Rich Christiansen – Parallel Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Expert

Other Resources to Add

Your organization will need resources other than more people.  Resources can include more capital or a new piece of equipment that will simplify your processes.  For example, if I were to create a cookie company, once I made enough money selling my first batches of cookies, I would consider using that money to purchase a machine that kneads the dough and then another one that cuts the cookies—after looking carefully at their cost and the potential return on my investment. 

Outsourcing is another way to add resources.  I started a company a year ago with my son.  My son created a website, and we then outsourced the building of five or six more websites.  We gave the developer our website template and told her exactly how we wanted our sites to be built.  Then we focused on other more lucrative parts of the venture.  One good thing about outsourcing is that you don’t have to worry as much about the value system.  The high production or the end result is what matters when you outsource.  The key to outsourcing is that you only want to outsource those things that can be thrown over the wall to someone who can do them independently.  Do not try to outsource those things that require your full involvement.  For example, I would not want to outsource my company’s financial books.  There are so many moving parts in my books that my executive assistant and I must go through them daily.  I want to know when bills go out, when we will be paid, and when our bills are due. 

One time I tried to outsource one of my companies’ bookkeeping to someone I knew in town.  It ended up being a nightmare because I was no longer able to know at a moment’s notice exactly where I stood financially.  On the other hand, I do outsource my payroll.  We send the payroll agency the hours each of my employees work, and they take care of all the required forms and paperwork.  I also outsource my taxes to my accountant.  We just send him a copy of our QuickBooks and the year-end papers, and he can take care of our taxes without taking any of my time.

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Next week is the week of good books! The Zig Zag Principle is releasing Tuesday, and my good friend Randy Garn is releasing his book Prosper—Create The Life You Really Want next week as well. I’m excited for both events because I love a good story about success, especially when it features zigzagging entrepreneurs.

Randy and his co-author Ethan Willis are zigzag entrepreneurs. They have worked in the eCommerce, real estate, investment, and the personal development sectors; zigzagging their way to success. Garn and Willis’ new Prosper Book is a great read because it shows people how to find prosperity and still maintain a balance in life.

Life balance is hugely important whether you’re an entrepreneur or not. It’s something I preach and strongly beleive in, and it’s just one reason I think this new book is important. Within the pages of Prosper Book you willl learn the following skills and techniques for finding prosperity and life balance.

   1. Find your personal Polaris Point:  What is guiding your life?
   2. Balance money and happiness: Get your Polaris Point and your living in alignment.
   3. Earn from the inside out: Mix your passions and your profits.
   4. Focus on what you already have: People who emphasize what they already have, usually end up with the most.
   5. Create and commit to a plan: Decide to live the life you really want.
   6. Take profound, continuous action: Persist, persist, persist.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…right now is a great time to be involved in entrepreneurship! Now is the time to get educated and take your destiny into your own hands. Entrepreneurship is your ticket to prosperity. Check out Prosper—Create The Life You Really Want and learn how to control your prosperity and maintain your life balance.

Also remember to take part in the fun events we have scheduled surrounding the launch of the The Zig Zag Principle.

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On the flipside, at this same time I made a couple of horrific hires, in part because we didn’t have our value system clearly in place.  During this time I was literally living off three to four hours of sleep a night and I hired an executive assistant who had a good resume, but what impressed me even more were her outstanding grades and recommendations. I had some concern that her work experience was a bit thin; but I needed someone quickly, so I hired her assuming her grades indicated a solid work ethic. 

One week while my partner, Ron, and I were working a trade show in Florida, I kept trying to call into my office.  I tried at several different times, but I just could not make contact with my new assistant.  I finally called another recent hire who was supposed to be at the office.  She did call me right back and said she was on a short lunch break and would call me back, which she failed to do. After four days of not being able to reach anyone, I called my wife and asked if she would go by the office and find out what was going on.  When she arrived, the front door was locked and all of the lights were off.  She found the main telephone was set to voice message.  She did find an engineer in a back room, where he was working on a project.  When she asked him what was going on, he told her that these two women, who were supposed to be answering my phones and greeting people, had decided that since I was gone that they would “work from home” that week.

