The Art of Entrepreneurship

The art of entrepreneurship

Regardless of the nation’s economic outlook, a good idea is recession-proof

Tom Breitling

Sun, May 18, 2008 (2:03 a.m.)

 

CHRIS MORRIS

The economic news is relentless. Home foreclosures. Teetering mortgage companies. Tottering airlines. Brands that once rode high are going bankrupt. Job losses. Dangerous levels of public and private debt.

If we’re not in a recession, there’s no denying that our economy does not feel good, which means this is not the time to be paralyzed in front of the TV. Look at the world in a new way, and build value for the future.

Which, the way I see it, means it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.

One of the best moments in my career as an entrepreneur was meeting the singer Tony Bennett. This was a few years ago when my partner, Tim Poster, and I owned the Golden Nugget. Over lunch one day, Tony passed on a bit of wisdom that will never leave me.

Tony said he saw entrepreneurs as the artists of the future.

When he said it I was sort of stunned. I’d never really thought of myself as an artist. Yet here was one of America’s greatest recording talents — a man who has paintings hanging in galleries around the world — calling me an artist.

Over time, I’ve come to understand what Tony was pointing out. Entrepreneurs are always thinking creatively. The difference is we’re not working on a canvas that will express an intriguing idea or evoke a deep feeling as it hangs on a wall. We’re looking for a new way to solve problems and finding ways to make a business better and deliver a product or service that was previously unavailable.

The bottom line, in art or in business, always comes down to seeing the world in a new light.

Which brings me back to my point about its being a great time to be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurial minds don’t stop thinking creatively just because the economy is hurting. This is when creative minds focus. When better to solve problems than when they’re big and staring you in the face? As the saying goes: Without a problem, there is no solution.

The news never tells the complete story. Opportunities exist. Let me give you an example that starts in the tech stock boom during the late ’90s and comes out on the other side of the Nasdaq meltdown of 2001-02.

My partner and I ran a hotel reservation business in Las Vegas that started in the early ’90s with a desk, a phone and a chair. Our timing was ripe. We were selling discounted hotel rooms in Las Vegas right after Steve Wynn produced an erupting volcano in front of the Mirage, the first major property built in Las Vegas in 16 years.

The crowds flocked to see the Mirage and it launched a new era for the city. Imaginative developers built other themed hotels and vacationers stormed the city, using our company to book rooms at discounted rates. We became an innovator in online sales. Our online reservation system sent our business — Travelscape — soaring and enabled us to expand worldwide. Then Expedia came calling.

Travelscape was focused on hotel and vacation package reservations in Las Vegas and around the world. Expedia was selling airline tickets via the Internet. Combining the two was like putting hamburgers and french fries together on a plate for the first time in history. We eventually sold Travelscape to Expedia for $105 million in Expedia stock. It was a great deal for both parties.

Unfortunately, the tech meltdown hit. The bottom dropped out of the entire stock market because many of the tech companies being trumpeted were not really viable. Fear gripped investors, much as it does now because of the mortgage mess. Our Expedia stock plummeted from $34 to $7 a share. We couldn’t sell our shares because of the nature of the deal. Our $105 million profit lost roughly 80 percent of its value.

But here’s the thing. I was still working with Expedia during this period, and I saw that the hamburger and french fries model was working. Expedia’s numbers were shooting through the roof. Its stock was being punished simply because investors were panicking and associating it with failing tech companies.

After the initial upheaval, investors took a careful look at Expedia and saw its growth. The stock recovered, and then soared from $7 to $150 (split adjusted) by the summer of 2003. It was a great company that was moving forward in a creative way, just as inventive minds in the mortgage world are right now assessing the damage and figuring out how to navigate past the current dislocation. When they do, profitability will return. Nobody should lose sight of the fact that lending money to people to buy homes is a very lucrative enterprise. Always has been. Always will be.

The creative minds will always come through. Those who are overcome by fear and who can’t see past the muck are never going to step out of it.

It’s all about thinking creatively — seeing business as art.

