COREY PARK: MONEY IS FREEDOM
Being an entrepreneur has always been in my blood. I started my first business right out of college. I’m attracted by the challenge and freedom an entrepreneurial path offers. The jobs I held in high school and college often made me feel bored or stagnant.
As early as I can remember, I always wanted a lot more out of life the status quo. My father and grandparents were entrepreneurs and taught me many things such as; jobs don’t offer as much security as many people assign to them. They also explained the many benefits of being an entrepreneur. They talked about how it spurs personal growth and offers a person the opportunity to do something that can have a positive impact on the world.
Question #2 Also talks about failure, so I’ll roll into question #2.
First thing that comes to mind when I hear failure is that it’s a necessary stepping stone to success. It’s a rite of passage and we almost always start off with some level of failure. Just about everything we try to achieve in life starts off by failing and learning how not to do it the next time. That’s how we gain experience. Successful people continue to get up and build upon those failures. Thus, they ultimately figure out how to be successful in whatever they strive to achieve.
The coronel that started Kentucky Fried Chicken failed many times. Kentucky Fried Chicken was his 76th business venture. I’ve never looked at failure as a problem, of course we want to avoid it but I believe it’s necessary. Instead, I pay more attention to the fear of failure, the fear of failure is what I think keeps many from taking the necessary steps to reach their goals. When I feel the fear of failure creeping in, I always remind myself of the old adage “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.
Question #3 talks about entrepreneurialism vs. employment working in a large company..
We hear many people talk about jobs as being security and having a regular income that one can count on. However, I don’t hear as many people talking about the fact that people often lose their jobs and can’t find another one very quickly. I don’t believe a job really offers the level of security many assign to it and I know the fear of losing a job can be very stressful.
True security is building wealth so that one has a nest egg and doesn’t have to worry if they will lose their income and the stresses that come along with it. You can’t be fired when you own the company and you’re in control of the board. Being entrepreneurial forces us to aggressively build many skill sets across a large spectrum. It’s those skill sets and wide range of abilities that enable us to become worth a lot more in the market place. They enable us to be compensated much more for our time and level up in our chosen field.
I also believe it’s nice to be able to have control of your own destiny. I’m able to choose who I work with and how I spend my days at work. Large companies have processes, big bureaucracies and often times plenty of drama/stress in the workplace.
I also look at the time investment. An employee working in a large company may be able to improve their income with a 5% raise the next year. I prefer a much better return on my time than just 5% annually.
In addition, entrepreneurs have the freedom to create and build things. That’s the part I enjoy the most. I find the deal making aspect very engaging because I have ownership in the companies involved in the deals I do. I don’t believe many people that work for large organizations are challenged at the same level. I feel that greatly hinders their ability to reach their full potential.
I feel being entrepreneurial isn’t necessarily centered in amassing wealth. I think the larger benefit is the person it forces us to become. It pushes us to grow exponentially as individuals; not just as business professionals. I feel that’s the biggest reason to be an entrepreneur. It’s by far the biggest payoff I can think of. I know that being entrepreneurial has forced me to grow and reach levels I would have never achieved while walking down the traditional path.
Of course it’s also important to make sure our entrepreneurial ventures are in line with our passions. We have all heard this before but it took me several years to realize how important passion is to the success of my ventures. I have worked on businesses I wasn’t passionate about and I am now working in many that I am passionate about. The experience of working many years on both sides of the coin has taken me to a much deeper level of understanding.
I’m very clear on how much passion affects my productivity and overall quality of life. Working on the things I have passion for has become a strict principle I absolutely live by. It’s no longer a nice to have that I am willing to forgo. I’ve dropped the mindset I carried in my younger years when I felt I should force myself to do anything in the name of success. I also believe it’s easier to be more passionate about what we do when we have ownership in it.
Question # 4, regarding when I struggled when I was younger.
I went through a difficult struggle for over ten years. I was really struggling to break out of the small business world and level up into Wall Street level business and finance. I wanted to do the types of business activities they talk about on CNBC; not run small local businesses like restaurants and real estate brokerages.
Those days, I didn’t have access to the ideas, technologies and types of business deals I have access to now. If I wanted to be my own boss, I had to run with one of the few ideas I could come up with. As with most entrepreneurs that aren’t born inventors, my ideas at the time were small business ideas. Unless we are inventors and who invent Velcro or an innovative new website idea; most entrepreneurs end up starting small businesses.