Needless to say, I had to terminate both these women when I returned from my business trip.  I made the mistake of hiring two young women who weren’t hungry for the work I offered and who had a safety net at home that would rescue them.  I also made the mistake of not screening them effectively against my organizational values, one of which is that we value hard workers. 

Since that experience I have learned to not be too busy to pay close attention as I add resources.  I’ve also developed a series of questions and skills assessments that I run potential hires through, especially my executive admin, who I believe is my most important hire. 

One of my best hires is a woman named Colette Marx.  She is a mother who, by mutual agreement, is working for me from her home (which is yet another way to conserve resources).  When I hired her, I gave her a copy of my book, Bootstrap Business, and told her she needed to read it and then take a test.  The other people I hired at the same time all went home and skimmed through the book.  But Colette wanted to succeed at this job; so she read the book, and then she went back and read the book again, this time highlighting it and making copious notes. When she brought it into the office to take the test, it was dog-eared, it was tagged, it was well used.  Not surprisingly, Colette scored a perfect score. She’s the only one to have done that.  (She even scored higher than I did, and I wrote the book!)  Colette didn’t come with the strongest resume or the most extensive experience, but she is one of the most committed and engaged employees I have ever had. 

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I love this diagram. So succinct. So accurate. This is one artist’s summary of The Zig Zag Principle. To order the 198-page version click here.

Also please join me tonight on Twitter as we inspire each other with stories about success. Log in and share your story. I’d love to hear all about your successes.

Tonight. Wednesday September 28, 7-9 p.m. MT, @richchristianse, #zigzag

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As you add resources to your business or your life, you still need to keep your cash flow heading in the right direction.  Obviously, you don’t want to begin hiring if doing so is going to put you in the red.  But as you hire, you need to be clear in your mind, and with those you hire, that if the business becomes less profitable, you will have to decrease resources.  This may seem harsh, but if you have employees in your organization who are not getting you to cash, it puts the whole company at risk.  It is better to lay off those people who are not performing or creating value so you can create opportunities for more employees in the long run.

I was a middle manager in a company that hired a lot of employees but did not become profitable.  That company waited until it was completely out of money and had declared bankruptcy before telling the employees they were out of jobs.  To add insult, the employees were let go without being paid for their last month of work.  Blind bliss is not bliss at all.  It would have been much better for every person in that company to have been laid off when the problems started so they could begin their new job search, rather than wasting a month doing work for which they would never be paid.

In your life, you have to do the same thing.  When you get to cash, you can spend a little more money adding resources such as a house, a car, a computer, or just some things that will make your life nicer and more efficient.  When times get tight, you need to immediately tighten your budget and stop adding those resources.  If times get really tight, you might have to sell off that nice car to make ends meet.  The key is to always keep a close eye on your bottom line.  Always stay profitable.  If you’re creative as you think about adding resources, you may be able to make more progress and spend less money.

When we began to add resources to CastleWave, the business Ron and I bootstrapped with only $5,000, our first significant hires were not college graduates.  They were not even college students; they were nerdy sixteen- and seventeen-year-old high school boys.  In our drive to profitability, I needed to add the resource of engineers. I knew I couldn’t afford to hire engineers at the going rate, and I also knew I could train people who had a working knowledge of computers and the Internet to do what needed to be done.  It hit me one day that my labor force could be found among my teenaged sons’ friends.  My only concern was that I needed them to have a strong vision, so I told them, “When you walk in this door each day, you’re no longer seventeen.  You’re an MBA graduate from Harvard, and I expect you to behave like one.”  And guess what?  They did exactly that.  They grasped what I needed them to do, and they bought into the company culture. It probably didn’t hurt that we paid them far more than they could have earned flipping burgers, but for a number of strategic reasons, those kids were so excited to come to work, they would sleep on the couch some nights because they were totally vested in what we were trying to do.
    

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Yippee! We Have the Baby! This week we received the press copies of The Zig Zag Principle from the publisher McGraw-Hill. The books turned out fantastic. I’m thrilled!

