Do you ever do any work?
What do you mean?
I see you in your "office" posing as a coffeeshop at least three days per week. When do you do any "real" work?
Don't misinterpret the definition of office work in today's world. Some of us work at the beach, some of us work at home. Some sit in stuffy offices, and some enjoy a tea at the coffeeshop.
No real work gets done here, right. It's just pontification, meetings and responding to emails.
If I told you that I worked on a multi-million dollar acquisition last week at this table, would you believe me?
Are you not afraid of secret information getting out?
Nope, 90% of people don't care to know any details. Another 9% will forget them within 2 minutes of hearing them. So only 1% of people will care enough to remember the details. The chances are slim to none they are within ear shot of my conversation at the coffeeshop.
So the information could be heard and used against you.
I guess, but I don't live my life that way. Life's too short to worry what a competitor might do to hurt my dealings.
But they could.
Sure they could. But it hasn't happened yet. So why worry about things that might come.
Let's change the conversation, I have a question?
I hope it's better than "do you ever do any work?".
Umm. Hope so. How do you find a business to buy when all you do is sit in a coffeeshop all day? I have been looking for 3 years and haven't found anything interesting yet.
That's a great question. Start with your superpower and work out from there.
Superpower? I'm lost.
There's something you're great at. Maybe even one of the greatest in the world. It's the thing your creator gave you to exploit.
I don't have a superpower.
I don't believe you. It takes a rite of passage like failure to force it to emerge.
So I need bad things to happen to me to learn how to be successful.
Not always, but most of time. If you have success in your first business, you won't appreciate how special it is and will likely screw it up.
Ok, so let's say I fail along the way and I realize my superpower. Then what?
You learn from your mistakes. You grow and you become an expert in your field of influence.
Forget the superpower stuff. How do YOU buy a business?
I know where my edge is.
What is an edge?
I have made a lot of mistakes and I've had some success. The mistakes taught me what I should not do again, so I try not to make the same mistakes.
Do you have a formula for success?
Yes. Make mistakes.
Edge, mistakes, superpowers... I don't want to make mistakes, I can't afford to.
You can't afford not to. The men who are the greatest success stories can write books about their massive failures. It's almost impossible to be successful without passing through the door of failure.
I feel we're going in circles. Outside of mistakes and knowing your superpower, how do you do it?
Have you ever heard of Cafe Jomama?
I think it was a small cafe on the other side of town, but I never went there. And I think it closed.
Yes it did. That was my first business. I loved it. But I made a huge mistake. I didn't anticipate the time it took to build a clientele from scratch to profitability. And I built an extremely nice cafe that was uncomfortable to the average person.
Isn't nice better? Don't customers want nice environments to enjoy their coffee?
That's what I thought at the time, until a wise businessman told me that the nicer you make your restaurant, the smaller the target audience will be.
That makes sense. So what's your superpower?
I have a formula for success.
Will you share?
I can but you won't believe me.
Sure I will, I respect your experience and knowledge.
Ok. Let me change the conversation. How long have you been married?
Ah, about 4 years.
Can you share with the success of your marriage?
I don't know if it's successful. We're still married and haven't killed each other yet. It's just one day at a time. Learning from mistakes and not royally screwing up our bond is the key, I think.
When will you know you're successful?
Not sure, maybe when we're old and have grandchildren eating all of the ice cream in the freezer.
Is there a race to a successful marriage?
No, it's just living and trying to be happy.
Exactly. The same goes for business. Try not to make mistakes, but when you do, fix them as quickly as possible. Learn from them and keep going forward so future generations can benefit from your work.
But I need a certain income to survive and if I get into the wrong business, I could lose everything.
What do you really have?
A house, a couple of cars and a cottage.
You also have mortgages and car loans.
Yeah, but if I'm not making money, I could lose them.
Sure could. But don't forget, that the bank doesn't want those things. They want your money that you promised them. Stop paying and they will look to recover as much of their money as they can.
Exactly, the reason I can't afford to fail.
So you're more connected to the things you have than the life you want...
Huh?
You want to get into business, but you're not willing to sacrifice the material things you currently control. I'm not saying you'll be successful but I am saying that if you don't TRY, you can never HAVE.
There is no race to success in business. Of course we all want to be successful. But success is not about money. Money is a result. It helps but it's about doing the things that make us happy. I have a friend who has been talking about retiring from her job since she was 30 yrs old. How can you live a happy life when 40 hours of your week are spent in misery? 30 years of looking toward death is not my idea of fun.
Ok, so hanging out in coffeeshops make you happy?
No. Talking to people like you fills me. Writing about these conversations thrill me. And coaching my operations people to increase profitability feeds me. All while I travel, look for new businesses to buy and spend time with my kids makes me happy.
I get it, so you're superpower is not having to work in a business yet understanding how to make it profitable.
You're getting warmer. I'm sorry, I have to let you go, I'm about to get on a conference call with one of managers.
One last question, "What's the secret formula"?
There is no universal secret formula. Just like a marriage, what works for me, may not work for you. There's too many moving parts. You have to figure it out for yourself. You'll find your way, if you're willing to try and make mistakes. And if you're not willing to fail, you better hope the race you're running can be won.
Huh?
Let's say you're making $100,000 per year in your job. The company lays you off due to poor sales. You're out of work and can't get another similar job. What happens to your savings? What happens to your house? What happens to your reputation?
I would lose everything.
Yes, the race you think you're running is not your race. So the thing you're afraid of could happen anyways. When you come to the realization that everything you work for could be gone with something out of your control, you look at your life and your future differently. The assumption is always that you can be employed somewhere else. You are smart and someone else would be happy to have you. And you're probably right. But what if you're wrong? You end up in the same place that you fear the most. All the while doing stuff that doesn't make you happy, waiting for retirement like my friend.
How do you know this?
Because I was there. Not wanting to lose the race. Until someone made a decision out of my control that turned everything upside down. Looking back on it, I don't get here if I don't lose that job.
But you're making more money.
Not sure about that. But I definitely feel like I have more time to do the things I love.
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