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By Rob Severson on April 25, 2010
I lost an old friend today
Just heard that an old high school friend of mine passed away last night. I am sure this happens to us all when it does it always puts many things into perspective.
My friend had struggled with alcohol and other things for many years. He was at Mankato State in the 60’s while I was at Luther in Iowa. Mankato was much more of a party school than Luther was and many found alcohol and grass to be their entertainment. I found a lot of alcohol myself and often wonder how I would have come out if I had gone to a wilder party school. I also wonder how I would have come out if I hadn’t married early and been forced to settle down and go to work. I know what it did to my friend, and feel very badly about it as he was a very talented guy who was pretty much let it control his life. Great guy with awesome promise; but don’t think he accomplished any of what he could have.
I haven’t seen him for years, but know he has tried to turn his life around for several years via treatment programs, the last just recently. I am very thankful that I caught the problem before it took me down.
The mortality part hits home and I realize what little control we have in our lives, or deaths. I used to hear that we should live each day as thought it would be our last; kind of impossible maybe, but we do have opportunities every day that we shouldn’t pass by. I was going to contact my friend and visit him, but I didn’t get around to finding him. Could I have made a difference? Probably not as he died from a heart attack, but I could have encouraged him and maybe shared my story with him. Could have helped, I’ll never know.
It is our 45 year class reunion this summer; he will be missed.
Posted in General | Tagged alcohol, attitude, death, financial prosperity, friends, life priorities, treatment, untimely death |
By Rob Severson on April 22, 2010
Do you want to be a consultant?
I am a consultant/coach but I never planned to be one. I just fell in to it when my job changed at Norwest (now Wells Fargo) and I didn’t want to find another position there. So, I took my severance and hung up my shingle!
My goal was to assist businesses in getting financing, something I knew a lot about. I saw a need for this because of a current credit crunch by banks and a lack of awareness of alternative financing sources for non-bankable businesses. Additionally, I had met a lot of consultants that introduced clients to us at Norwest Business Credit who really didn’t understand what we looked for in our credit decisions, so I knew I could do it better. It was the start of a great learning experience for me!
First was the marketing part. I confess I didn’t have a clue as to how I was going to get clients! I had heard a consultant speak to a group of us aspiring consultants on the necessity for using at least 1/2 of our time on marketing and sales calls; my biggest tip from that guy. So, what worked for me?
First, I had the skills and reputation for providing the service I was offering. I had been a commercial banker as well as president of NBCI and had learned the business from the bottom up. I knew how lenders looked at things and what they wanted to see. Most important, I had a lot of experience in problem solving during my Norwest career, a skill that continues to serve me well.
Second, I had a good reputation with my customers and peers in the industry. I consulted with a few of my former customers fairly early on and established a track record of getting the results they were seeking. I also began contacting my peers to tell them what I was doing, and as a result of good relationships I began to get referrals for financing projects. I soon learned that referrals were a must to survive in consulting. My relationships with lenders and my knowledge of what they do also proved to be most valuable as I could get to the issues quickly and get them resolved or find someone that could meet the needs of my client. I was honest with them and they reciprocated by giving my clients great service because they knew I wasn’t trying to sucker them in to bad loans.
Last, I treated everyone as fairly as I could with reasonable fees and a formula that rewarded me the most when I solved my client’s problem. I have many satisfied former clients and built many references via this process.
If you are in any career I would highly recommend considering consulting as a backup plan as a short-term or long-term option in the event you are ever displaced. It is a way of assuring your survival when the market changes. But to do so, make sure you are building problem solving skills, sound relationships (and put them into a contact system!), and learn the business you are in. it is your reputation and ability to get things done that people will look for when they have a problem.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, business finance, careers, financial prosperity, jobs, life priorities, prosperity, relationships, success |
By Rob Severson on April 21, 2010
In the venture capital business one of the most important factors in an investment decision is the size of the market for the product being introduced. Another important side to this is access to the market. In addition to management skills these are critical when looking for investors.
Individuals have the same challenge. We need to understand the market for what we plan to do and how to access that market. I think this should start when young people graduate from high school and are considering college, trade schools or have other plans. Colleges are getting way too expensive to just “explore” learning, although there is some value in that also. If you can afford to just “explore”, go for it! If you can’t you would be better off doing some market research on what the world needs before making that investment.
We are told that we need to find our niche, what we want to do. That is great but we need to focus on the need for what we want to do if we are going to make a living at it. We cannot rely on colleges to tell us what the need is; they may not have an objective view on this as studying in fields colleges offer created jobs for professors at the colleges. Is this a conflict? I am not sure, but I am suspicious.
The easiest way to get venture money is to identify a huge market need and then provide a solution to solve the problem, via product, software or service. Patents will be necessary to in order to protect the idea from competitors. Individuals cannot get patents of course, but they can identify the huge markets and understand the demands and entry points for people to serve them. The ideal would be to find the huge market for what one really wants to do, then get the education to enter it. If you can’t do that, maybe it would be better to pursue your dream as an hobby and find another way to make a living.
