Where I have been this time... and why I'm famous at Wells Fargo

[DrunkFish]

Man, that first story was the shit. Sounds like some intense movie plot. I know first hand from the drug world when I was younger what people will go through to screw you over some cash. Put my trust barriers in place and opened my eyes. This story had me on edge though.

 

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[Kak]

I am going to go ahead and begin sharing another story. I won't try to put a label on the lesson learned here because there are so dang many I learned from this it would be a disservice to focus on just one.

This story is an extremely tough one to unpack for me. It is the biggest business sacrifice I have ever made. I'm not talking about a few grand here or there like the sourcing deal. I'm not even talking about some guy's 100k. I'm talking about the better part of a million dollars spent. Some investor money and some was my own. I'm talking about hundreds of meetings. Supplier turnover because of no movement. Explaining myself to investors. Continuing to believe in my business through hundreds upon hundreds of naysayers, liars, disinterested decision makers.

I have touched on this project in other threads briefly. A very select few of you know exactly what this is. There are absolutely things I would have done differently knowing what I know today, but I haven't given up and I don't plan to.

The story begins on August second of 2013. Over three whole years ago. I formed a corporation, opened a bank account and dropped the first 100k of investor money in it. My idea was ingenious. My numbers were incredible. I had a solution I was going to sell to the biggest customer in the world. The government.

Not only were the numbers incredible... They were figures that could make me and my investors billionaires, every single year over and over diminishing as I put a complete end to a serious problem we have in this country. Republican, democrat, it didn't matter, it would appeal to either side. I felt like I had the world by the balls and my investors were convinced I did to. Investors chased me down. I didn't even have to look. The idea was that good. Lets just quantify and get on with the story... The problem affected 1.1 million people in Texas the year I filed my formation. Each one of those people would be worth an average of $800 in value to my company, net. Remember, that is just Texas.

Within a month of that formation, I had a technology supply and custom solutions in the pipeline. I had a contract with technicians and call centers. I had merchant services. I had the entire operations puzzle figured out. Almost completely outsourced I might add. I had net 30 contracts with all of the large expenses we would have this way we could scale infinitely because we would have our return before the bill even showed up. I proceeded to hire a lobbyist and go after the sales aspect. Now, this was not some ordinary expense, this was an entire executive salary and at the time was more money than I usually made per month. I had to really trust him. And I did.

We went forward with lobbying for the next 2 years. Half of the time was out of session and half of the time was in session. In dealing with government, you will begin to notice a pattern. Everyone "likes" what you have to say, but either they are not the decision maker, you can never find the decision maker, no one wants to make a decision or they just lied to you. It's safe for anyone to tell you how great you and your product are with no commitment in government. So we continued to work at it and get our positive feedback. Session came around and some other topics took precedence and we didn't get exactly what we wanted. 2 years of hard work almost down the drain except for one thing... We moved the decision maker to the local level. We had an amendment on one bill that made it so the decision is up to a more local level.

At this point I am really on the edge. I am running our of investor resources. I don't want to take any more investor money because I don't want to give up much more ownership. I had to let my lobbyist go which was an extremely disappointing day. We had become good friends, and still are, but it sucked to have dissolve the working relationship. My investors are still supportive, but getting a little antsy.

I toiled away trying to do my own lobbying work at the local level. I pounded the phones. I worked so hard on it. Finally, I was exhausted... I couldn't do it any more. I was spending a LOT of my own money at this point and I was into my 3rd year. I considered giving in. I considered letting it beat me. I went days and sometimes weeks not working on it, but not admitting it was over.

Then came a huge blessing... One of the people who were beating down my door 2 and a half years prior to get in to the business. I turned him down at the time, but he asked me how the project was going. I said terrible, there isn't anything there. I myself wouldn't even invest, being fully honest. This guy is worth tens of millions and has been a friend for a while. He said, "stop by the office tomorrow and let's talk about it. I want to see what you've got."

