The Entrepreneurial Savant

Give yourself three years to achieve the success you want. The first year is for gathering information, developing expertise and skills and determining your niche. The second year is for making contacts among influential people, developing resources and starting to make money or get the results you want. The third year is when your efforts start to bear fruit, your understanding of your niche or expertise becomes extensive and profitable, and your network is willing to pay the price for your abilities.
The three year rule isn’t hard and fast. Some will experience rapid success but you cannot really count on that success until it has sustained for a period of time. Others will toil for long periods of time before their work is recognized. The love of what they are doing is what makes long term projects important in a person’s life.
The younger you are, the harder it is to accept a three year time frame. Don’t worry. Those years will pass quickly as you become more immersed in your interest and the rewards will become less important as you achieve them. They merely represent a validation of your dreams, the value is in sticking to your vision.

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Consistency is a cardinal rule in advertising. Once you have defined the message you want to send, keep sending it in a consistent fashion. This accomplishes a number of things. First, it takes many impressions to make your message stick. This is because we are buried in information and only the clearest, most consistent messages get through. The second reason to be consistent is that it says that you and your product are dependable. You will get the job done, not flake out and you will still taste the same a year from now. Years ago, Diet Coke changed their long time campaign from the tried and true “Just For The Taste of It” to “Taste It All” . The original campaign had been around for thirteen years and was very successful. The ad agency and the marketing people decided it was time for a change for change’s sake. The new campaign was a failure, blowing thirteen years of effective brand recognition.
Consistency isn’t just an advertising rule. Anything that lasts in our disposable society becomes respected and solidly successful. Consistency of action on an individual’s part means that others will come to view you as someone who can be trusted to do the job right. Big companies spend millions to deliver a consistent message. Decide what you want to convey and plan your delivery around that message in a consistent fashion.

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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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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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Throughout our lives there are certain persons who serve as pivot points, making it easier to achieve goals, make changes and find the resources we need to accomplish things. These Key People may be teachers, family members, friends, business connections or anyone else who takes an interest in who and what you are and who want to help you along. Very often Key People move in the background, affecting the lives of many others, seeing and making the connections that move us ahead in life. Finding and recognizing the Key People in your life is a necessary skill for achieving personal and professional success.
The first place to look for these mentors is in your past. Who has helped at times when you were stuck, frustrated or in trouble? Have you ever gone back and thanked them from the perspective of time and experience? Reestablishing and maintaining contact is important to finding and working with your Key People.

Look for Key People in the lives of others:

• Does a friend have a boss who takes an active interest in his or her advancement?
• Does a classmate always talk about a certain teacher who is so much more effective than the run of the mill?
• Are someone else’s parents always hosting their kids friends all the way into adulthood?
• Is there a person who seems to always know where to find a resource or how to go about solving a problem?
• Is there a person or persons you know who always are willing to make introductions and set up contacts between people with diverse skills and backgrounds?

These Key People are to be found in everyone’s lives- although many of us may have ignored their presence or resisted their attempts to help. By cultivating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with those people you will help to build a very effective team to aid in your route to success.
Put together a business contact list and keep the people on it up to date with what you are doing. Use the list to send out copies of things you’ve read or benefited from to others on the list. Make introductions when you meet people who can act as resources to each other. Eventually you’ll find yourself being regarded as a Key Person in their lives, a real measure of personal success.

Then take it to the next level and start actively making connections for the benefit of others.

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Speaking in public is allegedly the number one fear in America, ahead of death and taxes. Yet it is a skill that all successful people should cultivate. Public speaking ability helps you reach large numbers of potential supporters all at once, magnifying your ideas and projects. It demonstrates your poise and confidence and provides introductions in a way no amount of networking can do.
Organizations like Toastmasters International teach all of their members to speak effectively through a rigorous and fun approach to this fearsome task. Like all bogeymen, public speaking loses its scary aspects the more you get to know the ropes. Good speakers are always in demand and there is no better way to build a business or introduce an idea than by the public, yet personal, skill of speaking to a group.

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Selling is one of the least understood and most maligned skills around. Yet the ability to sell yourself and your ideas is essential to success in any endeavor. We are brought up to regard salespeople with disdain even though we live in the greatest consumer economy in the history of civilization. Sales are the grease that keeps capitalism running smoothly and are what makes everything you sit on, eat, read, look at, etc., easy to acquire. No salespeople, no good life.
Every successful person has a vision that keeps them going. Their ability to convince others of the value of that vision is what makes things happen in our lives. Learning sales skills will give you a strong basic knowledge of how people interact and communicate. They will give you insight into an individual’s character and motivations and they will enable you to build a business or an idea into a profitable enterprise.
What is selling? Selling is problem solving. Selling is finding a need and filling it. Selling is learning what your potential customer needs and desires and providing it in a way that is mutually beneficial. Therein lies the key to raising the art of selling to a respected position. The salesperson’s goal is to provide a solution to both his own and his customer’s problems by offering a solution for a price.
How do you learn to sell? Start by learning basic sales techniques from a course or book. Practice in your day to day life as you convince people to back your dreams. Good sales technique comes from a combination of continuous education and practice because it is based on a clear understanding of what makes people buy (or not buy).

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One great definition of an expert goes like this: If you read about a recent development in the daily paper and you are already aware of it you are probably an expert on the subject. Why be an expert? Because specialized knowledge is worth paying for and because deep involvement in any subject expands your mind in many ways. Most of us are experts in something. Hobbyists, cooks, gamers, musicians, romance novel readers, etc., all have the potential to be experts.
What does expertise mean for success? Many, many businesses have started because of specialized knowledge. In fact, if you are considering starting a business the most common advice you’ll get (from the experts!) is to do something you are an expert at. Look at how many gamers become game developers. It happens because they have a basic understanding of what makes interactivity work and how far it can be carried. They’re at the cutting edge (another definition of expertise). Many hobbyists have made small fortunes out of their expertise by starting websites, designing specialized components or writing books about their specialty.
Being an expert isn’t really about money though. It’s about being really fascinated by a subject. And many people are fascinated by experts. They pay to hear them speak or seek out their opinions. This is great for your self-esteem. And good self-esteem is a part of leading a successful life.

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Back-up skills used to be called hobbies back before we all ran out of time. Now a back-up skill may be something we’ve always dreamed of pursuing but didn’t have the time or something we picked up along the way that we’ve always gone back to when we need to rejuvenate ourselves.
I have an attorney friend who loves his law practice but has a back-up skill that might surprise some of his corporate clients. He writes and records children’s music and is on the verge of making himself a household word with the 3-8 year-old crowd. His legal work has made it financially possible for him to pursue his recording projects without the struggle that so often hampers musicians. Another friend has an African coin collection that has turned into a profitable Internet business as he and other aficionados trade and barter these obscure coins. It may turn into a full time business after he retires.
As a writer, the value of secondary skills is obvious. I picked up woodworking skills from my brother, a professional woodworker and went on to write a marketing book for woodworkers. Years ago the hours I spent painting houses while struggling to sell my writing not only taught me a skill (and painting is an honorable and ancient profession) that paid the bills but they gave me valuable time to think and showed me the value of careful, methodical and meticulous work.
We all have skills we’ve picked up over time. Don’t discount the value of those ‘secondary’ skills; they may lead you into something totally unexpected.

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