Last Saturday I gathered up a ‘coalition of the silly’ to take part in the first annual ‘King Krawl’ up in Baltimore. We had a few entrepreneurs and Maverick members like Chris Daigle, Andy Miller, Ian Platt, Chad Mac, Rob Olic and Dave Dolak. And we had a few of my brother, Adam’s, former college friends.
There were about 10 of us all dressed up as the King that invaded Baltimore.
We basically had 2 rules.
Rule #1 – Stay in Elvis costume all night.
Rule #2 – See rule #1
We got some serious stares from people starting with the cab ride over to my brother’s house in Canton. At stop lights, people were yelling and taking pictures of us. Then when we got up to my brother’s place we added another 3 Elvi’s to our group to bring us to 10 strong.
Here are a couple photos before the ensuing antics:
And here’s a little video as we ate dinner:
It was a total motley crew of different Elvis outfits and sequined suits. I was the only brave enough (or stupid enough) to wear the fat costume. That was one of my favorite outfits when Frank Kern and I did a road rally a few years back when we barely fit into our lime green Lotus with our fat suits on.
Everywhere we went, we definitely created a scene from people wanted pictures with us to them asking us WHY we were doing this. There were lots of different answers and we never had our story straight. Some of the guys said it was for my birthday, others said they were lobbying to bring the Elvis convention to Baltimore and my favorite explanation someone made up was “The King for E.D.” Then we would sing “Viva Viagra!”
It got a bit crazy – and I have to hand it to the DJs of most to the bars. Within 5-10 minutes of walking in they’d put on some sort of Elvis song. Then we’d do a little hip wiggling and really bad singing for the crowd. People at the bars were pretty polarized – they either thought it was funny and wanted in on the action or thought we were a bunch of idiots and wanted no part of us.
I think both groups were sorta right.
**
Stellar Service in New York? Yup!
Yesterday I headed into New York City for a few meetings with WIRED and an interview with the ‘Forbes Adventurer’, Jim Clash, on my upcoming Virgin Galactic Space flight. Last night, Dan Schorr, our head of sponsorship and partnership at Maverick, headed to The Modern for dinner. He developed a relationship with Danny Meyers, the famed CEO of several top NYC restaurants including the Modern and author of “Setting the Table”.
One of the touchstones of Danny’s book is his philosophy of ‘Enlightened Hospitality’. He hires people who are eager to serve others and do whatever it takes to make their meals memorable.
I wanted to go to one of his restaurants to check out how they do it and keep my antennae up for marketing nuggets. Now the Modern is a pretty upscale restaurant but Danny’s restaurants range from the elegant to a simple ‘Shake Shack’ serving up shakes (obviously) & burgers & hot dogs.
The meal at the Modern is a typically a tasting menu or a 3-course prixe fixe menu. I went for the tasting menu accompanying by a glass of wine for each course. The service was spot on and the food was excellent – but the real story of ‘Enlightened Hospitality’ came about ¾ of the way through our dinner.
Our table backed up to table of a 50-something couple who were obviously not happy with each other. He was yelling at her about why her parents had to come for Thanksgiving to just general obscenities. Seriously. As the night progressed they got louder and louder. Dan was right behind them and it was impacting our dinner conversation. I headed off to the bathroom and while I was gone our wine steward and waiter, Nick, did something pretty interesting. He came to the table and overly exaggerated to spill a small amount of bottled water on our table. Then in a loud voice (to make sure the other couple could hear) he said, “Oops…how clumsy of me. I can’t believe I spilled water all over the table. We can’t have you sitting at a wet table so let me move you over right away.” Then a team of 7 swooped in and moved our table, wine glasses (probably 6 of them) and meals across the dining room.
I walked out of the bathroom and stood awestruck for a second because our table was completely cleared. I looked around and found Dan across the room. The staff had correctly assessed the situation as being irksome and did something really smart (but at the same time not embarrassing to the other couple).
The Story of Stellar Service that “MUST” be Told
Problems like these handled incredibly well create stories of stellar service that people want to share. It’s a pretty powerful marketing concept because Dan and I are practically forced to tell others about this experience. In fact, he already mentioned it to 3 people including the publisher of WIRED magazine. And now I’m sharing it on my blog for even more exposure for them.
Well, if you ask most people – those words above are associated with people in business.
Plus you can throw in a few more choice ones like “greedy”, “rip-off”, “crooks”, etc. Or some well-worn phrases easily slip off the tongue like “Filthy Rich” and “Money is the root of all evil”.
Throughout history, in the media or just day-to-day interaction entrepreneurs and business owners have been negatively portrayed?
In fact, just today in the car with my Father-in-law he mentioned a company with a multi-billion dollar 1st quarter earning and how ‘sickening’ it was. Like it should be criminal to earn that kind of profit or something immoral was done to get it.
Why?
Maybe it’s because we haven’t quite had the words or perhaps a big enough reason to defend ourselves?
A few months ago, while at Necker Island, one of guests there, Jon Butcher, showed a video to everyone there during our Virgin Unite brainstorming session. We didn’t know what to expect but we politely obliged.
After it was done, it seemed to have a tremendous impact on everyone there including Sir Richard Branson. You see, Jon had taken a lot of our thoughts on entrepreneurship, value creation and even the morality of capitalism that were swimming around in our heads, and finally expressed it. Yes, in our hearts, as entrepreneurs, we seem to instinctively realize as “producers” we provide incredible value – but have never stopped to put it together in this way.
The original video was pretty rough around the edges and after our reaction at Necker Jon went back to his house to polish it up. I believe it’s only been seen a few dozen people so far and I told Jon it’s time for the message to be heard by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs. I posted it below so you can view it. I must warn you it’s a bit long – 15 minutes and 10 seconds. But the points raised are incredibly important because the stakes (as Jon will explain) are high.
Check it out and leave a comment – would love to hear your thoughts.
Note: Jon is the founder of ‘My Lifebook’. It’s a new innovative life development company to help you create your own dream life. I have not had a chance to go to Chicago yet to experience – but I will be soon.
* Update: Some people are having trouble with the video – I’m asking Jon to upload to YouTube also. *
Additionally, as I was thinking about this topic I also came across the transcript of “Francisco’s Money Speech” from Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shurgged” (one of my all-time most influential books). I think it’s especially pertinent.