I put together a presentation for him about what had been done and what is still left to do. Where we are in the project. Then basically, don't invest, I wouldn't. Then he told me his reason for having me down. He was selling one of his real estate holdings for north of 15 million dollars. He evidently had to put together some sort of exchange program to avoid taxes, but before he did that he wanted to make sure my project was still off the table. After my presentation he said he sees progress on a company that will obviously take a long time and a lot of resources to launch and that to him it looked like the right time to buy. Again, I told him I wouldn't invest in this company, I don't believe in it anymore and you might be wasting your money. He replied I didn't get where I am today by being careful with everything I did. I see potential, and with the check I am about to write I think you will believe in it again too. He ended up writing a very large check for only 13 percent in the company, but he had one condition... That I took him to the meetings so he could not only see how his investment was doing first hand, but he has always been interested in the political process. I accepted and he was right, his investment made me believe in it again. Someone was finally sold on the deal.

To be continued..

 

[pickeringmt]

Congrats on getting married my friend! Great to hear this part of your life is so solid!

 

[zeitgeist]

so your job was to be the middleman? e.g company a needs product, you find company b that can supply it. you then charge company a, X more and order from company b for Y?

(plus handling logistical issues)

 

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[Kak]

so your job was to be the middleman? e.g company a needs product, you find company b that can supply it. you then charge company a, X more and order from company b for Y?

(plus handling logistical issues)

Yep thats all.. Im impressed you were able to simplify it like I have never been able to. Maybe MJ will skip you right ahead to warp speed just for being so brilliant.

Also DM me so I can give you my contact book.

 

[zeitgeist]

Yep thats all.. Im impressed you were able to simplify it like I have never been able to. Maybe MJ will skip you right ahead to warp speed just for being so brilliant.

I apologize if I offended you, I did not mean to devalue your work - I was not sure if I was reading the post correctly.

Thank you for the story.

 

[Scot]

I apologize if I offended you, I did not mean to devalue your work - I was not sure if I was reading the post correctly.

Thank you for the story.

As Vig pointed out, this story isn't about the business that Kak is in, but about the process and handling problems.

 

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[Kak]

I apologize if I offended you, I did not mean to devalue your work - I was not sure if I was reading the post correctly.

Thank you for the story.

No offense taken at all. I dont care what people think of me. I believe that is very very important.

 

[Lucid Tech]

We went forward with lobbying for the next 2 years. Half of the time was out of session and half of the time was in session. In dealing with government, you will begin to notice a pattern. Everyone "likes" what you have to say, but either they are not the decision maker, you can never find the decision maker, no one wants to make a decision or they just lied to you. It's safe for anyone to tell you how great you and your product are with no commitment in government. So we continued to work at it and get our positive feedback. Session came around and some other topics took precedence and we didn't get exactly what we wanted. 2 years of hard work almost down the drain except for one thing... We moved the decision maker to the local level. We had an amendment on one bill that made it so the decision is up to a more local level.

I feel your pain with trying to find the decision makers in government; I see the same thing in healthcare. Sometime's it's the medical director, sometimes it's the hospital chief of staff, sometimes it's the CFO cutting off all nonessential expenditures. In many cases you'll have people try to position themselves as the decision maker when they are far from it.

What type of funding mechanism were/are you looking for at the state level? One thing we've learned with "open solicitation" grants is that they are often anything but open. At the NIH level for example they often create an open grant solicitation where they have a winner in mind already, but need to put on a show that they are considering all offers. I learned this the hard way at at one conference where a company rep in a similar arena told me (after too many drinks) that they already had won the grant, all that was left was for her to actually send in an application so there was a paper trail and the appearance of a competitive process.

So, if you can convince whatever area of government you are looking for to make an open solicitation grant to solve the problem you are addressing, it's possible you can have a grant pre-written for you to win. [I may be totally off base here as you have been, and should be, keeping your project vague.]

This is very, very far from easy. I've worked directly with the former governor of my state to get something like this through, and even with his support we were not successful.

 

[Bellini]

Here is how you stop dealing with limiting beliefs... Stop having them. Understand as I said to HKK... These millionaires and billionaires aren't unicorns.

This is so true. It reminds me of a quote I read from Dan Kennedy recently:

( @Trud09 ) - "I often say if ordinary people realized how ordinary in capability most millionaires are, there would be a lot more millionaires. What holds most people back isn't lack of opportunity or lack of capability, but the illusory belief that millionaires possess some special abilities that they do not."


Thanks for the thread and posts @Kak !

 

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[Andy Black]

"Leave thinking about thinking to losers."

