Archive for Business Re-invention

How to Abide in Business

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Monday, December 10th, 2012

In my previous article titled, “The Dude Abides” I suggested we should all consider abiding like Mr. Jeffrey Lebowski. To “abide” means to slow down and take it easy. I realize this suggestion may differ from my previous writings and I thought I would share a little background on this topic for those of you who have an interest in abiding.

Several years ago, Tim Ferriss posted an article on his blog about using the philosophy of Stoicism as a guide for entrepreneurs. In his article, he shared the following quote from Seneca:

“There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn.”

Well, when I read this post, I really didn’t fully grasp what Seneca meant when he put this idea to paper. At the time I initially read this quote, I was the busy man fighting to achieve my various business and wealth goals. The majority of books I read were business and marketing books. I worked 7 days a week and was proud of my work ethic. I honestly viewed myself as a work machine.

Tim’s post led me to reading “The Shortness of Life” by Seneca. One thing led to another and I began reading philosophy book after philosophy book. This was a major shift for me and I began to think differently about life. I have always felt we have one shot at life and it makes a great deal of sense to try and get it right. Who wants to face their last few hours with regret on how they invested their time?

One of the biggest ideas repeated through almost every single philosophy book is…

Wealth accumulation is not a worthwhile pursuit.

So I began to struggle with the ideas of philosophy and business, because they seemed to conflict. Every business book I studied focused on increasing revenues and profits. Every philosophy book I studied focused on how to live life well by changing how we think and to fight the urge to pursue money, material “doodads”, and wealth.

The big question that kept swirling around in my head was, “How do I build a business (or businesses) and use philosophy as a way of life?” Now I haven’t mastered what I’m about to share with you, but I think it may be helpful, so I’m going to share it anyhow. I honestly do not know if I will ever master these steps; however, I hope to improve more and more with each passing year. Seneca was definitely correct when he wrote…”there is nothing harder to learn.”

1. Change your goal(s).

For most of my career, I set very specific business goals. These goals included number of leads generated, number of leads converted to clients, number of sales, commissions earned and wealth acquired. Goals such as these are very important, if the focus is money and wealth. However, if the goal becomes living a good life, these goals may become problematic.

To eliminate these problems before they occur, consider shifting your goals to something more valuable – learning how to live.

Yes, we will still work and build our businesses, but $$$ will not be our focus. Instead our focus shifts to slowing down and enjoying life. It’s important to understand we enjoy life in our thoughts, not our bank accounts.

2. Slow Down.

I have always been a very impatient person. I do not like waiting for anything. For many years, I thought this helped me in business because I would simply make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen. The old “Money Follows Speed” thing. Well, I now finally understand there is NO DAMN URGENCY.  It is impossible to enjoy life when you’re going 100 miles an hour trying to do too many things at once. Slow down and understand everything will be okay. It really will. Take time to smell the roses. Take time to play tag with your kids. Take time to learn a musical instrument. (I am taking acoustic guitar lessons. They are very challenging!) Take time to read philosophy books. Take time to enjoy the people in your life. All relationships end in loss, so enjoy every second you have with the people you love.

Yes, continue to work to improve your business. However, understand there is no urgency. We create urgency by the importance we place on things. Eliminate or reduce the importance and the urgency disappears.

3. Stop Creating Drama in Every Area of Our Lives

We create drama when we make a BIG deal out of little things. We have a tendency to create a lot of drama in our lives and sometimes we don’t even realize we are the drama starters. I used to think others created all of the drama, but I now clearly see that I’m very good at it, too. Before doing something, take a second and ask yourself these questions…

- Is this really necessary?
- Will this call/email/text cause drama?
- Is this really a BIG deal, or can I simply let it go and let things happen as they will?

A great example I can remember from a Disney vacation occurred when I tried to get fast passes for my family for the new Toy Story ride. I had heard that fast passes go quickly, so I got up early and went to the park on my own. I took the park tickets for all of my family members and my plan was to get fast passes for everyone. Well, I entered the park and rushed the fast pass machine. I couldn’t get fast passes for my family and this was because they hadn’t scanned their park tickets at the gate. I went back to the gate and learned that I couldn’t scan their tickets without each person being with me. So I ended up not getting fast passes and wasting a ton of time in the process. I initiated this drama and suffered the consequences. The rest of my family slept in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the resort. I didn’t because I decided to initiate this drama by turning the fast pass tickets into a BIG thing.

