In contrast to that, my idea is simple, quick, and easy and though it won’t get you a perfect result every time, it’s certainly better than lumping everyone (including yourself) into one category.

That being said, in Marcus Buckingham’s book First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, he lays out the exact 12 things that every person requires to be effective at their job. I have probably recommended that book half a dozen times in my blog and if you’re a leader or manager for any business you need to read it. So let’s get a quick and simple review of what Buckingham’s exhaustive research points out. All team members require the following:

1. Vision, Mission, Culture guidelines – What’s the big picture?
2. Job Description – Obviously this will be very detailed for intrapreneurs and more flexible for entrepreneurs. Absolutely no one can
3. Positive Reinforcement – Do not underestimate this power.
4. The right tools to get the job done – Nothing can be more frustrating. Intrapreneurs will have more tactile tools while the tools of an entrepreneur may just be pointing them in the right direction.
5. Someone at work they can trust – this is universal
6. Progress reports – everyone wants to know how they’re doing and how they can do better. No one wants to suck at their job.

He has 12 items on his list. I cut it down to 6 overall so read the book to learn how to determine if your business is setup for maximum profit and productivity. The point of this exercise is to point out that no one can manage themselves. No matter how entrepreneurial someone is, if they have a boss, they need direction. Period.

Another commonality is goal-setting, though the way that goals are set can be different. According to a Yale study from 1953, the 3% of graduates who had written goals had amassed more wealth than the other 97% of classmates years after graduation. So regardless of your personality, written goals are extremely valuable.

Everyone should have written, measurable, time-sensitive goals. Those goals should include levels of education, income, savings, type of work, family matters, travel ambitions and everything in between. I’ve gone as far as to make a list of all of the motorcycles I’d like to own in my lifetime. Several are already checked off however the list seems to be growing faster than I can control at the moment.

Now most people have a general “big picture” idea of what they want. Things like, I want a family, I want a job that I love, I want my kids to respect me, I want to retire at 65 with $2 million dollars, I want to see Paris, etc. etc. etc.  Now if you have all of that written down and you reference it often that’s a BIG step in the right direction. However you can do better. Here’s a quick 3 step process to setting goals:

1. You need to put everything into Do x Be = Have perspective.
2. You need to assign time frames.
3. You need to take into account your entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial tendencies.

The 3rd item is what we’ll address right now. As an extreme entrepreneur, my goals have time frames, but they are honestly relatively vague. For instance, in my lifetime I want to own at least 5 businesses, become a “young millionaire”, and write at least one book (though I have 4 in mind at the moment). As an entrepreneur, my immediate goal is to always find the best opportunity right now. That means in the next 12 months, I may write the book, buy another business, or get more schooling to help me learn more of the things that millionaires might know that I don’t. My point is, that my personality thrives on making the most of the moment. So instead of saying “I want to write a book by 2011″, I work on all of my goals at once and then go after the opportunity that’s best today, this month, or this year. In 2010 that may be writing that first book, or it may be visiting all the countries on my goal list, or it may be the next business. I’ll be working on all 3 and choose the path that is best at the time.

So how is that different than an intrapreneur? Intrapreneurs are more of the details individuals. They need specifics and they need specific time frames and they need a specific way to get there. Whereas I just need a “big picture”, an intrapreneur needs smaller goals to help achieve the larger ones. So if we take the same example of becoming a “young millionaire”, the successful intrapreneur will have a more specific goal list to achieve those goals.

For instance, their sub-goals to achieve the goal of becoming a millionaire might look more like this:

1. Buy a business with vendor financing in the next 12 months that has the potential to double in profits within a year with only the $5,000 I can drum up from selling my stuff and from savings. I must pay no more than annual cashflow plus assets for the business. It must have the possibility of paying me enough to live on while I’m growing it.
2. Build the business for less than 12 months and relist it on the market. It must have the potential to make me $100,000 profit when sold.
3. Reinvest the $100,000 in another business under the same criteria but with the ability to potentially sell for $300,000 profit within a year.
4. Of the $300,000, put $50,000 into down payments on cash producing real estate, $50,000 into the stock market and the other $200,000 into another business with the potential to be sold for $500,000 profit within 1 year.
5. Reinvest as much as necessary into a business that can either produce sufficient cashflow to make me a millionaire within 2 years of can be sold for $1 million in profit. The rest will be split between additional real estate and securities.

