One small ingredient

The difference between what YOU can do and what YOU can't do is one small ingredient.

I'm not going to overtly tell YOU what the thing is.
YOU wouldn't believe me anyways.
Life is more interesting when YOU have to solve the puzzle.

YOU can struggle or YOU can thrive.
YOU can be rich or YOU can be much less than rich.

Everything lies in balance waiting for YOU to discover what that one thing is that can make everything tip YOUR way.

YOU actually know the answer.
But YOU might be scared as new truths emerge that YOU are not willing to accept right now.

If I told YOU, YOU might say, "I know, but...".
There's no but. If YOU know, then do.
Forget fear.
Forget about change.

Live YOUR life.
Love YOUR life.
Do everything YOU want out of YOUR life.
Because YOU don't know when it will be YOUR time to stop,
FOREVER

Success is heavy. Bend your knees.

Jump on my back, I'll carry you
To the place you want to go
If my knees get lazy or
My back gets crazy
We'll still make it there for sure

There is no time to second guess
The tortoise is closing in on the finish line
We've made mistakes, It's decision time
We will lose this race, if we don't go right now.
This I know for sure

You're on my back, let me lead.
My knees are crying for you to stop telling them where to go.
I know the way, I think, I hope.
I've been here twice before.
The end is not far, the path is not easy.
This I remember once more.

My back is numb. My mind is tired.
Worry tells me we cannot make it.
That is how we lose this race.
I remember this from before.
Pack up your tears, and simple fears.
It is not helping in this war.

If the persistence stops.
We're done for sure.
If the resistance slows to your worry,
It will enrage me with fear.
If my knees cannot make it to the finish line.
We will die here for sure.

There is no time to worry about simple things.
You've made your decision.
I'm not as strong as I pretend to be.
I do that to end your worry.
You see right through it,
With all the holes your words have pierced.

Let's be honest.
I don't know if we'll get there in time.
I don't know if I can carry you all the way.
I do know if we stay here, we cannot win.
I also know if we second guess this last decision, we will not win.
The time to party is over.
The time to work is here.
The tortoise is almost there.
I can see the finish line.
Why can't you see it?
You can see further,
For you are on my back

Choice is all we have

Speaking with a young teen reminded me the importance of choice.

It's all we have.
Money comes and goes.
Material possessions break.
Even love wanders around like sunshine.

We choose,
Therefore we have or have not.

From the time we leave the protection of our parents,
The choices become real.

To buy or sell.
To move or stay.
To spend or save.
To walk or run.

Friends, jobs, businesses, partners.
It's all our choice.

Bad choices cause problems.
Bad choices layered on bad choices is called bad luck.
Bad choices twice layered on other bad choices warrant panic.

The life we live is ours and ours alone.
No one is responsible for our outcomes except us,
And the choices we make.

So the next time you are in a situation that isn't what you wanted,
Ask yourself what do you own in the problem?
Don't beat yourself up about poor choices.

Fix it. Find a good choice to make, then make it.
Good choices layered on a good choice is considered luck.
Good choices twice layered on good choice warrants celebration.

At the time, we don't always know what is a good choice and a bad one.
Unless we're hurting someone.

Ask yourself next time you're faced with a challenging decision, "What is the consequence of this decision on others".
If you're hurting more people than you are helping, it's probably a bad decision.

You are powerful in your choices.
Use it wisely.

Those you affect also have choices.
They have the power to hurt you too.

A selfish mentality generates turmoil as bad situations keep returning.
A selfless mentality powers happiness.

And happiness is the key to living a fulfilling life.

It's your choice: Be happy or not.

Linear vs exponential

My electrician wanted to talk to me. He read the blog, "Why you shouldn't get into business" and wanted to discuss it.

I agree with most everything you said with one exception:
If I do 50% of the work of my competitor won't I get 50% of the results of him as well?

He stumped me. I didn't have an answer on the spot so I promised him I would think about it.

The quick answer is No.
The reason is exponentiality.

First off, assuming you work every week for 40 hours, but your competitor works 80 hours. In the competition race, he already has years of experience ahead of you. So working half the hours allows him to keep going further than you.  You can't catch him. He's more experienced, faster and gets more done in a week. Now if you're starting from the same place and you work half as hard as he does, you will always be halfway behind him.

