Money is a game even idiots can win at given they learn the rules and choose the right market. Have an "Oh shit" fund that makes you feel safe if every risk you take fails. Your beliefs about money are preventing you from making it and you should ignore advice from poorer people than you. Money goes where attention flows so focus on making more (building a business) rather than saving more (doing your chores). Buy for the short and long term so you don't have to buy a second time nor sell a liability (don't trade your used Prius for the newest Porsche). Picking the right goals is the highest leverage activity. Have flexible goals, your first judgment sometimes isn't the best and conditions may change. Most entrepreneurs work very freaking hard on the wrong things, at the wrong time, in the wrong way. 3 goals is enough for a company, don't add too many goals at team and individual level (1 to 3) or attention will disperse. Scale by training others on what you’re good at. Your market isn’t small, you just don’t find customers nor sell well enough. Focus on retaining good people by balancing low pay with high variable and full benefits as well as setting out growth plans. Fire useful asshole employees or you’ll show it’s acceptable and regret it 5 years later. People aren't stupid, just not well trained by their manager. Your clients and employees are people, find interest in their humanity. Single-passion doesn't drive, be multi-dimensional and aspire in all aspects of life. To have people to bring their best, bring yours because people with character attract others people with character. Act until you care otherwise the "don't care" cycle never ends. It only takes one person to change a relationship. Change causes resistance. Predictability is comfortable so people resist what isn't until ambiguity is removed. Resistance is a choice. Time spent arguing is time not spent changing so cut off alternatives and bring hope by focusing on what is to win. Change happens all the time. Making something different is necessary for growth and it's a leader's job is to make it easier for the teams to change. Replace behaviors. The easiest way to change old behaviors is to interfere before people act the old way by using a new thought for them to follow quickly followed by an immediate new behavior to anchor both. Have stricter internal metrics. Measure the number of time you respected a stricter goal than the public one at department and individual level. Expectations are the rules of the game and, if you don't set them, your employees won't know how to win. Build a brand promise out your expectations. Externalize your core values into strategic metrics that drive the business forward like "Order served in 5 minutes" which you must be able to respect 100% of the time. Define core values and use them to make decisions that people understand since it's easier to remember "Speed is king" than dozens of rules. Leading with values instead of rules will create leaders instead of followers. Be a well-rounded leader. The pressure shouldn't grow when the business does, nobody will die if you miss one thing so take take the energy you'd beat yourself up with to do better things. Crave excellence for yourself as money is just one of it's side effects. Don't expect the rest to be well-rounded. Only let directors build their own team if they are good at hiring. It's better to have 5 different specific tools than 1 tool that unites them. People will hate you for many reasons but don't give them anything and move forward. Invest where it's needed. Put 10x the effort you thought of on onboarding and treat newcomers like you would a client. Grow a now revenue stream prior to stopping an old one. Do you have the skill to train people up or should you hire from outside given you know what good is? Don't expect anything to be perfect. Handle inconsistencies by focusing on what can be done better to progress. What is perfect isn't profitable because the last 5% are invisible and costly so invest your profit into growth rather than perfection. Seek the highest the return on effort. Adapt to the season. You won't be able to do your activity as well as usual during difficult periods. Keep organic clients coming instead of seeing drops after a few month by promoting referrals until you're so big you need a marketing agency.
Leila Hormozi