No one is looking for you

 

I know three brothers who are all high earning dentists and I asked them what compelled all three to become dentists and they told me about there father.  There father was a Willy Loman type salesman.  He traveled the country selling cheap clothes to department stores and he died young and broke from trying to eek out a living for his family.  His only advice to his son’s was that they should go to school and become professionals, because in the real world No one is looking for you. Great business advice!  I do not want to come across as a cynical jaded individual; although I may be…but it is true…No one is looking for you.  I am not so sure anyone is looking out for you either, in fact, I may so bold as to suggest, most people do not care about you.  Being self involved today seems to be the norm. Outside your small circle of friends, family and loved ones, most people are busy taking care of their own business, as it should be.

 

All you need to start a business is a pen, a pad and a telephone and out of that you create a business. You develop relationships, you create value and guidelines, and you create an idea or tipping point and you spread the word. You are the CEO of your own business, and even if this blog finds you in a job, you are still the CEO of your career.

 

If you are a well seasoned business person, you become in a sense bullettproof.  Many of us are doing our business month by month, client by client, season by season, dollar by dollar, gig by gig..  We are bulletproof and recession proof because we are always starting from scratch. Sometimes every thirty to forty days. we are starting from scratch with our pen, pad and phone.  We will always survive.

Seasoned business people are always selling and will pull deals out of thin air, they keep showing up day in and day out and constantly change and reinvent themselves.

 

It is vitally important that your business does not depend on a handful of clients.  You must constantly be creating a new rolodex and never be at the mercy of losing one account.  A true businessperson knows that they can always start their business from scratch again and again and again.

 

As far as no one looking for you here is the answer.  When someone asked the comedian Steve Martin “How do you break into show business? his response was “Be So Dam Good, They Cannot Ignore You”.  That is the answer.  If no one is looking for you then you find them, you attract them, you bring them in and be so dam good they can’t ignore you

 

I, again, remind you to subscribe to this blog, tell others, keep coming back and please call if you want to really talk about your individual situations with me in greater depth.

 

“Business is Personal”

 

MR (kiproth@yahoo.com)

 

 

 

 

A Modern Discourse on Business

This is a modern weekly discourse on the essence of business. Whether you are a mid to high level executive (or aspire to be) or an entrepreneur, it is a very unique place to be.

This is a school, a training academy, a master’s course, a dojo for the entrepreneur or businessman who wants to know the real strategies for business. That is correct, there are indeed secrets, strategies and information that only experience can teach you. I intend to teach them to you in this dojo.

My name is Michael Roth and I have been advising and strategizing for over twenty years. However, I am very different from what you have seen or heard before. For example….I am not going to tell you that I am a retired, wealthy guy who is doing this program to be altruistic. If I was a multi millionaire you and I would not be talking. I take a true Zen approach to what is being done here, and as a businessman myself, I am always striving for pure mastery. That means the training never really stops. It is fair to say that after twenty years of running my management consulting firm, coaching and advising people and serving approximately 300 indivdual clients and 40 corporations, II have something to say…so you might want to listen. Truth be told, I believe the core of growth lies in being infinitely curious and I for one, as a businessman am always seeking a community of like minded people to connect with.

The Corporate Dojo is an exclusive place to go to to learn what being an entrepreneur is really like. It is a place to learn how to become a great leader, someone who learns skills that are applicable in any work situation and maybe, dare I say, life situation. But here is the rub…it is a dojo, not a short film or short easy to read pamphlet. Meaning you cannot come here just to read and absorb, you have to understand that the principals we teach are based on real time experiences and being truly committed to excellence is a hard and arduous task. This is not for the weak of heart. The corporate dojo goes beyond just tips and techniques and trains you to embrace our belief than success comes from Commitment, Sacrifice, Discipline and lifestyle change. That’s what we teach.

Faster, faster faster till the thrill of speed, overcomes the fear of death

HT

I make no overblown promises about how you can buy a yacht in 30 days, and improve your love life and create an unlimited cash flow. What the dojo is is a handbook for survival and a place to learn how to use these new tools. I encourage you to commit and subscribe, because I personally pride myself on being different and unique and I again assure you that by being a part of this dojo, you will develop skills that will serve you greatly.

 

The Show that never ends

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.  This being entry #2 I have decided to continue to share with you the structure of this classroom.  Ergo the Rules.  The “what we can expect from each other”.  In fact, the definition of Standards is …an agreement of how we are going to be with each other.  Since this is my dojo, I have written these rules.  I call them…The Rules of Me.

 

1-     I do not preach dogma.  Use what you like; do not use what you do not like.  Simple.  What I won’t do is argue, discuss or debate whether the technology is good or bad.

 

2-     In the real world, you are a person of action or a guy / girl with a story.  We at the dojo do not believe in the “a – ha” experience.  We stress that change, growth and evolution come from Commitment, Discipline, Sacrifice and Lifestyle Change.  So the rule is: No Stories.  In the Entrepreneurial world the currency we are time and commitment.  If you want to tell your story, start a blog.

