Chapter One
Super-Success - Not for the Touchy-Feely
'Super success is not for the wishy washy. Victory in business, like war, comes to the toughest son-of-a-bitch in the valley.'
This is a book about making money.
I don't mean a few extra bucks in your spare time. Any moron can do that. I don't mean increasing your sales 20%, or buying real estate or getting into the discount mortgage scam. I'm talking about making so much money you can't count it - you've got to weigh it.
This is no "get rich quick" book either. "Get rich quick" implies "get rich easy," and if you think you can get rich easy in today's world, you're either about to murder your rich uncle - or you're stupid.
Nor is it one of those "wealth without risk" books.
Accumulating money without taking risks is a fantasy fed to the fainthearted or the elderly who are not so much interested in achieving wealth as they are terrified of becoming poor. The high performers - the super successful - do take risks. I sure did. Still do. Anybody who's not taking risks in business is not making real money. There is no super success without risk. There just isn't. And no safety in being a high-performance person. If you want safety, this book isn't for you.
Finally, this is not a book to help you feel better about yourself.
Conventional wisdom is that if you feel good about yourself. You'll make money As you'll see - of you read on - I grew a company to over 400 million dollars in real market value, working on the premise that all conventional wisdom is crap. The truth is that when you make a lot of money, then you'll feel good about yourself. As my wife Linda would say, "If you think money doesn't buy happiness, you don't know where to shop."
So why should you read on?
Here are some reasons. I've built from scratch more dollar value than any other personal development or business success coach who'll ever try to sell you a book. I've lost more money on just one bad deal than a lot of those slick-suited guys on the "feel-good-get-rich" lecture circuit ever made in their whole lives.
What else?
I've made over 65,000 business decisions during my 29-year business career. That's probably 60,000 more than anyone who'll read this book - or anyone selling success books and tapes. I've made more than 500 financial presentation on five continents (all but Antarctica - there's no money there!), raising over one billion dollars during times nobody else could raise a cent! And in between I've logged million of miles in travel, thousands of nights in hotels, thousands of business meetings, and more than 250,000 business 'phone conversations.
If anybody wants to talk about more business experience in the past 29 years than Dan Peña - in the trenches or in the peaks - let me know.
You should also read on because, if you can handle it, this book is written for you.
I'm writing to aspiring entrepreneurs who have the fire in their belly to achieve super success. I'm talking to the owners of small or mid-sized businesses, people who are already successful and want more... and the CEOs, Directors and other top executives of companies who are now looking for geometric growth in a competitive, unforgiving marketplace. In short, this book is for "serious players."
But beyond that circle of capitalists, anyone who seeks a greater degree of success in their life can benefit from this book. To borrow from Joe Batten, the advertising legend and mentor to Ross Perot, whose accounts included the U.S. Army: I'm writing for you if you want to "be all you can be." Now that you've bought me - I assume you haven't browsed this far - let me assure you I've got more for you between these covers than you'll find in an entire library of sudsy proverbs and platitudes. Hence the cover price.
When I retired the second time, a few years ago, I quickly got bored with doing nothing. I gradually became interested in sharing the brutal truths I had learned in the business world with others. After all, I had made tens of millions before I was 40 years old. Why not pass along the benefit of years of experience to those who were on the cusp of success, so that they could enjoy extraordinary business achievement of their own. And, quite frankly, my ego demanded it.
That idea led me to make a commitment to be a business success coach. I reasoned that if other super successful business performers could deliver their proven wisdom and strategies to a willing and receptive audience of eager listeners ready to take bold action, so could I.
I couldn't have been more wrong!
The Seminar Crowd -- Perpetuators of the Big Lie
The Nazis taught us how effective a Big Lie could be. They shouted their propaganda so loudly and so often that we in the "civilized world" accepted their crimes until the brutal truth slapped us in the face. Today pimple-faced neo-Fascists scream there was no Holocaust - and a lot of well-meaning people give them an audience.
At the same time, a much smoother type, the "success evangelists," are infiltrating the country, filling conference rooms and convention centers, and feeding desperate audiences the Big Lie about personal success.
