LegendaryLife.com Blog

From my extensive business experience, if there is any one thing that leads to a slow (sometimes quick) demise of a startup or an established company, more often than not, it can be traced to greed.

The root causes of greed

When you first start a company, the pricing is usually insanely competitive even to the point of undercutting your main competitors. Many people believe that price, and price alone is the way to compete directly against the “big boys”. While this does work for a certain period of time, and can actually be profitable, eventually, overhead such as staff, phones, office space etc. all begin to take their toll leading to you having to raise your prices just to break-even. The root cause of greed for most companies starts-up this way, simply trying to stay afloat… I have yet to meet an entrepreneur who got greedy out of desire. It’s usually caused by something far more urgent, survival!

When greed gets out of hand

Alright, you have a rather new company, you hiked prices and can now afford to pay yourself somewhat of a living wage… great! This should be where things stop but inexperience (myself included) makes you wonder, “hey, that went so well, let’s hike things up a bit more so I can buy xyz”. Your clients grumble but the costs involved with leaving your company for another aren’t large enough to warrant a new fishing expedition. Hey, you got away with it! Hmmm… let’s do it again!

Greed catches-up with you sooner or later

Alright, you are living “large”, move to new offices, hire a bunch of new staff, get a new car, start-up some new (expensive) hobbies and life is amazing! What you fail to realize is that you are slowly pricing yourself out of a market that you helped develop. Sooner or later, the contracts that use to be “guaranteed” begin going to other companies, out of desperation, you match their price but in reality, you cannot. You see, your overhead has taken a toll on how “low” you can go while still breaking even! You have nice new offices, guess what, your clients notice this as well and if “entrepreneur to entrepreneur” you see this, you quickly realize that you, as the client, are the one paying “extra” for these digs. Most entrepreneurs are cheap when it comes to spending money, they have no problem buying a plane and other gadgets but when it comes to business, every penny counts! This is when things begin to go downhill.

Excuses Excuses

First you realize that your sales staff is spending A LOT of time on the road trying to close deals that just aren’t going the way you had hoped or experienced in the past. Your subcontractors, realizing you got a bit of money, begin hiking their prices (making your prices higher) and worse, you begin living project by project. You hear all the excuses but they always seem to come down to price and customer service. You want to hire more people to handle the work flow but your overhead is already too high, you want to fire some people but cannot afford the severance, you need to give your sales staff higher commissions but with lower prices, you are being squeezed from all sides. Throw-in a natural disaster and you are really screwed big time!

What to do?

Well, the above happened to me, it took me years to recover but I wouldn’t have wanted things to happen in any other way. The lessons I learned from my past failures have made me who I am today, far smarter with my money, far more efficient with my time and a miser when it comes to Return On (potential)Investment. Well, how do you avoid a business and the personal failure that comes with it? Here are some tips:

• Only hire staff you absolutely need and not before you have at least a few months salary to cover them in your bank account, in other words, don’t count your eggs before they have hatched.
• Subcontract as much as you can, I have found that you will always PROFIT from subcontractors, when you don’t have a project, they don’t cost you anything and when you do, you will always make a net profit at the end of the day.
• Sales people, unless you can afford otherwise, should have the vast majority of their compensation based on commission, sure you can help with gas and other expenses but it’s up to them to make a living off your product/services, not you.
• Learn from your failures and try to constantly improve not only yourself but how things run in general. I believe in a constant improvement philosophy and it has served me very well in both up and down times.
• Listen to your clients and always try to ask a “lost” client why you aren’t working for them anymore or why a negotiation for a new one didn’t go anywhere. Knowledge is power, especially when it can have a very large impact on your bottom line.
• Accept that chance will play an ENORMOUS role in whether your enterprise succeeds or fails. Entrepreneurs who say they are successful or wealthy because of them and had nothing to do with luck are so full of shit that they can build a mud house out of it. Just about every entrepreneur (successful and otherwise) has been deafly affected by luck.
• Don’t give up! If there is one thing you remember from this blog posting it is that you should NEVER GIVE UP on your dreams. Hope, no matter how small, is still hope. The minute you give-up the only guarantee you will have is failure! Sometimes it is good to refocus your energies elsewhere, learn from your mistakes and move on… but never loose hope on the bigger picture to improve the lives of you, your family and those you care about.

