The beginning of a business…ain’t it grand?

Hot off the press…I just got an abbreviated copy of the transcript from the 3M Mastermind call today which Eliza Vaile hosted.  I just wanted to post this part about perceiving a beginning in the proper perspective (with their permission of course).  I thought it was GREAT!!

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Most of us, when we started our business, the very thought of even starting a business seemed like a Herculean task.  Frankly, that’s only because it hadn’t been done before for most of us.  Many of you have served as literal pioneers in what you’re bringing to the market. 

 

I’m sure that when Ben Franklin discovered the electrical effects of lightening, he thought it was a pretty big deal at the time as well. However, the availability of electricity is a very common assumption for most of us all over the world nowadays.  In fact, I’m so accustomed to it, that on those rare occasions when it does go off during a storm or something, I find myself thinking, oh well, I’ll just watch some TV while I wait for the power to come back on.  (Do any of you do that too?)

 

Anyway, while we’re not disputing the value of electricity in our lives, we do have to recognize that it wasn’t the top of the mountain, or the ultimate accomplishment, so to speak.   So much more has been done to generate power, and ease and convenience in our lives since then, right?  And we all realize that we have to learn to walk prior to running.  However, most of us mistakenly give ourselves way too long of a trial period for walking before we attempt to run. And in doing so, we limit the amazing ripple effect that could have been realized, had we pushed sooner or harder. We hesitate to participate in a bigger league or broader scope of possibilities.  What I’m teaching you here is that we need to be acceptant of larger and more successful beginnings. There’s always a beginning- But the beginning is perfectly capable of BEING GREAT!  Beginnings need not be feeble, sub-standard, or insignificant.  I worked in a print shop when I was 13, and I always came across interesting printed matter. One customer had a bumper sticker printed up just for her, and I have NEVER forgotten it, because I found it to be so profound.  “Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after me.”  Just because someone is new doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job.  Just because we do make mistakes, doesn’t mean we’re not competent.

 

Michelangelo is well known for his work on the Sistine chapel… what you may not know, is it wasn’t because of his experience in painting that made this wonder of the world so magnificent!

 

 

He was from Florence, Italy.  In those days the Pope could basically just demand that you do such and such.  If you did not perform, you would be imprisoned without a second thought and for the rest of your life!

 

What most people do not know is that he was NOT a painter.  He was a sculpturer!  He was still required to do this task though.  So he took a mere 3 months of painting training, and he then went to work and painted the Sistine Chapel!  Isn’t it interesting that reality would suggest that those who TRAINED Michelangelo would be better suited for this task. But no. The burden was laid on Michelangelo to perform superbly.  I suppose he could have done an “OK” job.  I suppose he could have excused the absence of a perfect painting to the fact that this was after all, his first attempt.  But he was armed with this TRUTH.  There’s always a beginning. But a beginning is not an excuse, reason, or cause for a sub-standard performance.  Even though many of us are “beginning” a new path, a new career, perhaps even a new workout regime or other discipline, it need not be feeble.  It can be splendid!

 

Those of you who have the privilege of being parents- When you first held your brand new baby in your arms, didn’t you find yourself saying “Oh, he or she is so “Perfect”?!  This little bundle of joy is merely at the beginning of their life.  And yet most of us look at them and hold them and see just how perfectly beautiful they are.  Is not this indicative of the truth that beginnings can be fabulous?

 

Walt Disney first created Disneyland. It was a massive undertaking.  He was scoffed at and scorned for dreaming so big!  Millions of individuals have attended that theme park over the last 50 years? with a critical, even cynical perspective, and yet millions have been converted to it’s magic… to his belief that a beginning effort can be wonderful!  He then went on to prove that it wasn’t a fluke!  He did it again, even better with Disney World! Guess what.  Euro Disney was not so successful when it first opened.  Even as great as the other two Disney park ventures were, it didn’t mean that they all were going to be great and wildly successful.  But that doesn’t lessen the success of their beginning, right?

 

George Washington was the first ever General of the United States as well as the very first U.S. president! And what a fabulous job he did in both of those capacities.

 

Don’t get me wrong…Michelangelo, Child Birth, Walt Disney, George Washington- all of these involve a great deal of labor and challenges. But they are STILL worth it, right?.  And they can still be amazing. There’s no rule that says a beginning has to be mediocre.