As I hold the printed books in my hands, I’d like to thank many of my close friends and advisors who have been so generous and forthcoming in their support. As of today, we’ve pre-sold over 7500 books, which was no small feat. So again, I thank you for the incredible support.

On October 4th—one week from today—The Zig Zag Principle officially launches. If you haven’t already ordered a copy, I’d encourage you to go online and pre-order. You can also order at Amazon.com.

Next we’re throwing a launch party that we’re super excited about! Everyone is invited to come celebrate with our teams The Ziggin’ Moms and The Zaggin’ Teens (The Ziggin’ Moms and The Zaggin’ Teens are two teams of entrepreneurial women and teenagers who are successfully applying the Zig Zag Principle to their businesses.)

At the event we’ll deliver tons of useful content and Lightening Skills that you can use to energize your business. And of course, we’ll celebrate the release of the new book.

If you haven’t signed up for the party, I invite you to register today. We’d love for you to join the celebration.

The Zig Zag Principle is going to hit the New York Times Best-Seller List. I’m confident of that. We’ve pre-sold a phenomenal number of books. Now look for great things to come in the next several weeks. You will see The Zig Zag Principle covered by the press, I’ll be doing interviews, and the book will receive great exposure all around. I invite everyone to engage and participate in this. Please share your Zig Zag stories and your stories about success with me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks and have a great day.

Sincerely,
Rich Christiansen

PS- Please join me for one of the following upcoming events:
-        Sept 27 • Special Webinar 5-6pm MT, register & participate

-        Sept 28 • Twitter Party 7-9pm MT, @richchristianse, #zigzag

-        Oct 4 • Official Book Launch! Join the teleseminar where Rich will answer your Zigzag questions. Teleseminar from noon to 1pm MT, 801-656-2240 code: 021334#

-        Oct 15 • Zig Zag Launch Party get tickets and register

Video Message From Rich Christiansen

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Today marks the 75^th birthday of one of the greatest entertainers I know of, Jim Henson. Not many people in this world have had as great an impact on so many people throughout their lives as Jim Henson. Just think of how many generations of kids Henson influenced with Sesame Street and his other creations.

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The self-checkout was a brilliant novelty when it was introduced to grocery stores several years ago. Customers and grocery store managers alike thought it would improve the flow at the checkout and the customer’s overall shopping experience.

However, store managers are discovering this technology is actually creating problems they never anticipated. Checkout lines are usually longer because customers have to deal with coupons and checking items like produce by themselves. In addition, store managers feel they lost control of the relationship with the customer by eliminating the personal contact of a store employee at the checkout stand.

So now, even after stores have installed dozens of self-checkout stands in each of their locations, they are zig zagging away from the technology to improve customer experience and thus increase revenue.

Albertsons has actually gone as far as eliminating self-serve lanes in all of its stores. Kroger, on the other hand, has zig zagged to what it calls “metro style” checkouts; customers wait in one line and can be directed to multiple cashiers.

Kroger is also testing a “scan, bag, go” system that allows customers to scan items as they shop, and then pay and bag when they are finished.

These are all ways grocery stores are zig zagging to more success and better customer service. We can all learn to be a little bit more flexible—even after we have made a big initial investment. As each of these cases show, it is far better for a company to evolve by zig zagging in order to stay true to company values and to keep on track to its ultimate goals .

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Adding resources is harder than it sounds, but it’s the only way you’ll build your dream.  I have a neighbor who owns a shoe repair shop.  This man makes a decent living and takes care of his family’s basic needs.  However, to keep his head above water, he has to work day after day, week after week, repairing those shoes single-handedly.  If he needs a day off, he has to close the shop.  Same if he’s under the weather or has to take care of a sick wife or child.  Of course, that leads to a loss of income.  Now, his business model allows for some days off, but it’s a pretty thin margin.  If something major happened, the effects could be catastrophic.

My friend has made it through zig number 1 profitability—but he has not thought to turn his skis in the other direction for zag number 2.  In other words, he has not added the resources that would allow him to live a fuller, richer, and safer life.

