I hate to admit this but I know as much about scotch as I know about women.
My friend Daniel can speak at lengths about the six regions of Scotland and the distinct taste each of the regions produce. Watching him talk about scotch is theatre. Entertaining, informative, and drunk with delight, he shares his love not from the upper deck where only nose-waving snobs exist. The one thing I remember about Daniel's instruction is his definition of a good scotch.
As he starts his soliloquy, he asks, "What's the definition of a good scotch?".
Answer: One that you will enjoy.
In looking for other answers to elusive questions, I found the same answer to a lot of life's pressing questions..
What's the definition of a good exercise routine, good diet, good life, good family, good house, good job, good business, good vacation?
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Goals for 2015
It's a new year and I just finished my goals for the upcoming 365
days.
Don't misinterpret me. These are not resolutions. I gave up
resolutions a long time ago. These are things I want to achieve for the year.
There are only five of them.
The Fab Five is what they will be called.
Two of them are personal goals in trying to be a better person.
The others are business related as I aim to achieve my business objectives.
I spent a week thinking about the Fab Five. I don't want to waste
another year. I want to achieve something remarkable.
It started with a review of what I want out of my life. A real
question that isn't easy to answer. It starts with knowing what one wants.
Knowing, not thinking...
I went wrong last year by allowing my goals to be dependent on
someone else's decision. It became unrealistic in the short term because
everything I wanted to do last year depended on someone agreeing to sell me
their business. Which they didn't do. They will want to sell me their business
someday but I can't control that right now.
So this year, with the dream still lingering like a musty pair of
unwashed underwear, I set annual goals that were achievable and were not
dependant someone else's decision.
So here are my goals for the year:
1. Weigh 170 lbs
2. Be a better dad/husband/person
3. Make $150,000 this year
4. Start a coaching company
5. Buy two businesses with two operating partners. Both have to be
found.
Each goal has a minimum of five actionable items or smaller goals
that will result in the annual goal being achieved.
For an example, I've identified five things I need to do to be a
better dad/husband/person.
- Do dishes for my family five times per week
- Clean two bathrooms for my wife each week
- Mop kitchen floors each week
- Perform 4 random acts of kindness/month
- Find a church to expose my kids to the word of God and go at
least twice/month.
So there you have it.
It's a new year. A clean slate... What are you going to do
different this year?
Resolutions are for the fragile, good intended dreamers seeking
change but not willing to do the work.
Goals are for the strong minded, fierce competitors fighting the
distractions of life to make it better for themselves, their families, and
their communities.
Are you a fighter or are you numbed by the electromagnet field
from your television?
Friday, January 2, 2015
Technically you're not qualified
You're not qualified to own or open a business. If you know that, then you have a chance at success.
Most take their skills they've developed working for other business owners and try to transfer their technical skills to an entrepreneurial endeavour.
50% of businesses fail in the first year. Half of those who started their businesses last year are no longer in business today.
Are you sure you want to open your own business?
If I've scared you, you have two choices. Go get a job or continue to walk the entrepreneurial path.
If you're looking for money, go get a job. Owning a business might be the single fastest way to lose money if you don't know what you're doing.
And if you never owned a business, I'm gonna say this, "You don't know what you're doing"!
That's the bad news. It gets better. I promise.
To succeed in business as a new entrepreneur, you have to realize that you know nothing about business. Sure you have skills. You may considered an expert in your field. Your field is your field. Entrepreneurship is not. Transferring the technical expertise into a business is difficult. You are not an expert in entrepreneurship. You haven't done it yet.
Michael Gerber in "E-Myth Revisited" calls this the Fatal Assumption. "Knowing technical skills in a company does not mean one knows how to own a business that does technical work".
To paraphrase, "Just because you know how to fix cars does not guarantee success in owning your own a garage."
Don't fall victim to the fatal assumption. If you want to get into business, I commend you. Be smart and humble enough to go back to the bottom of the ladder and learn from scratch again. You don't have the expertise of owning a business.
Don't pretend you do. You'll hurt yourself and your family if you end up in the 50% of failures.
Most take their skills they've developed working for other business owners and try to transfer their technical skills to an entrepreneurial endeavour.
50% of businesses fail in the first year. Half of those who started their businesses last year are no longer in business today.
Are you sure you want to open your own business?
If I've scared you, you have two choices. Go get a job or continue to walk the entrepreneurial path.
If you're looking for money, go get a job. Owning a business might be the single fastest way to lose money if you don't know what you're doing.