My introduction to the "seminar circuit subculture" was a real eye-opener. It didn't take more than five minutes for me to realize what the seminar business is all about. The sad truth is nearly all seminars look alike. Most of them are the same distillation of conventional wisdom, spoon fed to you in outline form so you can copy it down. And if you're too slow or lazy to take notes, you can always buy the $495 to $2995 tape-set, manual and even software packages conveniently set out on the table at the back of the room. They take all major credit cards...
Even more to the point, if you listen to the tapes. . .if you actually read the book, you get the overwhelming feeling of, "Yeah, that's right. I guess I already knew that, I just never saw it organized so neatly before."
Of course, doofus! It all sounds familiar because you grew up listening to the same conventional wisdom these guys did! Now they're making money selling you the stuff you've heard all your life.
"Achieve a balance between your business life and your personal life."
"Make a list of what's good about yourself and stick it on your mirror."
"Make a list of what you need to do this week."
"Set achievable goals so you're not disappointed."
"Buy a used car, because it's already depreciated."
"Get a 15-year mortgage instead of a 30-year mortgage."
Crap...CRAP...CRAP!
You may be one of those people who attends seminars, buys the books, the videotapes, the cassettes and the financial advice life support systems. If you are then I suspect they're all lying around your home or office right now gathering dust; thousands of dollars invested in advice your parents gave you for free and against your will years ago.
But just as important as realizing the content of the typical seminar message, is to expose the "authority" of the smooth-tongued performers who deliver their wisdom around the country and on late-night infomercials. I was appalled at the lack of business acumen of so many of the seminar presenters. Those personal motivation gurus that come to your city . . . those pearly-teethed infomercial guys . . . the so-called authors that line the book stores with "how-to" success books - they're mostly frauds!
You need to ask yourself, how many of these business success "experts" have made any serious money. Few. Next ask yourself if they made their money in the business world? How many of them scrapped their way to super success in the kill-or-die corporate environment? How many of them started from scratch and built a business empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Don't bother scratching your head. The answer is: hardly any.
It didn't take me long to learn that most of these phonies have made what little money they do have in the seminar business - taking your money!
I quickly discovered that I'm the only multimillionaire I know of on the seminar circuit who made my money in the real business world, creating a hundred million dollar empire. As you'll learn in the next chapter, I wasn't just exposed to 400 million dollars of transactions one day. I created a company that catapulted to a worth of over 400 million dollars on a major stock exchange - starting with a phone . . . a leased fax machine . . . and $820.
Another question. These people are supposed to be teaching you how to become successful, which is a code word for "rich." But how many of them are multimillionaires? Few if any. In fact, the only one I know is a good friend, Ted Nicholas, arguably the finest marketing copyrighting and self-publishing guru in the country, maybe in the world. Otherwise, my wife Linda has lost more in fur coats at airports than most of these bums have ever made. On any given night out, Linda wears in jewelry more than they can claim in net worth. Yet they're telling you how to get rich!
Before you buy your next book or tape, consider the author and ask yourself, 'Is this guy where I want to be? Is his success story the blueprint I want for my success? And how did he make his money? In the business arena, or selling books and tapes, and putting butts in seminars seats?'
Think about it.
I also discovered something interesting about those roomfuls of seminar attendees I assumed were so eager to take "bold action." I was stunned to discover the level of apathy of the average seminar attendee. Most of them are more interested in hearing feel-good stories and pleasant proverbs than the truth about becoming super successful. Most of them just want to be stroked, to hear 'You've already got within you what it takes to succeed. Reach inside and draw from the wealth of your own potential.' They want validation that they're okay, in the tradition of "I'm okay, you're okay." What crap.
So why did Dan Peña, iconoclastic curmudgeon of the business world, decide to get into the seminar business and write a book? Because my goal is to change the way personal success development strategies and business success coaching are communicated to the world - and make another ton of money, of course!
