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!)

You must take ownership of your passion.

Remember that feeling you got when you were a kid on Christmas eve? You could barely sleep, so excited about the next day. That’s how you should feel about your work. If you aren’t there yet, then you are probably in the wrong field and deep down will always long for something more. I think that we all should love what we do so much that we can’t wait to get out of bed and start working on it. We shouldn’t live a life where we are dreading the morning or going to work.

Opportunity doesn’t wait for you to act, it’s ready now for someone to take hold of it and run. If you wait around, it will move on to someone else. When I was 19, I had an idea for a job website company. Basically, it was youtube mixed with monster.com, mixed with advice on how to get the job you want. On this website, you would be able to search for any job you wanted, and find video interviews, articles and more from experts that already have that job. They would give advice on how to get started, what their experiences were, things to watch out for, what qualifications you needed, and how to get hired etc. It gave you insiders information right there on the internet. Picture having an internship that taught you everything you needed to know, packaged in a nice box with a big fat red bow on top of it, all for a small fee. I saw a much needed opportunity and failed to act on it though (In fact, I let a $20-30,000 a year college career education “expert” give me advice on why I shouldn’t do it).

7 years later… I look back to see that within the last year, a huge company just funded and launched something similar. Damnit, cue knife straight to my heart. I Shoulda, I woulda and I coulda… but I didn’t. My idea was 7 years before another company had the same one and acted. I saw a huge opportunity and didn’t pull the cord. Because of my failure to act, opportunity moved to someone else that was actually ready to run with it.

Opportunity is all around us and there for those with the strength to step up and take ACTION. The world is yours, so take it. Don’t lets fears or doubts make you wait. Waiting rarely accomplishes much. It leaves you no better than you were the day before. You’ll look back and regret not moving forward on it.

I also wanted to talk about another reason you should safegaurd your knowledge: creating competition. Sometimes people will see your success, and want to duplicate it for themselves. They will come off as a friend, in an attempt to take what you have inside that head of yours. To see what they can pry out of you. In my line of work, often people want to tap into my brain. They know I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars and years of time researching and testing tactics or products to find the best. Many try to see what they can get out of me for free. You must be careful not to give too much of your ideas and knowledge away… especially for free. Once you give away the farm, you lose your 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.

I am a pretty open book to most, but I rarely ever give out my best secrets and knowledge. I will hold back what I know. I may throw out some gems to them to help, but I keep the best locked away inside my head for my business and for my personal clients that hire me.

Never show anyone. They’ll beg you and they’ll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up… you’ll be nothing to them. – The Prestige

“Orville Wright never needed a pilots license.” – Gordan McKenzie

I think it’s interesting how people think they need qualifications to start their big idea. I have met tons of friends that want to start a business, but they think they need to go get a fancy MBA before they can move forward. When I first started my business, I had $50 in my pocket (which I spent on brochures and incorporation), no official college degree and a dream for something better (thank God for Bekah who fed me!). I was simply armed with my brain and not much else. If you look at most big business founders, you will also find the same to be true. They don’t have the qualifications, traditional education or permission for their ideas. They lack what the world thinks they need. They simply have desire and drive. They don’t need permission. They don’t need that fancy MBA. They don’t need approval for their ideas. They just start and move forward. Stop seeking permission for your ideas and just get started.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

What’s my point? Why am I telling you about my epic battle with a bug?

I think most people have these little bugs that hit their windshield and make them lose focus of their end goal. They have these small issues or problems that they allow to take their full attention off the main path. They focus so intensely on them, that it becomes a bigger and bigger bug and they never actually just start or move forward. They get off track, and miss the right turns. If you want to get somewhere great, you can’t keep focus on the little bugs. The bugs that hit your windshield make you lose focus and you lose that clear vision for where you are going. If you pay attention to all the little trivial things instead of the end goal, you won’t get very far and you won’t get closer to your goals.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

There are (according to google census) 307,006,550 other people you can talk to in the United States alone. How are you going to let a handful of people dictate your entire future when you can find soooo many others that might be interested? Everyone gets rejected at some point. Babe Ruth, known for the biggest homes runs, also struck out the most. You must realize that the biggest professionals, movie stars, business owners of all time, each get rejected at some point. You just need to pick yourself up, realize that it is nothing more than what it is: AN OPINION from someone else (Which they will gladly offer to you for free because they have no skin in the game).We all have plans for the future. Don’t let others dictate your life goals because they didn’t agree with your opinion, dreams, aspirations, business or product. It’s ok to get feedback from others, but you shouldn’t shift your entire plans because they didn’t believe in your passion. There are so many people out there that will tell you that you can’t do something. What you have to do is turn around and say ‘watch me.’ (love this picture!)

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

When dealing with customers, I try to go above and beyond as much as I can. When by contract I’m required to spend 2 hours a month on something, I’ll spend a day or more. Sometimes a few days. When I’m required to build a 10 page website, I’ll build 20. When it would cost a client thousands to hire someone to shoot and edit a video, I’ll snap it and deliver it for free. Why do I do this? Because I care and try to over-deliver. I will often throw in extras at no charge just to do something more to show value for being my customer. This is often to my own detriment because many take advantage of the generosity. I believe those unadvertised bonuses make a huge difference, but you have to also be careful to not train them to expect free stuff and extensions all the time. Make sure they see the value behind the extras. Show them how long it takes, how much value you are giving them. Show them what you normally charge for the extras.

No matter how great a job you do, there are some folks that just won’t see the value though. Those types you need to get rid of. When you focus your attention on the people that do not appreciate what you do for them, you can’t focus on the ones that do. The extra 20 hours you spent trying to please that one person who will never be happy with you or doesn’t value what you do, could be spent going after a new client that will. How many phone calls to prospective clients could you make in 20 hours? Fire your bad customers. I have personally fired two in my life. It just wasn’t worth keeping them around. You shouldn’t waste time trying to validate them being a customer with you. If you did quality work for them, and they don’t see it, let them go hang themselves with a different business that won’t offer as much value. Let them see just how great they had it. Focus on getting customers that love your work. Ditch the ones that don’t. There is too much money to be made with people that will value what you do. Upfront, you may lose a little bit of money from that customer, but in the long run you will be happier, have much less stress and be more profitable.