Weeds are diversions, inefficiencies, and even short-term successes that distract you from the course you have set for yourself.  Weeds can be either negative or positive forces.  They may take the form of being stuck with a large team you just can’t find a way to keep motivated.  They might involve becoming so mesmerized with the profitability you’ve achieved that you forget to move on to your next step.  Your personal weeds might have to do with a tendency to continually react to everyone else’s demands instead of moving toward your goal.

Just as important as establishing the values that will serve as your road map is your need to set up the guardrails that will keep you out of the weeds.  The guardrails you’ll need to keep you out of the weeds are very personal and will differ according to your circumstances and objectives. Everyone should have guardrails in place for the various parts of each zig and zag so that you are always in control of your financial number, your allocation of time, your duration of time, and your financial target.  Your other guardrails will be determined by factors such as your tolerance for risk, your family’s tolerance for risk, your value system, and what portion of your personal network you are willing to expose to your endeavor. 

I’m going to share some of my guardrails, but remember that these are my rules, not yours.  I share them only to illustrate how important it is to give careful, specific thought to your guardrails, rather than attempting to put them in place when you’re in the middle of heading over the cliff:

·                     I will not jeopardize the financial stability of my home or family.  I am not going to mortgage my house for my business.

·                     I like to keep my teams small (under fifteen people).

·                     I will be very careful in taking venture capital.  I want to retain ownership in my companies.

·                     I must control the finances of my business.  

·                     I will not sign personal guarantees on a business I do not personally control. 

·                     I will protect my personal network. 

·                     I will not get involved in a business that goes against my personal moral values. 

·                     I will not do anything illegal or unethical.

·                     I will not work with people I do not enjoy.  Whether it is a customer, a vendor, or an employee, life is too short to work with miserable people.

My list is actually longer, but these are a few examples of my guardrails.  If I find myself getting near the edge on any of these, my wife, my business partner, or my executive admin each knows me well enough to tell me I am starting to cross the line.  And I expect them to not stand by silently.

Paying it forward is a beautiful concept that I came to enjoy this holiday season. As the Christmas season rolled around I was kind of in a little bit of a bah-hum-bug mood. I hadn’t really had the Christmas spirit hit me.

One night as I was preparing to wrap up an intense week and start moving into the Christmas week and the celebration mode. I got a nail in my tire. Everyone knows that I love my Audi A6, and to top it off, I had just put new tires on the thing.

So I was a little irritated as I took the car into my local Big O Tire store. Of course, they were extremely backed up. I waited and I waited in line to drop off the car, got a ride back to the office, and then raced through the day of work. When I finally arrived back at the tire place, it was past closing time. However, they were completely delightful and kind to me.

The guy at the cash register looked at me and said, “Mr. Christiansen, I see these are beautiful new tires. I know you didn’t buy those tires here, but I know you are a great customer. I’ve met you before. This is what I’d like to do. I’m not going to charge you for the rotation. So it’s just $20 for the flat.” Then he stopped, considered a moment, and said, “You know what? It’s Christmas! Let me just do that for you. Go and pay it forward.” 

Instantly that kindness softened my heart. Most of the interactions I have with people are the exact opposite. They are usually attempting to collect money, not gift it! 

I of course, instantly decided to pay it forward. I since have paid it forward. I do not want to share the specifics of the interactions, but I will tell you that when the time came to pay it forward, I had an incredibly strong feeling come over me–a great feeling that doing this little act of service for someone else was definitely the right thing to do. I was sure and that the kindness would touch someone else as it had touched me that hectic day in the tire shop as the joy and happiness boiled up in my heart.

Now as the New Year kicks off, I want to challenge everyone out there to pay it forward. There is no joy greater than doing private, random acts of kindness. I took a little risk in “disclosing” the fact that I’ve been paying it forward. But I share my story with a purpose, which is to encourage all of us to carry out more service.

There is no greater joy than doing private acts and paying things forward. This how we get out of the scarcity mode. I can tell you this with confidence! Every time I get into an abundance mindset –I can tell you the acts of kindness actually end up benefiting me.

So at this time, irrespective of your financial situation, be abundant. Do kind acts. Do small things. Bake a plate of cookies and take it to someone. Pay it forward. Although I can’t explain why, I can tell you that those acts will not only bless you personally and give you joy, but they will also bless you in your business ventures. 