Why does the intrapreneur need so many sub-goals? Because something vague like “become a millionaire” seems so daunting an unattainable however when you break it down into small steps with specific time frames and details it becomes a whole lot easier for them to accept. Entrepreneurs can often feel much more comfortable and in-their-element with goals that are more vague. The exact details can at times make us feel trapped. That being the case is a detailed list bad for an entrepreneur? Of course not. As long as he can appreciate that it’s a guideline and the numbers and time frames will never be exact.

So my last question is, how does this help leaders better lead their teams?

As leaders, it’s our responsibility to provide progress reports, to develop job descriptions, and to help develop goals for team members within your organization. By now, I hope that it makes sense that those job descriptions, review sessions, and goal-setting meetings might be quite different for the 2 basic personality types.

To you success in providing the foundations of the common ground, Bryan

P.S. If you’re curious why my steps to becoming a young millionaire are primarily contingent upon buying, building, and selling businesses check out my blog on the topic.

Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs… Those who want risk, reward, challenges, and the excitement that comes with that and those who want stability, direction, consistency and the security that may come with that. Of course there are also those who just want a free ride and try to skirt responsibility, cut every corner, and get away with the highest pay for the least amount of effort, responsibility, or risk – but we’re going to skip over that lesser type and focus on the positive parts of an organization.

Before we delve into these 2 types, keep in mind this is an exercise in simplicity. It’s helped me determine and target which individuals I need to hire for which positions and it’s also helped me tailor, structure, and respond to those already on my team. Probably more importantly, it’s given me a greater understanding of my own requirements, desires, and motivations so that I can keep myself passionate and effective.

So which are you and how do you identify those around you?

Intrapreneur - These are the 9-5ers. The team members who don’t want to come earlier than starting time or stay late (though sometimes they may). They want to know exactly what they’re going to do that day, and know that next week, next month, and next year their paycheck will be there. For these types of individuals it’s very important that your leadership is consistent, fair, and direct. They want detailed, specific training. They want all the right tools and they want to know how to address any situation. These individuals are risk-averse and generally prefer repetition in their tasks so they know they’re doing what they do best constantly.

Entreprenuer – According to dictionary.com, entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.” Within your team, whether they are leaders or not isn’t significant. They’ll naturally gravitate to the leadership positions and get people to follow their lead whether they’re given the title or not. They want excitement and a challenge. They are proud of their creative talents and want a forum to showcase them. Responsibility and appropriate reward for their risk-taking is very important. They hate being stagnant. If you aren’t helping them get better, faster, and smarter constantly, they won’t stay. Appropriately these are the traits of entreprenuers who venture into their own businesses, however with an environment that provides them the benefits of self-employment these individuals can thrive within an organization owned by someone else.

So why understand these classifications? As I mentioned above there are 2 main reasons:

1. To identify for yourself which one you are so you can understand your own strengths and weaknesses.
2. To identify which your other team members are so you can structure your communications with them to meet them on their level.

Let’s look at #2 first. What would be the difference between an Intrapreneur and Entrepreneur as far as appropriate compensation? The following video discusses some science that helps us better understand how to answer that:

The ROWE work environment is GREAT for entrepreneurial individuals. The studies he mentioned demonstrated that with those type of individuals working in complex, changing, challenging environments where “thought” is the primary value of the team members, compensating based on performance is counter-productive. However, intrapreneurs, who value consistency, will respond much better to simple tasks with compensation tied directly to their performance. Which is why in my organization, I work hard to incentivize those simple tasks.

