Herman School of Business
Who is your role model?
Before starting my own firms I answered ads that said I could make one hundred thousand dollars a year. In the interview I would ask my first question, “Has anyone actually made one hundred thousand dollars at this job?” Usually they would say, “No, but you could.” Even as egotistical as I am, I would leave that interview immediately.
If you are buying tapes, or books, or going to seminars, or starting any business, check out the results of others and see if that matches your financial goals before you waste a lot of time. When you find out one in a hundred gets rich doing that, what makes you think you are the one in the next hundred. Check out the man or woman who hit your goals and make them your role model, not the rest of the crowd doing it. Don’t believe for a second that running any successful business automatically makes you millions.
On a baseball field there are nine players, a batter and four umpires all at once. Another few dozen are in the dugouts. They are all playing baseball but not all making the same money. Business owners start something hoping to get rich, and then sometimes get trapped. They make just a little more than someone else who “works for the man” and they think they control their own life (the business controls most of their time) and they never hit the big time money. Every company owner is a businessman, but not all businessmen make the big money.
Talk to a person doing what you want to do. Successful people love being mentors. Ask hard and honest questions. The rewards of success are more than money, I could make much more doing a deal than writing this blog…but…this is what I want to do right now. And for sure it is in part because “I already got mine” as they say. And there were countless role models I asked many questions of before launching a new venture or idea. Ringo Starr says, “It don’t come easy…” but if you seek out a role model to help you the road is less uphill. And, only a damn fool would miss the chance now to say, “If you haven’t spent fifteen bucks to buy my book, Hermanisms, how much more time and money will you waste before you do?”
Wander around some business blogs. Find some role models or just keep reading what others are doing and a light bulb might go off over your head.
HERMANISM # 12 Not Knowing Your Real Margins Can Kill You
- Posted: 24 September 2007
- Comments: 0
- Category: Starting a business
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