PDA

View Full Version : the rich



greenoak
11-01-2008, 08:11 AM
wierd....i have a rich family member, and as i got into business i got real interested in him....he made a lot of money in his 30s and even more in his late 50s....i thought he would be able to really shed some light on the real mystery about building a great business... who makes it and who doesnt.....
he was willing to talk but he couldnt really put anything in words that shed much light on what made him different..or how it could apply to me...... i know he was smart, persistent, and made super close bids, worked hard, and had a good quality reputation...
im pretty sure he had a recipe that i would really like to understand...kind of frustrating...
we all read the business books and hear the same advice over and over....but it doesnt explain the real breakthru.....i want to hear that magic thing that will be the key to a new chapter.... i love the chapter im in...but im not cruising around the world this year!!!!

KristineS
11-01-2008, 10:08 AM
I feel the same way about successful writers. I'd love to know how they did it. Part of me wants to believe there is some special formula to making success happen. Another part of me knows it's probably a combination of talent, persistence and luck. Unfortunately you can't always duplicate the exact combination.

Patrysha
11-01-2008, 11:42 AM
I've been working with several local business owners who have started successful businesses. One started his company 14 years ago with a converted bread truck that was borrowed and he now has a fleet of over 50 vehicles and twice that many employees in a niche industry service. Another started his first business when he was fifteen and has grown to include 10 local businesses under a couple of different umbrellas.

The difference I see between those who reach those heights and those who don't tends to be in risks and innovation. The big players take more risks and try more things...they don't seem to get too ruffled if an idea or two along the way flops or doesn't perform as expected. They also tend to be out there constantly looking for new ideas for growth.

One other common factor is that they aren't afraid to delegate judiciously. The one owner has great managers in place who he's authorized to make decisions, but he always has the final call when it comes to finalizing contracts and signing checks. He has the people below him to the legwork so he only has to deal with the final decision.

cbscreative
11-01-2008, 12:35 PM
This is an observation, but I believe it to be an accurate one because there is one common factor that I see in every case, and in every book I am familiar with. You must visualize success. You must believe in it, speak it, and never feel guilty for it. If there is any lingering doubt whatsoever, it will serve as a barrier. Sometimes the rich are labeled as arrogant when their strong self-confidence was a major contributing factor to success. When these people do fail, they get up, shake off the dust, and continue.

billbenson
11-01-2008, 01:21 PM
Part of it is thinking on a larger scale. Do you think about opening a store or a chain to compete with walmart.

I have a friend who has started and sold a number of successful businesses. He gets VC people lined up, media people, engineers in india, etc., and manages them. He develops some product. The last one was a custom integrated circuit.

Obviously, not the type of product most of us are going to deal with. I think the analogy applies though. Whether its my friend or Donald Trump, they just do things on a much larger scale. If you can do it yourself, you can probably manage others on a larger scale to do it as well.

greenoak
11-01-2008, 05:15 PM
my person was a contractor and focussed on the huge building boom happening in his starting decade, it was when all the rural schools consolidated......
i love visualizing , pr and all, but wheres the beef, comes in big time for the successful ones i know....they had something great that fit the actual wants of the market...plus the great arrogance or whatever and fearlesssness that steve describes....maybe they can let go of a poor idea faster....or have higher standards for the ideas they run with....or were just smarter and could see what the market was asking for....
and like kristine says, that situation that worked so well for one, wouldnt be the same today.....but another one is....
also he had a related side stream that became world famose in later years...kind of a joe the plumber gone big time...... he was always glad to bluster about hiring and firing purdue grads...when he had no college degree himself......
i really like what patrysha describes, it sounds like antoher millionaire i know, he can do things fast...if he gets an idea he can give it a try...he is also wildly self confidant...., and faster than anyone ive ever seen....he takes risks and will try new things...he digs in and can learn what he needs to know..... his field is junk yards and real estate....

mr.ro
11-02-2008, 01:26 AM
yes I think it is important to learn from the people we know, and apply what they are doing or at least take bits and pieces from what they are doing to be a success and apply that to our daily routine.

seeing that person first hand and then doing what they do is better than what any book can teach you as we have all read the books that say to do the same thing but most of the time we don't apply it. Some how when you see it in person I believe that motivates you more than the book, at least in my life that has worked for me, when I meet people who are in a position that I want to be in I do not hesitate to ask them questions on how they got their success or business to a point were I want mine to be at.

