Posts Tagged ‘Building an Empire’

School… To Go or Not To Go?

Posted: February 22, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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Those who have known me for a while know that I have a background in psychology; I attended the University of Texas and even worked in a research lab.

More and more in today’s society, I hear people arguing that education is a waste of time… oooh…. I could not disagree more. I have heard the argument so many times about the statistics referencing that many of college graduates do not even utilize the degree that they graduate with… I hear about the massive debt that students accrue… So many people with so many complaints about education.

I will not say that every must or needs to go to college… I will, however, say that I wish more people would. Just for a personal preference; there are far too many people out there that lack education. It just makes life less enjoyable when you encounter these people daily and they have no desire to learn anything but feel they already know everything… you know these people; we all do. You can’t get away from them. People try to blame it on a generational thing or whatever…but there have been stupid people in every generation; it is a sad yet very true fact. I simply say stupid because that is what it is when people assume they know everything and refuse to learn anything…STUPID.

Now, to put away my soapbox… I encourage education for so many reasons… I do have my personal reasons; yet there are many professional reasons as well. Truth is that you need to be educated. You need to know more than what you are selling. There are plenty of people who get by on just their one little skill or product or idea, but do you want to get by or do you want to be wealthy and successful? Let’s get there already, then.

You need to be educated. You need to know some things. You need to have some mathematical background so you can know how to manage your funds and your budget. You need to be able to budget, manage your overhead (whatever it may be), track expenses, balance your books, etc. These are all fundamentals that ultimately are many people’s downfall. You need to be able to write, at least a little. You need to be able to write a memo, a proper email, draw up paperwork, etc. It can be critical to be able to formulate proper documents and conduct yourself professionally as well as protecting yourself. There have been many business deals that have fallen through in which documents were not legit and one party is left being held responsible. You need to be articulate; be able to carry yourself in a professional manner and speak well to others. You need to speak well and have people want to listen to you when it is your business you are trying to grow.

Overall, there are so many things that you will learn by going to school… so many things I did not even touch on here as I was merely speaking about the fundamentals when trying to grow your business.

I have learned many things over my years in the education system; I learned about statistical design processes as well as in depth psychological perspective, business writing, creative writing, debate, science, history, politics…. Reality is, I could go on and on because I loved my education. I am grateful I did it and have never regretted it. It was a truly amazing experience and I learned so much that I utilize every day. So frequently, I can reference something from my days in school… I also had experiences and fun that don’t compare to anything else (I am not talking about drunken frat parties either).

It is important and beneficial to be educated; there are so many benefits that can propel you into the future. Don’t buy into the idea that it is a waste of time because of all the hype or because it is cool to not go to school. Get out there, have some experiences, make some memories, and learn something.

Your future is what you make it to be. IT is never to late to learn more either. Just sayin’

Do Not Fear Math

Posted: February 22, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises, Stimulating Thought
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There was a time when I was in college that I had a part time job tutoring math at the community college. I tutored everything from basic mathematics skills to calculus although calculus wasn’t my strongest subject to tutor. I have always been good at math since I was young, but it wasn’t until I got to college and met the most incredible professor I have ever known. His name was Omar, and he just had this special ability to make mathematics crystal clear. During my tutoring sessions, specifically the students who came to me seeking aide in the developmental math classes had this aversion to math. I can’t say that I didn’t understand. Even though for me, growing up, math was my best subject, in my entire life math was only presented fun a few times…for arguments sake, let’s say I could probably count the times it was presented fun on one hand… math was taught to us nearly every day we attended school all through grade school and then sometimes there was patterns to curriculum in middle school and high school, so you may not see it every day…but ultimately that is a lot of math that is rarely approached from any angle other than technical. I am aware that math is very technical and knowing how it functions is important. I am also aware that there are effective ways to approach as I have seen them in action.

Omar was an exceptional professor on so many levels. He put the students at ease when going through the developmental courses by letting them know he struggled all through high school but went on to get his Masters in Mathematics. “If I can do that, you can get through this course,” he said. He always had these fun stories of how formulas were created…when, where, why…under what circumstances was the mathematician when he discovered something new. It was really great because he made math more interactive and allowed a little history to be involved which made the material more relatable than just memorizing formulas…which to be honest is a truthful thing sometimes. Sometimes, you must just memorize, and it will piece together later.

I utilized many stories and tricks for memorization that Omar taught me in my tutoring as well as my own personal life. Even when you are killed at math implementing formulas can be tricky sometime and you forget little things; we all do.