So let’s jump back to #1 so we can better understand how introspection and clarification can help us perform at our peak. This is broken down into 2 sub-categories:

1. Our interactions with other team members.
2. Our goals for ourselves.

Let’s take a scenario and see how it might differ based on the circumstances. Let’s say you’re the leader and you’re implementing a new, exciting product in your business. Since your team members are in front of customers all day every day you have to get buy-in from all of them so how do you present it to an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur?

The intrapreneur will require a LOT of hand-holding. They want instructions, scripts of what to say, Frequently Asked Questions with the appropriate responses and all the benefits listed out so they can reference and recite them.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, need excitement. If they believe in the product and are excited about how it can help them and the customers whom they interact with, they’ll figure out the rest. They’ll learn how to answer the tough questions and the best way to present it in a way that’s comfortable and yet effective.

How do I know this is true? As one example, in my business we just started Platinum Care Plans which are simply extended warranties including all necessary maintenance. My entreprenurial individuals ran with it. My intrapreneurial individuals, at best, have started mentioning it to customers but have not sold one Platinum Care plan. Why? Because I didn’t present the information that they needed in the way that they appreciated so that they were comfortable enough to sell it.

Now here’s the real kicker, considering that I’m the entrepreneurial type (squared), is it any wonder that I presented the information in a way that was more digestible for the entrepreneurial team members??? Of course not. Which is exactly why we must understand how we fit into this scope. Next time I’ll do a better job of helping my intrapreneurs right from the start of a new product.

More importantly, understanding our own basic tendencies can help us more fully understand how to structure our business and personal goals. For instance, if you’re exceedingly entrepreneurial, at some point you’re going to want to go out on your own. You’re going to want your own business or be in charge of your own team with minimal oversight and you’re going to structure your education, contacts, and career choices to get you closer to that goal. If you’re exceedingly intrapreneurial, you’re going to generally look for a skilled trade and a reliable, predictable business where you can work. Now that skilled trade can be computer programming, accounting, or plumbing. It doesn’t matter much, you just want stability and the comfort that comes along with that.

Since this post is getting long, I’ll continue my next blog with more clarifications on what BOTH intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs have in common and require from their leaders.

To your success, Bryan

This is the hardest part in becoming successful for most people. Taking that risk, that chance, and not knowing if it will work out.  Ironically, for some people, like myself, taking that leap into the unknown is the best part!

So let’s look at 2 different aspects of risk-taking:

1. Why everyone, at some point in their life, needs to go out on a limb and do something for which they can’t guarantee the outcome.
2. How to take that leap while hedging your bet to ensure success (while accepting failure).

Why we all need to take a flying leap.

Because that’s what makes us human. Nothing great was ever accomplished with out risk and effort. Nothing. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve told myself (and others) that we’re all given one life, it’s up to us to choose if we’re going to live it. What does that mean? That means that you need to take that spontaneous trip this weekend not next. That means you need to write that children’s book you’ve always wanted to. That means you need to learn to paint or how to speak another language or how to fly an airplane. What? I thought this blog was about business? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Why go through all the headache, heartache and hassles of buying, building, and selling a business if it doesn’t give you the freedom to live your entire life as you wish? Here’s an even better reason. When you learn to live your life in such a way that you regularly take small risks, the fear of  taking that step toward not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from will be so much easier.

If that all sounds like the prescription that can only work for an adrenaline junky, consider this – there are no guarantees your next paycheck will be there anyway. With 9.4% unemployment in the US, massive layoffs, and over 120 banks closing in the US in the past year, even our most “secure” businesses can fail. At least with your own business you have the ability to control your own destiny. Beyond that, guess who’s going to be the last person to get laid off at your business? Obviously you. If your business currently supports 10 or 20 or 50 people, that can be quite a buffer for when times get tough. After all, it’s your choice who stays and goes.

But we don’t need to do it without a parachute.

When you’re ready to take that next step in your life you shouldn’t do so so recklessly that you guarantee and invite failure just for the adrenaline rush, battle scars, and the ability to say “well at least I tried.” So here’s what I’d recommend (and what I’ve done with my “risks”).