Marcomguy
11-02-2008, 03:35 PM
The difference I see between those who reach those heights and those who don't tends to be in risks and innovation.


Part of it is thinking on a larger scale. Do you think about opening a store or a chain to compete with walmart.


I agree with both. The people who make it big are the ones who have the ambition to grow big and the willingness to take risks to get there. Sam Walton could have been satisfied with his five-and-dime in Arkansas. It was an inner drive and ambition that led him to build his one store into the Wal-mart empire. Many other people, meanwhile, are happy owning their one general store and sticking with it all their lives.

Spider
11-02-2008, 06:49 PM
This thread seems to have started with the premise that there is a secret to be learned or a recipe that rich people have discovered. Subsequent posts do nothing to dispel that notion. I want to dispel it.

The secret is, folks, that there is no secret.

You know what to do to be successful. You know how to be rich. It's simply a matter of getting on and doing it. Unfortunately, most people won't. They have convinced themselves that they are not rich, or that they can't afford to start their own business, or their business is not succeeding, because there is a secret that they don't know.

But you do know. Just sit down and work out what you are going to do to become rich/successful/powerful/famous/whatever. Decide your end result and make a plan that will get you from here to there.

It's really quite easy - and you know how to do it. The trouble as I see in the previous posts is that you don't believe it. You don't believe you already have the necessary information. You believe it's a secret that only a few people have. It is that belief that is keeping you from what you wish for.

billbenson
11-02-2008, 08:05 PM
I'll give you a different example. A friend of mines father in law was quite wealthy. He pretty much fit every stereotype of a hillbilly you can think of. He drove an old car, didn't eat exotic foods, Not because of frugality, but because material things were of little importance to him. I don't thing he was either educated or particularly bright. My friend once said he was married to the richest stupid family out there.

The reason he was wealthy is his pastime was making money. When he wasn't working, he was thinking about how to make money. He lived in a dumpy old house, but because of the location it was worth $2M. He could have cared less about material things. Making money was simply his passtime. Divorced, no friends really. I doubt he talked to his family much. He didn't care.

I don't think he had a great work ethic. It's just that everything he did, most would consider work.

-----------------

You could also look at someone like Martha Stewart. Very different than my example above, but during her trial it was said that she slept 5 hours a night and pretty much was always working. Basically a workaholic. It didn't appear she had much of a personal life.

----------------------------------
Lastly, a quote I like from Johnny Carson:

"The best thing about having money, is you don't need to worry about having money" or something to that extent.

greenoak
11-02-2008, 08:06 PM
frederick...arent you belitteling the value of the superior business idea? i think you need an idea that the market will react to......... which isnt just any old thing you might come up with...its so much more than ads and attitude...or ...you cant make a purse out of a sows ear....like steve jobs idea was a lot better than that guys i went to school with....
...i truly believe if i could get a millionaires attention and make him absorb all my details!!!! that his analysis would be fabulous to learn...i think he would see things i dont...
we are thankful for our business right now...its really going well.... just have to wonder what the same kind of effort could accomplish with a different viewpoint....
bill, your friend sounds like one i know too.... .........ann

Spider
11-02-2008, 09:42 PM
Ann, Read your post again, slowly and carefully. Can you see - or feel - the underlying belief system that supports it. Write out all the things that you would have to believe for every word to be absolutely true. Don't concern yourself with whether you do believe these things or not - analyze your post as if it had been written by someone else.

