Most People Don’t Like Change…I Crave It.

I subscribe to a weekly newsletter from an expatriot who’s living life powerfully. He sent me this story to rimind me how important it is to keep fluid and go with the flow. Most people loath change but I’ve embraced change so much that now I crave it. I get complete satisfaction and fulfillment from keeping things fresh and  pushing my comfort levels by learning new things and changing things up often. I owe this way of being to my ongoing financial success. I was heavily into real estate and when that industry took a downward spiral, I shifted to a completely different occupation in internet advertising. If I would have resisted, and stayed in the real estate market I would have been dragged down with it. Instead, things are going well despite the big economic downturn most people are facing right now. In order to be successful and powerful, I think it’s imparative that you get really comfortable with change yourself. The following story is a good example of why it’s so important. By the late summer of 1939, Hitler’s forces had absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia into his growing empire, and Germany’s military was massed at the Polish border clearly preparing for invasion. In an astonishing display of perhaps the greatest complacency in the history of the modern world, however, Polish people sat lazing about their lakes, beaches, and riverbanks worrying about more pressing matters– like how to beat the summer heat. In September of that year, German troops easily vanquished the Polish army, and Krakow became the colonial seat of the occupying forces. Almost immediately, under the direction of the German SS, anyone who posed a threat was rounded up and imprisoned. This included over 180 Polish university professors and many businessmen. Krakow, of course, is also very close to two of the main concentration camps used during the German occupation, nearby Oswiecim (Auschwitz) and Plaszow. The worst part is that, even after the war was over, Poland merely swapped fascism for Stalinism. Overall, the country was shrouded in brutal totalitarian control for half a century; undoubtedly, the Nazi invasion of Poland set off a chain of events that would forever affect the lives of all Poles. It’s true that no one had a crystal ball back then… but it would certainly stand to reason that with Hitler knocking at your door, you would probably want to have an escape plan. Even more prudently, perhaps to have already executed it. Many Poles did just that; they spent the preceding seasons liquidating assets, stocking up on gold, and getting their travel documents in order.  By the time Hitler came to town, many of the smart ones were already gone. My guess is that the ones who left were probably ridiculed by their peers as “crazy”, or “fringe”, or “out of touch”, or my personal favorite, “unpatriotic.” It’s as if they had a solemn national duty to stay, get roped up and waste away in a concentration camp for the ‘greater good’ of Poland. For those who escaped before the war, many of them went on to build new lives in places like the United States, Brazil, and Argentina.  They prioritized freedom and opportunity, and they went to the best places that were safest for themselves and their families. I’ve met a businessman here (I’ll call him “Jarek”) who I think has the best story to sum this up; when Jarek’s father was just a boy in Krakow, the family saw the warning signs and decided to leave town. This was 1938. Jarek’s grandfather owned a successful bakery at the time, yet he felt that he would rather start over somewhere else than risk the safety of his family by living in a police state. They sold everything– the house, livestock, and business… and everyone else thought they were crazy. Within six months, the family was in Curitiba, Brazil; Jarek’s grandfather soon established a new bakery that eventually became a thriving business. Jarek’s father grew up in Curitiba and integrated into the local culture, yet he maintained his roots since there were many other Poles who followed them there. 30-years later, the face of Brazil started to change. By the mid-1960s, the whole of Latin America was becoming a military dictatorship.  Once again, the family decided to get out while they could and head towards better opportunity; they sold the business, liquidated their assets, and this time headed towards the United States. Jarek was just a baby when the family made this move. He grew up in a Polish neighborhood of Chicago, spoke Polish at home, and married a Polish girl from his neighborhood. He was working as a young real estate professional in the Chicago suburbs when the Berlin Wall fell, at which point he began making more frequent trips to Poland to visit his family’s homeland. In his subsequent trips throughout the following years, Jarek began feeling like there was more and more opportunity in Poland; in 2003, fearful of what would happen in Chicago because of the “War on Terror,” Jarek moved his family full-circle back to Poland because he felt like it was the safest, most opportunity-rich place for him to be. He may have been right; his business is booming, and the family really enjoys the life they have built for themselves here. To listen to him talk, though, they would happily leave and go somewhere else if the right circumstances were presented. “My most important obligation is to my family,” he told me. “I will go wherever I can provide the best life for them, whether that is Poland, America, Brazil, or anywhere else. Nothing lasts forever, you have to expect that these things will change from time to time. People have to learn to change as well, to not get rooted in ideology.” I think Jarek has an interesting point; I’d really like to hear from you, though, what do you think?

