It’s been almost 4 months since my last blog post - questions arose such as “Did your business start getting too consuming”, “Was the website too much to maintain?”  or the horrid comment - “Did Benny go get a job?” - Yikes!

The truth is that I got busy with a project that I’ve had on my mind for some time.  It was in the works for several months, but too a lot longer to implement.

Questions that I generally was asked were “How did I start my business” or “How can I do what you do?”.  While I started this website (and I want to keep it this way), was to share general ideas about business, it isn’t my intention to talk too specifically about one business model over the other.

I’m back - and I’ve got some new ideas to share.  I’ll keep this updated - I promise.

By the way, if you want to know what I’ve been up to - click here to find out.

Well, plain and simple - I’ve gotten swamped.  What I’ve thought long and hard about and what I’m going to be doing is what a number of you have requested:  “How do I do what you’ve done?”

In the next month I will be completing my newest project that I will be guiding those who are interested in learning how to do it.  Not just theory, not ideology, but real hold-your-hand the entire way practice.

Interested?  Send me a note and I’ll be sure to let you know - tune in people.

Geoff Hamilton.

Geoff was the jock to Sam’s geek. He was the ladies man, popular, even with the teachers and principal. And he was even kind of smart. One day in the lunch room, Sam was taking his tray to the drop-off area in the cafeteria when Geoff “bumped” into him in front of the whole class. Sam was covered in macaroni and cheese, milk and stray bits of tater tots.

“You JACKASS!” screamed Sam. Geoff looked at Sam and started to say something, but Sam wouldn’t let himself be any more humiliated, so he stormed out of the cafeteria with the entire 11th and 12th grade classes laughing hysterically.

Sam decided, that was the last straw. He made an oath that one day he would get the best of Geoff and he would humiliate him in some way. In some LARGE way.

Sam graduated from high school and college with honors and went on to graduate from law school, after which he was offered a job as an associate with a local firm. He worked with companies around town, mainly doing unimportant legal work, but was recognized for the competent and steady worker he had become.

Then the day came. For years Sam had toiled and worked 70 and 80 hour weeks, sacrificing time with his wife and sons to rise through the ranks. Then finally, he was told that if he brought in some “real business” to the firm, he would get that partnership he had his eye on. Two years later, Sam managed to get his chance when he landed the fastest growing retail company in the history of the state as a client, potentially the largest client EVER for the firm. The senior partners were thrilled with his work and value he brought to the firm and now - the cherry on top!

Three months later Sam was awarded a junior partner position, a $400,000 salary, bonuses and the potential to become senior partner in a few years. He was on cloud nine. It took nearly a week before he stopped smiling. He had it all.

A couple weeks later Sam saw in the paper that his new client was opening a store a few miles away from his house. He decided to take his family to the grand opening because he thought it would be a good idea to patronize his new client’s store.

It was a great day, the store was the biggest in the city and the parking lot was crammed with new patrons. Sam walked in through the doors of the store where to his surprise, he saw Geoff. GEOFF HAMILTON! The miserable jerk that made his life a living hell way back when.

“What was that he was wearing? Oh My God!” he thought.

Sam couldn’t believe his eyes. The orange vest with the smiley buttons, the “Hello my name is GEOFF” ID badge on his lapel

“He’s a GREETER at the store! He’s the guy welcoming people to the store! Holy Cow, what a loser!” He thought. For half a second, Sam felt a little sorry for him, but that cleared up immediately when he remembered the “cafeteria incident”.

Sam’s heart began to pound. He couldn’t help himself. The anger was building up inside him again, even though it had been almost 20 years since he last seen Geoff.

Sam ambled up to his high school nemesis with his shoulders back, his head held high, squeezing his now confused wife’s hand. “Well, well, well,” Sam snickered. “If it isn’t my old friend from Edgehill High.”

A smiling Geoff turned to look at Sam and for a moment there was a quizzical look on his face, and then a look of familiarity.