“…If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents…”
Two days ago Missy woke up with her stomach in knots because she had to call our maid, M., to fire her. M. had been cleaning our house for the last few years but she’s been getting progressively worse. She went on vacation for 2 weeks and we started using Missy’s sister’s maid and they’ve been way more thorough. So now it was time to let M. go but Missy had been procrastinating about it.
She’s been putting this off for nearly 2 weeks now and it got me thinking about our ‘tough’ decisions. Like most everyone else I too have struggled with making the kind of decisions that leave us feeling uncomfortable.
It’s easier to keep putting them off but that doesn’t do any good.
I know any time I’ve had a decision weighing on me it’s something that keeps nagging at me and leaves me feeling uneasy. But when I finally make the hard call or have the difficult it’s never really as bad as I had worked it up to be. In fact, I’ve found the longer you ruminate on it the worse it gets.
Thinking back here are a few vivid examples that spring to mind…
Buying Our First Place…
When Missy and I were engaged we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Bethesda, MD. It’s a great place because you can walk everywhere and there are towns of restaurants and quaint shops. (In fact, I tell visitors that Bethesda has the most restaurants per square foot of any city. I’m not 100% sure that’s an accurate fact but I think it’s true and it sounds good.)
Anyway, the two of us really loved it there but wanted some place bigger. Plus, this was the time when my online business first started taking off. So we went searching for a place in Bethesda – but everything was pretty over-priced (or we thought it was anyway). But we found a nice 2-bedroom apartment in our building but it faced the opposite side from where we lived at the time. It overlooked NIH (National Institute of Health) and the view was nothing special. What’s more, the sun hit that side in the morning instead of the afternoon like our other place we were currently renting.
Regardless, we wanted to buy our own place and decided within a few days to buy the place. Then it started…
We both should have been really excited but we weren’t. Come to think of it we were sort of depressed the next day. What had we done?
Missy ended up calling up one of her sorority friends, Gina, who was an attorney to see what we could do to get out of the contract. I can’t remember the exact specifics on number of days but it was something like 3 days you could rescind the contract with a written notification. We had a letter drafted and delivered it our real estate agent (who also lived in our building) at the 11th hour. But it was done and we didn’t have to go through with buying the apartment. Ahhhh…..Joy & relief took hold again.
The big lesson for me here was we didn’t listen to our gut feeling about it not feeling right. I know that sounds wishy-washy and woo-woo – but I don’t think enough people (especially men) pay attention to their gut. 2 interesting follow-ups on this:
1) My best friend, John, did buy an apartment in our building too. His faced the side of the street we liked and he ended up making a tidy profit when he sold a few years later.
2) When we bought our first house – the gut feeling was right and Missy instantly knew she was in the right spot. (Same with our current place.)
Breaking Away from My Dad’s Business…
Definitely one of the biggest decisions gnawing at me for awhile was whether or not to leave my Father’s medical equipment sales & service business. Originally when I started working with him (since I was 14 selling latex gloves) and thought that I would work in it to really grow it. But I started getting the ‘itch’ to go on my own in 1998.
That’s when I started experimenting with the information marketing business selling to doctors resources and tools on how to get more cosmetic patients. I remember the very first ad I ran – it was a little classified ad in Dermatologic Surgery Journal. I ended up getting exactly 10 leads. Now I didn’t have my course ready but I had a 30-page sales letter to mail out. I sent it to all 10 leads and waited…and waited…and waited.
Nothing.
Every time the fax machine rang at my Dad’s office I’d go up there to see if it was an order. (I was using his fax # on my order page to save money.) It was like some sort of Pavlovian conditioning where I’d hear the dial tones and start running – but to no avail.
I sent out a 2nd notice and still nothing. Finally, I mailed out a 3rd notice highlighting the approaching deadline for all the bonuses (I had yet to create). On the final day of the deadline – I went up to the fax machine to watch it slooooooooowly print out my very first order for $900! It was awesome! I can still remember that feeling. After I peeled myself off the ceiling – I realized I had to create the product and bonuses that were only an outline. I wrote a letter back to my first customer telling him the material was going to be republished and would be available in 30 days – and that we would not charge his card until then.
And that was the start of my little info marketing empire.
My Dad was pretty flexible and let me continue using his office as my home base. I would seriously answer my cell phone under my desk when it rang with customers to talk to them or take orders. It got to the point where I was literally counting the minutes until 5pm so I could work on my own stuff. And then my Dad let me start taking Fridays off so I could work on my own projects.
The idea that I was somehow ‘betraying’ him and the family business was eating me up. I knew my heart wasn’t into his business anymore and I finally decided I had to break away. My Dad wanted me to grow his business and work with him side-by-side. I decided I couldn’t continue living my life under the expectations of someone else. I had to do what was right for me. And it was actually nearly 9 years ago to the day that I left the company – July 1, 1999.
It was bittersweet as they had a small going away party for me but I knew it was the right decision. Looking back, it’s was by far the best decision I ever made for my financial future. My Dad was worried that I might fail – but that’s okay too. Part of independence is getting your nose bloodied a little in the real-world.
Attending My First Seminar…
While studying and applying the direct marketing methods I began learning – I got sent an invitation to attend a high-priced copywriting seminar put on by Dan Kennedy. This was back in October 1998 I almost passed up an opportunity that I would later realize was the turning point in my business (and bank account).
My fledging information marketing business to doctors might have been pulling in maybe $2,000 or $3000/mo – so no great shakes. I was really hesitant and unsure about spending several thousand dollars and missing several days of work (both of which I couldn’t really afford) to head out to Phoenix to attend this seminar.
I asked my Dad about it and he was making fun of me and telling me I shouldn’t go. He would chide me (in his thick Russian accent) “Mr. Yanik, why do you want to throw away your money. If you have so much of it I can help you get rid of it. Don’t you already have enough of these books and tapes?”
But I bit the bullet and decided to go.