 

There will be all of these same challenges inherent in a project that doesn’t start out so wonderful as well. 

 

We are all plagued with some type of malfunctions- but does that mean that we are in any way programmed for failure simply because we are new at something or “just” a small business owner?  Believing in beginnings is actually critical to your happiness and success. Because if you allow yourself to perceive otherwise then you can and WILL always blame someone or something or some circumstances in your life for you mistakes, shortcomings, etc, and then you will ALWAYS perform less than you are truly capable of.  Remember, “there are no victims, only volunteers.”

 

We can’t bar ourselves from doing something new because it’s imperative to our success as business owners. We’ve got to be willing to forge ahead in order to stay relevant to our customers.  We can’t afford to tell ourselves that we’re not even going to try because of fright, intimidation or some other reason, because in a lot of cases in today’s economy, we may be ignoring our only shot at playing in the game.   As Robert Ringer says, “If life’s a game, we might as well play hard to win.”  Why NOT have fun and try to win?

 

 

*********** That’s all of it that I got permission to share for now.  I strongly recommend that if you’re an entrepreneur, you register as a primary member of 3M Mastermind.  It’s free! And their monthly training webinars are excellent!  Just go to http://www.3mmastermind.com

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Joe the Plumber

 

Joe the Plumber vs. Rick Sanchez—the talking head of CNN.  And the winner is…Joe Wurzelbacher.  On the other hand,  at the risk of sounding like the amateur mass media, Rick Sanchez  is this year’s entrepreneurial putz.

 

In his November 4^th interview with the newly famous Joe the Plumber, Rick Sanchez appeared to be as knowledgeable of the abilities of entrepreneurs as the Mr. Clean knows hair care.

 

Mr. Sanchez’s mindless questions of Joe the Plumber demonstrated that he had clearly NOT done his research of this nation’s entrepreneurs.  He joined the mass of misperception when he underestimated entrepreneurs all over the world as indicated by empty-headed questions to Joe Wurzelbacher.  Sanchez’s ignorance was manifested on at least 3 separate lines of questioning.

 

1) “Why would you be so upset about people who clear more than $250,000 a year—having to pay taxes, when you’re nowhere near that category?” 

 

One does not need to live in a leper colony to have sympathy for their plight.  Wurzelbacher made it clear repeatedly that he objected to the principle of the wealthier paying more taxes simply because they had more of it.  Like most entrepreneurs,

 

2) “…you are not in a situation where you’re going to be able to make that money any time soon.”

 

 

Who is this talking bobble head to dish out the socially acceptable level and speed of any person’s achievement or fulfillment in this life?  (business owner or not)

 

The fact of the matter is, every entrepreneur is very near making $250,000.  Many have succeeded in making multiple times that in one day.  Some are content to choose to earn less, and some push themselves to earn more.  There’s no mandate that it must take decades, years or months to earn this kind of income. No initials after your name are required. No special gene pool.  It’s not a secret and it’s accessible to any literate human being in our nation.  It requires applied knowledge, a restlessness with the status quo, and a combination of passion and commitment.   

 

3) “You’re nowhere near being able to buy a business that clears more than $250,000 a year because that would take millions and millions of dollars, right?”

 

Another mistaken assumption.  It does not take millions of dollars to clear $250,000.  In fact, there are many well known business owners who have brought in significantly more than that for significantly less.  Entrepreneurs of all kinds know how to create huge profit margins.  Paul Hartunian, for example, paid $500 for the discarded wood of the Brooklyn Bridge walkway to be delivered to his home.  He then cut the wood up in tiny little square pieces, wrote a killer press release, and made millions of dollars actually selling the Brooklyn Bridge to people all over the world.  To this day he is STILL getting free press about this and subsequent feats of similar style. 

 

Credible information marketers such as Dan Kennedy, Lee Milteer, Michael Cheney, Rich Shefren, Matt Bacak, Shawn Casey, Tellman Knudsen, Jeff Walker, Bill Glazer, Andrew Fox, and countless others regularly clear 7 figures within a matter of days in exchange for a weeks worth of writing and sharing their expertise—and do so repeatedly!   Write, launch, reap, repeat.

 

Here’s the ultimate problem with Sanchez’s skewed vision of the world of capitalism.  He’s forgotten about freedom combined with human potential.  For every story of failure, there’s an enduring story of success in even greater proportions.  In my opinion, there are equal amounts of ways to succeed as there are to stumble. 