The Bottom Line

Greed is one of those dragons that every entrepreneur has to learn how to slay.

One of the most amazing aspects of being an entrepreneur is the absolute joy you get from being constantly forced to learn new things!

Enjoying the rewards, paying the costs

Honestly, what other type of non-job other then an entrepreneur can you be paid to do what you absolutely love to do and gamble, quite honestly, on all your past success to throw yourself into yet another higher level of possibility! The rewards of entrepreneurship as a lifestyle are as endless as it’s costs but the journey sure as hell is a fun one!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - how it began

I started this site after many years of having this idea in the back of my head. I really love wood, I enjoy the flexibility that this material provides and its availability just about anywhere. Nothing beats the smell of pine or cedar… so, I decided, enough is enough… I am going to develop this site right now! That was back in October, at first, it was difficult developing an entire new level of standards and procedures, not to sound too technical but after years of producing industrial 3D animations, switching to wooden toys takes a little bit of work to pull-off correctly. For several years, I also really wanted to get into manufacturing, I have visited some amazing shop floors around North America and to be honest, I LOVE BIG MACHINES!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - models from virtual to physical

So, back in October, I started essentially producing new virtual wood marvels on a weekly basis but about two months ago, my second dream was finally made available to me… manufacturing! I built all my wood marvels in my computer, they looked great and I got some great feedback from customers but being able to ship on-demand merchandise anywhere in the world is a whole other level of accomplishment. It took a few weeks but now I am as comfortable in the “manufacturing-on-demand” area as I am in the 3D one. I am not a professional in either by any stretch of the imagination, but I have developed enough knowledge of both industries to easily converse with engineers and other professionals on an even platform.

Just for the heck of it, you can see the evolution of the designs from one of the very first models I created to the second-to-last one (latest one is still rendering).

Shark (September 2007′ish)

Full Armor Gear Bull (June 2008′ish)

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - book from virtual to physical

Now, this is where things get really interesting, I am a few weeks away from having a book published encompassing 25 of my top models available print-on-demand through BookSurge.com (an Amazon affiliate). Things have gone full circle, the models are produced on-demand in the physical world and now, my guides and books as well! Isn’t this really cool! One of my goals in my life was to publish several books, this is my first, at the age of 32 and I really enjoyed the process and can’t wait to actually hold in both my hands what where once but virtual items inhabiting the deep recesses of my mind.

Where do you go from here?

WoodMarvels.com has been a tremendous success, it has opened several doors in my life and I look forward to developing that property well into the future. My other properties are slowly growing and I am sure they will open as many doors if not more then what I have just shared with you… which is still but a glimpse of things to come. The fact that I managed to do this while traveling around the world, visiting one of my dream places (Cape Tribulation in Australia) and climbing mountains in South Korea really make these successes all the more enjoyable! I already have two other non-WoodMarvels.com books stewing in my mind which I hope to release next year. My priority is to get the next huge goal I have had in my mind for several years now… LegendaryLife.com. I wish I honestly could live a thousand years because I have so much yet to accomplish and experience, trying to cram all of this in one lifetime while still being able to enjoy that life is a very tall task indeed!

The Bottom Line

Nothing beats a dose of entrepreneurship to introduce some vitality into your life!

Buzvia: BookSurge.com (on-demand publisher), Ponoko.com (on-demand manufacturer), WoodMarvels.com (on-demand happiness!)

I figured it was only a matter of time before some people in the old establishment feared for their own livelihood and reputation when something new comes along that provides a better experience then what they are able to provide.

The experience with WoodMarvels.com

When I first launched woodmarvels,com, I had a number of haters, wood crafters hated the site because we provided blueprints and 3D animation for at an 80% discount to their “old” mail order businesses. Gone where the days of overpriced blueprints that took a week to receive in the mail. I saw messages saying “computer created blueprints are a dime a dozen”, “a real wood crafter doesn’t use computers”, “how can you build something without measurements!” and so on. What can I conclude? The haters out there seeing their livelihood which failed to evolve with the times facing obliteration, they are too lazy to learn how to create things in a computer which is far more efficient method (including environmentally friendly) but too entrenched in old methods of doing things. Other people support the site, it provides to them exactly what they need and want.