For example, for "you need an idea that the market will react to" to be true, you would have to believe that ---

1. there is a cohesive entity called 'the market' ;
2. this cohesive entity reacts cohesively to business ideas;
3. this cohesive reaction must be favorable; and
4. that 1, 2 and 3 must all exist for 'success' to happen.

Do this for every word and phrase - you will likely have 40 or 50 different beliefs that must be true for success to happen for you.

When you have written down all these beliefs, go through them, one by one, and decide whether you really believe them to be true as standalone beliefs. Simply cross out all that you believe are not true, and write them out as a separate list. These are things you say or imply as being true that you don't believe are true. The remaining list will be things you say or imply as being true that you do actually believe to be true.

Take the list of things you say or imply as being true that you don't believe are true (let's call it your Untrue Beliefs list) and ask yourself why you say or imply these things when you know them to be false. Devise ways to catch yourself and stop saying or implying these things.

Now look at the list of things you say or imply as being true that you do actually believe are true. (Let's call this list your True Beliefs list.) Although this list may be 20 or more items, it's quite likely that you will find this list of True Beliefs composes of variations of only one or two uber-beliefs - contextual beliefs - beliefs about a whole sector of your life, or a fundamental belief that influences a great deal of your life. The sort of belief I have in mind here is "money is the root of all evil" or "if I was rich my friends wouldn't like me anymore." These mega-beliefs are the basis of your belief system.

That alone will give you an good insight to your core beliefs. The next step might be a little difficult but work with it and see where it takes you. I want you to challenge yourself and stretch your thought processes. Ask yourself, "What would my life be like if I believed the opposite to this belief?" "How would my life be different?"

I'm not asking you to change any beliefs at this point - only imagine what things would be like for you if you had a different belief. Once you have done this thoroughly and have deeply explored how your life would be different, you might find you have identified one or two basic beliefs that are actually holding tou back. You may find that it is your belief system that is preventing you from being as wealthy as you seem to want to be, and not a lack of knowleldge or some "secret recipe" that rich people have.

Let us know how you get on with this exercise.

greenoak
11-02-2008, 10:20 PM
i believe my point...and sorry i didnt follow your directions...i dont really go for that kind of stuff....
ive heard and read lots of the advice to businessess about all you have to do is ;;;..then they give their recipe......their method, go girl , the secret..whatever pr thing they have hitched onto... , . its rampant and leads people to ways that dont work........imho...i mean it can help, but your basic idea is important too....
i believe in the market and supply and demand... and that all ideas arent equal..

i want my business to be as good as possible....but i wouldnt say wealth was super important, maybe im already there....
...like i have been saying, .i would love to understand what a millionaire would suggest., if he or she actually knew my business....
. ...interesting frederick , nothing personal....i hope you can help some people and make money with your ideas....... and im not totally against generic business advice, i loved in search of excellence...

Paul Elliott
11-03-2008, 12:21 AM
Ann, you've gotten some excellent advice.

1. Carefully calculate risks
2. Innovate
3. Make calculated decisions quickly and abandon them slowly
4. Tirelessly goal-directed
5. LARGE vision
6. Take care of business
7. Delegate, delegate, delegate


...i truly believe if i could get a millionaires attention and make him absorb all my details!!!! that his analysis would be fabulous to learn...i think he would see things i dont...
we are thankful for our business right now...its really going well.... just have to wonder what the same kind of effort could accomplish with a different viewpoint....
bill, your friend sounds like one i know too.... .........ann

In the 6-8 months I've visited with you on this forum, I've developed a true fondness for you and your business. You clearly have a lot of experience, energy, and seem to have a genuine desire to make your company bigger and better.

Your successful relative may have never truly sat down and analyzed the reasons for his success. My guess would be that he simply went through the above list in a very determined fashion without ever thinking about it very much. When you asked him about his techniques, his answer wandered too much for you to benefit without a lot of illustration and connection to your own business operations. In other words, an effective translation.

