The Blue Roof

What does Sam Walton, Richard Branson, Donald Trump, and all other wealthy and successful people have in common? I think we can say that they dream, or have ideas, or have goals. But that is not what I have in mind today.

All successful and wealthy people that I have seen in my time have one important thing in common: they take action. The are “action men or women.”

No, they don’t rush in where angels fear to tread. No, they don’t act impulsively.

They consider facts and consequences, but they also know that we will never have all the facts and we will never be 100% sure and will never be 100% certain of success. So our heroes will consider the facts, options and consequences, and if they are satisfied that failure will not sink the ship, they go ahead and do it. As Richard Branson says: “Screw it, let’s do it.”

Two things are important to this discussion:
The first is that in this decision making process “gut-feel” plays an important role. I think gut-feel is two things – our subconscious reacting to all the stimuli that we cannot “see or hear” consciously. That is a different topic. The other part of our gut-feel is the collection of all our previous experience and decisions. That implies that as we take more action we will do better and easier. No matter what we do and how much homework we do, we always have at least a 50-50 chance of being wrong or right.

Which brings me to the second important aspect: Successful people are not scared of failure. They accept failure as part of the success process. To me sports people are the best example. The rugby player who misses the easy kick that can clinch the victory, and just comes back next week as if nothing has happened. Or imagine Tiger Woods refusing to put, because if he misses, he loses the tournament! The reality is, it is only one event in many. Therefore they always give 100% and go for it. And we find that over time, champions win more than they lose. But, although they may hate losing, they are not scared of losing. They love winning too much!

I think there is a perspective on this. Many times when something goes wrong, I remind myself: today, this is a tragedy, but in the big scheme of things, it is a small matter.

Lastly I want to share something that I cannot explain, but which led me to the saying: “It is good, I don’t know why, but someday I will.” Too many times I have experienced that I am devastated by a big deal falling through because of a small issue. Just to realise a bit later that it was the best thing possible. But that is something else again.

The point is, minimise the risk, ensure that you can afford a possible failure, and then do it. It means I either go ahead and invest the money, or I go ahead and don’t invest the money and find a new opportunity, but I don’t sit around hesitating pulling leaves from a flower saying “she loves me she loves me not.”

That is what Sam Walton and all other wealth people have in common.

Sam Walton says because he did not grow up with a lot of money (he had to pay his own way through college), he knows the value of money. Somebody else relates the story how he and a photographer waited for Sam at an airport. They decided to test Sam to see what he would do and threw a dime on the tarmac. Sam came walking out with aircraft coming and going. “Okay,” he says, “where do you want me to stand – on that nickel?”

There is a saying “save a penny, save a pound”. And another that says a “penny saved is a penny earned”. That is so true, just think about it. In business every penny we save on overheads falls right down to the bottom (profit) line! If we respect the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves. And we need to learn to deal with pennies before we can deal with the pounds.

As our wealth grows, the skill we need to manage it and grow it even more, changes. There is a lot more emotion involved when dealing with a million than when we invest a R1000. And there are so much more options when we invest a million. And recovering from a R1000 loss is so much easier.

But, if we start looking after the pennies, we will actually have something to save! I know many people who spend all their wealth R1 at a time with an attitude of “it is only R1.” Until one day all the R1’s add up to way more than they can afford. It goes something like this: “This cellphone is only costing R99 per month. I can easily afford that.” The next day they see a very nice DVD-player on special at only R96 per month. “I can easily afford that!” The week after that they subscribe to a “35% off subscription to your favourite magazine at R250 per month which means you save Rx per issue”, and who can say “no” to such a bargain and “I can easily afford R250.” But how much extra expenses have you now incurred? And what would happen if you decided to save R250 per month?

Let’s conclude with a piece of wisdom and a joke with a message. First the wisdom: “Bargains also cost money.” (My late father-in-law’s favourite saying.)

Now the joke. A Kirby (an execellent machine!) salesman came to a man and said he could save R5000 by buying a brand-new Kirby NOW. The man invited the salesman in and said: “You see that fridge? I saved R2000 on it. You see that stove? I saved R3000 on it. You see that TV? I saved R750 on it. You see that Microwave? I saved R1500 on it. I am sorry, I cannot afford to save a cent more!”

Respect the nickels and dimes. The pounds will come as if by themselves. It is a secret to wealth.