So, for many years I felt chained to the small business world. I didn’t find it fulfilling. I feel small businesses run us and don’t pay nearly enough. It’s also very hard to build into real wealth in the small business arena. It often takes a lifetime if it happens at all. My business and personal growth moved at a snail’s pace. I learned very little about high level finance, how to run a board, lead a company or Wall Street level deal making. I knew little about how to work with investors, sell securities in compliance, how to build momentum, use shares as currency, positioning, identifying, building and using leverage, complex share structures, term structures and legal structures. Today, I now know that there is a chess board under the chess board. A board few realize exists and just moving one piece on that board can easily change the whole game.
I often think of what I would have accomplished in my early days had I known the strategies and tactics I know now. It’s as if I was going into battle with a cap gun in those days. I am able to accomplish so much more now; with a lot less effort and risk.
I also found it difficult to be passionate about the small business I was running. It just felt like I bought myself a very high paying job. It wasn’t like today. Mostly all of the technology companies I have today could one day be very big and make my mark on the world. It’s much more exciting to work on things that could be really big one day and really provide a meaningful impact on others. It sure beats the lackluster existence and somewhat impotent dreams I experienced running small businesses.
I have learned that working on things that have meaning is critically important to my passion and overall drive; especially things that can go big and have a positive impact on a lot of people around the world.
I now realize that a big reason I was held back is that I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. For the longest time, I didn’t fully understand how much opportunity and money the world has to offer those that want to reach out and grab it. I thought 500,000 or a million dollars was a lot of money. I didn’t fully understand that there was this much larger realm of business and opportunity. Opportunities I could gain access to and capitalize on; if I stayed laser focused on it and worked hard to forge strong relationships with key mentors and business partners.
I first had to realize the level of opportunity the world had to offer before I could lay out a road map to break out of small business. That realization is one of the key reasons I why I began to position myself to learn the C suite and consistently work to improve my business acumen and skill sets.
Another major turning point that drove me to break out of the small business world was when I sat down to have dinner with two friends/very successful businessmen. That dinner taught me how little I really knew about business and how much I needed to learn. At the time, I thought I was a successful business man because I was making very good money and living in a large home on a cliff in Saint Thomas. The meeting ended up being a major wakeup call for me. I learned that although my income was well above the average, I wasn’t truly amassing wealth or doing deals anywhere near their level. The meeting helped open my eyes to a whole new realm of business that I knew existed but never understood at that level or felt was within my reach.
I then realized that I was more like a business manager with an accountant rather than a business expert doing business at the highest levels and reaching his full potential. One of my primary drivers back then was that I wanted to be the best business person I could be, just like a pitcher in baseball wants to be the best pitcher he can be.
Therefore, when the dinner was over; I sort of felt tricked by life or that I had been going about my work life with a blindfold on. My pride was in the dirt, I truly felt crushed. I felt personally insulted as a business professional. I realized that the identity I had been carrying around for years wasn’t real.
That experience converted me into a person who was driven to learn business like an unfed dog. I was ferociously determined to move up to the level of business they were on. Of course my determination had nothing to do with their impression of me. I had an innate need to remove the personal insult and cannon shot to my pride I felt after the meeting.
That determination drove me to seek out several business mentors. It’s those mentors that ultimately changed my life and the future of my business career. I glued myself to five very accomplished business mentors; two of which were the ones at the dinner meeting. It completely changed my life in ways I would have never dreamed of.
The taught me the key strategies and tactics I needed to play business at the highest levels. It enabled me to level up into the business realm that most small business owners will never experience or gain access to. I finally felt that I was reaching my full potential as a business professional and acquiring the power to really make a difference in the world one day. I was able to accomplish so much more in business with a lot less time and risk. It also enabled me to gain access to investors and other business people at the top of the food chain; where I didn’t have access before.
It was a struggle, a very long struggle to break out of the small business arena but every entrepreneur must hold a vision and consistently practice the three P’s (Passion, patience and perseverance). It’s the drive to never quit, never give up and maintain an optimistic view that you will make it across the finish line. Winston Churchill once said “A person hasn’t failed unless they don’t get up again”.
Successful entrepreneurs are fearless individuals that continue to get up time after time; no matter how much they fail. They don’t listen to naysayers. In one of Richard Branson’s famous quotes, he says “Entrepreneurs are people that don’t listen to their friends and family”. There are actually that back up his statement. Typical entrepreneurs are people that don’t let the opinions of others change their minds and hold them back from reaching their goals.
They don’t worry about other people’s view of what they should be doing. They know what they want and they’re determined to carve out their own path to that vision; no matter what anyone thinks. They are determined to persevere in the face of anything that tries to stand in their way.
