When entrepreneurs get emotionally involved in their businesses, they start seeing their business as an extension of their ego, and that’s when pride clashes with profitability. Remember the 3 Steps to Achieving Success as an Entrepreneur? None of them include ensuring that everyone knows it’s YOU doing it.

Men, especially, sabotage their own success when they become territorial, competitive, and pig-headed. My good friend and mentor, Marnus Roothman, the new DollarMakers Director for South Africa, used to ask me, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be rich?” I’m not talking in the context of values - I’m talking about egotistical stubbornness. We’re in business to make a profit, and as long as you don’t step on your values, you can benefit a lot from being somewhat flexible and overlooking certain things in the interest of the big picture; losing a battle to win the war.

As a “black or white”, right or wrong, politically incorrect, A-Type personality myself, I know whereof I speak. There is a time to compromise and a time to insist, and there is also a time to understand
and forgive. Again, as long as your values remain intact, you will find yourself skirting detours and getting to your destination, while your old self is still attacking the detour with a battering ram and a small
canon.

There’s a difference between being smart and being soft.

If someone gets it right 98% of the time and messes up 2% of the time, perhaps it’s wise to focus on the 98% and reward good choices, instead of hammering on the bad ones. Maturity doesn’t have to mean passivity.  You don’t have to compromise your own standards. You do have to give in order to get, and when you are prepared to overlook a flaw in your business partner’s performance, the reciprocal favor can mean a lot to your bottom line. And it’s all about the bottom line, not your bottom lip.

You’re in business to make a profit, not to look good at your local Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Seasoned entrepreneurs understand that they should keep their egos on a tight leash, spend good time on objective, strategic planning, and maintain an eye on the big picture. They know How to Manage their time and also whom they spend it with. They also know the value of giving people enough rope to hang themselves - that’s the chess player at work. Hissy fits, tantrums, and throwing babies out with bathwater has it’s place - Indian organ grinders are said to discipline their pet monkeys by periodically killing a chicken in front of the monkey - but they should be the exception rather than the rule, and used only when entirely appropriate for the optimal results.

You’re in business to make a profit, not to make a statement - remember that.

Your time is your most valuable asset, and it is like priceless pearls to you. They are limited, as your days on earth are limited. Your time is that important.

Hilton Johnson has been in direct sales for over 40 years. He has been coaching and training salespeople, managers, professionals and business owners for over 30 years. This man knows what he’s talking about. He says,

“One thing that will burn you right out of this business, folks, is spending your time with the wrong people.”
- Howard Johnson

I cannot stress this strongly enough.

There is an idiomatic Japanese saying, “Gold coins to a cat.” Not only will you waste time that could have been put to better use with good people, but there is a serious danger attached. Read the following:

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
- Christian Bible

Note the scary last part: “And turn and render you” - that means rip you apart! Yes, they will turn on you when they can’t understand your opportunity and message! They will punish you for their own lack of understanding and discipline. By casting your pearls before swine, you bring them into your business, your circle, your family, where they can become dangerous traitors. Now here’s another shocking reality:

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

It’s not just dumb to spend time with the wrong people, it’s dangerous. Make people qualify for your time. Protect it carefully, steadfastly and seriously!

Successful Joint Venture Brokers have the ability to remove their own egos, products and services from the picture when they create Joint Ventures. 99% of people that attend my Bootcamps are there to find a way to increase the sales of their own product or service, using JV’s. That’s fine, and it’s easy to double the profits in your own business using JV’s, but it’s not the JV mindset that makes the big money.

By focusing on connecting others, solving their problems, and helping them reach their goals, you insert yourself effectively into their cash flow. You get invited to participate in their profits. You become important in their lives. They like you and they reciprocate if you have set the JV up correctly.

You should remember that other people don’t care about you, your products or services, or ego; they care about themselves first. Give them what they want and you’ll get what you want. You’ll become an integral key to their future success.

Be a good listener: look for clues and Hot Buttons, values, beliefs, and a track record. Decide whether or not you actually WANT to get involved with the person. Is this someone you feel comfortable promoting and associating with, or not? You’re mentally qualifying people for a JV partnership - you’re not a desperate salesperson. A JV Broker who is good at his or her profession is a very valuable asset to any business partner, and you can pick and choose from millions of businesses to work with.

