They Don't Teach You THIS In School

That's okay... they didn't learn it either.

Aug 16, 2021

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Need to catch up? - Letter 2 & Letter 3 & Letter 4 & Letter 5

In Letter 4, The Rate of Return is Always Smallest When You Follow the Crowd, I referenced in “Multiply” that…

a.) you should always consider finding and learning from a few good players of the game of life who can teach you knowledge, and
b.) learn from them a variety of topics that cover proper nutrition, mindset and mental health, holistic and alternative medicine, individualism, critical thinking and strategy, investing, budgeting and taxation, building and managing wealth, spirituality and meditation, quantum physics and energy, self-love, honesty, respect and communication and emerging markets and technology.

Why?

Because I don’t believe our outdated educational system is doing this… but has it every really.

They can teach you how to follow everyone else, what’s “acceptable” and what’s not, how to prepare for “getting” a job you may not be passionate about, how to memorize your way into college, and how to productize yourself for the businesses that trade you a paycheck for your time and your value.

And as far as business goes, what you learn from doing far outpaces what you learn from textbooks, period.

Some time ago, I wrote a small piece to my younger self about business. Here’s several things I had to learn by doing outside of the classroom:

#1: You have to constantly be thinking of how to work yourself “out” of the business so you’re not stuck “in” it. Your greater vision needs you be freed up to execute it.

Every task you do, every aspect of what you’re building, must be thought about so you can eventually delegate it. Not all of it, but nearly most of it. If you’re stuck “in” the business, then you catch more glass ceilings.

#2: There are two parts to the mundane work. Part 1 is about building character and discipline while mastering your craft. Part 2 is about leveraging systems to do the mundane for you once you’re ready to scale.

Mundane work also equals “details.” The details matter. You have to learn as much as possible and then you have to expand your approach into leveraging technology and systems to scale your efforts.

#3: You cannot delegate what you do not understand, but once you understand it, delegation goes without saying.

Too many people want to hire and source others right out at the gate. I believe you have to know what you’re hiring and sourcing for based on what you’ve already understood. People can’t take as much advantage of you when you know what you want, how you want it and what to look for.

#4: Passion and finance need each other. Channel your passion to make great work. Learn business, finance and cash flow so you can manage and expand your passion.

I believe your art and passions are how to express your soul to the world, but you must also be willing to manage it financially and professionally so it can a.) become its greatest self, and b.) so it’s not taken away by someone else.

#5: Always be thinking “vertical integration.” Own various stages of production that are normally operated by outside separate companies.

Vertically integrate. Owning different parts of the “supply”, “production” or “marketing” chain not only allows you to handle more of your tasks internally, and at better cost, but they can be licensed and leveraged externally to others.

#6: Behave like the leader you’d want to lead you while you lead others.

Be the person you’d want to learn from so you can help others grow just the same. I treat my people with honesty, integrity, transparency, directness, love and kindness. I want to help them drive their lane 150mph.

#7: IQ may get you in the game, but EQ will help you master it.

Skills may get you in the game, but having a high level of emotional intelligence and self awareness will help you navigate people, uncertainty, risk and reward much more efficiently and for the long game.

Read this week’s Simplify, Multiply, Diversify below…👇🏼

SIMPLIFY…

Good marketing doesn’t feel like marketing or selling.

Interpretation…

Good marketing can’t be taught in school because great marketing comes from relatability and experience.

You know and understand what the client or customer needs because you have experienced or identified with it in some capacity. You can relate.

Your goal is simple… based on your experience, can you help them or not? If yes, show them you understand and what you’ve created based on satisfying that need. If not, refer them to vetted resources who can. Either way, you’re helping.

For my boutique growth marketing agency, I always tell my head of operations, we convince nobody. We’re here to help people we can help and we’re here to solve their needs whether it’s from us or someone we trust.

I feel like school might have left some of those details out.

MULTIPLY…

Time + Leverage = Freedom

Freedom comes from investing time (time), energy (leverage) and money (leverage) into yourself. There’s no way around that.

Sooner or later you’re going to have to deal with two inevitable truths.

Time is either working for or against you. That is, you will hit a point where you have to decide whether you are experiencing life or simply selling your time away.
The people who “do more” are not doing more… they are leveraging more… leveraging people, technology and sometimes capital**

**PLEASE NOTE, what holds people back is the thinking that they need to have more capital. I urge you NOT to fall victim to that. The Internet provides two key ingredients… 1.) networks of people, and 2.) tools to deliver value at scale.

Your goal for the next 6 months…

Find where you’re wasting time, energy and money so you can make more time energy and money.

Calculate how much you think you should be making per hour. Then calculate how much you can get a given activity that’s wasting your time for.

If it’s less than what you should be earning per hour, find a person or technology that can do it for you. (i.e. Virtual Assistants, CRM’s, etc. - If you need a good recommendation for either, reply in the comments and I’ve got you covered).

Also, consider the following:

Vetting your clients… alignment will have you executing and earning more.
Narrowing your focus… expand later.
Saying no to things you don’t want to do… so you stay focused.
Create something of value, at a low cost and can be automated online, for people who don’t know you yet but don’t mind paying you to solve an immediate problem.
Calendar everything… so you can see where your time goes and adjust it to where you want it to go.
Automation is your friend when you personalize it. In fact, automation helps you do more for the people you care about. It’s only not your friend when you use it to replace caring.

Again, freedom comes with a responsibility. You have to build it. I wish school would have taught me that I can earn money passively, but I guess they left that part out too.

DIVERSIFY…

Optimization in one area applies the same principles in other areas.. their tools just may look different.

Translation:

Everything requires the same entry point process…

Step 1: You don’t know how to do something that you need for yourself
Step 2: You look at it up close so you can better understand it
Step 3: You make decisions on what you’d like to get out of it
Step 4: You decide on what tools or people you’ll need to make it work for you
Step 5: You put mechanisms in place to make it accountable.

Whether it’s getting in shape, understanding your finances, building your business, creating art, coding online, learning advertising… literally anything… the entry point is always the same. It’s the tools that change.

I remember school telling me there was only one way to do something. Life taught me the other 999 ways they left out.

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