And if you never owned a business, I'm gonna say this, "You don't know what you're doing"!
That's the bad news. It gets better. I promise.
To succeed in business as a new entrepreneur, you have to realize that you know nothing about business. Sure you have skills. You may considered an expert in your field. Your field is your field. Entrepreneurship is not. Transferring the technical expertise into a business is difficult. You are not an expert in entrepreneurship. You haven't done it yet.
Michael Gerber in "E-Myth Revisited" calls this the Fatal Assumption. "Knowing technical skills in a company does not mean one knows how to own a business that does technical work".
To paraphrase, "Just because you know how to fix cars does not guarantee success in owning your own a garage."
Don't fall victim to the fatal assumption. If you want to get into business, I commend you. Be smart and humble enough to go back to the bottom of the ladder and learn from scratch again. You don't have the expertise of owning a business.
Don't pretend you do. You'll hurt yourself and your family if you end up in the 50% of failures.
Time and money are not related
So you want to open a business. You think a business could solve all of your problems. It will probably be the start of even bigger problems. But that's a story for a different day.
What are you looking for?
Time or money?
They are not related to each other.
Time is a finite resource. It's like oil. There's only so much of it. Once it's used up, it's gone forever. Money is not. Money is like the sun. It's not always around when we need it, but we need it to survive in this world.
Money gives us time back. It's not about the fancy cars, warm vacations and cavernous homes. We on the search for time.
Time gives us freedom, and flexibility.
Chances are if you're starting out in business, you can't have both in the beginning. You have to earn the right to have both.
Better question is what are you willing to sacrifice to get what you're looking for?
You will have to sacrifice a lot of time and some money to get there.
How does that make sense? You have to gamble both to get hopefully one of them back in abundance?
It's simple math. Every investor knows that. Invest money wisely and through compounded interest, you get more money back in the long run. Time plays by the same rules.
Do you respect time? Most don't.
If you do, it respects you back.
Money doesn't respect anything. Don't worship it. It's like the pretty girl who dates the head banging crack smoking loser. It doesn't make sense but the less attention you pay to her, the more she's attracted to you.
That which we chase eludes us. Let money chase you so you can get your time back.
Invest your time wisely. It's the only thing that matters.
What are you looking for?
Time or money?
They are not related to each other.
Time is a finite resource. It's like oil. There's only so much of it. Once it's used up, it's gone forever. Money is not. Money is like the sun. It's not always around when we need it, but we need it to survive in this world.
Money gives us time back. It's not about the fancy cars, warm vacations and cavernous homes. We on the search for time.
Time gives us freedom, and flexibility.
Chances are if you're starting out in business, you can't have both in the beginning. You have to earn the right to have both.
Better question is what are you willing to sacrifice to get what you're looking for?
You will have to sacrifice a lot of time and some money to get there.
How does that make sense? You have to gamble both to get hopefully one of them back in abundance?
It's simple math. Every investor knows that. Invest money wisely and through compounded interest, you get more money back in the long run. Time plays by the same rules.
Do you respect time? Most don't.
If you do, it respects you back.
Money doesn't respect anything. Don't worship it. It's like the pretty girl who dates the head banging crack smoking loser. It doesn't make sense but the less attention you pay to her, the more she's attracted to you.
That which we chase eludes us. Let money chase you so you can get your time back.
Invest your time wisely. It's the only thing that matters.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
The end of another year
Today is New Year's eve.
There was a time when I wanted to celebrate the coming in of another number we use at the end of our date. It's a new beginning, a new opportunity. People make resolutions to break a habit only to revert to old ways within the first 2 weeks.
I haven't made resolutions for over 10 years. I make pacts with myself. Pacts can come at any time of the year. Pacts are like promises. No one likes to break a promise, especially with oneself. If you do, you know about it right away and you feel like crap afterwards.
Last night, my wife asked if I wanted to anything special to commemorate the passing of another cycle. I prefer to celebrate success. The end of a year is not a success. It happens whether we want it to or not.
Success is achieving one's goals. One of my pacts is based on attaining a goal. The goal is hard. Harder than I ever thought possible. I have not achieved it so I don't want to celebrate yet. The coming of a new year does not wipe my goal away.
And now that we're at the dawn of a new number, it's time to plan out new goals. Setting annual goals is something I started doing last year. It kept me focused in a distractable world.
The end of the year gives us a chance to reflect what we've accomplished over the past 365 days and what we want to achieve over the next 12 months.
I write out 5 specific goals that are actionable, measurable, realistic, understandable and beyond normalcy. My goals are my own. They are hard. They are in my control and they keep me on track for my longer term vision.