"Overcome limiting beliefs by not having them."

Love the brutal honesty @Kak

 

[nradam123]

Thank you for your kind words... I appreciate that.

Now about the whole 'resetting sights' crap. Honestly dude that just sounds like a bunch of bullshit. It shouldn't require a deliberate thought reprogramming or any other kind of voodoo Tony Robbins crap. Just find a business you believe in, remember the difference between a small deal and a big deal is just the size of the numbers.

I know I quoted you and only you, but I'm not singling you out. I have seen a bunch of this mind over matter dreamer crap in this thread. I can't recall wasting a single moment on that stuff. I can't also speak for most entrepreneurs who have been successful, but I would put money on the fact that they didn't either.

How many real millionaires out there do you hear tossing Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins quotes around? Right, they are mostly losers that need to F*ck or walk.

Anyway, sorry for making it seem like I was singling you out. I'm a big thinker relative to most people. I get that, but to me its just thinking. Leave thinking about thinking to the losers.

My results 10Xed once i started focusing on the mindset, you just start seeing bigger opportunities. Not everyone are similar.

 

[Kak]

My results 10Xed once i started focusing on the mindset, you just start seeing bigger opportunities. Not everyone are similar.

Care to share what the results you mentioned were?

I still believe that this spending time thinking about how you think crap is just nonsense. It is the definition of mental masturbation. That crap also has a way of making you think you are somehow being a gogetter.

The reality, and the big pill to swallow is that no one but you will start a business for you. No one is going to do this for you. No one is going to hold your hand and tell you how. No feel good Tony Robbins crap is going to make the business flow out of you. You won't get to your 65th self help book and somehow turn the last page to a successful business. Napolean Hill doesn't give a shit about you and neither does Jim Rohn.

Start a business... Hit it hard... Don't take no for an answer... Don't let failure be an option... and fricking WIN. Go out there and WIN.

-or-

You could just go walk on hot coals with a bunch of losers twice a year.

I know where I'll be when Tony Robbins and his hot coals come to town... In my office working, because while all of these idiots are chilling with Tony, pondering their mindsets, the winners are out winning.

 

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[nradam123]

Care to share what the results you mentioned were?

Bigger clients (I have a thread here somewhere 6 months ago where i worked 100 hours for 100$. I think Ubermensh said something along the lines - "if you think poverty you get poverty")
Business Partnerships (I had the audacity to meet other businesses to partner with me. I had a full solopreneur mindset. This is still ongoing but its a shift)

If I did not focus on the mindset I would keep undercharging, keep neglecting partnerships and definitely will remain a freelancer for a long time.

Maybe these things are second nature to you, so you wont understand.

 

[Kak]

Bigger clients (I have a thread here somewhere 6 months ago where i worked 100 hours for 100$. I think Ubermensh said something along the lines - "if you think poverty you get poverty")
Business Partnerships (I had the audacity to meet other businesses to partner with me. I had a full solopreneur mindset. This is still ongoing but its a shift)

If I did not focus on the mindset I would keep undercharging, keep neglecting partnerships and definitely will remain a freelancer for a long time.

Maybe these things are second nature to you, so you wont understand.

Capitalism should be an understood economic truth for everyone, not just entrepreneurs. The market is the litmus test for what any business can charge. You are never wasting your time reading a book by Milton Freidman.

The market pays for value and denies stupid ideas. It is the end all foundation on which business is built.

Bottom line, if you are not making enough money you are not providing enough value to the market.

 

[nradam123]

Capitalism should be an understood economic truth for everyone, not just entrepreneurs. The market is the litmus test for what any business can charge. You are never wasting your time reading a book by Milton Freidman.

The market pays for value and denies stupid ideas. It is the end all foundation on which business is built.

Bottom line, if you are not making enough money you are not providing enough value to the market.

I totally agree.

But business is a competitive environment. When you jump into business you are never in a vacuum unless you are extremely lucky. This means that there are several others who provide value you can provide, and you need to compete. So generally, business intelligence is not as simple as a value-money exchange thing. I am sure you know that, seeing how much mature you are in business compared to me.

If someone think they are too small to compete a big competitor they will never reach that level in a 100 years. I stay in the startup capital of India. This just happened to my best friend with a failed startup, so i know.