I recently wrote a book about the experiences my partner and I had at Travelscape and subsequently as owners of the Golden Nugget. While doing a signing at a local Las Vegas bookstore, a little boy and his mom came to the table and asked what the book was about.

When I told him, the boy’s eyes grew wide and he beamed: “I want to own a hotel and casino when I grow up!”

A spirit like that is never going to be deterred by bad economic times.

There is never a lousy time to dream big. This is an opportune moment; great products and services will come out of our current disruption. In a difficult economy and a tension-filled election year, America remains the land of opportunity.

My business partner and best friend and I come from humble backgrounds, and we didn’t go to Ivy League schools or get MBAs. We made it by creating and growing our own business and then living and breathing that business.

It is tough to be optimistic when people are losing their jobs and companies are downsizing, but the right idea, the right business and the right partnerships can survive the down cycles. There are emerging prospects to bet big on in the future.

The creativity and imagination of up-and-coming entrepreneurs will drive the economy forward. I believe this because right now my partner and I are spending a lot of time thinking about our next work of art.

Tom Breitling is president of Breitling Ventures and author of “Double or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas’ Legendary Casinos.”

Hanging On or Moving On?

From my dear friend Barbara Winter - author of "Making a Living Doing what you Love"
www.barbarawinter.com

Every few months, I get the alumni magazine from my college. I usually glance through the class notes to see if there's anyone I remember who has gotten mentioned. Most of the entries are a bit, well, dull, saying things like, "Now retired after 30 years teaching in the same school" or "Just retired from 40 years at the bank." Apparently, my fellow college students were big on staying put in one place.

This time, however, an entry caught my eye. It read, "Retired after 35 years as a social worker and probation officer. He now spends his time as a traveler in Africa and is a full-time freelance outdoors writer." I never knew the man so described, but I wanted to. I particularly wanted to know how he kept his adventurous soul alive for such a long time while toiling away in Cook County Illinois.

Leaving a familiar situation is a challenge that comes to all of us-sometimes several times throughout our life. Not everyone meets the challenge with ease. I remember a woman who had spent her life as a teacher. She had stuck with it long after the satisfaction had gone. Now she was ready, she said, to do something completely different. However, she wasn't at all certain what the new path should be. That happens, of course, when we become entrenched in a situation or relationship for so long that we forget that we have options.

I made several suggestions about how she could begin exploring. I heard from her again after about ten days and she was making remarkable headway. She'd even listed all of her teaching books on eBay-burning her bridges she said. Imagine my amazement when I opened her next e-mail which was obviously written in a moment of great panic. "I only have another week to sign my teaching contract," it read. "Should I sign it?"

I was flabbergasted and promptly replied that I didn't have the answer to her question. I suggested, however, that it might be a temporary lapse on her part and then I said, "So how are you going to tell your grandchildren that you once had an opportunity to create a truly adventurous life and you chickened out?" The moment I typed that question, I realized at a very deep level, how our acts of self-doubt don't just impact our own lives, but have a profound ripple effect. Take the low road and you'll have a procession behind you. What kind of legacy is that?

We might tell ourselves that staying in a stultifying relationship isn't really so bad or having a job that robs us of any creative enthusiasm is fine for now, but every day that we hang on we are losing precious time that could be spent building something bold and beautiful. On the other hand, our acts of courage beget courage in others as well. We never know who's watching.

While letting go can seem terrifying, think of the times you've done so and found yourself in a better place. It's no use tricking yourself into thinking that you'll make things better while staying in the bad situation, however. Doesn't work that way. As long as you hang on, you can't move on.

If you're in need of prompting, you might want to post these encouraging words from Ellen Goodman: "There's a trick to the Graceful Exit, I suspect. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over and to let it go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives. It involves a sense of the future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, we are moving on rather than out. It's hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the Capital or the office. We own what we learned back there, the experience and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along. Quite gracefully.

Wise Words

WISE PERSONS ARE THOSE WHO THINK TWICE BEFORE SPEAKING ONCE.

