1.   Take Note of Their Mentors.

I know someone whose mentor had no respect for follow-up, didn’t return calls, was undisciplined, and slack. She is following his lead, of course, and will likely wind up with a scary lawsuit.

2.   Take Note of Their Friends and Associates.

Birds of the feather – similar values, beliefs, networks, standards, and aspirations. Where do they go? With whom do they spend their time?

3.   Their Customers and Vendors.

What is their reputation with people who sell to them or buy from them? How about their competition? How LONG have they known this person? Be especially careful of people who are new in the area and have a gray past. In many cases, they’ve run away from their bad choices in the past.

4.   The Internet.

Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, their websites and blogs – take the time to check them out. They will naturally have enemies and detractors if they’re well known, but judge the assault by the quality of their enemies.

5.   Their Philosophy.

What books do they read, what groups and clubs do they belong to, what religious and political affiliations do they have, where do they live, how do they spend their time? One’s philosophy drives ones motives and choices – it is a good predictor.

6.   Test Them in Small Ways.

Test them in small ways before opening up the big JV opportunities. Do they return calls and e-mails promptly, do they pay on time, are they cheap, are they well groomed and punctual, respectful, and professional? Are they loyal and honest? “Faithful in little, faithful in much.”

7.  How Do They Treat Others?

Their spouses, kids, friends, the waiter in a restaurant, animals, receptionists, their employees, and colleagues. Listen and watch – observe – because that’s how they will end up treating YOU.

8.   Take Your Time, There’s No Rush.

And don’t take the word of one person referring them – I now a successful businessman who has very little discernment in judging others. Over time, you will find out a lot more about them, good and bad. Over time, you will see patterns and tendencies – people hiding, making excuses, justifying, lowering standards, cutting corners. You will also be able to identify loser traits, like smoking, greed., ego, drinking too much, gambling, womanizing, and other addictions.

9. Beware of the Too Friendly.

Be careful of the too friendly, smiling, backslapping, always agreeing, politically correct funster. Those who are everyone’s friend and promise the world are usually sociopaths, or at the very least passive aggressive back-stabbers. Watch out for posers and parasites, too – there are many of them out there. If someone agrees with everything you say and has no opinion, he’s weak or dangerous. Either way, watch out.

10. Track Record.

Finally, look at the track record. That is a clear predictor of future behavior. Along with that, listen for EXCUSES and BLAME – the sure sign of a victim mentality. In that case, be aware that your prospect lives in the Victim/Persecutor/Rescuer world that denies personal responsibility.

Better to take the time and make the effort on the front end than to suffer later. The cost of discipline weighs ounces, while the cost of regret weighs tons. I would rather pay a good private detective up front than lose a lot down the road.

Upon examination, they found that their son had fallen asleep in the back of the kayak, and that one side of his paddle was dangling in the water.

So, even though his exhausted mom was paddling like crazy in front, their son was unwittingly preventing her from getting anywhere.

Passengers or Partners

In life, you have either passengers or partners, parasites or pals. Some people will help you to reach your goals, while others will hurt you, even when they don’t mean to.

You can work hard and be honest and commit and risk, but if you’re linked up with a loser, you’ll just keep on going round in circles, like a moth around a flame, until you burn out, and your well-rested passenger simply moves on to his next victim, laughing and smiling and hugging everyone along the way.

What Are You In Business For?

You’re not in business to provide bloodsuckers and freeloaders with a job.

You’re not working to sacrifice yourself and your family’s future for idlers and moochers. That’s what Obama wants to do – he wants to “spread your wealth” between the deadbeats and leeches out there.

But then he’s a socialist, and hopefully, you’re not. He’s never run a business, and that’s probably why he hates capitalism.

Measure and Monitor Production

Make sure that when your partners become poisonous passengers, you cut them loose – fast.

People should only eat what they kill, and anyone stealing off your plate should have his fingers severely beaten.

Measure and monitor production, and pay for results, not words and promises and compliments.

If you want your kayak to take you to Treasure Island, make sure you don’t have a pirate on board with you. And keep checking.

Definition of Congruency

In the context of one’s life, congruency means that:

• your beliefs, values, and actions are all in
  • agreement,
  • harmony,
  • conformity,
  • and correspondence.
• all parts and areas of your life are moving in the same direction.
• you walk your talk.