Frankly, if I had listened to him I know I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today. I can directly attribute that single event to the moment when several things all ‘clicked’ for me and I “got it”. I discovered the power of how to use words and turn them into cash windfalls. Of course nobody ever looks back on an opportunity they DIDN’T take and remembers that as the turning point in their lives. [Side note: Speaking of seminars and missing out on opportunities – there is a limited window to pick-up the Underground® 4 DVD & CD recordings. They go back into the vault on July 1, 2008.]
Personally, I’ve found that people regret the things you don’t do much more than you things they do. And that’s exactly how I want to live my life – not thinking of ‘shoulda’, ‘coulda’ or ‘woulda’s.
In fact, I believe most of what we consider tough decisions are really illusions that we’ve built up in our own heads. (btw – if you haven’t read the book Illusions by Richard Bach – get it!) Most of the really tough decisions are a whole lot easier once we reach that decision – it’s simply the wavering, the gestating, the thinking, the unease that comes from being in limbo that really hurts. But once the decision is done – there this wave of calm and tranquility that sweeps over me.
With that in mind – here are 5 things you can try when you are faced with a tough decision:
1) Think about what’s the worst case scenario – What is the worst possible thing that can happen if I make the wrong decision? With going off on my own – I had those wild thoughts of my Father disowning me. He might have been disappointed but he didn’t flip out.
2) Listen to your gut – this is huge! Don’t try to rationalize your way out of decision making – you’ve got incredible wisdom stored inside you that is willing to help if you allow it.
3)Create a deadline for a decision – if you give yourself an indefinite amount of time to decide on a course of action you’ll drive yourself crazy. Think of yourself as a high powered CEO of your own life who MUST make decisions quickly. Even if they are wrong 49% of the time – you’ll be ok more often than not.
4) Visualize your ideal outcome – anytime I have a real nagging dilemma or something I’m worried about I use my friend, John Harricharan’s, “Power Pause” exercise. You take 3 minutes (1 minute for each part) to think about #1 – What you want to happen. #2 – How you feel when this happens. #3 – What you are grateful for in your life.
5) Band-aid solution– you know how it sucks to pull off band aids (especially for us hairier people)? Well the secret is just pull it off quickly! Nothing is worse than paralysis by analysis. You’ll never have ALL the information you need. Get what you can – and do the best you can. Then move on.
And bonus decision making tip – flip a coin. That’s how I decided to propose to Missy. Seriously (shhh….don’t tell her)
Actually getting back to Missy. She couldn’t get a hold of M. so she came to clean our house as usual on Tuesday. Missy told her in-person that we weren’t going to use her anymore and M. seemed relieved. It seems that there were some other clients she wanted to work for but couldn’t because she was at our house on Tuesdays. There you go – all that angst and gut-wrenching turmoil could have been avoided.
Do you have a decision making technique you use that helps?
Or how have you made it through tough decisions in your life? If you’re comfortable leaving a comment on that – it’d be great to hear that…
Just a quick note today before I head out to play hockey.
3 big events in the Silver household.
#1 – Probably the biggest one is Zak went poop on the potty today for the first time. Yes, that tops the list by far. He’s been peeing for a few days but he would only go in a diaper before this. We all jumped around like crazy people and applauded. Here’s a quick snapshot of him triumphant in the bathroom with his victory lollipop:
This was from our last Las Vegas trip. There were a couple little points in the article that weren’t quite correct (like us being a guy’s club – we’re not) or all Internet entrepreneurs (we got $100M manufacturing companies in there as members). But overall – I think it turned out well. (Check out Brad Fallon in the picture – the angle makes him look a little Neanderthal-like.)
If you were interested in attending a Maverick experience – the next one (with female members coming) is Aug. 13 -17, 2008 in Aspen. We only got 5 spots left! We’re doing Whitewater rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking and a 4×4 excursion.
#3 – We launched the new Underground 4 DVDs & CDs today. They are going back into the vault on July 1st (or sooner once all 500 sets are sold-out). If you missed out attending live this is the next best thing! I had a bunch of attendees make it a point to come up and tell me it was the best Underground event yet. (And that’s definitely saying a lot considering who we’ve brought it before.) I guess it makes sense since added together the grand total our speakers sell each year totals nearly $1B (yes, One Billion!) online. The last one was definitely our biggest and baddest one yet. There were about 328 sets last time I checked earlier.
So all in all a busy little day over here. We got our Spring league playoff hockey game for the Chiefs tonight and I’m in charge of buying beer so I need to scoot.
As promised, I’ll share with you how I got kicked off Necker Island.
But first to get you up to speed on my adventures – we’ll talk about Las Vegas first. That was for our last Maverick Business Adventures™ experience – what we called “Airborne Action” since everything took place in the air. It was a whirlwind of experiences from the quintessential Vegas nightlife to real work getting done to a ton of fun and celebrity guests.
After the first day’s work sessions we hung out for dinner & drinks with Peter Diamandis, founder of the X-Prize foundation and Rick Searfoss, former NASA astronaut. Rick gave us a little glimpse into what we’d be experiencing the next day during our Zero-Gravity flight.
It didn’t quite turn out that way and I’ll tell you about that in a second. But first, the next morning was jumpstarted by a guest presentation by Peter Diamandis on innovation. Peter’s X-Prize Foundation was the $10M prize established for a ship that could go into space successfully 2 times in 2 weeks. Burt Rutan’s SpaceShip One did that in 2004 and then Virgin licensed their technology. No doubt, Peter is truly a visionary and largely responsible as the driving force for the private space industry coming into play today. (As you guys know already, I’m #144 on Virgin Galactic and that’s a direct result of the X Prize.)
The X-Prize has now grown to have prizes in all sorts of competitions from the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics to the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE and beyond.
He even gave us insights into how he’s getting an entire new sport started with his Rocket Racing League. (Look it up – it’s very cool!) Most of the comments Maverick members had were around thinking bigger and Peter gave us permission to do so.
After Peter’s session we all headed out to the Zero-G training facilities to meet Tony Hawk. (Yep, the skateboarding and sports business icon.) Tony shared with us his secrets to success and how he’s built a $500M brand around skateboarding starting from scratch. We also auctioned off 4 autographed decks to support his Tony Hawk Foundation and raised over $10,000.00 in 5 minutes from members, Tim Storm, Mike Filsaime, Jason Abernathy and Buck Rizvi.