A key reason many people have a hard time adding resources is they have become accustomed to micromanaging every aspect of their business. As hard as it can be to let go of control, as you hire the right people to fill in the gaps of knowledge or skill that you don’t have, and then as you help them learn your processes, your company will begin to reach its full potential.  Think of yourself as being akin to Emperor Shah Jahan, who may not have known how to carve flowers out of stone but was able to hire someone to do that job—and thus help him create his masterpiece.

I’m familiar with a family-owned business, run by a father and his sons, where the father has micromanaged every aspect of the business.  The father is now getting old and is about to retire.  He has talented sons who want to modernize the business, but his response is always, “We have been doing business this way for over forty years.  This is how it has to be done.” When the sons bring up the need to modernize equipment or processes, the father adamantly refuses. 

It’s no wonder the sons and their families are frustrated.  They feel stuck in a business that is archaic, and they would like a little leeway in bringing the business into the computer age and making it more productive. 

This example is common among family-run businesses, but the same plight is found among businesses founded by a strong-minded personality, who is then unwilling to bring in additional resources and let them do what they were hired to do. As you begin to take zag number 2 in order to grow your business, remembering that it is all about disciple will help you loosen your grip on the controls.  The imagine I keep in mind to help me do this (because, I’ll admit it, I can be a bit controlling) is what I call the “Yes, Yes, Yes, NO! Principle.”  While you are working on zig number 1 and trying to get to cash, you will, of necessity, say “Yes” to many things, such as:

• Yes, I will do the accounting.
• Yes, I will sell a small order that has potential for larger orders.
• Yes, I will answer the phones.
• Yes, I will take out the trash.
• No, I will not compromise my values.

Now, as you add resources, it’s time to add a few more “Nos.”  Some of these might be:

• No, I will not take out the trash. I will hire a cleaning person.
• No, I will not do my own accounting. I will outsource my taxes to an accountant.
• No, I will not answer the phones and do the bookkeeping. I will hire an administrative assistant.

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Adding Processes and Resources

I love the Taj Mahal.  I’ve had the good fortune to visit this remarkable shrine several times, and neither words nor pictures can describe it. What adds to its magnificence is that I’ve always come straight from the chaos of India, where there is mayhem everywhere, and to walk into this peaceful grove is like walking into another world.

The Taj Mahal was built with a labor force of over twenty thousand workers who were recruited from all across Northern India and other parts of the region.  In addition to common laborers, the workforce included sculptors from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from Southern India, and stonecutters from Baluchistan.  A team of thirty-seven men formed the creative unit.  Of these, one was a specialist in carving marble flowers and another was the best at building turrets.  It took twenty years to complete the Taj Mahal.  It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved third wife Mumtz Mahal.  It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and is a symbol of eternal love.

Imagine for a moment the possibility of this emperor trying to build the Taj Mahal all by himself.  He clearly had a vision of what it was to be. He was a very wealthy man, so he had the necessary cash.  And likely he knew where to find the materials from which this edifice was constructed. Despite all that he had at his disposal, building the Taj Mahal would have been an impossible feat, even if Shah Jahan had had several lifetimes in which to complete the work.

Instead, he put together his beacon in the fog, fueled it with his passion, and then added resources—lots and lots of resources.  And as he added those resources, he had to get everyone to catch the same vision for them to complete something that beautiful.

Adding Resources

In the first zig, you made your business or your life profitable.  Zag number 2 is about adding resources.  Once you have enough cash from the first zig, you can use it to add those people, equipment, and other resources that you need.  You need to do so in order to help perform the labor-intensive work that keeps the cash flowing.  Then you are able to spend more of your time defining the processes and adding meat to the bones of your organization.  This is the time to formalize, structure, and expand those things that led you to your initial success in zig number 1.

Getting to cash feels great! Your determination has begun to bear fruit. You’re in the black. Life is good. You’re actually making money. The only problem is you’re completely worn out.  And your gas tank is now on fumes, if not completely empty.  You know you need to make a change, but you’re also sensing how hard it is going to be to let go of some of your control and bring others on board.  Doing so requires that you shift gears dramatically, and if you don’t you’ll never get to your destination.

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