¶ Business Problems: Good and Bad
Yeah , you're not going to climb the mountain . If you climbed the mountain before , right , you know what I mean . Yeah , what's the point of that then ? Right , yeah , yeah , so no , you don't know for sure you're going to be able to . Yeah , but you're still going to try . Once again , you got to step out . You got to do it .
Entrepreneurship is more doing than it is planning . That's beautiful .
That than it is planning , that's beautiful , that's so true .
This is another episode of Big Talk , big Talk about the small business , about small businesses .
That's a good one . It gets better every time , every time I .
I was just telling eric as I sat down this morning . Every day , I reflect back on something that eric has said , either on this show or out of this show , whether it's his stance on walmart and how , every time I order from Amazon , I'm I'm , you know , taking food out of the mouths of babes . Or or his great quote I was thinking about this morning at 5 .
It was that business is just a bunch of problems . Yeah , it's so true . They're either good or bad .
Yeah , they're not all good and they're not all good , cause they're either good or bad . I'm just like waiting for the next problem , like when's the next ? Is it good problem or bad problem , are we supposed ?
to say all problems are opportunities . Eric , just like all failure is good , we can learn from no .
No not all problems are opportunities . They're freaking . Drag . Vacuum sucks of hell , you know that's the truth .
Sometimes it's just like , oh my god , I can't , and especially recurring ones . Oh , why am I having the ?
same problem again all the time , every day I do . I'm like how is that not clear ? My , my biggest problem , honestly , is clarity , and I don't know how else to articulate . And I'm actually . I was going to the bathroom for the show earlier , yeah , and I was thinking , yeah , it was like I do my best thinking in the bathroom yeah and shower .
And I was like why , how do , how can I improve on articulating vision ? Mm-hmm , you know what I'm saying ? Because I think that , as an entrepreneur , we don't realize that not everyone sees .
They don't put it all together , they can't visualize from where you are now to where you're trying to go .
Yeah , and that's all I can see so clearly .
It's just like it's so clear , yes , and I don't understand that maybe everybody else around me that I work with don't see and obviously they don't see the exact same thing I see , because we're all different , but my brain doesn't register that there's a gap there , and so , therefore , all I do is talk and talk , and talk , and talk , and talk until I want to
blow my freaking brains out .
I know you sound a little repetitive . It's like haven't I said this a million times before . Yeah , and then I get excited . It's like haven't I said this a million times before .
Yeah , and then I get excited , like literally . I'll tell my wife sometimes I'm like I almost passed out today again in a meeting . She's like what do you mean ? I'm like , well , I talked and I got so excited and the adrenaline starts rolling . Yeah . And then my heart starts racing and I don't breathe while I'm talking .
And I literally feel lightheaded . While I'm talking , you're so into it , you forget to breathe , I forget to breathe .
And then I'm like , oh , why am I feeling this way ? And they're like , oh , that's right , because I didn't breathe and I got excited . Well , you know , makes total sense . It doesn't make sense .
Yeah , I mean , half the time I feel like I'm going to pass out , but it's just because I stand up , ok , that's what happens when you're 67 years old . You stand up , yeah , and you start to feel like you're going to pass , ok , but but no , I get it .
I mean , that's not really the topic of the show today , but I do think it's relevant because , I mean , I deal with this in every business I'm a part of , and I think the problem a lot of times is , you know well , sometimes it's that people just aren't very intelligent , but most of the time that's not the case . Most of the time it's .
It's really a matter of they don't have your perspective . They don't have your perspective , they don't have your experience . Their , their perspective is formed based on their experience and their experience doesn't include yeah , this end state that you're trying to get to . Yeah , don't you think ?
totally no , 100 percent like it's . You know , and I think that a lot of folks like they're not opportunistic . You know they're not glasses half full . They're not seeing the light Right .
You know , and I began to recognize that over the over , like I started empathizing a little bit that you know , not about the people's problems , but their perspective of their life , exactly , and like what is like even the meaning of life to them , like I mean it's troubling because I mean I think that a lot of folks wake up with the negativity and they carry
that negativity and they're just waiting on something else to make them happy .
Yeah .
And , like you've always said , we are meant to work , we are meant to create , yeah , war zone . Okay , that's what you always say . It's another one of the things you say all the time . We're designed to work . We are , but it's true .
But see , some people think work is to be avoided and only thing that's going to make me happy is buying this or going on this trip , or having the weekend , or going out and getting hammered tonight or whatever . Yeah , those things never make you happy . No , accomplishment makes you happy .
Accomplishment's the only thing that comes from the work and the work and the labor .
Yeah , real quick on this . I was constantly studying what's going on with AI and agentic and all this type of stuff , but I've watched a video where Elon was talking and I don't know how many people caught this truth but he was saying that there will be a day when there's no work needed to be done because of agentic and AI . But it's this world .
You have everything you want , like like almost money isn't anymore because it's all provided agentically . Sure he goes , but that's you know . That sounds great , but the real problem is is what is humanity gonna ? How are they going to react when they don't work ? yeah , because and he even says it's like misdirection .
Work is a major part of satisfaction , is is one of the primary points of satisfaction and I mean , I don't know , that's my big concern .
You take that away . It's a really good point .
Yeah , it's like what is your purpose ? Because you know purpose , like what else I mean ? Anyway , I mean , I just felt like that I don't know that back to the point , like that people don't identify a purpose in why they're walking .
They're walking into work . Why they're going to work ? Well , their purpose is to make money so they can live in their mind .