#7. My biggest career failure.
I think a better thing to talk about is what I failed to do early on that would’ve made my career path so much easier. When I was younger I thought I could take on the world and I would figure it all out on my own. The smartest thing I could’ve done was seek out mentors and try to find ways to bring value to them. Thus, enabling me to work with them on a daily basis and learn from their experience and guidance. It was the mentors that dramatically changed my path in business and enabled me to be in a position where I can be paid a whole lot more for my time and create more value. Ultimately, the market place rewards us equally for the value we bring to the market.
#8. What do I find most difficult for me at work and how do I overcome it?
Sun Tzu was a great strategist, his books are required reading for many managers in large companies like Microsoft. Sun Tzu says “You have to know yourself better than your enemy”. Therefore, I try to find ways to position the things I do so that they fit who I am and what I am truly passionate about. I find ways to outsource the work I’m not passionate about. I also make sure to align myself with professionals who possess skill sets and talents that compensate for my weaknesses. It’s extremely important to be realistic about our strengths and weaknesses.
One of the most difficult things for me is work – life balance. My work is often as enjoyable as playing golf. It’s so in line with what I love to do and who I am that I often don’t take the time to do the other things I feel would be more in line with a balanced life. I now understand why the average millionaire works 12 hours a day. It’s hard not to work a lot of hours when you love your work.
When it comes to leading our life or leading our businesses, I feel the most important thing is clarity. We have to sit back and really think about what we want and how we plan to get there. I believe we mostly get what we really want in life but it’s imperative to attain extreme clarity on what it is that we want. I see clarity as a major driver and ultimately, the precursor to action.
When we don’t have clarity, we tend to delay decisions or actions. We spend less time working on what we really want because we didn’t take the time to attain clarity at a deep level. My performance psychologist says we inherently take action on the things we really want but most people don’t take the time to understand what they truly desire. So, we have to know ourselves very well in order to discover our true desires and drivers. Only then will we have the personal vision that drives us to take action that’s in line with who we are and what we want in life. It’s unfortunate that the majority of people live their days not really knowing what they want and how they want to go and grow in life. In short, attaining extreme clarity is the most important leadership lesson I’ve learned in to lead my business and personal life.
Work; the word work used to have a much different meaning to me than it does today. It used to mean that it was a necessary evil that I needed to force myself to do 12 hours a day. I spend many years working long hours on things I mostly don’t like; all in the name of making money and achieving success. The technology businesses I own now have taught me an important lesson. I now know that work truly doesn’t have to feel like work. It absolutely can be something that’s entertaining, enjoyable, rewarding, fulfilling… all of those things. Again, It starts with finding what you’re passionate about and following through on that passion.
I truly enjoy finding, strategizing, and launching businesses I am passionate about. To me, my work feels a lot like a business garden. It’s a lot of fun watching it grow and being a meaningful part of that process. I also enjoy the adventure of never knowing where it’s going to lead. I am driven by the excitement of closing large deals and I enjoy the luxury of dreaming big. Unlike my days in small business, It makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning.
It constantly feels like I am leveling up in a video game. The better we get the game of business, the more our network grows and the more fun it becomes. These days, I am able to accomplish so many things with ease that my younger self would have found very challenging. Sure, it took decades of collecting a lot knowledge and experience but I now feel as if I go through my work days in a zone. It makes it all worthwhile. I absolutely love applying my craft to the business world today, it rarely feels like work anymore. It’s a great feeling to be working and feel like an artist who is completely lost in his painting.
That leads into question #9. What is my least favorite thing to deal with running a business?
Years ago, I would get frustrated with myself because I wasn’t following through on certain things. Again, I learned that it’s hard to consistently work long hours doing something you don’t enjoy… No matter how profitable or productive that activity may be. I really took pride in working hard and expected myself to do whatever was necessary. That attitude didn’t serve me well. I found that it kept me from seeking out the things I would enjoy doing. Ultimately, forcing myself to work on things that weren’t in line with who I am, held me back from unlocking my full potential for many years.
No matter how driven we are; we won’t spend as much time or effort on things we don’t enjoy doing. Personally, I have found that I don’t enjoy being the person who manages day to day operations. I prefer to bring in highly qualified teams and experienced operations executives to run the day to day aspects of a business. I feel that professional COO’s with extensive industry experience are more qualified to oversee and run the day to day operations. Assigning them to that role will best serve the shareholders interest and free me up to bring value in positions I have a passion for.