Being abundant is one of the biggest magic secrets that there is. Now I am not one of these big subscribers to the method of sitting around, holding hands and chanting “ohm” and expecting things to fall out of the sky. Success also requires a lot of hard work. What I can say with confidence is that sharing abundance is a key part of the equation. 

Go forward this year of 2012 and have wonderful joyful experiences.  Building businesses, experience, and grow.

One of my favorite sayings comes from the climber Adrianne Burgess. The first time I climbed in the Himalayas it was with Adrianne. He often said, “We are spiritual beings on a physical journey, not physical beings on a spiritual journey.”  I really believe that. We have much to accomplish. Be good to the people around you. Go forward. Prosper.

On any given night there are anywhere between 5 to 15 young men at our house for dinner. We manage our home not by control systematic mechanisms, but by total chaos. Last night was the ultimate joy and experience of not only chaos, but just a real, joyful experience. All of you who know me, know that I have an incredible, intense passion for Nepal.

There has been one family in particular that I have become very bonded with, to the point that I consider these young men and young women my children. We first went to Nepal in 2001, met our Nuwang, brought her back to the U.S., raised Nuwang Sera Sherpa as our precious daughter.

Several years later we took our oldest sons, John and Matthew, to Nepal. They became dear lifelong friends with Tashi and Tenzing Sherpa. Indeed this week our ultimate dream was realized as Tashi and Tenzing have done very well in school. They have followed my education requirements and are now here in the United States. Tashi arrived about a week ago and was able to come to our home for the first time, last night.

He will be going to Snow College next year with his brother Tenzing. As everybody heard about it, all of our wonderful friends and the wonderful friends of our children gathered together to meet Tashi and Tenzing and to celebrate. At the top of the list were Scott Harward and Wyatt Earnst, who were John’s dearest friends growing up. Our favorite thing was when Scott would fling open the door and say “I’m Home!” that is exactly what he did when he came over.

Last night we had a huge, blow-out game night expecting Tashi to invite a young lady named Lauren to join us along with a handful of friends. What we thought would be five or six individuals turned out to be 19 young men and one young women, Lauren. As each young man would walk in the door my heart would swell with joy knowing that that was a strong, determined, intelligent, capable young man and I would add the count for Lauren saying, “Now you have 12 adoring fans Lauren, 13, 14,” and the count went until we hit 19.

We had a joyful night of eating pizza, playing games, interacting with these young men and I want to say this boldly “I BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE OF OUR YOUTH!” There are more qualified, capable, incredible young men and at least I know 1 young women out there that will make a difference in this world. I know that things are challenging and this diversification into an international economy is tricky and scary for many people, but I want to, with boldness and with confidence say, “I BELIEVE IN OUR YOUTH!”

I believe that there is brightness in store for everyone. I believe that there is enough positive energy and goodness to solve our problems. I think the next major challenge that we have, as a society, is to end poverty–to bring equality to all the world. We can make the world a better place, especially with the positive influence of our youth. I look to the youth with great confidence, because I observe them everyday! I love those 19 young men who gathered in my home last night. And what a delight it was to also have one beautiful young woman join the celebration.

The guardrails you create must be closely aligned with the values you set in chapter 3.  You need to have people in your life who will tell you out when you are out of bounds.  I have a good friend who was a successful and well-known college basketball coach until he got embroiled in some politics and lost his job.  We were talking not long after that, and he shared what I consider to be a very profound insight.  He said, “Rich, when I was winning championships, everyone laughed at my jokes.  Now they only laugh when my jokes are actually funny.”  You need someone in your inner circle who knows you and who you trust to tell you if your jokes are funny or not. 

