Are You Doing It The Easy Way or The Hard Way?

Is there an "Easy Way" to everything?  Is there a "Hard Way" to everything?  The answer is "yes" but maybe not the way you think it is.

Everyday I see people who are working very hard.  Lets see if this sounds familiar.  You go to work everyday, you do a good job and you never quite get that promotion.  You've been there for years, and someone else who just started is now the boss.  Everyday you have been getting there early or staying late.  Your boss calls on Saturday and you take the call.  And you still haven't got the promotion.

Is this you?  Do you feel like you are on a hamster wheel, running as hard as you can or walking all day and still getting no where?  That's the "Hard Way".

The Hard Way is a rut of sorts where you show a certain value to the company and there you stay.  So how do you get out of it?  How do you get off the hamster wheel and actually make forward progress down the road of success?

The first step is to learn that society (including most of your friends) don't want you to learn the easy way.  They want company on that miserable hamster wheel.  The more people that join them the better they feel about themselves.  When you leave, they are afraid you might actually do something and achieve success.  If you do you make them look bad.

Think about this.  How many truly successful people do you know and admire?  How many do you know that you want to be like or that have a life that you would like to have.  Then think about how many people you know that don't live much differently than you do.

I bet the second group is huge compared to the first group.  The reality is, that if you want to hang out with the top 5% of the successful people in the world, you have to first learn to stop hanging out with and listening to the other 95%.

At first you will be lonely and challenged by your old friends to come back and give up your dreams. True friends support your dreams, most "friends" are dream killers.  Instead of helping you figure out the easy way, they just laugh and wait for you in the hamster wheel.

It takes time to make the transition, no matter what you decide to do when you turn right down the easy path.

What do you want to do?

The Easy Guide Books

The Bourquin Group

The Easy Way To Start a Profitable Business

To paraphrase Chef Gusteau in Ratatouille, "Anyone can start a business, but only the fearless can be great."  Fear is the great debilitating voice in our heads.  There is no reason to have fear, yet we all do.

Starting a profitable business is very different than starting a business.  Starting a business is simply buying something to sell or getting paid for your services without being an employee.  Starting a profitable business means that you are able to earn your living from your business, and for most people it also means that your "living" from the business is better than it was with your "job".

So is there an easy way to know if your business will be profitable?   Many restaurants go through two or three different variations at a single location before they become profitable.  Most small businesses that offer professional services take years to really make money.  My CPA started a bookkeeping firm.  It isn't making the momentum he had hoped for.

Starting any business that is going to be successful and profitable, requires one simple thing.  Customers who are willing to pay enough that you make money.  While this sounds easy, it is amazing how many people start a business thinking that they had enough customers.

In the retail world, you might make a profit simply based on product and location.  A well placed mall shop or cart with a unique product at the right price might do well.  For a while that is.  Once the copycats show up, the business might be in trouble.

For every other business, the success out of the chute depends on one thing.  The people in your rolodex or contact list.  Keller-Williams has every new agent enrolled in Bold! training call every single person and announce that they are in real estate and ask if they know of anyone who might be in the market to buy, sell or invest in real estate.  My bet is 50% or less actually do it.  The question is why and the answer is a form of fear.

When I added my Real Estate license on Facebook, I got a few sneers about being a Real Estate Agent.  I didn't have any fear about it so I did it.  So what if they make fun of you for starting your new business.  If you can't tell all of your contacts about it, how are you going to sell complete strangers.

The truth is that I buy real estate as my retirement investment.  I like real estate income as much as the dividends from great stocks.  I have a license because agents were reluctant to make the offers I wanted to make.  Why?  Fear.  You might label it other things, like lack of self esteem, or self image or whatever.  It comes down to a fear of being accepted for trying to be different than who you are now.  Step one, get over it, fear is what keeps you down, not "the man".

An interesting conversation a couple of days ago got me thinking about this.  Two men told me they tried "flipping" houses and couldn't make any money.  There just wasn't enough margin to make a profit they said.  The way they buy houses, they were right.  Being an agent, I have better access to "wholesale" deals and occasionally help other people when they ask.  No matter what I said to these two guys, fear was telling them making money in Real Estate can't be done.   My deals are "anomalies" and I am "lucky" were the responses I get.

If you want to start a profitable business, look at your contact list.  How many of those people will buy from you and why?  How many of them won't and why not?  Looking at these guys, they would buy a house, clean it up and try to sell it.  Did they even try to sell to friends as an investment or rental?  Nope.

