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10 Things men really Should/Should not be doing

This post has little to do with business directly but it has been bouncing in my brain for months so I have to let it out before it does more damage. Warning, this is some seriously opinionated shit. The fact that is is true does not make it less opinionated.

1- Quit playing video games so much. I get it. Video games are a nice release. They can be fun. That said if you spend more time playing video games than you do sleeping you have issues. I play maybe….maybe a couple hours a month and most of that would be WITH my children. As long as you sit there pretending to be bad-ass and cool you will never be bad-ass and cool. I have seen “men” with set ups they have spent thousands on all to pretend they are bad ass warriors while ignoring everything else in their life. Grand Theft Auto made 800 million dollars in its first day released. That is pathetic.

2- Get in shape. Yes your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband will love you for who you are. Yes they probably will not leave you for getting fat and squishy. That said do it anyway. Eating too much and laying around too much is unhealthy and unappealing. You do not have to shape your body into marble but at least give a shit about what you look like without a shirt on. It also shows discipline. Something most people lack. It builds energy and makes you better at what you do

3-  Quit getting drunk and high all the time. You know what everyone loves? Yup that wasted idiot that makes a giant fool of himself and his significant other. Show some fucking discipline and make it a rare occasion that you do this.

4- Be a damn father. FAR too many men in this country think it is their job to spread their worthless seed around. If you get a woman pregnant you need to become a father. This also applies to dads that do stay, but spend no time with their children at all. You are a father, spend time with your children and actually give a shit. Either yours did, and you love him for it, or yours didn’t and you hate him for it. Either way you should. I always wish I did more with my children.

5- Get a fucking job. No it is not beneath you to do that. No you are not over-qualified to do that. No you are not better than that. I walked into work one day for a store meeting. The BIG owner was in town so this was a rare meeting. This owner was worth millions and had 20 some stores under his belt. I went back to use the toilet before the meeting and there was the big man scrubbing the toilet. He said hello and that it was good to see me. He was scrubbing the fucking toilets before the meeting. Not his job? Bullshit. Give a fuck about the place you work and realize that nothing is beneath you and supporting your family. Your job DOES NOT define who you are. Also you do not need to love your job. That is why they pay you to be ther. If you loved it they would not have to pay you to be there.

6- Quit farting in front of women. Seriously. Knock it off. You are not in high school. Try and show some class.

7- The t-shirts and tennis shoes are NOT everyday wear. Go pick up a decent pair of shoes and stop dressing like a slob. Have some respect for the way you look. There is nothing wrong with wearing a suit once and a awhile.

8- Learn a damn skill. Getting a college degree is not a skill. Learn carpentry, how to weld, or even grow a garden. Become useful in some way that does not involve a keyboard. There is NO feeling in the world like creating something with your bare hands.

9- Quit watching so much TV. My TV is almost always on when I am in the room so I am also guilty. However I am barely paying attention most of the time. It takes everything I have to sit through a movie and not be doing something else. I am online reading articles, responding to emails, planning business. My wife actually has to ask me to stop working.

10- Give. Give of your time, your skills, your knowledge, and your money. Give to those who need it. Quit being stingy. Quit saying your time is worth XXX. Quit being a dick. Giving of your skills costs you nothing. Giving of your knowledge costs even less. If you know something that could help other people share it and share it freely. If you have extra money give it away.

Bonus- 11- Treat the woman/man in your life as though they are the most special person in your life because they are.

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More Questions

Question:
Hey Mark, I read one of your comments on Mixergy and you said…

“You can’t make employees happy. They either are happy people or people that are not happy. Get rid of the unhappy people because they will ALWAYS find something to be unhappy with.” 

If that’s the case then is trying to motivate people a futile exercise? 

I’m wondering what made you say that and what led you to an absolute belief that people are either happy or they’re not, and you can’t make them?

Rick

 

Rick,

It has been my experience that you still try to motivate people, BUT there are certain people that are just never happy. People make themselves happy or not. I read comments from people all the time complaining about their jobs. People that make great money, have spectacular benefits, get 6 weeks paid vacation, and work in a safe and clean workplace that there is no abuse. What are they whining about? Their employer is paying them to be there. They pay you because OF COURSE you would rather be somewhere else.
These are people that constantly complain about their life and job. You do not have to love your job but people that whine and complain about everything bring everyone down.
So yes you put incentives out there  for the good people but do not think for a second you can make someone happy who just lives to complain and whine. There is a sect of people in this country who NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO they will always think the boss is trying to screw them and that they are being taken advantage of. You can not make those people happy. Trust me, I have tried. 

hope this helps and clarifies things. If not follow up.

Good Luck out there
Marks Brain 

 

 

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1st world complaints and problems make me laugh

About a week ago I received and email from someone who decided that it was their job to let me know everything that was wrong about me. While despite what most people think I am always open to critique and helpful advice. I certainly do not believe myself to be perfect. Close, but not perfect. The email went on to say I was “smug, brash, and rude”. The advice went on to tell me that maybe if I was more polite or helpful I would get more people to respond.
Right around this point is when I could actually hear my brain clawing to get out of my head.
I do not write this to cheer you on with happy thoughts and picture meme’s saying you can do anything. You can not. Any idiot that tells you that is an fool. I am 5’8″ and 44. I WILL NOT be playing basketball in the NBA. Will not ever happen. I will never be president. Something about stature of limitations or whatever. I will never be the CEO of Pepsi. The list can go on for awhile.
What I write about and say is that the VAST majority of people do not live up to their expectations and are limited by themselves. The biggest limitation has been and always will be fear. Fear holds people back. Sure I am telling you can not do anything, BUT you can do more. Who can’t? I can. You can. Ghandi really can’t but that is not really the point.