Yeah , and then take vacations and have more time off .
Right Like that's not a good direction . It's not a good direction . You said it . The direction needs to be to accomplish something . Yeah , but if they haven't had that perspective , then the vision doesn't really mean anything .
Right . They can't catch on to what's being said by the entrepreneur of where . Here's where we're going . This is why we need to when they don't believe it's possible .
Oh God , Okay , that's the other thing . Maybe they can catch on to what you're saying . How many , I mean it's like don't believe it's possible .
Has it been proven in history that so many things are possible . If it wasn't for those folks that are driving possibility and opportunity like we , would not advance as human beings . We would still be trying to make a fire All progress is made by unreasonable men .
Have you ever heard that ? No , but it's true though . But it's like they're unreasonable , they don't accept the status quo . They believe that you can go somewhere else , and so do something else .
I guess it's the doubt that , like I don't know how many times you've experienced this , but I'll be talking to the team and I'm looking around and everybody is looking at me like I'm either crazy , I've lost my mind . Yeah . I experience that a lot In total disbelief . And then you zone out and I'm like give me some feedback here .
Folks , like I'm going to keep talking , saying the same thing over and over again and getting more excited , until you look at me and go , oh yeah , I want to see a smile man let's go .
Yeah , it makes total sense . I mean , you're in a different position than me because you've got businesses that you're trying to to grow , that you are the head of . I am behind the scenes these days . Yeah , okay , I'm the guy back there trying to get stuff done without being the public face .
Yeah , and , and it's , believe me , it's a different role than what I'm used to . Just , what's the frustrating thing on that side ? Because I can't directly . I have to communicate these things through other people , okay , and they don't always get it themselves , or they don't articulate it the same way I do .
Okay , they , they , they're , they're too soft yeah they don't get excited enough . Yeah , you know what ?
I'm talking about . Oh , I do , man , I could like the idea of of having to um communicate through someone else , basically , basically brokering your vision and what needs to be done . That's challenging .
It really is . I mean , you know how it used to be when you and I worked together . It's exciting right Now . Some people
¶ The Challenge of Communicating Vision
don't like it . I'm sure our style does make some people nervous . Oh sure they just think that you're crazy or you're unpredictable , or whatever .
Out of our mind , don't know what we're talking about . Old in the way .
Yeah , hip shooting . Don't have enough data Data driving our decisions . All decisions must be data driven . I love that . No , no , that's not true .
Don't think that baby .
Well , anyway , this is a fun topic and I can empathize with you , because I do know how critical it is to get that vision across and get people to really believe that it's possible . Then they will act accordingly .
But today we're going to talk a little bit about something that it's a term that I used in one of the short chapters of my book , confessions of an Entrepreneur , and that is the gestation period for a business and the importance of that .
Okay , now , before the show started , you were asking , like you're sort of questioning , yeah , what , whether you need that , what's that ?
well , what , what is this ? What is this gestation ?
the gestation period is is from the the time between when you really have your idea for your business and it's formed . It's more than just like a product idea , it's an idea for a business . Okay , it's formed . It's more than just like a product idea . It's an idea for a business . It's formed in your mind .
The period between that time and the time you actually start it I mean it doesn't have to be long , it could- be long . My experience is , the longer it is , the less likely it is you'll start the business . That could be good or bad . It's good if you made a good decision not to start it is . You'll start the business .
Okay , that could be good or bad , yeah . Okay , it's good if you made a good decision not to start it because it was not going to work , got it ? It's bad if you delayed and you missed the opportunity in front of you .
Yeah , but I guess my whole premise when I put this in the book was that sometimes things do get a little better with a little more time spent on thinking them out , not necessarily to say I'm not going to do it . That's one possible outcome , but maybe it changes , maybe it morphs in some way .
Maybe you change the way you think how you're going to monetize this or how you're going to sell this or what this is . Yeah , that that time can be very helpful . Do you believe that ? Or what do you think about ?
that . Well , I'm just thinking about the whole and to the audience , just so you know . I'm like , really , I was really ignorant of this term , right , I forgot about it . I forgot about that term in your book you know when I read it before , and it's a confusing phase in my brain because I'm trying to separate .
So action oriented , yeah , I'm trying to separate like what is like . I can look back and say I really wish I would have spent more time on some ideas that I had . But a lot of times whenever I have an idea there's an immediate go into business . I don't fart around too much about .
Right . Well , you rush to the MVP . Yes , right . As fast as you can Without thinking the minimum viable product and then see if somebody wants to buy it . Yeah , yeah , yeah , I guess . So yeah , and in the course of that , though , you might still refine it .
Let's be honest . No , well , the thing is it's constantly in refining . But to your point , I guess that there's a . If I have an idea , the very first thing I do is I talk to potential clients about it exactly get their feedback and reaction if they get excited and like it . That's good I'm yeah , and I'm just so .
And then I go to another one and they have the same reaction , like boom , this is a product , this is a business , yes , let's go to market now . It's just a matter of how do we execute it . And yes , the right painting on it and the right numbers and then just go , go , go , go , go go . I am with you so much on that .
So I'm wondering , like I guess that is kind of because I will . But again I would say that the amount of time that I'm in that part is really more about how fast can I like what's the delay in my client meet or a prospective client meeting with me so I can have that feedback ? If it takes them two weeks , then I probably might not even meet with them .
I might meet with other ones , the audibles , because I'm pushing as fast as I can Because I'm excited about the idea , but I'm really excited to know if it's a legit idea , if it's a sellable idea .
