Archive - September, 2011

For free or for fee, that is the question.

September 6, 2011 in Fees, Getting Started, Motivation with 2 Comments

Should your first clients work with with you for free or for this?

If you would have asked me one month ago whether or not I should charge for my very first few clients I would have told you no, I shouldn’t.

First, who would want to pay for an “untried” catalyst agent? When you’re first starting out you HAVE to have your first client. And my thought pattern was the first client would be mentally unwilling to pay for the services I have to offer.

Second, even though I did not intend on charging a monetary fee, I was going to be paid in other ways. Mainly by 1) gaining experience and 2) requesting a testimonial. Both of these have value to me and will also be of value to future clients, even if not directly thought about.

Enter a discussion I had with Chris Sutton, a good friend of mine who also happens to run 212 kick (link below).

Chris and I were on Skype discussing what I’ve been doing at A Better Way of Business and he asked, “What are you charging your first clients?”

I paused for a second and told him, “I’m not. I’m working with the first few clients for free so I can get testimonials and experience.”

Chris followed up by saying, “It’s hard to get people to take you seriously if they don’t have skin in the game.”

It’s like a million-candle-power light went off in my head!

He’s right!

In general, people tend to not value highly things they have received for free. Since whatever it is didn’t cost them anything they have no reservations, no hesitation, no remorse in ignoring it or throwing it out whenever. Often, without even taking full advantage of the free item.

So in the case of A Better Way of Business, what’s a person’s incentive to actually LISTEN to advice I’ve given them for free? What is the motivation to value the time we have spent together?

The answer might be the incentive is to get his or her business up and running or their existing business running more efficiently and effectively.

Or it could also be that they have no incentive to listen to me because they haven’t invested anything more than an hour or two of time with me, so what does it matter if what I say is ignored?

After speaking with Chris I’m a firm believer of having a pricing structure in place BEFORE you start working with clients. You don’t have to try to make your first million on your first client, but you also shouldn’t give away everything you know for free. By charging SOMETHING you are working with clients who have “skin in the game” and are more likely to listen to what you have to say and then ACT on it (and we all know I’m ALL ABOUT ACTION).

And please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should start charging to respond to an email, phone call, or simple question someone asks you the next time you’re out. But I am saying you should plan to charge your clients when the two of you agree to work with each other.

~Ivan

212 kick – Chris Sutton

Aiming for perfection? Is there a better way?

September 5, 2011 in Action with 2 Comments

Anything less than 100% is UNACCEPTABLE.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist.

I don’t want to just do things correctly, I want to do them PERFECTLY. I could honestly do better than everyone else on the PLANET, and if there was the POSSIBILITY that I could do better then that I would be disappointed. I should have been perfect.

My drive for perfection causes WAY TOO MUCH stress in my life.

If I make a mistake in my present position I RELENTLESSLY brow beat myself. EVERY mistake is inexcusable, even those mistakes that have been made because I relied on information provided to me.

Anything less than perfection is inexcusable.

In college, I would drive myself into a sort of depression for not making 100′s. Forget A’s, anything less than a perfect grade was a let down.

And on through my younger years.

When I was younger, I played the piano. Some people, such as my instructor, said I was really good. If I heard a song and then played through it once myself I knew it.

Each year my instructor would have this huge recital. Due to her being very good at what she did and well known in the local music circles there would usually be several hundred people in the audience at the recitals. And her rule was the better you were the closer to the end you played.

I typically played next to last or last.

My final recital for her was in front of 300 to 500 people, of which I knew exactly two, her and my Pops (mom had to work).

We couldn’t use sheet music in the recitals because it took away from the impression of the piano player and the piano being the center of attention. So I had to play two different songs. One around 5 pages long, one around 7 or 8 pages long.

I sat down, and due to the setup folks positioning the piano incorrectly I looked out over the end of the piano straight into the face of the audience.

I FREAKED. INSTANTLY forgot what songs I was supposed to play and sat there like a deer in head lights.

Not knowing what to do since I just forgot which songs to play I decided to play the song I liked the most first followed by the longest song I knew.

When I was done I received a standing ovation. The only one of the night.

Fortunately, God was with me. I played the right songs, in the right order.

But I missed TWO notes.

Two notes out of hundreds, after first thinking I played the wrong songs, then finding out I didn’t.

I had missed two notes.

It ruined my night.

Striving for perfection has caused me serious mental anguish.

Fortunately, my friend Justin Lukasavige has taught me an INVALUABLE lesson.

Don’t ruin good enough with perfect.

That one piece of wisdom has given me the courage to FINALLY start my business.

It didn’t happen the first time I heard it.But it’s something Justin has said repeatedly.

Don’t ruin good enough with perfect.

What I have come to realize is that I have used my desire for perfection as an excuse not to act. Because I had not planned out my perspective business PERFECTLY I would REFUSE to attempt to start it.

Because I could not GUARANTEE success – be perfect in success – I would not take action to get any of my business ideas started.

What I have since learned is that NO business is PERFECT when it starts. It is simply good enough. Perfect doesn’t exist in this world.

