Vigilante
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If you do what everyone else does... if you think the way everyone else thinks... you will get the results everyone else gets.
I had a Persian (Iranian) Jewish mentor at one point along my journey. One of my largest takeaways from him was the pursuit of the third alternative.
Many times, the biggest of problems can be solved by using the third alternative. I am sure there are people more articulate than I am that could give you a better understanding of this, but I will give it a shot.
Most people see things in black and white. You go left or right. You do this, or you don't. You get sued, or you walk away. You move in one direction, or the other. Your choices are to either do it this way, or do it that way.
There's a problem solving skill that involves what he (and many others) call the third alternative. It's the option that most people never think about. It's drawing a page from the book Thick Face, Black Heart in which the best outcome is what ever gets the situation to the best possible outcome for you.
We thought we were going to get sued a few weeks ago. Instead of getting sued, the people ended up writing us a check. How? We discovered the third alternative.
My client thought he was going to end up with a multi-million dollar accrued liability. Instead, he ended up with zero. How? He found the third alternative.
Some people see only two paths to any problem. They see two possible outcomes.
I am currently working on a business strategy. The business needed better capitalization to grow exponentially.
1. I originally set out for Venture Capital financing. We are still in those discussions, but the path to get the company capitalized required more hassle than I was prepared to submit to.
2. Growing it organically was yielding results most people would be happy with, but my expectations are higher than most normal people's.
3. Trying to sell it too early didn't bring in what I wanted from the business $$ wise. I sold my last company too early.
So those are the three paths people might normally look at. Outside financing, growing organically, or selling it.
But what if there was ANOTHER option? What if you got the benefits of option 1 (other people's money) while growing it explosively (vs. organically) and ultimately increasing significantly the value of the company in a shorter amount of time so that when you did sell it, it was worth WAY more than if you just put it on the auction block?
In my case, here's what I have decided to do as I pursue the "third alternative." What if I partnered with a company much larger than me, used their resources to outsource operations, used their existing distribution, and used their cash? Overnight, they get a fully developed product line for incremental topline sales and net margin. In exchange, we get to use their resources to grow our sales, grow our distribution, have them finance the growth, and ultimately increase the value of our company. They also become the likely acquisition company when it is time to sell, but the value of the company is higher as the sales platform is far more significant.
You're heard people talk about "thinking outside the box." Sounds great, but the term is way overused. Essentially what they are talking about is finding a difference the way between how most people do things, and how you do things... aimed at getting different results. Thinking outside the box is slang for finding the third alternative.
I will leave this thought with a quote from my favorite modern day poet Robert Brault :
"Try to discover
The road to success
And you'll seek but never find,
But blaze your own path
And the road to success
Will trail right behind."
I had a Persian (Iranian) Jewish mentor at one point along my journey. One of my largest takeaways from him was the pursuit of the third alternative.
Many times, the biggest of problems can be solved by using the third alternative. I am sure there are people more articulate than I am that could give you a better understanding of this, but I will give it a shot.
Most people see things in black and white. You go left or right. You do this, or you don't. You get sued, or you walk away. You move in one direction, or the other. Your choices are to either do it this way, or do it that way.
There's a problem solving skill that involves what he (and many others) call the third alternative. It's the option that most people never think about. It's drawing a page from the book Thick Face, Black Heart in which the best outcome is what ever gets the situation to the best possible outcome for you.
We thought we were going to get sued a few weeks ago. Instead of getting sued, the people ended up writing us a check. How? We discovered the third alternative.
My client thought he was going to end up with a multi-million dollar accrued liability. Instead, he ended up with zero. How? He found the third alternative.
Some people see only two paths to any problem. They see two possible outcomes.
I am currently working on a business strategy. The business needed better capitalization to grow exponentially.
1. I originally set out for Venture Capital financing. We are still in those discussions, but the path to get the company capitalized required more hassle than I was prepared to submit to.
2. Growing it organically was yielding results most people would be happy with, but my expectations are higher than most normal people's.
3. Trying to sell it too early didn't bring in what I wanted from the business $$ wise. I sold my last company too early.
So those are the three paths people might normally look at. Outside financing, growing organically, or selling it.
But what if there was ANOTHER option? What if you got the benefits of option 1 (other people's money) while growing it explosively (vs. organically) and ultimately increasing significantly the value of the company in a shorter amount of time so that when you did sell it, it was worth WAY more than if you just put it on the auction block?
In my case, here's what I have decided to do as I pursue the "third alternative." What if I partnered with a company much larger than me, used their resources to outsource operations, used their existing distribution, and used their cash? Overnight, they get a fully developed product line for incremental topline sales and net margin. In exchange, we get to use their resources to grow our sales, grow our distribution, have them finance the growth, and ultimately increase the value of our company. They also become the likely acquisition company when it is time to sell, but the value of the company is higher as the sales platform is far more significant.
You're heard people talk about "thinking outside the box." Sounds great, but the term is way overused. Essentially what they are talking about is finding a difference the way between how most people do things, and how you do things... aimed at getting different results. Thinking outside the box is slang for finding the third alternative.
I will leave this thought with a quote from my favorite modern day poet Robert Brault :
"Try to discover
The road to success
And you'll seek but never find,
But blaze your own path
And the road to success
Will trail right behind."
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. I am going to try to write myself into the contract so that I get a portion of all business passed between the two... 