I recall one day at the end of a College Algebra class, a student who was notorious for questioning everything and always took opportunities to express how this was all a waste of his precious time, decided to ask Omar, when will we ever use this… Omar, knowing who this student was and knew he would quickly shoot down any logical answer provide, simply stated, “the state of Texas requires this course for your particular degree; if you wish to get your degree, you will use this to pass this class.” ‘Nuff said.

Some people are so determined that they do not need math, or they are convinced of their lack of ability in this area, that they are closed off to the idea that they can indeed do math. It is a little-known fact and frequently argued concept that math is involved in all things we do. I live in Austin, Tx which is a very musical city to all of you who are unfamiliar… I know many musicians, several of which believe they are no good at math although they write music. I have had many discussions expressing that if they are writing music, they are using math even if they do not realize it.

The key for many of you out there building your business are growing as an entrepreneur is that math is so critically vital to a business owner. You must know the logistics of what you are building and be able to spout the numbers of your business off with little thought. You must be that involved in the development and growth of your business that you ‘KNOW’ those numbers… but knowing is much more than being able to recite them. Anyone can memorize numbers and list them off; you must be able to understand what they mean and how to apply them. You must know the ins and outs of your finances. The eb and flow of your cash flow is so vital to your success. There are so many people with incredible skills that fell short and their business crumbled because of lack of mathematics in their efforts. They trusted someone else to know or just believed that money was coming in so no need to analyze the details… this is so far from true. Money is coming and yes, your business may be growing, but do you know what your next step is? Do you know where it should be going from here. Maybe you have ideas but without proper analytics of your finances, you can’t make accurate decisions. This can make the difference between your success and your failure.

You need to understand your taxes and make sure you are keeping yourself protected and within the bounds of the law. You can, of course, hire an accountant to crunch the numbers for you especially as your company grows…that is a lot of time that ultimately shouldn’t be spent by you if you are needed elsewhere, but you need to understand how it works and be able to go over what they have done and know your money is in the right place and well attended to.

You need to be able to formulate a budget for maintaining your company as well as the growth of your business and the potential expansion into new business ventures. If you aren’t careful and managing your funds properly, new business ventures can destroy the viable business you already have. These are things you must know and understand.

This is a lot to take in and much of it will be gotten into later in more extensive details… Be sure to stay tuned.

Math is so critically vital and not at all scary. Do not allow math to be your downfall. Utilize it to the greater good of your future success. Math is your friend if you let it be.

This Isn’t It

Posted: February 20, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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No matter what business you are in or how successful you believe yourself to be, there is always more… Never settle or sell yourself short. There will always be more. It is just a matter of how much do you want to be involved in? And how much are you willing to adapt?

Be flexible… and be willing to learn.

For a moment look at someone like Richard Branson…the Rebel Billionaire himself. He founded Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, years ago he began work on a space program. He even funded the company Love Sac which is just a little random.
Jim Jones made his way spittin’ bars as a rapper. From there, he was in a group, Dipset, and got into producing. He now owns a company that provides cell service and is looking into new investments.
IceCube is very well known for being one of the founding members of the rap group N.W.A. as well as his later success as an actor; he also started his own show, Hip Hop Squares, and even owns a 3 on 3 basketball league.

The point here is that these are extremely successful individuals that aren’t banking only on their initial claim to fame… they grew, they adapted, they diversified; you must be willing to do the same. Grow your business into a thriving success and then begin to look towards the future and see what’s next. There are endless opportunities out there if you are ready to get out there and grab a hold of them.

Be cautious to not over-commit and spread yourself too thin… but get it going already. Once your business is thriving, it is time to begin growing the next one… once that is thriving, it is time to move on to the next… sometimes, there may be opportunities for the next before one is thriving… you have to make the best possible call when faced with this… you can always grow more than one at the same time… don’t allow yourself to be sucked in and find yourself over-committed.

Get started on your next big thing. Invest in businesses, stocks, opportunities.

Grow. Nurture. Thrive.

No matter where you are and how high you have reached… Reach for more.

Step Up Your Vocab

Posted: February 19, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises, Stimulating Thought
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What’s the last book you read? How often do you sit and read a book?

This is an important thing… It is frequently an overlooked part of success…

It is important to continue learning and expanding your horizons; it truly never ends. The rich and successful spend more time reading than they do watching television… and I am not referring to random fiction. They are reading things that expand their minds or help them grow in their field of expertise.