You’re in the pound seats, and it’s your decision whom you choose.

As a JV Broker, I decide whom I will work with, and my attention is on them, not me, because I have access to all the resources they need or want. I evaluate the person and the potential, and it’s always based on my level of comfort and their level of need. I only work with motivated, sincere, and professional people. I can afford to be very selective, and so I am. But I don’t go about talking about myself, simply because nobody gives a damn. Remember that - focus on others, be a catalyst for cash, and a middleman that multiplies the moola, not a self-employed, desperate, broke salesman, urgently touting something that people can buy on any street corner.

Now go forth, as Patrick Giesbrecht is wont to say, and JV!

Success is uncomplicated for people who understand that there are only three steps to reach it, and they are: Action, Traction, and Attraction. In my experience, anyone with an IQ of over 100 and a decent work ethic (those two criteria instantly eliminate a large percentage of the population) can climb these three simple steps to massive success in any business venture.

The first step is ACTION

Taking ACTION - or a four letter word for many, called WORK. Consistent, focused, uncompromising, quality work. Not just a flutter of work and bluster just before you fetch your boss at the airport; he sees through that quickly and your sins will find you out. Not sporadic, half-hearted attempts, or mere gestures.

I’m talking about real work, doing the things that get results. Doing the uncomfortable things at inconvenient times. Being on time, in place, and productive - every day. Working with enthusiasm and passion, without even considering quitting. Putting in the hours, going the extra mile, even when it rains or you feel ill. Consistent work. If you work long enough, you finally smash through the wall to resistance, and you eventually reach the next level, which is…

TRACTION.

This is when you start to see progress, momentum, branding, recognition - a profit. People start responding, your phone starts ringing; you begin to see progress. The wheels are digging in - they’ve stopped spinning on the ice and mud.  How long does it take before your action gets traction? However long it takes.

If you have a good mentor, work hard and smart, use Joint Ventures, and only work with the right people, it eventually happens. And when you start to get traction, it is not a time to sit back and take it easy! This is the signal to double your efforts, sharpen your axe, and work harder than ever. Don’t miss the opportunity to keep the traction going until you reach the desirable level of…

ATTRACTION.

Now your phone rings all day, and like the old song goes, “getting cards and letters from people I don’t even know, and offers coming over the phone…” Again, this is not a time to start resting, but a time to build on the momentum, strike while the iron is hot, and work harder! At a certain point (you will know when), you will be able to loosen up and take it a bit easy. If your systems are in place, you can delegate and allow the systems to do more work, but be vigilant, because the enemy lurks always.

Follow these 3 Steps, and you will reap what you sow.

On the news this morning I heard about a Cuban man who has tried to get into the US twenty-eight times , risking his life every time . He has seen many others die in the process. This is nothing new .  Mexicans die every day trying to reach their objective of starting a new life in the US. These brave people literally risk their lives to achieve their goals. They are fully aware of the risk. How motivated are YOU to reach your goals?

Six years ago, a woman sent me an e mail from South Africa (the situation there is far worse than either Mexico or Cuba, and it deteriorates daily.) Her husband had lost his job and couldn’t get another one due to affirmative action, she had been mugged three times, and their teenage daughters were being harassed and exposed to the risk of rape every day on their way to school. They saw their community falling to pieces around them as violence and crime escalated out of control, and they were in financial difficulties. They decided to immigrate to Canada, but they didn’t have enough money, so they were declined. The only way out was more money, so her husband left her a suicide note and blew his head off with a shotgun so that there would be enough life insurance money for them to immigrate to Canada and save themselves. The ultimate sacrifice.

People Risk Their Lives for What We Have.

These are perhaps extreme examples, but they are happening every day. If you live in North America or the UK, you have absolutely no reason not to get rich and make all your dreams come true. We are surrounded by freedom, abundance, safety, opportunity, and ease. Perhaps that’s why so many are obese, lazy, pathetic, weak, smoking complainers. Recently an American toddler was CRUSHED by an obese relative. Our biggest challenge is the Starbucks lineup or finding a parking space at the mall. Other people risk their lives for what we have.