Yes, a millionaire who has looked at your business thoroughly will likely make observations and suggestions that you'd rather not hear. They may be too foreign to your view of your own situation to be very palatable. They may likely produce what you might consider too much disruption to the way you currently do things for you to want to consider. RESIST that thinking.

When anyone suggests a maverick idea, STRONGLY resist the temptation to say, "We can't do it that way." Instead, think in terms of, "Let's do it and figure out how to MAKE it work." Of course, you may still decide it shouldn't be done, but the process of thoroughly considering it will be a successful exercise to establish for the longrun.

I have owned and operated several businesses and understand how you feel in the trenches. I've made most of the mistakes I see repeated and want to help you avoid.

From my distance, it appears you would benefit from reading the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. It shows you how to begin working ON your business as much as IN your business.

It seems you are doing a lot of "piece-work" right now. That's admirable, but if you continue in that mode, you'll reach your maximum output and there you'll continue until you run aground or run out of emotional fuel. In that mode you'll NEVER be able to move to the next rung.

You certainly are essential to your business, but what you can really do for your business that few or no others in it can do is MANAGE it through the mine fields to genuine greatness. I don't simply mean barking orders but providing oversight, direction, and leadership. THAT's where the next quantum level is.

I know what it's like to work so hard IN your business you have no energy or desire left to work ON your business, yet the transition to working ON your business is where true excellence lies.

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to break the "piece-work habit."

You've come right up to the bullet . . . bite it don't kiss it! Take a long look at yourself and start the re-invention there. From the position of a re-invented Ann, you can re-invent your business.

But beware! You may find the most difficult part of this process will come from within your own organization, unless you carefully think it through and plan a strategy that will produce an obvious benefit for each person and interest.

Keep up your excellent work!

Paul

orion_joel
11-03-2008, 02:35 AM
Initially i had decided not to reply to this thread, but thought i might just weigh in on the topic.

Firstly on the point of there being secret's or unknown truths with business i tend to agree with Frederick. There is really no special secret that the rich know and others don't. I got my first insight into the fact of there not really being a secret, from the book "Think and Grow Rich". I am unsure if it was the back cover of the book or in the first chapter that mentioned a secret contained within the pages, and to pay close attention to try and find it.

Well i read the book, keen to find the mentioned secret, and could not find it. Again i am unsure if it was in the final pages or something i read later on that, mentioned the illusive secret. That basically the true secret was that their was no secret. While i probably did not consciously realize at the time i read the book their was no actual secret, when i found out, i realized it was something i knew, success was not governed by a great secret, that only the rich knew. As the rich really spanned, every industry, and every nationality, and the methods all varied.

Possibility the single biggest thing that you may want to consider Ann, is that someone else may be able to shed some great idea's on your business. However this does not mean that they actually need to be someone who is rich, successful or even have any business sense at all. Consider that some of the most successful people have been the people that know nothing better, the people that do things because they don't even consider for a moment that it wont work.

One thing i think can be common is that the more hardship in business you have the more wary of taking to many risks you are. However this is not always true, there are probably people who have tried business after business, and failed at each one, however they keep going back and trying another and another. Because they do not know any other way.

The final thing i would like to say is that you should be asking people all the time how you can improve. Just because you have a rich relative, doesn't mean that is the one person you need to focus on asking. Maybe ask a good customer that you have a good relationship with, especially if they have been coming for a while. Along the lines of "John, you have been coming to my store for a while, i am interested to know if there is anything you think i could improve". This may be something you are doing already, however it doesn't really require people having a fully intimate knowledge of your business to tell you some great idea. It can be as simple asking a customer have them mention something small and suddenly you have a real killer idea that was sparked by one comment.