4. Learning Detachment

Over the years, I have allowed myself to get so wrapped up in the outcome of just about everything. This has caused a great deal of unnecessary stress and unhappiness. One of the ways to abide in business is to learn to detach yourself from what happens in your business. I realize this may sound crazy, but you’ll find a lot more happiness. As an example, let’s assume you have a listing appointment tomorrow. Try and detach yourself from the outcome of this appointment. If you get the listing, great. If you don’t get the listing, great. This way you cannot lose and you’ll hopefully avoid some disappointment if you walk away without the listing. This is the…“Fuck it, lets go bowling” mindset from The Big Lebowski movie.

If any of this has any meaning to you for your life, I would like to recommend one more book. The book is titled, “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” by William Irvine. It is probably the best book on how to live life well I have read over the last few years.

DISCLOSURE: The links in this article are not affiliate links.

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Partnership = Money Machine?

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Note this article is continued from “The Goal of Business – Part One” and “How to Turn Your Business Into a Money Machine – Part Two.”

There are three assets you must have in your business for it to become a money machine. These assets are marketing, systems and people. Without these three assets, you’re business will never be a money machine. Remember, the goal of a money machine business is to provide time freedom, not wealth. In this article, we’re going to spend some time on partnerships. A good partnership may be a strategy you can use to turn an existing business into a money machine, or to start a new money machine business. From where I see things, we all have two partnership opportunities:

1. Partner in your existing real estate business.
2. Partner to start a new business inside or outside of real estate.

A good partner can make a huge difference in any business. And if you stop and think about your current business, you might realize that a strategic partner might be a fast way to completely transform your business. For example, you might have a strong buyer business with a few buyers agents. You might consider partnering with a someone who has a strong listing business. This way, your two strengths compliment each other. Or maybe you have great systems inside your business, but struggle with marketing. Could you partner with someone that is great with marketing, but has poor systems?

Now I know what you’re thinking…

Partnerships? No way…they’re a nightmare!

Before you write off this idea on partnerships, it might be helpful if you shift your perspective a little bit. When most people start a partnership their goal is to make a ton of money….get rich. I now believe this is the major cause of all partnership problems. Each person in the partnership wants to take as much from the partnership as possible. The focus is on $$$ and if we haven’t learned it by now, greed is not good. Greed causes many problems and can rip a partnership apart pretty quickly.

If we shift our focus away from $$$ and instead focus the partnership on time freedom for the partners, the entire partnership dynamic changes. More time, not more money.

The goal of a money machine business is to provide time freedom and a partnership may be the fastest way to have time freedom in your business.

We have a family friend who started a home design and decorating business in Pennsylvania last year. She started this business with a partner and the business has taken off. In fact, they’ve already outgrown their current space and are looking for something larger. As this new business has grown, each partner has been able to take several vacations (three or four a year) with their families. This is because they’re able to leave their business behind knowing that money will come in the door and all problems will be handled in while their gone. Their business has become a money machine and the main reason is the partnership.

Two of my most successful coaching students Tom and Nick Karadza, who built a multimillion dollar real estate brokerage from scratch, are brothers who partnered together. Neither had any real estate experience when they started their partnership. Today, they have hundreds of clients, a large team of agents and multiple income streams. Their real estate business is an amazing money machine.

Another coaching student, Josh Schoenly, partnered with Ryan Hartman and their information marketing business literally took off. Both partners add tremendous value to the partnership and both partners can leave the business without worry.  They now have a very valuable money machine business.

Now I’m not saying that you should run out and start a partnership today. I’m simply suggesting that you be open to the possibility of one or more strategic partners. My guess is that you have a few strategic partners at your finger tips right now and may not realize it. Good partners can be found just about anywhere. You simply have to pay attention as you do go about your normal day. Or block an hour for “partnership possibilities” and make a list of everyone you know in one column. Now in the column next to it, list their skills and think if the person might make a great partner. When you’re finished, you’ll have a list of a few good potential partners.

P.S. Some of the best businesses in the world started as little partnerships. Some of these include Apple, Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Ebay, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Yahoo and… Ben & Jerry’s. There is no way I’m leaving Ben & Jerry’s off the list of great partnerships. Their ice cream is da bomb.

