The Billion Dollar Secret
Page 13
The skill of storytelling is instrumental in conveying your vision. Be clear about what you want the world to know about you and tell this story. A great story transports your vision more effectively. Petter is a master storyteller. Use the tools of storytelling we were talking about in chapter 6.
Attract People
If you have a compelling vision and you learned to communicate it effectively, it’s time to attract people with it and embark with them on your mission. A vision is essential for attracting not only employees, but also business partners and investors.
Attract people and embark with them on your mission.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
How attractive a clear vision can be I was told by Selmo Leisgold, Lirio Parisotto’s PR manager. Selmo has known Lirio from the very beginning. Selmo worked for a newspaper in Rio at that time. Lirio operated out of provincial Caxias do Sul in the South of Brazil, where he had started his video rental service. Selmo was sent to him on his 26th birthday with the words: “He is interesting, but he doesn’t have a chance.” It was the best birthday gift he could get. The encounter with Lirio changed his life and completely changed his world view. Once he talked to Lirio, Selmo never returned to Rio. This one encounter made him want to work to make the vision of this great man real. And I can understand why. Lirio, even at 61, radiates this unbent attractiveness that makes you listen to him and do something for him.
So, a compelling vision not only attracts people, but makes them stick to you.
There is no company without people. As Jack Cowin told me, “Well, you have to have the ability to attract people that are going to be part and parcel of what you’re going to try and build.”
This ability is what Jack considers one of the keys to entrepreneurial success. “I was able to attract a bunch of young guys who also bought into my vision. Again, it’s not my talent, it’s just leveraging and getting good people. So I was able to attract some people that were smarter and more capable in various areas than I was. And together we kind of made it work.”
The more talented and the more motivated your team is, the better. And a growing company with a great vision attracts top talent and motivates people. I asked Jack how he managed to attract his extraordinary entrepreneurial employees, some of whom had been successful in their own businesses before.
In our case, the biggest factor has been building from zero to a multibillion-dollar business. Being part of that vision. Being part of something bigger than what you could do on your own. Money, as I say, you’ve got to pay the bills, you want to have a respectable way of life. If that was the number one priority, you’d probably go and do your own thing somewhere. I think it’s being part of a bigger dream that this could become. Domino’s Pizza that we’re involved in right now is an international company now, but this will become a much bigger deal before we’re through. And being part of that is much more exciting than “I made a few million dollars on the side. Now what am I going to do to keep myself entertained?”
A compelling vision not only attracts people, but makes them stick to you.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
I asked Kim Beom-Su how he was finding his key employees. His answer shows how important a role the vision plays when you build a team for your business.
At the very beginning it was really hard. Fortunately, although I didn’t get the first person I wanted, another friend who was quite famous approached me. After that, it was a very difficult process of gathering employees because at that time it wasn’t easy for people to think about leaving a big company to join a start-up, so it was hard to persuade people each time. Even for just a middle managerial role, it was like I was doing the interview and answering all these questions about our company, so it was really agonizing.
After that, as the company started showing some vision for the future and we had some data to back us up, I could show them how much we could grow and show them our future, which made it easier to persuade them, but before that it was hard.
I told them the vision that this would be a big business in the new world and it wouldn’t really work if they didn’t have some understanding of this.
You have to have the ability to attract people.
— Jack Cowin #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Vision Gives Direction
People don’t need management; they need a common vision. Your vision will give your team a clear goal and a direction. Set a mission and inspire people to move in this direction.
It’s quite clear for Cai Dongqing, who set for his company the mission to build the Chinese Disney. “I think for a company, the most important thing is you must set the right strategic direction, which leads a company to go this way or that way. It will enable a company to achieve further progress or suffer a setback. A wrong decision in this point will pose a major challenge for the company.”
Great vision attracts top talent and motivates people.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Your vision will help your team make the right decisions. Why? Because they will adapt to the situation and use their brains to get there. Of course, they will do it only if they are aligned to the mission. That’s what Tim Draper calls “a good business.”
Vision Changes
Like your dreams, your vision evolves with time.
Jack Cowin told me, “Your vision evolves, it changes. A year ago I had a different vision of where I’d be this year than I am today. But from the start, I think it’s fair to say that I had a pretty clear idea that I wanted to build a business. The sales pitch that I gave to the 30 people that invested in me was ‘Trust me, I will do my damnedest to make you have a successful investment. I don’t know whether it’ll be in the chicken business, the hamburger business, making airplanes, who knows where we’ll end up, but I’m prepared to sell my house, pack my wife, kids, move halfway around the world, get into a business, and that’ll be the nucleus.’” Today, Jack’s vision is a multinational pizza empire.