 Alex Mendozian is a teleseminar trainer.  We had discussed the possibility of working on a project together.  Before we began, he called me and said, “Rich, I have some good news and some bad news.  I’d really like to work with you.  That is the good news.  The bad news is before I do, I need to have an intervention in your life.”  I pushed back, thinking, “What is he talking about?  I don’t have a drinking or a drug problem!”  He continued, “Yes, you need an intervention!”  He then got my wife and his executive assistant on the phone and explained he was having this intervention because I had to quit saying “Yes” to everyone and everything.  Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”

Sometimes, in your zeal to reach your beacon in the fog, everything seems possible.  It’s a time when you’re generating a lot of ideas.  It’s a time when, out of necessity, you need to fire, fire, fire, and then aim.  I refer to this part of zig number 1 as the time I have to weave gold out of straw.  During this time I may not have a lot of resources, and I may find myself holding things together with duct tape and bailing wire. As I’m trying to get something to work that will generate cash, I find myself saying, “Yes, yes, yes, no; …yes, yes, yes, maybe.”

Once I get to the next zag, I have to create systematic and organized processes so I can hire employees and teach them how to make the business work.  During this time, I find myself saying “No” about half the time.  Part of that involves learning the discipline of delegating and letting others do the work for me. 

Getting to the third zig demonstrates that I have achieved success by reaching cash creating an organization that is working.  Now I need to scale it.  This is a much more controlled phase of the process because I do not want to destroy what I have just created.  I finally have all of the gears meshing, and I now need to figure out how to scale the business so it will generate income independent of my direct involvement.  During this period, I find myself needing to say “No” far more often. 

Another guardrail you need to put in place is identifying and empowering those people in your life who will help you say “No” and who will let you know when you are heading out of bounds.  For me, those people include my wife and my executive assistant, both of whom are excellent at letting me know when I am crossing the lines I’ve established.  My children will sometimes even tell me when I am out of line—and I’ve learned to listen.  My business partner is another person I make sure I listen to.  Unfortunately, it’s rare that your subordinates will point out when you’re heading toward danger.  Some see things quite clearly, but many are either making sure they look good in your eyes, or they are afraid of your reaction.  If one speaks up, listen, unless it feels like they’re stoking your ego. 

One of the traditions that I have began with my children is a sheer delight. Just before they get ready to permanently leave the home I take them on a surprise “work trip”. So far they haven’t really figured out exactly what this will entail.

This weekend I was able to continue this tradition with my second son Matthew—who is simply an amazing young man, and someone that I thoroughly enjoy being with.

Two weeks ago I made arrangements and then told Matthew, “I have a really nasty project I need to have you help me with.” Being a very dutiful and good son, he said, “Dad, I’ll be delighted to help.” I had him block out Friday at about 9:00 p.m. and all day Saturday. When he showed up I told him to make sure he brought his warm jacket and tennis shoes, because we would be pretty active. However, I had secretly loaded our golf clubs in the trunk. We got in the car and I headed south for a surprise golf trip.

About halfway to St. George, Utah, the destination of our gold expedition Matthew still had no idea where we were going and he finally asked, “So Dad, what are we going to do?” Then I sprung it on him and he was ecstatically excited!

We had the most delightful day bonding and spending time together.

I remember when I started this tradition with my oldest son John. He really loved musicals, so we loaded into the car and headed north. I played the music to Wicked as we drove. It wasn’t until we got all the way to Salt Lake City and pulled into the airport parking lot, that he realized that I was taking him on a trip. We flew out to Los Angeles to see Wicked.

This tradition has created surprise and delightful memories that the boys will continue to talk about. It is important that you also do this in your work environment and for yourself too.

I often comment that we are nothing more than Pavlov’s Salivating Dogs. Indeed we have to give rewards and feed that inner animal. Surprise and delight go a long way in helping to get yourself loose, fluid, happy, and in the right, positive mindset. Not to mention—it’s just plain fun.

There is nothing better than the delightful surprise that feeds a life full of good memories and passion. Far more powerful than handing someone a stack of dollars is helping to make a meaningful memory.

Please make sure that you do that in your business, because it really is about the memories. It really is about the experiences that make it meaningful and lasting. Go forward and motivate yourself and your team and have a blast doing it!

Anyone who knows me personally knows how important marriage and family are to me. Anyone who reads my blog knows that by now too.

My children and especially my beautiful wife are vital to my happiness and every success I’ve found.

Like most of you I too have blocked out my calendar to spend the holidays with my family exclusively. But before I wind things down here at the office I want to pass on some information about an amazing workshop designed exclusively for married couples.