This little review will be your first clue of how your business might do.

When I started business that became my biggest "lesson" (some would call it a failure), I didn't follow this simple review.  All of my friends bought stuff from the business, but only at a significant discount.  They wouldn't buy at retail, in fact many times I was lucky to cover shipping.  That was my first sign the business was off to a rocky start.  I was lucky to get away from that one.

If you want to start a profitable business make sure your contact list will buy from you, and buy at a big profit so you can pay your bills and grow the business.  If your list will buy from you, chances are your business is off to a good start and your list will start growing as they refer their friends.

What Is Your Proposal Writing Plan?

I am taking a break from writing a very long proposal that I really don’t want to write.  I don’t want to write it because 90% of it is fluff and nonsense.  Some time ago when building my business I went through the “Wants-Don’t Wants” process as it relates to my business.  This type of project was on my “Don’t Wants”.

While reading the biography of John Boyd, simply titled “Boyd”, he had a similar complaint about Pentagon work.  He called it “gold plating”.  He and his team would establish the criteria for a great fighter, and someone would add unnecessary equipment or requirements to curry favor somewhere.  “Gold Plating”.  

In the tech world, specifically the online world, these big long proposals are a form of gold plating.  For instance it, an big proposal justifies the legal department, IT and even public relations charging x hours to look over the Request for Proposal (RFP) along with a host of other jobs.

On the vendor side, it means I too must spend money with Lawyers, Accountants, and Project Managers to get every ones buy in.  On both sides a virtual committee is formed.

Committees are by nature – timid. Based on the premise of safety in numbers, content to survive rather than take risks and move independently ahead. - Ferry Porsche

When we are stripped down to our essentials we perform our best.  This is true of any endeavor in life whether it is man or machine.  The success of Apple has been based on this simple truth until recently.  Where they go from here is anyones guess.

Look at a race car.  Everything you don’t need is taken out to save weight allowing the car to perform better.  Why have insulation when earplugs will work for an hour?  

When you know your business, you can write a profitable quote on one page in a few hours.  When you get the job, then you create the plan.  Much less time consuming for both sides, and therefore less expensive for the client, and likely more profitable for you.

The email from my attorney just came in, so I’ll go back to my proposal writing.  I can’t help but here my own advice in my head: “Learn to say no more often.”

So You Want To Start A Business? Get Ready Then!

The spirit of freedom and responsibility that drives many people to start a business, is what drove the founding fathers to break away and start this country.  The battle cry of "Taxation without Representation" was a catch phrase that simply asked for freedom and responsibility.

Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, you can't have one with out the other and have society progress.  These days too many people are willing to give up both for security.  Security is a myth that can never be achieved completely.  The most secure people in the world are locked up in solitary confinement somewhere.  I bet those guys would trade for freedom any day.  The question is, would that take the responsibility that goes with it?

Benjamin Franklin is attributed to saying that you can't have Liberty and Security at the same time.  He is right.  They are polar opposites.  With responsibility comes a little bit of risk.  The key to success for today is understanding that you must manage risk in order to succeed.

Most people live in fear of the risk and responsibility of owning a business and therefore never enjoy the freedoms you can earn as the reward for managing the risk and accepting the responsibility.

The barriers to entry form many businesses also keep people out.  Lawyers have to go to law school, pass the bar and still there are hundreds if not thousands of out of work lawyers or lawyers that have a different job.  Just because you make it over the barrier doesn't mean you will succeed.

In a previous blog I encouraged you to act like an independent contractor at your job.  Take more responsibility and manage more risk in exchange for a bit more freedom.  If you could look back through time and watch me when I had a job, I learned to do exactly that from my mentors.  I managed to work a 3/36 schedule so I could fly and play more while at one company.  The deal was I had to outperform the 40 hour scheduled workers by 10% as well.

The company got 44 hours worth of work and only paid 36.  It was a win-win. That mentality gave me the confidence to start my own business.

There are many businesses with very low barriers to entry, such as real estate. You can become a Realtor after a few classes and a test.  Your total investment might only be $300 or so.  The problem is that with such a low barrier to entry there are a lot of people doing it.  This means starting out you will need a lot of patience and persistence to succeed.  Or you need a much better way to get the job done by working smarter, not harder.

The best way to prepare yourself for starting a business is to look at all of the places in your life where you have traded liberty for security.  Do you use unemployment regularly because you can't manage money?  Do you "need" health insurance provided by your boss or the government?  Do you work for someone else for the "security" of a paycheck every two weeks?