I have found that I really enjoy leading and managing businesses at a board level. I enjoy performing C suite level activities, the deal making, strategizing and bringing my full network of investors and business advisors to bare. Working at the board level to bring a lot of value each company feels like home to me. It’s where I feel I excel and grow the most. It’s fully in line with my knowledge goals and the activities I love to do. Whether it’s high level discussions with investors, strategic partners, company executives or advising on complex share structures, term structures or legal structures; I love to bring my skills and experience to the board where I feel I can make the biggest difference for every stakeholder. A position on the board pushes me to continually learn and grow my business acumen. It enables me to better serve the shareholders and stakeholders in every company I attach myself to. I also find pleasure in identifying opportunities, participating in the planning process and helping build out the teams.
In addition, I have found that I like conceptualizing and designing detailed business and marketing plans. I didn’t like it much when I was younger but now it feels somewhat like business artistry. It allows me to use my creative juices. It’s find it to be as entertaining as playing a game. I also enjoy the learning that takes place during the process. I feel that when we stop learning, life becomes boring. I’m consistently learning a lot from industry experts, consultants and company executives as we work on our plans on each technology.
To me, the planning process is by far the biggest challenge most leaders will face. It’s very important to get it right. I feel that the importance of getting it right drives me to push through ceilings and stretch my creative muscles and capabilities. It always drives me to seek out many experts and take full advantage of my advisory boards. In contrast, I feel that day to day operations can often be repetitive and doesn’t offer the same level of personal and professional growth, learning or creativity.
#10. Regarding, how does it affect me when someone tells me that I can’t do something? How do I separate out taking other people’s advice and not being discouraged by it?
I have learned to continually bounce things off of many different people. It’s great to get others perspectives, guidance, and advice. It’s extremely important, especially when you have a good network of experienced advisors to reach out to. I have built an extremely valuable network of highly experienced and successful business mentors and advisors over the last few decades. In addition, I often have my team conduct surveys to help us gain a better perspective of the market. I have found it especially helpful in predicting the demand for a product and providing us with more insight on the margins we can expect.
Ultimately when making a business decision (let’s say in the frame work of considering launching a business) it comes down to calculated risk. So, I don’t see it as a matter of being encouraged or discouraged, it’s a matter of getting enough clear information to be confident that the risk is worth the upside. I need to reach a point where I feel confident that the overall risk is worth the upside potential. Then I can pursue it with conviction and hold the vision long enough to carry it across the finish line.
Many people in business talk about vision, to me that’s a big key. You need to be very passionate about your company’s vision. You have to be excited about it and really believe in it. Your strong belief in the vision will compel you to follow through and ultimately drive the execution required to make the company successful. I believe many entrepreneurs succeed in attaining a vision but I don’t believe they hold onto it long enough or hard enough, they have to be dedicated to it like their life depends on it or find something else that brings them to that level.
Business is almost always a marathon, not a sprint. Therefore, It’s imperative to hold a vision for a long time and have an undying dedication to that vision.
Question #11 asked: what’s the most important thing I learned at Penny auction solutions?
To this day, I’m still amazed by how much taking a company public taught me about how to better launch and run a private company. It taught me how to better position my share structures, it taught me how to effectively use shares as currency and be a strategic leader.
I learned so much about board level politics, acquisitions, compliance, how to work with investors, team members and other affiliates. It greatly expanded business my tool box. The way I see it, when I was in small business, I had a tool box that only had a hammer in it. Now I feel like I have an entire snap on tools truck. I especially benefit from the tools that help me be a better strategist. Tools that greatly help me with positioning, building and utilizing leverage and momentum. When you want to turn a molehill into a mountain, you need a lot of intelligent strategies and tactics.
I have a lot better chess moves now than I knew when I was running small businesses. I see my younger days in business like I was driving down the highway and passing bags of money that were sitting on the side of the road. I drove right past the money because I didn’t know to stop and look for them; or that they were even there. It was a shame because I missed out on a lot of opportunity that was within my reach. I now know about the chess board under the chess board but those days I spent a lot of time driving blind.
When we move the pieces on the lower (strategic) chess board, it makes the chess pieces on top move a lot easier. In addition, when you are running a business, it seems that many people/wolves appear that want to take advantage of you. So, taking a company public also taught me a lot about how to avoid battles and how to deal with battles when the wolves come sniffing around. I never realized how often those skills would be needed until I started doing business outside of the small business realm.
