THE ART OF WAR

I’m not sure how I broke my blog. I guess I was right.

One afternoon I had to drop Mr. A off at practice because I needed to use the car for a quick errand. The poor planning of a witness in one of my cases caused me to have to make a spur of the moment trip to the post office. I digress. As we were driving, Mr. A. looked over and saw one of the other coaches. He gestured to the guy and we drove into a neighborhood and he got in the car with the coach. This is humongous L.A. The city not a suburb. There are 6 or more different ways to get to the same place from whatever place. The odds of being in the same place with someone going to your same place, at the same time and who does not live near you is rare. Whoo hooo. I handled my errand and was home in time to kick back and catch Oprah.

That same day as I drove to another destination, every light was green. I didn’t quite know where I was going so I was a bit concerned that I might miss the street I was to turn on. I caught one red light and it happened to be the street I needed to turn on. Other things occured that made me reflect on timing.

When I picked up Mr. A. that afternoon, I told him about how that day had been full of good timing. Even that morning, I had case I was stressing about and Mr. A. told me to call the people and discuss settlement. Not 5 minutes after he said that, they called me and told me they wanted to discuss settlement. Timing, I was already in that frame of mind.

Last week I did a search for one of my high school girlfriends. I found her. The day I found her is the day she needed me- an attorney. I was able to help her. She was like, how did you find me on the day I needed help? She has referred 2 new clients to me and this is a good time, because I’m ready. I’m in ‘go’ mode.

Earlier this week I was telling Mr. A. that I wished I’d started my L.A. operation sooner because I’d be that much further. He reminded me that everything has a time. As I thought about it I realized that my timing was well. I started because I wanted to, I was ready to and I was inspired to. For me there is nothing better than beginning a project when I am ready and wanting to. I can rush things, but I do better when I’m ready.

While effort and preserverance is neccessary to achieve business success, often timing and being ready and in position can propel a thing that may not have worked just one moment prior.

When I get my first seven figure check, (middle class money here in CA.) it won’t be because I’m so fabulous (even though I am) it will be because of timing. The actions of other folks that caused me to be in certain places and my being ready, willing and able to capture the opportunity that existed at that time. I can actually trace the events and the actions of people that put me in position to be where I needed and wanted to be. I didn’t allow the behavior of others to change my course. I kept moving forward and my forward movement coupled with others (attempted harmful) behavior made me able to capture my blessings.

Isn’t it great when folks try to cause you trouble, and you keep moving, and you can look back and realize they helped you arrive at the spot you needed to be to receive your blessing?

Oprah had a woman on her show last week who said someone told her she appeared to have a wishbone where her backbone should be. I wish, I wish, I wish………..

That is an interesting idea to ponder. I’ve noticed some people prefer you express a “wish” than to express a “plan”. If you wish you could win the lottery they support you, if you plan to build an empire and earn the same amount than you become offensive. I think those who have a wishbone can’t appreciate those with a backbone. Backbones are made of confidence and conviction, apparently wishbones can get it confused for negative cons- like conceit, contrary, condescending, and then a plain ol’ con. Backbones weren’t built to be broken as wishbones are.

Mr. A and one of his friends will ocassionally refer to someone as a noodle. A noodle is a person that behaves as a wet noodle and will bend and sway with whatever is popular or whatever others around are doing.

If I see everyone going one direction I will go another direction just to not be in the crowd. That can sometimes be a bad thing but I’m willing to brave going against the flow. I find a thrill in battle. I’m a litigator- I chose my profession it didn’t choose me.

I also think that if everyone is agreeing with me then I must be doing something wrong. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
George Bernard Shaw

In the misquoted words of Kimora Lee Simmons, Life in the Fab Lane-
“it doesn’t matter what you think, it’s what I think that matters.”
” Some people may not like the color of your nails. They may think its too bold. What they don’t understand is you didn’t paint their nails, you painted your nails. ”

I agree with that. You won’t get anywhere worth being if you concern yourself (too much) with others approval, opinions, thoughts and strategies.

I took a 4 month class a few years ago on starting and operating your own business. I had already been in business for years when I took this class but there is always more to learn. The class was great but I realized there are many things that have to be learned in practice. The class had people in various stages of business, from expansion of an existing business to wanting to begin, so it was a nice mix.