This is a linear example. Like I said it's not a linear problem.

Let's use an example from the finance community to prove my point. If we save 1 cent per day, and the total amount saved doubles every day, how much money will we have in 30 days. The answer is $5,368,709.12.

If you save a half cent and instead of doubling every day, it only increases by 50%, do you know how much money you will have in 30 days? $1,775.47.

Even if we start from the same place, i.e. a penny saved with only 50% increases per day, the amount of money saved is $5,918.24.

Business results are not linear. They are exponential. The small daily efforts seem small in the beginning. It takes maximum effort every day. Over time, those efforts done consistently compound to pay off big time.

That is why working at half pace yields very little results.

The resulting difference isn't half. It's like a tenth of one percent.

The same thing happens with marketing efforts. Most business know they need to spend money in marketing, but they go in and out of the market. They try a tactic. Then they stop because it "didn't work". They try another tactic. Again, they stop complaining about it not working. They never allow the power of compounding to help them.

The other scenario I see with marketing is customers will do 100% of the work and quit before the huge payoff.  Imagine my first example on exponentiality. 20 days of hard work yields small results. It's the last five days that makes us millionaires beyond our wildest dreams.

If you save a penny per day, and the total amount saved doubles every day:
after 15 days you will only have $163.84;
after 20 days you will only have $5,242.88;
after 25 days you will only have $167,772.16.

Hope that answers your question. Thanks for asking.

If you want to get exponential results from your marketing efforts, you can reach me at ricknicholson@wizardacademy.com.

10 reasons why you should not get into business

I am constantly approached for my thoughts around business ideas, startups, and purchases. Most times, someone wants to make the leap from employee to entrepreneur. This leap is a difficult one. Although working for one self can be rewarding. If the motives and conditions are not aligned, the business will likely fail.

According to Michael Gerber in "E-Myth Revisited", 85% of businesses fail in the first five years of operation. There are many reasons for this failure but some of them are related to the person starting the business.

Here are 10 reasons why you should not get into business:

1. Business is tough. It will make your skin crawl because you'll not get enough sleep. You'll constantly worry about the next sale, next invoice, or the next payment. It's a constant struggle to balance income and expenses. And in the early years, you'll have to sacrifice both time and money for a potential dream. There is no guaranteed paycheque every two weeks. If you don't work, you don't get paid. And even when you work, you may not get paid. Your personal finances could suffer. You could lose your home, your savings and even your marriage for this dream. Is it worth that much to you?

2. No balance. There's no room for work-family balance in the beginning. This concept was written by a bunch of new wave hippies who sold hand made hemp figurines out of the back of their Westphalias. If you're going to start a business, you have a choice: have a really small business that you treat like a hobby and pays you as such or have a real business with help from others (employees, contractors, or partners). A real business takes full time dedication and commitment.  Are you willing to give up family vacations, weekends, and your evenings for this business?

3. Getting into business is NOT a career choice. It's a lifestyle choice. The 40 hour work week was developed by socialists trying to create more work for more people. A business is like a child. You have to care, feed and nurture it all the time. You don't take a day off from being a parent, when the kids aren't around. You don't take a day off from being a business owner, when you're not at the office. How much do you value your weekends, evenings and vacations?

4. People are creatures of habit. It is hard to convince them to switch to your new offering. They already have what they want, despite what you may think. The world doesn't need another business until you SHOW the world why you're so special. If you don't know why you are special or don't have time/money to show them, then how will the rest of the world ever know.

5. You get paid last. Every financial guru will tell you how you should be paid first. When you are starting a business, every surviving moment is based on your ability to pay employees, contractors, suppliers, landlords, and the government. After everyone is paid, if there's anything left over you can keep some for yourself ever keeping in mind that there's another round of payments the following week. There's always a reason to keep the cash in the corporate bank account, even if it means you miss your personal mortgage payment.

6. You need to be extremely strong mentally.  There will be times when you'll feel like a punching bag. Everyone wants something from you and you have nothing left to give. You'll feel small, insignificant. You'll feel like a poser trying to MAKE IT, when in fact you're eating cereal for supper because there's nothing else in the cupboard.

7. If you're looking for a retirement plan, don't buy a business. Although some businesses are very lucrative, retirement plans are for people with careers. See number 3. You may want to slow down as you get older, but there's no time for that right now. You're working toward a dream. The best business owners don't have retirement dreams. They have growth dreams.

