Andy Black
Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
LEGACY MEMBER
"Spend your money on diesel and coffee"
(Blaise Brosnan of The Management Resource Institute Wexford)
Just getting started?
Wondering what to spend your time and money on?
Hustle.
Build relationships.
Make stuff happen.
You'll be amazed what happens when you get out of the building.
EDIT: Added the source. I'm not smart enough to have come up with that, just smart enough to recognise its brilliance.
EDIT2: Added a video version (2 mins long):
EDIT3: TRANSCRIPTION
I was on a course a couple of days ago, 20 business owners in a room and Blaise Brosnan.
Blaise was instilling his wisdom from the center of the room telling little stories and anecdotes, and it was brilliant.
This was the first of ten courses on a Tuesday morning 8:00 to 11:00, and Blaise had a power point presentation that he was going to go through with us, and he just gave [us] his presentation at the end - he hadn't done it.
What he'd done instead was round-robin through each of the attendees and get us to introduce ourselves and our business and one piece of advice to everyone else.
To be on this course you have to have attended the initial ten-week course with Blaise previously, and Mandy's piece of advice to everybody in the room, was something that Blaise had said in the previous course, that she'd picked up on and lived by, which was to "spend your money on diesel and coffee".
At the start when you're trying to grow your business get out there - meet people for coffees, chat to people, create relationships, try to help people, let them know what you're doing as well, that's how you get going.
Apparently when AirBnB was getting started they were talking to the guys in Y-Combinator, people like Paul Graham from paulgraham.com (his stuff is excellent) and there's a story about how they got going. They'd realized that a lot of their initial BnB hosts were in New York, and they literally went to stay at the hosts. And meet them, go out for dinner and talk to them.
And by doing that they found out that some of the properties, the houses, were amazing but the photos didn't do them justice. They asked some of the hosts, "Would you be happy if we send a photographer around to take pictures of your property?" The hosts were delighted, and then the next day a photographer came round, took pictures and made much better job than the actual hosts could do of taking pictures.
A lesson there is to "do things that don't scale", you're not going to do that later on in your business, but when you're small you can afford to do things that don't scale.
And another lesson is something Gary Vaynerchuk says, that, "One is greater than zero." Getting one extra customer is better than having zero.
Grow your business one customer at a time, which brings me back to my favorite quote from Mother Theresa, "Never worry about numbers, help one person at a time and start with the person closest to you."
(Blaise Brosnan of The Management Resource Institute Wexford)
Just getting started?
Wondering what to spend your time and money on?
Hustle.
Build relationships.
Make stuff happen.
You'll be amazed what happens when you get out of the building.
EDIT: Added the source. I'm not smart enough to have come up with that, just smart enough to recognise its brilliance.
EDIT2: Added a video version (2 mins long):
EDIT3: TRANSCRIPTION
I was on a course a couple of days ago, 20 business owners in a room and Blaise Brosnan.
Blaise was instilling his wisdom from the center of the room telling little stories and anecdotes, and it was brilliant.
This was the first of ten courses on a Tuesday morning 8:00 to 11:00, and Blaise had a power point presentation that he was going to go through with us, and he just gave [us] his presentation at the end - he hadn't done it.
What he'd done instead was round-robin through each of the attendees and get us to introduce ourselves and our business and one piece of advice to everyone else.
To be on this course you have to have attended the initial ten-week course with Blaise previously, and Mandy's piece of advice to everybody in the room, was something that Blaise had said in the previous course, that she'd picked up on and lived by, which was to "spend your money on diesel and coffee".
At the start when you're trying to grow your business get out there - meet people for coffees, chat to people, create relationships, try to help people, let them know what you're doing as well, that's how you get going.
Apparently when AirBnB was getting started they were talking to the guys in Y-Combinator, people like Paul Graham from paulgraham.com (his stuff is excellent) and there's a story about how they got going. They'd realized that a lot of their initial BnB hosts were in New York, and they literally went to stay at the hosts. And meet them, go out for dinner and talk to them.
And by doing that they found out that some of the properties, the houses, were amazing but the photos didn't do them justice. They asked some of the hosts, "Would you be happy if we send a photographer around to take pictures of your property?" The hosts were delighted, and then the next day a photographer came round, took pictures and made much better job than the actual hosts could do of taking pictures.
A lesson there is to "do things that don't scale", you're not going to do that later on in your business, but when you're small you can afford to do things that don't scale.
And another lesson is something Gary Vaynerchuk says, that, "One is greater than zero." Getting one extra customer is better than having zero.
Grow your business one customer at a time, which brings me back to my favorite quote from Mother Theresa, "Never worry about numbers, help one person at a time and start with the person closest to you."
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