Jollibee is today one of the largest restaurant companies in the world. Tony Tan Caktiong changed the vision of his company several times. The first time was when Jollibee had a few stores, he said that he wanted to be number one in the Philippines. Later he said, “We have been number one in the Philippines. We need to dream bigger, we need to challenge ourselves.” It was the time when he said that he wants the company to be number one in Asia. Now Jollibee is already number one in Asia. Tony gathered the team again and told them that they need to dream even bigger because they had achieved it. He said, “It’s not the dream anymore if you achieved it.” So he said he wants Jollibee to be one of the Top 5 best restaurant companies in the world by the year 2020.”
For many of the billionaires I interviewed, escaping poverty was their first vision and then, step-by-step, it evolved to much, much more.
Cai Dongqing’s first vision was for his family to become strong in order to not be bullied by neighbors. Then he wanted to be successful in business. Now, his vision is to be the Disney of China.
Another Chinese billionaire, Cho Tak Wong, changed his mission several times.
Our family was very poor it was a fact, but I have never wanted to be defeated by that. Hard life is not a problem. I had to stay on and work step-by-step toward the success in that direction. So I never wanted to give up, never wanted to say, “I will be defeated.” That was a very clear mission. First mission, I wanted to get out of the poverty. Second, try to have a good life. That was the direction.”
And now he is on a mission to provide the best automotive glass for China and the world.
And what is the mission you are on, dear reader? What is your vision for the future? Have you set one? Have you written it down? How compelling is it? Can you communicate it clearly? Do you attract the best people with it?
- Drifters follow somebody else’s vision.
- Millionaires gather limited talent
for their vague mission as they fail to create and communicate an attractive vision.
- Billionaires effectively communicate a compelling vision that attracts followers.
For more stories on this topic, go to:
http://TheBillionDollarSecret.com/resources
CHAPTER 9
Don’t Be the Flag, Be the Wind
I’m trying to free your mind, Neo.
But I can only show you the door.
You’re the one that has to walk through it.
—Morpheus in The Matrix
You can have the best knowledge, the best skills, the best conditions, but as long as you don’t take action, nothing will happen, and you will never succeed.
Take Action!
So take action!
You can make money only if you act, and sometimes when opportunities are abundant, to act is enough. Michał Sołowow took advantage of such a period in Poland’s history in the 1990s. “The opportunities that emerged, almost a free market, were used by many people back then. And then the important thing was to do something, to make something happen. If one was acting, if one was active, then the effect was an opportunity for making money.”
As long as you don’t take action, nothing will happen, and you will never succeed.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Action is as simple as that, and it really doesn’t require a great philosophy. When I asked Tim Draper about advice for people who would like to be as successful as him, he answered: “Choose a goal, and go after it.” He should know it as one of the most successful venture capital investors in the world.
But even Tim sometimes fails to act. He told me this story:
I got into a bidding war over Facebook. Facebook was very clever. Sean Parker came to me and said, “How about a $20 million valuation?” I said, “Yeah, great.” Then they came back a week later and said,“It’s going to have to be $40 million.” I said, “Okay, great.”
Then they came back another week later and said, “It has to be $80 million,” and I said, “Pfft.…” I went back to my partners and I said, “What do you think?” They said okay. I said, “Okay, we’ll do it at $80 million,” and then Facebook came back and they said “No, it’s got to be $115 million valuation.” I thought “forget it.” So by saying “forget it,” I left a thousand times [return on investment] on the table.
Most of my failures were failures to act or failures to invest in companies. We were outbid for Yahoo, too. I made the first offer into Yahoo; I should have just gone ahead and written the check with a note and let them convert it into whatever. I almost did that.
You can make money only if you act.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Most people are afraid to fail when they act, so they don’t act, and this way they fail by failing to act. Don’t let it happen to you. Mohed Altrad, the World Entrepreneur of the Year 2015, recommends to do it instead of trying to excuse why you didn’t.
Choose a goal, and go after it.
— Tim Draper #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Recognize and Seize Opportunities
You can’t become a billionaire if you don’t show up when opportunities arise. Frank Hasenfratz told me an insightful story about his almost partner when he was starting his business that clearly explains this principle.
I wanted to have a partner because I was five years in the country, I didn’t speak much English. Enough to get by. I thought to partner with a good friend of mine, and I said, “Bert, do you want to be my partner?” “Okay, how much?” I said, “Well, it looks like we can get the machine for $2,000, so you’ve got to put a thousand dollars down, I’ll put a thousand. 50-50 partner.”
But it was only words. Bert was a chemist. He had a very good job and didn’t want to quit. On top of that, his check bounced, so their partnership didn’t go through.
His thousand dollars would be worth two billion today.
Not showing up to the opportunity can come extremely expensive. You may think, such opportunities never occur in your life. But think about it! How many opportunities have you missed in your life? How many opportunities have passed before your eyes that you haven’t noticed? How many opportunities may exist right now that you are not aware of? Are you sure none of those could turn out to be a billion-dollar opportunity?