8. You love to travel. See number 2. If you do an amazing job at running your business, you may have enough money and time to travel. But in the first five years, you shouldn't go far. Your business is an infant. Despite what systems you've created, they may not have been tested in your absence. Before planning that 3 week vacation in Italy, go away for 3 days and see if the phone rings. If you don't call the business and no one calls you, try going away for 5 days. Working up to the three week vacation will take about five years (even if you have an impeccable team).

9. You want to make more money. Money cannot be the driver for you to get into business. Money is a result of a job well done. If you work for money, you're a slave to it. You will struggle for a long time. If you work for a purpose, people will follow you with money in their hands throwing it at your feet to help them. If you're opening a business to make money, do yourself a favour and quit now. It will be difficult for you to succeed with that premise.

10. You will lose friends. You will be seen as weird. The exceptional are not normal. To be normal is to be like everyone else. We are taught to conform. To be successful in business, you should NEVER conform. It's what sets you apart from your competitors. You'll be alone and may lose a few friends along the way. You will be focussed on your work and you will miss some of those social engagements you used to do.  Some friends won't understand. They would never say anything, but they secretly want to see you flat on your face so they can justify their own decisions of conformity. They are not jealous. They are afraid they are making the wrong choices.

I'm the world's first DE-Motivational speaker. If I haven't demotivated you from getting into business after this article, you may be one of those fine breeds that deserve to work for themselves. Good luck to you and I wish you much success.


"No one wants to be average, but everyone wants to be normal". - Roy Williams

Minimum wage legislation will decrease jobs (in the long run)

I don't work my best when someone tells me to do something. 

I don't like authority for authority's sake.

I willingly listen to smart people. I'll take their advice and apply back to my life and business.

But when someone says I have to do it, I try to figure out a way not to do it.

This behaviour has repeated on countless occasions to with parents, teachers, bosses, business partners, co-workers, my spouse, my kids, friends, and even government.

That's my crazy.

Conversations recently circled around minimum wage legislation. And why it was time for a dramatic raise for our less fortunate working class to increase their standards of living. 

I grew up in a poor household, so I know how that feels. I went to school with butter sandwiches that mom bought on credit at the convenience store.  I believe poverty is not a financial condition. It's a mental one. 

That's just me. 

Listening to the arguments for and against the minimum wage debate, something occurred to me. 

"When cigarette prices increase, more people quit. And subsequent demand for it shrinks!" 

And

"When a business wants to sell more of something, they put it on sale. And demand rises."

If this theory is correct, then as labour costs continue to rise, more buyers of labour (employers), find other alternatives through foreign workforce, automation, downsizing, and closures. 

The argument is not about greedy corporations. It's economic theory.

Here's what Jeffy had to say:

“I very frequently get the question: 'What's going to change in the next 10 years?' And that is a very interesting question; it's a very common one. I almost never get the question: 'What's not going to change in the next 10 years?' And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two -- because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. ...  we know that customers want low prices, and I know that's going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection."

If you believe Jeffy is correct, then we can expect corporations to find a way to give customers low prices. Labour costs are considered material costs in almost every industry in North America. As wages increase, so do consumables. 

The general public doesn't want prices to go up. Jeffy doesn't think so and neither do I.  If anything we want them to come down.

Manufacturing jobs left North America when those same jobs were a fraction of the price in Mexico and Asia. Other manufacturers figured out how to automate their plants, thus reducing workforce and remaining competitive.

Businesses are based on outputs and inputs. The employee who says pay me more money and I'll work harder has his pants on fire. 

Profits are marginal today in most retail businesses. The internet has helped marginalize them even more. Those jobs aren't in jeopardy, they are on the most endangered list. 

One friend owns a well respected pizza shop. He told me that he has a pizza special that has increased in price by $1.00 in 12 years. Considering labour increases, food prices and energy costs, it's certain his profit margin has shrunk on that special.

I don't like being told what to do. Force me to pay more for a labour hour and I'll figure out how to pay less through some other means. That's business and a thing called a "free market". 

Jeffy knows something about "free markets". He started a little company called Amazon.com. I'm sure you've heard of it. He's kicking Walmart's butt.