So I'm like really powering through to get my answer as fast as possible , because the longer that I delay on getting this business out to market , the more opportunity it is for a competitor to come in . Yeah , freaking still , the thunder of which really pisses me off . Yep , you know what I'm saying . Yes and so well again .
I mean , I do think to a certain extent , like the kinds of businesses that you like to create are ones that are all new . Yeah , okay , that's what you're into . I mean in the past you had experience going into mature industries . Okay , you did that too . Yeah , but you swing for the home run , yeah .
Yeah , you don't go up there and try to hit singles and doubles I'm usually pretty happy with those you know a double is pretty good . Yeah , I'm usually happy with that , but but that is a difference , I think . You know , when you're talking about something that's an all new invention , new business type , um , maybe the timing is more critical .
On the other hand , I could say the timing is more critical . On the other hand , I could say the feedback is also more critical .
Right Dude , 100% , because you don't know whether people are going to want this at all . You know I've talked . You know there's been ideas that I've had , that I've talked to some prospective clients which , by the way , are the number one people to talk to . I don't go talk to freaking attorneys and accountants . God on planet earth is an accountant .
Yeah , they're so a lot of times I don't talk to my wife about it because she's usually you know , but I will say that she has some very instinctual truth that I can't seem to understand how , but she's been right , very right about certain things that women are generally better . In that regard , I have a lot of respect for it .
Now , yeah , like , I mean like , if , if , like , and I have a lot of respect when she's like oh no , I like that , go right , it's like that's really encouraging you know exactly , I get it .
But uh , you know , like , when I go to these prospective clients , like they're getting , that feedback is um to me the pinnacle Because , like you said , there's a sparkle in the eye , there's a oh , I'd like that . That's all I need .
I don't need to understand much more than that from my interview to get me out of gestation period , I guess , and getting into the business .
Some people , though , I've run into more than once I think it even came up on the show before they're afraid to share their idea that somebody might quote , copy it . I'm like what ? How in the world are you going to get anywhere with this unless you get some
¶ The Gestation Period for Business Ideas
feedback from people who actually know ? Yeah , you know , like your customer and I get that .
I think that that's a little bit of of just being new in the game a little bit because , like I was , like that at the beginning . Yeah , just , and I was really worried and people have stolen . I've had more ideas stolen from me than I have actually gotten them to market .
But I will tell you this the reason they were stolen from me is because I had a long gestation period . Yes , they waited too long , waited too long and I was trying to partner . There's a difference between talking to somebody about your idea , leaving that conversation alone , or talking to somebody about your idea .
They reel you in and then they start trying to partner and then they get every second all out of you and then , all of a sudden , one day they've launched something and it's a surprise to you . Yeah , that's not good . It's not good , but that's what happens a lot . Now you need to be careful about how long you and how deep you go with these discussions .
Like , if I have and so I think that probably my model is is I quickly go and I am open about what I'm doing and I share . A lot of times I share too much and I walk out of the meeting going Eric , shut your freaking mouth . Like you , don't tell everybody your plans . You know that's usually my response to myself .
But what I do is I have one meeting with that person and then I I get what I need out of it and then I go meet with somebody else , but then I'm out to market . What I don't do is continue to go back to the same person and reshare and reanalyze right , I hear what you're saying . You know I don't need all that .
Then they're taking ownership yeah , yeah , then it because then you're saying I don't need all that .
Then they're taking ownership , yeah , yeah . Then you're giving them wings to fly yeah , you got to be careful with that . That makes sense . And then speed to market disrupting . And then also , I like it when I do start something and I see the gapers come up to the surface who have stolen an idea . And you know it was them because you talked to them .
They didn't even know they had a spark on the line when you talked to them the first time . And then here they are a month later doing the exact same thing that you have already launched and you can see them gaping on you .
I like that because it gives me a lot of energy , makes me , makes the you know the sports competition rise up in the blood and I can find that extra energy , or I can have this extra energy to conquer yet another problem that happens to me . You know what I'm saying . So there's a lot of emotional energy that comes in .
So , to your point , you need to be a little cautious about how much you talk to people and who you're often talking to , but you should be cautious about not talking about the idea , especially prospective clients . You've got to get some validation . You've got to get some validation and then even still , people are going to steal ideas .
But that's what business and capitalism is all about . It's about being first and best right , and don't be afraid of competition . Play the game , you know what I'm saying .
Yeah , well , I'm in such a different world than you for most of what I've done . I'm not in this new invention world . Yeah , you know , you and I sort of depart parted paths in 2012 or 14 or whenever . Yeah , whenever you it . Well , it was probably even later than that . No , it was 12 . No , I know , but then .
But when you started out , you had a marketing agency yeah okay that that's not that unique oh , gotcha okay , yeah but then , when you started deciding to transform the business into something else , that's really where we took these diversion got it , got it , got it okay .
But you know , so in my world , I'm dealing with generally mature industries where you're not going to be the first one there . You're going to start something or you're going to buy something , but you're going to change it , you're going to make it different , you're going to make it better than what's out there . Yeah , you know .
So there's still a gestation period required in my mind for a lot of reasons . Like , do I really have a good business plan ? Am I going to be able to afford to do what I say I want to do ? Right , like , how much capital is this really going to cost me ?
Yeah .
And sometimes it takes some investigation and talking to a lot of people like suppliers , and understanding timelines on things yeah , understanding , like what you can get financing for and what you can't . You know what I'm saying .
