One of my good friends, best selling author of the book “Conversations With Millionaires”, Mike Litman teaches a powerful technique that can greatly improve your success and add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your income over time. It’s simply this: in every business conversation that you have, ask the other party this question, “What can I do to help you?” It’s a simple question with profound impact.
Let me explain. The first time I spoke with Mike, he had called me to review several tax strategies that he could implement himself. His book had just become a best seller and his income had jumped significantly. “I’ve got a problem and I need your help”, he said. “I just made a lot of money from my book.” “So, what’s the problem?” I asked. (It didn’t sound like a problem to me). “My accountant told me I am going to get killed with taxes,” he sighed. I said, “Let’s talk about a few things that should be helpful.” and we spent the next fifteen minutes discussing three strategies that saved him tens of thousands of dollars.
Mike was very appreciative and before we hung up with each other, he asked me about some of the projects I was working on. I told him about an important one involving internet marketing and his next question changed our relationship forever. He asked, “How can I help you with that?” Surprised, I replied, “I don’t know…. Do you know anyone who is an expert in internet marketing?” “Yes”, he said. “Would you like me to call him and introduce the two of you?” “Wow! I’d really appreciate that.” My project took a leap forward and a new friendship was born.
Since that time, virtually every time we speak, Mike asks me if there is anything he can do to help me. And now I do the same. We have become good friends and valuable resources to one another.
About a year ago, I received phone calls from several business associates concerning a project they were considering getting involved in. Its called “Kids on Target”, they said. Laurie Wong from Atlanta Georgia designed it as a way to teach teenagers the secrets of financial freedom. After all, isn’t it better to teach kids at that age how to do it properly, rather than wait until they’ve gotten themselves all twisted up financially and then intervene?
The program has a number of components, but one set is particularly interesting. It’s a three year program for kids in 6th grade, 7th grade and 8th grade. As six graders, the kids are taught, “hands on” the basics of business and given the opportunity to start and manage their own business. As a class they choose a business to go into and then they are broken down into small groups to manage the various business departments. The first year, Laurie’s kids choose to start a snack bar at their school. “There is no cafeteria, and no other way for the students to get something to eat or drink during the day”, they reasoned.
Laurie assigned a few students to handle inventory and a few others to handle sales. Two kids were in charge of running the cash register and two different students ran the bookkeeping. The sales department designed flyers which they distributed into the student’s lockers each day. A different snack or drink combination was featured each day.
The students voted that if their business made enough money, they would go on a Disney cruise at the end of the school year.
In June, they calculated their net profits and discovered that they had made about $60,000 – more than enough for their cruise. They had a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
The next year, Laurie had the returning business kids (now 7th graders) teach what they had learned to the new 6th graders. They developed systems and learned to supervise the younger kids while they worked to grow the business. Another successful year led to another cruise – at their choice.
In the third year, Laurie teaches the children to tithe or give back to the community. They decided themselves which charity to support and at the end of another successful year, they proudly presented a donation check to a local church. They were incredibly proud of themselves.
When I heard about Laurie and her “Kids on Target” program, I welcomed the opportunity to fly to Atlanta and meet her, along with my business associates. Laurie had pre-arranged to use a small conference room to present her concept to all five of us at once.
As she introduced herself, she positioned herself near the “white board” at the front of the room. She started by writing the names of each participant on the white board: Drew, Matt, Mike, Kathy and Bryan. Then she observed that, “We have three hours together today, so that gives us 30 minutes per person.” I’m thinking 30 minutes for what? She explained, “I’d like each of you to take a few minutes and write down your #1 goal for the year. What is the single most important thing for you to accomplish this year? Please write it down.”
Then, she asked each of us what our goal was and she wrote it down under each of our names on the white board. She started with me and after writing down my goal; she turned to the other folks in the room and asked “Can anyone do anything to help Drew reach his goal?” Mike stepped in and offered to introduce me to several people that could help out. Next, Matt did the same thing. Kathy had two suggestions for me and Bryan shared a few resources himself. And of course, Laurie had three people she knew of who could assist me.
This went on for almost 30 minutes, with Laurie facilitating the process and each of the participants offering resources and assistance. Bottom line: by the time they were done with me, there was no way that I couldn’t achieve my goal. I was floored, I had flown into town under the auspices of helping Laurie out and she had found a way to help me more than I could ever help her.
Then she repeated the process with each of the other participants. Each one of us was in a far better position because of that meeting than before we had arrived.
By the time she was finished, she had significantly benefited all five of us. She spent the last half hour describing her program and requesting our financial support. How could we say no? We gladly supported her program and made lasting friendships.