It is extremely easy to be a confident entrepreneur. You come up with an idea that a few people think is great, you raise some money and you prepare to roll out the business.
Few people take the time to analyze their weaknesses and structure a team that can compensate for them. Not every entrepreneur is a good manager of a business or can inspire employees. In fact, many entrepreneurs are good for the early stage and need to bring in more experienced managers later on because they don’t take the time to address their weaknesses.
No matter how good you think your plan is, it will most likely take longer than you planned.
Entrepreneurs and business owners especially learn quickly that if they don’t have patience, life will be way too stressful to be enjoyable. The faster you realize that your timelines almost never work out, the less stress you will encounter when things don’t go exactly according to plan. Read more…
Robert and I have been working hard on Keystone Augusta since we raised our first round of capital and in that time we have brought on board some additional people who believe in our vision.
One of these people is Kirk Hamilton and he said something that we have been saying for years:
“Nobody invests in a business plan”
Any investment is in the management team and their vision for what they are building or going to build. The business plan or the executive summary is just to make sure the people have thought through some of what they plan to do. With Keystone we are now in the position to invest in other companies and the business plan is not what will decide whether or not we do a deal. Read more…
Over the weekend I had a great conversation with a good friend. I told her about my plans to do good with the wealth I was creating for myself, my family and my investors.
After I painted the picture of what I would do once the plans unfolded as expected she asked a simple question: “What would you say you have done differently from other people in our generation, people like me, who are not yet in a position to do what they really enjoy and give back in the ways they want to?”
No one had ever asked me that question before but I have thought about the answer many times because I have seen what my friends and acquaintances have had to go through, and still go through, after having followed the traditional “go to school, graduate, get a good job” advice (most of them are unhappy).
There are a number of things that I have done differently but the most important ones are below. I hope they will help you in achieving your goals.
In a recent meeting with a colleague she pointed out that I crossed her mind recently because of the launch of Keystone Augusta. She said that she was impressed that I actually followed through on what I said I was going to, just like the railway film I raised money for. Read more…
At some point we all need a bit of inspiration to get over a hump or make it through a challenging period.
Years ago one of my mentors, Richard M. Powell, told my brother and I to go to a Ferrari dealership and sit in one of the cars. He said that we should take in the whole experience and focus on building a company that did so well that we could afford such a car in the future but not necessarily actually buy one. Read more…
For close to 12 years I have been studying Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, mainly at the direction of Richard M. Powell who has been an advisor and mentor to myself and my brother Robert since 2000 (and who I now work with at The RMP Group).His plan was always to have us learn from the RealVibez/Random Media experiences and be able to setup our own Berkshire Hathaway that could co-invest with him in deals.That day has finally come.
Robert and I have now setup Keystone Augusta and the website is at http://www.keystoneaugusta.com where you can learn more about what we do.
In short, it is our Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company that invests in businesses. It is part-owned by The RMP Group and so I continue my relationship there identifying deals to invest in through Keystone. Read more…
In an older episode of the anime Naruto Shippuden a character named Madara Uchiha made a statement that I have repeatedly heard in business circles: “Patience is necessary to reach one’s goal”.
Short-term thinking is exactly what led to the great depression – Wall Street wanting quick returns and not thinking through consequences, citizens buying up real estate to flip because they were impatient to build wealth, lawmakers wanting to rapidly improve homeownership in the USA and so forth.
Impatience is your enemy when seeking to achieve any goal, especially build a successful company or create wealth. Warren Buffett is the most patient investor and we can learn quite a bit from him.
He famously said “I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years”.
Sometimes it takes longer than planned to achieve specific goals but you must have patience. Impatience leads to poor decisions.
Last week Thursday I spoke at the UWILEADS launch in Kingston, Jamaica, billionaire Michael Lee Chin being the last person to speak to the group. That speech was in the afternoon and attended by over 400 students, resulting in standing room only. The topic was From slacktivism to activism: Leadership in the Internet age.
I then spoke in the night at a Rotaract club meeting at Liguanea Club on the topic of Globalization of the local: Opportunities through technology for Generation Y.
Below are comments I have received via Facebook and Twitter (the UWILEADS speech was recorded and will be posted online as soon as I get the footage).
I am a Student at The University Of The West Indies Mona and I am a member of the UWI Leads and was very inspired to start taking action on alot of the things I have always thought about doing….I think its time to covert ‘thoughts’ into ‘action’ or as you rightly say it Slactivist to activist. Looking forward to more inspirational messages - Sakina Bryan
I was at the UWI Leads opening ceremony today and I must say I was impressed by your presentation! Good stuff - Melaine M. Warren
This Elton McDuffus, Peer Leader for UWILeads Mona. Was present in the presentation “Slacktivism to Activism “. It was a really good presentation by the way. Really hope to be a create genius some day like you - Elton McDuffus
I was motivated and I am willing to follow you as an individual and I like that family man personality that you possess - James Johnson Jr.
You totally rocked at the Rotary Club of New Kingston i was in the second row at the front left being blowed away by your achievements and how cool an relaxed your personality is!! - Leon Pryce
Ur speech was very enlightening and inspiring!!! – Anjelica Nembhard
It was excellent!!!!!! - Saneika Williams
Awesome speech you definitely lived up to and exceeded my expectations! Thanks for being such a great inspiration! – Trishann Brown
Great speech, it was very inspiring and uplifting – Charlene Edwards
Thanks for your speech tonight at the New Kingston Rotaract Club… I came late but I’m glad I came!!! Keep up the good work…. keep finding ways to do things differently & I’ll be trying my best to do the same – Lhacya Bowerbank
I was really inspired by your words today. God Bless You! – Malik McLeod
My 15-year plan that was written when I was 15 years old was focused solely one becoming a positive role model, especially for young males.
Nothing in the world makes me happier than inspiring others.