 

One of my clients recently earned over $500,000 on one transaction.  Granted, he had to make his way through whole lot of “suspect clients” in the last 9 months to get access to the real deal, but he did so.  And now that he’s accomplished this, no Rick Sanchez of the world can ever convince him that his ideas of success are impossible. 

 

One significant success will breed a confident, unshakable entrepreneur.

 

My hope is that one day entrepreneurs will be viewed as the standard of success, genuine security, and credibility.  In my opinion, they certainly deserve the respect, sincere assistance and accolades more than Wall Street, Big Corporate America, or the sacrosanct banking institutions do.

 

Here’s my challenge to all entrepreneurs—and a special invitation to Joe.  Register as a Primary Member of 3M Mastermind—FREE.  No strings attached.  No charging your credit card later when you’ve forgotten all about it.  Get real information so that you too can prove the mindless naysayers wrong about the strength and necessity of business owners.   Simply go to http://www.3MMastermind.com

 

Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of every economy in the world.

They are the fire behind invention.

They are the seeds of security.

 

Because of this unconquerable belief, Monetary Intelligence has paid enormous sums of money, put in countless hours with an army of researchers—and  most of all their heart and commitment—to give today’s entrepreneurs the helping hand up they need.  We’ve investigated a mountain of the “success systems” of gurus, experts, doctors, etc from all over the world. We’ve spent the last year implementing their theories and creating some of our own as a result. 

 

Whether you’re in business or hoping to be, MI has created a training division, 3M Mastermind, to deliver substance to today’s frazzled business owners in the form of monthly live webinars and so much more. 

 

We’ll prove to you your abilities now, for your market today.

 

Come off of the observation deck and take the wheel!  Get access to your original content, exclusive training system for FREE right now!  Go to www.3MMastermind to begin your journey with a partner who truly cares, and is willing to prove it.  We’ve already invested in you. Your future success awaits.

 

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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Would I Pay This Person?

“Would I pay this person’s paycheck before my own mortgage?”

 

Photo care of http://blog.hireinsightselect.com/?p=22

As an employer, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to make awful hiring mistakes.  I can’t really blame the individuals and their weaknesses, because I feel like it’s my responsibility to properly vet those issues during the interview process. But I’ve recently had an epiphany that I actually chose to act on and it’s made all of the difference in the world. This recommendation applies to both the employer AND the employee.

 

 

To Employers, if you are not in love with them, don’t hire them.  This is your business, your livelihood we’re talking about here.  As a small or even a medium sized business you’re susceptible to financial volatility.  Clearly things do not always go rosy and there may be a time when you get paid last, or even not at all while you keep your staff on so that you can get to the next paycheck.  So there are two issues that you need to consider here.  One of them you need to consider before you hire them and the other you need to consider after you hire them. 

 

1) Before you hire them, you’ve got to look at their attributes and literally ask yourself the question, “Would I pay this person’s salary before my own mortgage?” Why? Because frankly such a decision may need to be made at some point in the future.  Even if you never have to make such a decision (and let’s hope that you never do) you still should only reward your unique risks and responsibilities as a business owner with quality individuals who enhance your work path, not detract from it.  And if you aren’t able to see how they would be an attribute to the financial strength of your business and the tasks that you need accomplished, then don’t hire them. 

 

Don’t run your business like a popularity contest.  You are the president/CEO/Owner of a business, not the President of Please Like Me, Inc.  You owe it to the rest of your team members to ensure that you do not bring on anyone who compromises the strength of your company’s financial standing, because if your company isn’t profitable everybody suffers.  If you aren’t in love with them when they are supposed to be putting on their best behavior and only have to “fake it” for a few interviews, then for crying out loud, what makes you think it’s going to get better when they are in the midst of the daily business stresses and handling critical responsibilities?

 

Remember, the enemy of best is good.  Don’t go with the “good” prospective employee just because you need to fill a position. That will cost you a lot of money and headaches in the long run.  Be patient. Wait for the “best” person to manifest your wish list requirements to you.  In today’s economy, being able to offer someone a job is an asset that should be appreciated by any prospective clients.

 

2) After you’ve hired them, you have every right to expect them to proactively contribute to your bottom line.  In other words, each employee you have on board should be a revenue generator in some way or another for your business.  If not, you cannot afford to have them. 

