A Mentors Advice

I've been writing my mission president here and there to get his advice on whatever was on my mind. Mostly I ask his advice on how I can someday be a millionaire. Here is the letter I wrote to him and his responding letter. All I can say is that he is a wise man. To read other words of wisdom, read his blog here.

President Webb,

It’s the middle of August which means the summer is almost over. It has been a journey full of its ups, downs, and of course, valuable lessons.

Let me give you a shortened version of my summer selling pest control. I anticipated starting my office out with 25+ sales reps. I never had more than 17 or so at one time and I am now down to 5 including myself. Some of them never showed up to work. Some quit after only a few days. Some quit after a few weeks. Some were fired, and some have already completed their summer and are back home to start school again. Over all, my office won’t do as much production as last year’s office, which is frustrating, but all in all, I’ll make more money this year. There has been a lot of improvement on my part as a manager (which is why I’ll make more money) but there was a definite decrease in employee quality this year compared to last year.

This year I have learned again first-hand the importance of hiring the right people for your team. I recruited most of my office outside the Utah “bubble” and hired a lot from booths on college campuses. The quality of those people isn’t half as good as that of the ones from the mother land. I hired for my office relying on sheer numbers to get me through. I was supposed to have one of the biggest offices in the company when I started. I found that there are some kinds of people you want on your team, and some that you don’t. I did not do a good job of picking the good ones. Actually I wasn’t even looking in places where those good people could be found. Big mistake.

As a result, I had to fight laziness, immaturity, a lack of responsibility, insubordination, dishonesty, etc. I will give myself credit, though, for not tolerating much of any of those things this year. I sent a lot of reps packing, some even before the summer started. I made up my mind that I would not put up with much crap this summer from my reps. I guess the problem was I hired reps that came with a bunch of crap.

I am reading John Maxwell’s book about the laws of teamwork. It’s an excellent book I wish I would have read a year ago. There are so many things he says that I wish I could have practiced much earlier on in the summer that I think would have given an extra boost to my team. I think it would have helped me hire better reps for my team also. Maxwell talks about finding people that are going to make a good fit on your team; people who share the same vision and are willing to work hard for that vision. (Actually he says a lot more than that on the matter). I have decided that for next year, I am going to build my door-to-door sales force from the biggest pool of door-to-door experienced individuals, BYU campus. It is no wonder there are so many companies that recruit from there. BYU students just have what it takes and I’m gonna do what it takes to get them to work for me.

Back to this summer. I think the thing I struggled with the most this summer was being disciplined with my time. Like last summer, I seemed to find a lot of miniscule things to do in place of the most important things. I wasn’t nearly as lazy as last year, but there is still a lot of improvement I need to make. That is one thing I would like to hear from you about. How do you keep the balance between your management responsibilities and your personal production responsibilities? I hear leadership trainers say that leading from the front will show your team what to do and how to do it, and they will follow, but I still feel like my office sees me as the manager that demands too much of them. How do I balance?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the kind of leader I want to become. I’ve been taking a realistic view of myself now and comparing it to who I want to become, and figuring out what’s keeping me from being that person. In a nutshell I want to be the leader that works like a well oiled machine; someone who knows how to work when it’s time to work, and play when it’s time to play and knows how to set those boundaries. Here are a few things that I feel are weaknesses of mine that I want to work on for the next few months. I’d like your advice.

1. I find myself getting so emotionally overwhelmed with managerial housekeeping tasks that I feel like I need some kind of escape. That usually comes in the form of wasting time on the computer, or crunching useless numbers, or something like that. How do you manage the emotional part of being a leader?

2. Time management has been a real struggle for me. Do you have any recommended books or other resources about how to manage time better? What do you do to help yourself stay structured with your time?

3. In the pest control sales industry, the team spends a lot of time with each other. We not only work together, but we live together and play together. We spend almost all of our time together. I have a hard time separating business and personal stuff. It’s easy to become everyone’s friend, but I feel like I can’t make the switch to being the leader all the time. How do I maintain the respect of my team as their leader and still enjoy a good time with them as well?

One more thing. What kind of businesses do you own? Who comes up with the ideas? Do you back them financially, or take part in the administrative side of things? What are the first steps to building a business? Do you have any positions available in one of your companies? If so, what are they? How could I get involved?

I’d better end this letter now. I just finished eating a nice big mango and I think my fingers a still a little sticky. There’s nothing like a big mango on a hot night. Takes me back to Caracas.