“Sam! Sam Parsons! Wow, it’s been ages!” Geoff smiled back at Sam as he stuck out his hand to greet him. “Listen, I have something I’d like to say…” started Geoff

“NO!” shouted back Sam as he ignored Geoff’s extended hand. “There is something I want to say to you first!”

Geoff was taken aback, but he put down his hand and gestured for Sam to go ahead and speak.

“You made my life a living hell back in school Geoff. I hated you from the day you first started picking on me. I used my hate for you to motivate me, and it worked. I’m now a partner at Bernard and Brinkle and you see this beautiful woman? This is my wife. These kids are the jocks at their school!” both his wife and kids were in shock but now wanted to shrink down in the floor.

A crowd started to gather around the two. “I make over $400K and drive a brand new Mercedes, I have a house in the hills and guess what? You’re just a lousy greeter at Big-Mart! Ha! I guess my hard work made me the winner GEOFFREY! I KNEW that it would pay off. I lived for this moment, when I would be able to look down the bridge of my nose at you. You’re pitiful,what do you think about that?” gasped Sam.

Sam was panting, his heart almost beating out of his chest, his face crimson, almost purple. Geoff however, didn’t even seem ruffled.

“Sam, as I started to say, I owe you an apology for the way I treated you back in school.” calmly said Geoff. “That was a very long time ago.” Geoff leaned into Sam so only he could hear “You know Geoff, I always knew you were a little twit, this just proves I was right.”

Sam was still breathing hard, now more aware of the crowd around them.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Hamilton?” asked what looked to be the manager of the store.

“Yes Frank, no worries,” answered Geoff.

Geoff turned back to Sam. “I’m glad you’re doing well. You do have a lovely family. As for my profession, actually I’m not the full-time greeter here, I just make it a requirement that my executive staff work in the stores for one day each quarter. It’s my desire that everybody understand the value of every employee here at Big-Mart” said Geoff as if he was running for a political office - since a number of patrons were now gathered around the two.

“Your executive staff?” responded a now confused Sam.

“Yes, you see, I’m the Chairman of Big-Mart, as well as Bromade software, Hamilton’s Electronics and some other smaller companies. I flew in this morning with my wife Theresa. You might remember her Sam, she was Miss Florida a few years back. We just flew in from our house in Switzerland where we spend the summer with our kids” a smile of satisfaction grew on Geoff.

“I am familiar with Bernard and Brinkle, you’re the law firm we just hired, right?” questioned Geoff.

Sam swallowed hard. “This can’t be,” thought Sam. He never bothered to ask about the Chairman of Big-Mart; he’d only dealt with the Senior VP’s and General Counsel at the retail giant.

“Sam, I don’t think this conversation should go much further, but I’d like to see you in my office tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM and we’ll determine if we’re going to continue our relationship with your firm. Please enjoy the store and have a good day.”

Moral: The world would like the bully to never win. But the truth is, the bad guy wins sometimes. Sure, we’d like to think that the little guy wins each time. But truth can be cruel and the real world unkind. It’s vital to take a good look at your motivations and your intentions. What are your dreams built on? What is their big-picture purpose? If they are based on things like revenge, proving someone wrong or impressing someone, they’ll easily crumble. The greatest successes are those that come out of intrinsic motivators - born out of your own greatest passions and ideals, or the desire to be of service and make a difference. So, take a look at your dreams and goals - make sure that your motivations aren’t empty and that they don’t come with baggage.

Inevitably, the topic moves along like this, “I would love to start my own business, but I don’t know what kind of business to start, what should I do?” I honestly believe I could start a business just helping others find out what business they want to start up.

