The Entrepreneurial Savant

A lot of us don’t understand the concept of profit, in spite of growing up in a capitalist economy. We earn our wages based on an hourly or yearly figure and hope for raises or bonuses. When you go into business for yourself and that paycheck stops coming in like clockwork, the profit concept becomes a lot more important. When you price something, basing your price on your overhead and paying yourself a reasonable wage, always add in a figure above and beyond for profit. As obvious as it sounds, many of my self-employed friends fail to mark up their services. Profit is the future of your business. It pays for the bigger projects, it pays back loans, it creates equity and it provides an incentive. The profit motive has turned out to be a very effective motivator. Remember the USSR?

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If you have a problem or a challenge, write it down. Then write down the solution. Now eliminate every unnecessary word and phrase until you have reached the kernel at the center. Congratulations, you are learning the invaluable skill of self-editing. Successful people know how to communicate clearly and briefly. Put it in a nutshell.
When he was head of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill was famous for requiring all reports and memos to take no more than 1 sheet of paper. This freaked out the career bureaucrats who justified their existence by creating unreadable, mountainous documents but it really sped up the ancient Royal Navy’s decision making process. Simplicity….it’s a beautiful thing.
BTW, these became known as Winston’s Prayers because his order said: ‘Pray keep the response down to one page or less’. He was known for his archaic (and wonderfully skilled) use of words.

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Are you stuck or blocked? Unable to go beyond a certain point with a project or relationship? (Sounds like an ad for an over-the-counter remedy doesn’t it?) Sometimes when things aren’t getting off the ground it’s because they’re not ready to. Letting your ideas simmer means putting them on the backburner and forgetting about them for a while. Let your unconscious do the work, assembling resources and facts and making decisions for you. The solution, if there is one, will present itself at an unexpected moment, often an opportune one.

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Visualization is a very powerful tool for business and personal planning.  Basically, visualization asks you to create a mental picture of yourself in a certain situation and then enter into that picture and experience what is going on. Sometimes you might just observe and get another reference point, gaining a kind of objectivity about a problem or conflict you are trying to resolve.
There is a saying that goes: Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. This is particularly true when we are pursuing success, whatever our definition of it is. Once you know your objective or goal, try visualizing yourself living life after you’ve achieved that success. Fill in all the blanks with your research, making sure you consider the negative aspects as well as the positive ones. Is this the life I really want? What kind of new challenges and stress am I facing? What have I lost and what have I gained as a person?
Putting yourself into your dreams on an everyday, real world level may show you a side of those dreams you haven’t considered. No matter how glamorous another life may seem, it always has its own set of problems and challenges. Are you ready to exchange yours for them?

Note: The more detailed your vision is, the more likely you are to achieve it. Imagine the physical environment you live and work in down the road and be specific. Populate it with the type of people a successful business you own would employ. Imagine the style and attitude of the company.

Now write it down somewhere where you’ll be able to retrieve it from a few years from now. You’re going to be surprised at how much of what you imagined can come true if when you look back.

This brings up one other critical aspect of visualization: Don’t sell yourself short. A low set of expectations can mean an underwhelming result. Challenge yourself in this exercise by setting high goals and creating a future that is beyond your best plans. Why not? This is all in your imagination so you have little to lose.

And remember- every successful person and business went for goals that seemed unrealistic to others when they started.

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The original name for this secret was ‘Do your homework beforehand.’ however I knew the word homework would cause a horrible reaction from anyone reading this for obvious reasons. Fortunately the Boy Scout motto works even better. A little preparation can mean the difference between success and failure in many situations. One of the best examples is when you have an unexpected meeting or interview that might lead to an opportunity. You get a call or someone makes a referral and suddenly a door is open to you that you never expected to walk through. With a limited amount of time there are a few things you can do to prepare. You can either wing it, flying by the seat of your pants or you can immediately begin gathering information about the person you are about to meet. If you wing it you may succeed but you are equally likely to fall on your face. If you walk in with some knowledge, even superficial, of what the other person does or is concerned with, you can move the situation ahead much faster. Your prep work means the other person does not have to explain everything from the beginning and can get to the nitty-gritty right away. If they’re interviewing others this will probably make them very grateful. After all it’s one less speech to make. And you’ll have taken the initiative, displayed the resourcefulness to have gotten your act together under pressure and most importantly, showed a sincere interest in their needs.
Preparation is vital for job interviews, important meetings, first dates, and a host of other activities. The easiest route to rapid prep work is to get on the phone and ask other people for their knowledge. Google the company and people you are meeting with, check local business magazines for articles about the company you’re going to interview with, ask her friends what she likes to do with her spare time, etc. Sometimes you may have to do your preparation on the run but even a little homework can mean a much more profitable and successful opportunity.

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