Can I borrow someone’s life lessons?
Does anyone have any of their life lessons that they wouldn’t mind letting me borrow?
The journey of an inventor/creative/entrepreneur is a fun, rewarding and extremely challenging one. But it seems that almost every lesson learned comes from something not working correctly, a mistake made, or some unfortunate set of circumstances. It is not often you hear, “I knocked it out of the park and boy did I learn from that.”
(crickets chirping)
As I am moving forward with the next phase of theCRICKETtoy® I would like to see if I could skip some of these hard lessons by simply borrowing someone else’s. I promise to return them with nary a scratch. If…if…if we entrepreneurs would learn from the mistakes of others, there is tremendous potential to save a lot of hardship and move towards success a little sooner. If we only would listen. Well, I’m listening.
To make it a ‘fair trade,’ I am offering some of my life lessons in return. This is really a good deal as these lessons I have paid OVER $50,000 for. They are worth that and more!
Here are my life lessons (don’t use these unless you offer something in return though):
• How much money do you have planned that you need for your start-up?
Multiply it times 2 and you’ll be much better off. If you can multiply by 3 you will really be much more prepared.
I create records/projects for a living with my publishing company. I have to make estimates for budgets all the time. But when you start a company, there are just a large number of unforeseen costs that arise. Maybe the mold charges end up costing you $2,000 more because of a defect. Maybe there’s a glitch in the manufacturing. Maybe you spend $30,000 on an advertising/marketing campaign and a volcano hits Europe, a hurricane hits Florida or an earthquake hits California and your huge viral marketing campaign gets NO attention whatsoever. Maybe you fly out and make 20 pitches to prospective clients and the airlines start charging for carry-ons and the price of oil goes up so each flight costs an extra $100. Trust me. You need more money than you think. EVERY business book says this. I am living proof.
• Get everything in writing, even when dealing with friends
A good friend of mine in the publishing world (who once owned the song “Tequila” when it hit big time with Pee Wee Herman) gave me great advice. Someone said to him, “We’re friends. We don’t need a contract.” He responded and said, “Because we’re friends, we need a contract.” Unfortunate circumstances and unforeseen events happen. When everything is written down along the way, expectations are completely clear and there is no ambiguity. The contract SAVES friendships, it does not hurt them. When problems arise, the contract makes it clear what should happen.
• Figure out your strengths and weaknesses
I’m not really a great seller. I’m not great with money/doing the books. I haven’t really done any marketing before. I’m not a big picture sort of person, but I’m great at getting things done. I’m not great at small detail things, but I’m a great big picture/vision casting person.
You really need to figure out where you are naturally gifted, what comes naturally and what is like pulling teeth. You may need to consider hiring a marketing person. You may want to think about a part-time bookkeeper. You may consider an administrative person to help keep things on track. There are certainly times when you must do things that are not your strengths. That’s just life. BUT, make sure that all the critical things for success are being handled at the highest level possible. If that means someone else can do it much better than you (and quicker), see if you can get them involved somehow. Make sure each necessary function of the company is handled by someone that can knock it out of the park if at all possible everytime. Ask a few friends to really give you honest feedback about your strengths and weaknesses (ask your spouse too, BUT be completely appreciative of her answers).
For me, I need a better strategic plan for marketing. I have fun, creative and attention getting ideas at times, BUT they do not all fit within a strategic plan for world domination of theCRICKETtoy®. I’m also not great at small details (like mailing single crickets out). I have an assistant who handles the day to day details who is GREAT at it! What takes me an hour to do, he gets done in 10 minutes.
• Is your baby ugly?
This is the big one. I just can’t say this enough. This was the last quote The Tennessean quoted me on in the article a few weeks back. BEFORE you even get started, find a small group of advisors who will give you completely honest feedback. To me, this is the most fun part of the process. I have ‘theCRICKET team” that is my team of advisors. I have 2 owners of companies, a music producer, a CFO, a healthcare analyst, a executive in another industry, a music publishing guru and a few friends that have similar personalities to me on my team. It was a fairly strategic group of people that I asked to be involved before I even got started. We met when I simply had a sketch of the idea to talk through this. I tell them my idea and how I plan to implement it and they then rip it to shreds. I love that part! Why? Because I have to be able to defend my actions and decisions to them. As I’m explaining to them, I’m also working through my plan and looking for holes myself. The ADD/ADHD thing is a blessing at times as I’m able to completely step outside myself and look at me from the outside(with the team’s help). Make sure to have team of people that you can bounce ideas off, explain your business plan and think outloud with. Also make sure you are willing to accept their opinions if you can not legitimately justify your position. That’s the point of them. If you can’t prove that your baby is not ugly to the team of friends who are there to help you be a success, well then…maybe your baby is ugly.
Those are some of my life lessons as I’ve started out on this entrepreneurial journey of theCRICKETtoy®. As I said, over $50,000 of life lessons I have paid for that I will certainly let anyone borrow. Just let me borrow a couple of yours in return. Fair trade.