The power of total automation

[mckaneorg]

I am a new member to this forum but i have read some of your comments regarding web development and various technologies. i thought perhaps i would share some of my experencies and that may help you in your endeavors.

i had a company that i started in 1999. i was 22 years old and honestly i had no clue about how to run a business. i did not understand some of the fundamentals of which timothy explains in his book which is the reason we are all here. i had no idea how to even market myself. it is a wonder how i even sold the company in the summer of 2004.

when i left and pulled my head out of the trenches it was shocking to me that now i could see such a vast landscape. i think it was michael gerber who said that businesses dont start from infancy and grow into maturity, they start from maturity.

this is the concept i wish to leave everyone with. as someone who has been there i urge you to do the following.

1) find a mentor

this seems trivial but you need someone that does not do business with you that will not have a biased approach with the advise he or she gives you. you need someone to analyse what you are doing and fine tune your approach so you are a trained assassin versus a street thug. (i like karate movies so i will use martial arts illustrations often... beware!)

2) create a system

many people i talk to on a daily basis tell me what wonderful and new business ideas they have. my response is usually less than favorable because i often hear about how cool there idea is and never hear about how they will generate revenue. i dont know about you but if i were to do something i enjoyed and not get paid it would probably involve a cold beer and me hanging out at the beach. oddly no one has presented that as a business idea but the end result is the same. you retire at the end of the day happy but you have no money. i urge people to create a system and simplify their business mindset without the thought of specific technologies. then when you do have a system find the technologies that will automate your system. do not let advertising dictate to you what your system should be.

3) find the smart people

the older i get the more i delegate. i realize as time goes on that im not the smart one. i am constantly looking for smart people i can hire to work for me because there are people who are specialized assasins in their own unique way. the second you stop being cheap by trying to do it all yourself will be the second you succeed in what your business objective is. delegate to these people and let them do their job.

a captain of a large sea vessel may have the knowledge to run every aspect of his ship but he hires those to get the work done. why? because its hard to steer the ship when your head is in the engine room.


these are just some initial thoughts as i sit here hoping that im not selected for jury duty. yes, my entire organization is operational and i can check status all on my mobile phone. i'm steering the ship not fixing the problems of the day to day. does not mean i dont know about them, its just that there are people to handle them.

jeremy mckane

[Sven]

Welcome to the forum Jeremy. Great pointers!
Sven

[mfornas]

Interesting,

Can you elaborate a bit about automation? How did you prepare the ground to delegate complex things like negotiation, new workflows or marketing?

As Sven pointed: be welcome!

[TimW]

In other words, you summarized Gerber's "E-Myth Mastery", substituting Ninjas in lieu of pie bakers. :D

[mckaneorg]

Yes, I think gerber has some very good points and by no means would I ever discredit what he has said because I do believe it to be somewhat profound. However, there are some things that I think are important.

You asked about the delegation of "complex" things like marketing and negotiation.

Remember my illustration of the ship, I think that most people understand this because they have been on a ship of some kind. Its obvious that the captain might possibly be able to be the crew, the engineer and the navigator all in one but how effective will he be. hence the need to delegate.

In my experience on this short time on earth I have found that I had allot of time wasters. These are people who will suck you of your precious time that could be spent either making money or enjoying your or both.

I learned early on that there was no law that said I ever had to call someone back. There was a man I met in Dallas some years back who said someone is either a suspect or a prospect. You dont know they are a prospect until they are prescreened.

1) Delegation of telephone calls
Timothy had it right by getting a virtual assistant. I found a company who really had it right. I put them to work just answering my phones because I felt that was something I could delegate. Remember in my previous post I said create a system. You need to create a system to know WHAT to delegate. Its obvious to anyone building an empire that answering calls will most likely be one of the things that will be a part of your system that will need delegation. So there, done... first line item.