Can you manage your life if you didn't have any of these things?  Stepping out on your own can be a scary thing, and at the same time getting over that fear is one of the greatest accelerators on the road to success.  Many of the most successful business owners I know have done the "credit card shuffle" trying to pay bills they didn't have money to cover.

The pain and embarrassment of not making your bills is a defining moment for every entrepreneur.  It is at that moment, you push a little harder and make it, or you give up and "go back to work".  Like many successful people, I have done both at least once.  The difference is that the minute I went back to work, the embarrassment didn't go away.  There was no joy or happiness when that first check came in.

The last time I was shuffling money and missing payments, I dug in, and when that next client signed on, and that next check came in, it was a rotating beacon of emotions.  First it was relief that turned to joy that turned to ecstasy, and within weeks, more clients, more books started selling, and more work came in.

If I didn't have to scrape to find quarters for the dollar menu, would I be where I am now?  I can't say for sure.  The biggest mistake you can make is getting locked into a failing method.  I will admit when I dug in, I also changed my approach.

Don't get locked in on one idea, try to listen to the clients and figure out why they aren't buying and adjust accordingly.  More importantly, in the infamous words of Winston Churchill, "Never, Never, Never, Give Up."

Want a Raise - Think Supply and Demand!

The laws of supply and demand can be applied to just about any situation that involves the exchange of money.  Right now the pilot shortage is in the news and the GAO says the cause is simple.  Pilots aren't paid enough to make it worth taking the job.  On that point they are right.

A decade ago it was radiologists and anesthesiologists.  Insurance companies agreed to pay more, hospitals started paying more and in a few years the problem was solved.

So how does this apply to you?

In simple terms you have two choices, you can either find a very high demand job that has low supply and go do it.  Unfortunately it isn't that easy.  Becoming a pilot for instance can cost upwards of $100,000 if you aren't lucky enough to get a military position first, and starting pay is just $20,000 per year.

Any questions why there is a pilot shortage?  At some point the pay will increase or the pilots will be replaced by computers.  Are you willing to make a $100,000 bet on the outcome?  Most aren't, and a few believe the pilotless plane is coming.  Winning as a pilot might be a short term bet.

The second choice is to make yourself so valuable at the job you have now that they can't afford for you not to be there.  This is the easy way to get ahead without having to pay for it.   I know people who never graduated high school and are millionaires from owning McDonalds.  The supply of those people is very very scarce, but they exist.

So how do you do that?  Think like a subcontractor.  Instead of asking for more benefits and pay, start by asking for more responsibility and better work.  Think of what your boss wants now and what he might want tomorrow and deliver it before he asks.

If you aren't ready to break out yet and start your own business or become an independent contractor, you can still use the laws of supply and demand to make sure your skills and work ethic are so far above the crown that you are a scarce commodity in your office.  Soon enough the pay, work schedule and benefits will come your way.

Why? Improve Your Position

Improve your position.  This mantra for success is something people forget every day.  When you get up in the morning and keep doing the same thing, you end up in the same position at the end of every day.

Fear.  When you think about it, the real root cause of doing the same thing every day is the fear of the unknown.  Fear of leaving your comfort zone.  Fear of not making that next car payment.  Fear of missing time with your friends, fear of losing time with your co-workers.

There is always that one person though.  That one person that takes a little time away from the group.  There is always that one person that moves out and up.  That person that you watch and wonder why it wasn't you.

The secret?  Improve your position.

There is more to it though.  In order to improve your position, you need to define "improve".  How do you know what improvement is if you don't have a destination?  The key is to create a vision or destination that is a very clear vision of where you are going.  When you have that vision you can improve your position.

In simple terms, if you want to go to the park at the end of the block, and your neighbor asks you to watch the game, are you getting closer to the park?  If you want that new car, and your friend calls with tickets to the concert that cost $100, does the concert get you closer to the new car.

These are obvious examples.  The most difficult involve an overload of information.  The secret to speed in improving your position is filtering out the chaff or useless information.

Simple decisions can hold you back if you don't pay attention, or pay too much attention to the chaff instead of the important points.

Living life with a purpose means having a "mission" in everything you do.  Even on vacation you can have a "mission" or "purpose".  It might only be to "relax".   Everyone needs to recharge from time to time, and that means different things to different people.  For me it means turning off the office and work in the front of the brain and letting the back 90% do it's job.   For other people it is just to get the family "off their back".

