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My Story-
After earning my business degree at the University of Colorado, I immediately went into retail management. I knew that I wanted to own my own business one day so getting some management experience was a logical choice. At first I was in charge of about 50 people. I started learning right away the importance of being fair and consistent. People respect you as a manager when you are fair and consistent.
Lessons in Management
As I worked my way up within the company, I began to learn other lessons and strategies for working with people. A basic lesson of management is that you get better results by asking people to do things instead of telling them to do things. If you ask, at least 90% of the time your people will do what you ask. The manager who tells people what to do is a boss. People generally don't like bosses or being bossed around.
Another lesson of management is that you are not evaluated by your efforts, but instead by the efforts of others. This can be a difficult transition for the person who is working their way up in an organization and makes the shift from a worker to a manager. As a worker, you are evaluated by your efforts. As a manager, you are evaluated by the efforts of others. Managers who do not develop a strong ability to delegate will not be effective at their jobs, even if they are the most technically proficient person on site.
The next lesson in management is learning how to delegate. Most managers and bosses believe that delegating is simply telling people what to do. This is not an effective strategy. Managers that attempt to delegate by bossing people around will struggle and have a tough time growing within the organization.
The key to delegation is understanding that it is a 2-part process. Delegation includes both delegation and follow-up. A good manager delegates by asking for certain tasks to be completed then following up to make sure they get done. In the follow-up process, a good manager will praise the strong points and develop the weak points. Praise should be done in public. Constructive criticism should be given in private. Constructive criticism that is given through teaching and training is often most effective. For performance that is good but not great, feedback should be given in the form of helpful suggestions.
One habit that gains the respect of those working for you is a willingness to work side by side with them. The manager that regularly makes time to work along with his people will gain their respect.
Working my way up
By practicing the skills above in a fair and consistent manner, I worked my way up within the organization. After 3 years, I started taking responsibility for entire facilities. An average store had about 300 people so managing hundreds of people became my regular job. At this point I was in charge of more than just people and merchandise. I was now in charge of a large commercial building and all the things involved with its maintenance.
In the following 6 years I developed my skills as a manager and continued to see the results of my efforts. It this level time management becomes an essential skill for success. My business performance was at the top of the pack and I received regular recognition. The business grew from $40 million to $80 million during my 6 year tenure.
Job Dissatisfaction
Although business was good it was still hard work. Hours were long and needy, negative people can drain your energy. In a management position, although you have responsiblity and autonomy, you are sandwiched between those you supervise and the levels of management above you.
Everybody in the W-2 wage or salary earner category is working for someone else. Unfortunately, not all managers have good management skills. Although I teach good management skills, did not always work for good managers. Working for weak managers is a struggle for many people in the world today. Learning to thrive in that situation is another whole skill set.
Also as a W-2 wage or salary earner, there is a limit to income potential. Even if you get a regular raise every year, your income is still limited by the amount of years you intend to work for the company. I needed to solve the 2-part dilemma of working for someone else and having an income limit.
Adventures in real estate investing
Real estate is a field where there are no income restrictions. Whether you are in it as an investor or as an agent, the sky is the limit. Real estate is a great field for any person with a good business mind and a desire to build wealth.
While maintaining the corporate job, I began buying, selling, renovating, and leasing properties for my own investment purposes. I started my first business - a real estate investment company.
Then I began to discover the Philosophy
Soon after I became involved in real estate, I began to realize that successful people are not wealthy just because they are in real estate. They are wealthy because they follow certain principles of success. Once I discovered the philosophy it began opening up rather quickly. The first authors I studied were Robert Kiyosaki, Earl Nightingale, and Napoleon Hill. My world expanded.
Because of Robert Kiyosaki, I realized that my W-2 dilemma was because I was in the "E" quadrant. Kiyosaki teaches from the Cashflow Quadrant where people fall into categories based on their business and investment habits. There are for quadrants: E,S,B & I. They stand for Employee, Small business owner, Big Business owner, and Investor. The key is to spend your time in the B & I quadrants. The "E" quadrant is not a path to wealth. Kiyosaki also teaches the difference between active and passive income.
Active income is you working for money. Passive income is money working for you. Interest income, rental income, and royalties are examples of passive income.
Thanks to Earl Nightingale I began to adjust my attitude. I realized that my neutal attitude allowed the negativity that came from others to bring me down. At that point I decided to start feeling supergood. That way, if I did absorb any negativity I would still be good at the end of the day. I've been supergood ever since.
Napoleon Hill gave me the ability to start leveraging the power of my subconscious mind. Eventually, as my real estate business grew, working a corporate job did not make sense any longer. There are too many advantages to being your own boss and having unlimited income potential.
A full time real estate entrepreneur was born
After leaving the corporate world, I focused all my energy on real estate investing. Since I had more time, I finally got a real estate license and began helping others as well. As I began working with other real estate agents on a regular basis, I began to notice some interesting trends. In the field of real estate there are investors, agents, and those who assist and support agents and investors. Those in the support roles are still "E" quadrant workers. They do not have unlimited income potential.
Agents and investors do have unlimited potential. The difference is that agents are primarily "S" quadrant workers. If they are not growing their passive income then they are still just working for money. The income is still unlimited but the only way to increase wealth is by increasing passive income. Being a real estate agent is great but agents should also be investors. My specialty now is working with investor buyers who want to grow their passive income.
Continuing the study of Success
As things continued to roll in real estate, I continued to study the Philosophy of Success. I found new teachers and people who were living the philosophy. I continued to learn from authors and speakers like Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Harv Eker, Michael Gerber, James Ray, Tony Robbins and others. Of course any manager should read Stephen Covey and Dale Carnegie.
An organization of the Philosophy
Since I have such an analytical mind, I could not help but categorize all the concepts taught by these wonderful teachers. Finally in 2008, I realized that these concepts needed to be presented in a simple, concise, easy to understand format. There is a need for a comprehensive overview of the Philosophy for Success. Up to this point, the most comprehensive work I had found was Napoleon Hill's Law of Success. Since it is the size of a phone book I do not expect the average person to read it.
In the summer of 2008 I organized all my notes on everything I had studied and began writing The 30 Principles of Success. The first edition was entitled Living in Pursuit of Your Potential and it outlined the 30 Principles. In conjunction with the completion of the book, I began to offer personal coaching to help other small business owners master these concepts. The Supergood Company was started for the purpose of sharing this collective philosophy and helping others to achieve their dreams.
Supergood: A Guide to Living in Pursuit of Your Potential
In the fall of 2008, we began revising Living in Pursuit of Your Potential and making significant improvements. In 2009, the 2nd Edition was reborn as Supergood: A Guide to Living in Pursuit of Your Potential.
Now we enjoy helping others by teaching the principles of success.
There are several ways that you can start applying the principles to your life.
Get an overview of the 30 Principles.
Read Supergood: A Guide to Living in Pursuit of Your Potential.
Utilize Success Coaching to take your life to the next level.
Thanks for reading my story.
Call anytime: 360-319-7391
Have a supergood day,
-Mike
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