Sincerely,

Mark S.

Now here is his response:

Well, here I am, por fin, and here are my thoughts.

You gain wisdom from experience. Experience comes from making bad choices. Nobody hits a home run every time at the plate. You adjust your swing, you change your bat, you change your stance, etc., etc., etc.. Eventually, you come up with the combination that works for you. If you didn't lose money, you got an education that cost you nothing. That's a great value.

I like John Maxwell's books. I haven't read them all, by any means (it seems like there are about 20 at Barnes and Noble) but I have enjoyed the ones I've read.

At the end of the day, you're only as good as your team. No matter who you are or how good you are, nobody succeeds without the help of others. There are several ways to get others to help you reach your dreams. One is the carrot. Another is the stick. Another is manipulation. The one I like best is selling them the dream (you need to read the book, "Selling the dream" by Guy Kawasaki, ex Apple Computer marketing manager. That book will do wonders for your team building and evangelizing a product. But in your case, what you are selling is your dream. When they buy into your dream, they will help you reach your goals.)

There's no question your employees will follow you if you show them it can be done. I remember telling one employee that if I couldn't do his job in exactly half the time it was taking him, I would give him my next paycheck. The downside was, if I did, he would have to give me his next paycheck. He didn't take the bet. At that point, he had to admit that he wasn't giving his "all." If you're a "do as I say, not as I do" manager, you'll have difficulty getting people to sacrifice for you. If they know you're in it right along with them, they'll do anything to support you. I'd say that for at least one period per month (it could be a day, or a couple of days, or a week, or two weeks, or whatever) you have to go out and set a blistering pace, proving it can be done. You don't have to do it every day, but you have to do it often enough so they don't lose sight of the fact that you can out-do any of them any time you want. I can think of several times when I did that. It usually came when the troops were murmuring that I was asking for the impossible. When I did it myself, they saw I wasn't asking them to do anything I couldn't do (or hadn't done for that matter) and they lined right back up.

As to your list of improvements:

Getting overwhelmed -- I stop as often as necessary to "sharpen the saw" as Covey says. That doesn't mean I take long breaks. Short duration, high intensity is the answer. You have to do something that takes your mind entirely from your problem to get any relief. For me, that is adrenaline. Working hard, playing hard, whatever brings an adrenaline rush. For you it will be different. It's different for everyone. At any rate, sitting and playing on the computer gives you more time to stew on your problems and makes them worse not better. You need an escape, even if it's only for 15 minutes.

Time Management -- This is all about discipline. Reading books isn't going to help. You decide to do better today, and you don't let yourself down. You do whatever you have to to build discipline. I remember in the mission, Elder Longhurst wanted to improve his self discipline. He decided to make a list of the things he hated doing, and then force himself to do them. First on the list was cleaning the toilet. He hated that more than anything in the world. So he decided to get uup 30 minutes early each day and spend that time scrubbing the toilet. When he got to the point he no longer detested that, he started on the next item on the list. I'd have to say he's one of the most disciplined people I know. He's already very successful in his career, and I expect he'll continue to be. Discipline is everything. The old saying is successful people are successful because they are willing to do the distasteful things that the rest of us won't do.

Business / friends -- We do the same in many of our businesses, and I've had no problems. Everyone knows that business is business and friends are friends. I remember having a particularly intense discussion with one employee (and good friend) where I told him if he didn't shape up, I was going to have to let him go. An hour later, we went to luch together. Our discussion was a business discussion. We went to lunch as friends. You let them know that we're all friends, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do. That job is to make sure you do your job. If we're going to be friends, we have to expect that we're both going to do our jobs.

Relative to my business dealings -- Sometimes I come up with the ideas, sometimes others do. Sometimes I buy (or startup) a business and sometimes I come in as an administrator. There are as many different scenarios as there are businesses. I look for something I can get passionate about. It takes a lot of passion to work at the level of intensity I work at. Without that, the job becomes a drudgery. I can't handle that. When I find something that excites me, I dive in. I don't just wade in and test the water. I dive in. I love the shock of that cold water hitting your system. It's invigorating. Then it's swim or die. So far I've been able to swim.

I love business. I love the competition with others as much as the competition with myself. After all, the biggest obstacle to your success most of the time is you. When you get to where you can manage that, you're on your way.

Un abrazo fuerte. You're on the track. Keep running.

AJW