Perhaps the greatest quality in a leader and the most valuable skill in building relationships is the ability to think before you speak. If you have a tendency to speak hastily in anger and regret your actions at leisure, the childhood admonition to count to ten before speaking will still serve you well. When you pause-if only for a moment-to consider the consequences, you may think better of what you were about to say. And if you must speak strongly, it’s a good idea to sugarcoat the words-just in case you have to eat them later.

How To Build Momentum and Stay Motivated Every Day!

by Lisa Jimenez, M. Ed.

I'm so mad at myself!" she said as we began our coaching call. "I made a goal to get ten new clients last week and I only got three," she lamented.

The frustration in her voice was something I used to experience, as well, until I came to a profound realization: Focusing on your results is dangerous.

I used to keep charts all over my office to fill in the names of the people who signed up for my coaching program and retreats. Even after hours of marketing efforts, I would feel defeated if I wasn't able to fill in all of those spaces at the end of the week.

My definition of success was only based on results.

I was placing all my focus and energy on something I had very little control over. Think about it; you really can't make your prospect buy your product or say yes to your opportunity.

So why give so much power to an element that you cannot control? What you can do is show your prospect enough intriguing information, in a passionate way, on a consistent basis, that will touch, move, and inspire them to make their own choice. The only factor you have complete control over is your efforts!

So let's talk about how you can shift your mindset, release the control over the results, and focus on your efforts.

First, decide how many people you are willing to share your product or opportunity with. Again, the only part of the sales process you have control over is your efforts and the quantity of prospecting attempts you will make.

What is that number for you?

Powerfully choose how many people you are willing to prospect and be fiercely committed to it.

Next, realize that the other aspect of selling you have control over is the number of no's you are willing to take without giving up; or better said, how many no's you're willing to take and still stay motivated, excited, and inspired.

The most effective way to do this is to embrace the Law of Average (L.O.A). Think of it scientifically. How many prospects do you need to share your opportunity with to get a yes? In other words . . . how many no's do you have to receive to get a yes?

For most salespeople that number is 10. When I realized this truth, I got freed up of the frustrations that come from 'getting a no.' Getting a no is just a part of selling. The more yes's you get and the bigger you want to grow your business, the more no's you've got to be willing to receive!

When I was in network marketing, I did an interesting experiment that helped me focus on my efforts and stay motivated. First, I knew that, on average, I made $500 on each sale. Then I divided that amount by 10, the number of no's I had to received in order to get a yes (L.O.A.). That meant I made $50 every time I got a no! I actually taped a $50 bill to my phone and every time I got a no, I'd hang up the phone and say, "Thanks for the fifty bucks!"

Free yourself up from trying so hard to convince, persuade, and control your prospects. Let go of the results. Put your energy and power into your efforts and you will be an incredible force. Your prospect will sense your unique and confident posture and will want what you have.

Think of how powerful you will be when you release what you don't have control over and fervently grasp what you do. The only factor you have complete control over is your efforts!

What this really takes is a shift in your mindset. Evaluate the goals you've set and discern if they depend on your efforts or results. Instead of setting the goal of five new business associates, set the goal to put 50 new prospects in your recruiting pipeline. Instead of setting a goal of selling 100 widgets, set your goal to put your widget in front of 10,000 new prospects.

The incredible success I have experienced since I shifted attention to efforts instead of results has been nothing short of amazing! And it will be the same for you . . .

The only factor you have complete control over is your efforts! And your efforts are all you need to get the incredible results you desire.

Per il vostro successo (To Your Success)

From Barbara Winter:

There's a popular notion that in order to be an entrepreneur you must be a card-carrying risk taker, but the average experience is closer to the truth. You don't have to be a big risk taker to participate in the Joyfully Jobless life, but you do have to be willing to experiment. In fact, the word "experiment" keeps coming up over and over again in people's stories.

The willingness to approach building a business as an experiment assumes that both success and failure will occur. That might sound somewhat unemotional and left-brained. It doesn't have to be that way. Handled properly, an experimental approach makes you smarter and more confident. You continually evaluate results, eliminate what doesn't work so well, have the fun and excitement of doing things in new and different ways.