greenoak
11-03-2008, 08:33 AM
ive read generic advice for years,.....its helped me,,,,i have a whole bookshelf of it....i love to hear everybodies theories.... ive read or talked about the good advice on pauls list for me lots of times and probably do lots of it..its a great list....and im a sponge, i talk to many people , and to probably every business person who comes into the store who will talk....
i do think the general advice industry or writers and talkers generally minimize the importance of the core idea of a business., the actual business idea ..and i think it hurts newbies....who should be working on a good viable plan to start with....and be very attentive to their hoped for market and their place in it.....some plans are way better than others.....
....and i never hear marketers or pr people ask how better to serve their customers or questions about how they run their businesses better or what plots might work better....dont they want generic advice? lol....why is that?
im all for general advice and i know there are some really good points above......ive heard most of them and given out that kind of advice as well.......but thats not what my post was about... i was posting about something else.

i was posting about how neat it would be to get an analysis from someone else , a millionaire, on my specific set of details.......how would he do things differently...and his view would be very interesting and different than most general theories....but im not sure they can really tell us,....and then there is serendipity.... .....


.the junkyard guy will talk a bit when he comes in,and kind of knows the store...,, and pretty well told me 3 things to do....build on the highway and raise my profit margin and buy in bulk and sell the parts....all my reasons against just seemed pathetic to him...it was very enlightening.....of course my conclusion was he buys better so he always has the means to put up another 100,000 building where i dont............ i think i did what paul just said i shouldnt do!!! say, i cant do that.... there are some real reasons why i cant tho....

actually, several years ago, i did read the emyth...and was impressed and called them...after about 10 minutes i realized they were ready to sign me up and coach me without knowing or wanting to know anything about my details....my details had very little to do with their plan.... ..i already knew about their plan from reading the boodk , so i didnt bite....
im very not into self help books either.......i would never read the secret....must admit, i have read my share of business books tho...with a lot of good results...
p.s. paul...you are so right ...i am doing too much work around here....and its because all our eggs are in one basket right now, the store..........and i cant seem find the next one.. at least i have somewhere to vent and brainstorm...thanks !!!
ann

Spider
11-03-2008, 10:56 AM
i believe my point...and sorry i didnt follow your directions...i dont really go for that kind of stuff...And by "not going for that kind of stuff," Ann, you hang on to your belief about rich people having a special knowledge of business, and won't question it. I'm not saying your belief is wrong, I'm just sad that you won't make the effort to seek the information you claim to want to find. However, that is what most people do.

They deny their own power to achieve, believing that there is still some secret or some additional knowledge that the wealthy have that they don't. Which is their prerogative, of course. But it rather flies in the face of them seeking knowledge when they have the knowledge already but refuse to believe it.

Paul has said much the same when he said that a millionaire who looked at your business thoroughly will likely make observations and suggestions that you'd rather not hear. He advises you to resist that thinking, and I support him in that.

Joel, also. There is really no special secret that the rich know and others don't. Neither do they have any special insight.

I, as a wealthy person (not that I think that should make any difference), say this to you -- You already know how to be successful, Ann - you already know how to become wealthy. Just apply the knowledge you already have and you will do fine.

Blessed
11-03-2008, 02:15 PM
Ann, I agree with you - I think it would be fascinating to have a successful, wealthy person sit down with me, look over my business and personal finances and give their opinion on what they would or wouldn't do differently.

I also think several people who have already responded to your post have made interesting and valid points.

I have to agree with Paul though... I'm sure that whatever wealthy and successful person sat down with me to analyze what I'm doing and make suggestions would make some suggestions that would be hard to hear - the key though is acknowledging that they know what they are talking about and putting those things into practice!

Oh and Frederick, you make a lot of good points but you do so in an antagonistic way that makes you come across as if you have a chip on your shoulder and that immediately discredits you and makes it difficult to read what you write with an open mind. I've noticed that you and Paul both say a lot of the same things and seem to have a similar viewpoint on being successful in business - but Paul presents things with the attitude of a teacher, you don't. Just my personal observation and I'm not wealthy, although I am well on my way to success. I'll keep reading your insights but you might want to analyze your presentation.

BillR
11-03-2008, 04:02 PM
I've know three types of rich people. Two of the three types can be discounted.