Do you suppose someone who has risked their lives to immigrate will be a hard worker and highly motivated? Better than some loser who is only interested in benefits and smoke breaks, methinks. If we want to seriously stimulate the economies in Canada and the US, we should open the borders to South Africans, Mexicans, and Cubans. They know how to work. But that would be a major threat to the lazy majority, so it won’t happen. The only people complaining about outsourcing to foreign countries and begging to seal the borders are those who don’t see the wonderful entrepreneurial opportunities all around them. Why work in a factory or a job when you can get rich and enjoy the best in the world? But then you would have to risk, take responsibility, and work, like those Mexicans that some so easily mock.

Give yourself a check-up from the neck up. How motivated are YOU? You will succeed in direct proportion to your level of motivation. Or perhaps things have to get a lot worse before you realize your predicament? Crisis brings opportunity. It might kick some people out of their lethargy and wake them up. That could happen, so it’s perhaps wise to be prepared…

Robin J. Elliott

Are you a Spoon or a Tongue? You know, you’re really only one or the other.

Listen to this: “Does the spoon taste the soup? A fool may live all his life in the company of a master and still miss the way. The tongue tastes the soup. If you are awake in the presence of a master, one moment will show you the way.” - the Buddha. Some people start off as spoons and then one day they become a tongue. One can spend hours and hours with a great teacher and not get it, then suddenly, somehow, there’s an epiphany, and that is your moment of understanding, your breakthrough, and everything suddenly becomes clear. And you’re never the same again.

The stronger one’s conditioning, the more spoonlike we are, and it takes longer to arrive at that defining moment. So hang in there - it takes time to break through that wall of cynicism, but eventually the sunlight peeks through, the scales drop from one’s eyes, and VOILA! You GET IT. “Egad! I never realized, Fotherington! It’s as plain as the nose of your face!”

Sad thing is, when dozing in spoon mode, one could become a little jealous of those tongues out there, reveling in the revelation and raking in the old cash, “licking their chops”, as it were. One feels a little out of place, as though surrounded by dozens of Kiss fans, tongues lolling about like damn dogs, so one tends to get a little nasty, and probably flounce out and miss out on that life-giving broth. Cutting off one’s tongue to spite one’s face…. Not smart. It takes some of us a little longer, is all. Don’t give up - come on in, the soup’s great!

Be Hungry!

Actually, the Buddha hit the nail on the head when he used the word, “Awake”. You have to be awake, and I translate that as “Hungry”. If you are hungry enough, you’ll see through that veil of pessimism and doubt, and your motivation will burn through the fog of fear. A spot of faith and a dollop of trust do wonders to help the medicine go down. And nothing tastes sweeter than the realization that you can actually have all the money you want, faster, easier, and with more fun than you ever believed possible, using Joint Ventures.

So when the information is not penetrating, don’t shoot the messenger, break the mirror, or decide that you can’t do it. Just remember the old spoon and tongue analogy - a “spoon” becomes a “tongue” when it spends enough time in the soup, especially if it’s thirsty. Personally, I’m a slow learner and a slow reader. I sound each word in my mind when I read, and I need to hear things a few time before I understand the context completely, but I have learned to be patient with myself, because I know from experience that when I get it, I REALLY get it, and then I’m unstoppable. Release your inner tongue!

Now I’m peckish - tea and a ginger biscuit sounds good.

Robin J. Elliott

I watched a movie the other night in which the two characters are more interested in drinking and carousing than working, so one, who’s wife is supporting him financially, takes a sheaf of resumes with him every morning and gets his friends to call his house and leave messages asking him to attend employment interviews. That keeps his wife / mother happy until she discovers the lies. Many men are like little boys, supported by their hard working and long-suffering wives, who actually believe their useless, weak husbands are businessmen. They’re not even real men; a real man supports his family.

‘Busy’ or ‘Working’ Does Not Mean Productive

Many entrepreneurs drag the old employee mentality with them into the world of business. They feel they have to prove to everyone that they’re busy, as though that equates with “productive”. “Busy” or “Working” does not mean productive at all. We feel we have to justify our time, and so you see people attending meetings for the sake of attending meetings. They create ridiculous business plans that only fool bank managers (say no more) and will fly across the country at the drop of a hat so that they can tell their wives, who pay for the flights and the hookers on the other end, that they had a business appointment. If you’re not making money, you’re wasting time. Might as well watch a movie.