The event is called, The Business of Marriage Relationship Seminar. It is being put on by an amazing couple Dino & Shannon Watts. If you attended The Zig Zag Principle launch party you will remember Dino as the smart, exuberant, and hilarious emcee.

I encourage you to attend, and if possible book before tomorrow night.

Until midnight December 16, 2011, you can get 75% OFF this live, 3-day event.

Grab your tickets here, and save 75%.

On the site you can watch an informational video from the eloquent Dino Watts. In addition to the 75% discount on the event, Dino is giving out five Holiday Gifts:

- VIP Seating at The Business of Marriage seminar. 
- 2 tickets to pre-event session
- Recession Proof your Marriage, a 68 page e-book 
- The entire Marriage Mastery 6 audio library (in .mp3s)
- Marriage Mastery companion workbook (.pdf)

So hop over to Dino’s site, learn more about The Business of Marriage Seminar, and hopefully I’ll see you there.

Rich:

I’m so excited to be here today with my first mentor Alan Hall from back in the Netline days. You’ve heard me talk about Alan. Alan is an amazing individual. I’m so grateful to have him in my life. He is indeed an amazing individual and an example of what I hope to be in twenty years.

Alan you are now giving away everything you make! You’re promoting entrepreneurship and helping people’s lives. Will you talk a little bit about your work?

Alan: Well, it’s important for everybody to understand this is about stewardship—we’re stewards of resources. Somehow we accumulate wealth, but then wealth is really for us to give it away. To give to those who are of need. We all get enough to take care of our basic needs and then the rest outta be given away. That’s what we’re all about.

Rich: One of the philosophies that Alan has, is that the best way to take control of your life, and I agree, is to create a business. Not only does it impact yourself, but it impacts many people around you too.

Alan: Oh yeah. We’re looking for people all over the United States who are ready to start a business, and we’re here to support them! Obviously with Rich’s great knowledge, together we have teamed up to help make people successful. So go start a business! America needs you now.

Rich: That’s wonderful advice from a wonderful man. Look for more to come! I’m going to start highlighting Alan in future posts and tweets. Watch for Alan’s example. He’s done it the proper way. There are a lot of individuals that live and “it’s all about me”. But, Alan is the example to me; what I want to become like. Go forward and do good in this world. Please look forward for more to come from Alan.

One of my favorite books of all time is Viktor Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning. Although he covers two or three major concepts in the book, one of the major themes he discusses is that we all collaborate on a conscious or subconscious level.

I’m a Christian. I deeply believe that God has purpose for us in our lives. I think he has a bit of a sense of humor. And I think that oftentimes the alignment of happenings and circumstances in our lives are not just coincidental. I firmly believe that.

Although I’m a Christian, my mentor is an atheist who believes in the power of the universe. I also have dear friends who are Jewish and Hindu. Irrespective of beliefs and views, I think that we can all see that indeed, God, or the Universe, or whatever power we seek from; allows us amazing, unique, and beautiful opportunities.

I had such an event happen to me this weekend. Tenzing Norbu Sherpa is an amazing young man who has come over to the U.S. from Nepal this past year. We’ve been working with him on his college education, and we enjoyed having him join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

As we were down in St. George, Utah this weekend, we took a few minutes for a stop at the visitor center. All of the sudden, in walks my dear friend Roger Reid. Roger is a successful high school and college basketball coach.

For years Roger had been sharing with our family a story about an amazing woman from Hoang Jo, China. He tells about how when he spent time in China he and his family had a tender, wonderful relationship with this young woman. They spent time  discussing both religious freedom and personal freedoms that she was not afforded. In the past Roger had shared how deeply his family longed for this young lady to come to America.

Finally this young woman had come for Thanksgiving with the Reid family. So here we were: old friends with our amazing young international friends enjoying the holiday weekend. And to top it off at that very moment, in walks a woman who had a very profound effect on Tenzing’s life his first year of college. She helped him really live life with hope and optimism and belief.

It was serendipity.

Two minutes in the other direction and all of us would have missed each other. We had a delightful, joyful reunion. We gave hugs, we took pictures, and then we went our separate ways.

As for me and my house, I believe that God is in the details of our lives. I believe the universe does give us what we seek. Indeed as Victor Frankl points out, on a conscious or subconscious level we all collaborate.