I ask my assistants that I pay a mere $125 per month for to do the following. I want to know WHO is calling, WHAT do they want, HOW can i reach them, and WHEN can I call them back. Sometimes my assistants fail up and I will get an email that says: "John called and he said you have his number."

Unfourtunately for John, I probably wont call him back but I will ask my assistants to be very strong on how they take my messages or I will not accept the messages. I need them to be thorough. Maybe not as much as my personality is but as close as possible. WHEN YOU DELEGATE NOTHING WILL BE PERFECT.

I do this process because if I call you back and I don't know why your calling minutes are wasting and I don't know whats going on because I am not prepared. The other reason I do this is that I can tell pretty quick in an email from my assistant if you are a waste of time. If you are, the chances of you getting a call back are under 1%.

EVEN IF YOU ARE A SUSPECTIVE CLIENT. I may not answer, with what I do every day I have been very good a determining if someone is worth my time. That is the prescreening process I am explaining to you guys.


OK BACK TO THE REAL TOPIC

You asked specifically about negotiation and marketing and I just went on a total tangent.

Negotiation is one of those things that I am less likely to delegate and here is the main reason why. My wife for instance is looking into a home maid service and they will most likely give us times and prices that are customary to their business. Now I am very unlikely to get in the middle of that even though it affects me. Its one of those deals where I just prefer someone else deal with it because its just not worth my time and resources.

Here is another example of why I would do it myself. I once had a business partner who said that he needed to pay for a couple of personal items on our business card. I was not too keen on the idea because it makes trouble for tax purposes. It added to my accounting issues. But our business was doing poorly and I told him that it would be ok. Well I gave an inch, he took a mile. Pretty soon that bill got to be an enourmous amount. I mean huge and it was filled with things that I could not deduct as business expenses. Well he left and I got stuck with the bill because I PERSONALLY guaranteed the credit. (LIFE LESSON)

So at first glance I could say, well I will hire someone to negotiate with the credit card company. But I didn't. (There are reasons for hiring those kinds of people but I can discuss that at a later date) I actually worked everything out. I callled them up and did not give excuses but I stated that I would not be paying the full amount and right off the bat they threatened me. I told them that I would talk to them in 1 month to see if they were serious and hung up the phone. The next month the same gentleman was still not nice but was able to work with me. He realized both of us were at an impass but both parties were working to a resolution. In the end I settled my debt with them for 20% of what was owed.

Now i learned several lessons on why the "CAPTAIN" should be the cheif negotiator. I once was told that the highest paid profession in america is flapping your lips. You see if I owed 20,000 and I only paid 4000 then I made 16000 by just flapping my lips. I learned that people would be more open to doing this when buying something from me by me asking "What is the most you would pay for a service like this." Or "What is your budget?" then i follow up with "Thats all you can come up with to invest in your business?" then a bit more comes. Now I dont always do that but there are times for it. I have learned that if I were to out source that, then well I would be outsourcing the captain.


MARKETING

I said previously to find smarter people than you. I'm a good marketing brain but I found someone way better and I don't mind saying it because he is a genius. I asked him to be a part of my team because I think he is really going places and if he was gullible enough to let me tag along then I would look pretty good :)

I just did my research. I found a ton of people doing the same things in different ways. Rene my marketing genius has done new things in new and exciting ways.

Does that mean you stop looking for others. No, Anyone who knows me in the Dallas area knows that I am a huge networker. I goto all of the events that I can get my hands on. I do this because you never know who you might be able to pool people up with or do business with in the future.

I hope I answered your questions...

[nghs22]

Great post mate. Thanks so much! Any more info you would like to share on this type of stuff or your experiences would definitely benefit the board! :)

[mckaneorg]

anything i can do to help others. I just have learned from other mentors. Its made all the difference and if someone has a question i can answer I would be more than happy to share.

[DrifterInc]

WOW... this post makes me very happy that I have fixed pricing, and pay staff based on my requirements for their pay and not theirs... your right you can't outsource negotiation so if you time is the most valuable thing you have find ways not to have to negotiate very often.