Jeff Bezos is a piker…
An absolute pauper compared to the richest single man in the history of the world.
This man built an unbelievable…
Almost unfathomable fortune during a time when there was no Internet, no email, no wide use of the telephone, no fax machines, no FedEx or UPS, and basically none of the advantages we have in business today.
And still this man built an inflation adjusted fortune of $340,000,000,000.00 ($340 billion)!
Compared to Jeff’s $109B in the Internet age, you can see why I hold the man in such high esteem.
He was so rich that he created funded the creation of modern western medicine - which has made such incredible strides in treating and curing illnesses that at one time were a death sentence.
He also single handedly founded the University of Chicago, with an inflation adjusted contribution of $2 Billion. And his son built an expansion of 19 commercial skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan.
When this man died, his net worth was equivalent to 1.5% of the total economic output of the United States of America. That’s an incredible accomplishment - considering he started his career as a lowly bookkeeper.
To this day, the companies he founded are among the richest and most powerful companies in the world.
I am speaking, of course, of John D Rockeller.
He started with nothing, and built the most incredible business empire ever witnessed in the history of the world.
Connoco-Phillips, BP, Exxon-Mobil, and Chevron came about because the US government broke up his Standard Oil trust.
There’s no doubt Rockefeller is the greatest businessman of all time, but what does that have to do with you?
Easy...you can replicate the techniques and strategies he used to build his fortune.
You might not have the same goals Rockefeller had, but my following his lead you can easily achieve your business goals.
Primarily - today we need to talk about how to deploy his yearly, quarterly, and monthly strategies in your business.
The first step in any planning process for next year is to review last year and determine what your goals were, what you accomplished, what you missed, and why you missed your goals.
If you don’t have any written goals or plans for the current year, we can start with a blank page. But don’t make the same mistake next year.
Shooting from the hip may have gotten you to where you are at, but it will NOT take you where you want to go.
It’s time to get serious about your business.
If you have written goals and plan for 2019, then assess the areas I mentioned about…
Especially WHY you missed some of your goals.
This kind of self analysis is difficult, but it’s the key to hitting your goals next year.
Once you’ve established where you succeeded and where you fell short, it’s time to celebrate your wins.
Look, we can’t be expected to keep winning if we are always beating ourselves up for losing. This is a critical part of the process.
Have a night out, plan a small office party where you can celebrate with your people…
Do a little dance in private. I don’t care what it is, just acknowledge in a real way the wins you had over the last 12 months.
Then, it’s time for the difficult part.
Take an honest look at WHY you fell short on some of your goals and decide how you are going to fix those issues next year.
Do you need to do a little mental work on yourself?
Are your employees performing to your demands, or are they falling short?
Was there a change or challenge in the marketplace you didn’t see coming?
Isolate the problem and decide on a plan to deal with it. You might have to let someone go. You might have to schedule some time for you to work on yourself…
You might have to change your overall business.
Whatever it is, fix it.
Now for the exciting part...next year.
When you are deciding on your goals for 2020, start with where you want to be in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.
Then work backwards to decide what you have to do this year to accomplish the long term goals. Remember, long term goals change. That’s fine. But you don’t have any chance of getting to your long term goals unless you can lock in the steps you need to take over the next 12 months.
As the old Chinese proverb goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is now.” Plant your wealth tree today.
Once you have your 12 months goals, create 90 day action plans that will get you there.
Then take the time for a monthly review of your progress towards your actions plans.
If you want to be a serious player, break the 90 days action plans into 30 days actions plans and assess your progress every week.
Few business owners will go through the weekly assessments, but those who do find they hit or exceed their goals more reliably.
This outline is a basic outline - a primer for a more indepth and systematic way of achieving success - but if you follow even this basic outline you’ll be lightyears ahead of your competition.
And if you want to get REALLY serious about achieving your goals, I offer a systematic process that I can walk you through. I’m happy to get on the phone for a complimentary 30 minute call and discuss it with you.
I look forward to speaking soon and helping you build your dreams.
Parthiv Shah