For example, someone who smokes and yet makes a point of eating healthy and getting regular exercise is not making congruent choices. Someone who has one area of his life sabotaging, weakening, or undermining another area of his life does not have a congruent lifestyle.

The reason most people are unconsciously breaking down their own success and limiting themselves is because of three things:

1. First, they don’t have clearly defined, measurable goals for their lives.
2. Second, they fail to measure and notice what they’re doing and what the ripple effects of their choices are,
3. and thirdly, because they’re lazy, addicted, apathetic, or just plain stupid.

But for those of us who are committed to happiness, success, and reaching our full potential, focusing on congruency can skyrocket you to unprecedented heights of success.

Every choice in every area of your life affects every other area – everything in your life is interconnected.

No Involvement, No Commitment.

Stephen Covey said that when we live according to our values, we will be happy. He also said,

“Without involvement, there’s no commitment. Mark it down, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.”

That makes sense, since you can’t deal with life at arm’s length. Whatever you focus on will grow, and you only have 24 hours a day to attain your success and happiness. Having the intestinal fortitude to define your values, beliefs, and philosophy, and then to arrange your goals in each area of your life so that they all fit and support each other, is indeed a smart thing to do, and very rare.

Perhaps one percent of people do this. You can, too.

It’s a simple choice.

Defining Our Own Philosophy

Defining our own philosophy and world view, and then deciding what we want our lives to look like, taking into account every area of life:

• social,
• mental,
• physical,
• financial,
• family,
• work,
• etc.,is the first step to greatness.

Then, look at your present lifestyle and choices through this lens, and decide what and who needs to be:

• adjusted,
• removed,
• fixed,
• added,
• and tweaked.

That‘s the scary and exciting part, because it will tell you exactly how much you are committed to what you say you believe and want.

Your philosophy of life is like your GPS, or compass. It will guide you to it’s ultimate purpose, be it self-sacrifice and resentment, or greatness and fulfillment.

Align All the Areas of Your Life

Then, it’s time to take action, to align all the areas of your life with your goals and values. This means removin

• certain people,
• groups,
• activities,
• choices,
• and input,
• and adding new stuff.

It’s like

• pulling the thorn out of your foot,
• wiping the dog poo off the bottom of your shoe,
• filling your gas tank,
• joining a health club,
• buying a bicycle,
• and canceling your membership to a club of losers.

It’s a wonderful way to spring clean your life, repaint it, and spruce it up.

It’s weeding the garden and planting new, beautiful flowers.

Having the guts to commit to being real and honest, no matter what the cost, is a wonderful investment in your happiness and self-esteem.

The Midas Touch

People who live congruent lives feel that whatever they touch turns to gold – success starts to “flow” for them. Things start going their way.

1. They breathe easier.
2. They sleep well.
3. They confront issues with courage and confidence.
4. They seem to attract successful people and circumstances.
5. They start liking and respecting themselves more, so others start treating them better, too.
6. They come out of the closet, so to say, into the bright sunlight of energy, purpose, and freedom.

This is scary for losers, who live on excuses, but exciting for winners, who love creating their own dream lives:

“Every thought, word, action, cent, decision, commitment, second, minute, hour, and mouthful of food COUNTS.”

Evaluate Your Life

I encourage you to evaluate your life and decide if it’s congruent or not. Since 97% of our problems, including our most valuable resource – our time, can be solved or significantly alleviated with money, as I have found being a Joint Venture Broker to be the most valuable tool available for facilitating a life of congruency, freedom, and happiness.

Working With the Right People

I know business owners who spend a whole lot of time keeping contact with and fostering relationships with the wrong people. Those people will not help you in hard times – they will run for the hills. That will not produce or improve anything.

We should work hard on our relationships with the right people, but we shouldn’t waste time with the wrong people. Quality is more important that quantity.

When people have proven to you that they have other agendas and hidden agendas, and that they’re only around to ride your coattails and eat off your plate, you might keep them in your database, but don’t expect anything from them.

Two Kinds of People

A very successful businesswoman, Reeva Forman, once told me long ago that there are only two kinds of people in the world:

• Givers and Takers.
• Producers and Consumers.
• Creators and Parasites.
• Rainmakers and passengers.
• Winners and losers.