Type 1: "I walked into money somehow because I got lucky". One of these was a CIO at a company that got VC funding. They shot way up during the tech bubble and he bailed and cashed out. He was a millionaire. But ONLY because he was lucky. He's now in Federal Prison for fraud because the money ran out before his taste for it did.

Type 2: Old money. Not yours - you can't have it.

Type 3: Self made millionaires.

I have a nephew. He plays hockey in the NHL. Do you know why? It's not because he's the fastest. Or the most gifted. Or the biggest. None of these things put him there. The real reason he is there is because when he was a kid and then a teenager and then a college student and now an NHL player he always wanted to be just a LITTLE better. He kept practicing and working on his stuff after everyone else went home.

All the millionaires I've met are the same way. When everyone else has knocked off for the night they are still working because they honestly can't NOT do it. To them the idea of relaxation is sitting down with the budget and forecasting to find a 1% gain in profit.

Spider
11-03-2008, 04:37 PM
Thanks for your observation, B. I do get intense, don't I! It seems to work well for coaching clients who gain a lot in a short time from the approach, but is less effective at winning over non-clients. I must try to temper my enthusiasm.

Blessed
11-03-2008, 05:24 PM
Well Frederick - I'm a bit direct myself... and I've noticed that it usually goes over better in person than in this type of venue. I'm sure that your clients do appreciate your intense approach! Thank you for taking the criticism in the spirit it was given in :)

greenoak
11-03-2008, 05:31 PM
im hard to insult.....i get told no all the time.... by my customers....
i will go over fredericks points later..i wasnt looking for that but i shouldnt just brush it off either.....i would like his advice sure but not near as much as if i had a real successful person here and with the time to see and hear all about my thing...that would just be a whole nother level of insight.....ive had a few ideas i wish i hadnt wasted my time on....
and im sure i would hear things i wouldnt like.....
ps .i was raised rich and its not all its cracked up to be!!!!.i was mostly raised by the help....and they looked a lot like obama...!!!!.i easily rebelled against it as a kid .....it isnt my main goal....
the only kind of millionaire i know..and i think i know 4...is self made...
ann

billbenson
11-03-2008, 05:59 PM
Well, as long as you can pay the bills, this is the best time to be poor. You aren't going to loose anything in the stock market if you don't have anything.

Dan Furman
11-03-2008, 06:20 PM
frederick...arent you belitteling the value of the superior business idea? i think you need an idea that the market will react to.........

In the context of how we are discussing success, I totally disagree with this notion.

I believe I am a successful person. Thus, I believe I can take a bad idea and make it as successful as possible. Now, it still might be unsuccessful, but I'll squeeze every bit of success out of it. I will take a marginal idea and make it as successful as possible. I will take a good idea and do the same. The one constant that doesn't change is ME (now, that said, if you consider around the world cruises as "success', yes, you may need a different business model.)

I agree with Spider and the rest - success is really pretty easy. It has nothing to do with "hard work". After all, the guys that ground knives all day for a penny each at my old job worked HARD!!! WAY "harder" than I.

No, success is a mindset. Success is tinkering with your website at 9:30pm because you had a good idea (and, subsequently, not giving a @#$% who the American Idol is.) Success is MAKING success a priority - over family, over friends, etc etc.

Now, that sounds cold - it isn't. It doesn't mean I ignore my family - it doesn't mean I don't ever watch TV, it doesn't mean I am a workaholic, etc etc. But it DOES mean I put success #1 on my list. It means success is what defines me. And yes, it means I sometimes work when others play (but, you see, work IS somewhat my play. For example, writing the proposal that got me published was NOT work.)

Success is DOING the things you KNOW you need to do. It's attitude, and, indirectly, how you spend your time. Let me give you an example here:

I have a friend who wants to write a PDF booklet and offer it for download. He talks about this a lot. However, he has zero money to hire anyone to do things for him, and marginal web skills.