It’s important to put positive energy into the universe and expect good things to occur. I think the energy is one part (not the only part) but one part of the equation that allows us to find success in our lives.

I’m so thankful in my life for these joyful, little, serendipitous events.

As you zigzag down that mountain toward your goal, you need to realize there are hazards on either side of the ski run.  Ski resorts groom and prepare the areas intended for skiers; however, experienced skiers know that just beyond the groomed runs are trees, rocks, potential avalanches, cliffs, and other dangers that may cause injury or even death.  The same is true in business and life.  If we’re smart, we establish boundaries and guardrails to keep us away from perils and on the groomed slopes that lead to our goals.

Some people think zigzagging is easy or a lazy person’s game.  The reality is it requires great discipline and control.  Any skier will tell you that traversing a steep mountain requires a strong back and legs, quick reflexes, and agility, while heading straight down is far less taxing.  That is, until you crash and burn. 

To avoid disaster, you’re going to want to create boundaries and set guardrails, which will keep you headed in the direction of your goal—and away from your own personal train wreck.

Keeping Your Zigzags under Control 

When you are beginning to head toward your beacon in the fog, you want to concentrate on three zigs and zags at a time.  That will keep you focused and under control. To help you with that, think in terms of devoting 65 percent of your time and resources on zig number 1 (driving to profitability), with 25 percent spent on planning and preparing for zag number 2 (adding resources and processes once you get to cash).  The final 10 percent of your time and resources should be spent planning how you want to scale your undertaking in zig number 3 (creating scale).  If you’re looking beyond three zigs, life gets too complex.

Once you have hit zig number 1 and your business is profitable, you need to turn and head toward zig number 2.  It’s easy, once you have cash coming in, to think you can skip making the turn.  But if you just stay in zig number 1, you may miss out on the dreams and goals defined as your true beacon in the fog.  (And remember cash alone is not a beacon worth pursuing.)

Once you are profitable, you should shift and spend about 65 percent of your time and energy on zag number 2, with 25 percent of your time spent on planning and preparing for zig number 3.  Again, if you do not make this next turn, you may find yourself with a lot of resources, but never hitting that big goal.  The last 10 percent of your time and efforts can then go toward setting another series of zigs that will help you get even closer to your beacon in the fog. 

Some people think zigzagging is easy or a lazy person’s game.  The reality is it requires great discipline and control.  Any skier will tell you that traversing a steep mountain requires a strong back and legs, quick reflexes, and agility, while heading straight down is far less taxing.  That is, until you crash and burn.

To avoid disaster, you’re going to want to create boundaries and set guardrails, which will keep you headed in the direction of your goal—and away from your own personal train wreck.

I recently saw an article about Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Harvard University, his not quite alma mater. The title of the article was “It’s never been sexier to be an entrepreneur,” and while I completely agree with the sentiment, I worry that some people may think being an entrepreneur is sexy because of the myths they have bought into, not because of the wonderful lifestyle entrepreneurs enjoy. Today, I’d like to address three of these myths and show you why it’s still never been sexier to be an entrepreneur.

Myth 1: All I need is that one big idea. While it may be true in Hollywood that a big break can make your career, being a successful entrepreneur means doing a lot more than just having one great idea. If Bill Gates only had one great idea, Microsoft would have never been able to grow beyond the first build of Windows. Even Zuckerberg has to get bigger, better ideas, or else Facebook would never have added much of the functionality that keeps people on there every day. That first big idea gets you started in a business, but you need to be work on getting more to keep up with the rest of the world.

Myth 2: My venture needs to become the next Apple/Facebook/YouTube. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: though these successes are fun to talk about, they are the exception, not the rule. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean your business will be on the cover of Time. It means taking direct control of your career and day-to-day life. It means building something that makes you money and does something great. While entrepreneurs often make revolutionary products and services, most only revolutionize their respective fields, not the way the entire world works.

Myth 3: I need to quit my job and drop out of school to succeed. Once again, this is not necessarily the case. Indeed, quitting your job before having a solid source of income established to replace your job is financially dangerous. And though some decide that finishing school is not a good use of their time, colleges have many fantastic opportunities available for students, including the chance to earn an education. I not only got a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, but I have spent time working for other people as my situation needed, even after building several businesses.