A seasoned business professional thinks three chess moves ahead to stave off pitfalls before they happen. The mentor that had the largest impact on me worked as a highly paid consultant for hedge funds for many years. He was a key professional that hedge funds would call when a company they invested in was going sideways. When the hedge funds gave a company fifty or a hundred million dollars and things were going very wrong; he was the one they sent in and counted on to go in and fix everything.
He has one of the most brilliant business minds I had ever had the pleasure of drinking from. I was lucky enough to work with him for almost two years. He gained a lot of valuable experience in the years he spent turning those failing companies around. I was fortunate that he shared all of that knowledge and experience with me. In addition, he was trained by a true business pro who once served as the chairman of the NASDAQ. He said that just about every one of the companies in those tough situations could have avoided the problems; if they had only taken the time to think ahead.
He went on to say that their problems could have been avoided in almost every case. The train wrecks wouldn’t have happened if the executives had been paying closer attention to the future. They weren’t following his golden rule; they needed to constantly be thinking several moves ahead. He taught me a habit that I still have to this day. He taught me to consistently go to the white board in order to conceptualize the future of my businesses and how the key decisions I make today will have a positive or negative impact on the future. White boarding forces you to look into the future to follow a profitable, future focused road map.
It’s a critical exercise to do often because it helps an organization avoid problems before they arise. We make better decisions today when we have a clear vision of the future. The whiteboard helps us gain clarity on where we are and where we want to go; both personally and in business. It’s especially helpful when it comes to visualizing the future and attaining a strong picture of the overall business landscape; today and in the future. I see the whiteboard as a leader’s best friend. It gives us the power to make much better plans and decisions.
I use a whiteboard app called Doceri on my iPad. I spend a lot of time playing out many different scenarios. When I have to make a key decision, I want to be clear on the potential consequences and figure out what decisions will likely come next. White boarding also helps me come up with new ideas or options. It often helps me think out of the box and see many things more clearly.
My key mentor also taught me a whole lot about compliance and how closely business and the law are tied together. In the small business arena, many compliance issues are obvious, but when you level up into the Wall Street realm; there are a lot more laws and compliance issues that many business owners aren’t aware of.
It’s important to have good advisors, attorneys and business partners when playing at that level; not only for regulatory reasons but because people/wolves can use your mistakes against you to angle for unfair gain. Even if you unknowingly step on a regulatory tripwire, others can use that to extort you out of cash or equity. I was lucky to have had great partners and advisors that guided me through the mine field. Today, I feel very confident and well educated in this area but I have met others that weren’t so lucky.
Question #12. What drives me?
There were a few years where I wasn’t driven at the level I am today; when I look back on those years, I now understand why. I had a hard time finding a new business I could get excited about. Everything I looked at wasn’t exciting. Just about everything I looked into seemed mainstream and boring to me. Franchises, MLM’s and most small businesses didn’t excite me at all. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to do or a new area in business I wanted to venture into. Today, I truly feel blessed to have many great and intriguing technology based options all around me. It feels like my opportunities and viable options to participate in a new business venture grows daily.
As I noted earlier, a major underlying drive for me is that I’ve always wanted to be the best I can be at what I do. I’ve always had the desire to be the best business professional I can be. Being an entrepreneur gives me the freedom to create and creating itself is a big driver. I often feel like a kid playing in a big toy box; creating and building things all day. Working in my business garden is so much more enjoyable than the caged existence I feel many others experience working a job.
I believe we mostly get what we really want in life. It all starts with having the drive to succeed. I have the word “Driven” affixed to my bathroom mirror. I focus on drive a lot because I believe drive is extremely important. A person without drive is like an engine without gasoline. An engine can be the size of a bus but if there isn’t any fuel in the engine, nothing will happen. I know drive is attached to passion. Again, we have to find things that are in line with who we are and our passions. That’s when a strong level of drive will take over and compel us in the direction of our dreams.
In addition to drive, entrepreneurs have to be optimists. The odds are often stacked against us in business. There will be many opportunities to lose faith and give up. To succeed, we need to have the underlying mindset that we can break through any barrier and it will all work out in the end. If we don’t carry an optimistic attitude; it reduces our drive and overall momentum in business. It can cost you your future and ultimately chain you to the status quo for life.
Employees are typically specialized. However, good entrepreneurs need to be generalist. I enjoy the freedom of movement across many areas of business. I wouldn’t be happy if I were confined within one space. Especially because I enjoy learning. I feel the learning curve begins to slow down when a person works in the same specific area for many years. Studies show that we are happier when we are growing. No one wants to be stagnant. I know I feel good when I am aggressively building my capabilities and resources on a daily basis.