It is also important to know that it can be incredibly helpful to read things written by your peers. Doctors, psychologists, scientists and theologians are constantly reading works written by their peers. Sometimes we need to be reminded that this is not only okay, but the best way to broaden your horizons. Sometimes, in business, people allow their pride or ego get in the way of progress. You never want to take someone’s ideas…that is stealing and wrong and will almost never help you; it nearly always blows up in your face. You do not want to waste time and efforts on something like this. But we all get influence in everything we encounter… it is only natural that influence is all around is… it is just a matter of whether we pick up on it.

The idea that it is all around us, as I have expressed many times before, you already have ideas and direction… it is what makes you, you. But there is always room to grow and learn. The most successful people know better than to stop learning and being open to growth. You must be on that level.

The reality is that you may need to adjust your train of thought or maybe there is that little something that you need to know that you may not have been aware of before.
When I was about 22… I was young and eager to learn more and more and grow myself into a business mogul; at the time, I was really open to so many possibilities and always had an interest in real estate because of a small collective of people I knew. My cousin was a realtor and a friend that I had worked with for some time had been flipping houses and was quite good at it. My uncle ran his own business, but it was simply built by him without any investments as his began as a fluke (that is a story for another day). My Mom and Dad had multiple successful and some not so successful businesses as did my grandma. I had another close friend that at the time seemed a lot like me with ambitions of success and was eagerly seeking new opportunities. He knew some things about business and he and I had began working on some business adventures together. Nearly all did fizzle out… (stories for another time…) you do learn from the ones that fail… sometimes more than the successes. Having been under the influence of so many people with what I thought was the right mentality, I felt I had a pretty good base of business knowledge already from a young age… having said that, I was ready to learn more; I wanted to soak up everything like a sponge.
So, I went with a friend to a seminar on real estate thinking I would learn so much… from this particular experience, my friend and I both walked away feeling as though we had missed something… we were aware that we were not yet moguls nor were we successful business men yet. We were just trying to get started, but we felt like we already knew most of the information that was presented at this seminar. We weren’t sure what we were missing, yet we were excited about the one little nugget of info that neither of us at that time knew… Neither of us knew about a ‘hard-money loan’ nor did we have any idea of how such a thing would work. We walked out of their looking shocked that we felt aware of most of the rest of information but were stoked that we both looked to one another and said nearly at the same time, “what about that hard money loan?… Yeah, that’s pretty tight.”

My friend who had been flipping houses for some time now, never did it that way. He had his own system which he shared with me and seemed much more challenging but for him it worked. Him and his wife had a system. Their system worked for them. You will always find new information even if just a small detail… that detail may not be ideal for you, but you have at least expanded your knowledge and some day it could be what you need. Or today, it could be a game changer. You never really know. You must be open to learning. The fact that what you have going works, doesn’t mean there isn’t more out there… something better or more efficient. You may learn that something you were doing just a s a hobby, could really be your future… Be willing to learn.

Pick up a book.

February 17, 2019

Posted: February 18, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises, Mom
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Today is an important day…

This is, without question, the most difficult post I have done thus far… A year ago, today, my life was changed and will never be the same…  I lost my Mom. I can’t begin to express what she meant to me. She truly was one of the most amazing people I have ever known in all my life.

She was the one who taught me to be the man I am today. She taught me to be ambitious. She taught me to be strong. She taught me that fear was okay, but not to be scared or controlled by fear. You must be strong and decisive.

I remember growing up hearing the stories of her and Dad’s business ventures. I always knew that I would own my own business one day. Over the years the type of business changed so many times…but ultimately, I was going to be like my Dad… my Dad wasn’t around when I was growing up. He was when I was little, but then him and Mom divorced, and we lost touch for much of my life… When I was a teenager, I looked to him like a hero… it wasn’t till later that I grew and realized that I was seeing him through my Mom’s eyes. He wasn’t my hero; he was an amazing man. He was a wonderful man. He was my Dad. He will always be my Dad, and I love him dearly… I hold the moments and memories that we shared so close in my heart. But the truth is, as amazing as he was and still is, my hero, he is not. My hero is my Mom. She has been for nearly all my life, even when I was too clueless to realize it.

My Mom taught me about being an entrepreneur, and she also taught me about the importance of writing and expressing myself artistically. She told me stories my whole life that caused me to look up to my Dad and want to be like him…

All along, I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be the type of man that she would see as worthy and good enough. I wanted to make her proud. I wanted my Dad to one day come back in my life and see the man I had become. I wanted her to know that as incredible as she thought he was, I could be great too. I could do the amazing things they did.