1. Have a detailed, written, milestone and goal-oriented plan in place before you start. In other words, if you’re buying a business, know exactly what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it to improve that business. Before it’s ever acquired you MUST have an exit strategy (and probably 2 or 3 in place). Granted, the plans never work out exactly as anticipated but that’s not the point. The point is when the world is falling in around you and you’re so overwhelmed by working IN your business, you can always pull out that list to help you get back on track. From personal experience I can say this step is invaluable. After all, this is the reason 300 businesses failed in NYC. You can learn a bit more about what questions entrepreneurs ask to formulate that business plan.
2. Have liquid assets for a rainy day. Whether it’s to make that mortgage payment on your rental property when you don’t have tenants or because you can’t cash your paycheck until the next payment comes in, when you’re living on the edge you always need a cash buffer. Even if you are so good (or lucky) that you never have to use it, you’ll never regret having enough cash on hand to survive for at least 3-6 months with no income. This is one of the keys to generating wealth.
3. Have a backup plan. As a matter of fact, have no less than 5 backup plans. 10 backup plans is probably better. Why? Because I can’t predict the future and neither can you. Just as in effective marketing, only the customer can tell you what’s the best ad, the same is true for any idea. If you’re quitting your job to go out on your own, you probably want to be working on a few ideas at all times. Of course we have all heard stories about the guy working from his mom’s basement for 3 years with little to no income to build a business (my grandfather did just that), but realistically, if you have a good business plan, and you’re working hard at marketing, and you have a good product or service and you’re not making money pretty quickly, you probably should do something else. Big public companies like Amazon.com and Ebay who lost millions before making a dime are exceptions to the rule and the complexity of structuring a public offering to generate enough capital to cover those losses is way beyond the scope of my simple blog.
4. Accept and Expect Failure – That doesn’t sound real positive now does it? Why would we want to ever consider that? Aren’t we then programming ourselves for that exact failure? No, and here’s why. Expect and visualize being successful in your business or whatever risk you take at all times. However you must understand that no one successful did it on the first try. We all make mistakes and have a lot to learn. We all get rejected and one or 2 or 20 of our “bright ideas” fall flat on their faces. Whether that’s the marketing project that’s going to skyrocket your sales or the team incentive that’s going to double productivity, we’re going to miss the mark (and be all the wiser for it) at some point. Actually we’re going to miss the mark at a lot of points. As I always say, if you make a mistake and learn from it, it’s never a failure. Supposedly Edison failed over 6000 times at making the light bulb viable and remarked on the failures by saying “They taught something that I didn’t know. They taught me what direction to move in.” Entrepreneurs know there will be “failures” along the way and yet we know those lessons are just as valuable as the successes.

My last thought on the subject is again, Why Not? What’s the worst that can happen? You burn your time, energy, and cash reserves and then have to go get a job again? If you hedge your bet with the 4 suggestions above, even that would be unlikely but so what? Worse things have happened to far better people. Take that risk. Take that chance. Take that flying leap. Carpe Diem!

To your risk-taking success, Bryan

Freedom to do what I want, when I want, how I want. If I find a motorcycle for sale 1500 miles from home (as I just did) and I want to take off a few days to go pick it up and ride it home (as I’m doing this week) then I want the freedom to do that. In other words, freedom with my time. Nothing is more important then that. You can always get more money, you can never get more time.

Financial freedom. This one should be simple to understand. After all I can only do the things I enjoy (traveling, photography, motorcycling, coaching, reading, writing, adventure-sports etc.) if I have the money to afford those things. Is there a better way to get both financial freedom and control of your own time than being a business owner?

So that explains the Buy and Build portion, but what about Selling? What does that have to do with freedom? Most businesses have a certain point at which they’re about to hit “critical mass”. Simply put, that business is ready to explode and just needs the right leader at the helm to guide it along. Rarely do businesses have 2 different points of critical mass, however. In other words, if you find a business that has a great need, is in a great market, and has the potential to double or triple in under 2 years, the chances of doing that again at the end of those 2 years is very slim. However, there are always other business’ available where that is true. You just have to find them before the point at which they hit that critical mass and then sell them at their peak (since the sale price will be based on that most recent sales history).

