Skip to main content
Select Language:

Tag: millionaire

Older posts
Newer posts

Tending Your Turf

Posted on by 17
In developing strategies for millionaire success, there are crucial truths I couldn’t say enough: start with the end in mind; create a business to sell it, not run it indefinitely. Create systems that can be imitated and duplicated. Increase its value and worth. Sell high!
As redundant as it seems, those words never get tired to me. It’s part of my gospel.  I’m talking about creating a business with the full thought, knowledge and intention that you won’t be running it one day.
How powerful is that intention? It’s the difference between being a poor business owner who gets by and a rich business owner who isn’t working anymore. He or she is doing exactly what he or she wants and intends to do.
Knowing your intention to sell your business will determine who you’re bringing in on your team and in what capacity you’re bringing them on. In order to systemize as well as grow value and worth, you have to have people who are going to help you achieve that effectively.
One of the most important areas to focus on is building a team that you trust, a team that is reliable, and will be held accountable for their performance.
To increase accountability and get the results you need, you have to define your role as leader. It’s your turf and your responsibility. One of your responsibilities is to create winning situations for your team, where winning is defined as meeting the business’ top priorities toward profit making.  Once these priorities are identified they should be clear, measurable and achievable if not easy.
To help your team win, you have to remove the obstacles that stand in their way. Have each team member identify three things they need to accomplish, have each set a goal and review. These suggestions may work or may not, but give the respect and practicality of seeing the plan from their point of view. Finally, reward results. Whatever stake you have in profit, make that stake relative to their performance and results.
But remember, one way or another you’ll ultimately be held just as accountable for your decisions and commitment as should your team, and this accountability will show in one simple result—can that business run without you, and can you sell it for gobs of money?
Here a few quick tips on how to build a strong organization and system to facilitate smoother operations, growth, success and win-win scenarios for you and your team:
Write down your top three objectives and how to measure them.
Write down the three most important ways for you to improve your leadership abilities.
Who needs to delegate better? How can you get him or her to do that?
Finally, here’s one last point on the importance of choosing a good team to grow the value and worth of the company. The more exclusive products or service you offer that no one else in your market has or can get, the more your company is worth! This means higher quality candidates, but as we saw before—more money means more energy, hence more or higher quality people—it depends on how far you want to go.
Now it’s your turn! What about your Millionaire Mind community? Do you have any quick, simple tips or suggestions on how to spot great potential team members, what to look for, signals that tell you to steer clear? Leadership suggestions? Share them below.
iStock_000004633733XSmall Tree

In developing strategies for millionaire success, there are crucial truths I couldn’t say enough: start with the end in mind; create a business to sell it, not run it indefinitely. Create systems that can be imitated and duplicated. Increase its value and worth. Sell high!

As redundant as it seems, those words never get tired to me. It’s part of my gospel.  I’m talking about creating a business with the full thought, knowledge and intention that you won’t be running it one day.How powerful is that intention? It’s the difference between being a poor business owner who gets by and a rich business owner who isn’t working anymore. He or she is doing exactly what he or she wants and intends to do.

Knowing your intention to sell your business will determine who you’re bringing in on your team and in what capacity you’re bringing them on. In order to systemize as well as grow value and worth, you have to have people who are going to help you achieve that effectively.

One of the most important areas to focus on is building a team that you trust, a team that is reliable, and will be held accountable for their performance.

To increase accountability and get the results you need, you have to define your role as leader. It’s your turf and your responsibility. One of your responsibilities is to create winning situations for your team, where winning is defined as meeting the business’ top priorities toward profit making.  Once these priorities are identified they should be clear, measurable and achievable if not easy.

To help your team win, you have to remove the obstacles that stand in their way. Have each team member identify three things they need to accomplish, have each set a goal and review. These suggestions may work or may not, but give the respect and practicality of seeing the plan from their point of view. Finally, reward results. Whatever stake you have in profit, make that stake relative to their performance and results.