Experience with the International Association for the Study of Dreams

Here is an association that, to me, should be very welcoming of different and novel new ways of doing things… boy was I wrong! I posted a message on their forum that was full of anonymous posters helping others to interpret their dream that dreamclue.com is now available to them. The response? They deleted my post without even an explanation, not once but twice! I did the same on wikipedia with the same result. I can only conclude that dreamclue.com is their worst nightmare which they wished never saw the light of day! I had sent an e-mail to Dr. Van de Castle asking him to check dreamclue.com out to get his feedback and the response I got wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Dear Jon… In general, I’m not supportive of any approach to dreams in which a dictionary approach is made, and I don’t feel that represents a dynamic approach. To me, dynamic means an approach in which the dreamer’s individual and unique personality features are carefully examined in a way that the multilevel strands of meaning are carefully interwoven . ARBITRARILY TELLING anyone what their dream means is considered an unethical procedure, as you will note if you examine the ethical statement of our organization. The International Association for the Study of Dreams [ www.IASDreams.org ] ONLY the dreamer is entitled to say what their dream means . I am sending a copy of this response to our chair person in charge of ethics, so that she will be aware of your new venture, Sincerely, Robert Van de Castle , PH.D”

I thanked him for his time in my reply but to me there are a few points that he has failed to realize about dreamclue.com:

1. we are only providing ideas as to what a symbol means, it’s always up to the end user to decipher what the dream means to them, the first block of text on our home page clearly states this. Not only that, the journal available to members provides a field for just such a thing!
2. their own forum is full of strangers actually TELLING other strangers exactly what their dream means WITHOUT the systematic approach he preaches, yet their postings are not deleted like mine was.
3. there are “professional dream interpreters” out there charging 20 to 200 dollars AN HOUR to provide dream interpretations, selling tapes and books that cost a kings random. How the hell is this considered ethical when there is now a FREE, dynamic alternative with dreamclue.com?
4. we provide a feedback mechanism for others to post what a dream symbol meant to them, the term “arbitrary” is a term I consider an insult given the foundation that dreamclue.com is built upon.

Economic motives in maintaining the status quo

Now, I can’t blame them for hating what dreamclue.com represents, they make thousands of dollars a year selling “memberships” and have a vast store selling any and everything to do with dreams no matter how hookey they seem. Here, I am, a person providing a free alternative… I can’t blame them for deleting my posts within minutes of me posting on their site. I guess, if I was in their shoes, I would be shaking and hoping word didn’t get out too!

My challenge to dream interpreters the world over!

I challenge ANY “professional dream interpreter”, psychotherapist, metaphysician, psychologist, psychic, astrologist or otherwise to PROVE their books or sites helping others with their dream interpretations are any better then dreamclue.com. PROVE to me the superiority of your methods using the scientific method, otherwise, don’t even try to elevate yourselves above what dreamclue.com provides to its users.

The problem with the dream industry

Like the diet and health industries, the dream interpretation industry is ripe with gouging consumers in order to maintain the “professionalism” of this field. A field that is ripe with predators looking for a quick buck and creating dependent relationships that benefit only their pocket books. The dream industry should be open to new ideas and methods of doing things, not turning a blind-eye and discounting viable alternative out there. My goal is to provide tools that help people find out more about themselves, ultimately, to be self-reliant. This is exactly what this industry and many others I plan on conquering fear.

The Bottom Line

Waves are good… especially the ones you create yourself!

We are all a product of a dream, whether realized or otherwise, they are among the most powerful mechanisms in our lives that help guide us, give us new ideas and play around with alternative realities!

Why develop Dreamclue.com?

Well, I originally began on this project a little over a year ago now after realizing that there was a huge amount of knowledge we are all acquiring but forgetting nightly! I wanted to create a system that not only makes sense of our dreams but more importantly, allows us to record them for prosperity. Our dreams are also a visual medium, so the site had to be chalk full of imagery to help guide you through the exploration of the dreamworld. The results? Well, launching with over two thousand dream symbols written by yours truly and a quarter of the entries with photographs also taken by me, I have big expectations for this site!

How does Dreamclue.com work?

Dreams are our own business, so it has to be built anonymously, as such, like myfoodcount.com before it, the system has no clue who you are and it’s drop dead easy interface for adding and learning about the dreamworld only helps to make the exploration that much easier!