 

So how does this apply to employees?  Well for starters it gives you great insight into the thought process of successful business owners. And after all, isn’t that the kind of company you want to work for?  Keep in mind that you’re obligated to work and then get paid.  Your employment should only be contingent on your value to the company for which you work.  This does not mean you have to be perfect.  Plenty of businesses aren’t and they still manage quite well. But you do need to realize that for every task you slough off or perform incorrectly you are costing your employer money. And if they didn’t have to pay for your errors or inefficiencies, they just may be able to pass some of the wealth on to your salary. The question is does your work ethic and capabilities merit you being paid prior to your owner’s own mortgage?  The answer is only a “yes” if they can’t afford to do without you.

 

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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Is your business thinking archaic?

Perhaps you’ve at least heard the term “Market Share.” Perhaps you’re even guilty of using the term—Yes, I said GUILTY. This is an archaic term for any business today because it assumes that there is a finite amount of business for which you can possess. In actuality, markets are created everyday. Think about it. Do you really think that someone woke up one day and asked, “Hmmm. I wonder what the market share for Pet Rocks is?” Of course not. That market was simply created. As long as you have a creative bone in your body, you will never be beholden to needing to obtain a particular market share to be successful. Even without creating a new market to own and control, the fact is, by tweaking your existing market with an enhanced feature or service, you are essentially creating an incomparable product, and thus a new market. Think abundance, not scarcity. It’s what will not only pull you through challenging times, but take you eons ahead in the future as well.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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Entitlement

 ENTITLMENT. It’s an awful disease. Recently I read of a police officer in Daytona Beach who was reportedly fired for tormenting the folks at a local Starbucks by demanding free coffee and tea and making less-than-veiled threats against the coffee house team that if his demands weren’t met, their urgent or emergency calls would not be responded to in an appropriate fashion. Geesh. Does anyone but me remember the days when moms would use a police officer or a fireman as an example of a hero for their children? Where in the world did those days go?? This sounds like something right out of The Godfather, if you ask me. (Again, this is only reportedly—and has not been verified as factual. Unfortunately, even if this person has been persecuted unjustly, I’m willing to bet good money that such a false sense of entitlement and abuse of power does exist in our tired nation, which is the whole reason for this blog—not to press additional and unfounded blame on this police officer.)

In the world of my business, I regularly see a great deal of individuals who truly believe that they are entitled to all that the world has, simply because. But this is where the “half truth” comes into play. (Our lives are consistently pummeled by those crafty little buggers—“half truths”). Because, in actuality, we ARE all entitled to all the good that the world has to offer. However, we are entitled only to that which we truly earn and work for on this earth. It’s called the Law of the Harvest. (Dr. Steven Covey talks about this at length in a couple of his books, actually.) The good news is when we work hard, we usually end up with much more than we deserve now, and definitely later.

Some people foolishly believe that because they write out a check for $95 and sit down in a throng of thousands of individuals and listen to some superstar on how to get rich in the real estate world that they are then instantly entitled to the same level of wealth that the expert speaker now enjoys. Some people believe that simply because the cashier made the mistake of giving them back $10 too much in change that they are somehow entitled to that by a twist of fate or karma. And then there are some who believe that because they passed the physical, written, and shooting testing criteria, and now receive a paycheck of $35,000 a year as a police officer, they are entitled to break any rules of common courtesy, common law, and decency. Well, the truth is, they are entitled to behave this way. This entitlement comes to them through a gift called AGENCY. And that’s one thing that will never be taken from any individual. But more importantly is that with that same agency, we are truly empowered, beyond our present comprehension usually, to make a heck of a lot more of our lives than we thought possible—much more than even a year’s worth of free cups of coffee would ever be worth.
Hmmm… I wonder if I ever squander my Agency in the name of a misplaced or worthless sense of entitlement?

For a complimentary 3 month subscription of Kellene’s High-Rise Entrepreneurs E-zine, subscribe at http://www.highriseentrepreneurs.com/.

If you would like to know how you can dramatically improve the state of your entrepreneurial efforts through Kellene’s coaching, check out http://www.moneymindmarketing.com/.

If your organization would like to host Kellene as a speaker in exchange for a donation to The Children’s Miracle Network, e-mail Kirsten@monetaryintel.com.

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