How to make money

To make money you have to help other people in a way they value and will pay for.  Either help a lot of people a little, or a few people a lot.

If you don’t have money yet, figure it out.  Learn.  Scratch.  Claw.  Get creative, bootstrap and borrow. 

If you don’t do a good job with a little money, you will never have the opportunity to see what you can do with a lot.

Does it take money to make money?

If you have money, it is easier to make money.

But if you have money, then you are the kind of person who knows how to make money, and that’s why you have it.  Now you can make more.

If you don’t have money, it’s harder to make money.

But if you don’t have money it’s because you have not become the kind of person who makes much money yet, and that is the real reason you can’t make money.

Thank heaven for problems!

Problems are continuous.  If your customer did not have problems, you would not be in business.  If your employees did not have problems, then your part of the org chart would not be necessary.

You solve problems for a living.  They are opportunities.

Each day, pursue these opportunities and try to eliminate problems for customers and prevent them in the first place inside your organization.

If you are really good at it, you will be rewarded.

Inspire people to do things

What if you didn’t tell people what to do, and inspired them to do things instead?

Think about that.

How can you inspire them to want to do it, and want to do it well?

Technology is no substitute for human communication

No software, no CRM, and no computer can substitute for human one-to-one voice communication.

It’s how real relationships are forged.  It’s how sincerity and confidence is transferred from one person to another.  It’s how empathy and real understanding happens.

The human voice is an amazing communication instrument.  There is no substitute.

When things are sticky; when there are misunderstandings; when it’s important not to blow it – slow down and talk to people.

Help people with decision fatigue

Whether it be your customers, your employees, or your friends or family – people don’t know what to do.  There are so many options, so many messages and so much information.  So much to do and so many things pulling on their attention and time.

Your job is to show up with clear thinking, clear communication, and enough confidence and clarity to make the right decision and make it easy for them to go along with it.

Help people make good decisions.

It’s called leadership, salesmanship, statesmanship, and just being helpful.

Your source of value

“Specialized knowledge is the most dramatic source of power.” – Alvin Toffler

What do you know deeply that is of value to others?

How well do you know it?

How valuable to others is it?

Are you willing to spend more on marketing?

“The owners willingness to spend money on marketing comes from his confidence in his sales team” – Josh Keeney

How confident are you in your sales team?

School of Entrepreneurship

My brother started our company 33 years ago. One of our key employees, who is very important to us, is considering taking over the company when we eventually retire. We realized he needed to learn the business, preferably from someone other than us. We did not want him to learn the hard way, and take decades like we did, so we worked with Bob Showers to get him started in the SOE. In the last 18 months, this employees commitment, contribution, and confidence have soared. He has become a leader himself. He is getting the education we did not have available to us on customer care, team building, marketing for a service company, work habits, leadership, and much more. In many cases, you learn from teachers who do not have real world experience on what they are teaching. In this case, you are learning from a master, Larry Janesky, someone who does what we do every day at a very high level. By the way, this education would apply to any business. I am in the school myself now, and it’s amazing. It is life changing, and more than worth the investment. Thanks Larry Janesky for the gift of all of your experience and effort you put into the SOE. Thanks Bob Showers for getting us started.

What did you do yesterday?

Take a close look at what you did yesterday.

Will those actions and attitudes, repeated each day, get you to where you want to go and who you want to be?