Other cool Dreamclue.com features

The site features both text and image based navigation, in addition to interesting statistics not only about your very own dreams but all the dreams on the site as well. You can also read other peoples dreams (they are rendered anonymous by our system) and even comment on any interpretation on the site!

What’s next?

A lot, will let all our visitors know when the time is right
The Bottom Line

Passion is a dangerous thing as it can only bread more passion!

If you run a business or are in charge of one, you know exactly what I mean when I say entrepreneurship is an endless journey of discovery, there is always an area that can use some testing and others some tweeking to maximize potential.

There is always room for improvement

No matter the industry, time of year or revenue projections (or lack thereof) there is always room for improvement, it can easily be said that a business that isn’t on a progressive cycle of improvement is one that is dead. Things change, customers change and challenges always pop-out of nowhere. A good entrepreneur takes things in stride, strives for perfection but knows the goal will never be hit. Panic is fine for contractors, customers and employees but nothing spells trouble like an entrepreneur ripping their hair out as soon as small fire busts into a raging inferno. If you are constantly looking for improvements, these small fires, more often then not, don’t find enough loose litter to explode. Test out new procedures, don’t fear change and don’t procrastinate in trying to find new areas of growth.

There is always room for being away

Whether you decide to take a day or a month off to re-evaluate your business, this is among the least understood but most beneficial things you can do. Getting ideas, at least for me and other entrepreneurs I know, usually come in the middle of the night or when they are outside of the office. When you are in an office, it’s like a war zone, everything is coming at you from all corners and your mind simply doesn’t have time to evaluate things as it’s too busy DOING things. Getting away allows the mind to relax, think about what happened and think of areas where improvements can be made.

Example of what happens with vacation time

For me, I always have ideas jumping out at me, I have to prioritize them and see how they evolve over time. One such idea was that behind one of my sites, WoodMarvels.com in which I wanted to sell wood project building guides electronically that where affordable, extremely high quality and included a 3D animations to help customers through the purchasing / building process. I looked around, suffice it to say, this would cost a fortune if you didn’t already have a server, over a decade of 3D animation experience and a host of projects under your belt… luckily for me, I had all this just sitting there ready to be used. So, I decided with 4 models that I built myself to launch the site in October of 2007. I then had a goal to make 50 by the end of the year… well, I got to 46 then realized that I had spent so much time building that there was a noticeable evolution that needed to be addressed. What did I decide to do? Well, we re-rendered everything at a higher resolution (close to 50 animations over a two week period), re-did ALL the imagery at a higher quality and not only that, launched an e-commerce store dedicated in the field of woodworking including re-doing all our blueprints with an in-layed grid format. The results? Well, we found new streams of revenue, sales are up 300% and a number of new doors have opened up for us with this site. WoodMarvels.com looked good before, the blueprints where fine but now the site is fantastic and the guides we sell for the individual projects are incredible! How did this come about? Well, I was hiking up a mountain one day and realized that WoodMarvels.com needed to be Marvelous… and it’s getting there big time now! The site itself was a small project I undertook for the heck of it after I discovered I had some extra spare time and now it’s evolving into a mighty division within i3DS.

Finding problems before they find you

As my example illustrates, there was nothing really wrong with what WoodMarvels.com was like before but there was room for improvement. If there aren’t any problems with a business, then you are either blind or ignorant in my opinion… there are ALWAYS problems. These problems usually start out as small annoyances, maybe it’s that pump-jack that has a squeeky wheel then eventually leads to a big skid of computers crashing down on a concrete floor or that receptionist that never seems to show up at time which may lead to a customer going to a competitor. Who knows what problems there are… but I guarantee you one thing, there are problems everywhere just waiting to explode… your job, as the boss is to find them ASAP and deal with them in a timely manner. Set-up weekly or monthly meetings depending on the size of your organization looking for waste, have contests to find the best “optimization idea” within your company or even just an “open door policy” can uncover a number of things that should but haven’t caught your attention yet.

The Bottom Line

Problems are opportunities in disguise… find them!

Buzvia: WoodMarvels.com - Create Unique Memories

I have many passions in life one of which is to allow others to freely share the influenced they have earned online with others. Life is just like the web but unlike life, you can now share your influence with complete strangers… Karma at its best!

