Dapper 2023
Gentle/Graceful Gangstas
Are you thinking about 2024? Well… you should. Decisions made in 2023 DIRECTLY AFFECT the results of 2024. Your focus should be on surrounding yourself with individuals who are innovative and will provide you the resources needed for your success. You need to be a master of your own craft in order to PROVIDE VALUE for those in your new network and rolodex.
You may be multitalented and skilled, however, you need to niche a particular art in order to market yourself in the most useful way. What are your strong suits? What can you easily speak or potentially teach about? Use this skill in order to build business relationships and make yourself valuable to the market.
Find those more experienced than you in your field and have them in mind when making new decisions. Asking for advice is vain when you aren’t providing value. Think from their perspective: give and receive. provide value, give value. bring clientele or useful resources. Be courteous of these individuals and their time. You’ll be in their position one day as others will seek you as a mentor. How do you want to be treated?
“No matter what stage your business is in, you need a plan for capitalizing it.”
“Having smart and demanding people invest in you creates accountability and can lead to high-level introductions and wise counsel.”
“It’s better to attract than to beg.”
“Growth is important, but entrepreneurs often treat it as the only function, and that’s a mistake. Two types of business growth exist: linear and exponential. The former represents steady but not spectacular gains: you meet deadlines, sell and maintain customers, and expand your network of contacts. The latter represents quantum leaps. It’s what happens when entrepreneurs step out of the day-to-day running of the business to do something exceptional. They have a vision and are able to make tough but smart decisions to implement that vision. They don’t just want to grow incrementally; they want to conquer the world.”
“Exponential growth depends on your ability to develop other people into effective leaders.”
“Finding others who can build the business on their own rather than just following marching orders will lead to exponential growth. This requires finding the right type of people to recruit and making leadership development a high-level priority.”
“The next step is to create the environment that allows employees to self-reflect and chart their own course. I’ll ask them to list their next five moves. I’ll ask them to email me their moves if they are committed to being held accountable. By doing so, they have set the bar for themselves and given me permission to hold them accountable.”
“People at your level or lower are not going to be tough on you. Don’t look to them to hold you accountable. Find someone you respect who is willing to keep you accountable on a weekly basis … it’s up to you to take it to the next level by seeking out people with whom you share your big goals and who will agree to hold you to them.”
Scaling for exponential growth was greatly described by Patrick Bet-David in the quoted statements from his book “Your Next Five Moves: Mastering the Art of Business Strategy.”