I think your original (quoted) post was talking about people who don't couple mindset with working on your business 20 out of 24 hours.

 

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[BlakeRVA]

The most efficient way to destroy limiting beliefs is not convincing yourself they do not exist, but to prove they do not exist by producing results. Nothing is more freeing than achieving what you used to believe was impossible for you.

Get to work.

 

[Kak]

I totally agree.

But business is a competitive environment. When you jump into business you are never in a vacuum unless you are extremely lucky. This means that there are several others who provide value you can provide, and you need to compete. So generally, business intelligence is not as simple as a value-money exchange thing. I am sure you know that, seeing how much mature you are in business compared to me.

If someone think they are too small to compete a big competitor they will never reach that level in a 100 years. I stay in the startup capital of India. This just happened to my best friend with a failed startup, so i know.

I think your original (quoted) post was talking about people who don't couple mindset with working on your business 20 out of 24 hours.

Capitalism and the market in and of itself takes into account competition. Because without competition there wouldn't be a clearly market defined value for anything.

So my analysis stands. A true understanding of capitalism trumps mindset BS.

 

[RHL]

I'm in awe right now.

I'll be honest: The idea of selling to the government (as opposed to through them, the way many universities do with student loans), scares me. The issue I have with them is that lobbying is so potent at directing their decisions. In most of the business world, the person with the most value wins the contest of business eventually. No matter how hard record labels try, for example, digital music eventually killed CDs because it's just so damn much more convenient. Value defeats every legal and technical obstacle between your bank account and the customer. Uber wiping the floor with cab and limo companies is another great example. Air B&B and the hotel industry is another.

But it's not that way with the government. A lot of arcane, regressive shit is kept alive decades longer than it should be because of sweetheart deals between corrupt or clueless politicians and a powerful lobbyists (I'm talking about companies with billions at their disposal, not people who are pounding phones but people who are handing the congressmen $3,000 bottles of scotch to pound on free yachts). That's why our Air Force gets delivered a ton of "super useful" stealth air superiority fighters to use against an enemy that just discovered the wheel like 20 years ago. It's why coal remains a major source of energy despite the fact that it's inefficient and kills loads of people every year. It's why companies like Verizon and Comcast can deliver intolerably slow data and internet for $200/mo with zero customer service-because they've worked out a system that kills all competition and prevents citizens from doing anything about it. When you control the law, you can literally make hot cold and down up if you want, and even the best ideas can be a total wash because whoever has the most money and the most moxie can literally re-write the rules of the game when your team is at first-and goal and up by three touchdowns with only seconds left in the game, so that you still lose.

If you have time, I'd love to hear more about how the lobbying aspect of this venture was pursued. To my mind, that's the diamond in this already Gold thread.

 

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[Kak]

Ask away my friend Im happy to share the lobbying experience I have.

I'm in awe right now.

I'll be honest: The idea of selling to the government (as opposed to through them, the way many universities do with student loans), scares me. The issue I have with them is that lobbying is so potent at directing their decisions. In most of the business world, the person with the most value wins the contest of business eventually. No matter how hard record labels try, for example, digital music eventually killed CDs because it's just so damn much more convenient. Value defeats every legal and technical obstacle between your bank account and the customer. Uber wiping the floor with cab and limo companies is another great example. Air B&B and the hotel industry is another.

But it's not that way with the government. A lot of arcane, regressive shit is kept alive decades longer than it should be because of sweetheart deals between corrupt or clueless politicians and a powerful lobbyists (I'm talking about companies with billions at their disposal, not people who are pounding phones but people who are handing the congressmen $3,000 bottles of scotch to pound on free yachts). That's why our Air Force gets delivered a ton of "super useful" stealth air superiority fighters to use against an enemy that just discovered the wheel like 20 years ago. It's why coal remains a major source of energy despite the fact that it's inefficient and kills loads of people every year. It's why companies like Verizon and Comcast can deliver intolerably slow data and internet for $200/mo with zero customer service-because they've worked out a system that kills all competition and prevents citizens from doing anything about it. When you control the law, you can literally make hot cold and down up if you want, and even the best ideas can be a total wash because whoever has the most money and the most moxie can literally re-write the rules of the game when your team is at first-and goal and up by three touchdowns with only seconds left in the game, so that you still lose.