Being an entrepreneur is a great life, and I encourage everyone to try it. There has never been a better time for it. Though building a business requires hard work and stressful sacrifice, it is the best life I know.

When I am planning new ideas for my business or for my life I like to use a tool I created called The Decision Matrix.  It helps me decide which ideas or options fit into my value plan.  This decision matrix can be used for any kind of decision you need to make in your life.  I have used it to help me decide which jobs I should take, where I would like to live, and, yes, what businesses and scale ideas I should pursue.  I love to use this model to appease the left hemisphere of my brain, which is the logical side.  It does not always tell me exactly which option that I want to take, but it does help me weed out the options that are best not to take.  It is really straightforward and simple.  Here is how it works:

Across the top of the paper, spreadsheet or whiteboard, I compose a list of the top ten or fifteen (maximum) things that are important to me for the particular decision I am trying to make.  For example, in a business some of the things I might want that business to do would include making me a lot of money, flexibility of lifestyle, giving back to society, or international travel.  If I were making a decision on where to buy a new home, I may list across the top things like location, quality of schools, safety, friendliness of neighbors, quality of the construction, yard for the dog, a good view, etc.

Once I have made my list across the top of the things that are most important to me in this decision, then I rate them in order of priority as to how important they are to me.  The most important item would have a rating of 2.  The next item would be ranked a 1.9, then 1.8, all the way down to the least important item.

In the business example, I may give “flexibility of  lifestyle” a 1.8 rating and the “international travel,” which I love but which may not be as important to me as my lifestyle, a 1.5 rating.  If I were moving to a new house, I would rate the quality of schools a 2, where I might rate the view I desire a 1.2.

Once I have my values of what I desire listed across the top and weighted in order of priority, then I list down the left side all of the options I am considering.  If I am thinking of ideas that would scale my business, I would list all of those down the left side.  If I were purchasing a house I would list all of the different property options down that left side.  If I were deciding which job opportunity I wanted to pursue or which college to attend, whatever it is I am deciding I list the options down the left side.

After my chart is complete, I ignore the weight factor of those important items and I fill in the blanks. I just go through really quickly and assess to the best of my judgment how my idea or decision would rank with my important item. I use a score of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.  After I have filled out the chart, then I simply take the score of the idea to the important item and multiply it by the weighted factor of that idea.  I then sum all of the important items together for a score of each idea.

If there are several people involved, then I have each person do their own weight factor.  We add up the weight factors and then use that number to score the spreadsheet.  Together we decide the score between 1 -10 of how well that idea would fit our needs.  If my wife wants a good view and I want a shorter commute to work, we would weigh those items differently.

I like to do this exercise when I am relaxed and calm.  It takes about an hour or so, but it is a really precise and fun way to sort out my ideas.  Oftentimes, I’ll get the top four of five scoring ideas.  These scores are not the only factors in my decisions, but they do usually tell me which of the options are not the ones that I want to pursue.  It helps me to hone in a little bit to where I want to take my next zig or zag.

Decision Matrix

Eating Our Own Cooking

We are currently trying to figure out the scale phase in our Froghair business. When we initially defined our three zigs and zags, we defined our scale as making three sales into our direct channel each day.  As we progressed, we hit profitability and were able to add resources, but we realized that our plan for scaling business was not viable. So, we had to adjust our strategy and go after a second option.  This time our plan was to sell items to large companies to use as their corporate gifts.  This has had some success, but we are still exploring other options.  Specifically, we are looking at generating Internet leads in our area of the market.  Almost everyday we’re using the zig zag principle because it gives us the flexibility to adjust and change course within the boundaries that we have set.  As we’ve seen obstacles, we’ve skied around them.  And we’ve been prepared to do so because we know they’re going to come.  My experience has taught me there is a much higher probability of success when you use this principle.

Summary

      Zig number 3 involvesa major shift in mindset.  You are no longer working in your business; you are working on your business.  Your are becoming deliberate and you have structures in place.  You’ve survived the determination phase.  You’ve survived the discipline phase.  Now you can leverage yourself, leverage the value of the market you’re in, and start to really see some success.