 

3-     I encourage you to try to connect with me…But……. with a caveat.  I am from the streets of New York and I do not “suffer fools gladly”, meaning, only connect with me, if you are real and committed.  I only work with thoroughbreds. If you want to discuss a cutomized bespoke program for you or your business, then call  email me at kiproth@yahoo.com and on the subject write  Looking for Mr. Smith.

 

4-     Do not base your decisions on the verbiage, bumper stickers or anecdotes you receive here.  I often tell my clients that I do not give advice.  I offer up opinion, counsel, perspective and strategies…but ultimately, you make your own professional decisions.  I do not want t hear “well you told me to”.  I do not tell anyone what to do.  I also, over the many years have received letters and cards even paintings from clients stating that I changed there lives.  I do not change people’s lives!  They change there own lives, I am only a catalyst.  How does this evolution to mastery happen?   Practice.  If you go to a gym or boxing club or any martial arts studio and you work out three times a week you get stronger.  Same here!

 

 

Zen Teacher: by definition, a Zen teacher challenges and disrupts what you have been taught before.

 

I am a pebble in your shoe, a splinter in your finger, a thorn in your side…training you and reminding you that there is a higher level to go to.  I hope I piss you off and make you laugh and most importantly look at things differently.  This is top of the line, and state of the art.

 

 

Business is Personal!  

 

IMB ( I Mean Business)

 

 

Again, I welcome you back to the dojo and today is the day your training begins.  Let us start with the basics.  Just as there is a finite amount of training and transformational technology available, there is also a finite amount of areas of skill a successful business person and/or entrepreneur must learn.  Time Management, Prioritization, Sales, Marketing, Networking, Controlling your emotional states (away from panic and toward calm), Overcoming bad habits and obstacles (procrastination), Organization, etc.  These are skills and habits you must learn to master, job out or attract those who can do it for you…  Ultimately you cannot succeed without handling these things.  Most of my clients usually start of with all or a combination of problems:

 

1-     Bad Habits

 

2-      Foolish  beliefs

 

3-     Ignorance

 

These are all correctable.  Replace bad habits with good ones, eliminate any disempowering beliefs (easier said than done, but do -able), Ignorance can be overcome by knowledge.  Power is knowledge and that knowledge is inside the information tent.  This corpoatedojo is that tent.

 

In business, work and career, everyone, and I do mean everyone; pretty much wants the same thing:

 

 1- Do what they love?

2- Do what they are good at

3- Make a good deal of money doing it

 

The first barrier they seem to need to cross is The Impostor Syndrome.  You know what this looks like: What if they discover that I am in way over my head, or what if they discover I am under qualified or what if they discover that I do not know what I am talking about.  The answer is that Perception is Reality.  No, I am not advocating that if you are a trained podiatrist that you attempt to transplant a liver…  In most entrepreneurial work, however, Fake it, till you make it will get you thru.  In other words, you do not have to be right all the time, or have all the answers…  In fact a really great leader distinguishes himself by asking great questions.  When a CEO asks me what he should do, I often counter with what do you want to do?  I then, (more often than not), tell him to go do it (trust his gut) and thus he calls me a genius.

 

If you over deliver, work harder than most and love your client, then you are worth what you charge.  They will see your passion and commitment and you will succeed.  Doubt does kill the warrior.  Have you ever worked in a company where it seems like no one knows what they are doing?  Want to know why? Because in most businesses, and most high level executives; Do Not Know what they are doing!!!  That is the truth.  I have advised world class, Harvard MBA CEO’s and they know nothing, absolutely nothing about leadership.   These individuals do not worry about looking good.  They hire guys like me and the perception than they are great leaders becomes the reality.  Even an iconic leader like Jack Welch has stated many, many times that his true talent is hiring the best people, delegating and inspecting.  You do not have to be the smartest guy in the room; just let yourself and your ego acquiesce to that guy.  In Business, being right is not as important as being happy.  In business you must not be a pompous arrogant leader, or a meek quiet one, you just have to know to listen, think and talk.  If you do ready, aim, fire you will hit you mark.  Most people do ready , fire, aim.  That leads to chaos and being an impostor will get in your way.  If you focus on team, inspire those around you, encourage the heart, have fun and challenge the process, a great result will occur and no one  is going to question how credentialzed or experienced you are.  Final note on this…if you had two teams of individuals competing for the same goal,  one team were all the best trained and equipped and the other team a bunch of misfits with incredible heart, who do you think always wins? …The guys with heart.

 

I thank you again for your interest and participation in the corporatedojo and urge you ( as I will, constantly) to spread the word, subscribe, add thoughts or comments and again, if you are not worried about looking good but feel compelled to really kick your business to it’s highest level, then call me for a consultation. 310 318 4831.

 

 

Welcome to the information Tent

 

 

 

 

“Business is Personal”

 

 

MR