I know freedom is another big reason why I have chosen to be an entrepreneur for most of my adult life. Business gives us the freedom to carve our own path and make sure our daily life fits us. It doesn’t force us to fit our job as the employee based model requires. In fact, one of the key management rules I live by is to mold my organization to fit the executives I bring in rather than force them to fit the organization. Research has showed that it’s the best way to receive the most value from the brilliant people we hire to help us achieve our dreams.
MONEY
I’ve noticed that many people who come across successful entrepreneurs feel that they must love money. They think the entrepreneur loves money and that’s why he or she has so much of it. It’s true that I wouldn’t be satisfied by the income offered by the status quo and I do like to make money and build wealth. However, it’s not for many of the reasons that a lot of people suspect.
I have never been driven by the desire to live like a rock star. I do like nice things, financial security for my family and the many comforts money brings; but I never stay up at night looking at 100 million dollar yachts or super mansions with helicopter pads. I simply want what most people want; the ability to provide financial security for my family and to continually grow into a better position to give back.
Studies show that helping and serving others brings us more happiness than material things. Many books have been written about the fact that we receive a lot of happiness through our service to others. Whether it’s serving our families, partners, employees or affiliates. I know I’m happier when I’m serving others. It’s much more fulfilling than spending my days solely focused on my own self-interest or drowning in feelings of greed.
Although money isn’t my strongest driver, I’m competitive and I do feel wealth is a scorecard that tells an entrepreneur how he measures up. Money gives me an additional measure to make sure I am being the best business person I can be.
Some may see this as an overly optimistic view but I feel most everyone that lives in this country is rich. Over 2.8 billion people in this world live on less than $2 a day. Over a billion of those live on less than $1.25 a day. I think it’s easy for many in this country to take food, running water, their security, medical and other services for granted. Billions of people in this world walk around in a sad reality we will thankfully never know. We should feel blessed to live here and do all we can to help those around the world that are less fortunate. I believe the knowledge and wealth we build as successful entrepreneurs puts us in a better position to give back and make a real difference in the world.
Personally, when I think of money, I think of freedom. We can use it to buy time with our families and the time we need to work on our dreams rather than just working to pay bills. Money buys us the freedom of choice that enables us to do what we love. It’s much better than climbing into our metal coffins each morning to run in the rat race with most everyone else. To me, that’s not truly living; it’s a soul stealing existence that can suck the life out of us.
We live in the greatest country in the world and can have anything we want if we are willing to reach up and grab it. Work harder now to build the personal momentum, skill sets, network and capabilities you need to get paid a lot more for your time. Build businesses instead of spending your life trading time for money in a job. We build real wealth through equities, not jobs. Whether it’s through shares or real estate; focus on building and growing your equity holdings so you won’t have to trade your time for money for the rest of your life. That’s the trap door people use to exit the rat race.
In addition, I have found that most successful people are future focused. I’ve worked hard over the years because I didn’t want to be worried about outliving my money when I retire. In addition, I don’t want to spend my senior years in an apartment, clipping coupons and constantly checking my account balances. I want to live like many of my mentors; traveling the world and spending a lot of time on family retreats. We live in an age where you can do and experience just about anything if you have enough money. One of my mentors recently returned from a month long cruise to Antarctica. Money buys experiences and studies tell us that experiences bring us a lot more happiness than material things. A retirement that enables you to travel the world and visit your children and grandchildren more often has to be better than penny pinching and hoping you don’t out live your money; or worse, become a burden on your children. It should be a strong, motivating force for all of us to reach our full potential and not leave any potential on the table. It’s the best way to serve ourselves and the others in our life.
Again, many people see jobs as security but we can lose jobs. I believe it’s a stressful existence knowing that a person’s work status can change in any given year but their bills will keep rolling in. Wealth offers us true financial security, a job doesn’t give us the same peace of mind. Having money has made my life a lot easier in many other ways. There are few things more depressing than having a family member or friend in severe need of financial help and not being able to help them. In addition, I remember life in my younger years felt like running the gauntlet of meeting monthly bills. Back then, a major car repair or big medical bill was a big deal. Now, I just write the check and go on with my day as if nothing happened. I don’t take that for granted. I revel in that luxury because I haven’t forgotten what it was like to feel the stress an event like that would cause. I also enjoy being able to use money to create and launch new business ventures. It expands my opportunities and brings me a lot of pleasure in the process.