I don’t have any great suggestions for what YOU could do as your first business, but here is some advice that I’ve compiled that might help:

• Think about if you could do ANYTHING, what would your ideal job be.  Notice I said JOB, not business.  How would you spend your day?  What field is it in?  Can you start with that idea and grow it into something that might be interesting to you?  If you said, my ideal job would be to sit on my behind watching tv and collecting big checks - there is a problem you’ve already identified.
• Go beyond dreaming about starting a business, buy a notebook and carry it with you. Start taking notes on ideas you have throughout the day.  Refer back to it daily.
• Start looking at the world differently. Think like a business owner. When you go to a store or business, ask questions. “How’s business?”, “What are challenges you face each day?”, “I wonder how a business like this can develop additional revenue streams?”
• Ask others that are doing it. Have you ever admired somebody for their business acumen? Read an article about somebody who’s doing something you would like to do? Pick up the phone, send an email ask if you could take them to lunch, go to networking meetings find people who are doing what you want to do, start hanging around like-minded individuals.

A while ago, I was reading an article about business practices and I came across an idea that has stuck with me for some time. The idea is that human beings do not think about the potential outcomes of actions that they partake in today or on the flip side, concern themselves with things that they don’t do today. People don’t want to pay a dime for a preventative, but they’d give their lives for a cure.

WOW.

Think about that. We ALL know that it’s smart to exercise. We should be saving a portion of our paycheck to put into savings. We should be starting a business NOW rather than later.

So people start an exercise regiment and stop a month later. It’s easy to not put enough or anything into your 401K. I’ll keep reading until I find the PERFECT company to start.

Maybe you can start a business that will help those who want a cure rather than a preventative?

Have you ever seen a commercial on TV about something that seemed like a great idea? Perhaps you acted on that impulse, and now, you’re the proud owner of a “Flowbee” and six “Swivel Sweepers”. Yes you can admit it, we’ve all done it.

The more interesting twist to me comes when people make more important decisions - like how you make a living.

The obvious thing to watch for is the infomercial. I’ve seen many and attended plenty of seminars that proclaim to have the formula for immense wealth. “Make $100,000 a Day Stuffing Envelopes”, “Trade Stocks Like the Pros Do and Clear $1,000,000 a year”. Somebody who has a desire to make more money says, “I’ve always been interested in that, I’ll go ahead and do it”

Have you ever been interviewed before for a paper or on the news? I have. When you sit down with somebody for an hour explaining something that is fairly elaborate or there are many elements that make up something, the reporter rarely gets it completely right. Why? Because the news is comprised of small segments that get news out in little chunks. So to a reporter’s credit, they have to summarize your product/service/announcement into a story or soundbite that the average person can digest - without the added fluff.

So, herein lies the problem, if you decide to change your life for something that you casually heard or your act on partial information - you could be heading for disaster.

For example, if you wanted to start your own business and maybe you know a friend of a friend who’s making their living selling stuff on eBay. You surf the net, find out a bit of information and start buying products to resell on eBay. What you might find out down the road is that it’s not the free and easy gig you were hoping for. You realize that there is inventory control, damaged products, customers who are unrealistic in dealing with you, a hefty percentage deducted from your profits from eBay, it goes on and on.

What you learn is that you CAN make money from eBay, and that with some products you can do well, in your chosen field, you’ve screwed up - and you hate the business.

So you’ve invested time and money into a project you hate, what do you do now? Rewind to the beginning and take a look at your decision to start a business. Was it for the right reasons or just for money? Did you really take a hard look at your opportunity or just blind yourself with the upside only?

I was once told by a friend that she would love to open a “Bed and Breakfast Inn”, she was absolutely convinced that she would be great at it. She is a very friendly and outgoing person with a “free-wheeling spirit” many people find compelling. However, I know this person very well, and here’s what I saw: She hates getting up early, she is horrible at cleaning her own house, she can be brash and emotional at times and she is severely undercapitalized. I told her not to do it, she didn’t see my point.

Fortunately for her, she had an experience while staying at a bed and breakfast that opened her eyes. Let’s say that she held a party at an inn and the guests were unruly and broke a number of things. The end result was that is was her responsibility - I say that it was a gift and she got off cheap.