How can you improve your position while on vacation?  The reality is that you can always practice cutting through the chaff, even while traveling.  Always listening will bombard you with a lot of useless information, and it might just get you that great idea or solve the problem you have been having at the office.

Every time you get a call, ask yourself, "Does this improve my position or put me into a position where I can improve my position?"  If it doesn't, learn to say "no" if you want to move ahead.

Your Job Sucks, So Now What?

So your job sucks, according to some surveys job dissatisfaction is well north of 50% and may be as high as 80%.  So you aren't alone.  The big question is why doesn't anyone do anything about it? and the bigger question is what can you do about it?

Most people that you meet are in a "comfortable life".  They have set themselves up so that their "lifestyle" is within 10% of their income.  They don't have any extra money, and when they get it they usually spend it.  When you get into the lifestyle trap your employer has put you in "golden handcuffs".

If you haven't heard the phrase or didn't understand what "golden handcuffs" are let me introduce you to the concept.  When you get a nice raise at a job you aren't happy with, you have two choices.  Maintain your lifestyle and use the extra money to invest in your escape plan.  Basically buying the key to release the handcuffs.  When you buy the new car or bigger house or move closer to the beach, then the handcuffs get a little tighter.

The bigger your job, and the bigger your bills, the bigger the golden handcuffs.  Your employer owns you, that is until you sell your self to another employer who bids the same or more for your services.

Do you see the problem?

If everyone started thinking as an independent contractor, they would never end up with golden handcuffs and could move to what ever job made them happy.  One of the ironies of major companies eliminating pensions and healthcare is that they are forcing you to begin paying on the keys to your own golden handcuffs.

In fact our tax system is designed to help you if you do become an independent contractor and stop working for W-2 wages.  The only extra taxes you pay are self employment and creative arts.  In the first case, your employer was paying the other half of your social security so your overall costs aren't any different if you go independent.

So Your Job Still Sucks, Now What?

When I wrote "So Now What?" several years ago, my goal was to help people like you answer that question.  After a few years of helping people, I have found that there is even more that I can do to help you and that is why I am writing this for you.

The first big thing to understand is your strengths and your market.  If you don't have a real strength, go find one.  A great book that covers the importance of that strength and why you need to build one is Be So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport.

Most people don't feel like they can walk away from their job because they fear losing the income and not being able to get it back before their house of cards collapses.  If you live in the US, Australia or even Canada, you are only limited by your imagination as to what you can achieve.

I haven't met anyone outside of the UK who feel this way in Europe, so I'll leave that thought to you.

One of the best tools to use if you want to build a life that others dream of is the "Want - Don't Want" exercise.  Simply put you write down all of the things you want and don't want in your life.

The best way to do this is with a huge whiteboard, and look at it every day for about a week.  Each day you will look at the board a little differently, and after 7-10 days you will start to see why you don't like your job.  You can also start to outline what you need to change in order to make your current job great or what kind of work you need to think about doing.

Most people that come to our office looking for help and guidance in the start up stage are full of "great ideas" that are great only to them.  They haven't figured out the market or even if there is one.

If your job sucks, start out listing why it sucks, and what it would need to be great.  Then see if you can work it out with your boss.  If you are good enough at your job, there might be some room.  If not, then you need some deep reflection to decide what's next.

If you don't change where your life is going, no one else will.

Quick Tips To Help Your Success

I became an entrepreneur because I did not want to be a dentist like my father, but I wanted some of the parts of his lifestyle. I learned very early on that working on Saturday and taking a weekday off was a lot more fun. I did that throughout my high school and college life, which explains my grades. 

School is just an extension of society designed to help you work within the confines of the ”standard” workweek. Very few schools teach entrepreneurism the way entrepreneurs teach it. If you take a look at most of the very high achieving entrepreneurs, you'll notice they didn't finish college. At some point they broke away from the norm and have stayed away ever since.

If you want to become a real entrepreneur, Remember some basic rules. 

1. Be careful who you listen to. Do they live the life you want to live? Do they do the work you want to do? Only take away the information that is relevant. As a side rule, I generally like to make sure they are making more money than I am if it is an area of business.  Yes the coach has a coach (or three).

2. There is never "good enough".  You can always to better, and should.  This doesn't mean have regret, it just means stay relevant by staying on top of your game.

3. Be accountable somehow. Self starting is a very rare discipline that takes a lot of time to learn. The whole point of vision books, vision boards and goal sheets is to keep you looking towards your destination. The problem is if the destination isn't important enough to have your break away from your comfort zone and your pack, you will never break away. If you make yourself accountable either through a coach, mentor or competitive friend you are much more likely to achieve your goals. 