Another underlying motivation of mine is that I have never wanted to be average. The thought of being average makes my stomach turn. I’ve always wanted to rise above the status quo; not for prestige or ego, I just never wanted to feel average. I get a real kick out of pushing through ceilings. I continually look for ways to elevate my businesses and personal growth. I like to push myself to the limits to see what I am capable of. Many people would likely surprise themselves if they tested their limits. I know I will rarely be unhappy or depressed as long as I’m constantly growing and learning. Again, I feel when people get stagnant, that’s when depression or unhappiness can sometimes settle in.
We can’t truly be happy when we feel like we are sliding backwards in life, rather than progressing. Who wants to reach the end of life feeling like they left a lot of potential on the table? We should want to be the best we can be and grow into our full potential. True happiness sprouts from the way we feel on the inside. It doesn’t come from spending a lot of hours being entertained in front of a television. It comes from spending our days doing activities that make us feel whole on the inside.
#13. How does a typical day look like and how do I make it productive?
I find myself attracted by the action and adventure the entrepreneurial landscape offers. I often feel like a corporate athlete. I like how things are fluid and different every day. I’m constantly adapting as I go through pushes and stretch my capabilities to the max. Along the way, I’ve found several tactics that help me be more productive. First I have my personal assistant schedule all of my calls in only 15 or 30 minute slots. I have noticed that most calls will take the time allotted to them and we can accomplish a lot in brief conversations. I used to allow an hour for many business calls and I now see that as a severe drain on time and productivity.
It’s imperative to set appointments and work by calendar. Many entrepreneurs are resistant to this because they want the freedom to do what they want, whenever they want to. That mindset will likely cost them a lot more time and freedom in the end. Not working by calendar is very inefficient. Appointments keeps us from playing phone tag with others. They also enable both parties to prepare for the call which ultimately leads to a much more productive and fruitful conversation.
We need our calls to be efficient because it’s important to have plenty of time left over for tasking. I’ve known many business owners that spend way too much talking and too little time tasking. To be successful in business, we need to focus on keeping a healthy balance between talking and tasking.
In one of Donald Trump’s books he provided a minute by minute accounting of one of his days. He reported on a call he made at 10:00 Am. Then he talked about what he did on his next call at 10:15. Then, he went over the call he had at 10:30. The calls were often tackling large, important issues but yet they were being handled in small increments. Of course there are times when we do need more time allotted but his accounting taught me that an entrepreneur can manage a lot of conversations in small increments.
In addition to being time efficient, I feel there is another important mindset that has helped me be successful in business. My day isn’t finished just because I completed the pressing tasks of the day. That’s called working in our business. To be successful, we must schedule time to plan/work on the business. Those hours give us the time we need to work out the key strategies and tactics required to achieve our business goals.
Over the years I have spent a lot of time working in directions that didn’t serve me well. I wish I had spent more time thinking things through and speaking with advisors. I would’ve accomplished so much more with much less time, effort and financial investment.
The other thing I think about when I think about productivity is leveraging the time of others. I focus on putting others in key positions to help me be more efficient and reach our company goals. Steve Jobs rightly said that “it takes a team”.
During most of my career, my typical work day was at or close to 12 hours and I have spent many weekends at my desk over the years. Statistics show that the average millionaire works approximately 12 hours a day. Of course that’s why it’s important to do something that you love. It’s hard to force yourself to do something 12 hours a day that you don’t enjoy and aren’t driven towards.
Most of us know the average American spends 20 hours in front of the television each week. I can’t imagine wasting that many valuable hours each week. Besides, I enjoy what I do a lot more than watching television. The reality TV trend has always surprised me. The thought of sitting around watching other people’s lives while ours is wasting away in front of the tube; seems counter to our interest and intelligence. That kind of life screams wasted potential and a big loss of life experience. Our dreams sadly waste away when we attach ourselves to time sucking habits like that.
I don’t have cable (I don’t to risk being sucked into watching TV) and I make a real effort not to make entertainment a big part of my life. Again, the experts tell us that happiness comes from the inside. Happiness is a byproduct of realizing our dreams and accomplishing the goals that support our dreams. We are most happy when we are doing the things that are in line with the vision we have for our life; not watching others live theirs.
Of course I still take time to do the things I enjoy. We all have to live and entertainment is great but it has its place. I found that I appreciate and enjoy a good movie or a round of tennis more when it’s a rare event instead of a daily occurrence. I’ve also found it very helpful to pay others to do many of the things that steal time. My grandfather was a successful businessman. He told me to pay others to do the things that don’t provide me with a high return on my time. I can receive a much higher return on my time working in one of my businesses; than mowing the lawn, painting the house or washing the car.