The other reason for selling is that it gives you complete freedom with your time once again. If you buy, build, and sell a business and cash out a short while later with a few hundred thousand dollars (which is very possible) now you can go buy another business, do the same thing all over again, and make more money… Or you can take a vacation. A trip around the world. A missions trip. Buy that car you always wanted, etc. etc. etc. As Timothy Ferriss points out in The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, the New Rich don’t save their whole lives so they can hopefully retire and, at 65-70 years of age, start enjoying life. The New Rich understand the goal isn’t a certain amount of money in your bank account, but the amount of freedom you have with the money you make. The New Rich don’t save up for retirement because they take mini-retirements all the time. It could be every year, every 6 months, or every other year. That mini-retirement could be for a month, a year, or 10 years. Now is the time to live your life. Not when you’ve saved up enough vacation days or have $1 million in the bank.

Since buying my 2 most recent businesses, I’ve taken trips to Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, and am taking another cross-country trip this week. All of those trips required me to be out of the office for anywhere from a day to 7 days (the total will be about 3 weeks). They’re all within 5 months of me buying my first business. In the interest of full-disclosure, when I have been at the office, 7 day work-weeks with 14 hour work days are quite frequent.

So how does one setup their business and life to have those freedoms?

1. You have to be willing to step away from a mistake.
2. You must never lose track of your goal.
3. You must be able to work remotely.
4. You must empower your people.
5. You can NOT be the expert at the product or service of your business.

In a bit more detail:

1. If you buy a business, work 60-80 hours per week, and 6 months later haven’t made any significant progress, you need to get out. Take from that experience what you’ve learned and apply the lessons to the next one. Don’t toil for years. It doesn’t take that long to start seeing specific improvements (i.e. more cash in your pocket and more freedom with your time).
2. For me this is easy. When I was 19 I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I went through chemo for 6 months and radiation for 3 weeks. It wasn’t fun, but I survived. It never felt to me like it was a near-death experience until 3 years later… My friend, Lindsey Popelas, was 17 at the time of her diagnosis which came within 2 weeks of me learning the same news. After battling for 5 years, it took her life. Why didn’t it take mine? For whatever reason, the Lord wants me here and I KNOW its not to work for 60-80 hours per week for the next 40 years to save up $2 million to retire. Lindsey reminds me of that every day. For that she may be the most influential person I have ever met. That’s a lesson I will never forget. My goal is to have freedom – not job security. Don’t wait till you acquire a deadly illness to resolve to start living your life.
3. Blackberry’s, servers, ubiquitous internet, GPS tracking, Virtual Assistants, IP phones, etc. etc. etc. make working remotely on almost any business a reality. Start making it your reality.
4. If your whole team must look to you to take care of every customer complaint and handle every supplier issue and tell them what to do every day, then you have no freedom. Empower your people to make decisions they can effectively make and then use technology to encourage and monitor them.
5. If you’re the salesman, serviceman, customer service specialist, designer, engineer, doctor, lawyer etc. for your business then what happens when you’re not there? The goal is to leverage the talents of others so that you don’t have to be an expert at anything – except leading and leveraging the talents of others.

The only exception to selling your business is to keep it if your business is on auto-pilot and can work without you or with very minimal input from you. Neither of my businesses are at that point yet. However if I can’t get them to that point then you can be certain I will sell them, take a mini-retirement, and keep my eyes open for the next opportunity.

To your success, Bryan

P.S. In previous jobs of mine I have earned the ability to work remotely from my basement, take vacations when I want, travel extensively, and still make a considerable living. The hardest thing for every business owner is to find and rely on great quality team members. If you’re one of them, then you’ll be amazed at the freedoms your boss will be willing to provide for you.