Why develop buzvia?

Well, I have had this concept in my mind for a very long time, I believe that humans are at their best when they freely share information and knowledge with one another, just like the original spirit of the web. What has changed over the past decade on the web? Well, walled gardens, people FEAR giving links to sites other then their own because they don’t want to loose traffic. I wanted to change this with a simple and straight forward system.

How does buzvia work?

Each link on the internet has a source page and referral page, what buzvia does is act like a middleman which tracks both source and referrals by simply adding http://buzvia.com/#url#… it couldn’t be any simpler! The information is captured and stats are collected by all those involved. The beauty of this system is two fold, you don’t need an account to participate and everybody knows how to make external links.

Other cool buzvia features

I have a lot of knowledge about the web, as such, I have also launched a blog to highlight trends, experiences and sites in order to help other with their SEO, SEM and whatever other acronym you can imagine. I also look forward to writing about the companies that decide, in all their great wisdom, to join the buzvia revolution and see how much they can truly benefit by breaking down their walled gardens and embracing change.

What’s next?

Ah well, that’s the million dollar questions isn’t it, don’t worry, if things go to plan, I will have something truly special to announce in about two months or three depending on how development goes. It won’t be LegendaryLife, that is still deep in production mode but it will be something I believe equally exciting for a particular demographic of our society I am very happy with how WoodMarvels.com is coming along and am looking forward with great glee to see how this year works out for professionally and personally. Life is amazing when your having fun and everyday is like a vacation! I wouldn’t want it any other way.

The Bottom Line

Passion is a dangerous thing as it can only bread more passion!

Visit buzvia at http://buzvia.com

The founder of GoDaddy has had tremendous success online as a domain registrar, he risked everything he earned from the sale of his company Parsons Technology, turning his 64 million dollar buyout to what will soon be a billion dollar company. Without further ado, here is his top 10 keys (suggestions) for success in 2008.

10: Never listen to advertising experts

The reason for GoDaddy’s success is doing everything that it was told not to do by agencies, the more people say you shouldn’t do something, the more you should do it. People generally fear change, they don’t want to make waves so becoming an agent of change is the only way to get any type of attention no matter your field.

9: Surround yourself with beautiful, intelligent and successful women

Half of the world’s population is female yet if you attend enough board meetings, you will quickly realize that these statistics don’t hold true in the executive world (sadly). I would easily argue that women are our smarter half and a company without at least 50% of the top management that isn’t one is missing out on huge opportunities.

8: Take care of your employees and give to charity

Employees leave a company because of stress but if you provide a good working environment that is fun, challenging and rewarding, even at lower pay then a competitor, they will stay with you. Charity is also always a great thing, once you can afford to do so.

7: It’s never too late to get a motorcycle but always wear your safety gear

I got my motorcycle license a few years back, the freedom that you experience driving on the road is tremendous, cars are so boxed that I got to the point where I actually hated being inside of one. Driving a motorcycle gives you instant feedback about the environment, the flexibility to move on a dime and just pure pleasure of the open road… something lost in cars and trucks.

6: Earn a Ph.D. in International Relations so you can become the head of ICANN

A degree is only worth as much as you do with it, ICANN is just about the most useless organization out there, they are experts at conducting meetings in exotic locations that produce absolutely nothing. Each time somebody registers a domain, they send a few cents to these guys who wine and dine on our efforts and provide anything but leadership or vision for the online industry.

5: Figure out what “Brad” does in GoDaddy

An inside joke but if you have an employee or somebody who really serves no value to your company, no matter your affiliation, time to let them go unless you can afford to do otherwise. Same goes with software and hardware, if it doesn’t have a use, then there is no purpose in supporting it any longer.

4: Figure out what “Yahoo” actually does

Yahoo use to be known as a search engine, now it’s morphed into a huge conglomerate but unlike General Electric, they are experts at buying up overpriced companies then shutting them down. They lack a vision, purpose and to be quite frank, are headed for the same fate as AOL… oblivion.

3: Let the devil within you come out every once in a while

Living life on the straight and narrow is nice but it’s good to get out of your shell or comfort zone every once in a while. When was the last time you did something crazy? If you can’t remember, time to do it again.