To lose 30 pounds last year, I made a big painful bet with my business partner.  I didn't lose a single pound on my own, but the minute we made the wager we both started shedding pounds.

What's Next For You?

How has your life been going so far?  Do you wish for more, is it just ok?  Do you wonder why some people make it and others don't?  Have you ever looked at someone and wondered why they have a "great life" and you don't?

If so, what is next for you?  Would you like to know the difference between the people who slug it out at work 9-5 and still can't make ends meet and those who don't ever appear to work and are always having fun?

If you do want to know the difference and change your life, you have found the right place.  I will show you how a lot of people have created great lives and I can show you how to create yours, and it all starts right here.

I didn't know it at the time, but I found one of the great rules of success at a very early age without knowing it.  Was I pursuing a "passion"? Nope.  Was I getting big money from my parents trust fund? Nope.  I just stumbled into something that worked and it was the rush that I have been chasing ever since.  Until a few years ago though I didn't understand it at all.

I tried the passion path, and spent more money than I care to admit building three business that were nothing but a headache.  I was in love with the product, and the process, but the business just didn't work, and I didn't get it.  Other things were so easy for me, and then one day I broke the code.

Looking back I knew it all along, I just didn't understand it.

In the spring of 1984, I was moved to the "continuing education" campus of my high school.  I didn't fit in and didn't like school at all.  I was working at Burger King which oddly was a pretty good job for me at the time.  The owner liked me, and I figured out the work pretty quick.  It still wasn't enough so I joined the Air National Guard, Security Police.

Security Police was not much of a job either, but I was lucky to be surrounded by some very talented people.  After graduating from tech school, and returning to my base with my "badge", I was offered a full time position.  Basically an active duty Air Force job at the Air National Guard Base.  Not having any other way to make money, I took the position.

After three nights of walking circles around airplanes and freezing my tail off, I was beginning to think I had made a huge mistake.  I didn't drink coffee or smoke (and still don't) so I didn't get as many breaks as the other guys.  I didn't fit in and I knew I couldn't do that job forever.

Lucky for me somebody gave me the secret.  I just didn't know it at the time.  Within a few months, I was enjoying my work and wasn't walking around airplanes any more.  One of the side benefits of learning this secret (that I didn't understand back then) is that I have never had to interview for a job since.  The great work that other people want, just seems to fall into my lap.

How would you like someone to walk up to you tomorrow and say "Hi, I would like you to come work for me, doing X."  That is pretty much how it has gone ever since.  Even when I was hired as an airline pilot, my "interview" wasn't anything like what other people were talking about.  It was more like friends talking about a hobby they enjoyed together.

So what is the great secret?  It is a little more than will fit in one post, but if you read my blog regularly you will see it.  It isn't chasing a passion, instead it is doing something that challenges you.

In my Security Police job, the base had a competitive shooting team.  When I tried out the first time, I didn't make the cut, but I had fun and got along with everyone that made the team.  When the first person was transferred out of the base, the team Captain asked me to fill in.  He spent the extra time with me to get me up to the level I needed to be.  It wasn't work, it was fun, five championships later it was rewarding.

That sort of situation has played out over and over throughout my life.  And so has another situation. The other situation is the opposite.  No one asks me to do any work.  I just decide to do it because I am "passionate" about it.  The results, not so good.

After having some success in an area and gaining a bit of freedom, I would get some book or take some class by a "guru" and then try to step out on my own and follow my "passion".  So far my record in this area is 0 for 3.

It would play out like this.  Life would be going great, and I would start to feel guilty about my success and not being like everyone else.  Trying to justify my success, I would go find a book or a class to mask the guilt and frustration of not fitting in and living a "comfortable" life.

I would take the classes, read the books and then go out and start a new business.  I would put my heart and soul into it along with all of the money I made doing other things.  Two or three years later the stress and lack of money would cause me to throw in the towel.

Each time that happened someone would be there to say "Great, now that you have stopped that nonsense, how about you come do X for me?"  My life would become great and fun again and then guess what?  Go back two paragraphs and read it again.  Do this twice, because I am slow and didn't get this lesson very quickly.  I am writing this hoping you don't repeat this cycle ever.

Passion is for the birds and bees, not for business.  Passion is for your attitude towards life, not financing your life.