Why don't you test this out? For the next 90 days, focus on creative experimentation. Challenge yourself to find one new approach every week. Or every month. Give it some time, then decide if you want to keep it in your portfolio or move on to another approach. Who knows what you might discover?

One of the things I know for sure is that when we honor our own dreams, we almost automatically want to support the dreams of people we care about. There are all sorts of ways to do that. I really liked the one that Patti Thomas from IL shared with me.

Patti writes, "For the past two years, my standard graduation gift for high school and college graduates is: a tool kit, a cookbook, and a copy of 'Making a Living Without a Job'. I feel these three items contain the basics for starting a young (or any age) person off on the right path to a future of 'get(ting) out of bed excited and happy about how we're going to spend the day.' I want my children, and my friends and their children, to feel the self esteem to become joyfully jobless."

Per il vostro successo,

Terry

Offer to Make Your Books

Hi Everyone - Happy Easter!

Boy, today is a far cry from Easter 2 years ago when the little girls raced around the lawn in their little strappy sun dresses and searched for Easter Eggs - it has been snowing all week, and although a balmy 34 degrees right now, not the type of weather you'd like to be tramping around the squashy, snow-covered lawn in.

I just added another service to my business - Celebration Storybooks - for those of you who either aren't "crafty", don't have the time, or don't have the inclination, I will create your beautiful storybooks for you! Here's how it works -

I will set up a time to meet - you should have some idea in your mind what type of book you would like - a theme or occasion, perhaps. You should gather your photos - electronically or physically, and when we get together we will decide on what type of book you would like me to help you make. I say "help you" because there's no way I can totally do it myself - I need your preferences, ideas, themes - and I will elaborate on them. I will scan your photos (if need be), put together all of your pages with beautiful art and embellishments, type in your text (we need to talk about that...), and bring the book to completion to be submitted to Heritage Makers for publishing.

Now, it may sound very expensive, but just think how much it would cost you if you did it in a traditional scrapbook (all those papers and putz), or if you do nothing and don't have a great storybook to display on your coffee table OR (heaven forbid) - something happens to your photos before you get your story told - that is the biggest tragedy of all!

e-mail me for a price sheet - it runs about once again the price of the book - and we will get started. Make sure to allow quite a bit of time - we want to do it right - but most of all - do it!
Get it started, begin, start, commence - whatever - you will be glad you did!

Storybooks can be seen at www.celebrationstorybooks.com.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Terry

Great Friends

Great Friends

I think deep down everyone has a burning desire to be great. They want to be the best plumber, the best carpenter, the best mechanic, the best engineer, the best lawyer. They want to be the best dad, the best mom, the best uncle, the best cousin and the best friend. They simply want to be the best - they want to be great. It's human nature to want more for ourselves and to want more for others. We simply want to be great.

The other day a good friend of mine gave me a call. We were talking about a recent promotion that I was passed up for. I work full time as a project manager and had been told that I was going to receive a huge bonus for work well done but the compensation didn't fall through. I was offered a title change but nothing else. I wasn't in the best place and my wife and I hadn't talked in almost 36 hours because of our conflicting schedules. It was in that 36 hour that I received a call from a good friend of mine - my friend Jason. I was really upset that I had been passed for promotion because I thought there was something 'wrong with me'. Jason didn't see it that way. He asked me what had happened and listened to my story.

While we were on the phone, something happened. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I felt a shift - I felt lighter. I shared my story with Jason and he just listened. When I was all done he just said the most beautiful words. He said, "Steve, with your skills and experience you can work anywhere you want. You're going to do great things." I told him how much I appreciated his call and he told me, "No Steve. Thank-you." My heart melted. I felt like crying but I didn't. In all the years of our friendship, he never said such a thing. It was in that moment I realized what a great person he is - and in his greatness I realized how great I am. If you ever forget who you are, stop and listen to your great friends.

Make great friends and keep them forever.. It's in their greatness that lies the greatness in YOU.

Stephen Martile