2: Never, ever, buy a Zune

Hmmm… let me see, Microsoft is an expert at creating loss leaders, they have the Xbox franchise which looses money hand over fist, more software packages then I can count which do little but offer pale imitations of other software products and are sitting on a huge pile of cash. Microsoft has their operating system (XP) that is their backbone and Office, otherwise, everything else has been a dismal failure… why? Well, they got too much money and I think they fear loosing it, so instead of making waves inside of new industries, they are stuck taking cautious approaches towards everything… which leads to mediocrity. If you aren’t in an industry to shake it up, don’t go into it… the Zune (so far) is no different. Let me put this another way, if you own stock in Microsoft, how much has it grown over the past few years compared to a company that does take chances such as Google?

1: Be Godaddy’est in everything you do

The definition of Godaddy’est is simply the ability to live on the fine edge between decency and absurdity. It’s a fine line between being labeled a mad man vs a crazy man, if you live your life on that edge, sometimes you get burned but more often then not, you will progress faster. Take chances, take risks and more importantly, enjoy the trip while it lasts.

The Bottom Line

Follow your gut, more often then not, it will prove right.

Buzvia: GoDaddy,  GoDaddy Radio, Bob Parsons Personal Site, ZipitLive: GoDaddy Reseller

One of my fondest memories growing up was watching home improvement shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There is something fascinating about watching others fix, design and build things that never seems to get dull. In a half hour, a kitchen floor could be tiled and basic plumbing installed along with pot lights by a small crew of carpenters… usually right in the thick of it was Bob Vila!

Background Information about Bob Vila

During the 80s and 90s, there was no missing Bob Vila, he was everywhere it seems, from guest appearances on Tim Allen’s “Tool Time with Tim Taylor” to guest appearances on many other television shows and even starting in a series of his own series. It all began in 1946 when he was born into a Cuban family as Robert J. Vila in Miami, Florida. He later attended the University of Florida to receive a BS in Journalism followed by a stint at the Boston Architectural Center.

Bob Vila the businessman

Bob Vila traveled Europe for two years after receiving his BS in Journalism, after his studies at the Boston Architectural Center he began his own business renovating houses and designing living spaces for clients in the local Boston area. He enjoyed success in this endeavor and this lead to him receiving a number of awards.

Bob Vila’s co-hosting gig

After winning the “Heritage House of 1978” award from Better Homes and Gardens, Bob Vila was subsequently hired as a co-host of the popular show “This Old House” with Norm Abram, himself a very accomplished master carpenter. Norm had the gift of making everything look so damn easy to build and Bob Vila had the ability to make even the most mundane aspects of carpentry a must-see, together they where a fantastic combination. Bob Vila stayed with “This Old House” for 11 years before parting ways with Norm in 1989 to begin his own series, the cause of this legendary break-up is still a hotly debated topic. One rumor that seems to have the most legs is that Bob Vila was increasingly using the notoriety of the show to propel himself and this caused some friction with the producers, including Norm.

Bob Vila’s takes control

Whether by chance or planning, Bob Vila saw the writing on the wall after leaving “This Old House” and decided to begin his own show called “Bob Vila’s Home Again” whose popularity propelled him into popular culture stardom. He became the official spokesperson for anything “carpentry” related with Sears under the brand “Craftsman Tool” and the show had a catchy theme that showed entire home projects over multiple segments. I remember watching his shows vividly, especially one in which he was building a sunken greenhouse. It was odd because he always had the people who owned the house pay the work site a visit to show progress and to receive feedback but on this project, he never did this. It was later revealed by him that this was actually his house (he was the client), a nice personal touch that won him many fans. As his popularity peaked in the 90s, he wrote several books about architecture and home improvements. In 2005, he renamed his show “Bob Vila” and began selling his own brand of tools with himself being the personality behind them. He also produced “Guide to Historic Homes of America” and “In Search of Palladio” but they never reached the fame of his self-titled shows. He now the undisputed king of the home improvement empire, stretching his influence around the world that will last for generations to come.

Bob Vila the Humanitarian

Bob Vila has had a profound effect on the entire Home Improvement craze that swept the United States beginning in the 1990s, he enjoyed tremendous success but always gave back to both his fans and communities. He did a number of speaking gigs and gives a helping hand with a number of charities such as Habitat for Humanity, The Hemingway Preservation Foundation and even his very own foundation, aptly called the “Vila Foundation”. He is married and has three children.