I have implemented my success strategies continuously over most of the past 25 years and made tens of millions in the process, but I have another unique advantage that works to your benefit. I'm not going to tell you what I think you want to hear so you'll like me. I don't care if you like me or not. If you want a friend, buy a dog. I don't care if you don't listen to what I have to say. I'm not in this business to make friends and to be your friend. (If you personally knew the very few high performers in America today, guys like Donald Trump, Richard Branson or Ross Perot, you'd understand they don't give a damn if people like them or not. Personal acceptance by the masses is just not on their agenda.) I'm in this business to give you the opportunity to learn how to be enormously successful. Even though half-truths and misinformation are easier to sell, I'm going to give you the no bullshit, unvarnished truth.
When I first started lecturing, I talked to my audiences like I would talk to my staff, expletives and all. Half of those audiences, mostly women, would get up and leave in the first fifteen minutes. I didn't care, because I was speaking with passion and true to life. "This is the way the super successful talk in the glass towers of success," I told them. "So get used to it." If they had seen the movie Wall Street, they had already heard a fairly representative dose of the language used in the real world. They left anyway. I was amazed to see their naivete.
My marketing advisor and the people who schedule seminars finally said to me, "Dan, you've got to tone it down. Some of these people are really interested in what you've got to say, but you're offending them with your language." So I toned myself down to become a kinder, gentler Dan.
Paying the Price for Super Success
Now that I've given you an idea of where I'm coming from, let's talk about some of the basics of becoming super successful. To begin with, it's not easy. Every worthwhile goal in life has what I call a "Pay Price to Action." To achieve that goal you must take action that requires you to pay a price in some other area. It's a tradeoff. The mooches on the seminar circuit tell you, "You can have it all. You can be a well-rounded parent, make a bundle of money and be loved by all." That's crap. The truth is, you have to give up something to get something. Throughout this book, you've got to ask yourself - what are you willing to give up (to trade off) to get what you want?
If you want to become an Olympic discus-throwing champion, for example, your Pay Price to Action is giving up evenings and Saturdays with the boys (or girls) and throwing the discus a zillion times. You may have to give up beer and go on a special energy-building diet. You may even have to give up your job and get a new one that enables you to throw the discus more. But you pay that price. You want to get to the Olympics. And you don't want to bring home a Bronze or Silver Medal. You want a Gold Medal and you're willing to pay the price. Hey, what price do you think seven-time Gold Medal winners Mark Spitz or Eric Heiden paid for their achievements? And we all remember the price in pain paid by American gymnast Kerri Strug in Atlanta in '96 when she ignored an injured ankle to win the Gold.
Next lesson: Super success, whether it's in the Olympics or in the boardroom, is not for everybody. When I was building my fortune, one price I paid was not seeing my family and not being home fro 242 days the first year of my daughter's life. My wife Linda and I have been married 25 years, but for much of that time I was not home to celebrate our anniversary, or our kids' birthdays. We waited three-and-a-half years to get married - and nine years to have our first child.
That costly Pay Price to Action may not be for you. It isn't for most people. That's why there are so few Ted Turners and Ross Perots and, yes, Mary Kay Ashes in this world. But - and this is important - that's all right. If you put into action just some of the strategies I give you in this book, you'll be a whole lot more successful than you are today. And, by the way, you'll save a lot of money by not buying more tapes and books at future seminars.
A lot of people I talk to assume you have to be incredibly intelligent in order to be highly successful. I'm living proof you don't. But let's suppose for a second you have an IQ of, say, 100. That's average. In this example, I might be taking some away from you; on the other hand, I might be giving you a little. (Those who've spent a lot of time seeking Universal Truth through seminars, books and tapes, and those who ask me obtuse questions during seminars probably have what I call a "room temperature IQ" . . . a comfortable 72.)
Let's also pretend I've got a 100 IQ as well (although my old pals from school days would argue the point). Can anyone have ten times our IQ? As far as I know, the highest IQ's ever recorded were in the 240 range (160 will qualify for membership of an elite High-IQ group called MENSA). So it's not possible for anyone to have ten times our IQ - or even five times for that matter.