The Great Ones Operate With Integrity

“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence
and energy. If they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”
– Warren Buffet
CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

Average people and performers tend to view integrity as a luxury they hope to be
able to sustain while primarily operating from a mindset of fear and doubt. In effort
to survive in a world they believe is out to get them, integrity often gets left behind.
World class performers have the conditioned advantage of operating from love and
abundance, which dictates that integrity be the baseline of every action taken. Champions have a reputation for total integrity; it is the foundation of their entry into any playing field.

The great ones are always welcomed within. Their friends, co-workers, colleagues and
contacts know that when push comes to shove, champions will always do the right thing.
Integrity is a habit of the pros, not because it succeeds, but because it’s the right thing to do.

When a champion tells you he or she will do something, their word is as good as gold.
Their handshake is a binding contract. Contrary to what they teach in business school,
handshake deals are still very common among the world class. The great ones play by
different rules, and rule number one is total integrity.

Mindy Mar, D.C.
San Diego Center for Health
www.sdcenterforhealth.com

Is it a SCAM or can it be your reality?

The Business Formula – Grand Finale, Getting Started!

To sum everything up….just get started! It doesn’t matter what the product is really. If you’re passionate about it, know exactly what you stand for, keep it consistent, yet stay flexible to change things easily to what works and throw effective marketing into the mix, and you’ll most likely be successful.

#1 — Discover your passion. Make a list of things that you just love to do in your spare time, things that you would do for free, things you would pay to do. Or, scratch your own itch. Have you ever had an idea and not written it down, only later to see that someone else did it? You thought: wow, if there was only this one thing, it would make my life easier. I should create that…and then you never did, only to see it a few years later probably making millions off of an infomercial? Any time you think of something that you wish you had to make your life easier and can’t find it anywhere, make a note of it.

#2 Know exactly what you stand for. Whole Foods is a great example of this. Some people even joke “Whole Paycheck” but despite being more expensive than other grocery stores, they are doing quite well. Whole Foods knows exactly what they stand for and they will not compromise. They have a clear vision of who they are and they stick to it. You will never see Coca Cola or Pepsi in Whole Foods. They will not carry any products that are full of additives and preservatives. It’s not part of who they are. They could probably sell millions of dollars a year in those 2 products alone, but it would take away from their integrity. They would not be honoring their word of who they are and what they stand for. So be very clear about what you stand for, and you will grow that much faster and easier.  You’ll be able to communicate that to your customers because you will be focused on what you are and not veer off into multiple directions which would take extra time and energy away from what you really want to create, not to mention confusing the public and your team.

#3 Keeping things consistent is of utmost importance as well. Don’t let it stop you though, if it’s around something that’s not working or that could add value to your clients. It’s okay to make mistakes and change direction if things aren’t working the way you want them to, but be consistent in your message and be consistent in the value you add to the majority. If you are clear from the beginning, it should be easy to stay consistent. What I mean is, do not do things one way and then change it so drastically that it would disappoint those you serve, in a way that would cost you a lot of revenue. For example, if you own a sandwich franchise, you need to be consistent with the recipes because a client is going to expect the same thing at every place they go by the same brand. Let’s say they go to get an Italian sub at one shop and it has a certain amount of meat in it, then they go to a different store by the same name and that franchisee tries to save money by putting less meat in the sandwich. The customer will notice and either not go to that specific location again or they will boycott and badmouth the whole chain. This can be relevant for any business. If a massage therapist decides to charge $90/hour and gives the full hour then next time decides to only give 55 minutes for the $90, the client will notice and may not come back. Also, don’t look at it as I only lost $90. You have to calculate all of the revenue that you would lose throughout the years to come. If they hired you twice a month for 5 years to come you’d be losing $10,000 or more.  Think about that next time you are serving someone. Before you change what they’re used to, ask yourself, “How much is this REALLY going to cost me?”

