I started my business out of my laundry room about 30 years ago. Back then, I wouldn’t cross my legs in a meeting because I didn’t want people to notice that I had holes in my shoes. Today I’m worth millions, and my wife will tell you I don’t pinch pennies on our lifestyle. So how does a kid whose parents voted him most likely to live at home forever end up wealthy? I have a few pointers for you.
1. Listen to successful people.
People can only tell you how to get to where they’ve gotten. If you want to become a millionaire, I may be able to tell you how to get there because I’ve done it. If you want to be a billionaire, I can’t help you.
I’ve noticed that people who are the least successful in life seem to be the most anxious to tell you how to live yours. Usually their advice is negative. They like to tell you why your ideas won’t work or can’t be done. People who can give you a hundred reasons why something will fail are a dime a dozen. So, tune them out. It’s worth listening to the person who can give you one reason why an idea WILL work. When someone gives you advice, ask yourself what they’ve accomplished. If it’s not much, ignore them.
Keep this in mind: Most people aren’t millionaires. If common thinking could get you there, everyone would be rich. By default, you need to go against the grain.
2. Flood your mind with positive thoughts.
I like self-help books and wise sayings. I keep a Rolodex with 365 motivational sayings on my desk. I pasted this saying in the notebook I carried when I started my business 30 years ago: “If you want to get rich, you son of a bitch, I’ll tell you what you do; never sit down with a tear or a frown and paddle your own canoe.” Here’s another one I really like: “High sales solve all problems.”
People who snicker at your self-help materials and warn you about failure will make you question yourself. You need to get these Debbie Downers out of your life, fast.
3. Try circle sheets.
This is the simplest tip I have for you and it works every time. I call them my circle sheets and I’ve done thousands of them. I take a blank sheet of paper and draw a circle in the middle of it. Inside the circle, I write what I want. Then I draw ten circles around it. Inside those circles, I write the things I need to do to get what I want. Then I prioritize them in a list. Usually by the time I’ve checked off the top three items, I already have what I want.
Your mind will only give you answers to questions you ask of it. For instance, if you write in the middle circle that you want to have a vacation home in Hawaii within five years, it won’t tell you how to purchase a plane within three years. Your mind is a tool that will work for you but only if you ask it questions; and it’s perfectly content to sit idly by if you don’t.
4. Think of living an enriched life, not just being rich.
It may sound impossible to have your cake and eat it too but that’s how I have lived my life. While I’m serious about work, I’ve never shorted my family, friends or free time. I was determined to live an enriched life, not just a rich life. You can too.
I keep a list of the facets of my life that are important to me, and I grade myself on each one monthly. The facets, in order of priority, are God, immediate family, diet and exercise, business, extended family, lifestyle, learning and friends. I rate how I’m doing on a scale of 1-10. Whatever is low gets attention the next month. Your list will no doubt be different than mine.
5. It’s good to be a little stupid.
After my first full year in business, our sales totaled $10,000. I worked without taking a salary for three years. Anyone with half a brain would have given up. In the early years, about all you’ll have to keep you going are the self-help books and positive sayings I mentioned in tip 2.
Today, people think that maybe I was a little smarter than they thought. There’s some truth to that but mostly I was just too dumb to know when to quit. If you believe in your business, don’t ever give up. I will caution you that it’s not the passing of time that causes the success, it’s the concentrated volume of effort.
6. Go to church and get into a study group.
Explaining a relationship with God to someone who has never had one is like trying to explain music to someone who’s never heard it. Business is fraught with problems you have to face. You need to stay centered on doing what is good and truthful. Doing the right thing, no matter how tough it seems at the time, will simplify things.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
7. Learn basic marketing concepts and principles, and follow a simple marketing plan.
As a business owner, you need to be savvy in many areas that may be outside your primary expertise, such as technology, insurance, taxes and accounting. If you don’t study up, you’re bound to get snookered. Remember my saying from tip number 2, “High sales solve all problems?” Well, that’s what knowing marketing will do: get you more sales.
I’ve written a practical book on marketing that’s also a bit of an expose. It’s called “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing, The book every marketer should read before there boss does.” The subtitle is a not-so-subtle hint that I’m telling on them.
Words can barely express how little most marketers know about marketing. I cringe when I read what many “marketing experts” write or have to say. Not only do you need to know marketing for the sake of your business, you need to know marketing to protect yourself from the foolish advice many of these “experts” will give you. Seriously, I know this sounds a little suspect, but be very wary of people who call themselves marketing, and especially branding, experts. Most are clueless.
“The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is not a 1001 ideas book. It’s a do-it-yourself, six-step marketing process that will make you a lot more money than the few bucks it will cost you.
A bonus tip
Get your money up front if you can. The smartest thing I ever did was eliminate bad debt and the need for collections by being paid in advance. Media Relations Agency has been in business for more than 30 years and I’ve never gone to the bank to borrow a dime.
Some people are reluctant to pay up front and I know I’ve lost a few customers, but I figure those were probably the ones who weren’t going to pay in the end anyway. Sometimes Fortune 500 companies have internal structures that prevent them from paying in advance but I make an exception for them because I know I’ll get my money.
“So, If you want to get rich, you son of a bitch, I’ll tell you what you do; never sit down with a tear or a frown and paddle your own canoe.”