My drive and ambition have always been there… It was always something that was in me. Many things over the years have clouded my judgement as life tends to do, but that drive has always been there, and it was because of her. It was because of what she taught me and how she taught me to be.

I couldn’t be more grateful for the stories she shared about Dad and the picture she painted of him being a Texas Hero and an entrepreneur with ambition to spare…. But ultimately, when telling these stories, she never expressed that they started these businesses because of success, fame, or fortune… she always said they were just having fun. That was something I never forgot. They had fun. They loved working with one another and in so many different arenas also. At one point, my Mom… 5’2” 120 lbs… and my Dad owned a company laying brick… She was always so proud to tell me… “Me and your Dad used to lay brick.” I was so proud every time I heard it.

Mom, I’m doing it! I am running my own successful business and I am reaching others and helping them start and run their business. I am also reaching more people through my writing which you always encouraged. I wish you were here to see what I have accomplished. You were always so proud of me and loved when I started my first business years ago and always encouraged and helped as much as you could along the way… I am now helping others as you always helped me. I love you, Mom. I am so proud to share your stories and the things you have taught… Me and Jason shared stories with each other today about growing up… we talked of some of our friends and the experiences we had. I remember friends like David and Andre called you ‘Mom’. If only more people could have been so lucky and so blessed to have a mom like you. I am thankful everyday… I am learning that you never stopped teaching me… even to this day… just by talking to Jason, I realized things that I was still learning from you. I miss you more than you know and will continue to honor you, Kimberly, our kiddos, and the Bayless Family traditions as I grow and continue to develop my business. I don’t think I ever properly thanked you either… but I don’t think we can ever thank the people who touch our lives and effect so strongly.

Today, I ask of all of you, please take a moment to show a little love and appreciation to those who support you in your efforts and business… those who are always there for you. Whether it be your Mom, Dad, brother, wife, husband, or true friend…  whoever is in your life who is there for you in that special way and continues to encourage you and help you grow to be a better person, give them your love and appreciation… You wouldn’t be you without them.

Rockstars & Coke

Posted: February 16, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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Confession time…. Sorry to disappoint, but it isn’t as juicy as the title may have led on… I looked in my fridge the other day… I had been hard at work for hours. I had been poundin’ away at the keys for longer than I even know. I had gotten up to wrangle my boys a few times, but I was in the zone. I was feeling hungry and a bit thirsty… when I opened the fridge and noticed there was nothing to drink in the fridge besides my boys’ juices and some milk and on the top shelf, Rockstars and Coke… I had actually gotten so consumed in my work and keeping up with my boys that day that I didn’t realize until it was about an hour till their dinner time and all I had put in myself was Rockstars and Coke… I had a day where I was in a zone… I was literally juggling tending to my boys all day… which if you have ever met them, I assure you, there’s no way your kids could keep up with the energy level of my boys. Our two wonderful boys are so amazing… but they are fast. I mean really fast… anyways. I had managed to keep up with them, made them breakfast, lunch, tended to little bumps and bangs as they happen, and even managed to get them to clean up their toys after plating… all of this while I poundin’ away at my laptop all day. I just kept my laptop open and kept on runnin’. I was hustlin’ and in the zone… I managed to feed them but never feed myself… I know we have all been there, but it isn’t good for us.

A lot of my tips and advice is directed to you as I am hoping to help and encourage you with the knowledge I have gained from my years of experience running my own businesses and helping others with theirs… but this one I am directing at us as it is something I take seriously only sometimes and others…. Well…

We have got to take care of ourselves. It is so important that we are mindful of what we are eating… or even more importantly we need to be sure we aren’t so consumed with work that we don’t eat. You must take those moments to care for yourself and make sure that all the fight and drive you are putting into your business… that you’ll be around and healthy to reap the benefits of all your victories.

That’s it…short and sweet… Just keep some perspective. At the end of the day, you’re adults for crying out loud… you got this.

Till next time, homies… Peace & Hair Grease

Time Is Money

Posted: February 16, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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This is so frequently misrepresented which makes it harder for those who don’t really value their time properly wrap their head around the concept. I have literally had a friend try to argue that time was time and money was money. As this dude had been a homeboy of mine for many years, I went ahead and quickly let it go and moved on as he had no desire to not work for the man anyways. He was constantly paranoid that he would lose his secure job working for the man at the post office.