The next challenge will be how to enter the field; that is where networking skills come in. Start building your contact data base now by including family, friends and anyone who gives you a business card so that when you are ready you can turn to folks that will introduce you to people in your field.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, business finance, careers, financial prosperity, jobs, life priorities, relationships, success |
By Rob Severson on April 17, 2010
The unemployment thing is a real problem for many. On the other side, I still hear from business owners that it is hard to get good “help”! How can this be in this market?
I spoke at a high school a few weeks ago and one of the interests was summer jobs. The students had been looking for work as an assignment as well as a way to make some money this summer. Only one had been successful out of a group of ten. I found out that most had just filled out an application and really hadn’t talked with anyone where they were applying. The one who got a job did it by networking via an aunt who introduced her to someone looking for help. She was also the only one in the class who appeared upbeat and happy to be there. The boys in the class almost had the attitude that they would apply for work but didn’t really want to work; as one boy put it “I’m not going to kiss anyone’s butt for a job”! That attitude came across to me with most of the boys and I can see why they aren’t getting any responses.
Attitude is a major thing for young people seeking work. I don’t know if we are born with it or learn it, but if our attitude is bad we will have a difficult time getting any jobs. And when we do get a job, we need to show it all the time in order to succeed. Anyone who has ever been in a restaurant quickly sees the spark in a good waiter or waitress and is much more eager to leave them a good tip when they are through. It is similar in professional careers also, the ones with the positive attitudes are usually the ones who go the farthest. The ones that demonstrate that they really want to work also do the best.
I posted this story on my blog several months ago, it still haunts me!
I was in Door County this week with my wife and grandkids visiting some family. I learned that many restaurants and stores import Russian and other European young people to work in their establishments each summer. The reason? They can’t get people from their area to work!
I also learned that many of these young people can make $5-$10,000 a summer up there and many work two jobs to make as much as possible.
My question is: With all the talk about affording college why aren’t American kids beating the doors down for these jobs? I don’t know how many jobs are available, but it seems some are.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, financial prosperity, high school jobs, jobs, life priorities, prosperity, relationships, success, summer jobs, work |
By Rob Severson on April 15, 2010
This situation turned in to an international incident with Russia now stopping adoptions until further notice.
I was surprised at first that some one would return a child just like one would return a faulty appliance to a store. But then I got to thinking. Why should I be surprised?
We have many abortions in this country that are for convenience as well. I am pro-life except for rare circumstances, but those circumstances would not include convenience.
Regardless what you think about abortion do you see the correlation in thinking that this woman naturally had? If you don’t want a human, just return it? Or abort it?
Posted in General | Tagged abortion, russia, russian adoption |
By Rob Severson on April 10, 2010
Listen to your customer!
Today I read an article in the paper about a successful, growing business, surviving and getting better even in this recession. The key? The owners listened to their customers!
Most of us would say that we listen to our customers, but do we do act on what we hear? In this case, the business is serving hotels and other places with renovation work. When things got slow, they learned that their customers had needs for new furniture and a method to get rid of their old stuff. The business heard this and development a mechanism for them to do this. They now have an additional revenue stream from these transactions that go through their business.
Many businesses get so inwardly focused on what they sell or do that they don’t react to needs that aren’t already in their bailiwick. It may be good to focus, but to survive you need to watch for opportunities.
The same is true for individuals seeking work. I think there are opportunities out there that we miss because we “don’t want to do that” kind of work. If we get too focused on just what we want to do we may miss opportunities to meet a need from a potential customer, an employer.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, business finance, careers, financial prosperity, life priorities, prosperity, success |
By Rob Severson on April 9, 2010
I was speaking with a pastor several years ago about a relationship training course I was marketing. I encouraged her to bring in a diverse group, business people, medical folks and others to provide a good mix. Her response surprised me. She said she had visited a businessman recently and he had told her how important relationships were in his business. She was surprised as she had thought that business was just about selling and making money!
She may be more common in her thinking than we would like to believe. In my case, I have an extensive data base of people I know that I have accumulated for 40 years. It is the main source for business referrals for me and my most valued asset. I also try to refer business to those people and often contact them with problems I think they can help solve. Most of my list are “warm” manes, people I have worked with or know pretty well. Some are “colder” but I try to get to know those people over time. I would be lost without this list.
Everyone should build a list. It is too easy not to with the advent of computers, not like the old recipe cards or tattered phone books. I use Outlook for mine but there are more sophisticated data bases available that probably work better. All one needs to do is start collecting business cards from people and entering them in a data base. If you are creative enough to put them into categories for easy retrieval that is even better. I have categories for accountants, bankers, lawyers and others so I can send messages or letters to those people that apply specifically to them.
It is also very easy to transfer these to a PDA or phone so the people can be quickly found when you are out.