If you have time, I'd love to hear more about how the lobbying aspect of this venture was pursued. To my mind, that's the diamond in this already Gold thread.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

My results 10Xed once i started focusing on the mindset, you just start seeing bigger opportunities. Not everyone are similar.

Bigger clients (I have a thread here somewhere 6 months ago where i worked 100 hours for 100$. I think Ubermensh said something along the lines - "if you think poverty you get poverty")

So you went from making $1 an hour to $10 an hour?

 

[LightHouse]

I'm going to be walking on hot coals with my loser friends in 1.5 months!!

 

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[Kak]

I'm going to be walking on hot coals with my loser friends in 1.5 months!!

You know where Ill be.

 

[LightHouse]

You know where Ill be.

Holding my hand? Whispering sweet nothings?

[emoji14]

 

[RHL]

Im happy to share the lobbying experience I have.

You express regret about having to let your lobbyist go because of a lack of funding. How did you find him and ascertain that he was effective in the first place? Lobbying is a pretty unusual job. Were the people you were trying to convince considered in the process (i.e., did you hire an alumni from their college, a brother from their fraternity, someone who used to be an exec at the company they used to work for, etc.)?

Did you have any process in place to make sure your desires were in the minds of the politicians without becoming a nag or a nuisance?

 

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[nradam123]

So you went from making $1 an hour to $10 an hour?

Man, I would have answered that question. But I can sense the sarcasm.

Gratitude, compassion and forgiveness are qualities of a true leader.

 

[GuestUser8117]

Based on this thread, Kak is the ultimate definition of fastlane.

 

[Lucid Tech]

But it's not that way with the government. A lot of arcane, regressive shit is kept alive decades longer than it should be because of sweetheart deals between corrupt or clueless politicians and a powerful lobbyists

Yep. Selling to businesses tends to work when you can add value and/or lower their costs. Selling to consumers tends to work when you can make their lives better or solve a problem they have.

Selling to governments (and to a large extent healthcare) tends to work when you can make life just a little bit better for the bureaucrat(s) in charge of that particular decision. This isn't always monetary. One time we closed a deal in which a deciding factor was our promise to quote him in the press release afterwards. Now if you Google his name one of the search results is how forward thinking and committed to patients he is, since he green-lit this project.

Sometimes you need to get creative with the "value" you add to the decision maker personally along with the value your project actually delivers.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I still believe that this spending time thinking about how you think crap is just nonsense. It is the definition of mental masturbation. That crap also has a way of making you think you are somehow being a gogetter.

The reality, and the big pill to swallow is that no one but you will start a business for you. No one is going to do this for you. No one is going to hold your hand and tell you how. No feel good Tony Robbins crap is going to make the business flow out of you. You won't get to your 65th self help book and somehow turn the last page to a successful business. Napolean Hill doesn't give a shit about you and neither does Jim Rohn.

Start a business... Hit it hard... Don't take no for an answer... Don't let failure be an option... and fricking WIN. Go out there and WIN.

-or-

You could just go walk on hot coals with a bunch of losers twice a year.

I know where I'll be when Tony Robbins and his hot coals come to town... In my office working, because while all of these idiots are chilling with Tony, pondering their mindsets, the winners are out winning.

Just made this a featured post... Rep+

Incidentally, I was one of those losers who walked on hot coals when I was 23. It changed nothing long term, short-term (maybe about 5 days?) I worked my a$$ off on stuff that didn't matter.

You see, you can work hard all you want, be motivated etc -- but when the focus of that energy is directed into the wrong platform/premise, nothing else matters.

The real change only came when I started focusing on solving the needs of others, instead of trying to serve my own.

 

[BStaff95]

Capitalism should be an understood economic truth for everyone, not just entrepreneurs. The market is the litmus test for what any business can charge. You are never wasting your time reading a book by Milton Freidman.

The market pays for value and denies stupid ideas. It is the end all foundation on which business is built.

Bottom line, if you are not making enough money you are not providing enough value to the market.

I've wasted a lot of time reading books about mindset and have realized that 99% of it is just rehashed BS. Due to this I would like to transition to reading books that contain useful information that can be applied to the real world. Is there one of Milton's books that you would recommend above the others? Or do you think they are all useful/worth the time?