#39: MAKING IT BIG (WHILE YOUNG)
This Week: An easy-to-follow checklist
~6 MINS
I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK to a civic group composed of young business people this past week. Ages 25-40. The title of my talk was How to Make It Big While You Are Young. The following is my advice:
#1 MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN but without being annoying or aggrandizing.
No one likes self-promotion. It’s unattractive to your peers and an eye-roller for those you hope will notice you. I’m not talking about donning colorful bow ties or wearing no socks with your suit and tie to stand out (a sincere apology to my bow tie and no sock friends - you know who you are!).
I took a different approach. I had ideas that I wanted to share, so I shared them. Before social media was evil, I would post my ideas, write opinion editorials in newspapers and speak to various groups. I showed up to places where important people gathered and raised my hand for challenging assignments. I got involved in politics, something that has proven to be both incredible and awful.
If you aren’t sure what to do to make yourself known, try actually doing something and not just talking about it. When you do stuff, people notice and opportunities magically appear.
#2 VOLUNTEER but be careful because word will get out that you are someone who can be counted on and then you’ll be asked to do everything.
Every board wants someone young with energy and ideas. When I was 23, an important person in my community gave me three organizations in which to invest my time. Five years later I was the youngest person on all five boards. Over the next decade, I joined ~15 other boards. This was a big mistake. I started having board conflicts six months out. So I quit. Now I’m on a couple that I care about and I contribute proportionally to the time I have available.
#3 MEET WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE.
Ask for meetings with people YOU find interesting and important and then attack that meeting with a strategy that only the most elite networkers conquer.
Talk 30 percent of the time and only ask questions.
When asked, many people agree to meet. Others will meet if they are asked by the right person to meet with you. Some will refuse to meet because they are either jerks or the timing isn’t right. Make sure you know the difference between the two. When together, 100 percent of them will talk about themselves for an hour straight if you are prepared and ask the right questions. An hour of listening to someone talk about themselves is very valuable - if you pick the right people to talk to.
#4 CHEERLEAD & CRITIQUE.
The institutions in your community are not going anywhere. The nature of institutions is that they don’t change. To get influence in an institution takes time and money - or both. Often, they are inaccessible (some would say uninterested) to the ideas and views of people who lack money or influence. Now that I’m a little older, I get it. When I was the youngest person on these boards, I raised my hand for difficult assignments. Everyone clapped and cheered me on - right up until I gained momentum to do something innovative or new. Then, the support vanished. This was incredibly difficult for me to digest. If everyone says they want this, then why are we not going to do it?
This leads me to my second point. While young, it is important to have the courage to respectfully critique institutions in your community that have lost their way but still operate out of an old model. If too aggressive, you’ll be persona non grata. If thoughtful and strategic, you will still likely fail, but you will earn the respect of those holding the line. Later, you’ll get the chance to lead.
#5 MAKE SURE YOU PRIORITIZE MAKING MONEY.
Don’t forget to make money. Civic involvement can become a drug of validation. The love of accolades and titles leads some into the trap of becoming a professional volunteer. These people love showing up to every social and business event. Your city, however, also needs more wealth, companies and jobs. Make sure to prioritize making whatever you are doing work. If you wonder if you are prioritizing making money, you probably are not. Capitalism is awesome. Meritocracy is awesome. Get out there and capture market share while helping your community grow.
#6 BE PATIENT & IMPATIENT at the same time.
It took forever to be over 40. It took forever to have my calls answered. It took forever for my financial plan to work. It took forever to have the influence I wanted. It took forever to build my business. You must be patient with time. Most communities are to some degree patriarchal which means merit is not the first measure of competence. At the same time, I don’t know any successful person who waits for gray hairs to sprout. Be impatient with the idea of waiting. Be patient with the execution. Be impatient with your ambition. When opportunities come your way, act like you’ve been there before.
#7 LOOK & ACT THE PART.
Or as I tell my boys - look good, play good. In other words, don’t be sloppy - sloppy dress, sloppy writing, sloppy habits like showing up late or always cancelling at the last minute and not getting back to people timely manner; they all add up and leave impressions. When a mistake is made or you find yourself embarrassed - own it. Proofread and approve everything that has your name on it. Make your standard the standard for those you work with and the organizations you are a part of. Do not bend on this.
#8 ALWAYS BUY LUNCH.
There is something about the young person who grabs the check regardless of how much money they have. Arrive early and make sure the check never hits the table. It is an investment and a sign of respect for the people you meet with. The successful person you are meeting with will take notice. They appreciate the young person who pays for the meal. Make sure to do this every time. If having lunch with a peer, split the check.
#9 BE COMPETITIVE with yourself and others, but don’t be territorial.
There is room for everyone in capitalism. Being territorial means you have something I want and for me to win, you have to lose. Being competitive means you are driven to win and know it takes time, help and hard work. Competitors focus on their own efforts, not the moves of competitors. Those who are also working to win are not your enemies, they are your competitors.
In my younger years, I wish I didn’t see so many competitors as my enemies. Competition raises the bar.
#10 STRIKE THE CORRECT BALANCE.
I asked a really successful entrepreneur who took a company public in his early thirties how he balanced work and taking time for his young family. He said something I’ll never forget, “the only thing worse than getting 400 emails a day is only getting four.”
True balance, for me, is:
Faith and Everything Else
Family and Work
My Goals and the Helping Achieve the Goals of Others
Volunteering and Making Money
Winning and Keeping the Game Going
Hobbies/Interests and the Daily Grind
FOR YOU: Unless the advice I’ve given only applies to you right now, this would be a great post to forward to your friends, kids and/or grandkids. Share with them any additional tips for making it big while young. Disagree with one of my suggestions or emphasize another.
Faith improves my life. Here is a verse I like from the Bible:
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “surely this was a righteous man.”
A QUOTE WORTH READING:
“I've always been comfortable thinking things through and doing it, more or less, my way. You can be as creative as you want, but if you're... unwilling to work on the details, to see those put into action, then creativity is just dreams, or worse, hallucinations.”
Happy Easter to each and every one of you.
~IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO SEEK FORGIVENESS FOR YOUR SINS~
Some more Renzi advice to a young(er) man. If you find someone that you respect who is ten years older than you, latch onto them and learn from them. They are old enough relative to you to have the wisdom you need but young enough relative to you that the memories and lessons from a decade earlier have not yet faded.
Solid - this reads like a roadmap for how I landed by biggest wins from 24-30yrs old. Sharing this one to a few key up and comers. Thanks for sharing every week and hope you keep it coming.