#16. What is one strategy that has helped me grow my organization?
One thing my mentors taught me was the importance of human resources, it’s extremely important. Many business owners do as I did when I was younger; they just shove a friend or family member into an important position. When we are new in business we often overlook the importance of key staff members and give into nepotism.
Our employees are typically our largest capital expenditure. We need to place a strong emphasis on making sure we take the time to find the right people for each position. The survival of your business depends on it. The top executives and their decisions ultimately determine the success or failure of the business. Therefore, we need to find the most experienced, qualified, driven individuals to fill every position.
Another aspect that has helped me run effective organizations is to manage from expectations. I owned a curriculum based educational company for many years. My company had partnerships with many school districts and private schools around the country. I remember a lot of the research and useful statistics I learned while running that business.
The research I read highlighted the fact that when parents expected their children to get A’s and B’s, the children would almost always receive A’s and B’s. Conversely, if the parents didn’t necessarily expect their children to bring home A’s and B’s or didn’t place an emphasis on grades; their children would typically receive C’s and D’s. The lesson here is that we must manage from expectations. If you want to get the best from your team and every employee, you must expect to get the best out of them. It’s human nature to rise up to meet expectations.
According to legend, experts said for years that the human body was simply not capable of a 4-minute mile. It wasn’t just dangerous; it was impossible.
Further legends hold that people had tried for over a thousand years to break the barrier, even tying bulls behind them to increase the incentive to do the impossible.
In the 1940’s, the mile record was pushed to 4:01, where it stood for nine years, as runners struggled with the idea that, just maybe, the experts had it right. Perhaps the human body had reached its limit.
The breakthrough
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier, running the distance in 3:59.4. As part of his training, he relentlessly visualized the achievement in order to create a sense of certainty in his mind and body.
Barely a year after Bannister’s accomplishment, someone else ran a mile in under 4 minutes. Then some more runners did. Now, it’s almost routine. Even strong high-schoolers today run 4-minute miles.
– See more at: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/4-minute-mile-certainty/#sthash.LEnFNZrf.dpuf
As I touched on previously, the success of a business is dependent on the leadership having clarity and a refined vision. You can’t have a focused, productive team unless the team is clear on the company’s vision. Once the vision is in place, it’s the leader’s job to lift them up into that vision. A good leader has to be very effective at getting the entire organization to buy into the company’s vision and compel them to drive hard towards that vision. If the leader fails to pull the organization into the direction of the company’s vision, the company risks being left behind and it won’t be well positioned for the future.
Many times organizations appear to hit a wall and stagnate. The leadership often get bogged down by their day to day tasks, putting out fires, fighting internal battles or dealing with board politics. They can easily get caught up managing the needs of the day rather than keeping a laser focus on effectively leading the business.
Leaders have to know the difference and keep an eye out for time eating events that should be addressed by others within the organization. They need to invest the crucial hours necessary to properly lead their organizations. Knowing that many employees depend on me to feed their families and pay their bills; keeps me focused on being a good leader. It forces me to spend the extra time it requires to make sure I am being a good leader.
I know I must invest many hours outside of the daily work blender if I am to be an exceptional leader. Many business owners and executives often confuse being a leader with titles. Of course being an effective leader has nothing to do with being a person that holds an executive level title. It has everything to do with respecting the lives and well-being of everyone in the company that depends on them. They should view their position as one of the few places within the organization that has the potential to bring tremendous value to every mouth the company feeds.
#17. What is the one book I would recommend?
That’s is a tough one, as I have many favorites. I am well-read across many areas within the business arena. I have favorites in each area. However, two that come to mind immediately that would apply to virtually anyone in business is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey and Sun Tzu’s book “The Art of War”. As I previously mentioned, “The Art of War” is one of the best strategy books ever written. However, I would recommend “the art of war for business” and “the art of war for managers” because they help translate the art of war into the business world. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is the book that helped change my life as it helped me realize the value of the hours outside of my day to day activities. It taught me the importance of those extra hours we have the opportunity to spend time working on the business. Before I read that book, I spent a lot less time thinking about and making plans for my businesses. I now know that it makes all the difference in the world. I know that companies live and die by their leadership and the decisions made at the top. I spend a lot of time making sure my companies work smarter/have good plans. I just wish it didn’t take me many years of working hard in many of the wrong ways to learn this valuable lesson.