But remember, one way or another you’ll ultimately be held just as accountable for your decisions and commitment as should your team, and this accountability will show in one simple result—can that business run without you, and can you sell it for gobs of money?

Here a few quick tips on how to build a strong organization and system to facilitate smoother operations, growth, success and win-win scenarios for you and your team:

1. Write down your top three objectives and how to measure them.

2. Write down the three most important ways for you to improve your leadership abilities.

3. Who needs to delegate better? How can you get him or her to do that?

Finally, here’s one last point on the importance of choosing a good team to grow the value and worth of the company. The more exclusive products or service you offer that no one else in your market has or can get, the more your company is worth! This means higher quality candidates, but as we saw before—more money means more energy, hence more or higher quality people—it depends on how far you want to go.

Now it’s your turn! What about your Millionaire Mind community? Do you have any quick, simple tips or suggestions on how to spot great potential team members, what to look for, signals that tell you to steer clear? Leadership suggestions? Share them below.

Opportunities Might Be Your Enemies

Posted on by 45

iStock_000010763230SmallEnemies#2

There are so many sayings we say—most of the time without thinking about it—that make absolutely no sense. Yet we say them out of habit and routine, not realizing just how silly we sound.

For example: “Harv, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Well, what the hell’s the point in having the cake then?

Or how about this one: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Well, isn’t that exactly what the Trojans should’ve done?

The point here is that success building requires a lot of deprogramming from so many common beliefs and assumptions we’ve come to take for granted as true, even though a lot of the time it’s the exact opposite. We learned last week that a viable way to jumpstart an enterprise is to buy your product by selling it first.

Let’s take a look at another Rule of Opposites: Put all your eggs in one basket.

Most people will tell you otherwise. Why? Because if you put all of your eggs in one basket and something happens—like dropping it—you’ll lose everything. But I have a solution for that; take bloody good care of that basket!

We already know that no one’s reaching the next level without taking risks, yes? But the way we’ve come to think about our eggs and baskets is fear-based; fear of losing.

This truth is already established—if you want to be rich, you’ve got to be great at something. And to be great at something, you’ve got to focus on that something. For goodness sakes that’s where you put all of your eggs!

Rich people are focused. Poor people scatter their energies. Everything is one thing. It’s hard enough to make it in one business let alone divvying it up into dozens of different places!

‘But Harv—I’m constantly coming across great opportunities!’ This brings me to another Rule of Opposites:

Opportunities can be obstacles!

Opportunities can be obstacles if they take your focus away from what’s in front of you right now. That takes your time because you entertain them, maybe do some research and find out a bit more, and there you go again.

If you’ve got something semi-decent growing, put the blinders on and go for it. Not one person ever got wealthy to begin with in more than one business at a time. One business. One basket.

So you’ll have to choose, but then the next question is, ‘How do I choose?’ Look, pick one. It doesn’t matter because it’s the habit that’s the problem. Pick one to focus on. Worse comes to worse, even if you do mediocre with it, you can always let that one go when it’s finally done and get something going that does work—eventually without you. Then you can diversify and add more.

Choose one and get freaking good at it. Got it? I’m not saying you can’t buy real estate on the side. I’m just saying watch out. Every minute you do the other one you are losing time and energy that could have gone into your one basket.

There’re a lot of opportunities within your business. Make sure you’re doing well with one thing. First get rich and then you have the opportunity to go into other things. Get rich first!

Now it’s your turn! Can you identify one new opportunity within your business right now?  Will you take action and explore it ASAP?  Share your thoughts below and let me know if putting “all your eggs in one basket” just might be a lucrative opportunity for you.

Fear: the Great Paralyzer

Posted on by 29

Help ButtonWhen we look at successful people, there are a variety of assumptions we can make for why they are successful. Hard work comes to mind. Smarts never hurt. Maybe they were born with advantages that other people weren’t born with.