As a kid, my grandmother and mother were my business teachers. My grandmother was a make-it happen business woman. Tell her your goal and she’d get to work on making it happen. When my mother was 15 or so, my grandmother opened a small cafe in West Oakland, at the time it was the bustling part of town. It was near the Army Base and was called B***e’s Cafe- named after my mother. This was my mom’s first business. She worked on the weekends and during summer. Her aunts (a few years older than my mom) worked there as well as a couple of people from the church. My mom said the soldiers had a lot of money to spend and they liked to spend it in the cafe. Location, location, location.

Perhaps this is why my first business was a refreshement bar/cafe? I had always been the kid creating jobs, selling pixie sticks or thinking of business ideas. I wanted to be in business and I always had an idea I was pursuing. I guess my mom knew I’d be the one that would want the store.

From my mom and grandmother I learned stuff like know what products people like and have that product.

My mother showed me about keeping inventory and that if I kept running out of an item it was because people were buying it. I was a kid so it was possible that I was eating it. Buy more of what is selling and less of what isn’t. She helped me create displays to make things attractive. She said you have to make people think they need the thing. It worked.

My grandfather was a farm labor contractor and while many others tried to be in that business my grandparents were able to be successful at it because they owned buses and were able to transport workers to the fields. They charged the workers $1 for round trip transportation. The field you are in might be crowded so what can you offer that will set you above and apart? When you figure out an edge it doesn’t matter how many others are in your business, you utilize your edge and you can prosper.

Years ago my mother advised me to charge my customers a price that covered anticipated future and unpaid follow up requests. If the job looks like it will take 1 hour, you have to charge a bit over that so you don’t find yourself giving your time away. You are also charging people for your knowledge and training and that isn’t free.

I even learned a lesson from the family gardener. He’s also an artist, which is why he works so slow. He said in business you learn that “all money isn’t good money.” I had told him about a client that disputed my fee and took me to arbitration. I had done a huge amount of work for this person when no other lawyer would even talk to him. When the money got big he wanted it to be a flat fee and not a percentage. I learned that lesson once and I learned it well. I’m selective in who I accept as a client and getting more selective each season.

There are other things I’ve learned. One of those things is that to stay alive in business you have to stay in contact with people, keep people aware of your existence. You can’t be shy. Well maybe I learned that lesson from my mother and developed it.

The need for money refined the “stay in contact” lesson for me. In the past when I needed money I would get on the phone and call friends, colleagues, acquaintances or just visit and speak to people. Within a day or two of making contacts someone would either have a need or refer someone with a need. Now I use that technique to grow business, not to just fund a momentary desire.

I was skimming a book about rainmakers and it said that a rainmaker keeps in contact with people. Even after they’ve completed a job they maintain contact with the client. This contact ensures a continuous growth of your customer base.

I’m getting much better at the networking. It’s amazing where a bit of relationship building can take you.

My newest gf sent this link to me. Her bff since childhood and my soror is on the panel, so needless to say she is proud. I am too, the sister did a great job on the panel.

I believe the content of the link is important.

End of Corporate Health Care

I’ve been doing calculations on the effects tax and inflation will have on our retirement dollars. I’m trying to figure out strategies to reduce the future tax. We have plans to keep our dollars at pace with inflation and that is a living and constant strategy. I saw somewhere that in 30 years $1 million will be nearly equivalent to $83k today. Living in CA. its been years-probably 1999- since I thought 1 million was much. In 2007 it isn’t an amount that would find me relaxing and getting comfortable, and in 2037 I know it will mean much much less.

Health care costs can be rough on retirement funds, especially since those costs are paid with current day dollars using inflation devalued retirement funds and minus taxes due (hopefully those health costs will be tax deductible). There is so much to consider. Getting comfortable is not an option.

Neither of us plan to fully retire. We’re building a business (a strategy to keep pace with inflation) which we desire will live on even when we are gone to heaven or only working in 2 days a month. Although we don’t plan to retire we want to be able to. Hmmmmm, I guess if we build our business well we could stay on the company health plan? I hadn’t thought about that. This is why it’s good to write things out.