Ok… so, the idea is that of course time isn’t literally money… you cannot trade time as currency… or do you do that already? Come on, most of us have done this regularly at some point in our lives and some of you still are and are hoping to grow past that… It is called a job… You are trading your time for a paycheck. That is what money is… in an essence… it is stacks of Ben Franklins that theoretically at one point were a physical representation of some currency that was held at the US Mint… now there are people who debate the validity of that idea for a plethora of reasons… but this is not the forum for that…

When an entrepreneur, business mogul, or growing business owner says the phrase “time is money,” they are referencing a value that they place on their time. The importance of this is when you are deciding how best to manage your time. When you in the early stages and growing your business, you are doing everything on your own; it all falls on you. As you grow and get revenue coming in, and the business begins to thrive, there are much more things you must consider.

You have got to ensure that you are utilizing yourself at your optimum potential. I have watched several people I have known who ran their own businesses miss the mark on this one. They see things as they are successful and making money, they must obviously be doing it right… right?… Not necessarily… There could be more you are missing. I knew a very successful business owner years ago… I helped him many times with his business. He had a reselling business, and he was quite the hustler. He truly was great. He would find things al over town and in neighboring cities for practically nothing… I never knew how he did it… none of us did. The thing was that he lacked organization… or not that he lacked it, he just said it wasn’t important. He could organize when he wanted to… I had seen him do so many times… He just said it wasn’t important. It extremely slowed down his process to be so out of sorts all the time. He was no doubt successful but had aspirations of bigger things… It was ultimately his lack of focus that held him back.

The key again is to know your worth. I had a partner whom I did business with for a good while long ago that would always preach about how he just wasn’t willing to waste time on doing things that were beneath his pay grade. He was extremely successful as well but didn’t really much desires to run his own business because of such things. He had tried to start multiple businesses and when it came to the leg work that is needed to get it going, he just wasn’t making enough money… He was taking this principle to far as it was making him short-sighted. He wasn’t seeing the value in putting in the work to get the business going. He made too much money in commission making sales as he was a huge closer that he just couldn’t give in to the basics.

The idea truly is knowing what you value yourself at… but not losing sight of getting the business going in the first place. Now that you have your thriving business, don’t hesitate to get help, outsource, hire someone.

Why do something that earns you $15 and hour when you know you could easily earn $100 if you were doing something else. That is about as real as gets. If you can earn $100 an hour or even more… which you on your way… then there is no need to do the time-consuming work that earns you $15 an hour.

Time is money… Earn more…

Failure Is a Part Success

Posted: February 14, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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Just spittin’ truth.
Okay, let’s get into it… You will try and you will fail… and that is okay. You know what… it is more than okay. It is expected. It isn’t expected because of you… this is not a reflection of your abilities, skills, or enormous brain capacity… this is just business. Welcome to being an entrepreneur

If you are not prepared to fail, get ready for it… or start filling out applications… there are plenty of people hiring all over the country.

That sounds harsh, and I’m not sorry because it is what you need to hear. This is why so many aren’t working for themselves; either they have already tried and failed, or they are scared of failure. There is no room for fear… You must overcome that. Know it and accept it… and be prepared for the potential failure and you will be fine… you will learn from said failure and look towards your next victory.

You should not go into any venture expecting failure… If you expect failure in a venture or opportunity, then you should walk away… what would you be doing it for if you expected failure. Now, if that isn’t convoluted enough for you, the idea is that you need to expect and prepare for failure in your overall business experience but not in a specific moment. In each moment, you better go all in with the utmost confidence otherwise, you’re in it for the wrong reason… but no matter how much confidence you have in your many business ventures… and I say many because you are an entrepreneur, and there will be so many opportunities that cross your path… well many of those will appear to be opportunities, but as you will learn later, they were merely illusions. But no matter how much confidence you have in said ventures, some will not make the grade… some were not well thought out from the jump while others are just going to surprise you.

Look, you never know what’s coming at you. You prep, you hustle, you build and construct, and when something inevitably cracks or crumbles, be ready… pick up those pieces, evaluate what cracked, assess the possible solutions to rebuild or determine that this opportunity wasn’t what you thought it could be and time to throw yourself into the next venture.

You are growing and so is the world around you… your business which is set in this ever-changing world is ran by you, it’s ever-changing and growing leader. Things change and what was a great idea last year may not be a great idea now… and maybe it was never a great idea, but only appeared to be based on the biased perspective you had when you were evaluating it before… Do not hold this against yourself. Sometimes you can see these things and other times you won’t. As you grow and learn, you will get inherently better at determining whether something has the longevity it needs to test time… but sometimes, even the most experienced minds don’t see it… but by that point, you are in a growing business and you have diversified in numerous ways to which one business cracking isn’t the end of the world… you just learn from it and move forward.

