Cómo estás GirdleyWorld?
Thanks for reading. Today we’re talking:
- Girdley Media kicks off!
- 15 things I’ve learned that business books don’t tell you
- Reader questions
If you have a question you’d like me to answer, just reply to this email! I read everything that comes in (even if it takes me a while sometimes).
Let’s get into it!
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Personal Update
I do social media stuff because I like teaching. I also like scale – and naturally try to scale everything.
It’s just how I’m wired.
Earlier this year I realized that I wanted to (a) scale my helping/teaching via social media and (b) I hated the production/business building aspects of it.
In short, creating/teaching is fun. Publishing the content, selling ads and playing “the game” of social is boring for me. Maybe as a younger man I would have done it, but since I don’t need social media to feed my family, I can’t find the motivation to do those things. If it ain’t fun on social media, I can’t do it.
So, this week was an exciting one:
We had our first offsite as a team for my new company, Girdley Media. We’ve hired a CEO (I say “we” because my Chief of Staff Robyn Smith did 90% of the work) and also our first team member (Hi Will Staunton!) who does everything written. These folks are 100% on the production/business side and work with me on strategy.
I get to do what I love – content and teaching.
I’ll report back soon on how it went.
Now, let’s talk about my favorite lessons that aren’t in books…
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15 things I’ve learned that business books don’t tell you
I’ve read a zillion business books.
Eventually, I realized they mostly repeat the same 50 or so ideas.
So here are 15 things I’ve learned in the trenches, that never seem to make it to the page.
1. Be someone people want to work for
Many of the CEOs with tough reputations have loyal employees that love them.
And sure, sometimes jerks get ahead in the short term. But bosses that employees love will win in the end.
2. CEO is a lonely job
The CEO is “friendly” with their reports.
But never “friends" or peers.
You’re their boss. So, the job is lonely.
Two things you can do:
- Join a CEO peer group, like Vistage or Scalepath.
- Have a life outside of work.
3. If you can’t leave for a month without things falling apart, you don’t have a business.
Too many people build businesses that depend entirely on them. That’s not a business, that’s a job.
Besides being trapped, you won't scale.
Create systems and hire people to make it a real business.
4. Reading the news is usually a waste of time for entrepreneurs.
It's noise.
What everybody else is doing doesn’t matter. It’s about what you know that others don’t.
The WSJ and the New York Times don’t have any information to help you make payroll or win another customer.
5. Your company is not a "family." Stop calling it that.
It’s so fake. Your employees see right through it.
And if you believe it, you’re missing the distance and perspective to make the tough decisions.
Instead, treat your company like an all-star team.
Everyone is there because it's the best fit for the employee and employer.
6. Being in the right business matters more than how hard you work.
I’ve seen idiots get rich in great markets.
And hard businesses humble great teams.
What business you choose is the biggest impact decision you’ll make.
7. The CEO is always the last to know.
When you hear a rumor, assume the entire company knows already.
This is freeing because you can worry less about who knows what.
They all know.
So get on with doing something about it.
8. Sell first.
Before you build the product, buy the truck, write the code, etc…
Make sure somebody wants to buy it.
Finding a real, paying customer is the best way to prove the demand.
The worst feeling in the world is building something nobody wants (I know).
9. CEOs are in a never-ending battle against complexity.
Your staff is going to make things harder than they need to be.
Keep them to first principles thinking.
Keep jobs simple – so simple a ham sandwich could do them.
10. Business is incremental
Most people expect business to be about big moves. It’s actually about grinding out 0.5% improvements daily.
It’s easy to say:
“Where’s the money move we make today?”
Most days, the answer is: getting in there and grinding it out.
11. Build repeatable, foolproof systems for everything.
Write them down. Take the time.
If you feel you're in a constant fire-drill mode, work weekends to define processes.
Don't like it? Hire people that do like building systems.
12. Most CEOs underinvest in personal development
There is no class for the “CEO” job in college.
Reading lots and being curious are table stakes to be great.
Joining a peer group (see above) will maximize it.
You must be growing 24/7.
13. The best business ideas are found while you’re working on something else.
You discover a new problem to solve.
The funny thing is they’re often staring you in the face.
Do you and all your CEO buddies have the same problem?
Business opportunity right there.
14. The CEO's job changes at each stage of the company.
What your company needs from you changes continuously.
At the start, you’re everything and doing everything.
By the time you have 1,000 people, you’re an exec with three layers of managers.
Embrace that change.
15. Nobody ever says, "I should have stuck with that bad employee longer"
In 25 years, not once have I heard that.
We all wait too long.
The crazy thing?
When you do something about a poor fit, all your other employees will say, “What took them so long?”
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Reader Questions
I’ve been considering growing my dumpster business through acquisitions but wondering what the smart play is here. Would it be better to create a holding company to buy these under? Is there any advantage to that?
Business is like jazz – there’s no one way to play it. In the case of M&A, it’s a useful potential tool for businesses. Questions to ask yourself:
- Is an M&A-centric strategy one I will enjoy?
- How high of a capital return can I get on M&A?
- Is that better than what I can get by deploying capital elsewhere?
- What is my appetite for the increased risk?
In terms of a holding company, it’s a potential option. I encourage people to think about HoldCos as a lifestyle choice and less about a structure. Do you want to be living and doing what a HoldCo does? If so, then explore owning multiple companies under one.
From a reader who bought a business with no existing sales process:
I have very limited “sales experience”, especially with long pipeline sales. How should I go about designing a sales process and system? Should I just hire a full time Business Development person to do this for me?
If there isn’t a repeatable model already in place, I believe strongly that sales processes should be created by the founders or top leadership. For most in the SMB range, this means the CEO doing sales themselves for a period of time.
Only once you have a clearly defined ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), engagement model, and offering do you start to scale your sales organization. My advice is to not hire outside sales reps until you do the first 15+ sales yourself.
If you’re not familiar with sales management and sales processes, my advice is to start reading! There are lots of good books out there on these topics.
I have seen consultants help coach founders through this process, too. My favorite is Kevin Shaughnessy and I’ve referred him to lots of people.
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3 things from this week
Appetizer: Ever wanted to buy an airline? (For helicopters?) Acquisitions Anonymous had a great time last week looking at a serious deal for a helicopter biz.
Main: Do you want $1500? Do you know somewhere hiring developers? Our tech bootcamp Codeup is opening our referral bonus to the public. Refer a company or hiring manager to us, and our placement team will find them great candidates from our graduates. If they hire someone, you’ll get $1500! Make your referrals here.
Dessert: We did my new favorite team-building exercise at the Girdley Media offsite… a pizza making competition where everyone gets a “weird” ingredient they have to use. We had pomegranates, anchovies, prunes… and I got stuck with Spam + BBQ sauce. (It didn’t work out great for me.)
That’s it for this week. Keep sending in questions, I read them all!
Michael