 

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The Goal of Business

By Rob Minton · Comments (1) · Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

WARNING: I am going to go a little “Jerry Macguire” in this article!

Why is it important for us to have a goal of business? To answer this question, let me quote William B. Irvine:

“Because without one, there is a danger that you will mislive – that despite all your activity, despite all the pleasant diversions you might have enjoyed while alive, you will end up living a bad life. There is, in other words, a danger that when you are on your deathbed, you will look back and realize that you wasted your one chance at living. Instead of pursing something valuable, you squandered it because you allowed yourself to be distracted by the various baubles life has to offer.”

For most people, they’re goal of business is wealth. They want to build a business to become wealth or increase their income so they can increase their standard of living.

I’m going to argue that this may not be the best goal of business and the reason why is because money does not buy lasting happiness. Sure, money does make life easier, but we quickly get accustomed to things money buys and soon after we go searching for more. It’s an endless cycle where we end up constantly chasing more money.

A better goal of business is: FREEDOM.

Chris Guilleabeau said it best in his book, “The $100 Startup“, when he wrote:

“The income from the business didn’t make me rich, but it paid the bills and brought me something much more valuable than money: freedom.”

The goal should be do design our our business, or businesses, to provide freedom. The way I see it, we’ve got one shot at life and it doesn’t make sense to spend the majority of our time chasing something that doesn’t provide lasting happiness. Chris Guilleabeau wrote that he had no schedule to abide by, no time sheets to fill out, no useless reports to hand in, no office politics, and not even any mandatory meetings to attend. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

So if the goal of business is to provide time freedom, how do we do it? It’s a question I ponder a great deal and have wrote about many times in my Master Marketer reports.

To acquire time freedom in your business, you must turn your business into a money machine.

What comes to mind when you think of a money machine? Does a money machine look like something like this sketch?  Or is the picture below a better representation of a money machine?

If you Google “definition of money machine”, you’ll find references to Automated Teller Machines. ATM’s aren’t really money machines. They simply give you access to money you’ve already collected.
A real money machine is something that provides positive cash flow or spendable income to you on a recurring basis.

A few examples of money machines might be…

1. Profitable business you own/control that doesn’t require your consistent physical labor.
2. A profitable website you own/control that provides cash flow. (An example would be a membership site where members pay monthly membership fees.)
3. An affiliate program you can consistently profit from.
4. Stocks you own that pay consistent dividends.
5. Bonds you own that pay consistent interest.
6. Real estate you own that pays consistent positive cash flow.
7. Notes receivable you own that provide consistent interest income.
8. Clients who buy multiple properties, generating consistent commission income.
9. Profitable advertisements you control that generate consistent revenue above costs for your business.
10. A database you own/control from which income can be extracted from consistently.
11. Homes in property management providing consistent monthly income.
12. An employee or agent who generates consistent income/cash flow for your business.

We could obviously continue listing various money machines. However, I think you can get an idea of what I mean by money machines. Many people talk about multiple streams of income. An income stream might come from a money machine, if it doesn’t require your physical labor. If someone works three jobs, they’ll have three income streams. These income streams are not from money machines. YOU cannot be one of your money machines. If you have to trade your time for the money, it’s NOT a money machine.

Make sense?

This means your business may or may not be a money machine. If your business requires your labor to generate 100% of its income, it’s not a money machine. It’s a job, and this is how most real estate agents operate. If you don’t have agents selling on your behalf, or recurring monthly income in your business, your business is NOT a money machine.

Take some time over the next few days to really think about your business and the goal of your business. You do not want to “waste” your life chasing something that doesn’t provide happiness. I will write more about turning your business into a money machine in the near future. In the meantime, consider these two very important questions:

1. What is the goal of your business?

2. Is your business a money machine? If not, what can you do to turn it into a a money machine?

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Categories : Business Re-invention, Goal Setting, Succcess, Time Management

How Complete Is Your Business?

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Thursday, April 19th, 2012

A short time ago, I included a chart prepared by Dan Kennedy in one of my Master Marketer reports. Dan included this chart in one of his newsletters and asked the question I used as the title of this post. Well, I thought I would share what I wrote for my Master Marketer members on my blog.

