Use It Or Lose It

I stayed too small for too long.

That was one of the biggest mistakes in my business career.

Small doesn’t work. Small departments, small products, small prices… none of it works. It took me a long time to learn this.

When I first started my sales training business in my late 20s, I prided myself on going solo. I didn’t need a team. A team meant overhead. And I had been trained from an early age that in order to make money, you had to keep expenses low. If I hired anyone, that was money coming right out of my pocket.

But that meant I was on the road 275 days or more a year. I traveled constantly and did everything myself.?

Booking appointments? That was me.?

Giving sales presentations? Me.?

Following up with customers? Me.?

Billing? Me.?

Accounts payable? Me.?

Developing new course materials, printing, and order fulfillment? All me, me, me.

After a long day of making sales calls or conducting training sessions, I’d head back to my hotel room and work. I’d make phone calls, follow up on orders, and book my next appointments. I’d get a few hours of sleep and get up to do it all over again.?

I had no days off. If offices were closed for an American holiday like Labor Day, I’d head up to Canada and make sales calls there.

I have no problem with hard work. In fact, I consider it my ethical duty to hustle. But I wasn’t just working hard. I was working stupid and hard. That’s a loser’s recipe.

I did the same thing with my other resources. I was always watching the clock and was worried about “saving time.” I also refused to spend money even when it was warranted.?

Not Investing Kept Me Small

I had big dreams. That wasn’t the problem. I had set my sights on creating a massive training company. But I wasn’t setting myself up for greatness. My refusal to invest my resources and my determination to do it all myself was keeping me small.

I was cheap. I didn’t spend money because I thought I was supposed to save money. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was following what I’d been trained to do by other business owners: Cut costs, keep overhead low, do it all yourself, and stay lean and mean.?

Money doesn’t grow on trees. A penny saved is a penny earned, and on and on. I was brought up to do everything on the cheap.?

But here’s the problem: That well-intentioned advice was all wrong. It was average advice for those who wanted to live an average life.?

And that wasn’t me.?

Average doesn't work in any area of life. Anything that you give only average amounts of attention to will start to subside and will eventually cease to exist. I didn’t know it then, but things would have to shift dramatically if I was to create the level of business success I wanted.

Even as my company grew, I resisted spending money or hiring people. I treated that as money out of my pocket. I treated it as if someone was taking something from me. I did tasks I wasn’t good at, just so I could avoid increasing headcount or expenses.

People Are An Asset

It wasn’t until I started thinking of my employees as investments rather than expenses that I was able to create massive growth. I’ve seen many business owners want to hire the top people, but they don’t want to pay them top wages. It’s ridiculous to think about getting top players when you’re offering below-average pay. Once I understood that my people were assets who could create a positive ROI, I couldn’t hire fast enough.?

People do not cost money. Not making money costs money.

Let’s say I meet a real superstar. They’re motivated, high-performing, have a track record of success. They would be a valuable addition to my team. Why on earth would I try to lowball them, offering them slightly less than the industry average pay??

I’m going to give them more than they can get anywhere else for two reasons. One, I don’t want them working for anyone else. And two, I want them to be happy to come to work every day. I want them to feel like I take such good care of them that they’ll go to the moon and back for our company.

Right now, we’re experiencing a shift in the way people view employment. People don’t stay with the same company for their entire career. Instead, our workforce is incredibly mobile.?

According to one study, the average amount of time people stay at a job is just 2.8 years. Combine this with the fact that over 75 percent of workers feel that they’re underpaid in their current job, and you can see the problem.

Once you start paying people better, you’ll get and keep better people.

Use It Or Lose It

I’ve found the same principle to be true in other areas as well. I no longer seek to “save time,” which is a physical impossibility. Instead, I want to multiply time. I do this by investing in the people, tools, and technologies that allow me to work more effectively. I invest my money in assets that help grow my business or those that allow me to reduce my expenses.

As a business owner, your success depends on your ability to grow your vision. And that starts with adopting a mindset of leveraging your assets.

If you are going to create massive success in your life and your business, you must believe that your resources are renewable. Rather than thinking every dollar needs to be saved for fear more won’t be available in the future, you must adopt a perspective of abundance. If you are operating from a place of scarcity, you will never grow your business to extraordinary levels.

From your energy to your creativity to your money, you have to move away from a “saving” mindset. You can’t save today’s hours and bank them to use next year. Your energy, money, and other resources are meant to be used now.?

Money is useless until it’s used. The same thing is true with time, energy, and ideas. They mean nothing until you do something with them. When I hear of business owners under-investing and then wondering why they’re not growing. It makes me nuts.?

Common wisdom is that you have to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run. Everyone forgets you can just jump. You have to get big, period.

As an entrepreneur, your job is to take on greater than normal risk in order to create more. More value, more money, more success. That requires a shift in your mindset and your actions.

Listen, I know you want to achieve success.

But are you ready to make a small investment decision to achieve your goals?

I’m not talking about a lot of money here.

If you are ready, you must register for the 10X Business Boot Camp Interactive.?

This is the deepest dive into goal achievement and creating financial freedom you will ever see.?

This event is 100% live and 100% interactive. You get more interactive time with me at the 10X Business Boot Camp Interactive than at any other event I do.

Even better, because you are reading this message, I just massively reduced the price for you.?

I’m practically giving this away.

You’ve got no more excuses…

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Be Great!

Grant Cardone