You can have the idea and it's pretty well fleshed out in your mind , but until you get into some of those details , you can't see whether or not either you can do it or you'll want to do it . You know so I had a business plan that my wife and I came up with , um , and we and we .
we had a pretty well thought out um prior to COVID , right , you know it was immediately before COVID , and then when COVID hit , um , and it was a good plan . I think it would have been viable . I don't know that it would have been a home run , but it might've turned into one , but let's say it would have been a at least a double yeah .
But after COVID hit and you started seeing everything retract and pull in , it really made me rethink . And then I thought , holy cow , plus , we didn't know a lot about COVID . Yeah , I thought what happens if I keel over from this ?
True , yeah , and I'd leave my wife holding the bag with this other business on top of the other ones that she's got to deal with . Yeah , ours , yeah , and you know where she's not going to be very happy . You know I'll be dead and she'll be pissed at me , ok .
I think about that a lot . So you know what they're going to do , though , sonia or Tara . They're gonna do , though , sonia or tara , they're just gonna be like , uh , kill it , yeah , kill all of it , kill it , cash it out , cash it out , kill it . I don't even care about the cash , kill it they don't want anything to do with it .
well , in any case , I just use this as a specific example of where the circumstances in the external market changed and and you know , I pulled the plug on it um , because I had that time to think about it .
I could have just acted , yeah , okay , maybe it would have been good , maybe it wouldn't have been good , but the fact that I had that extra time I mean the time was critical .
It wasn't all in COVID A lot of that time was finding my suppliers , getting them to commit the prices , beating them down , getting people who said they would drop ship stuff for me instead of me . I mean , there's a lot of details to work out .
That made the business , in my mind , better than if I just said let's do it , write a check , buy this stuff , have it all sent here and then we're going to sell it all online . It was an online-based product business , yeah , yeah , so , anyway , I do think those are two different scenarios , though , that we're talking about .
You know , it makes me think like , which has been something that's been real eye-opening to me in my business career , is like there's a difference between starting something and then second stage growth .
Yeah , oh yeah , there is .
And , man , I can start a lot of things Right and I also think about I'm a zero to 20-yard line person , and then there's the 20 to 50 . Yeah , yeah , 20 to ends . No , I understand that .
I can see that with you .
Yeah , but I mean , like this glass ceiling of second-stage growth , of like and kind of what you're talking about , you take that business and you make it better , you get it over the hump to scalability , profitability . I love that part .
See , I don't . I know I believe you , but that's fine . I mean , it's why you got to have partners . No 100% , you know , because people have different . I've started plenty of stuff . I've started like six or eight companies , but it's not what I enjoy the most .
I would much rather come into a situation that's got customers and employees and products or services .
I think that what I wish I would have known a long time ago is that an entrepreneur and business owners like it's just not one big bucket .
No , and there's not one formula right .
Yeah , there's different ways and yes , and there's different ones for different things at different times .
Yes , right in the business and like yes , I think it took me a long time , because I feel like that , as an entrepreneur , you feel like this pressure , like whether you are better at second stage growth , but you still feel a pressure to innovate and start up , and vice versa .
If you're a startup entrepreneur , you feel this pressure to like be a CEO and drive it to the next level .
It's so true , and the key to success is always focusing on what you do well , okay , yes , stop working on your weaknesses , even though a lot of people say that . What do you mean ? Don't work . Work on your strengths . Yeah , get other people to fill in for your weaknesses 100 because , honestly , you don't have enough time to work on all of them .
You don't , and some things you just may never be good at , like , yeah , probably never going to be a great golfer , even I never played a lot , but it's just not yeah , it's probably never going to be good at it , yeah and I think it's important for listeners to .
So why try to recognize that like and it's okay and you don't , and you don't have to be the all-in-one right , like I mean , and there there are some that are out there and I mean kudos to them .
I don't know how they can be that like , maybe when I'm 65 or 70 I'll be there , but like as of today , like I don't have , I don't have , I don't have the desire to graduate into a second stage growth scalable .
I understand that totally you know it was interesting . My wife and I watched a really good documentary the other night . You're gonna watch this because you'd like it . I think it was called being Warren Buffett or Becoming Warren Buffett . It was his whole story , his whole life story . Oh , that's cool .
You know , warren Buffett is clearly I mean the guy's brilliant . At one time he was the richest guy in the country
¶ Launch Strategies: Quick Action vs Planning
. He's given away most of his wealth at this point , but it seems like all of them do that . A lot of them do , not all of them . Some are just selfish to the end , but a lot of them do . But in any case , the thing with Warren Buffett was it was really interesting . Is he's probably Asperger's way out on the spectrum ?
Okay , yeah , which a lot of brilliant people . Look , I mean , I don't know a single entrepreneur he's not either adhd , dyslexic , yeah , or somewhere on the spectrum of autism . They all seem to be , yeah , um , but , yeah , you may not be , you you're probably adhd at a minimum .
But in any case , um with warren buffett , it was interesting because basically his wife said , like there's just some things he's never going to be good at or do .
Okay , he's just , he's really really good at at numbers and making money , yeah , but then , like , when it comes to certain interpersonal things , it's just not , it's not his bag and he's not gonna be , and that's okay . We just accept that about him . Yeah , okay , I hope my wife listens . You should watch that that .
But but but the point , it is what you're saying . I mean , not everybody's good at everything . You got to know what you're good at , okay , you got to get the right partners . Yeah , different businesses have shorter or longer gestation periods . I think we both agree . The longer it is , the less likely you are to do it . That's a fact .