But let’s be honest: there are times when you wonder why someone who doesn’t seem terribly bright finds success. “How the hell did they get to where they’re at? I’m smarter than them!” That may or may not be true, but one thing is for sure: however one reaches success—even if intelligence and ability weren’t factors at all—those people aren’t afraid to take action!

It’s Not All About the “Great Idea”

Lots of people have great ideas. Even more may be sharp as pencils. They can know exactly what to do. But what good is all that knowledge, imagination, and information if you’re too scared to do anything about it?

Let’s not give fear too much of a bad rap here. When mankind needed to be hyper-aware of our environment in more primal times, fear was certainly a useful tool for staying alive. We were born with the ability to fear, so like anything else we’re born with, it serves a purpose.

Fortunately, most of us aren’t typically in “fight or flight” situations like our ancestors. Unfortunately, people tend to invoke that same primal instinct about things that have nothing to do with life or death. It just seems like it when a big change or decision is upon us that moves us out of our comfort zones (even when we know financial “comfort” isn’t quite as comfortable as financial freedom).

The Protective Mind Can Hold You Back

It’s that protective mind acting like a helicopter mom, hovering over us as if every move we make will end in disaster. It’s constantly creating doom and gloom scenarios, trying to scare the heck out of us in the hopes that we won’t try anything new. It’s our own protective mind that prevents us from taking the actions necessary to reach our dreams.

When that happens, all of our great ideas are now full of uncertainty and doubt. A lot of people wait for their fear to subside before doing something. Wrong! You don’t have to be fearless in order to act. You acknowledge the fear and act anyway. Fear itself holds no real power over us.

Successful People Have Fear

Successful people have doubts and successful people worry. The only difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is that successful people act regardless of the fear. Even those who don’t have integrity or brains but who act anyway are going to find more success than geniuses with integrity who keep it to themselves because they’re too afraid to put themselves out there.

Habitual fear can be paralyzing. It can trick us into believing that we can’t act, that we shouldn’t act, that acting toward what we really want is going to lead to pain because that’s what we’ve been taught, or because that’s what happened before. You’re never going to be happy or successful if you don’t get beyond fear.

 

Now it’s your turn: What’s been some of your biggest fears, anxieties and worries that—now that you look back on it—were overblown? What was the result once you got past those fears? Where in your life are you letting fear, doubt or worry stop you from taking the necessary actions for happiness and success? Share here so others can learn from your experiences.

Remember this:  Don’t let fear ever paralyze you into inaction. Overcome your fears!

Go Hard or Go Home

Posted on by 17

iStock_000010769378XSmallgoHARD

I’ve seen that mantra in several different contexts, in particular to athletics or anything with a kind of “edge” to it. It comes off a little severe, like something those guys who pound each other in cages on Pay per View would say. Train hard, push hard, work hard, fight hard. Otherwise, what’s the point?

In general, people recognize the truth in the phrase ‘Go Hard or Go Home.’ If you’re going to do something, either be the absolute best you can be or don’t do it at all. Well, not everything. You can enjoy the heck out of playing golf, but you don’t have to be a PGA player to get something out of playing. You do it strictly because you want to, no reasons needed.

Consider, though, the difference between something you do for fun versus something you’re doing for your life, like working toward financial freedom, or living more healthy. Being an average golfer is fine, but there’s no such thing as an average millionaire. You’re either a millionaire or you’re not, and quite frankly there aren’t as many millionaires as there are wanna-be millionaires.

In other words, you can’t just “okay” yourself to riches. You’re either going to master wealth, or you’re not.

That’s where the warrior mentality is critical for the mind of the millionaire. The warrior always chooses to be a master. A warrior has to! There is no other option. For a real warrior, mastery can make the difference between life and death. Not that being anything less than rich equals being dead, but the same kind of must-mentality is … a must!