After that we all boarded up the bus to head over to our airplane for Zero-G. We literally pulled up to the plane and I heard some of the Zero-G staff cell phones going off. Not good. They pulled me aside to tell me there was a part on the emergency slide that was broken and we weren’t allowed to take off. They weren’t even sure if the part would be here tomorrow or if we could get up in the air the next day. Yikes!
Dejected we got out of our flight suits and made a quick detour to private cabanas at MGM’s newest pool-side party ‘Wet Republic’. (Now as a side note – this is a great marketing example of increasing the transaction value from customers. Vegas was already known for its nightlife and now they are adding consumption during the day with it’s ‘daylife’. It started with “Rehab” at the Hard Rock’s pool on Sunday but now a whole lot of other resorts have got into it from Venetian’s TAO Beach to Mandalay to this newest one, Wet Republic. It’s a total dance club party atmosphere just with a whole lot more sunshine instead of dim lights.
Customers are stepping up for bottle service and private cabanas during the day which translates into new revenues from a previously down time. It’s just like the popular Orange Juice campaign trying to increase consumption by saying Orange Juice wasn’t just for breakfast anymore. Good marketing lesson to consider how you can increase the consumption of your customers.)
Okay back to our plight…
The Zero-G crew worked tirelessly to find us that part and were able to reschedule for the next afternoon. So we headed to dinner that night and then to our private poker party. You can see me at the final table doing my best impression of Phil Laak, poker’s ‘unabomber’.
Trust me, I don’t play poker but I actually did pretty well and got 6th place. Sitting to my left was Kascper Postawski looking amused at my antics. Kacper was the guy who knocked me out with a total bluff and won on the River. I guess I shouldn’t feel that bad since he ended up winning the tourney and later told us he used to play cards semi-professionally.
The next morning we hit Air Combat where each person got to take the controls of their plane and become a jetfighter for a day. Here’s Maverick Member and Elite MasterMind member, Craig Ballantyne on the wing of his plane.
I was up against Mike Geary and he ended up taking me 3-2 because I hit the hard deck and self destructed. Flying was very cool since these planes had such maneuverability and you could pull about 4Gs if you were really pushing it hard. I guess I can feel a little better about being knocked out of the tournament because Kacper ended up hurling inside the plane from the G-forces. Not that I thought that was funny or anything.
Straight from AirCombat we gathered back at Zero-G for Zero Gravity flight. This time we took off without a hitch. Here’s a cool shot of me with my Voodoo PC laptop. (Maybe this will one of my new PR shots.)
Here’s Eben Pagan without his trademark pink shirt – having a good time in Zero-G. (There’s something about this activity that really turns people into little kids again!)
Speaking of little kids – there were 3 of us, Chris Zavadowski, Mike Filsaime and myself, who had already done the Zero-G flight. You’ve probably seen astronauts do the tricks in zero-gravity with water as they float around and gulp it down. Well Zero-G provides you with little water bottles to try that yourself. As you might have guessed it got out of control pretty quickly.
Chris took his entire bottle and simply flung it on me. It was one long stream of water suspended in mid-air until we returned to normal gravity. Of course, I had to get revenge and told our in-air coach, Loretta, I needed several bottles of water. It turned into an all-out water fight with us sitting in huge puddles. Loretta told us she’d never seen the plane this wet except for one other time. And that was for a 7-UP commercial where they planned on getting that wet.
Here’s Chris before he decided to turn into a 6-year old.
And here’s after (a bit drenched):
Then here’s us being scolded by Loretta:
To put on a full Vegas experience, I bought everyone Elvis wigs and sunglasses so here are a few of the members rocking their new look (we had nearly everyone ready with their wigs and glasses until our Zero-G flight got canceled the first day so these are the hard-core flying elvises):
We had a pretty jam-packed schedule since we had to move Zero-G to the afternoon and we headed out to a surprise Scotch tasting dinner with Steve Beal, one of only 7 ‘Masters of Scotch’ in the world.
Mavericks were treated to a full flight of Scotch starting from Johnny Walker Black to one of their rarest, Johnny Walker Blue label. I’ve never had an entire dinner consisting of Scotch so it was a real eye-opening experience. And then to cap off the dinner – every member was given a personally engraved bottle of Johnny Walker Blue in a silk-lined presentation box.
But we weren’t done after dinner since it was Vegas after all…I gathered up a group of about a dozen of us and headed to TAO in the Venetian for our private VIP table. It turned into a real crazy night with me getting home about 6 AM and just in time for 15 minutes of sleep before getting onto the helicopters into the Grand Canyon.
In all the times I’ve been to Vegas – I’ve never made it out into the Grand Canyon so this was very cool. We took Maverick Helicopters (no relation yet) and they are the only helicopter company authorized to fly deeper and further into the Grand Canyon than any other company. And just like in one of the best scenes from “Apocalypse Now” – there was a song track of “The Ride Of The Valkyries playing in the helicopter. (Just no attack formation.)
I took the red-eye home and flew on Virgin America for the first time. They rocked! First Class was pretty cheap – something like $500 and really a lot nicer than our domestic airlines. They just do smart things like actually asking customers what they don’t like about air travel. VA has plugs in the seats so you can plus in your electrical crap like laptops the whole trip. I mean this isn’t rocket science but it makes a big difference. They also will bring out your food whenever you want – not when it’s convenient for them. The whole atmosphere is cool like any Virgin Atlantic, which I’ve flown before. And the reason I bring Virgin up (aside from the marketing lesson of actually listening to customers) is because it leads into my next trip…Necker Island.
Okay now the part about Necker for those of you waiting…
After returning home for about 36 hours I was off to the British Virgin Islands. One of the big things I wanted to try on Necker was kiteboarding. It takes about 3-4 lessons before you can get out of the water. I skipped a few meetings to make sure I could get some good time in to learn.
I can see why people would get hooked on it. Charlie, my instructor, told me he taught Larry Page, from Google had to kiteboard on Necker. And now he’s big time into it. Unfortunately, my big kiteboarding expedition was slightly a bust. By the time I moved into the water for my lesson on getting up – the wind pretty much died down. And then for the next 2 days we didn’t have enough wind to go out. Oh well, now I have a big reason to return.