Wait a second, you’re telling me to do more research and learn before I start my business? Isn’t that contrary to the last post you did (see Ready, Fire, Aim). Nope. Partly where I’m telling you to focus is on the “Ready” part. Learn what you can before getting involved, when you’re convinced that you’re on the right track then you can move forward, this isn’t about moving forward with your idea - this is about researching your business first, don’t shortcut here, if there was anything I can advise more it’s to concentrate here first.

After doing so much work and dragging our feet I told my partner - “Okay, that’s enough, we’re launching it on Saturday.”

We went back and forth about not being completely ready and having done enough to get it up and running until I just said, “Let’s launch it, if it messes up - so be it.” And so it was, business venture number 54 was launched.

It’s been 4 weeks since the launch, so you’re wondering if it’s going well and was it perfect? My answer - “You’re kidding right?”

It has been a greatly executed, sometimes flawed, long hours, computer glitches, customers confused by certain aspects of the website, missed communications and frustration. In other words - It’s coming along just as I planned.

Many times people say they’re working on a business, but it still needs “tweaking” or I have to finalize some aspect of the business. It has to be ABSOLUTELY perfect before you can move forward or “pull the trigger”. One thing that I’ve learned it that sometimes trying to be 100% does nothing but delay your success. A number of people interested in starting a business believe much too strongly that a business has to be “perfect” before they can launch it. I need to have all the elements installed first. I need to have 3 suppliers “just in case” , the stars and the moon much align perfectly. In other words, it will NEVER happen OR if there are problems, they jump ship and stop before it gets out of control.

I find that we convince ourselves by worrying about things that may never happen or if they do, we believe that the business can’t rebound. All this is just another excuse to keep ourselves busy and fool ourselves we’re going to be independent some day.

The entrepreneur KNOWS that every business will have it’s challenges. There are times it will be great, other times, it will fail where we couldn’t have predicted. The pretender hides behind the idea that there is more work to do, and what happens, life gets busy and you can’t launch, delay, delay delay.

So if you’re really working on your plan, can you get to 75% or 90% ready so you can launch? Here’s an analogy for you yes, a car can’t move without the wheels, but is it okay if the cigarette lighter isn’t working?

Hogwash.

Okay, I know I’m slaughtering a sacred cow here, and in actuality, I personally DO set goals for myself. But goals in and of themselves are not strong enough to propel you into long-term success.

What do I mean?

Okay, let’s say for instance that you have a 1 year goal of getting out of your junker car and you want to buy a BMW convertible. You work judiciously and hard to attain it. You’re obsessed. You might work overtime, take a second job and lo and behold, POW - one year later, you buy your brand spanking new car.

Now what?

Material or object-centered THINGS are very empty. Once you have them, what do you shoot for next? A more expensive car? A bigger house? In talking to many would-be entrepreneurs, if they’re motivated to write down their goals, they list out many material things. A new house, vacation, computer gizmos, and sure they also include altruistic goals such as spending more time with their family, give to charity etc. Those are all fine things, but how can you SUSTAIN that level of success once you’ve achieved it? Great - I’m spending time with the family and I’ve got the fancy car, once you’re there, now what?

You need something stronger, something permanent. What is that? I submit that there are two things you need.

PASSION:

Have you ever met somebody who was absolutely incredible at what they did? I don’t care if they were a scientist working on a cure for cancer or the busboy at the local buffet. Were you impressed by them? Typically, passion is easy to understand. Heck, I’ll bet you’ve heard the advice of “Do what you love and the money will come”. When you’re in your groove, you are empowered and energized. Have you ever done anything that you were so excited about, you couldn’t go to sleep that night? You got up two hours early and even though you got 3 hours sleep, you were living off adrenaline and you were even tired because you were so excited?

I will never forget a trip to New York City, there was this incredible doorman at the hotel my family and I were staying. He was a person who lit up the room, smiling and cheerful. His uniform was impeccable and he was absolutely hands down the best at what he did. Everyone who walked into that building remembered him and I remember standing outside the building and most people walked out of that building with a smile on their faces. All because of that doorman.