Mastery isn’t as much a skill as it is a matter of discipline, desire, and commitment to taking your life to another level. Most people are not living anywhere near their potential because they’re playing in the minor leagues. Major leaguers, no matter what job or industry, are making lots of money because they’re not afraid of themselves, the work, the responsibility, making the necessary changes, of playing big, and they believe they must play big in order to win big.

Does it take more work to play in the majors than in the minors? Not necessarily. It takes more practice for sure, but sometimes all it takes are minor adjustments to your thinking and how you apply your skills in order to make big changes.

If you want to master anything, you’ll have to do at least some things differently. Your standards must change, your thinking needs to change from “This is okay” to “I can do much better,” and you’ll need to find reasons why there’s room to get bigger rather than reasons why not.

Can you be a master at everything? No, nor does anybody need to be. You need, instead, to prioritize, choose and focus on those things you really want for yourself. Whatever you choose, know that you’re going to master it or not take it on. If you aren’t willing to see your potential and hold yourself to it, then you won’t master much.

You will always get what you’re willing to settle for. The hardest part isn’t actually becoming a master. It’s deciding that you’re going to be one in the first place, and not going backwards from that moment on.

Now it’s your turn!  Are you playing in the major leagues or still down at the minors?  If you are mastering your life, what was the turning point to get you to make the shift up?  If you are still in the minors, what will it take to get you to play bigger?  Share here—someone just might read what you write and be inspired to live a better life.

A Closed Mouth Never Gets Fed

Posted on by 23

Closed Mouth$

I don’t watch a lot of television, but this one commercial sticks out to me about a kid who was born with seemingly ultimate confidence: asking girls out for dates even though he’s clearly shorter and younger; graduating college when most graduate high school; performing open-heart surgery in a crowded concert hall with a ballpoint pen. But when it comes to negotiating a fair price for a new car, he’s frozen in his tracks.

One of the reasons I think that commercial works so well is because it taps into a common fear that a lot of people have; how to negotiate. No one wants to feel like they just got conned.

If you think about it, though, we’re using negotiations all the time: reaching agreements with our loved ones, friends, or employees. “Where do you want to eat? What movie do you want to see? I think I deserve a raise of …”

If you settle for Italian food rather than the Chinese you really wanted, it isn’t that big of a deal, is it? In business, though, you potentially have so much more at stake while negotiating. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you want to get better pricing and more favorable terms. As the old saying goes, “In business you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.”

For a lot of people that’s disheartening because they either think the strategies of negotiating are beyond them, or because there may even be a little guilt factor; if they win, the other person is losing.

First of all, both parties can win, and if anything you want to avoid win/lose or lose/lose situations altogether. Secondly, even if you have the best intentions, you can’t make choices for your fellow negotiator, but you can always help yourself by doing this one simple thing: ask for a better deal.

People are so afraid of hearing “No” that they often don’t even try. You have nothing to lose by just asking! A good friend of mine once told me, “Harv, a closed mouth won’t get fed.” Open your mouth! Say something if negotiations aren’t going the way you’d like.

There is one thing you do want to hold back on: never come out with a number first. Why? Because they now have flexibility to make countering statements and reasons why not to go with what you want instead of affirming statements (For example, “That’s not in the budget”). You want to say things and be in a position to force them to admit, “Yes, that does make sense.”

The best negotiating tool is to tell the truth. Know what you wanted going in and the absolute least/most you can go that makes sense to your bottom line. Then communicate that to them. The idea of good negotiations is to work together so you both get what you want, you both feel good and the deal is fair. Win-win scenarios are not always going to work out, but better to aim for that—or choose not to enter into a deal that will leave either party resentful.

Ask for what you really want, be truthful and fair, don’t get attached to hard feelings if things don’t work out, and you might just find that negotiating is a helluva lot easier and actually more fun than people might think.

So now it’s your turn!  What are your feelings on negotiating?  Have you overcome obstacles in this area?  Do you still struggle when closing the deal?  Share your thoughts here.

Older posts
Newer posts