The place is absolutely gorgeous and I can understand why Branson lives there year-round now. The story of how he bought the place for £180,000 is a great lesson in negotiation and tenacity. It’s in his “Losing My Virginity” book and worth checking out. Plus, once he bought it – he had to develop it within 5 years or else ownership went back to the government. So this become a reason for him to work hard on Virgin Records to make more money. And as the Rolling Stones or Janet Jackson had a hit – he’d build a new piece of the island.
Here are a few pictures showing some of the different looks to the island (click to enlarge):
Here’s some video from the island showing how we got served sushi in the pool. That was awesome! You literally jumped into the pool to have sushi with this huge boat of fish floating around. Very cool!
I was excited that Richard hung out with us for many lunches and dinners. In fact, one day at lunch he told me to get a 4-hand massage at the spa and I wasn’t disappointed. The 4-hand massage is a massage with both the masseuses at the same time.
Getting Kicked Off Necker…
One of the stand-out moments of the trip had to be getting a letter handed to me at dinner my final night by the staff. I asked, “Is this my bill?”
“No,” she replied, “You get those in the morning”. Hmmmm….
Here’s the note I got:
I thought it was a joke. The night before we had found the guest room roster and room list and called Joe Polish, Dean and a bunch of other people at 1 or 2 AM to tell them to come back to the bar and drink. Then we sorta ‘updated’ their food preferences inside the kitchen but otherwise we didn’t do anything *that* crazy.
Joe grabbed the letter and then gave to Branson. Richard said, “Well…the manager is a bit serious sometimes but I’ll see what I can do to sort it out. Don’t you worry. Just enjoy your dinner.”
And just for that moment I gulped and thought it might be true until Richard blurted out it was a joke 30 seconds later. Here’s a photo we took depicted me being kicked off the island.
I don’t think I can quite express how awesome the entire experience was. On my final day we had a chance to brainstorm with the head of Virgin Unite about how to get more entrepreneurs involved in their charitable efforts. I have a call with them this week so I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about this. Plus, I’m looking into how we can get involved with the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in Africa. It’s really exciting stuff but I’m glad to be home for a few weeks to chill out with the family.
As some of you know I was just in Necker Island, Sir Richard Branson’s private island. I came as a guest of my friends, Joe Polish and Dean Graziosi.
They had developed a relationship with Richard and set up for us to hold a brainstorming session with Virgin’s charity foundation – VirginUnite. Branson has always been one of my business heroes from the way he lives his life to the fullest to his business success. I’ve been fortunate to have the chance to meet many of my mentors/heroes and most of them left me feeling uninspired. With Branson – it’s the opposite. I’m even more impressed and inspired.
I met Richard for a few moments at SpaceShip Two’s unveiling but this was exponentially different. Being with him and about a dozen other guests created a cool, intimate environment for real conversation and interaction. Here’s a quick pic of us at the first night’s dinner BBQ on the beach:
And here’s my view every morning on Necker:
I’ll be sharing some more pictures, videos, observations and insights shortly. (A little teaser – I’ll tell you about how I got kicked off Necker Island in the next post.)
Getting back to it, I was flying on the way home from Necker and I was so inspired with our time there that I started creating my rules for successful entrepreneurial endeavors. I thought it would be top 10 list but I kept writing and writing in my journal and it came to 34 tenets that I’m calling…
34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs
It’s got to be a BIG idea that you, your team and your customers can “get” in seconds.
Strive to create 10x – 100x in value for any price you charge. Your rewards are always proportionate to the value you provide.
You must charge a premium price so you have a large margin to provide an extraordinary value & experience.
Provide a ‘Reason Why’ customers should do business with you and pay you a premium.
Get paid before you deliver your product or service. And when possible figure out how to create recurring revenue from transactions.
You get to make the rules for your business. Don’t let industry norms dictate how you’ll work or who you’ll work with.
Create your business around your life instead of settling for your life around your business.
Consistently and constantly force yourself to focus on the ‘critically few’ proactive activities that produce exponential results. Don’t get caught up in minutia & bullshit.
Seek to minimize start-up risk but have maximum upside potential.
Get your idea out there as fast as possible even if it’s not quite ready by setting must-hit deadlines. Let the market tell you if you have a winner or not. If not – move on and fail forward fast! If it’s got potential – then you can make it better.
Find partners and team members who are strong where you are weak and appreciate being paid on results.
Your reputation always counts. Honor your obligations and agreements.
Never, ever get paid based on hours worked.
Leverage your marketing activities exponentially by using direct response methods and testing.
Measure and track your marketing so you know what’s working and what’s not.
Bootstrap. Having too much capital leads to incredible waste and doing things using conventional means.
Your partners and employees actions are their true core – not what they tell you.
Keep asking the right questions to come up with innovative solutions. “How?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “Who Else?” & “Why?” open up possibilities.
You’ll never have a perfect business and you’ll never be totally “done”. Deal with it.
Focus most of your time on your core strengths and less time working in areas you suck at.
Make it easier for customers to buy by taking away the risk of the transaction by guaranteeing what you do in a meaningful way.
Always have something else to sell (via upsell, cross-sell, follow-up offer, etc) whenever a transaction takes place. The hottest buyer in the world is one who just gave you money.
Always go back to your existing customers with exceptional offers and reasons they should give you more money. It’s 5x less expensive to sell to happy customers than go find new ones.
However the flip side is – fire your most annoying customers. They’ll be replaced with the right ones.
The marketplace and competitors are always trying to beat you down to a commodity. Don’t let that happen.
Develop and build your business’s personality that stands out. People want to buy from people.
Create your own category so you can be first in the consumer’s mind.
Go the opposite direction competitors are headed – you’ll stand out.
Mastermind and collaborate with other smart entrepreneurs if they have futures that are even bigger than their present.
Celebrate your victories. It’s too easy to simply move on to your next goal without acknowledging and appreciating the ‘win’.
Make your business AND doing business with you FUN!
Do the unexpected before and after anything goes wrong so customers are compelled to ‘share your story’.
Get a life! Business and making money are important but your life is the sum total of your experiences. Go out and create experiences & adventures so you can come back renewed and inspired for your next big thing.