The key to this is to do it with the intent of helping each person you add. Done right they will also help you when you need it. I see no reason why a 30 something person would not have at least 500 or more “warm” contacts in their data base. It is especially valuable for job searches if and when we need a new job!
Posted in General | Tagged contacts, relationships |
By Rob Severson on April 8, 2010
I was talking with some friends last night and we were noting that some people seem to “figure it out” and do what they have to do to make a living. Others seem to have no clue. We agreed that some of it may be due to parenting, and that the issue was classles, it could happen to anyone. Here is an old post that may ring a bell with business owners and their children.
Do colleges teach you how to make a living?
I was talking with an industrial psychologist once about college and making a living. The psychologist said: “the only people who go to college are the ones that aren’t smart enough to make a living without it!”
Well, I think that is a gross exaggeration but there is some truth in it. But everyone needs to make a living some time, and the sooner we learn it the better off we are.
As a business owner and a parent, you have the advantage of teaching your child this yourself. It comes naturally to some, some learn it via osmosis from their parents, and unfortunately some never seem to figure it out. Focusing some time on it with your child early will make a difference.
I suggest that you teach your child how to make a living by comparing it to how businesses do it. Done right, your child will learn both, and get equipped for either a job or an entrepreneurial venture when he grows up.
Here are a few simple things to start with:
Businesses have a purpose, to serve their customers; individuals’ purpose is to serve their employers.
Businesses need a product or service that is in demand in the market place; individuals need a service that is in demand.
Businesses need to keep their product/service current; individuals need to continue learning to keep theirs current.
Businesses need sales people that have relationships with the customers; individuals need relationships with others for personal support, networking for job searches and to help others too.
Businesses need to know their financial situations; individuals need to manage their money also.
Businesses need equity to support their business growth or downturns; individuals need savings to support large expenditures and reserves in case they lose their jobs.
These are just a few simple comparisons, there are many more. If you are not in business and uncomfortable with businesses and how they work, find a friend that is in business or owns a business to talk with your child about these concepts. Most business people will quickly pick up on the concepts here and can show your child how these things work in their business as well as how they would work for individuals.
Not too many colleges I know think like business people, they are educators. Conversations about this can be casual or focused, but need to be done before that big investment of money in a college. Then their education will be focused on what they need to know to survive. You can teach your child to think like an entrepreneur, that will give him the options he/she needs to make a living.
Posted in General | Tagged attitude, careers, financial prosperity, prosperity, relationships, success, summer jobs, work |
By Rob Severson on April 3, 2010
Law of untended outcomes strikes again!
I think Mike Wigley was ahead of his time! Tea party people will appreciate this story.
I think we are all aware that the Taxpayers League of Minnesota is one of the most despised organizations in this State, especially by progressive tax advocates. I find this interesting in that I know the story of how it came in to existence.
About 20 years ago I approved some financing for a leveraged buyout of a local business for a man named Mike Wigley. He came up with about $130,000 through credit cards and stretching every nickel he had to make it work. We provided a loan for $7,000,000 to complete the purchase, which he personally guaranteed. If he would have failed, he would have been in personal and corporate bankruptcy immediately. But, he didn’t, and was very successful with it and made a lot of money when he sold the business.
Upon closing his deal he made the trip to his accountant to do his taxes. He was astounded by the amount he owed the governments for income tax! He had taken the risk, employed many people, and been successful through hard work and implementing his plan to own and turn around the business he had purchased. Now the governments wanted what seemed more like a “success fee” than tax.
Later in the day he had coffee with a gentleman that was considering starting a tax payer’s advocacy group. Mike was immediately interested and offered to do the first funding for it. He never had to fund it all because when others heard about it there was money coming in from everywhere to support what became the Taxpayers League of Minnesota!
Today this organization is one of the most powerful in the State, although despised by the “higher tax” people. The candidates that have signed the “no new taxes pledge” have all been criticized by their opponents. Some think this organization has far more power than it should, and maybe it has. This is an appropriate question no matter what your political persuasion is.
Is it a good idea to have an organization like this to keep government accountable? Or, has the government really been “sold” to high wealth people via their higher taxes thereby prompting them to get more involved and try to run it? Do wealthy people just like to “pull the strings” regardless of their political views? Is there a better system that would give us all the feeling of equal ownership of our government? Do the tax laws discourage small businesses in this State? I’d be curious to hear from people that I know about this with your comments on this blog.
Oh, and as an irony, Mike is a very generous person giving to schools, colleges (some very liberal ones at that), arts organizations and many other things in our community. He is a proponent of fiscal responsibility, but puts his wealth to work where he sees it is needed!
Posted in General | Tagged taxpayers, tea party |
By Rob Severson on March 19, 2010
This video is hilarious, but is there some truth in it?
Click on the word ‘survival’ below to see the clip!
Survival
Posted in General | Tagged careers, financial prosperity, jobs, personal finance, prosperity |