Most of my failures were failures to act.
— Tim Draper #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Lirio Parisotto is often known to say, “Saddled horse does not pass twice.” I asked him what it meant. “I think sometimes it actually passes two, three, four times, but probably not every year. You need to know where your feeling tells you it’s time to take the chance. So don’t lose the opportunity. Maybe you won’t have another.”
And sometimes, like in the case of Michał Sołowow, it is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” where there is a system change in a country and land is up for grabs for those who take it.
Do it instead of trying to excuse why you didn’t.
— Mohed Altrad #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Of course, in order to take advantage of an opportunity you need to be able to recognize it as such.
Naveen Jain was right about several developments in business and was able to capitalize upon them, building several billion-dollar companies. I asked him what quality was instrumental for this. “I think what you really need is good eyesight, not good foresight and not good hindsight. Every one of us has great hindsight. I can tell you exactly what you could have done. Some people claim to have foresight. I can tell you what’s going to happen in the future. But I can tell you as a great entrepreneur, what you need is good eyesight. See what’s in front of you and be able to say, here’s an opportunity.”
You can’t become a billionaire if you don’t show up when opportunities arise.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
A surprisingly high percentage of self-made billionaires are immigrants. It may sound counterintuitive, but immigrants have much higher chances of becoming a billionaire than natives. Frank Hasenfratz believes that’s because newcomers can better spot opportunities. “As a newcomer in a country, you see a lot more what’s available and what you have to concede and what you can accomplish, much more so than a native, because he sees it every day. He doesn’t recognize the opportunities.”
Don’t lose the opportunity. Maybe you won’t have another.
— Lirio Parisotto #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
When you spot a great opportunity, don’t hesitate, don’t waste time, take action!
Tim Draper learned in his previous experiences as a VC investor how to recognize a great opportunity and quickly act upon it. Now, he doesn’t hesitate when he sees one.
When Kazaa got into legal trouble and had to stop the music sharing service and start with something different, Tim smelled a rat.
I thought, “Wow, that technology can be used for anything. File sharing is going to be really important. Not just music, it’s everything!”
I asked a guy who worked with my father to go hunt them down and find out what they’re doing. He said, “Hey, Tim, you’ve got to fly out to London. You’ve got to check this out.” So I flew out to London and I met with them, and I made an offer right there on the spot. The business was shared Wi-Fi. Then I brought it back to my partners.
And again the partners were against it. This time, Tim made the deal happen against their reluctance. The team had to change their business model several times. Eventually, they ended up building Skype, a several-billion-dollar company. Tim didn’t hesitate to bet on the team and won. He was their first investor.
What you really need is good eyesight, not good foresight and not good hindsight.
— Naveen Jain #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Several years later, the Bitcoin opportunity came around, and Tim again didn’t hesitate to show up.
He had been interested in virtual currenc
ies since a Korean friend told him in 2005 that he had spent $40 on a sword for his son.
And he was talking about a virtual sword in the game League of Legends. [chuckles] It was the beginning of something really extraordinary.
Then the crisis of 2008 came.
In 2009, people were just running for the hills, and we needed more heroes. I thought, “Oh boy, maybe we need an alternative to fiat currencies.” And I said, “This Bitcoin is a really interesting alternative.” HTTP became the leader in Internet even though there were many other protocols, so I just figured there would be one leader, and that Bitcoin was the leader. So I backed it.
He invested in one of the first Bitcoin companies: Coin Lab. It was a mining company that unfortunately lost all the Bitcoin in the Mt. Gox crash.
But in 2014, the U.S. Marshals Office confiscated Bitcoin from Silk Road and was offering it in an auction. Tim didn’t hesitate to buy all 30,000 Bitcoin offered in the auction and paid around $20 million for it.
The price was about $600 at the time of the auction. There have been some technical snafus and the price went down to $180; lots of other things have happened. I looked very stupid for a couple of years there.
This changed dramatically in 2017 when the Bitcoin price started to skyrocket. And even after a decline in 2018, the value of these Bitcoin at the time of writing is around $200 million.
Immigrants have much higher chances of becoming a billionaire than natives.
— Rafael Badziag @BillionairePal #BillionDollarGoldNuggets
Kim Beom-Su considers using the opportunities that arose his biggest success. He was able to capitalize on a paradigm shift when the Internet/web era was opening. He created popular Internet games and introduced a freemium business model that made them highly profitable. Then, when smartphone/mobile era was starting, he also took advantage of this opportunity and created the Kakao messenger, which practically monopolizes private communication in South Korea. “I jumped into that world and contextualized what was important, then worked as a team with gifted friends and grabbed a great opportunity, and did that two times. I think that is my biggest success.”