Give back! Commit to taking a % of your company’s sales and make a difference. It this becomes a habit like brushing your teeth pretty soon the big checks with lots of zeros won’t be scary to write. If you think you can’t donate a percentage of your sales simply raise your price.
Side note on #34: Now after meeting and brainstorming with the team at VirginUnite – I’d strongly recommend them as a candidate because of the way they are creating entrepreneurial solutions to significant problems and a force for good. As entrepreneurs we know we can foster innovative solutions to business problems – this is the same force being tapped for the greater good. I’m really excited about some of their projects and what us, as entrepreneurs, can do together. You’ll be hearing more about this soon.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these.
* Update 11/2/08 *
From the incredible feedback of people asking to translate the list, post to their site, send to their list, etc – I decided to turn the 34 rules into a full blown “real” book, expanding each rule into its own section with examples and more insights. Plus, I had best-selling author, Mike Litman, interview me to go even deeper into the 34 rules.
My last post was about creating your BIG Life List.
Perhaps a little voice inside your head might be whispering (or shouting) about all the reasons you can’t do this kind of fun stuff your life. Fact is, it’s these excuses that will sap the spirit and energy out of your life. It’s too easy for all of us to simply believe we’ll ‘get around to it’ or ‘someday’ we’ll have more fun but one excuse or another comes up. Try these on for size…
I don’t have time to do this stuff
When I hear people say I don’t have time for something really means that item is not a priority for them. Quite simply, the excuse of “I don’t have time” is commonly accepted but if you stop and think about it we all have the same 24 hours in a day. It’s up to you to decide what is a priority. And if a priority is living a full, rich life with incredible experiences and adventures – then you’ll create the time and schedule items from you BIG Life List.
Think about where you might be spending time now and make the conscious decision if that’s what you want to do or would you rather be doing something from your big list. Or what are you doing now that you could pay someone else to do? I don’t cut my own lawn, clean my house, wash my car, drop-off my dry cleaning, buy stamps or a dozen other simple activities. Why? Because I know I can easily pay someone to do this and it frees me up to either create additional revenue streams or enjoy my life.
I can’t leave my business long enough to do this
A close cousin to ‘not having enough time’ is believing you can’t get away from your business long enough to knock off any of the fun items on your list. You can get a lot done in just a few days and your company will not fall apart with you. If you cannot leave your office for a few days without things getting off-track you have some serious system issues that need to be worked on. (Leaving will actually expose them to you.) Most times if people are left to fend for themselves without the “big boss” approving everything – most things will still get done correctly. Maybe not quite the way you would do it but the end result would be close enough and you’d have the freedom to enjoy your life.
In fact, I think freedom is the operative keyword for entrepreneurs and unless we exercise that freedom by stepping away from the office it slowly collapses. And we become nothing more than highly-paid servants to our businesses.
You might believe you’re indispensable but nearly everyone (including you) is replaceable. It’s important to step back and see if you are truly operating on activities in your business that are core competencies and unique abilities where you excel.
You’ve probably heard of the Pareto principle or 80/20 rule. It states that approximately 20% of your activities produce 80% of the results. Conversely 80% of your activities create 20% of the results. So if you focus on the critical few activities that produce 80% of the results – this will free up your time to do even more outside of work.
My <friends/family/dog> will think I’m crazy
So what? Maybe they will – but who cares? My wife and her family think I’m pretty nuts – but I don’t mind. I realized I’m wired differently and that’s ok. Typically, my wife, Missy, won’t come with on my adventures and that’s fine because she has a different idea of vacations than I do. We do things apart and we do things together.
Now on the other hand my step-mother is a huge worrier and doesn’t want to know when I go jump out of airplanes or when I go Baja racing. She’s ok if I tell her after the fact – when I’m home safe and sound. And that’s fine too.
The only thing that’s not fine are the people who attempt to reel you in because they know better or think they’re helping. They might say, “Don’t you care about your family?” or “Aren’t you getting too old for this kind of thing?” or my favorite, “You can’t always get what you want.”
These negative people are simply replaying the tapes spinning in their heads. They can keep their boring and dull existence – I’d rather create the kind of memories that last forever and give me something more interesting to talk about then the local football team or the weather.
I’ve always been a fan of lists and I know many other successful people share this notion. What better list can you create than a list for your most memorable and exciting life? I call this my “BIG Life List”. This is pretty easy and encompasses everything I want to do, have or become before I die.
Now the hard part is sitting down and just jotting down the list but before you get there let me start with my own list.
Right here on this blog, I have a running list of the experiences I want to achieve (as you can see on the right) but my personal BIG list extends beyond what I’ve posted. Here are a few examples from my list (aside from what you see on the right):
Do:
Host Saturday Night Live
Fly my own plane
Stand up comedy at a club
Dance the Haka with the All Blacks in New Zealand
Taste a 100+ year old Bordeaux
Dance all night in Ibiza
Leave $10,000,000+ to meaningful charities in my lifetime
Have:
Own a fully restored MGA
Name engraved on Stanley Cup as an owner of the Washington Capitals (Ted, I’m in. Ugh what a heartbreaking loss this year in the playoffs)
Create my own liquor brand
Create a charitable foundation to educate young entrepreneurs
My own vineyard and produce award-winning wines
Be:
A semi-professional beach volleyball player
Financially independent
Part of an IPO as an insider
In the Olympics
NY-Times Best-selling Author
Live to be a vibrant and healthy 127-year old
Most of my own BIG List is centered around “DO” but that’s just me personally. Yours is unique to you. Right now my list spans 97 items and it keeps growing. I believe in one afternoon you could get at least 25-50 items on your own list. The first few are easy but then you really have to dig into what would make you happy? What excited you as a kid?
What have you always wanted to do?
What have you always wanted to be?
What have you always wanted to see?
What have you always wanted to have?
Just don’t get bogged down in what other people will think. Don’t put something on your list that doesn’t excite you or put it there because you think you’re supposed to. Hey – if you don’t want to save the whales – screw ‘em. Don’t put it on your list.
Keep thinking without putting conditions & restrictions on your list. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s dumb or couldn’t really happen or think others will laugh at you. So what? Go with your heart and just get it down. There’s no harm in writing it down even if it doesn’t happen – that’s how some of my improbably ones have been accomplished that I’ll tell you about in a moment as we move on to how you start having fun and checking off items…
How do you get your big list completed?