After closing up my third "failed" business it hit me like a Wreck It Ralph.  Luckily, I was able to close my companies, and acted in good faith with my clients.  Bankruptcy wasn't an option for me, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  You don't want to spend a lot of time with a bankruptcy attorney, and this is from the experience of someone who was only getting advice.  I can't imagine the stress of actually doing it.

So what is the secret? In simple terms, we all have value that we bring to the table.  In very very rare cases it also might be your passion.  For me I will admit it isn't.  What I like about my work is seeing the changes in my clients. That brings me the happiness and gives me the financial freedom to have passions and pursue dreams without wanting to create income from them.  This is a very different approach.

Being driven isn't being passionate.  You have a value sitting within you that people are asking for and you probably don't even see.  One of the tests that I use is asking the question: What is it that people come to you for that you gladly do for free?

That isn't your passion, but it can be your value.  Even though you don't charge for it, you might be able to.  In my case I can charge a lot for it.  The work itself doesn't actually bring me any happiness. It brings me great financial rewards.  What brings me the happiness is the change that my work makes for my client.

Passion isn't the driving factor, serving my clients is.  I am always taking classes to get better in every area of my life an business.  My passion for life has infected my work, so people mistake my drive for passion.  Trust me when I say, my passions are very very expensive hobbies which only take money out of my bank account.  No one is offering me money to do them.  I have tried, and been paid, but never enough to survive, never mind maintain my lifestyle.

When you aren't sure what that value is, try it all.  One might hit a spark and light a fire inside you.  You might start a few fires.  Maybe people are saying you should be a personal shopper because you have a great sense of style.  Try it and charge for it.  See if the income lights a little fire within you.

The world isn't about money, but every time I see someone get good money for stuff they were doing for free, there is no mistaking or hiding the excitement.  The first time an actor is paid, the first time a lawyer wins a big case, the first time a race car driver wins a big check all change how that person looks and the energy they project to the world.  Guess what happens next, like an addiction, they keep doing it.

In my case I didn't figure it out until I tried the "guru's" way three times.  Thankfully I broke the code before I tried a fourth time.

You might not know your value right now, but come back often or sign up for one of my "break out" classes and find your values.  We all have more than one, and the trick is finding one that pays enough to make life fun.  What are the values that you bring to the world?

What Are The Real Keys To Success?

As you know, I have been trying to fine tune the "formula for success" so that more people can create a lifestyle that they want, not just one they settle for.

I want to help you find a better way to live your life that fits you.  You can't be me and I can't be you, but we are both human and so the rules must be similar.

Recently I found the book was worth adding to my reading list for my clients and sharing with you.

The book is Cal Newport's "Be So Good They Can't Ignore You".  Cal Newton argues that chasing your dreams is a waste of time.  I agree.  You can have all the passion in the world for something but if the world doesn't it want it that way from you, you will go broke.

Like many people there are several things that I am passionate about.  I accept that those passions will not provide me sufficient income to maintain the lifestyle I expect. Instead those passions are my hobbies.

What he says to do is act like Steve Jobs at Apple.  Steve created a bunch of products and saw what worked and what didn't and he kept fine tuning based on the feedback of the market.  Remember the Newton?  Even the original iPhone (or should we call it the "Classic" now?) wasn't really much to speak up.  The bugs weren't worked out until the iPhone 3G.

Do the same thing in life.  Pursue a bunch of things and when you find one you like and that the market keeps asking your for, become great at it.

One of the aspects I really enjoy about blogging is the feedback from the market. It doesn't matter how many people comment on my blog, Facebook page or Twitter feed. When they do, I always appreciate it and try to respond in kind.

The metric that I really like however for blogs are the number of reads, and the number of reposts. It's very easy to see what people want to hear about from me when I look at those metrics. When I write about flying airplanes the scores are dismal. When I write about building a business or real estate empire the graph shoots off the page. There is no question what people want me to write about.

If you are at a crossroads, or stuck on a plateu, keep visiting this blog, or check out our new jumpstart program opening in March.

Is It Possible To Make Too Much Money?

I have had an entrepreneurial drive as far back as I can remember. Like a few of the entrepreneurs of my generation, I started with a paper route. The last of the dinosaurs. At least I don't think kids right around on bicycles delivering papers at 5 o'clock in the morning anymore.  

At a very young age, I learned a lesson that it was possible to make too much out of the deal. My neighbor's father was an attorney who told me something I had done wasn't "fair".  It took me many years to understand how I misinterpreted the lesson.

