Blog
In my blog I uncover the thinking, actions and habits it takes to get the results you want in business and life. No fluff, just facts.
"John understands things on a different plane." -Andy Andrews, New York Times Bestselling Author
Grow With Me
These are the ways I help organizations understand the truth behind growing leaders, influence and profits.
Consulting
There is a power in coming together to break through your barrier. This is intense, high-quality help from someone who has been there.
Books
My books have been used to help businesses and people gain more influence, build better businesses and get what they want our of life.
Speaking
Lots of people will speak to your team. Choose someone who has lead teams from working in the garage to managing multi-million dollar companies.
Why John?
As a high-school dropout I started and built my business from a garage into 20 team members and multiples of millions of annual revenue. Since then I've helped many other businesses do the same.
Recent Blogs
You are working way too much. Your business isn’t growing. All you need is a 36 hour day and you’ll be fine right? Wrong. You need systems. Someone else in your company has to be able to do what you do. It seems overwhelming to grow a business and build the systems necessary to make it run. But, with a little free help from Google Drive, you can do exactly that.
How Systems Help
Right now in your business you are probably the bottleneck. If there is any action or task that has to go through your head to get done, you are slowing down your growth. Timothy Ferris revolutionized automation in his book The 4 Hour Work Week. If you haven’t read or listened to it stop reading this and get it. He outlines great ways to systematize your success as an entrepreneur. But some of his recommendations cost money, which is in short supply when you start. One tool that is basically free that can launch you into the systems championships is using the tools Google offers to track and share vital information to your team. Alan Turing changed the world with his system of breaking the Enigma code during WWII. The systems you implement will at least change your business.
What System Should You Build First
The first system any entrepreneur should create is the system that gives them back their time. Whatever consumes you, that causes you to roll your eyes when you do it, needs to be systematized. The simple outline for building that system is to
1. Track it. build a tracking system that gathers the data.
2. Create actions. What actions need to happen when the data reaches certain levels? If your sales go up, do you order more material? When conversions go down, do you run a promotion? These actions are going to be crucial to the next step.
3. Assign actions to your team. Give ownership of that response to the action to your team members. That is their job and people love owning the responsabilty to helping the company grow, so give that to them.
How Business Looks After Systems
I consult entrepreneurs often. Implementing systems is frequently the first thing we do together. In the following video I show exactly what a few of our tracking systems from Google Drive look like and how we built them. Once these systems are in place entrepreneurs get their life back. They are able to spend time with the family or friends knowing the business is running without them. Take a look at a few examples and put them to use in your business. You’ll be glad you did.
On June 4th, 2004 Marvin Heemeyer, an entrepreneur from Granby Colorado, started up the Killdozer. This was a bulldozer, outfitted with a home made bulletproof tomb. It was a giant hunk of machinery made for destruction. Killdozer was the machine in which Marv would demolish businesses and city buildings in his town, and commit suicide over a business deal gone wrong. Many people look at this event positively. They love the sentiment of it and the Robin Hood nature of the story. The problem is they are wrong.
Was Marv the underdog entrepreneur we think?
Every June we see posts and article celebrating Killdozer Day. Fans hail it as a libertarian and entrepreneurship win over big government. The myth says that Marv stood up to big government and took back power. He ended his life to fight tyranny and send a message. That message was that big government shouldn’t interfere with small business. But, as with most myths, the story is completely wrong. Before you repost some random article toting the goodness of this event, read on to learn the truth.
What Happened?
I wrote a post that was called Why Your Small Business Isn’t Working. One reason I listed was that entrepreneurs get the math wrong. This is exactly what happened to Marv. He made a previous miscalculation on the sale of a piece of property. This miscalculation drove the events of that day. In the following video I explain exactly what happened without the myth and misinformation that surrounds this story. Take the truth from the story of Killdozer and use it to avoid the miscalculation that Marv made.
You think a partnership is a good idea. You are probably wrong. This is why.
So you found the perfect complement to your business. They have the answers, skills, or resources you don’t. That would seem like a perfect reason to take on a partner. But it’s not. Many experts say that over 50% of partnerships fail. My anecdotal information is that I don’t know of one partnership that succeeded. Here are a few reasons why.