1. Write it down. Yes, writing it down is the first step and I absolutely guarantee you if you did nothing else but write 50-100 items in your BIG List you’d be surprised at how many actually got done after 1 year without you ever looking at them again. I don’t look at my Big list everyday – it’s not that necessary but I do certain things to make sure I can check them off.
Fact is, as I was writing this post I went back over my own list again and was amazed to see that 2 things on my list were in the process of getting accomplished in the next 3 weeks (as of this writing). One was kiteboarding at Necker Island and at the same time lunch with Sir Richard Branson. I’m heading to Necker Island in a few weeks and I’ll definitely try kiteboarding on the island – plus I’ll be there with Richard for several days so lunch is inevitable. Pretty cool!
Just the mere fact of writing it down and releasing it into the Universe gives you an advantage that circumstances might be set into motion to start conspiring to work for you. (Hey, that’s my belief anyway!)
Quick example, I’ve previously written down I wanted to be a semi-pro beach volleyball player. I really didn’t think it would happen but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to write it down. Well, now I’d technically be considered Pro. You can check out the details back on this post.
In that same vein – here’s another one…Do I really think I’ll be in the Olympics? I dunno. Probably not – but there’s a tiny shot. Who knows? My publicist mentioned to me the other day he was friends with the former publicist for the U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation. I don’t know how many people are waiting in line to go 80mph headfirst down an icy track so who knows if I’d get a tryout. Maybe – maybe not. But if I didn’t throw it out there to the Universe and right it down I know I wouldn’t hear the faint knocking on the door of opportunity.
2. Schedule it. This is where a lot of people fall down. It sounds a bit too rigid but for busy entrepreneurs unless you schedule your fun (most of the time) it won’t happen. It sounds a bit counter intuitive doesn’t it? Fun should be spontaneous and free? Well guess what? If you stick to your typical schedule – it’ll never happen because your work will keep expanding to the allotted time you give it. You can always do one more work item and your inbox is never going to be empty.
Think about your vacation for a moment. That’s scheduled and it happens precisely because it is scheduled. The more fun you schedule into your life – the more you’ll get. Or what about when you were a kid – most of us had mandatory fun built into our days with recess, right?
Why isn’t there recess for entrepreneurs?
Now you probably won’t go and play dodge ball this afternoon but you can have your own recess if do something about it yourself. Some of my favorite memories have been things I’ve gone out and not waited for them to fall into my lap.
This might sound a little ‘type A’ (which I’m definitely not) but you have to put fun activities on your calendar or else your fun & entertainment by default becomes vegging in front of the TV or working more. Of course, it’s great to be spontaneous but unless you are completely free of responsibilities you’ll need to make plans. And making plans could be as simple as inviting friends over for a night of games or as wild as running with the bulls in Spain.
Side note: This is one of the many reasons I started Maverick Business Adventures to create that ‘forced’ and scheduled ‘recess’ for entrepreneurs.
3. Recruit Others. It’s tough to get everything on your BIG list done yourself (especially if you’ve really stretched). That’s why it’s important to share with others, who can help you, what’s on your ultimate life list.
But there’s a caveat here. I’d be selective of who I share with. You don’t want a negative, dream-stealing vampire to suck their fangs into your life list. But when you find positive, excited individuals ask them what’s on their “to do” list for life and see if you don’t have a resource or a step in the right direction you can give them. And those same successful people have their own connections and people they know that might get you where you want to be.
Okay so here’s your homework assignment this weekend. Sit down and start your own Ultimate Big Life List and schedule at least 2 items on there. Will you do it?
* Resource for you *
I’ve found a great resource to help you create cool memories for people you care about. It’s called Cloud9Living and it’s an awesome spot to search for experiences around the country (U.S. only at this point.). Everything from thrilling adventures to one-of-a-kind learning events. Even if you don’t know exactly what to get someone – you can pick-up a gift certificate. I gave Cloud9 Gift certs to some of my team members and top affiliates. They have a really cool presentation box that’s worth buying just to see what they do.
I’ve worked out a special deal for InternetLifestyle.com blog readers. Make sure you put in ‘SILVER09′ at check-out for free shipping on any gift certificates you purchase.
Just back from New York City for Virgin Galactic‘s unveiling of the Spaceship Two and their “Year of the Spaceship” party.
What can I say? It was pretty cool. Starting at the Museum of Natural History when Branson and Burt Rutan revealed the new design for Spaceship Two. They’ve taken a new direction beyond just space tourism with the design. Instead of the original design with the rocket launching beneath Spaceship One – this new design has the rocket situated in between two high-altitude, all carbon fiber jets.
Here’s Branson and SpaceShip Two designer, Burt Rutan, with the ship:
The new design actually is incredibly versatile and I was really impressed with the forethought that went into it. It can be used for training future VG passengers (since it can mimic the G’s pulled on re-entry), it can have loved ones and family watching you blast off. Or it’s most impressive feature is the “open architecture” which would allow it to be used for more commercial purposes like launching satellites.
Here’s part of Sir Richard Branson’s speech:
As ticket holder #152 I’m super excited and cant’ wait! Though everyone at Virgin was quick to point out they are not in a race – but they said test flights should begin this Summer.
It was interesting meeting the wide range of “future astronauts” in attendance. You’ve got your die-hard space fans, who as kids dreamt of flying into space, you’ve got your accomplished entrepreneurs looking for their next adventure, a slew of engineers, pilots or just “regular” people with an adventure streak. Actually, as I talked to people there – I don’t think I could find one striking similarity except for the fact each person believed they were pioneers and part of something big. Part of Branson’s speech mentioned the population explosion would force humans to reach beyond our planet for survival.
Later that night Virgin hosted their “Year of the Spaceship” party.
Missy came along with me and we had a chance to chat with Branson’s Mom, Eve. As a big Branson fan, I had to find out about one of the stories in his autobiography about his Mom dropping him off away from home and telling him to find his way. I have to go back and read the passage but this is what I found online:
Branson’s mother, Eve, is a former flight attendant who served with the RAF during World War II. One day when Ricky was four, she left him in the countryside with a sack lunch and told him to find his way home. A neighbor eventually discovered him chasing butterflies. A few years later Eve dropped him 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home with his bike. “I’m sure you’ll find water along the way,” she told him, waving goodbye.