Now I was just a child when I met him, but he left such an impression on me, here I am 30 years later writing about him.

PROCESS:

Having a passion for your work is great, but passion also is not consistent and strong enough for you to maintain a high level of success. If you think about a relationship with someone, how does passion play into it? It starts out very exciting and fresh, heck you’re maybe even a little obsessed with them. But after some time, the passion ebbs a bit. Does that mean after a while you dispose of the relationship and find someone else? Unfortunately in life people do treat people, their life and work in that manner. So this is where the process is vital. Do you have a daily practice of working on your business? You commit and work your business plan religiously, at first it’s easy (see passion above), but a few months later, it’s harder. The clients aren’t coming in, you miss your target goals, people are down on your business idea. So what keeps you going through the tough times? Process, process, process.

An English professor of mine years ago once told me of a good friend of his, Frank Herbert the author the famous book Dune, would religiously write a minimum of 8 hours a day. He would write for weeks each and every day. Sometimes he wrote just to write and would throw the whole project away even after working months on it.  Interesting right?  Ask yourself, are you willing to do that?

How does all this translate to you? Are you struggling to find the right business to start? Looking to improve your life? The easiest road for you to travel is uniquely yours. You can read all the websites and books in the world, but unless you’re enjoying what you do, you’ll continue to exist rather than thrive.

This isn’t something that happens overnight, and for that matter it may be impractical for you to leave your job as a highly-paid lawyer to become a park ranger. My point is, if you want to escape from what you are doing JUST for money (for example), then that isn’t strong enough.

Think… think… think….

1. Decide how you can remove yourself from your business. If you’re in an existing business that requires your presence in order to function, think about what it would take. If you ran a sandwich shop, can you train others to perform your function while you open a second location? Can you hire competent management that will at least do as good a job as you, and maybe (*gasp*), do a better job than you?
2. Shore up secondary revenue streams. Do you do something profoundly unique or exceptional? Would others benefit from this knowledge? If you were a plumber and you perfected a method to reduce your time on a job by 50%, do you think other plumbers would want to know about it? Could you write a book? How about teaching a classroom of eager students? What about developing a product to simplify the work done in your profession? If you have something people want or need, you’re on the right track. By creating a revenue source from something other than your focused effort, you have developed the first step towards income diversity.
3. How can you grow your business beyond you? Entrepreneurs have a tendency to possess the “I can do it all myself” complex. A “child-focused” business needs to be able to AT LEAST maintain it’s current level of success without you. If you are essential to the everyday operation of the business, you’re going down the wrong path. From time to time ask yourself, “Is my activity creating more of a need for me or am I doing something to remove me from the day-to-day operations?” Yes, I know you’re the cornerstone of your business, without you it would crumble. I hate to tell you, that is a great way to own a job for the rest of your life. Can you expand your business into other arenas? What can you do to make the business bigger than is is today? One thing I highly recommend is finding or creating a mastermind group or a “board of directors”. These are groups that are made up of skilled and smart business owners that come together and develop an accountability for each other. They help benchmark what you’re doing, make suggestions on how to grow your business and even to stop some activity you might be doing. These groups are hard to create, but if you do, you can gain huge insight as to how others are doing it, and your help may also grow another person’s business as well.

In my opinion, the biggest businesses become huge because the leaders aren’t working on everything. Do you think the captain of a cruise ship cares what brand of paper towels are in the bathrooms? Think big and grow big. Do it with your guidance, not your meddling.

As you clean out the attic to remove some of the refuse left from the previous owner, you see empty boxes, a few scattered photos, old screen doors and a couple of coins (an old quarter and a dime) on the ground. You pick up the boxes and photos, and put the spare change in your pocket.