The Pareto Principle
We’ve all heard of the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. One aspect is that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. The question becomes, how do you know that both of you are 20% people? The answer is, you don’t. You both may be in the 80% group and do little. The business will fail if this is the case. If one of you are a 20%er and the other isn’t, the relationship should fail. Someone is being taken advantage of in this scenario. The odds are that you both are not in the 20%, and if you are your struggles have just begun.
Personality conflicts
With two driven and well-focused individuals, each will have a level of disagreeableness. This isn’t a bad thing. Disagreeableness is one of what psychologists call the Big 5, or 5 main personality traits. Disagreeableness isn’t a bad thing. You have to be a bit disagreeable to quit your job and strike out on your own. It doesn’t mean you are hard to get along with, it means you are willing to challenge the status quo. This challenging nature we find in many entrepreneurs makes it very difficult for two to agree on most things. But it also makes it tough for either of them to back down, even if the other is right.
Income disparity
Even if you both make the same amount of money, you perceive it differently. Suppose a doctor becomes partners with a nurse. If the business pays them both $200,000 per year they will perceive the wage differently. The doctor may have taken a massive payout and she could be wondering if the business will even work. On the other hand, the nurse is thrilled with his income and wants to maintain it as long as possible. No one is equal. We all come from a different perspective and it is really hard to balance dissimilar perspectives.
Mental spectrum
We are all screwed up. I am, you are and so is your potential partner. We all have quirks and oddities in our personality and they bump into each other from time to time. In this video I explain what happened between myself and my two previous partners that I never saw coming.
Rolling stone did an interview with Bernie Taupin who describes his partnership with Elton John here. But unless you have that type of relationship with someone, and even if you do, the odds are that your partnership won’t last. The likelyhood of your business failing are stacked against you already. Don’t add another layer of difficulty.
I’ll bet you didn’t know this one thing about starting a boating company in Maui. What don’t you know about your business that is lurking in the future?
NUMMI changed the way management is done in the US by knowing something others didn’t. You can read about it here. They took something people didn’t know about culture and turned it into an amazing success. You can do the same thing. Learning what you don’t know is an incredible way to build a standout business. The other side of the coin is, what you don’t know can kill your business.
What don’t you know about your idea?
Do you know that you can’t serve beer and pretzels together in North Dakota? This is a big deal if you think you’ll make your fortune selling beer to oil rig workers. Did you know bloggers have to pay a $300 license fee in Philidelphia? Nav.com lists 9 weird facts about entrepreneurship you probably weren’t aware of. These are the type of issues that, if overlooked can cost you a fortune in money but more importantly, time. Don’t jump into your idea without learning what you don’t already know.
What I didn’t know about my businesses.
I have started more businesses than I can count. Today I officially have two successful companies. One is in the power grid/communications industry and one is this business, with which you are interacting now. Both are “successful” in that they produce full-time income for me and around 20, full-time team members, plus a few contractors. What I didn’t know was how long it would take for them both to become “successful.” In the video below I also line out what I didn’t know about my competition and team members. Had I known how long it can take for these to work out I would’ve given my other endeavors more time before I killed them.
Dig in to learn what you don’t know first.
Ask questions first. Then ask questions about your questions. Then, chase out the answers to your questions so you can find more questions to ask. I promise there is something out there waiting to pounce. If you don’t uncover something surprising or difficult about your business idea, you haven’t asked enough questions. Do you know the insurance mandates? Are import/export laws an issue? Does your location match your customers traffic patterns? You need to dig deep into your idea to uncover the monster. Don’t use questions to hide behind, but make sure you are prepared to take on the issue once it pops up.
I learned this crazy rule about starting a boating company in Maui.
Don’t sink your time and money into an idea that will never work. Also don’t start something without know what it takes to make it work. Learn what you don’t know to find success that others haven’t found.
Testimonials
Don't just take my word for it.
“I remember being scared to charge $37 for a mastermind group! John asked me one question that changed everything. He became my coach in that moment, and later as well”
“John is a real pleasure to work with. Our team had a guest speaker cancel two days before the event! John was very happy to build a second presentation and fill our additional time slot with only two days notice. He went from conducting a 45 minute presentation to planning two separate presentations and speaking for a total of 4 hours to our entire group! He has great energy and keeps the audience engaged. Thanks John!”
“I have sat in on all of John’s presentations and have seen him convey, in various formats, the optimism and personal power that this population needs to embrace."