Eighteen years ago my wife and I built a home. One of the first things we did upon completion of the home, in the middle of the winter, was acquire a peach tree. With much diligence and hard work, we were able to chisel a hole in the frozen ground and plant the peach tree.

This peach tree has been a joy and a blessing for our family. Within a year or two, this peach tree was bearing peaches the size of grapefruits. The peaches were luscious and delightful and succulent. Each year, one of the things I lookedforward to more than anything else, is when those peaches come on the tree.

For the last 16 years we enjoyed those peaches. Then about a year and a half ago the tree got a bore in it and the poor thing deteriorated until this last summer it became evident that I was going to have to cut the tree down.

This past weekend, my family and I had a big yard-work day. With a little bit of sadness I gathered the family around and we all grabbed hold of that old peach tree and we thanked it. We had a conversation.

We said, “Goodbye old friend. Thanks for serving us so well. You’ve had a good life and you’ve been so fruitful. And we’ve enjoyed you so much. But obviously you’re in misery now.” After we thanked the tree, we took out the chainsaw and cut the thing down.

We dug a new hole with expectation of planting a new peach tree. The location is perfect. Warm air from the dryer vent blows onto the tree and indeed that’s what made the blossoms take when many of our neighbors’ peaches were freezing.

The point of this blog post isn’t to tell you to have a conversation with your peach tree. But it is to encourage you to acknowledge those individuals in your business and in your life who have impact and who bear fruit.

We so frequently gloss over them. We don’t take the time to thank them and to acknowledge them. Sometimes they come and they go. Hopefully we don’t take chainsaws and cut them down, or worse take words and cut them down. Instead, as these people come and go from our lives, we need to take time to thank them and build relationships and networks, which are more enduring.

At the end of the day business and money is really just a fleeting thing; but the relationships and the tender exchanges that we have in our life are really powerful and beautiful, and actually the more meaningful part of living.

Next time someone does something of significance for you, or next time you see someone who made an impact in your life, make sure that you take time to put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eyes, and thank them for their contribution. Of course, this will cause more fruit to be borne out of the relationship, but more importantly, it’s just the right thing to do.

Zig number 3 requires yet another shift in mindset.  In Zig number 1 you are doing everything, and you are working hard.  In zag number 2, you become the head cheerleader, and you are defining processes.  Zig number 3 requires deliberate planning.  It is very cerebral. It is the academic part.  It’s a shift that is hard for many people to go through.  Working hard and working cerebral don’t always go well together unless you consciously acknowledge these two forces and plan the expenditure of your energy accordingly. 

As you shift to your cerebral effort, you are standing back from the minutia, analyzing it, and determining what little levers you could flip that would have significant impact.  In other words, you’re deliberately thinking, “If I do such and such to the business, then we can accomplish this.”  Up until now, your efforts have been all about action.  Now you’re looking for ways to maximize the work being done, and for ways to shift your work to others.

One of my recent ventures involved building an email list of several thousand subscribers.  That’s not a huge number, but for this particular niche we had amassed a sizeable database.  We had gone about building this list in a hundred or more different ways.  We tried one thing, and if it failed, we tried another.  We worked fast and we worked hard, which meant we didn’t always refine our efforts to the point of perfection.  In fact, in many cases we settled for “good enough.”  This is what my friend meant when he said he was “Striving for mediocrity.”

After we had built our email database to what we determined was our critical mass, we set about to craft the pitch that had always been our endgame.  We had one chance—an email blast that, if people responded, would bring us the success we had been building toward.

At this point, our strategy shifted from action to considerable thought.  “Good enough” no longer was.  Whereas early on we had thrown together things that took literally minutes, we now spent hours and hours on this one pitch, running our final effort through layers of strategic review and approval.

I can’t tell you exactly where you’ll need to expend your cerebral capital.  What I can do is encourage you to carve out time to step back, get away, and do the thinking that will identify where you can focus, refine, add resources, create processes, and move toward the scale that will create value whether you’re in the office or enjoying the fruits of your efforts.

I can also tell you this.  I have had very little success getting to a scale component when I’m in a crisis or in a reactionary mode.  I’m great at solving problems, but I am lousy at coming up with new ideas when I am in that task-oriented, problem-solving mindset.  Find time to get away to a relaxed, calm atmosphere when you’re generating ideas for how to scale your business.  I have had enough ideas come while I am on the golf course to justify my green fees for the next ten or twenty years.