Oh , yeah , for sure , for sure . All the reasons come into play . Why not to do it 100% ? If you just launch , launch , it's too late , dude that's actually .
That's one of my , that's one of my , um , I guess personal internal strategies is it's . It's funny . I know that I work best under pressure . Yeah , like , have you ever heard of the parkinson law ?
I don't remember it .
I think I have yeah it was .
Parkinson's Law . It's a management principle .
Yeah , it's like if I said do X in Y time , most people are going to wait to the last day to do it , and so it's you know . Or if it's 30 days time , you're still going to wait .
Right , you'll do whatever the time it work expands to fill time .
There you go , yeah , yeah , that's it , and it becomes this flow state thing that we get in .
And so , um , oh , I'm a big believer in that .
No , I am too . That's how I bought this whole operating school . Like my daughter's going through it , like she . She is like , I mean , when it comes to math . Like she's like like just does bare minimum and just kind of , and then , but then at the end she'd like crams it in and makes it , it makes it all come up .
But she lives under this intense pressure for a week versus being logical and thinking about it .
That was never my style . I always did it all along the way . See that's . I went to class , did my homework and stayed up .
I feel like that , if you're listening to this , knowing how you operate , in normal circumstances , to your point , logical , non-procrastinating , yes , right , yes , and you just continuously do that . But then there's the other side of it , like myself to where last minute .
My wife's like that . She needs the deadline . Then she just like , pours it on Exactly and gets it done , gets it across the goal line . But it's going to be at the last minute .
Yeah , exactly , and this is one of my self-reliant strategies is that's why I probably launch , because immediately I'm like shoot , now I've got to get to work .
Yeah , it forces you Otherwise my gestation period .
I could probably just push and push . That's an interesting point of view . I can see that , and when I was at White Spider and developing that business , I had pushed a lot of podcast videos as an idea media ideas .
Oh , you always had ideas , yeah but I was just always backburning for 10 years , for a decade , just kept pushing , pushing , pushing and as soon as that hit the acquisition timeframe , it was just like boom . Everything was kind of . And then I went a little nutso , like I had like 12 companies within like three weeks , bam bam , bam , bam bam .
You can ask my bankers , they felt it the most because of all the new accounts and stuff like boom , boom , boom , boom . But then you know it's gotten a little slightly better and more narrow . But I think that that point is like .
You know , that's been one of my strategies to launch really quick , so that therefore I'm in the weeds of it and now I have to get at it .
You know that strategy of business and entrepreneurship is that you'll start all these different things but , like the odds are that one of them will really hit big , right , yeah , I mean you know that , yeah , 100 , that's the odds .
The other ones , you know , I'm not saying you'll go broke , but you may just decide to abandon it , right , yeah , so that's one strategy . The other strategy is that you just do one or two things . You do them really really well yeah and , and you just focus on that . I've done both of those myself . I think I probably gravitate toward lots of things now .
Yeah , it's more interesting to me . Yeah my attention keeps you short , yeah , yeah and so that keeps that just keeps you learning and and and it's more interesting . Yeah , it's not necessarily the way to make the most money . In my experience , I did better when I did one thing and did it really well .
Yeah .
And it was another um . There was a really great video that you should watch sometime it's . I can't remember the guy's last name . It's . His first name is Siddharth , and Siddharth took over one of his father's companies it was Royal Enfield Motorcycles when he was like 26 . He didn't know anything about the business at all . He went to business school .
He was just a quote rich kid , yeah , okay , yeah , this . They had 15 companies . This was one of them and it wasn't doing very well at all . In fact , it was doing really poorly . Great video of how he transformed it . They're the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world today . Wow , siddharth is 51 years old now .
But the interesting thing about Siddharth was , I mean , he immersed himself in this business . He went there , he slept on the floor of the factory for four years . He moved into the factory . He got rid of all the company cars for executives and made them all ride their motorcycles to work every day .
And then they got to see the problems with them , which were many . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , okay . But these are just a lot of things he did . But anyway , he did such a great job with it that his dad came to him a few years later . It's like now I want you to take over his you know ceo of the whole thing , all these companies .
He's like , okay , I'll do it , but you got to let me do what I want to do . And his dad said , yeah , you can do what you want to do . So he got rid of uh 13 of the 15 companies kept the motorcycle business and the truck business , he goes .
I can have a whole lot of things that are mediocre , or I can do a couple things that knock the cover off the ball where we dominate the market . Yeah , yeah , he went with the latter strategy . There it is , but it's a great story .
But these are different approaches and I think you know again , if you're a guy like you that likes to create lots of different things and then you know odds are something's going to hit big other ones , aren't you sort of decide what you're going to be more interested in based on what happens ?
I've lit a bunch of fires which one's going to flame up right , 100% , obviously . I think that's a really good . That's a classic entrepreneurial approach to business creation .
Well , because I think that when you have all those things in the air like external circumstances will impact business . Sure it might impact this one over here . Yeah , you know , positively or negatively ? Exactly , Sometimes it's positive as you say yeah yeah , so you roll baby , like right now , like when I look at my portfolio of companies , I'm like man it's .
It's actually kind of interesting that all of them are kind of like in this hotbed , like they're all rising up at the same time of opportunity for being opportunistic .
You know , it's , it's exhilarating time and it's almost kind of hard for me to to choose where I spend most of my time on at this moment , because there's some but , but I know that like there's like maybe next week , like one of them is going to need all this attention . It's like boom , go and just dive down into a sell sheet or something on this one
¶ Different Entrepreneurial Approaches
and give it to the team , pass off , and then boom over here , this one's , and they just kind of keep feeding each other . This , I guess , this energy of excitement , this , uh , I guess this energy of of excitement .