So I ask you, are you striving for perfection prior to actually starting your business? Are you under the impression that you won’t start until you have the perfect plan? Are you waiting until you have perfectly thought out every possible eventuality?

If you are, I PLEAD with you to STOP! Take a little bit and PIN POINT the example of perfection you’re trying to model.

There won’t be one.

And when you come to that realization I want you to understand this point:

The world doesn’t need your PERFECT business. What it needs is your business that is good enough to serve its purpose.

~Ivan

Are you reading just for fun?

September 2, 2011 in Books, Friday Free Form with 8 Comments

I like to read.

A LOT!

Typically, if I’m not at work or not on here doing something for A Better Way of Business I’m reading.

I tend to stick to two genres, fantasy / science fiction and business books. Feel free to ask me about the fantasy books I like, but they’re not the point of this post.

I actually thought of this topic several days ago, but since it doesn’t exactly fit the direction I want to take A Better Way of Business right now I decided to wait to talk about it until today in the Friday Free Form.

I saw a discussion the other day in a forum where someone listed all the books he had read so far in 2011 (it’s the end of August as I type this). There were more than 50 books on the list! Most of the responders were amazed at the volume of books being consumed. Lots of questions were posted such as: “Which is the best?” “Which book do you recommend for topic xxx?” and “Could you recommend 1 or 2 for me since I don’t have as much time as you?”

My first thought was, “Holy crap! Is this guy gaining any useful knowledge from these books or just reading for fun???”

And I think this is a perfectly legitimate question. Especially since I used to do the exact same thing. In the past I was more concerned with the number of books I read then I was with what I had actually learned from the books. I would get excited because I had read four books in a month, but when it was all said and done I hadn’t really learned anything.

Sure, I could carry on a conversation about the books I’d read. At least for a month or two after I read them. But that was about it. I couldn’t point to any tangible action I had taken BECAUSE of the books I had read.

It’s not been until the last three months that I’ve decided the number of books I read is not really that important. NOW, what’s important is what I am APPLYING in my life from the books.

I’ve come to realize, if I pick a book up and it doesn’t VERY QUICKLY strike me as having anything I’m going to be applying in my life in the immediate future I put it down for another day.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m looking to take ACTION in my present state. I want to pick up a book and know that I’ll be able to apply what I’m learning today, if not today, by the end of the week.

So I’d like to share with you three books that I’ve recently read and that I’ve found are packed full of actionable items that I can apply IMMEDIATELY in my life (none of the links are affiliate links, they just take you to these AWESOME books!):

Become a Coach: Discover what it Takes to Turn Your Passions into Profits by Justin Lukasavige

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

25 answers to questions that if you apply you WILL be successful at coaching!

YOU are responsible for writing the story of your life!

The BEST book in people skills I’ve ever come across!

Be you!

September 1, 2011 in Getting Started, Motivation, Passion, Purpose with 0 Comments

As a business owner, how are you presenting yourself to the world?

Speaking in broad terms, I think how you present yourself falls into two broad categories. You can either try and present what the world is wanting from you at that particular moment in time or you can present who you actually are to the world.

I’ve heard educated individuals argue on both sides of this discussion.

I have heard it said that if you want to start a business then you should look at what the market needs most at this point in time and start THAT business. Whatever it is. Regardless of your internal wiring. You see a need. You fill a need. Period.

I have also heard it said:

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman).

The way I interpret this, be you and present that to world, because what the world needs is the real you.

In this case you look inside at how you have been made by God and what you have that is unique to offer the world and you do that.

Guess which field of thought I lean toward…

I lean towards being yourself and giving to the world the real you. Only then will you be fully alive.

And I don’t just say this because I like the quote by Howard Thurman, which I really do. I say this from experience. I have gained several positions in the past by being what it was the company hiring was looking for. In other words, I disguised who I was in order to make myself appear what they wanted. And let’s just say NONE of those situations turned out positively.

There have also been instances in the past when I was looking for a job that I decided I would present the “real” me to company doing the hiring and if they did not like what they saw, then we’d both be better off without each other. Some of these instances I got the job. And those jobs went GREAT. Some of those interviews were VERY SHORT and we both departed a little frustrated, but I believe much better off.

Some of you might be thinking, “What is this guy like?” And I’ll tell you.

I’m intense. I’m confident. I’m excitable. I’m full of energy. I tend to see numbers and facts, and ignore emotions and feelings. I go out of my way to help those I care about. I have a hard time getting over past wrongs (but fortunately I’ve learned how). I love my God, my family, and my friends. I’m self motivated and I’m over achieving. I’ve been accused of being a perfectionist in the past, but now I’ve learned not to ruin good with perfect. I’m all this and so, so much more.

Once I learned that trying to be who others wanted me to be didn’t work I would frequently use this line in interviews, “I am who I am, and what you see is what you get.” I always thought I was smart for coming up with that. And then I was told “what you see is what you get” did not originate with me (big let down).

But it’s true. I do my best now to present to the world who I am.

And I hope you’ll do the same.

~Ivan

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