jungle jeff

What Are the Odds?

Two days ago you saw the post about someone I know who got a separation package.

He saw it coming and started a business in advance of the separation.

Remember?

What I didn’t mention then, but must now, his chances for survival after five years are as good as all the others starting a business.

Entrepreneurial people have to work very, very hard.  Why?  Because if they fail…

But if they succeed, they have amazing opportunities.

But no one ever talks openly about the odds.  You know why?

You do know the odds right?

Seth Godin announced his November Top Book picks. Click here.

Most people, like I was three months ago, are clueless who Seth Godin is.

If you are serious about your career, and committed to becoming better at your leadership performance, and especially your leadership thinking, you better should become familiar with Seth Godin.

I first read Purple Cow (about being remarkable) and now Tribes (about, well, stay tuned).

Seth Godin is also on You Tube and you can start to see how refreshingly different, and amazingly brilliant, his thinking is.

But wait. I almost forgot. Most humans (like 90%) are not proactively seeking change.  Leaders say they embrace change, but how often do you see leaders transforming themselves and others?

My friend is a small business owner.  He’s been in business for over 30 years.  Yesterday he told me, “This is the worst I’ve seen it”.

No one is coming into his store.  He has gotten creative and started, for the first time ever, going out looking for business. If business won’t come to him, he’s going to go to it.

I congratulated him on being successful for so long, and mentioned I started an LLC in January, and the odds are (overwhelmingly) stacked against me. In fact the odds are stacked against anyone starting a (small) business.

History and statistics don’t lie.

What to do?

Figure it out.  Failure is not an option.

History and statistics do not lie.

Masters World Championships, Finland

jungle jeff is absolutely a wellness fanatic.  Most don’t realize this.  Why would they realize it?  Why should they?

I started with one push-up per day for a week and then each new week, add one more push-up per day.  After six weeks, that’s six push-ups per day.

Also started running one mailbox per day for a week and then each new week added another mailbox.  After six weeks, I was running past six mailboxes.  Then walked back.

Through continuous improvement techniques learned at work (fortune 100 company), managed my boredom, injuries, motivation and goals – and after a decade, guess what happened this past Summer?

From one push-up per day ten years ago, to representing the USA at the WMA Master’s Track & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland.  Men’s 400 meters, 50 – 54 age group.

So, excellence can be attained in virtually anything, but you have to be willing to set an impossible goal, work incredibly hard and never give up.  Ya with me?

Seth Godin is like a new BFF.  Why?  Because if I…..

If I have to explain it to you, you may not get it.  Click here to go to his blog.  Highly recommend you read Seth Godin’s blog every day. It’s simple to subscribe to it and you can have it waiting in your in box each morning.

But maybe you’d rather just stick with a plan that’s certain to be safe.

Anyone here remember how Napster destroyed the Music Industry’s decade-old business model?  The Internet is changing all the rules.

Next on deck, 37signals.

Here’s my prediction, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll most likely become a victim of a Napster-like competitor.

Or, you could just stick your head in the sand.

Tribes, by Seth Godin.  Heard of it?  Read it?

The tag line, “We need you to lead us”, really hits home for me.  Why?

Because, in today’s world, if you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of chaos and uncertainty.  “Duh”, right?

What I’d like to challenge is our predisposition to look to others to be better leaders.  When in reality, the real work, where the biggest need is, is right in front of you as you look in the mirror.

Quite complaining about others needing to do this or do that – and presumably thinking that your life will get better as soon as “they” change.

Let the change begin and end with you.  Period.  Because until that happens, you are in no place to expect it from someone else.

Walking through an airport this week, a book title caught my eye, “Exploiting Chaos“.

Why?  If I have to explain this to you, you most likely won’t understand. But, because I’m a sucker for people who want to understand and continuously improve, I’ll give it a brief try here.

Chaos is a paradox.  We can (and probably do) hate chaos.  Or, we can (and probably don’t) love chaos.

Hate it for all of the societal norm reasons most hate chaos.

Love it for all the opportunity it brings.  Yes, opportunity.  So once again, if I have to explain this to you, you won’t understand.  But if I were you, I’d quickly try to figure it out, or get left behind.

Business Consultant

Ever ask a nine-year old for business advice?  I did recently.

Pondering the pros and cons of going solo versus partnering, on a special project.  So, just for kicks, I asked my son (9).

He said, “Two heads are better than one”.

For the next few minutes, my son and I waited for our friend to arrive.

The correct answer in hand, we had a great meeting.

MBA – If you have one, are getting one, or plan to in the future, an MBA carries a certain clout.

People seek clout for a variety of reasons.  Mostly, it would seem, to advance their career and their paycheck.

In a competitive world, key advantages make for good strategy.  But because everyone knows an MBA increases one’s chances over one without an MBA, you’d think more people would actually get an MBA.

So why don’t they?  Not sure.  In fact, it’s really inconsequential.

The MBA I’m pursuing is for the same reasons, but the approach I’m taking is a completely different strategy than anyone else I know.

Seems our similarities are different.

Money.  Can’t live with it, can’t live without it.  Money has always been my biggest stressor.

Eventually, I learned a very simple and very profound rule.  It is the first rule that should be learned.

• Spend less than you earn

What made this most basic of rules so elusive for me, is that I did not subscribe to common sense.  A million reasons for that, which I’ll not even attempt to address.

The second rule I learned is have a business.  After reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” last Christmas, my whole mindset about money was changed forever….