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".