Why Arnold Schwarzenegger would fuck you up
NOTE: Before you start reading this, I wanted to let you know that I’m increasing my prices — significantly, in some areas — on January 1st. If you’ve been jonesing to work with me but have been dragging your feet, now would be the time to dig in and email me about it. Bring it on!
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If you’re going to be in business and decide that you want to go it totally alone, without anyone in your circle or on your team, and without anyone cheering for you and singing your praises, I’m going humbly predict that you’ll fail harder and more reliably than Bennett did when he decided to fuck with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Alyssa Milano in the movie Commando.
So in the interest of not ending up impaled by a giant pipe while Arnold spits clever one-liners at you, maybe think about broadening your reach some.
Think about it. Many of us are “solopreneurs” in a way, working alone in front of our home computers. But we all know people. If you insist on never cheering for those people, never accepting help, and never partnering with them for mutual benefit, you’re seriously handicapping yourself — much like Arnold handicapped that one guy in Commando by pitchforking him in the chest.
So those people you’ve gotten to know out there in internet land? Use them. And allow them to use you… like how Arnold used those anonymous enemy soldiers as human shields when being fired upon in Commando. Doing so enhances your reach and scope of business by orders of magnitude.
Generally speaking, I’m talking here about the power of your network. You sell fish-gutting supplies. You know Bob who knows Tim who knows Shelly, and all of them like you, and one day, Shelly runs into this smelly fisherman who operates a fleet of deep-sea boats operated by pirate types whose sexuality varies depending on how far they are from port. The fisherman guy needs fifty gross of fish gutters, and thanks to knowing Shelly knowing Tim knowing Bob knowing you, you end up with the contract. That’s the power of people.
But some more specific examples of “having an expanded network” have been on my mind lately. So let’s talk about those, and let’s consider why this is so much cooler than just being “one person doing his or her thing totally on his or her own.”
Specifically, let’s take a look at how “Team Truant” is starting to grow. Take a gander at the partnerships I’m forming or kinda sorta starting to form, and apply the same sorts of things in your biz as you dare.
Or, you know… giant steaming pipe through the chest.
THE ASSISTANT
My wife Robin is my virtual assistant. Only, there are many ways in which she is virtually not virtual at all, and is in fact present and actual. This means that if I wanted, I could put a buzzer on my desk and one on her desk across the house and say, “Robin, could you come in here for a second?” and could probably tell her to bring me cups of coffee except that if I did, she’d kick me in the nuts.
Having an assistant is aces. I won’t explain exactly why because I’ve already done so here and here, but suffice to say that the minute I stopped having to think about the things I suck at (scheduling, billing, keeping track of loose ends) and started spending more time on the things I am good at (building sites, consulting, writing), my business picked up almost immediately. Said business picking up is actually the reason I’m raising my prices for 2010 — because if I don’t, I’m going to run out of hours in a day. Apparently they’ll only give you 24 no matter how many times you ask.
THE ORGANIZER
A few months ago, I made a joke on Twitter about how I needed an intern. Interestingly, several people jumped on it and said they wanted to be my intern, to be paid in trade. (Like, I’d give them my stuff and do some coaching in exchange for them handling whatever I needed handled.) Everyone wins; nobody has to come up with cash.
I ended up deciding to work with Lira Vaughan, who I’m still surprised is willing to help get a handle on my incredibly shitty real estate investments. What Lira is good at is recognizing patterns in people and in routines, and finding ways to streamline things by reorganizing those patterns.
i.e., she can “make shitty overwhelming situations suck less.”
So for instance, I had a pattern of dealing with any problems involving my real estate by throwing bills and notices into an untidy pile on my floor and ignoring them for several months. This method was largely ineffective. Lira’s method, which seems to involve some degree of communication and tracking — “what’s up with what, and what needs attention” — is supposedly a better approach.
She’s good at this kind of thing. I’m not. She has online business questions. I can answer them. Bang, synergy.
So I put her in touch with my property managers and now know that someone is kind of paying attention to this stuff, while also not having to think too much about it myself, seeing as doing so causes me to vomit blood.
THE PROTEGEE
Jess Commins doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my protegee. She’s got these great ideas and great background of knowledge and connections, and she seems to think that I’m doing a good job of helping her organize them into a coherent business. I don’t know if Jess will become internet-famous, but she’s for damn sure going to kick some ass and make some good money.
