If you didn’t know already… I have an ebook, Diaries of a Madman coming out in preview form for my newsletter subscribers. I’m releasing it here before it goes up for sale, because I want your feedback. What do you think of the mock up of the cover?
Had a lot of my subscribers ask me why the title, Diaries of a Madman? I choose that title because a lot of people think entrepreneurs are crazy when they first get started in business. They tell them they are nuts and it will never work. It happens to the best of us, even from our closest friends and family. Perhaps we are a little crazy to imagine something different. We see better worlds with new ideas and concepts. To everyone else we are madmen in a sense. I’m pretty proud of that. So I just decided to run with it, hence Diaries of a Madman.
Let me know your thoughts! If you aren’t on the newsletter, get on it so you can get an advance preview copy when it gets released next month! (Sign up at the bottom of this screen. Make sure you confirm your email, or you won’t be added to the preview list!)
Ask yourself: why does anyone have followers? It’s because they own it. Good leaders let their passion for what they do sweat out of them. You see this flicker in their eyes and you know they have something special about them. They live, breathe and sleep it. You get excited just hearing them talk about it, because they reek of passion. If you want to get somewhere, you also must own it. If you aren’t ecstatic about what you do, why would anyone else be? If you want others to get it, you better let it seep out of your pores. 
When you are so excited about something that you can’t sleep, that’s when you know you have passion for what you do. I have had a hard time sleeping lately. My mind just won’t shut off and let me rest at night. It’s constantly racing thinking of how I can make my company better, faster and stronger. 
One of the greatest things about the age we live in, is that opportunity is all around us. If we open our eyes and minds enough to see it, it’s there, ripe for the taking. To become great at anything, you must train yourself to see and act quickly on opportunity when it presents itself. 
Magicians never tell the secrets to their tricks. Once they do, the magic and wonder disappears, and the magician is no longer valid to anyone anymore. He can get replaced by someone cheaper or younger. In business, you can learn a lot from them. To someone that lacks your skill, your knowledge is extremely valuable. They will constantly try to pick and prod it out of you and if you let them, you lose your leverage and power. A lot of people want your knowledge, but they don’t want to do what it takes to get to that point. They want you to do the research, spend the time and test it out first then just give it to them. I wrote about this in 
value and they will take your ideas, use it for themselves and forget you ever helped them. I’ve had to learn that the hard way. When I first started, I would give away too much. Pretty quickly I created competition for myself. You give man a fire, and he’ll burn everything down. I found out that if you create a titan, they will forget they were once merely human with you. 
We grow up in a world that is constantly asking for permission to do the things we want to do. In order to drive, you’ll need a license, in order to get a top paying job, we need the education and qualifications. We are constantly needing “permission” to succeed and do what we want. However, to do anything revolutionary, you can’t think like this. If you wait around always seeking permission, you can never do anything great and rarely get much accomplished. You’ll spend months or even years waiting on others to say yes to you. 
Recently, I learned that bugs can hinder your success. The other day I was driving down the road headed to Louisville for a meeting and a bug splattered across my windshield. It was this little splatter but it was right in my direct line of sight and I couldn’t help but notice it there glaring at me. It was hard to pay attention to anything else. So I hit the windshield wipers to knock it off, which only made it ten times worse and smeared it further. I couldn’t focus on driving or where I was going. I literally had to pull over on the side of the road and clean it off so I could see what was in front of me. I soon realized that I had missed my exit and driven for ten minutes past it because I was focused on that little bug rather than where I was going. 
Got an email today from a reader, Ken asking about how to deal with unhappy customers. His question: “I have a customer that I am constantly doing so much for, but they don’t see it. I give them extensions on payments, I add incentives, I give away free services, but still they are unhappy. I’m at a loss. What can I do to please them?” Ken, most likely you never will. Some people just will never be happy with the work you do. The meals too hot or cold, the design isn’t right, what they were happy with before, they aren’t happy with now. In business, it’s going to happen, no matter how good you are. There isn’t a lot you can do about it because they just can’t be satisfied. 