Don’t fool yourself with quantity. The small percentage of winners will be there for you when you need then, and these are the people to spend your precious time and efforts on. The past is a good indicator of their future choices.

How do you know which ones are the real winners? Test them.

Finding Your Winners

Here’s a simple test to see if you’re trying to build a long-term relationship with a stinker or a star: Ask yourself this:

“What has this person contributed / created / produced without my guidance and help? If I wasn’t around, what would he or she have achieved? Is this someone who is riding on my initiative and reputation, or are they genuinely and consistently improvising, innovating, and initiating? Do I have to initiate communication, motivate, cajole, contact, and threaten, remind or ask them before anything happens? Am I the driver all the time?”

Who Are the High Quality Ones?

It’s better to spend $1,000 on one single relationship than to spend a hundred dollars on each of ten people, hoping one of them turns out to be a winner instead of a weasel.

Most people in your life will come and go, and that’s fine. But you don’t adopt a child just because he washed your car, especially when you paid him to do it.

Watch out for those who need the approval of others, the party animal, hail-fellow-well-met type who is constantly trying to impress others and keep up with the Joneses. There are many posers, but few producers.

Invest in the Producers

You might have a thousand business cards, and that’s great for business. But how many of those people are high quality winners who will be there for you when the chips are down? How many will join you in Galt’s Gulch?

Work on one percent, and you won’t be disappointed.

Don’t cast your pearls before swine. Don’t waste your time and attention on the wrong people. Test them, create filters, and become more selective. You’ll be glad you invested more with the right people.

Strategizing the Target

Shane heard about an entrepreneur who could help him move a large amount of products. This entrepreneur (I’ll call him Dennis) was busy, successful, in demand, and very selective. Many people continually vied for Dennis’s attention, and salespeople spent a lot of time trying to sell him stuff. Shane took a month to do some serious due diligence and information gathering on Dennis –

• his family,
• business,
• employees,
• goals,
• background,
• philosophy,
• hobbies,
• you name it.

Then he paid a detective to gather even more information. When he was properly prepared, he spent a thousand dollars buying and using Dennis’s products and services.

Now Dennis knew who Shane was – a respectful client.

Setting the Bait

Shane knew that Dennis’s family was very important to him, so he paid a photographer to do a professional photo shoot of Dennis’s family. Then he invited Dennis to go deep sea fishing with him and a few carefully chosen friends.

He spent another month working on his relationship with Dennis until Dennis regarded Shane as a friend. This included buying Dennis a new guitar. Up to this point, Shane didn’t try to sell Dennis anything.

Catching the Fish

Three months to the day after Shane targeted Dennis, he closed the deal. Shane’s total investment, he told me, was five thousand dollars, which was tax-deductible. The deal made him forty-thousand dollars NET profit after deducting the five thousand. And Dennis made twenty thousand.

What Shane did was to strategically get the maximum amount of credibility and leverage before introducing his deal.

He told me that, at any time during this three-month process, if he felt the deal wasn’t going to work, he would have cut bait and walked away.

A General, Not a Soldier

That was ten years ago, and Shane and Dennis are still doing business. (I called Shane to make sure.) How different from the desperate posers who push their scruffy little business cards at you without even knowing you. Shane makes a lot of money, because he is a general, not a soldier. He is:

• rational,
• professional,
• unattached,
• reliable,
• respectful,
• and skillful.

He values relationships, and he takes nothing for granted. You would never see him in a “Business Networking Group” or a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Many Ways to Achieve the Same Results

Of course, it doesn’t always take five thousand dollars to position yourself for a successful deal / Joint Venture. There are many ways to accomplish the same results for pennies on the dollar, and even for nothing but time and effort, but I like this illustration. As Ayn Rand said,

“Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.”

The emphasis is on THINK – something most so-called entrepreneurs avoid in favor of desperate sales pitches and their blind fumbling for a quick buck.

Which do YOU want to be?

Soldiers will grab a gun and rush out shooting. Generals plan before executing. They use:

• military intelligence,
• spies,
• reconnaissance,
• and input from other people.

They coordinate the activities of others.

Which do YOU want to be? Soldier or general?

To learn more about the Joint Venture Broker approach to wealth, which Shane understood so well, visit www.jvwisdom.com.