You know , and , and what's also interesting is that I've , you know , like you can set them up to where they may be different , but they're all kind of in the same vein oh , I love that where there's some quote synergy .
Yes , yeah , I mean I , I definitely think 100 percent totally unrelated . It just doesn't make any sense . So I like to share customers , you know , people , whatever . Yeah , like there's a better the selling this . Help me sell that .
And there's a central knowledge and vision coming . Yeah , because like Siddharth , right , like he got rid of everything except a motorcycle company and a car company , right , or a truck company , right yeah .
You might think lulls are too different , but they're actually kind of the same , of course they dealt with vehicles and vehicle regulations . Yeah , suppliers . Yeah , no , you're absolutely right . And then that gives a lesson learned in .
One may apply to lesson yes 100 I do think having some relationship with these businesses , um , it really makes a lot of sense versus . I never understood these . These like private equity groups that just buy unrelated businesses and then don't manage them in any way . They're just financial . That's hard Investors . They just look strictly at the returns .
But you know Warren Buffett did that . Yeah , I mean again , it just goes to show that there's these different formulas . Yeah , you know , a lot of people don't realize he started out buying penny stocks and dogs Okay yeah . And he changed his whole approach to buy blue chip companies and not interfere in their management at all .
It's a totally different approach and they are unrelated , but he doesn't interfere in their management . So , yeah , yeah , it didn't really matter . But you know he just kept saying just focus on the fundamentals .
They got good management , they got a good track record , they got a good brand yeah , big the the brand was a is a big thing to him as far as what I've researched .
Yeah , yeah , so there's all these different styles though right of entrepreneurship , different ways to get into business , different ways to approach starting or buying a business yeah , and I think it leads to the , you know , like that gestation period is going to be different because there's different styles , there's different people , there's different types of businesses
that you're getting involved in . Yeah , and so that could look different yeah , some you may know more about .
Yeah , right away . Right like , if I was going to go buy an architecture engineering firm , I think I'd be able to have a shorter gestation period than if I wanted to buy a restaurant 100 . I don't know anything about restaurants , but I do know architecture and engineering firms really well . Yeah , yeah , so it's going to be a shorter um gestation period .
Yeah , I think that's a good point yeah , yeah , and I think that if you , you know , if you're really that that analysis , paralysis and stuff , like you , you have to give a lot of credit to your intuition .
I know this is always a very vague topic , but I mean , if you're one of the biggest differences in entrepreneurship and if you stacked entrepreneurs together , is their enthusiasm for what they're doing ? Yep , are they opportunistic ? Can they see the vision energy ?
The energy that they're going to bring to the table is really the magic bullet , I think , from an entrepreneurial perspective .
And so , if your intuition is just pushing you to go do something and you feel that that has a lot of credibility to it , and even as you started doing your analysis and your second guessing and whatever during your gestation period , yeah , if you can feel that dropping off really quickly and staying dropped off , yeah , you know , for , like I would say , give it
24 , give it 24 , 48 hours . Like , yeah , there's , like I was noticing just the other day , like I go through these , like there is no , oh , it's just this nice little curve that goes up , you know , and I'm always excited and happy . Hell , no , dude , it's like a dude . Yeah , it's a heartbeat , right , of course , that rhythm .
And like there's really low lows and really high highs , and you know , but if I got down that really low , low and I was super logical about it , then I would think that that's where it ends .
But no , no , what I do a lot of times I either I go get my mind off of it or whatever right , and then I go to sleep , get some clarity , get some , and then process and then back up .
You know , I know that that and so , like , if you're in a gestation period and especially if you're new entrepreneur and you can't expect it to be 100% hot , you know , and then all of a sudden you go to this low about it and you don't , and you just quit the idea . Yeah , like you need to give a little .
You need to give it 24 , 48 hours , man , good point , you know . Yeah , or else you'll kill your idea . Or if you've been excited about it this whole time , then all of a sudden you're , you talk to somebody that that freaking buzz kills everything a lot of . That's not your answer .
You can't look at that as your answer . It's just the personality issue of the person . You know , if you think about it , it's just like a relationship . You could have a good relationship and then somebody does something that's bad .
You can either completely write them off and say I'll never talk with them again or , you know , you go think about it , you let a little time pass , yeah , maybe it's really not that big a deal , your perspective changes on it and you still carry on with your relationship right , such a good analogy . It really is .
It's just like that it really is like that . I mean , you're gonna have problems . You know you're going to . You're going to have problems . You're going to second guess what you've always believed .
Yeah , no , but your personality determines how you respond to that . Yeah , okay , because there are people who will just write people off and they're done , or they'll just , as you said , somebody says something bad about this business , one person , they give up on it . I mean , you know what this reminds me of .
It's something I've really been thinking a lot about and this could be a topic for another show .
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It's what I call relentless marketing , and it goes back to the idea . You know what a fan I am of e-marketing . I like to send out a lot of emails , right yeah , I get one person that says I'm going to delete . Don't send me so damn many emails , I'm going to write you off , I'm never going to do business with you again .
Stop all emails , stop all emails . Stop . You know , or 40 people bought our shit today . Why is this guy gonna ruin my party ? A lot of people , a lot of people in business , business owners , business founders let that one guy you're guy stop them . They'll stop . Oh yeah , I guess we can't market like that .
