based HR service provider TriNet last December, 37% of workers at small and midsized businesses said they were somewhat excited about the traditional of holiday parties, and 28% said they were very excited. Just 5% had no enthusiasm.

Still, you do need to be sensitive to how your event may be viewed so you don’t waste money on gatherings no one really wants to attend. Here are some ideas on how to plan company events that enhance your culture and don’t create stress and feelings of obligation.

Look for events you can fit into company time.

Holding an event during hours employees would usually be working is a good way to ensure you don’t impinge on their personal responsibilities and, if they have kids, force them to shoulder additional childcare costs in order to attend. Whether you hold a Halloween party during the day at the office, take the team to the movies on a slow Friday afternoon, or host a holiday luncheon at a local restaurant, you’ll be able to enhance your culture without tipping everyone’s work-life balance in the wrong direction.

Seek your employees’ input.

Most of your employees probably spend their free time in very different ways, so what is fun for one person may inspire dread in another. The best way to find a crowd pleaser is to do an informal survey. Ask employees to submit two or three ideas each for fun events they think the team would enjoy—perhaps one in the office and one out of the office. Alternatively you could ask them what company events they have enjoyed at previous jobs to get ideas. When you get all of the responses, look for common ground.

Consider planning an event around an activity—which can be a good way to put people who tend to be shy at ease. It’s easier to make small talk when you’re taking turns bowling than at a formal dinner.

Invite spouses and families.

If you do decide to hold a company event outside of work hours, consider inviting employees’ spouses, significant others and children. Given the long hours many of us work, your employees may feel guilty spending an evening or weekend day away from home. Adding more people to an event can add to the cost quite a bit, of course, so if you encourage your team to invite guests, look for an event which won’t break your budget. For instance, a company softball game, followed by a picnic, can be very affordable.

Get more mileage from your event.

Invite your team to submit their pictures of a company event to share on your social media pages afterward. It’s a great way to re-live the fun of an event and showcase your culture to other people who have an interest in your company, such as customers and potential employees. Not everyone wants their latest dance moves or a picture of themselves with a mug of beer in their hand shared on Facebook, so make sure you get employees’ permission before you post them. That way, everyone will know it’s safe to loosen up the next time you hold a company event.