by Clay Clark
“Action is the real measure of intelligence.”
– Napoleon Hill
Law #1: Dream up big, hairy, audacious goals that you are passionate about and pursue them relentlessly.
You have to begin with the end goal in mind, knowing that a goal is a dream with a deadline. You must believe and understand that if you do not impose the deadline for your dreams on yourself, your dreams will be dead because they will never be accomplished.
Law #2: Learn to sell.
If you can’t sell your product, it goes from being an asset to a liability. Learn to sell, partner with someone who can sell, or learn to be poor.
Law #3: Over deliver.
Over deliver on promises and deadlines. Show up early, deliver your product early, and deliver more than you promised. Over deliver now and in the future, you will be overpaid.
Law #4: Be a person of integrity.
Always deliver on your promises, even when it’s not fun, easy, or conveniently affordable. Build a foundation for success on your solid reputation so that you can exponentially grow your level of compensation.
Law #5: Standardize everything.
Common sense is not common; thus, you must create duplicatable processes for every facet of your business. Think like GE, Southwest, and QuikTrip; not like Al’s Garage and Bait Shop because when Al leaves Al’s Garage and Bait Shop, things fall apart.
Law #6: Pursue learning with a passion.
Becoming successful is not complicated. Passionately study successful people who have similar goals and dreams in mind. Then, relentlessly and diligently do what the successful people did to become successful starting today.
Law #7: Develop mutually beneficial relationships.
Only engage in mutually beneficial relationships with everyone. If you screw somebody today, you screw yourself in the long run. If you develop sincere, mutually beneficial relationships with your customers based on trust and a habit of over delivering on both product and service, you will exponentially grow your customer base.
Law #8: Differentiate.
Get the right people on the bus and then get the bus moving toward your goal. As you progress forward, reward your top people and remove your bottom people systematically. If you don’t fire your worst employees, then your best customers will fire you, your best employees, and your worst employees.
Law #9: Be candid with your staff (unless someone asks you how they look).
You must tell your people where they stand if you ever expect them to progress and move forward. If your great employees do not know how much you love them, then they will leave. If your bad employees don’t know they are bad, they will get worse or they will resent you when your irate customers finally force you to fire them.
Law #10: “Propose solutions, not general criticisms.”
This law was actually borrowed from Bill O’Reilly, a political commentator, author, and reporter. If you are running a successful enterprise, you do not have time to just sit around and complain about things that you cannot control. This is what most of us humans are prone to do. To get things done and to accomplish your goals, you are going to have to be efficient. One of the best ways to drastically improve efficiency is to adhere to the simple rule that you and your office staff will simply not tolerate general criticisms unless they are followed up with a proposal for specific, problem-solving solutions. Be a part of solving problems, not just talking about them.
Law #11: Celebrate your team’s successes and learn quickly from your failures.
When you fail, don’t cry about it. Look for the seed of an equivalent benefit hidden beneath the disappointment of the temporary setback. Then pick yourself up off the ground and get back to work today. You are playing the game to win, but occasionally we all have to lose.
Law #12: Save twenty percent of your income.
Money is required to transform your dreams into a reality. The only way that you can create life momentum and fund your passions is to save your money. Be like John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, and Sam Walton. Save now so that you can afford to invest in yourself and your dreams tomorrow.
Law #13: Buy gold.
Governments like to artificially stimulate the economic kool-aid by printing money. This results in a watering down of your money through inflation. The only way to protect and preserve your wealth from this hidden “inflation tax” is to buy gold. Remember, your gold will never go up in actual value; your dollars will just lose their value.
Law #14: “Be greedy when the market is fearful, and be fearful when the market is greedy.”
Warren Buffet contributed this little rule. When the U.S. population sees the sky falling and they are wanting to liquidate their assets, that is when you want to buy. I have personally purchased a house valued at well over $130,000 for less than $70,000 from a panicked seller. My friends, each dollar you earn is a gift and you cannot afford to give up these gifts by buying things at full price.
Clay Clark is the CEO of Thrive15.com. Clay’s life thus far has been nothing short of epic. He started his first business out of his ORU college dorm room at the age of 18 and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Oklahoma SBA at the age of 27. Over the years he has been the entertainer, educator or consultant of choice for leading companies.
He has started numerous successful businesses, written three books and has consulted businesses in every industry. He has committed the family time necessary to create five beautiful children with his wonderful wife. His passion is to teach businesses the specific action steps required to grow a business.
Photo Credits
Dennis Crowley | Courtesy of Clay Clark