I break my annual goals into 3 month chewable bites. These bites are smaller goals within the annual objectives. I keep a copy of my goals close by and refer to them daily.
It's the end of another year. So what! I am not celebrating until I reach my 2014 goal. And now I have to layer on a new set.
It's gonna be fun!
There was a time when I wanted to celebrate the coming in of another number we use at the end of our date. It's a new beginning, a new opportunity. People make resolutions to break a habit only to revert to old ways within the first 2 weeks.
I haven't made resolutions for over 10 years. I make pacts with myself. Pacts can come at any time of the year. Pacts are like promises. No one likes to break a promise, especially with oneself. If you do, you know about it right away and you feel like crap afterwards.
Last night, my wife asked if I wanted to anything special to commemorate the passing of another cycle. I prefer to celebrate success. The end of a year is not a success. It happens whether we want it to or not.
Success is achieving one's goals. One of my pacts is based on attaining a goal. The goal is hard. Harder than I ever thought possible. I have not achieved it so I don't want to celebrate yet. The coming of a new year does not wipe my goal away.
And now that we're at the dawn of a new number, it's time to plan out new goals. Setting annual goals is something I started doing last year. It kept me focused in a distractable world.
The end of the year gives us a chance to reflect what we've accomplished over the past 365 days and what we want to achieve over the next 12 months.
I write out 5 specific goals that are actionable, measurable, realistic, understandable and beyond normalcy. My goals are my own. They are hard. They are in my control and they keep me on track for my longer term vision.
I break my annual goals into 3 month chewable bites. These bites are smaller goals within the annual objectives. I keep a copy of my goals close by and refer to them daily.
It's the end of another year. So what! I am not celebrating until I reach my 2014 goal. And now I have to layer on a new set.
It's gonna be fun!
Can't is a four letter word
I hate the word can't!
It's one of those four letter words that I don't want my kids to say.
It's not so much the word that bothers me. It's the line of thinking behind it.
Can't tells me that you've hit a brick wall. You're a bit skeptical about a potential outcome or activity. It generally means you've weighed all that you understand and the desired result is impossible.
The key word to the above sentence is "understand". Limiting beliefs pins our understanding to the ground. It puts us at a disadvantage because we only have one perspective and many times it's the only one we consider.
Knowing what we don't know is one of the keys to get passed our own challenges.
The next time you're faced with an impossible task, instead of coming to the conclusion that you can't do it, ask yourself how can you do it.
Saying something like "I can't afford a Porsche" is closed minded. End of story. End of thinking.
A different way to phrase the same challenge is, "What can I do to afford a Porsche?". That'll get the wheels turning in your brain. You'll go down a rabbit hole of possibilities.
Let me detail out my own thinking of how I could afford a Porsche:
Can I subscribe to any websites promoting used Porsche?
Is there a year that I want more than another?
Is there a type of Porsche that I want?
Do I know any other Porsche owners?
Porsche owners probably know other Porsche owners.
I should meet them all in my area. Someday they may want to sell.
If I want a new Porsche, it means I need to find throw away money to do that.
What do I have to do to make an extra $10,000 after tax income a year knowing that in 8 years I'll pay cash for my baby?
It's an extra $200 a week. So instead of watching TV for the next 8 years in my free time, what can I do extra, on the side, to build on my dream to own one of the world's finest automobiles.
I have a kick ass lawn-mower. I could find 5 lawns to mow for $40 each.
Kids sports always need officials. They pay the officials. I like sports. I could officiate my favourite ones on weekends.
That's a lot of work. And most people don't want to do more work. It's easier to numb their brains while they watch the latest episode of their favourite TV show while they say, "I can't afford a Porsche".
Are you willing to work for what you really want? It's that simple.
It's one of those four letter words that I don't want my kids to say.
It's not so much the word that bothers me. It's the line of thinking behind it.
Can't tells me that you've hit a brick wall. You're a bit skeptical about a potential outcome or activity. It generally means you've weighed all that you understand and the desired result is impossible.
The key word to the above sentence is "understand". Limiting beliefs pins our understanding to the ground. It puts us at a disadvantage because we only have one perspective and many times it's the only one we consider.
Knowing what we don't know is one of the keys to get passed our own challenges.
The next time you're faced with an impossible task, instead of coming to the conclusion that you can't do it, ask yourself how can you do it.
Saying something like "I can't afford a Porsche" is closed minded. End of story. End of thinking.