Now when I asked Eve about this – she laughed and said it wasn’t quite so bad. She said he was 6 and he left him down the hill and told him to find his way back. But the neighbor did find him and ask if he belonged to her. Mrs. Branson did say Americans coddle their kids too much and she might have a point – since struggle breeds independence. Missy was standing next to me and laughing since I’ve told her we need to do that with Zak.
Here’s a pic with me, Eve, Missy and Holly, one of the Branson’s family friends.
Since I was chums with Mummy Branson – I worked my way over to meet Sir Richard. It’s hard meeting one of your heroes. I told Richard I was huge fan of his way of doing business and we had a clink of glasses over that. I also gave him one of the metal Maverick Business Adventures cards – he told me he liked the name. I guess that’s a start to getting Branson on a future trip
Here we are:
At the party, I also met Peter Diamandis, the founder of the Xprize Foundation. Peter is going to be one of our celebrity business guests at the next Maverick Business Adventures in May when we do a Zero-G flight, Air combat mission and helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon. Peter was instrumental in actually catapulting the civilian space industry by offering a $10M prize for the first ship to go into space successfully twice in one week. And that ship was Burt Rutan’s SpaceShip One (now on display in the Smithsonian).
My Father, Joe, has been threatening to take flying lessons for nearly 3 years now.
He’s got a bit of an adventurous spirit that’s been squashed somewhat by my stepmother, Adela. She’ll say, “Joseph, don’t be stupid. Only Yanik can do such stupid things.” Or, “You’re not a young man anymore.” Of course she means well but she’s got to be the biggest worrier on the planet.
Seriously. If Missy and I don’t answer our phones she automatically thinks the worst. Or if I call and don’t leave a message – she checks caller ID and wants to know what’s wrong. I don’t get it – but whatever.
So anytime the subject of flying lessons came up – Adela would promptly shut it down. Fine.
I was reading a book the other day by Phil Keoghan called “No Opportunity Wasted”. Phil and I must share a little bit of the same DNA because the guy is a pretty amazing adventurer and his book is designed to get people to get off their butts and go experience life to the fullest. (You might recognize Phil because he’s the host of the Amazing Race TV show.)
One chapter in there presented the question about what dreams could you make come true for someone else you care about. I immediately thought of my Dad and got to work on my plan to ambush him. I told him I needed a ride to the private air park on Saturday because Missy couldn’t take me and then I made up some excuse about not being able to leave my car there for a week. I said I was flying private to Vegas for my Mastermind meeting.
One of my hockey teammates owns a Cirrus 4-seater jet and one of my other hockey teammates is a pilot so the trap was set. I could tell he was a little annoyed for having to pick me up at my house and drive me over there. We pull up to the tiny airplane and Joe asks me, “Are you sure you’re going to be ok in this to Vegas?”
And I turn right around with a big smile and tell him, “Actually hopefully you’ll be ok in there.”
I don’t think it quite registered and then I told him this was his first flying lesson for his birthday (which was the next day). He kinda stood there for a moment wavering and deciding whether he should follow his heart or do what his wife would want him to. It took about 5 seconds and said, “Let’s go.”
Even though Missy told me I shouldn’t get in the plane with him I thought better of it and jumped into the backseat. I was a tiny bit worried because Joe couldn’t hear Brian (the pilot) in his headset telling him to NOT touch the pedals. Yikes! But he got the headsets figured out and Brian even let him take off and land (with his help of course).
Here are a couple pics and video of him flying:
Once we landed, Joe gave me a hug and told me what a surprise it was and thanked me repeatability for making it happen. My step-mother, Adela, had been calling his phone several times and trying to track him down and he got a bit of an earful from her (and so did I). But I wouldn’t have changed a thing.That element of surprise and letting people experience their dreams was so rewarding.It’s well worth setting something like this up for someone you care about.I think you’ll be amazed at the response and how it makes you feel. Personally, I get incredible joy and a sense of accomplishment when I knock things off my own “Big List” but this was a different feeling helping my Dad get one of his done.
* Update *
I’ve found a great resource to help you create cool memories for people you care about. It’s called Cloud9Living and it’s an awesome spot to search for experiences around the country (U.S. only at this point.). Everything from thrilling adventures to one-of-a-kind learning events. Even if you don’t know exactly what to get someone – you can pick-up a gift certificate. I gave Cloud9 Gift certs to some of my team members and top affiliates. They have a really cool presentation box that’s worth buying just to see what they do.
I’ve worked out a special deal for InternetLifestyle.com blog readers. Make sure you put in ‘SILVER09′ at check-out for free shipping on any gift certificates you purchase.
–
I did fly to Vegas the next day just not on my buddy’s plane…
I was there for about a week for the final meeting of my MasterMind groups I run. Plus, each year we also do an optional adventure activity and this time was an F-1 racing day at the Vegas Speedway. We had about 24 of us come out from the MasterMind members plus a few of my Internet buddies like Jeff Mulligan and Brad Fallon came out. And I brought the winner of the affiliate contest of the ‘Brain-in-a-Box’ launch, Chris Zavadowski out as one of his prizes.
We did 24 laps in a 600 hp Indy-style open wheel race car.
It was pretty awesome except for the weather on the track was brutal. It was probably 20 degrees colder than it should have been and nobody brought gloves or anything else warm. My hands were numb by the time I hit pit road. I’m going to blame my numb hands on the following video:
I hit 155.99 mph as my top speed and Ryan Deiss beat me by .01 mph – I couldn’t believe it. We had a good time screwing around with people and changing their speed because the gals working could enter in any speed we wanted. For Mulligan I gave him an 89.3 mph top speed and he just shook his head in disbelief when he got out of the car. He actually hit 159 and Brad Fallon just inched him out by a few tenths.
I’ll have lots of cool updates for you guys because I’m up in New York for the Virgin Galactic unveiling of SpaceShip Two. Missy and I have got a party tonight with the other ‘astronauts’ and Richard Branson. And then next week I’m off on the premiere Maverick Business Adventures trip. So lots to report back on soon. Stay tuned….