#4 In this day in age, it almost doesn’t matter what you are selling if you have effective marketing. Have you seen what a piece of Britney Spears gum sold for on Ebay? Or did you hear about the piece of toast that looked like the Virgin Mary? These things sold for hundreds of dollars! Did you know that there are people out there that HAVE to spend money? They don’t care if they can use it or that it serves a purpose, they just have the need to spend their money. It’s scientifically proven. Don’t get too hung up on what the product is, just start studying and implementing marketing. Never stop learning about all the different kinds of marketing that is available, never stop being creative (or hiring someone to be creative if it’s not your thing) and never stop marketing period. Create plans, execute them and track and follow up on them continually and forever.

In conclusion, it’s fantastic to create a business plan, especially running the numbers in the beginning, to have some direction, but don’t get so hung up on it that it keeps you from starting. Business plans are like guessing what’s going to happen. They are not a solid solution to how your business is going to go. Find a plan outline, do some research, fill it out, figure out the costs vs. what you could sell your product or service for, which is the potential income, do the numbers, do the numbers again and then begin. You may find out when you do the numbers that they don’t work. For example, my father started a business around selling organic soil. It’s a fantastic product. He’s been at it for 2 years and it’s going quite well. A big chain just bought 200 units! The problem he has now is that the profit is being eaten up in shipping costs because the product is so heavy. Now he has 2 choices. Figure out a way to get around it, or quit after investing huge sums of money, time and energy into this business. I asked him if he did the numbers and a business plan before he started and he told me he didn’t. Had he done some due diligence before he started, he may have discovered how much it would cost to ship containers that are a specific weight and then based on that, would have created a solution from the beginning, or chose a different business altogether. I think it was fantastic that my father got started right away and didn’t let anything hold him back, but this is a perfect example as to why it is important to do some due diligence, and research before getting started. Figuring out the costs ahead of time vs. how much you would have to sell it for and how many you would have to sell in order to create the profit you want, is probably the most important aspect of the business plan. It’s still guessing, but at least you’ll have an idea and/or could compare it to what is already out there and see if you can increase the sense of value/pricing (like Starbucks did) or play around with it to get the results you want. It’s okay that my Dad didn’t do it in the beginning, it’s just now he has to brainstorm and come up with a solution that he may have avoided. I think it’s incredible that he got started and has created such a great product that people are loving. If there is a will, there is a way, and I’m confident that there is always a solution. If he’s passionate about it, he’ll figure it out. One of the greatest things my Dad ever told me was “If you don’t do it, if you don’t take action, you’ll never know.” If you’re questioning yourself about doing it right or afraid that whatever your passionate about won’t work, accept it, move through it and just start!

Visualize a green light.

Just start!

The Business Formula Part 9

Soon we’re going to post a “getting started” tutorial that is going to show you exactly how to begin on your quest for a successful business that does great things for you and those around you, but before we do that we’re going to talk about some basic planning that will help get your mind thinking in the right direction.

Lets build some business architecture!  This will be the foundation of our success.

What should you think about before you get started?

The first and most important thing to do is have a clear vision of the end.  What does success mean to you and your idea?  If you could place yourself just where you’d want to be, how would it look?  You need to visualize this clearly, and think about it often.  This is called visualizing your goals, and is really important to do as much as you can!  Don’t be too hung up at this stage on how you’ll get there.  You can work on the items we’ve detailed in the rest of our business series when you’re ready to “Be a starter.”

Once you know exactly where you want to go, you need to prioritize and make SHORT lists.  Long lists are overwhelming, and you can flesh out the details when you arrive at the time when you really need to do something.  For now, we’re just thinking and doing some basic planning.

One final thing you’ll need to think about is to make sure that you’ve got a commitment strategy forget about an exit strategy.  Its important to slog through the difficult parts of your business building. If things go wrong and you need to change direction, you can put a different plan together at that point; possibly even an exit strategy. Why put an exit strategy together in the beginning? That would be like planning to fail before you even start, and failing is not an option You need to make sure that you, the people that work around you, and the people you care about are as unharmed as possible so you may want to think of different case scenarios and draw them out on paper, but don’t get too hung up on them. Planning is somewhat like guessing. Planning should help you have a clear vision of what you’d like to achieve, but it should stop you in any way from getting started or shifting gears on a dime to make the business work once it’s up and running. It’s all about what works and sticking to what works.

Stay tuned for next time, we’re going to talk about putting the rubber to the road and getting started.  This is the most important thing you’ll read from the Business Formula!!