Ejovi Nuwere

Over the last week I’ve been trying to put down in writing the lessons I’ve learned from the business world into some solid concepts that I can share with others. People that have worked with me naturally noticed certain phrases or areas of focus that I consistently bring up.

For example I’m often fixated on the need for making progress to the point that I’ve had employees complain that they don’t have enough time to “perfect” their creations. After awhile the people around me begin to mock my “lets just make progress” phrase. But after awhile it becomes ingrained and people accept that moving forward is more important than being perfect.

This is very similar to the Japanese concept of Kaizen. And for me it starts with the self realization that we as humans will never be perfect. Therefore our creations in business can never be perfect. What we need to focus on in our lives and our business is whether or not we are moving forward. Are we making progress or stuck in time worried about unseen potential risk? The focus on progress and self improvement is the most important quality or change I’d like to see in those around me.

For any experienced internet entrepreneur they know that progress is not a option, its a matter of survival. The best way to know if a product works or is acceptable to the public is to get it in front of them. Get feedback and evolve or die. Its rather simple.

And recently I learned the Japanese work Kakushin, innovation. As opposed to Kaikaku, revolutionary change. I’ve had two experiences with revolutionary change starting FON and OtoRevo. Revolutionary change is exciting and great fun, but it rarely makes money or business sense.

Most of the time all you need to do to succeed is tweak an already established business model. Instead of trashing the foundations of a business model, all that is needed is to innovate a little.

A business concept needs to be fundamentally boring and stable. It needs to have a foundation upon which you can build upon. But revolutions rarely have such a foundation. If given enough time a previously established business model will build around a revolution and if you lead the revolution you will have a new huge marketing opportunity open to you. But that is rare, which means you are more likely to lose your shirt trying to create revolutionary change. The best investment is to simply innovate using well proven business models.

There is a direct correlation between a business person who ask you to do something for free and the potential success of that business.

If a entrepreneur (business person, CEO, manager) request you to work for free, its generally because that entrepreneur hasn’t figured out the profit model for his idea.

Some could argue that a good entrepreneur is always trying to get something for nothing and free is great! But that’s not really the case. Businesses always try to get discounts because cash flow is generally tight and early in the business you need to put all of your available cash to work. So getting a discount on a service means having a little more cash to put to use for something else. Hopefully something that generates a profit.

But a real business person or entrepreneur respects value. A talented consultant, product or service that creates value is hard to come by. So as a entrepreneur when you find something of value you are willing to pay for it. More importantly if something has value to you, it likely has value to someone else. You profit when you act as the middle man buying something of value and reselling it (perhaps with your additional value added) for a profit.

So there should rarely be a reason to ask for something for nothing.

You have a successful business when you can consistently acquire something that can be repackaged and sold for a profit. You can only consistently acquire something when the person or company providing it to you is also profiting.

When someone ask for you to do something for nothing, what they are really asking is that you invest your time in their venture, usually for some future potential to profit. But if they haven’t figured out how to profit from your service yet, is it really worth it for you? And if they have figured out how to profit but still wants something for nothing, well then…tell them to take a hike.

I’ve been dealing with lawyers a lot lately and having watched other more experienced entrepreneurs in the past I’m coming to understand why they had so much contempt for lawyers. Here are some golden rules I learned from other entrepreneurs and only really now have come to appreciate. Please remember them when you deal with lawyers.

1) Lawyers make money by billing in 15,30 minute or 1 hour increments. To bill, they need to find something to do. Anything. Never ask them what should be done, tell them. If you are not sure what the lawyer should be doing, then you don’t need them.

2) Lawyers always find problems. Always. I’ve never sent a document to a lawyer that didn’t need a change. Never! Ultimately you have to decide if the problem is serious or not. Lawyers always think its serious.

3) Don’t let lawyers run the deal. They should facilitate the deal, not lead it. A private equity friend told me this and I’m only now coming to appreciate his wisdom. Lawyers will try to lead the deal because they think they know what is best. But its your business, only you know what’s best.

4) Lawyers get paid no matter what. If they give you bad advice? They get paid. If their advice didn’t help or add much to your deal, they get paid. No matter what. They get paid. So LIMIT THEM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!

5) ALWAYS PLACE TIME LIMITS ON YOUR LAWYERS: I can’t stress this enough. If you ask a lawyer to do something, always place a time limit on it. ALWAYS! If they say its going to take some time tell them to “limit it to X hours and we will decide what to do once we reach that point.”

6) Monitor their time. Never let lawyers run free. Always limit their scope, tasks and hours. You need to know exactly what you want the lawyer to look at and accomplish. Then make a reasonable estimate on your own how long that should take.

Its best to know exactly what you want them to look for. “Is this legal in this state?” “Does this protect me in case X” These are good questions. Bad questions? Anything open ended.

7) Never sign anything your lawyer gives you without careful review and understanding. This may sound counter-intuitive but you would be surprised. Don’t just sign anything they approve. You need to be able to identify risks associated with your business or your personal risk tolerance. Lawyers have no idea about this.

Some lawyers just neglect to properly review legal documents. This is the honest truth! Not all lawyers are good. Even bad lawyers get paid for advice. In the end, you are the one liable for what you sign. You need to fully understand it.

Lawyers should be used like snipers: carefully, sparingly and rarely.

Take my advice for whatever you like, but I’ve been billed more than 2000 legal hours in my lifetime. I know a little something about lawyers. I’m not a big fan.

I’m very sad to hear about what has happened to Lehman. Lehman has a very special place in my heart. It was at Lehman that a bright manager put his faith in me at such a very young age.

The closest I came to Dick Fuld was riding the elevator with him several weeks after the September 11th attacks. He was pleasant, unassuming and more than willing to chat in our brief encounter. A far cry from the image most of us have of Wall Street power brokers and the image I’ve encountered when dealing with other bankers.

Fuld was a legend at Lehman. A fearless leader and I still have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I’m sure he tried his very best to keep Lehman alive as he had done before in the past.

I haven’t contacted old colleagues. Most of the people I worked with were still employed there. I’m sure they have more important things to deal with right now.

If I can be of any assistance, please reach out to me.

My friend David Hauser at GotVMail recently launched a cool viral campaign with with Gary Busey. The Buseyism’s are funny!

More videos at Gary Busey on Business