From My Work-in-Progress Basket

The Chicken Entrepreneur Approach I Used to Become a Valued Partner in Dozens of Multimillion-dollar Companies

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I write a lot about entrepreneurship and real estate investing. And since I’ve started a bunch of multimillion-dollar companies and own dozens of properties, I feel confident to talk about what I’ve learned from these experiences.

But If you asked me for the one skill that had the greatest effect on developing my wealth, it would be something I’ve written about only occasionally. That is the skill of rising to the top of every business I’ve been involved in.

I started my career in the information publishing business nearly 40 years ago as a rank-and-file employee. I rose – relatively quickly – to an executive position and then to a CEO position and finally to the level of junior partner. That journey took me from a negative net worth to a positive one. More than $10 million.

After 18 months of semi-retirement, I went back into business. I was officially a consultant to about half a dozen secondary clients and one main one, but my job was always the same as it had been when I was a company’s number-one employee: to work closely with the founder/CEO to grow the business quickly but safely.

Being a “growth” consultant may sound like a much better job than being an employee, and it was in that I didn’t have a boss per se. However, it was tougher because my job had zero security. If I failed to keep the business growing, I was out. Simple as that.

When I talk about the way I worked during that time, I usually describe myself as an intrapreneur or chicken entrepreneur. An entrepreneur in the sense that I held myself responsible for developing strategies to increase the business’s long-term profits. A chicken because I wasn’t risking my own money – which also happens to be one of the primary benefits of being a company’s number-one employee.

As I rose to the top, I’m sure I made more mistakes than I can remember. And I’m sure I had victories I’ve forgotten. But along the way, I discovered many “rules” that seemed to work with remarkable regularity.

I’m mentioning 20 of them below – with this caveat: They may not work for everyone. Nor will they work in every business. To make them work for you, you’ll have to be willing to work as hard and as purposefully as I did. You will also have to be judicious in terms of the companies and people you work for.  READ MORE

  1. Be strategic in choosing your employer. Forget prestige. Don’t be tempted by brand names. Go for vertical opportunity. Large companies will give you certain status and comfort benefits you won’t get with smaller ones. But smaller companies (if they are growing) will give you the fastest path to success and the greatest options for developing your own job.
  2. Be selective in choosing your boss. Just as you did in choosing the company you work for, pick a boss that is moving ahead in his own company. Avoid the careful, tidy sorts that like to follow procedures. Go for someone whose game is growth and profit, not self-importance.
  3. Decide, from day one, that you will be your boss’s hardest worker. Be the first person to arrive at work every day. Don’t be the last to leave, but do leave at least a few minutes after closing time. Spend all your hours working on company business. Personal business should be done only in your free time and out of the office.
  4. Decide, from day one, that you will become more knowledgeable about the business than your peers. Learn how the business works generally – its position in the industry and how it is structured. But also learn how it develops and sells its products and services. (This second type of knowledge will pave your road to success.)
  5. Exceed your boss’s expectations. Work to impress him by your enthusiasm, diligence, and loyalty. But also put forward your best work. Never settle for doing a good job. Strive to wow.
  6. Don’t boast, but get noticed. When you are complimented for something you accomplished, share the credit with others – even if you did it yourself. When you accomplish something that is not recognized, find a way to get the word out. Don’t crow, but don’t let your accomplishments be ignored.
  7. If you get into a situation where you are not quite sure what action to take, make the decision based on what’s best for the company’s profits and the customer’s satisfaction.
  8. Never pretend you are more experienced or more capable than you really are. Ask for help when you need it, but only after trying to figure things out on your own.
  9. When you get help, always send a personal thank you note. Don’t kiss ass. Be sincere but professional.
  10. Be loyal to everyone that helps you. Always. Even after you’ve moved beyond them.
  11. Remember that there are two sides to every business in terms of value – jobs that create profitable growth and jobs that manage them. Understand that employees that create growth will almost always make more money and rise through the ranks faster than those that perform functions and those that manage.
  12. Always be working on getting your next promotion. The best way to do that is to learn and start doing for free the job you want to be given… while you are doing your current job.
  13. Make it a habit to give influential colleagues information and ideas that will benefit their work. Never give anything that might be construed as a bribe.
  14. Be a “yes person” 80% of the time and a “no person” 20% of the time (when you are sure that the action will be bad for business). When someone suggests a new idea to grow the business, give it a positive first reaction. (Unless it is completely idiotic, it might turn out to be useful with some shaping.) Be known as the person that recognizes opportunity, not the person that finds fault with everything.
  15. Gossiping is never a good idea – but if you can’t stop yourself, you should at least never gossip about your boss.
  16. Never say anything negative about your customers, and don’t allow your subordinates to do it either.
  17. The three most important skills in business are also the skills you need to be successful in any aspect of life: thinking well, speaking well, and writing well. Become a lifelong practitioner of these arts.
  18. Use your thinking skills to analyze problems and find solutions. Use your speaking and writing skills to promote your best ideas.
  19. Develop the skill of changing your mind. Being successful is ultimately about doing right by the business. That means learning how to recognize and adopt a better idea when you hear it, even if it is contrary to an idea you’ve been promoting for some time.
  20. Beware and be aware of politics (which is all about garnering power). Chart your course on long-term profitability (which is all about providing value to the customer).