To begin with, "fair" has nothing to do with a good deal.  Fair is simply someone's perception. When an attorney is involved that perception usually isn't anybody's perception who is involved in the transaction. In this case it was worse because he was the wrong person to listen to and it was an incomplete lesson.  I am a believer in “win-win” negotiations.  This is a very important lesson (and embarrassing) for me to share.

The lesson started when I traded one of my “Hot Wheels” with the kid next-door. About two hours later his attorney father was standing at the door chastising me for taking advantage of his son. His father felt that his son did not get a good deal and was very aggressive about letting me know that it was not okay to trade toys.  He made me trade back.

Now I say that the attorney-father was the wrong person to listen to because he was not a trader, he was an attorney. An attorney writes contracts and charges a fee. While there is some entrepreneurial aspect to the business of law, most attorneys, doctors and dentists are simply professionals. They are self-employed with a job. They aren't dependent on buying right, adding value and selling at a significant profit.  Now this isn't to say that there aren't some very good and entrepreneurial professionals out there.

Since I was only 10 or 11 years old at the time, I took the lesson very wrong. And that lesson was ingrained into my psyche as a business owner in a way that negatively affected my business. Again I am sharing this because I see it on a regular basis.

What I took away at that time was that making too much money or coming out too far ahead on the deal was ripping people off. If you have ever said to yourself or to somebody else, "I can't charge that much" or "That is just too much money for that" then you have the same wrong thinking.

What I overlooked was the fact that his son was crushed because he had to give back the toy he really wanted and take back the toy he had all ready grown tired of.

It wasn't until many years later, that I understood how this was affecting my business. I was underpricing my services and undercutting prices on products for no reason. We worked hard to deliver the best value and still reduced our profit for no reason. Many of my competitors were making more money and I really couldn't figure out how they were doing it. The day I realized it was in my head, And it was okay to make money when you deliver real value my business life changed. 

I bring this little story up because this is an issue that I see over and over working with business owners today. Our society inflicts guilt upon us for being too successful. When you stretch to deliver something great and end up making a lot of money people around you will be offended. They are offended because you effectively have told them they are not doing good enough and there is a new standard to achieve.

When you start out in business most of your friends and associates will be in a similar financial situation. When you break away and leave the group, you are telling them that it can be done and they might be the problem. 

One very said truth of success is that you will need to find new friends. This isn't because you've changed, in fact you haven't. Your drive just helped you to succeed. The issue is your old friends attitude towards you will change. They will not respect what you've earned nor will they respect you any longer. 

Some years ago A business owner told me about the first party he had in his new house. He expanded in great detail on the destruction caused by his so-called friends. He was rather depressed when he realized that all of his old friends were no longer friends. 

If you want to see how this applies to the entertainment world take a look at ESPN's BROKE.

Don't be "Broke".

Should You Quit And Follow Your Passion?

Quitting everything and going after your dream is the subject of dozens of books.  As a business owner and industry leader many other business owners wanted to duplicate my success and would ask me how to do it.  

To be truthful, I have told many people that they had to find their own dream and pursue it.  They couldn’t be me, my dreams, mission and goals are mine and mine alone.  Many people have paid me for advice, and until now, I was overlooking two pieces of key information in the formula.

I have to give credit where credit is due, because I have been taking this for granted instead of making sure everyone understood these keys to success. Cal Newport in his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, pointed out something that was right there all along and I was glancing over it.  

There is a bit of irony here since I am taking a hosting and interviewing class right now from Marki Costello, and just about everyone in the class will glance right past the “bombshells” and go for the “safe” route.   This is exactly what happens in business.  As entrepreneurs we get caught up in our mission and forget to listen to the market.

Some time ago another entrepreneur friend told me “You have to keep a lot of irons in the fire, and go with the ones that get hot.”   At the time it didn’t make much sense, and it is still not advice I would give everyone, but Cal Newport puts it a better way that makes sense to me, and is worth passing on.

The First Key

The foundation of any endeavor that requires financial success as part of the grade has to first pass the test of the market.  Simply put, you must do something people will pay you for.  It doesn’t matter how good you are, if there isn’t a market need, and you can’t convince people that they have one, you can be the greatest, and still be broke.

Lets face it, money does matter.  In a way it should right?  Society rewards us with money for solving their problems, not ours.  When you solve your problems you relieve a little stress, when you solve societies problems you are rewarded with money and power.  That isn’t selling out, that is being real.