The Bottom Line

Notice how Bob Vila became incredibly successful after he decided to take control over his destiny, there is no reason why you can’t do the same!

Buzvia: Bob Vila on Wikipedia, Bob Vila’s Official Site, NNDB’s Bob Vila Profile

Over the years, I have studied the Branson way of “Virgin” business and here is the top 10 list that he, so far, has never released as to why he has become such a successful entrepreneur.

10. Keep things small

Keep the size of the companies small, his average is about 60 employees per company, if they get too big, break them up into smaller pieces. This does a number of things, first, it keeps the company nimble and still personalized as everybody knows everybody else on a first hand basis. Secondly, it keeps things manageable, if there is a problem, the risks are minimal for the entire “Virgin Group” both financially and in reputability. Like Sir Richard Branson says, he always pays off the debts of defunct Virgin companies should things go bust which is difficult if you have one huge company with billions in receivership and tens of thousands made redundant.

9. Be ethical

Don’t participate in underhanded business activities such as kickbacks, bribes and sabotage. As a businessperson, the only thing you have to stand on is your business ethics and reputation, once this is tarnished, it’s an uphill battle to regain it. People tend to remember the dramatic and negative about people even if they represent but a small portion of a positive image.

8. Give others a vested interest

Sir Richard Branson has a unique method of building up his conglomerate of companies, he creates partnerships on usually a 50/50 basis. As such, each party has a direct interest in success of the new Virgin brand. This works in several ways for the entrepreneur who wishes to buy into this type of arrangement. Firstly, Virgin has a lot of companies so you may instantly have a customer with another part of the conglomerate, for instance, the in-flight entertainment for Virgin Atlantic may also be used for Virgin Trains. Secondly, Virgin has huge cash reserve, so getting additional funding (seeking it from Angels, Vcs and banks) is far easier when you can say “Oh, by the way, you do know Virgin is a partner in this company right?” Lastly, people work harder when they have a direct vested interest in something, an employee will work 40 hours a week but the founder behind the company has no problem pulling in twice those hours off the clock. This internal motivation usually makes the difference between boom or bust.

7. Follow your gut

Businesses must evolve to stay competitive, if you have a gut feeling to do something that doesn’t show up in the numbers yet, well, DO IT! Nobody knows a company like the founder or executive committee that was there since it all began, competitors, segways and even the market demands are in a constant state of flux. If you want to run a company strictly by the numbers, become an accountant, otherwise, follow your gut more often then not, it will prove right.

6. “Sue the Bastards” - Sir Richard Branson

If somebody is being unfair, tainting your image and reputation or simply not paying their bills after multiple tries to solve a problem, sue them. A friend told me once that there is business and there is personal, you may be great friends with a person who may be one of your suppliers or providers but don’t let that get in the way of running your business. If somebody isn’t treating you right, solve it before things get worse, and yes, they will get worse. I have taken my fair share of people to court, I think it’s a great way towards dispute resolution.

5. Mistakes aren’t a BIG deal

No matter what type of business, there will be some mistakes made, you simply cannot afford to go through the world of business walking on egg shells. No matter the size of the mistake or who it affects, admit to it and move on. Trying to push a mistake under the rug will simply allow it to grow into a bigger problem and eventually, it may get legs of it’s own. I liken the role of an entrepreneur to that of a fireman, you spend your day putting out fires before they become unmanageable, whether this is kicking the sales force back into shape or making sure internal politics don’t get out of hand.

4. Think long term

If you are starting a business with a quick payout then you should stick to your job at McDonald’s flipping burgers. Businesses need to be run for the long term, this is the only way you can attract investment and maintain your sanity through the years. Decisions are a lot easier to make when you can envision their effect a few years down the road then how they will immediately impact your bottom line. Todays investment will result in tomorrows revenue.

3. Don’t cash-out!

Your company just made a huge profit this year, what do you do? No… don’t go on a vacation splurging all this away, look at areas in your company that would benefit from additional investment or even better, consider acquisitions or new areas you wish to create change into. The bottom line is that profits are great mechanisms to further boost future influence, don’t take this cash out and waste it! This is a gift to be taken seriously and shared, not to be squandered at the casino

2. Customers come first

Let’s face it, a business without customers is a dead business. It’s tough to get new customers and even tougher to get repeated business from them, always appreciate them! There is something very wrong when a company begins to take it’s customer base for granted and begins exploiting them. I have seen this time and again, most of the time, the company goes under once all these under-handed activities either become known or the staff themselves get tired of becoming the customers punching bag. Let me repeat, if you want a successful business, you must appreciate each and every customer who ultimately buys into your idea. EVERY ONE!