A different way to phrase the same challenge is, "What can I do to afford a Porsche?". That'll get the wheels turning in your brain. You'll go down a rabbit hole of possibilities.
Let me detail out my own thinking of how I could afford a Porsche:
Can I subscribe to any websites promoting used Porsche?
Is there a year that I want more than another?
Is there a type of Porsche that I want?
Do I know any other Porsche owners?
Porsche owners probably know other Porsche owners.
I should meet them all in my area. Someday they may want to sell.
If I want a new Porsche, it means I need to find throw away money to do that.
What do I have to do to make an extra $10,000 after tax income a year knowing that in 8 years I'll pay cash for my baby?
It's an extra $200 a week. So instead of watching TV for the next 8 years in my free time, what can I do extra, on the side, to build on my dream to own one of the world's finest automobiles.
I have a kick ass lawn-mower. I could find 5 lawns to mow for $40 each.
Kids sports always need officials. They pay the officials. I like sports. I could officiate my favourite ones on weekends.
That's a lot of work. And most people don't want to do more work. It's easier to numb their brains while they watch the latest episode of their favourite TV show while they say, "I can't afford a Porsche".
Are you willing to work for what you really want? It's that simple.
Do you want to be another statistic?
I was reading about standard deviations and normal distributions yesterday when I got hit with an ah-ha moment. Here's what I know about normal distribution. The top of the curve in the centre is the mean or the average of all data points plotted on a graph.
In normal distribution, there are approximately 34% of all data points to the left and 34% of all data points to the right of one standard deviation from the mean. Going out two standard deviations from the mean, you will find a total approximately 48% to each side of the mean.
Passed two standard deviations, there is only about 2% on each side.
Whew, that's heavy statistical lifting. To make it simple. Look at the graph to the right. Each white line represents a standard deviation from the middle. If we were looking at businesses revenues against customer loyalty, you would find a similar type of curve. What got me excited was the curve explained that only 2% of businesses would be wildly successful while the 96% cry in mediocrity about the economy. And the remaining 2% would be so bad, their voices would be lost as would their businesses.
It explains why 50% of businesses fail in the first two years of opening. If you're on the left side of this curve, customer loyalty is lower than average and thus, you're losing ground everyday you open your doors.
It also explained why about 97% of airlines worldwide fail. Only 3% were truly remarkable to stay in business. Think Virgin, Southwest Airlines and WestJet.
Most businesses track their sales growth year over year. They expect greater than average increases in growth but aren't willing to make greater than average sacrifices. Average is bad. It's what everyone else has and it's where everyone else competes.
Jim Collins states that the enemy of great is good. To be good is not enough in our hyper competitive market where customers can order product at the click of a mouse.
To be better than average, a business has to be in the 2% of the graph to the extreme right, two degrees of standard deviation away from the mean.
What does it mean to be two degrees away? It means not doing what everyone else does. It means climbing a tree and venturing out on the skinny branch not afraid of falling. It's all about being different in a remarkable way. It means paying maniac attention to detail to wow a customer. It means telling a story so compelling that customers want to tattoo your brand on their bodies.
What are you doing to go two standard deviations away from everyone else? That's where greatness lives.
In normal distribution, there are approximately 34% of all data points to the left and 34% of all data points to the right of one standard deviation from the mean. Going out two standard deviations from the mean, you will find a total approximately 48% to each side of the mean.
Passed two standard deviations, there is only about 2% on each side.
It explains why 50% of businesses fail in the first two years of opening. If you're on the left side of this curve, customer loyalty is lower than average and thus, you're losing ground everyday you open your doors.
It also explained why about 97% of airlines worldwide fail. Only 3% were truly remarkable to stay in business. Think Virgin, Southwest Airlines and WestJet.
Most businesses track their sales growth year over year. They expect greater than average increases in growth but aren't willing to make greater than average sacrifices. Average is bad. It's what everyone else has and it's where everyone else competes.
Jim Collins states that the enemy of great is good. To be good is not enough in our hyper competitive market where customers can order product at the click of a mouse.
To be better than average, a business has to be in the 2% of the graph to the extreme right, two degrees of standard deviation away from the mean.
What does it mean to be two degrees away? It means not doing what everyone else does. It means climbing a tree and venturing out on the skinny branch not afraid of falling. It's all about being different in a remarkable way. It means paying maniac attention to detail to wow a customer. It means telling a story so compelling that customers want to tattoo your brand on their bodies.
What are you doing to go two standard deviations away from everyone else? That's where greatness lives.
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