Always moving forward… Get Cocky… I know I am.

Know Your Target

Posted: February 13, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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I strongly encourage diversification…if you know me, you know this… with that being said, you have to earn it first.

By diversification, the idea is to get multiple forms of business going and get the cash flowing in. This is awesome…like I said, I encourage this… but I also said… Earn it.

You’ve got to earn the right to spread that dough out… You’ve got to bring in that cheddar you want to throw around. It’s just that simple.

Okay… maybe it’s not that simple… the idea is that you need more than steady cash flow. You need substantial reliable steady cash flow with longevity. The money needs to be coming in and it needs to be significant. The idea is that you must have enough money coming to pay the bills and then some.

You need to get paid! This refers to you… your person… So many get their business going and put everything back into the business to keep it afloat and then try to make ends meet elsewhere… this is not the plan. Make sure you are getting paid. You must survive or how will your business survive without you… Next, you have a business that needs you attention and needs an influx of revenue to keep it running… no matter what kind of business it is that you are running, it needs money.
Okay… so, take care of yourself, your business, and then you need a significant additional revenue coming in that is flex cash… money you can afford to throw around a bit. I say that very loosely because no money is money that can be thrown around if you have any intentions of being wealthy. We will get into that another day… You want to be rich, think rich. For today, we will focus on keeping your eye on the prize.

You need to generate a substantial bank roll so you can keep your business growing bigger and bigger… give it a little time and when you’ve got it to develop into a sustainable business as well as the cash cow you desire it to be, we’ll talk about diversification. For now, focus on what you’ve got and give your all to it!

Get Cocky and Get There.

Partner with an Investment, Not an Idea

Posted: February 12, 2019 in Bayless Enterprises
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You ready for this? It’s time for a little tough love… Let’s get real.

It doesn’t matter if this is the first business you are getting off the ground or if you have multiple already out there earning for you… Key is to always know what you are getting into before deciding to partner with someone. There are many questions that need to be addressed in order to really asses whether this is an investment that you should be getting involved in.

There are the obvious ones… What’s the idea? … What are we selling/doing?

One of the most important questions is… Who am I am getting into business with? If your answer to this is, “my homeboy”… “my sister”… “my best friend”… None of those answers are the correct ones. The questions is not what is this persons’ relationship to you… It is who are they?
What is their background?
What is their experience?
What is their knowledge?
What is their drive and motivation?
Most importantly…what is their investment? Are they giving time, efforts, knowledge, money…what are they bringing to the table… That is the key here.

When someone is bringing invaluable knowledge to the table, then lesser monetary investment is acceptable. Substantial
contribution must be made by all parties.

You must know your partner is your partner and not a scrub. Trust me there are plenty of scrubs out there who are going to jump at the chance to partner with someone who is going to front all the money and do all the work. Friends and family can quickly get you pulled into something. They are someone you trust and care for… they will get to talking one day with all good intentions. Before you know it y’all have discussed this elaborate idea and all sounds good but there is no foundation… Your partner lacks the drive and ambition that you have. You will quickly find yourself in over your head and sinking when your partner isn’t giving into this new business venture the way that you are. No matter how good the idea or potential of said venture is, it isn’t worth it if you are in alone. They have got to be in it with you.

If someone is going to come at you with an idea, they better come correct… they better come with cash in hand and be ready to put in the time and work.

I caution you against working with friends or family… It is just a caution as things need to be kept professional and many times people who are close to you can easily cross lines, even accidentally… Things can get blurry and that isn’t what you want. You need to feel comfortable and confident being able to keep things professional and calling them out when your partner isn’t putting it all in and pulling their weight.

There is a lot of ideas here that are all valid and significant for different reasons and all come together under the same principle of being cautious who you get into business with. Follow and keep up with my other posts and we will touch on some of these other concepts a little deeper. For now, they key is to not partner with an idea… don’t get into something deep with someone just because the idea seems good or plausible or because of the source of the idea… you need an investment… you need a partner to bring the cheddar and lay down some of the leg work ahead of time to give you confidence in their ability and willingness to out in the work.

You have a new concept… you need a partner… you ready to Get Cocky… expect them to Get Cocky with you otherwise… go it alone. You’ll be better off.

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