Let's send one email out a month from now on . Okay , and that's a good example , because I just actually had a conversation earlier about something like this . We have one person complain , which we want to respect . You know , we want to respect that .
Yeah , 600% Sure we were talking about changing a process for the entire organization Based on one person's feedback . Wait a minute .
Like I don't want to bottleneck the team , I don't want our team hesitant , yeah , Like we don't want to hurt the confidence of our team because one person like how and so , instead of having a you know a checkbox as we will not do X , Y and Z we're going to have a checkbox of what would you not like us to do ?
You tell us , because you know we're not going to stop this one part of the process to cross the entire company . Right , We'll stop the one instance of the process to cross the entire company , right , but we'll stop the one instance for you , for you yeah , exactly I like
that yeah , yeah , so that makes sense . Yeah , that's like us . You can opt out right of the email and we're still sending out 50 000 emails today . But you can opt out . Yeah , you have a choice . Yes , but make that good , make it so it actually works . If they do opt out , they don't keep getting emails from you for the next 30 days .
Well , that list was downloaded through our system 30 days . You know , I hate stuff like that .
Yeah . I've changed that ? What you don't ever do is stop sending emails , yeah exactly that's just devastating . It's just . It's so stupid You've got to be really careful not to . This is my relentless marketing . Yeah .
I can detail it for you , I can tell you all about it . Yeah , man , it's it . It's like that's what gives me confidence in a , in a business , compared to a lot of other people . I know I will do the hard work to do the marketing consistently in all the ways it needs to be done to make that business succeed . And I know marketing works .
So there you go .
Market yourself to success . Exactly , Dude , that was for sure the biggest thing that helped our old company White Spot . We were just relentless . We were always showing up .
We were always just up , we were always just constant work yes , yes , to get out the front because you're a good seller too . It's marketing and selling . Yeah , two different .
But related things . Well , I call it like I've identified it , as campaigning .
Yeah campaigner like right paul , if you can think of as a politician .
Yeah , you're always , can't always campaigning .
Always campaigning , shaking hands , kissing babies , baby . The election just was over , but it doesn't matter .
Four years . There's going to be another one , so we're going , that's right .
Resilience in that campaign . Yeah , no , you're right . So this is an interesting topic . I hope that people got something out of it ?
I hope so too , because one of these bullets how do you know when you're really ready to launch a business ? Again , I think that there's intuition and the energy behind it , and I don't know that you will ever know if you're ready or if a business is ready to be launched . It's like do you know when you should have a baby ? Do you really know that ?
No , you just have the baby and you have to be . You know a lot of this . Again , like as a new entrepreneur .
Jump in , you'll learn along the way .
You've got to take the step , man I know it's so true , that's hard for a lot of people and I've seen a lot more people talk themselves out of doing business than I have seen people that , oh , it's most of the time they do .
And then a lot of times I've seen the people that step into it that immediately start backpedaling and they don't give themselves that time to go through those those . Yeah , and that's bad too , because they've been taught that business is supposed to do this . If it's not the accountants , if it's not , no , I wouldn't do that business .
They're like are you in a profit ?
that's why they're accountants , exactly okay exactly I'll never forget my , my accountant , fred , fred white and I had early in the days . It's like white , you know , and I'm sure I probably told this story before , but he sits back . He's like well , mark , fred , you stroke his beard or you know his chin and chew on his glasses or whatever .
You guys should have each taken out like another two , 250,000 a year out of this business this year and like Bob , how many employees do you have Now ? First I said how long have you been in business ? He said 20 years . How many employees do you have Now ? First I said how long have you been in business ? He said 20 years . How many employees do you have ?
He goes counting myself and my family members yeah , five . Okay , I said , bob , you don't know shit about how to grow a business . Okay , don't tell me we're leaving money in the business so we can grow the business . Okay , it the purpose of
¶ Taking the First Step: Intuition vs Logic
it's not to just suck as much out of it as we can every year . That's so true .
I'm just saying it's just the greatest , yeah , greatest example of that it's exactly what happened , you know , yeah , he's got his wife , he's got his daughter , he's got like his nephew and himself , and then maybe one other dude oh , you know , they're self-protecting themselves in their business .
Yeah , they're just growing it they're just , they're trying to make x dollars a year and make a living off of it . That's , that's not fun , okay , oh , it's not , it's , it's just not . I don't know how some people do that . But yeah , there's always reasons why you won't start it . The the intuition is critical , you know , it's still true .
The human brain is still better than any computer . No computer can replace the human brain , yet it may be able to someday . Computers have a lot of information that you don't have , but the ability to make a decision . That's where we can synthesize all that , and I would even .
I would add to that an ability to make an emotional decision . Yeah , because what's gonna happen is the numbers won't make sense . I know it . All the threats will be compounding yes , the problems like we talked about in the beginning , are going to rise up every freaking day .
It doesn't make sense to start a business when you can safely receive a paycheck for working X amount of hours and you get that and you save X percent for retirement . This formula Entrepreneurism , does not make sense logically . It's a true to's true when you try to do that .
That's why , like it's really hard for an entrepreneur , you know is like a wolf and the investors like a horse . Investors are afraid about getting eaten , the wolves are looking for where the next meal is and there's this tension there . But that wolf , that entrepreneur spirit , like that is real and it's very much emotional .
It's about taking that step out into the wild .
Yep . The more you do it , obviously , the more confidence you build .
