Dollarmakers.com BLOG

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Use This Joint Venture Secret Weapon

When my mechanic told me that I needed to replace the water pump in my car, my first question was, “How much will that cost me?” His wise reply was, “Let me tell you what it will cost you if you DON’T replace it right now.”

Imagine a pilot, flying through a storm, who ignores his instruments. Even though his altimeter shows that he is losing altitude, he sighs, “Oh, it doesn’t FEEL like we’re dropping like a stone…” Ridiculous. Or the insurance salesperson who disregards the scoreboard on the wall and says, “I have a good felling about this coming week – I have a lot in the pipeline” or "My kids have been sick." We’ve all met salespeople who live in denial and use excuses to avoid reality. Then, of course, you find the people who will not accept that their spouses are having affairs, even though the entire world knows it. Maybe you know someone like that?

We all like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Nobody enjoys confrontation and it’s nice to be understanding and forgiving. It’s tempting to overlook the sins of other people; perhaps then they won’t notice our own shortcomings. It’s easier to close our eyes to uncomfortable realities. We don’t like to be reminded of the fact that we’re off target, slipping back or missing the mark. We tend to shoot the messenger, or hide weakness behind the guise of political correctness or “good manners”. It’s like taking the X-Ray that shows that the patient has cancer, and to avoid the treatments, we paint over the bad pictures. It doesn’t change the facts; it simply prolongs or delays the inevitable. In fact, it worsens the situation. Instead of intervening and correcting things, we escalate the downtrend and maximize the damage. Pay me now, or pay me later. Like the waterpump analogy, later is much more expensive.

Here is the secret weapon to Joint Venture Success: Set specific, measurable goals and refer back to them, measuring your success every single day. A guided missile corrects its course every fraction of a second. The autopilot in an airplane does the same thing. Measure, correct. Measure, correct. Adjust until you reach the goals. The more you measure and correct, the faster you will achieve success. Set the standards. Years ago, I met a man who told me that he could show me how to double my sales. I ask him how that would be possible. He asked me how many times a week I held sales meetings for my sales people, and I replied, “Once a week”. He said, “Hold a sales meeting every day and you will double and then quadruple your sales. The bad salespeople will leave because they don’t want to be held accountable. And your good salespeople will flourish.” I followed his advice and soon quadrupled my sales. Winners pay the price, while losers run away, crying that you're nasty.

Set specific, attainable, exciting, measurable goals for your Joint Ventures. Monitor them daily with your JV partners. Objectively confront and correct to make sure you stay on track. Be flexible and focus on the goals. Don’t allow excuses. Hold people accountable and be accountable. Be serious and committed to your goals, and you will have discovered the secret weapon to success.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

Baggage is Beautiful

Watch Glenn Beck on CNN – listen to his radio show. See how self-effacing he can be: “I’m a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, what do I know?” and we learn that baggage can be beautiful. Mr. Beck is a very smart man. When you can be real about yourself, laugh at yourself and use your bad, past experiences to connect and correct, your past sins can become blessings. A wide frame of reference can create empathy, insight and wisdom. In Robin William’s movie, “Man of the Year”, we saw that people understand and accept imperfection; they can relate to it. What they can’t relate to or trust is hypocrisy.

How can you use those past failures and bad choices to teach and help other people? Do you realize the power of the past, instead of wailing about how tough your life has been? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, remember? I would rather team up with a self-made person who has been bruised a bit and become real, than some namby-pamby, coddled and spoilt, egocentric, silver spoon-in-the-mouth pretty boy whose daddy paid for everything. I trust people who admit their faults without beating themselves up. If you’ve handled tough times in the past and come through it with a better perspective and well-honed life skills, you’re better equipped to handle future storms.

People think they have to hide their past blunders. “I never inhaled”. Imagine if Bill Clinton had said, “Yes, I did have sex with that woman, and I’m still one of the best presidents you ever had, so get over it!” I think that would have worked for him, especially in a world where people want results, not whitewashing. Get real. You’re not alone in your imperfection, and experience is something that daddy can’t buy for you. When you learn from your mistakes, are you not stronger than some untested individual? When you have been there, done that, are you still as vulnerable to temptation as that wet-behind-the-ears newbie? I think not.

Here’s what you DO have to look out for: PATTERNS. When peoples’ lives demonstrate a pattern of failure, stay away from them. If that alcoholic falls off the wagon every six months, his baggage is no longer beautiful. Look for Joint Venture partners who have a track record of learning from their mistakes, not repeating them. And take a good, hard look in the mirror at the same time. Baggage is beautiful when bad experiences and choices are stepping stones. Anyone who tends to carry those stepping stones around in his backpack is a liability.

When I speak to groups of people (90 people last night, six more talks in the next seven days), I am careful not to appear arrogant or talk down to my audiences. I don’t start believing my own PR and I remind myself that there are a lot of people in the audience who are a lot more accomplished and much smarter than I am. I don’t pretend perfection. It works for me. Your past failures can make you bitter, or better. Choose better.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com