If you are satisfied punching a clock at 9AM and then leaving at 5PM then I am probably not for you. If you need 5 weeks of paid vacation a year to recharge from you doing 20 hours of actual work a week then I am probably not for you. If you value your time at X and yet have been unemployed for years…….well you get the point. This is not a blog for workers. This is a blog for doers.

I write this to spur and motivate people who are willing to work on Saturday night, for no paycheck and only a hope that they can achieve their dream. I write it for the person that works on their birthday for 12 hours. I write it for the people willing to take chances and revel in the victory or learn from the defeat. I write it so that I can complain about stuff. I write it because if my being  “smug, brash, and rude” gets ONE person off their ass to start that dream idea they have had for years…..well then it is worth it.
Put the fear aside and take that chance or you will find yourself being that person punching a clock at 50 and hating their life. A person drained of passion and fever to create something that is theirs. Be that person that enjoys what they do and can’t wait to do more of it.

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Cereal Entrepreneur would be cooler.

I am what is called a serial entrepreneur. What it means is that I have started multiple businesses and have no intention on stopping until I run out of ideas. The problem of course being I NEVER run out of ideas.
I owe this all to my first business. It gave me the money, the time, and the confidence to try more things. This is both a blessing and a curse.

You see I like to work. I like to analyze things. I like to figure out how to make something into reality. I like to compete, and I like to win. To quote Moneyball ” I hate losing. I hate losing more than I like winning.”. It really is that bad.

When I start a new business idea I begin with vetting the idea to see if it even has the wheels to work. Once I do that I vet it again and try and see what the flaws are in my plan. I look at the customers that would use or buy what I have. I try to figure out how I am going to get those customers. THEN I look at the competition. I size them up and look at all their weaknesses and try to put together something that overcomes all the weaknesses they have so that what I have is superior in every way. I do not want to enter a marketplace. I want to dominate it in every way and become the name in that business. No reason to race for second place.
Several of my companies have started simply because I was angry that I could not get a certain service or product and figured I could not be alone in this or that the ones that existed sucked so badly that I knew I could do better.  More often than not I have been right.

Customer service sucks at most companies. When I started Wedding Day Sparklers I answered the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Why? Because it freaked people out. They could not believe someone would be answering a phone at 5 on a Saturday. I used to always say, why not. How tough was it really? I forward the calls to my cell phone and program in the WDS number so when it rings I know it is a business call. It was not ringing non-stop. It was easy to do and every person that called was amazed.
Is it really that simple? Ya, actually it is.
We are launching a software program that will kick everything that exists in the balls very soon. One thing I am insisting on is 24 hour help. Either live IM or phone or whatever. I have written emails to tech support before to get responses 3 days later. That does not help. I want anyone who is willing to give me money for my product to be able to actually use it and get questions answered.
Imagine when you go shopping at a grocery store. I am constantly amazed when I see long lines. You are making your customers wait to give you money? That seems so strange to me.
Speaking of that, here is a great story on how to make people happy. I was at the grocery store on Dec 23rd or 24th a few years back. The place is, of course, a complete zoo. The lines are long. everyone is cranky and then…..BLAM the credit card acceptance stops working. So here we are, in line, with groceries, and waiting for the store to get it working. People are getting crabby. Real crabby. Myself I was ready to walk away from the cart of food I had. I was really getting myself worked up when all of a sudden the store manager just walks up with several packages of cookies and says “would you like a cookie?”. I look at him and with a huge smile said yes. Now I was happy and munching on a cookie and so were the other people.
Just a cookie. That is all it took to calm the herd that was about to tear that place apart.

Sometimes people just want a cookie.

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Not everyone is unique

This post will take you 15 minutes to fully understand. You will also have to watch 3 videos. You have been warned.

I have spent two months trying to formulate this idea I have and I am still not able to do it. Since I am at a stand still I have decided to just put what I am seeing out there and let people make what they will out of it.

Several months back I saw the video for Goyte’s song “Somebody I used To Know” for the first time. I then saw a cover version done by a group called Walk of the Earth. Then I saw a parody of that cover by the group The Key of Awesome. I was completely taken back by the progression made from one song. I could not help but feel that there was a lesson there that could be translated into business.

Goyte wrote and performed a song that got popular. It is a wonderful song and the video makes it even better. Watch it here now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

 

The band Walk of The Earth then did an AMAZING cover of it. They took something that existed and put their own twist on it. It worked and they became pretty popular. They did not rebuild the wheel. They just took what they saw and made it their own. Watch that here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoRSI7ei4E&feature=related

 

NEXT the comedy group The Key of Awesome did a parody of the Walk of the Earth cover version. Three versions all linked. All three are popular and made these people known to larger audiences, but they were all based in one song. Just three different visions of the same thing. Watch it here.

 

So I have spent months trying to put to words how in business you do not need to re-invent the wheel. You do not need something completely original. You just need your version of it. Do not try to be exactly like the most popular one because that NEVER works. See something and put your twist on it to make it unique and people will find it and love it if it is worthy.

So there you go. Oh, and I think I am getting sick.