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".

Great Customer Service Without Asking - Tresanti Wine Cooler

Customer Service isn't something we are used to any more.  At least I am not.  When my Tresanti Wine Cooler started getting louder and louder, I really thought I was going to have to take it back to Costco.

As a small business owner, I have a love - hate relationship with Costco.  I know how many small business owners lose business because things cost less at Costco.  At the same time, the quality is very high, and the ability to return anything except electronics forever is very appealing to me.

The ability to return stuff forever has had another effect.  This week I had two large heavy purchases from Costco fail, and both customer service lines get a five star rating from me.

People that know me, understand that I let a lot of stuff slide.  If it bugs me I'll bottle it up and hope it goes away, and when it doesn't then I make big changes quick.  I have been known to dig up an entire yard because I let a sprinkler problem go too long and then one day BANG for whatever reason I wanted it fixed that day at any cost.  Emergency contractors love guys like me.

When my Tresanti Wine Cooler got loud enough and my wife wasn't around, I called the local Costco, and they had one left.  The plan was to run it back and get a new one before she knew about it.  Costco shoppers know this is a hazard of shopping at Costco.  When they run out, you are out of luck.  Anyway, I started emptying the cooler, planning to load it in my truck and return it to Costco.

As I was emptying the top drawer, I found the tag with an 800 number that my wife left in there.  She must have known I would do this when she wasn't home.  I called the number and said "The fan is loud, really loud".  The guy says "Ok, there are four, can you tell me which one?"  I could only isolate it to the bottom compartment so he says, "That is good enough, I'll send you both fans for the front and the back of the bottom section."

I unplugged the cooler while I waited for parts.  When the fans showed up, I was impressed at how well thought out the cooler was for repairs, and how easy it was to repair.  Now it is nearly silent.

Most things today are snapped or glued together so when they break they go to the dump and you have to buy another one.  The Tresanti Wine Cooler was assembled with screws and was very easy to take apart, replace the fans and put it back together. A great buy from a company that was thinking ahead and backed their product.

I had a similar experience with my Sentry Safe.  Have you had any great customer service experiences lately?

Simple Tools To Grow Your Business

Every day I meet with people who own or run a business.  I don't spend a lot of time in government offices now that I am retired from the Air Force Reserves.  I like meeting and talking with business owners and leaders because they all understand the concept of "Mission".

My wife is a real estate agent, actually a Realtor (tm), and for the first time since I have known her, she now has a sense of "Mission".  Gaining the sense of mission is one of the fastest and least expensive changes you can make in your life when it comes to achieving success at any level.

Let's say I want to lose weight, and get down to 180 pounds.  Everytime I pass an ice cream store, I ask the question of mission.  Will this ice cream cone help me lose 180 pounds?  If it hasn't, and I am taking it as a luxury, have I done the exercise to add it today?  The key difference between someone trying to lose weight and being on a mission to lose weight is the work to lose weight is done first.  If I plan to be at 180 by June and I am on track and ran an extra mile today to earn the luxury of the ice cream, I can treat myself.  Otherwise I have to keep walking.  Today I kept walking.

Business is no different.  If you want to make $100,000 this month in whatever you do and you make it a mission, decisions are much easier.  When your buddies call to go to the ball game, you can look at your numbers and know that you are ahead of track or behind.  If it is the 15th and you have already made $90,000.  You can either work on the last $10,000 or go to the ball game.

On the 25th of the month and if you are at $90,000, your actions will tell everyone including the universe itself if you are on a mission or just set a goal.  The person with a goal, will say "$90,000 is close enough." and go to the game.  The person on a mission will stay and work.  There is no "close enough" when it comes to real missions in real life, only success or failure.

Learning to accept the concept of mission is one thing, disciplining yourself to live it is another.  The right side of my white board in the office has initials for several goals I have currently.  Together they spell out the focus of my mission.  I look at it several times a day and it makes me thing smarter about decisions.  My goals cover a few areas today, and I highly suggest that you start out with just one target at a time for your mission.  As you get better at hitting targets, then you can add more targets to shoot for simultaneously.  The worst thing you can do is list to many targets and not hit any.

What is your first target?

Barry Minkow - Fortune Magazine Jan 15 2012 - The Future Issue

Elementary School is a funny time in a kids life.  I knew Barry Minkow then, and that part of his life is never mentioned when you read about him.  Barry lived in Southern California until ZZZZ Best was raided.  At that time, Barry was part of a family that stayed put and was a foundation in the community, he knew everybody. My family never stayed in a house more than 5 years. In fact the 5 year rule has followed me into my adult life.

If you are like me and moved a lot due to parental employment, divorce and a host of other things, you probably don’t keep in touch with too many of your elementary school friends. You just have some fond memories of a time when you didn’t have bills to pay. I have the phone numbers of exactly one person from my elementary school days and we only see each other once or twice a year.  I lost contact with Barry about the time he started ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning.

The nomadic nature of my youth made it difficult to stay in contact with any of my elementary and junior high school friends. The fact that the nomadic life stayed with me into adult hood is another story. Back then, I didn’t have a car, there were no cell phones, and as with all things new and old, new friends came and old friends faded away. We didn’t have Facebook to stay “connected” or “friends” for life even if we never saw each other again. Most of my friends don’t even have a Facebook account, and others stopped using it sometime ago. If they want to know what I am doing today, they just text and come over with a bottle of wine.