So, we know he wants to do this, and we know he has no money (so will have to do everything himself). However...

... does he learn how to make a basic website? NO

... does he take the time to learn about setting up CC payment online? NO

... does he learn about hosting, etc? NO

... does he even write the friggen e-book? NO

However, he DOES:

...Know exactly how many TD passes Eli Manning has.

...Know who the latest American Idol is.

...Intimately know the plots of several TV dramas.

...Bowl once a week.

...Plays Paintball every weekend.

He spends his time on all that, but doesn't do the things he KNOWS he needs to do to make his e-book happen. So, you know what? It's not going to happen. End of story. And that's fine - he's a dreamer, not a doer. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't expect success.

Conversely, when I started my first online biz (mid 90's), I quit my bowling league (twice a week) to spend time teaching myself how to make websites. My friends weren't too happy with me, but if I wanted to make it work, well, I had little choice. Success was a priority.

Again, though, I want to caution - it has nothing to do with working HARD. It has everything to do with actually doing what you know you need to do. Without fear, without putting it off, etc etc.

At least that's one part of it - I have a lot more in my head on the subject (perhaps that'll be the next book after Do the Web Write) :)

Paul Elliott
11-03-2008, 07:47 PM
Ann, I'm delighted to see you are continuing to engage in this discussion. It reveals several things about you all of which cast a very optimistic light on your situation.

When we hear advice we'd rather not hear or admit may be correct, the easiest thing to do is take our marbles and go home. Congratulations! You're still scrappin' . . . that's excellent.


ive read generic advice for years,.....its helped me,,,,i have a whole bookshelf of it....i love to hear everybodies theories.... ive read or talked about the good advice on pauls list for me lots of times and probably do lots of it..its a great list....and im a sponge, i talk to many people , and to probably every business person who comes into the store who will talk....

Good for you! I'll remind you that there are thousands of people who know EXACTLY what you should do in your business. They are your customers! BUT YOU MUST ASK THEM!

Take the same approach toward your other customers Joel suggested you take toward the junkyard guy who knows more about your business.

Design a survey form and offer a small box of nice candy or a special discount on some of your items (or all of them) in return for your customers' opinions.

I can almost guarantee you will be amazed at what you will learn from this survey.

Another benefit for asking your customers' advice is that they will grow to feel that your shop is "their" antique store. When we contribute something that others value, we have "bought into" that project or business in a psychological sense--the most powerful link you can hope for.

You will be amazed how well and powerfully that will work!


i do think the general advice industry or writers and talkers generally minimize the importance of the core idea of a business., the actual business idea ..and i think it hurts newbies....who should be working on a good viable plan to start with....and be very attentive to their hoped for market and their place in it.....some plans are way better than others.....

This is where a Business Plan is so valuable. If you don't already have a formal, written BP, by all means get one quickly. It will help you with exactly that process--how to properly define and articulate your core idea in a cohesive and understandable fashion.


....and i never hear marketers or pr people ask how better to serve their customers or questions about how they run their businesses better or what plots might work better....dont they want generic advice? lol....why is that?

Are you asking if they should ask you how they can better serve you? I certainly think they should. If they don't, you should probably change advisors. They should at least do a post-campaign analysis which should include how they can do their jobs better for you and their other customers.

But before that, they should see what problems you have that need solutions rather than simply telling you what they have to offer that you should do.


i was posting about how neat it would be to get an analysis from someone else , a millionaire, on my specific set of details.......how would he do things differently...and his view would be very interesting and different than most general theories....but im not sure they can really tell us,....and then there is serendipity.... .....

Yes, I realize that is exactly what you were asking. It's called business analysis and advice with coaching. That is often best delivered by someone who does that well and not necessarily a millionaire.

BillR's observations are very accurate about millionaires. They are mere human beings who have done some things very well or simply been at the right place at the right time.