1. Have Fun!

Life is about having fun, and business shouldn’t be any different, if you don’t enjoy your position in life, change it before it changes you. We are all very lucky to be given the gift of life by our parents, we need to show that appreciation by learning and exploring the world around us. You run a business, great! This is a tool to give you more freedom then the average worker, but be sure to get as much learnings out of it as you possibly can.

The Bottom Line

There is much we can all learn from Sir Richard Branson, hopefully this glimpse into his keys of management opens the doors of possibility for you.

Even in big companies where many staff, contractors and third parties play a vital role in keeping everything moving forward, there is always, except in partnerships, that sole entrepreneur trying to make sense of everything before it blows up.

Entrepreneur = Train Engineer

Startups are like a train, usually going completely out of control, where there is but one engineer at the helm who, somehow, keeps things relatively going in one direction. This direction, the vision of the entrepreneur, is very difficult to communicate to others as usually, this deep passion or inner desire simply cannot be transplanted. Of all the entrepreneurs I call friends, they all have this solitary road that sort of links all of us together regardless of market, success or expertise. This solitary road is like a proofing ground, that must be vanquished in order to proceed further into the quest of hoped success. Things don’t always work the way originally envisioned but the proofing ground pays dividends with ever future venture that the entrepreneurs chooses to undertake. Sometimes an entrepreneur hits a land mine with the first few steps, other times, only after great investments in time and money does this happen.

Opportunity Clairvoyants

You can teach somebody how to draw, you can show somebody how to change a tire on their car but you cannot without herculean effort, teach somebody to see opportunity even where there are none. Like clairvoyants of bygone days, entrepreneurs have the instant ability to see and project a business opportunity in just about everything. Like a bodybuilder who can do one tonne squats after years of training, the muscles within the entrepreneurs mind have re-orientated themselves into vast arrays of entanae that are able to pick out and analyze data at an incredible rate. Not to say they are any better then the layman’s reasoning, it’s just that they have developed this ability at a higher level. Most of them have also developed the ability to organize their lives around their businesses and, most importantly, become expert negotiators and sales people. When your living depends on your wits, the opportunity honing devices come fast and furious!

Are entrepreneurs like Superman or Superwoman?

Hmmm… no. We entrepreneurs are like everybody else, sure, the majority of us are obsessive about the next opportunity, if you talk to us long enough over a few years, you will notice that entrepreneurs are always on the “verge” of some breakthrough or another. “Strike while the iron is hot” sounds nice but for entrepreneurs, the iron always seems to be hot! It never has time to cool down! We aren’t like Superman or Superwoman though, we get sick and go through life’s tribulations like everybody else but the scale is different depending on which swing up or down they are currently on. Entrepreneurs life can be seen as a roller coaster, one minute everything is going perfectly then, like a rock getting stuck in the chucks of a skateboarder, everything goes to hell.

Motivation comes from within

Passion or motivation comes from deep inside entrepreneurs, for some, it’s the desire for vast riches while for others it’s simply a method of seeking approval from others or proving them wrong. Regardless of where the passion comes from, it’s there in abundant quantities regardless of how a venture or business goes. It’s like that stain on a shirt that simply will not go away, the motivation to keep working on something even while it’s going downhill is insatiable.

So why is the road a solitary one?

Well, an entrepreneur is a mad scientist of sorts, they have a little organism in a petri dish that they want to see mature into a beautiful being. The hours of careful attention and spirited thought that are involved with this process make a 40 hour workweek sound like child’s play. This comes at a cost, some entrepreneurs are able to find balance but just as many get swamped into their work like a black hole sucking the light out of the universe. The hours, days, months, years FLY by but what entrepreneurs must realize is that unlike a time machine, you cannot go back and relive those lost times that are just as important as the venture itself.

The Bottom Line

Entrepreneurship is an adventure that lasts a lifetime regardless of outcomes.