This morning I had a spot of breakfast, returned e-mail for 30 minutes and then went skiing on Mystery Peak for few hours. It was wonderful, powder snow, flying down a mountain in a snowstorm, then driving down into the sunshine afterwards to stop for a hot cup of coffee. At home I lazed in the Jacuzzi for a while, watching a few snowflakes fall on the spring cherry blossoms outside (only in Vancouver) before eating the delicious lunch Rika had prepared for me. Then I spent two hours working, and that’s it for today. Two and a half hours of effective, focused work that will make good money and keep my Joint Ventures on track. Much better than attending unproductive meetings with other broke people where we all convince each other how well we’re doing, so that we can continue the illusion that we actually have businesses. I’m writing this on the patio, sipping a cup of Tetleys and enjoying my life.

Business is about Results.

I once called one of my salesmen after a meeting, and his mother/wife reported that he was having a bath. When he called me back, he apologized profusely for lying in the bath instead of making sales calls. I replied, “Hey, Jonathan, I don’t care if you lie in the bath all day, as long as you make sales. You don’t work for me - you work for yourself! Anyway, you’re on commission, so if you’re not producing, you’re not earning, and you know that if your sales drop too low you’ll get fired. I’m not your mother.” I’m not interested in your stories, excuses, what you do with your time, or how long you work - I’m interested in results. Business is about results, not lies and smokescreens - that’s for employees.

Shed the Employee Mentality and Spend More Time with Your Loved Ones.

Joint Venture Brokers can spend all day skiing or kayaking or hiking or reading a book, make one or two phone calls and a few e-mails, and get rich. We choose whom we work with, when we work, what we do, and when we do it. My personal schedule comes first and business comes second. I call the shots. Most entrepreneurs work too hard for too little. They spend a lot of time wearing the mask of success and going through the motions, when they should be relaxing by the pool with their loved ones. They’re almost worse than employees. Shed that employee mentality and focus on net, after tax profit. Concentrate on results, and be very selective. Joint Ventures provide that exciting and lucrative opportunity. Joint Ventures are about making dollars, not excuses. Do what you love with people you respect, and you’ll be good at it and make money.

Robin J. Elliott

We know “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince” and “Duds Lead to Studs”, so we often justify time wasted with losers, posers, wannabes, has-beens, and conmen, justify pearls cast before swine, and are consequently tempted to kill more often than is healthy. Throwing them up against the wall and hoping some with stick gives you a sore back and dirties the wall. I have learned in the past few months to become an obsessive compulsive QUALIFIER to avoid killing someone out of pure frustration.

In the past, I would believe the lies or losers and arrogantly and idealistically convince myself that I could change a duck into an eagle. Then I learned that it is better to pre-qualify people. The more selective I become, the more rewarding my relationships have become. “Some will, some won’t, so what? NEXT!” is fine, but why spend so much time shouting, “Next”? Learning to say “No” will save more time, since by the time you get to “Next” the blood pressure has risen, the hands on the clock have moved, and you have wasted time that could have been spent with a more deserving character. Spend more time with less people.

And so, to provide you with a few clues to con-men, here are Six Red Flags that can save your precious resources:

1. Victims - look out for self-pity, blaming of parents, excuses, or self-absorption.
2. Track Record - People seldom change and they need to demonstrate this ability before you vest to much in them. Give them a few small tests to make sure they are even able to change.
3. Back Doors - if they insist on back doors, escape routes, Plan B’s, “money-back guarantees”, and other revelations of their inadequacy, weakness, and putrid self-esteem, you know they have failed again, before they even begin.
4. Hesitation - Second-guessing, analyzing, and questioning your guidance and instructions right at the outset - find a cattle brand and put that “L” on their foreheads to protect others from them in the future.
5. Entitlement - Any signs of socialism, greed, arrogance, or being cheap should instantly disqualify them.
6. ‘Paper’ Proof - Anyone touting a resume is really waving a bright, red flag.

Make people qualify for your attention. Raise the barrier. Increase the price. Reserve the right to reject. Qualify and select, and remember that you’ll only accept 3% of the applicants. Don’t confuse peasants and laborers with entrepreneurs. Have them do a personality assessment at their own cost. Make them earn the right to your guidance. And at any time, do not hesitate to terminate the relationship. Spend more money on royal banquets than you do on wart ointment.

Robin J. Elliott
www.jvwisdom.com