So how in hell do people make ten times more than you make? How do people make a hundred or a thousand times what you make if they can't have a hundred or a thousand times our IQ? How? I'll tell you how! Because they dream bigger than you. Their expectations are higher than yours. That's how.
I'm often asked, if I had my life to live over again what would I change. I'd only change one thing. I'd set my goals higher. That's right. With all my mega-success, I'd still set my goals higher.
What about you?
Have you set goals that allow you to "be all you can be?" If not, reading this book will be an astonishing revelation. At the risk of overstatement, reading this book could change your life. Following the systems and methodology in the chapters ahead could change the course of your destiny. I say "could" because you must take action to change. Change is absolutely essential. I want you to understand right now that doing the same things over and over, like you've always done them, and expecting different results, is insanity.
You see, these high-performance individuals, like myself, achieve super success because they want it more than you. They forge favorable circumstances by using the two advantages of high performance business people - practiced skills and force of good habits. Or as Jim Ryan, the former world record holder in the mile said, "Motivation gets you started; habit keeps you going." Trust me on this. Intelligence has nothing to do with it.
Take Some Risks
The super successful also have a different perspective on risk. They understand that risk is necessary to grow. In my seminars I refer to the "Quantum Leap", an explosive, geometric growth in your company that merely more sales or new locations could never achieve. A Quantum Leap requires taking some risks.
If you're already in business, you understand risk. Remember when you first got started? Didn't establishing that business require risk? Doesn't marriage require an element of risk? Or raising kids, or buying a new home? Then why do so many people who take risks in other areas of their lives shudder at taking risks in growing their business? No matter how tight your strategy and how sure of success you are on a given deal, the specter of risk lurks at your side until signatures are on paper and the money is in your bank. And preferably spent!
I believe that if you're not taking risks to grow your business, it's begun to wither. I hate for someone to tell me everything is running smoothly. By definition, I know their business is not growing anymore - and probably dying. They have forgotten that from chaos comes order.
Some people take a risk or two, and fail, and retreat beneath their shell of safety.
Failure destroys their self-confidence, sometimes for the rest of their life.
In 1955, at the height of the Cold War, everybody had atomic bombs on their minds. School kids were drilled to hide under their desks so a 50 megaton bomb detonated downtown would miss them. My father, the L.A. policeman, was talked into investing $10,000 in the Lucky 13 Mining Company, an outfit with uranium mines in Nevada. It was a con job, a scam, and he lost his ten grand, which in 1955 was a small fortune. But maybe more damaging to him than the financial loss: he was disgraced in front of his family and friends and laughed at for years afterward.
In 1958, Dad had a chance to buy an undeveloped piece of land northwest of Los Angeles for $3000 - the intersection of Topanga Canyon and Ventura Blvds. All four corners! He turned it down. No use being made a fool of twice, he must have figured. The next time that property was sold it went for $640,000. Then 3.5 million, then 8 million. The last time we looked, one corner sold for $12 million!
Dad doesn't like to drive up in Northwest L.A. around Woodland Hills, even today. One failure drained his resolve to ever take another risk.
Understand Failure
The super successful also have a different take on failure.
Failure is what happens when you do something. The greatest successes in the world also experienced the greatest failures. The all-time strikeout record in major league baseball is held by... Babe Ruth. But we don't remember him for his strikeouts. We remember him for setting a home run record that stood for decades. No one cares about his strikeouts. The point is he kept swinging the damn bat! Most of us never get out of the dugout - let alone up to the plate. Those people not only wonder why they never hit a home run - they even begrudge the determined hitters who do!
Donald Trump has lost billions in his financial deals. But who cares? He has made billions more with his successful ventures, and he just keeps swinging the bat. After stumbling into the New World, Christopher Columbus failed in his subsequent explorations and died a poor and disappointed man. But on Columbus Day do we celebrate his dying destitute? Of course not. We celebrate his success.
This reminds me of a story about Tom Watson, Sr., founder of IBM, being asked by a young management trainee, "Sir, how do I get to the top of the management ladder here?" Watson immediately replied, "Double your failure rate, son. Double your failure rate." His point was, of course, that more failures could only result from more tries, more initiative, more risk taking . . . all the actions required for growth.