Later that day, you decide to take a walk around your neighborhood. Down the street a little girl has put up a lemonade stand, and her sign reads “Lemonade 25 cents”. She’s not exactly overrun with customers, but you’re feeling in pretty good spirits so you reach in your pocket and give her the quarter you found earlier. She hands you a paper cup with lemonade. You wish her well and she smiles back at you, thanking you for your purchase.

Two days later, you’re reading the paper looking through the world events when you happen across the local section. On the front page of that section is a picture of that same little girl you bought the lemonade from. She’s standing in front of her lemonade stand with a toothless grin holding up a quarter for the camera to see. The headlines read “Local girl makes amazing discovery”, it goes on to say that business was slow for her but a man came by to purchase a glass and gave her this quarter. A RARE coin that was minted incorrectly and only 3 are thought to be in existence. It is worth $55,000.

Tell me, how would you feel?

If you’re like me, I’d be having to call a handyman to repair the large hole in my wall from where I was banging my head.

In seriousness, the lesson for you is clear: it’s easy not to see the value of the things you happen to run across - so stay alert. Things like a recommendation on purchasing stock, running into an amazing real estate deal or finding an opportunity to start a business where nobody else would. Are you missing out on a chance to live your dreams? You won’t know unless you’re researching and educating yourself, because unless you’re prepared you won’t know the value of the opportunities that come your way.

Make sure you’re prepared - and keep your senses fine-tuned. Don’t lose that next quarter.

Does that sound familiar to you? I think one of the biggest obstacles to starting a business is lack of funding. Many small business experts will tell you that one of the primary reasons that businesses fail is from a lack of cashflow. This surely can be the death of any good business idea, but having too much money is also a big problem as well.

A former employer of mine lured me into an executive position with their firm because they offered a great salary, benefits and stock options (the swan song of the 90’s). They brought in some rather impressive employees to get their startup off the ground. This cash-rich company was funded with over 100 MILLION dollars from outside investors. Because of the money they had the best of the best for us. Class A building facilities, expensive office furniture, extensive computer network. We traveled to conferences throughout the country, sponsored events and wasted money on the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. They blew through $100 Million in record time. The company was sold to another company where we were shut down uncerimoniously several months later.

Contrast this to the entrepreneur who has very little money, and yet manages to grow his or her business to amazing heights. As you yearn the need to have huge amounts of cash shoved into a business, consider these factors when you set out with your business:

1. “The Nothing to Lose Factor” - How many times have you heard the story of a single mother on welfare who started with nothing to build a multi-million dollar business? How are people like that able to succeed against all odds? In many of those cases, they are at the bottom already. They have no place to go but up. You don’t have to be in such a situation to succeed , but if you put yourself in that situation, you have nothing to lose and everything to prove, why not give it all you’ve got?

2. “The I’ll Show You Factor” - A number of successful business owners that I know were out to prove something. Maybe they were pushed around as a child, or their past employer under appreciated their talents. They felt that they were stepped on and want to prove themselves. A driving factor such as that can propel a business to succeed regardless of their financial situation.

3. “The I Have to Succeed Factor” - A former manager once told me that he liked to hire sales people that went out and purchased expensive cars and had big mortgages to pay because it motivated them to become successful or else they would lose it all. The pressure of bills can be overwhelming, likewise, if you are faced with college tuition expenses, mortgage, etc, you’re motivated because you have to.

4. “The Pride Factor” - One of the biggest motivators I’ve ever encountered is that many self-made people are extremely proud. While extreme pride might seem arrogant, the truth is that I’ve known people who’ve failed with a business and the thing that hurt the most was their pride. Likewise, if you’re convinced that your business can be successful and you put all your effort into it, you might be surprised what ingenuity can surface when the going gets tough.

Consider your situation, does it REALLY require the amount of money you think you need. Certainly if you have to buy real estate, large inventory or computer equipment there are CREATIVE things you can do to secure that, but it might require money - for those that might be able to substitute a bit of effort and time for money - that is your launching point.