Yeah , I would say the more , don't you think ? Well , I think that in some ways , I think that sometimes my confidence like I was it's funny I was driving this morning thinking about confidence but I think it's more of the comfort that I have in the decision . Yeah , Like I've stepped back out , but I know everything's going to be okay .
Yeah , you're going to survive . Yeah , yeah , I get it . Yeah , one way or another . Yeah , yeah , I get it . Yeah , one way or another . Yeah right yeah , yeah , right don't want to be moving back into your 1500 square foot ranch over in west fayetteville rental neighborhood .
Right , I don't want to , but if it happens , I'll be out of the world , yeah I know I always think like that too .
I even go back to like trailer living in my mobile home court . You know it wasn't that bad , it really you know , I had the gal next door who was , uh , at the time she was 35 and had multiple kids and grandkids already . But you know , if I was hungry and I didn't have any money , I'd go over there and she'd give me some dinner .
What's pretty nice , good setup you know , I'm just saying it really wasn't bad .
No , our basic needs are they're not that hard to meet Really not man . Especially if you get outside and you walk around and go talk to people , you can usually find some pretty good help really quick .
And then , on the other hand , I think all the time like how do people afford to live ? We spend so much money that it blows my mind . It's just like money , money , money , money , money , money . Every day , everything , everything costs . It is crazy . I don't know how people could afford it .
You know either well , I , you know it's , it's . I don't either . I mean it's like I mean biggie smalls . One greatest genius is mo' money , more problems . I mean it's just like it's not like you get to some point and everything's just taken care of , because it just becomes more and more issues to worry about .
Yeah , it's like the green roof on our gym at our house was the first Ozark green roof installed in the state . Evidently marlin blackwell designed it , yeah . But anyway it's like yeah , I gotta have the green roof people come and weed it . Then I get the annual maintenance agreement from the green roof people . Now I've got the .
We're going to install an irrigation system on your roof . Proposal from the green roof people .
There's a hand and she looked it's just like just hands coming in the second thousands of dollars just run out just daily daily , daily daily .
It's just . And my kids , it's just like . I need money for this . I need money for that . I need a camp deposit . I want to go to the dog training thing . I gotta have tuition , I gotta have sorority .
It's just like makes you just work more .
Buy me a new car . It's just that the it really is I don't know how people do it . I mean , they're really um , you know , I know a lot of people are struggling , but they still manage to start businesses . Yeah , even in spite of all that .
Because you know , you know , I think it honestly goes back Like I think about that a lot , like you really don't need much .
No , not to start a service business . You don't .
That's a fact , you really don't need much . Now . If you had certain things , yeah , it could be , but I don't know . It'd be easier , it's just faster . Yeah , you grow it faster . It's faster , it's not easier . I've learned that lesson , yeah you know I mean like it's so , it's so like you . But again it comes down .
Do you have the will and the emotional and the intuition to , to take the step ?
I , I think you know part of it is in our culture and our we're all so comfortable .
Oh , I'm not saying everybody's got everything they want , but I'm I'm just saying , you know , I look at like the first generation , um , hispanic immigrants , yeah , or here in northwest arkansas , and how many of them own businesses , and I get to know these people and I find out what their backgrounds were .
Some of them were pretty tough , okay , and they come over here , like one guy grew up out in a rural area , had nothing . They had no running water , no electricity , dirt floor in their house . Yeah , it's a concrete company now . Yeah , and you know he's got . He owns his own house , he's got an RV , he's got multiple cars .
His kids have cars Freaking awesome man , you know , I mean it's just . You know another , my landscaper came from rural El Salvador . He's got a big house with a pool , all right . He's got a big warehouse he just built . He's probably got 30 guys working for him , just their perspective .
They really started out with nothing I guess , what I'm saying is to them you couldn't get any more if they fail . They wouldn't be any worse off . They'd probably still be better off . They could go get a job working for somebody else in this country that's right and do better than they did in mexico or rural mexico , or rural el salvador .
So I guess , you know , maybe it seems less risky for them somehow , but they still managed to pull it off with no money and it just they just worked , they just do it .
What if they didn't make the decision to start his own concrete business ? You know , he just like I mean , but like you've got to take that step , man , that's it . And and I don't know , like , I mean I think about it all the time . I got all these different things going on . I mean , like , which ones ? You know ? Is one gonna fail ? Is one , you know ?
I mean what ? What's gonna happen ? Four of them , I don't know . Yeah , you know , but you can't , like I just you just gotta keep stepping , just keep step , because you don't really know , you can't predict the outcome .
Yeah , you're not going to climb the mountain . If you climbed the mountain before , right , you know what I mean . What's the point of that , right ? Yeah , so no , you don't know for sure you're going to be able to . Yeah , but you're still going to try . You've got to step out . So , people , once again , you got to step out , you got to do it .
Entrepreneurship is more doing than it is planning .
that's beautiful that's so true it's .
You can be a planner and fantasizer and entrepreneur , or you can
¶ Episode Wrap-up: More Doing, Less Planning
be a doer and a jumper in her and a entrepreneur . It's really true . The choice is yours . It's really true . So you're not going to win the lottery unless you buy lottery tickets . Yeah man . You're not going to be a successful business owner unless you become a business owner . To start Right , all right , anything else .
No , that's a great . I don't want to mess that up . Man , you dropped the mic on the loan .
Okay , well , my mic is still here , so I guess we can wrap this up . Let's do it . And once again , um check your voice is getting deep and sexy check . Check us out at wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom . Yes , sir .
And this has been another episode of Big Talk .
About Small Businesses .
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