Scrappy Tips From This Interview
Think like you do in the bathroom
“Sometimes we all get stuck in the bathroom with 3 sheets of toilet paper,” says Mike. “And I’ve yet to find a single human being who says, ‘I give up. The world is over. I’m going to sit here for the rest of my life.'”
Entrepreneurship is the same way. None of us have all the contacts or the money or the resources we need. Many wannabe entrepreneurs give up at that point. Mike says business is “like the bathroom experience. In the bathroom you were willing to dig through the garbage can. In entrepreneurship, you’ve got to be willing to dig through the dumpster.” You need to use innovation and creativity to make up for what you’re missing.
Live in a retirement community
Housing is often an entrepreneurs’ the single biggest personal expense. Here’s how Mike handled it when he started out.
“I had a wife and a 3 year old and no savings when I started my company. My wife and I talked and said, ‘What are we going to do? Where are we going to live with no income?’ Our parents wouldn’t let us back in the house. So we moved to a retirement village. That’s where I lived when I was 24 because it was safe and affordable.”
Sleep in the conference room
My friends who work at big companies get driven home in luxury Town Cars when they work late. Entrepreneurs don’t have those luxuries. Here’s how Mike handled late nights at work.
“When I was doing overnight projects, there was no hotel rooms. I slept on conference tables. And fast forward to today and that discipline of being innovative and being a scrapper is still there.”
Let another man’s trash be your treasure
Mike furnished his office the same way that eco-capitalist, Tom Szaky told us he furnished his business.
“All my furniture is used and most of it is free. I put out an email request right before I started my third company and said, If anyone is moving or ditching furniture, give me a heads up. Sure enough a couple of my friends were moving and ditching furniture and I got all this stuff that’s more than usable. It’s great. That scrapper mentality is what gets you through the tough times, by not burning through cash.”
Work on companies you’re passionate about
“I’ve rarely seen a business take off explosively without tremendous effort and commitment behind it,” says Mike. “And most businesses — including all of my businesses — go through a dip. You start and you’re excited. Then it goes down and it takes a lot of effort and time, where the market doesn’t know who you are. And then it starts going up again. The only way you’re going to get through that dip, the slow period, is to do what you love.”
When you don’t have anything, give
Most people who wanted to get on Donny Deutsch’s CNBC show, The Big Idea, pitched themselves as guests. Mike took a different approach. He called up the show and asked them how he could help. The show’s producers told him that they needed an audience of entrepreneurs. He helped pack the audience and, as a result, ended up a guest on the show.
Listen to the full interview for more details on this great story.
Full program includes
– The story of how Mike got his books into Wal-Mart.
– Why you’ll do well if you make failure more painful than it already is.
– The simple change in mindset that will help you get your business on TV.