I like this. Because as her coach, that’s going to make me look really good.
I have a special place in my heart for the mentor-protegee model (or maybe it’s consultant and consulted; who knows), because I got my start in online business as Naomi Dunford’s protegee. The idea was that I, a n00b online businessman, would use her stuff and use it to build a successful enterprise, live, in front of her readers. Luckily for both of us, it worked. I got the benefit of exposure and her knowledge, and she got business (my mom bought me Online Business School for Christmas last year) and a crapload of social proof.
I suppose everyone I consult with is technically part of Team Truant, but I’m not going to list them all here because that’s just crazy. I’m calling Jess out because I see in her the drive and motivation that was and remains in me. She’s like, “I’m going to make this work no matter what.”
And when she does, I want everyone to know that I called it.
Plus, she once said that she’d like to have a T-shirt that says, “I’d follow Johnny B. Truant into the pits of zombie Hell.” Now, I have no intention to go to zombie Hell, but if I did, it’s nice to know I’d have company.
At the very least, even if you don’t want an assistant or an organizer or whatever, remember that your customers and clients should be on your team, in your circle, in your camp. Make them happy. Then ask for referrals and testimonials. That’s the power of people, the power of a network.
Remember: Even though Arnold seems to have gone it alone in Commando, he still had Rae Dawn Chong for most of the movie. And I think she even fired a rocket launcher at one point.
Do you want to be one person shouting to a void? Or do you want people in your camp firing rocket launchers at people? Think about it.
P.S: I didn’t forget Sean Oliver. But he already had two whole posts written about him.
P.P.S: I also consider Genuine Chris Johnson a partner, and to underscore how much I mean that, I’ll point out that one of the clients I’m working with while I’m doing this stuff with Chris is Tim and Julie Harris Harris Real Estate University Real Estate Training. Now, if you read me regularly, you’ll know that the topic of real estate normally makes me want to vomit blood. Still, Tim and Julie are actually cool, so I’m not going to let my anti-real-estate prejudice get in my way because that’ll make Arnold all mad.
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Comments
7 Comments on Why Arnold Schwarzenegger would fuck you up
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Sean Oliver on
Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 1:27 pm
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Jess on
Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 5:16 pm
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Fabian on
Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 5:52 pm
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Johnny on
Thu, 3rd Dec 2009 9:21 pm
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Fiona on
Fri, 4th Dec 2009 8:19 am
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Johnny on
Fri, 4th Dec 2009 11:41 am
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Lira Vaughan on
Fri, 4th Dec 2009 11:42 am
It’s true that there is no “I” in Team Truant, but there is a me, and meat, but wait…nevermind.
If I only seem to think you’re a rockin’ coach, I’m not effectively expressing myself.
It’s awesome to have someone who can intuitively point out where I fell off track, explain how I probably did it, and provide suggestions as to how I get off my arse to get back in action. As long as I keep getting back up, I will succeed. Thanks for helping me keep my head in the game.
So, should I start carrying a card now or something?
Good to read what you’re up to! If two hours of coaching with you wouldn’t cost what I need to live more than a month down here, I would totally do it. It’s not that it’s too expensive, it’s just that I ain’t got the money. 
But then, I got this neat little Ittybiz package before it went off the shelves and I got the free posts you write AND I’m totally ready for world-relaxation, so there is no fucking spoon. Wohoo!
Look at all these encouraging soon-to-be success stories up in here!
Excellent post. Great way to start the day. It’s a real trap to be in the headspace of believing there’s something ridiculously noble about doing every damn thing all by yourself, with no help from anyone.
Reminds me of my daughter who at age three refused to be helped across the road insisting “NO! HOLD OWN HAND!” Full marks for independence, but there are obviously better ways to go about it.
Yeah… and the cool thing is that I keep finding stuff that Robin can do better than I can, like keeping track of who owes me what. That’s normally a major clusterfuck, so being able to outsource it is sweet.
I love being called ‘The Organizer’
It sounds like I’m kicking your ass and cleaning up your room at the same time.
Happy to be on Team Truant though, just don’t send me chocolate covered bacon for Xmas. It took 2 weeks to clean up the mess last time.
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