Zig number 3 requires yet another shift in mindset.  In Zig number 1 you are doing everything, and you are working hard.  In zag number 2, you become the head cheerleader, and you are defining processes.  Zig number 3 requires deliberate planning.  It is very cerebral. It is the academic part.  It’s a shift that is hard for many people to go through.  Working hard and working cerebral don’t always go well together unless you consciously acknowledge these two forces and plan the expenditure of your energy accordingly. 

As you shift to your cerebral effort, you are standing back from the minutia, analyzing it, and determining what little levers you could flip that would have significant impact.  In other words, you’re deliberately thinking, “If I do such and such to the business, then we can accomplish this.”  Up until now, your efforts have been all about action.  Now you’re looking for ways to maximize the work being done, and for ways to shift your work to others.

One of my recent ventures involved building an email list of several thousand subscribers.  That’s not a huge number, but for this particular niche we had amassed a sizeable database.  We had gone about building this list in a hundred or more different ways.  We tried one thing, and if it failed, we tried another.  We worked fast and we worked hard, which meant we didn’t always refine our efforts to the point of perfection.  In fact, in many cases we settled for “good enough.”  This is what my friend meant when he said he was “Striving for mediocrity.”

After we had built our email database to what we determined was our critical mass, we set about to craft the pitch that had always been our endgame.  We had one chance—an email blast that, if people responded, would bring us the success we had been building toward.

At this point, our strategy shifted from action to considerable thought.  “Good enough” no longer was.  Whereas early on we had thrown together things that took literally minutes, we now spent hours and hours on this one pitch, running our final effort through layers of strategic review and approval.

I can’t tell you exactly where you’ll need to expend your cerebral capital.  What I can do is encourage you to carve out time to step back, get away, and do the thinking that will identify where you can focus, refine, add resources, create processes, and move toward the scale that will create value whether you’re in the office or enjoying the fruits of your efforts.

I can also tell you this.  I have had very little success getting to a scale component when I’m in a crisis or in a reactionary mode.  I’m great at solving problems, but I am lousy at coming up with new ideas when I am in that task-oriented, problem-solving mindset.  Find time to get away to a relaxed, calm atmosphere when you’re generating ideas for how to scale your business.  I have had enough ideas come while I am on the golf course to justify my green fees for the next ten or twenty years.

Last weekend I was in Dallas Texas lecturing on the book. As I was racing home I was very excited to see my family–most specifically I was looking forward to spending some time with my beautiful wife.

As we frequently do when I’m traveling, my wife and I exchange texts back and forth. Just as I was getting on the airplane and the stewardess was scurrying us along and rushing us to shut down our cell phones so we could have an on-time departure, I quickly sent this final text to my wife, “Loving my wife.”

I thought, what a fitting way to send a message before I departed for home. I pressed send and didn’t think anything about it. I sent the message, shut down my phone, buckled up, had a productive flight working on some things, read a little bit of a book—it was great.

When we landed back in Salt Lake City, I turned my phone back on and…bop, bop, bop, bop, goes the phone. It delivered a whole sequence of text messages from my wife. I looked down in dismay to see that my wife was slightly ruffled.

When I had sent the text, “loving my wife”. The autocorrect had interpreted it to say, “leaving my wife”, not loving my wife.

Of course my wife knows I’m totally committed and I’d never leave her so we got a bit of a chuckle out of it. But I thought, how frequently in our businesses we have good intent, but we’re very sloppy on the communication and the delivery of our messages–specifically on our elevator pitch, or what we call our catalyzing statements, or the emotional fuel for our businesses.

In the elevator pitch, you only get one chance to tell someone about your business. You have just one sentence to get their interest. Anytime someone asks what you do, and you go on for 5-minutes, you’ve lost them. You’ve got to able to quickly and concisely drop them a snippet and capture their attention.
My experience is that more often than not we have very good intent, but very poor delivery. If there’s one place that you could use a marketing expert or someone to really craft your message–it’s on that elevator pitch, or in those really critical communication deliveries. Certainly you don’t want to convey a missed message, as I did.

Zig Zag, communicate effectively, and have a great life.