Here is Dan’s chart:

(click on the chart to enlarge)

This chart is for an information marketing business and Dan was asking the reader of his newsletter to compare his or her information marketing business to the one highlighted in this chart. The lesson he was trying to teach was that your business always has more opportunity. In fact, this is what he wrote about this chart…

“Given that a customer is harder and costlier to obtain, optimizing the value of each customer is more critical than ever. One approach to that: the most complete business, with every possible income category covered.”

Well the same lesson applies to every business, including yours. You could easily make a similar chart for your real estate business.

The average agent focuses all of their time and attention on selling more homes. This is fine and dandy, but ignores many very profitable products and services that could be sold to your database of prospects and clients. As an example, I’ve included the chart I used to build my real estate business below:

(Click on the chart to enlarge)

Notice that these products and services were sold to people in my existing database and this is what makes them so profitable. There is minimal advertising expense, because you already have a relationship with the person. You don’t have to run lead generation advertisements for these products and services.

If you study both charts, you’ll see that my chart is basically they same as Dan’s chart. I took many of his ideas and implemented them in my real estate business. The done-for-you services offered were property management and tenant placement services.

For tenant placement, we would simply fill one of our client’s vacancies with a tenant. Once the tenant moved in, our service was complete and the investor managed the home going forward on their own. This service wasn’t super profitable on it’s own, but it did help us sell a lot more homes. The reason why is because some of our investors didn’t want to fill their homes and they also didn’t want to pay for full property management. This service gave them exactly what they wanted and allowed us to increase our home sales and generate additional revenue, both at the same time.

My recommendation for you is to create a similar chart for your business. Obviously my business was engineered for investors and each opportunity we pursued was focused on the investing niche. Your business is different and your chart would also be different. Block some time to make YOUR chart.

Print out your chart and keep it on your desk. Make sure you look at it every day. The reason why is because it’s important to “see” what your building. Otherwise, you’ll get distracted and will never have a complete business. Also in your day-to-day travels keep an eye out for great people that might help you launch one of the new services listed in YOUR chart. You don’t have to be the one doing all of the work. Your job is to have the vision and to find others to help you create your vision!

NOTE: If you do decide to offer new products and services to your database, please discuss your plans with a qualified attorney and make sure that you follow all disclosure requirements mandated by your board and your Division of Real Estate.

 

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Categories : Business Re-invention, Money Management

Philosophy

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Do you live your life by a set of rules or a certain life philosophy? I’m sure you do to some extent. You know, “Treat others as you want them to treat you?” Now your rules may not be written down, but you follow them regardless. Your life rules were probably formed by trial and error over years of lessons learned through various successes and failures.

So the question you’ve got to ponder is should you have a philosophy for business? I do. My philosophy developed over years in the trenches from making mistakes and from learning from those mistakes. Here’s my business philosophy:

1. Our business(es) should be designed to enhance our lives. Most small business owners operate under an opposite philosophy. Their lives revolve around their businesses.

2. Consistent lead generation is as important for business as breathing is to life.

3. The most productive use of our time is creating “sales assets” for our businesses.

4. The quality of leads generated is more important than the quantity of leads generated.

5. In building complete businesses with multiple front-end and back-end income streams.

6. Systems are the key to consistent income, wealth and freedom.

7, Resourcefulness is most important quality an entrepreneur can develop.

8. Money follows speed. Take action quickly on good ideas.

9. Pay attention to all successful businesses and copy what you see working in other industries inside your business.

10. We must consistently track, monitor and measure. This applies to lead generation, lead conversion, and client retention.

11. Most people believe in constant and never ending improvement. However, constant and never ending testing is better.

12. Time is more important than money.

13. Our health is our most important asset.

14. Uninterrupted time away from business is critical for success and happiness. This means we have to shut our cell phones off and disconnect from the internet frequently. Everything will be okay. Really it will.

15. Mistakes, setbacks and challenges help us become better entrepreneurs.

16. Life is short and it’s important to laugh, play and have fun. Building a business is really a big game. Don’t take things too seriously.

Additional Related Reading:

How to Automatically Convert Prospects into Appointments

How Real Estate Agents Can Create Money Out of Thin Air

Want to Own an Oil Well?

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Categories : Business Re-invention, Succcess
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