If you don't believe that, look at the history of mega-lottery winners. Few of them have any of it left in about 5 years. They were not engaged in right thinking and right behavior before their win. After the win they were even less likely to do things properly to keep it.


.the junkyard guy will talk a bit when he comes in,and kind of knows the store...,, and pretty well told me 3 things to do....build on the highway and raise my profit margin and buy in bulk and sell the parts....all my reasons against just seemed pathetic to him...it was very enlightening.....of course my conclusion was he buys better so he always has the means to put up another 100,000 building where i dont............ i think i did what paul just said i shouldnt do!!! say, i cant do that.... there are some real reasons why i cant tho....

Really? Really? Think about it very carefully.

Perhaps Junkyard Guy has done right-thinking and right-acting long enough he has the cushion to continue that process on a progressively larger scale.

Start your baby steps tomorrow! Then, grow them just as he has done!


actually, several years ago, i did read the emyth...and was impressed and called them...after about 10 minutes i realized they were ready to sign me up and coach me without knowing or wanting to know anything about my details....my details had very little to do with their plan.... ..i already knew about their plan from reading the boodk , so i didnt bite....

Good for you! And bad for them! They really blew that. I didn't even know they had such a program. I simply read and profited from the ideas in the book.


im very not into self help books either.......i would never read the secret....must admit, i have read my share of business books tho...with a lot of good results...

I suggest you keep your money and time rather than read The Secret.


p.s. paul...you are so right ...i am doing too much work around here....and its because all our eggs are in one basket right now, the store..........and i cant seem find the next one.. at least i have somewhere to vent and brainstorm...thanks !!!
ann

Dear Ann, guess how I recognized the signs?<knowing smile> I've been there more than once, and I realize how much of a problem it can be.<ugh>

BECAUSE all your eggs are in one basket is the very reason why your situation is becoming desperate--slowly but progressively. NOW is the time to begin with the plan and the small, but regularly applied steps, and to do so methodically with a sense of urgency.

SOMEBODY will break given enough time even without the stress of overwork. I've seen it happen more times than I care to remember--heart trouble, cancer, depression, injuries, etc., etc. That is one of the reasons I stress the urgency of right-thinking and right-action ASAP.

Do whatever it takes to carve out some time for you to be able to work ON your business rather than always IN your business. Become less "essential." Remember, if you were to be seriously injured tomorrow or "break" in some other way, the business would still go on without you. Sure no one wants to think of such a thing, but they would manage and gradually fill in the gaps. Don't wait for that time to happen before making necessary changes and upgrades.

Keep up your excellent work!

Paul

orion_joel
11-04-2008, 02:20 AM
In my opinion there is one big failing in looking to get special insight from someone who is wealthy. That is that while they may be wealthy now, it does not mean that they gained this wealth from a conventional method which could be applied to any business. Maybe more so their thoughts on a different business may be a cause for failure to that business rather then further success.

Steve B
11-04-2008, 06:15 AM
People get rich for so many different reasons that I would be careful to stereotype that rich people have some special skill that can be applied to another situation. I've heard several "respected business moguls" speak and some of them are pretty much morons that had tons of guts and got lucky.

From what little reading I've done on this subject - I seem to recall that a tireless focus on one thing tends to be a common denominator in many success stories. Diversification is good once you get to a certain size, but it seems that many were super focused on one thing until they made it really successful.

Blessed
11-04-2008, 08:22 AM
In my opinion there is one big failing in looking to get special insight from someone who is wealthy...

True Joel - however insight from someone who is successful in life - which doesn't necessarily mean they are wealthy - is usually insightful, also though that insight shouldn't be seen as all that is necessary for the person who sought it out to be successful.

orion_joel
11-05-2008, 01:08 AM
Blessed, you are absolutely correct, there is a great difference between insight from someone who is successful in life and someone who is wealthy, there is i am sure plenty of people who are living in both columns, however i think that just being wealthy is not really always going to lead to as good place as being successful in life. Many people who are successful in life, do become wealthy, but not always financially.