The Second Key

Cal Newport also points out that you might get lucky and find that your dream is also financially rewarding, but that is rarely the case.  When you explore the lives of people we call “successful” in both life and financial rewards, he noted that they did several different things, and went with one that worked and became the best at that "thing".

The two keys together provide and an interesting insight, that was sitting right in front of me.  I had been skipping right over it all along, and yet it is exactly why my residential technology business did well in California, and only average to boring in Texas.  The market wasn’t as willing to pay for the technology in Texas no matter how good I (an my company) was.  In California I had both the market and the skills, in Texas, it was mostly just idle skills.

Instead of looking at it as putting many irons in the fire at once, I think this is more like putting an iron in the fire, branding the cow, and seeing if anyone will buy the brand.  If not, get another iron and try again.  If they do, get really good at making that brand better. 

This is why truly successful people can have many successful ventures.  Richard Branson comes to mind here.  Once one Iron got hot and everyone liked the brand, he built it up and used that to buy the next iron.  While we all know the brands that stuck, records, airlines and cell phones, I am sure there are just as many or more that didn’t take and we never heard of.

Looking back over my successes and not so much successes, it is clear that success is much more a simple formula than I ever gave credit for.  Pilot? I got pretty good at it, and people pay for it. Both keys here.  Business developer and consultant? Yes people pay well for what I have learned and my knowledge in their business. Both keys here  Actor? people are starting to buy it, so I’ll probably do more, have a market that will pay, only have some skills and have a plan to improve them. Athlete?  Clearly a market, but I never got the skills to a salable level.  Musician? Ditto.  

At the end of the day, Cal Newport is right.  Trying to become a Rockstar just ended in misery, I was in love with the dream, not the product and process so I never attained the skill level needed for my brand to sell.   Practicing chords and notes made me nuts.   In business, flying and acting, for whatever reason I don’t have any problem pushing to new limits every time I go to work.  I like building the skills and thus obtained the second key.

If you have been chasing your passion and it feels like you are chasing your tail, Cal’s book might help you get on the right track.  

Do You Ever Buy Something, Wonder Why And Learn You Can't Live Without It?

Welcome to 2014.  It is amazing a year has past isn't it?  Growing up in the technology world programming computers and games, I have always had a bit of the hacker mentality.  Whenever I look at anything I wonder if there is a better, faster or cheaper way.

Some of those thoughts lead to places like Wal-Mart, which I have decided really isn't any better, faster or cheaper.

When I switched from AT&T to Verizon, I found a cheaper way that I thought had faster internet.  Nope, just cheaper.  I never realized how much I talk while surfing and how much I would miss that.  Technology is amazing and I was just taking it for granted.  Now I realize why AT&T costs a little more, you really do get more.

Sometimes I find things at the fair and bring them home never to be seen again.  Some like the Cham-Wow do work, and I keep them in the car for quick dustings before parades and shows.  Others like the magic mop I haven't seen since I paid for it.

This years's fair season was quite the interesting one.  First we got duped by the ionic cleansing machines where you put your feet in the water and all this stuff is supposed to be coming out of you.  A little research proved it was 99% rust from the coil.  Too bad my CPA won't let me call it an educational expense.

We also bought the Gripstic.  The guy said it was a better version of the chip clip, so we bit and spent $20.  Of course the deal at the fair wasn't really a deal.  You can get it here on Amazon for $2.00 for a package, and for $20 you will have more than we picked up at the fair.  If you need more, the as seen on TV stores will sometimes have a big variety pack.

We started using the Gripstic almost immediately.  When there are only two people in the house, we tend to have bags for a while.  The giant chip clip never really sealed our chips and living near the beach makes everything soggy quickly even with a big clip on the bag.

Of course the first thing we did was replace the giant chip clip on our tortilla chips.  Four days later when the chips weren't stale and soft, we knew Gripstic was a great idea.  Then we used a Gripstic on the sugar bag, another on the cereal bag, and soon they were everywhere.  Some things like candy or pasta we used to put into plastic zipper bags or tubs which seemed like a waste.  Now we just Gripstic it.

For the holidays, we spent some time at our family vacation home and realized just how much the Gripstic saves us.  In just seven days, one entire box of plastic zipper bags were used to store other things that were already in bags we couldn't seal.  One bag os swiss cheese even came in a zipper back but the tear off part didn't work right so the bag wouldn't seal.

The Gripstics would have paid for themselves in just a few days.  Now that is a good product.  It solves a real problem, does it better, faster and cheaper.  Next time we head up to the vacation home we are brining a handful of Gripstics.