The Butler Project

In Friday’s Millionaire Interview post I introduced you to Dan, a 30-year-old multimillionaire. As you may recall, Dan sold home service accounts door to door during the summers he was in college. (To protect Dan’s privacy I’m referring to his company as a “home service company.” Some examples of home services include carpet cleaning, lawn care, window washing, anything you might hire people to come to your home to take care of on a regular basis.)

One summer Dan sold 530 accounts–a new company record. The next summer he “wanted to do something ridiculous.” He said he “was so bored with [selling door to door]. I’d done it for so long. I was naturally good at it but I’d never really put in all the hours; I’d never worked that hard. . . I’d never really tried to push myself to the limit.”

So, knowing that 530 was the all time highest sales record, he set a goal to sell 1000 accounts in one summer.

Dan: [I sold] 903. My goal was 1000. I didn’t quite get there.

Mark: Ok, so you failed miserably and got to 903. . . But how did you do it?

Dan: I started doing everything I possibly could . . . really silly things like, you know, put your goal up on your mirror and read it in the morning and read it at night.

And before I’d said, “That’s lame. I don’t need to do that in order to get my sales.” But I started doing it early . . . four months before I went out in the summertime and by the time I got there . . . the reason why it works is because you’re so committed to it; it becomes part of you. . . part of your personal commandments.

He also talked about distractions that could have ruined his chances of reaching his goal:

Dan: [If] you take an extra 15 minute break or [the other salesmen would say] “Hey, let’s swim in the pool a little bit longer on our break.” Or…”Let’s go to a [late] movie.” You know, “It gets out a little bit later; we’ll get out of the doors a little bit later.”

But with Dan,

There was never a question of that.

And nobody ever would question me, “Hey Dan, do you want to take a little bit of time off?” “Let’s go take a break.” It was, “Hey, I’m here to work with you Dan. Just show me what you’re doing, and I want to sell like you.” And that’s what helped . . . having people around you that . . . inspire you. I think if you surround yourself with successful people you’re going to be in the right position.

Like the old phrase goes, “Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you where you’re going to be in 5 years.”

See how Dan avoided some typical time traps? He decided early what he was and was not going to do: no breaks, no time spent messing around. He also says the other guys he was working with could see what he was doing; they respected him and supported him. Four months with no breaks sounds like serious self discipline to me; I asked Dan what attribute had contributed most to his success.

Dan: I don’t think there’s any other attribute than just determination. Just being absolutely committed to what you want. You set your mind to something and say, “I’m going to do what ever it takes as long as its honest and ethical to get to that point.” I’m going to work, and it’s hard work.

You know, most of the stuff I do does not take a rocket scientist. I think almost anybody could do it. The place where they fail is in the ability to act and actually go out and do it every day. Not going home and siting in front of the TV and watching TV. I hardly ever watch TV at all. Or feeling like they’ve got to do all these little things all the time that makes them happy. If you can make your business what’s fun for you to do, you’ll do extremely well at it. And that’s what I’ve done.

I don’t look at (laughing) [my home service] as something that’s necessarily fun, but you find ways to make that challenge fun. You find ways to improve it, you try to think outside the box.

I heard once that 90% of the books that people buy (regardless of what kind of book it is)…90% of people who buy them [never] get past the first chapter, and I look at most people out there like that: I think there’s 10% on top, maybe only 5% on top and everybody else is kind of the same way: they just lack the ability to act and commit.

Things come up. They’ve got family. They’re trying to support their kids at the same time they’re trying to do real estate deals on the side or watch the stock market at the same time, and it’s just too much for them and they’re shut down.

In terms of my greatest attribute, I just think it’s just, it’s commitment. You make commitments to yourself and other people and you keep them. And that’s what people respect. And that’s what everybody lacks, I think. People just can’t be committed. There’s so many dreams that are just thrown in the dumpster because they’re not willing to go out a work a little bit. Work hard.

So there you have it–COMMITMENT: doing whatever it takes (as long as it’s honest and ethical) to reach your goal.

Dan set a crazy summer sales goal, and he achieved it. His formula for reaching his goal looks something like this:

1. Know yourself, and set a goal that really pushes you to your limit.
2. Start doing the “silly little things” early, way before you need them.
3. Let people see what you’re doing, but don’t let them distract you from your goal.
4. Surround yourself with people who inspire you.
5. Make your business what’s fun for you.
6. Do the hard work.

What crazy goals are you going to set? What kind of commitment will you give to achieve those goals? How will you avoid obvious pitfalls and time wasters? We’ve all learned something from Dan’s experience, the question now is how will you apply it to your life?