I’m reminded today on the importance of focusing on a model and not the money. We’ve brought on a handful of new coaches into the Ghost CEO in the last quarter and I tell all of them, ‘focus on the model and the money will come.’ If you have read this blog before, you know the love I have for money. What I have learned is that the more you focus on, obsess, micromanage, and fear money, the farther it stays away from you. Money will either drive you or it will cripple you depending on your relationship with it. Doesn’t it seem like those that have money always get more and those that don’t never have enough? I believe it’s because when you are successful, you don’t sit on pins and needles waiting for a client to come in. You just keep going with the work and putting more fishing lines in the water. When you are obsessed about a deal closing so you can pay your rent, you focus only on that deal coming in, rather than focusing on creating more opportunities. This is what I did when I first started in business. I’d check email 100x a day, pick up the phone to make sure it was working, and do crazy things waiting to hear back on proposals. Now, I don’t sweat it. I just keep on working the model and the model always brings in money. The more irons in the fire, the more money that gets made.

If you find yourself pissing around with the same prospects that want to see more and more proposals, cut them loose. You get to a point of diminishing returns when your efforts to get the work start to outweigh the effort of doing the work itself. I know people that put 25 hours into a proposal/presentation so they can get 25 hours of work. Ummmm, you just cut your billable rate in half you knuckle head. I think that no more than 5% of time should go into any proposal. If you are trying to get a one month consulting gig, you should put no more than one day into getting it.

“What the hell are you talking about Chris, it takes me days to write proposals, do the research, budget…blah, blah, blah.” People, don’t waste time pitching ‘wood’. If it isn’t a sure deal, don’t engage. You don’t do yourself or anyone else any favours by putting countless hours into something that you have little or no chance of getting. Focus on building your model through connections, champions, clear niche markets, knowing the three questions, and engaging with a hunting pack. You need to either clean house or it will collapse on top of you.

C.

There are millions of people to do business with, but it can feel like you can’t get into the bigger game sometimes. The guys that are making money seem to only partner with other guys making money. There’s a reason for this…they know how to talk to each other. I had a young protege from years ago who I recently reconnected with. He’s a go-getter and after a discussion, we talked about me helping him with some ideas. Then I threw him the curve ball: “What’s in it for me?” The line went silent and then he started throwing out ideas. I put him on the spot (which I love to do to people) but I wanted to share with him an important lesson. When you are hunting big game, make sure you loaded the gun.

Before you start any discussion with a prospective business partner, already have thought about how you can make money together. This is the important word…together. Once someone has their shit together in business and knows how to get things done, others will come out of the woodwork looking to learn how to duplicate the results. This isn’t bad as long as the pace setter is getting something out of it as well. I get the whole mentorship piece, but the reason why mentorship doesn’t work is that no one talks about the ‘selfish interests’ of all involved. We know what the person getting mentored wants, but what about the mentor? What do they get. Warm and fuzzies? A feeling of giving back? No, they are looking for something selfish or they lose interest. I’m sorry to burst the rainbow and butterflies of business, but folks, it’s all about the money in partnerships.

For me, I like business models that:

• have immediate cashflow
• are not investment intensive
• can be run by the partner
• have an obvious market
• can be licensed
• have a connection with something else I’m already involved in.

Aside from those points, I’m open to hearing any business ideas, but as I said in “What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business“, I need to hear how it benefits me in the first 30 seconds or I lose interest. It needs to be clear with how we both benefit, what i’ll do, what you’ll do, and what the numbers look like. Easy…yes?

Man Rules: Wearing any type of baby carrier on your body is like driving yourself to the vet to get neutured.

Have some self-respect for yourself.  Carry your little one in your arms or even in a stroller (avoid Pink), but don’t wrap yourself up like this idiot above and walk around like you are cool. Think of your dad doing this? His bowling buddies would have kicked the shit out of him for making them look bad.

Man Rules: Wearing a Bluetooth headset anywhere outside the car is reserved for twats.

It isn’t cool. It doesn’t make your look important. No one is impressed. I looks like you want to be a freak b-actor on a Star Trek spinoff. Lose the bluetooth loser.

Man Rules: Birkenstocks have never and will never, be cool. Socks add a whole new level of douche factor.

I love it when Mr. Roper meets granola. Sandles are made for bare feet. Socks are meant for shoes. Birkenstocks are meant for burn-outs looking to meet the Grateful Dead. I get they are comfortable. So is riding a moped, but you look like a tool.

Man Rules: Don’t ride a scooter.

Riding a scooter isn’t cool. Even if you are Italian. It’s lame and everyone knows it. Want to be environmental? Ride a goat.

Man Rules: It’s okay to change a diaper. It isn’t okay to pick your kid up and sniff its ass.

I’ve changed my share of diapers. I have even pulled the diaper back (as above) to see if there is something lurking. What I haven’t done, and never will, is pick up a kid and sniff it’s ass. I see dads doing this all the time as if they are some mystical poo bloodhound. You aren’t giving a dog a shirt and yelling “track’. How do you think you look to others by picking up your kid and sniffing its ass? Cool? Can you see James Dean or Frank Sinatra doing that? If you wonder why everyone thinks you are a pussy, consider your actions. Changing diapers good….sniffing bums bad!….

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I hope you have enjoyed this. I am sitting in a starbucks watching dads and douches do this around me so wanted to do a shout out of new Man Rules. I thought these rules were obvious, but common sense is not so common. More to come.

C/