Most of Thomas Edison's experiments failed miserably - thousands of them. He thought direct electrical current (DC) was the answer to lighting the world, and that alternating current (AC) was a passing fad. He was wrong. And nobody cares. Instead, we're indebted to Edison's genius and his determination whenever we turn on a light bulb, or hear recorded music, or watch a film.
For the super successful, failure is a valuable lesson. It's a road not to take again, or at least under the same conditions. And then they move on. Failure is nothing more than testing. As Edison said, "Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration." To the high performance person, "Fear" is False Expectations Appearing Real.
The sure-fire formula for failure? Try to please everybody. That's the biggest reason most people never achieve success. They try to keep everybody happy. As a result, they fail and the people they were trying to please don't give a damn. Instead of listening to everybody around them, they should have consulted within themselves. They should have trusted their instincts. They should have listened to their intuition.
Use Your Intuition
Intuition plays a strong role in the decision-making process of a high performer. Over the years, women have tried to monopolize intuition. "Women's intuition" is a given, but what about "men's intuition." I think intuition is what we call instinct in animals, a primal survival skill. All of us have a sense, a gut feeling about situations affecting our best interests. Usually we run into problems when we ignore our intuition.
Intuition is Almost Always Right!
Nowadays the tyranny of computers has undermined our reliance on intuition. We "Lotus 1-2-3" or "Excel" things to death. Suppose you're a guy at a party and you meet an attractive woman. Her smile seems, well, more than friendly. She touches you a lot, innocently. You know she's hot. You don't need to run back to your office and Lotus 1-2-3 it. You don't have to think about it. You know. Business is much the same. But conventional wisdom dictates we over-complicate issues because, after all, our world is very complicated now. I personally believe the personal computer is the single biggest drawback to being a high performance entrepreneur. I'm not computer literate - and proud of it!
Never Look Back
One more prerequisite for super success. The high performance person never looks back. Do you know someone who suffers from terminal buyers' remorse? That individual shops for a new car, new home, new dress or new anything and then makes a purchase. The next day, he or she begins to revisit all the reasons the item they didn't purchase was a better buy. Soon they're miserable. If they can, they return the item for a refund, and start the same tortuous shopping process over again. They'll never be satisfied because they don't have confidence in their ability to make a decision. Or they ponder what others will think. Do you think Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, cares what others think? Of course he doesn't.
In contrast, the high performance person such as myself measures the risks, makes the decision, takes action . . . and never thinks, "Well, maybe I should have done this or that. Maybe I made a mistake." As a high performance person, you have the confidence in your judgment to stand by whatever decision you make. And you've got more to do than second-guess yourself. You've got other important decisions - so you move on. Without a look back. I often say, "I may be wrong - but I'm never in doubt." How else could I have made those 65,000 business decisions?
Taking risks. Not fearing failure. Primal intuition. Making the sacrifice of Pay Price to Action. Indifference to what others think. Avoidance of conventional wisdom. And no looking back.
As we prepare to launch into the tactics and strategies of the high performers, you may have already figured out this is not going to be a comfy drift through mainstream thinking. Like they say in Texas, where I learned the oil business, this book is written for those who want to hunt with the big dogs - and pee in the tall grass!
Super success is not for the wishy washy. Victory in business, like war, comes to the toughest son-of-a-bitch in the valley. Not the touchy-feely. I cannot think of a single high performance success who is touchy-feely. If they exist, I've never met one. High performers are the gladiators of the glass towers. They're tough, they take action, but never take prisoners. They make mistakes and never look back . . . and they make a lot of money.
I don't care if I have to drag, push, slap, kick or cajole you to super success. You will not necessarily like me, but I don't give a damn. What I do give a damn about is making you into a super success, and helping you make enormous sums of money.
If you're interested, we'll get down to specifics soon enough. But first you need to understand who I am, so you know Dan Peña has the credentials to kick your apathy into action for the next 12 chapters. |
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