The other day it occurred to me that the #1 thing my successful students have in common is:
They’re serial entrepreneurs.
At a Roundtable meeting, 3 out of 4 people in the room has started and built multiple successful businesses. They have a hunger for adventure and can NEVER sit still for very long.
They’re also resilient and agile and nothing can keep them down. When confronted by a mountain or a vast brick wall, they’ll find a way over, they’ll find a way under, they’ll blast their way through, they’ll bribe the sherpa to take them around the back way, they’ll hire munchkins from the opposite side of the continent to infiltrate the enemy camp… but somehow or another, they’re going to get it done.
Tom Hoobyar once said, “Entrepreneurs are feral men.”
From Wikipedia:
“A feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to a wild state. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, can disrupt ecosystems and may, in some cases, contribute to extinction of indigenous species. However, returning lost species to their environment can have the opposite effect, bringing damaged ecosystems back into balance.”
You wonder why you could never sit still in school.
Now you know. You didn’t discover you were a wild animal until you went into business. And you found out you had 100X more mojo than all the little rabbit fu-fu’s that got straight A’s and full tuition scholarships to Northwestern.
I always loved the old bit of advice to professors: “Be nice to the A students because someday they’ll become your fellow professors. Be nice to the B students because their parents sign your paychecks. And be nice to the C students cuz someday they’re build you a performing arts center.”
You couldn’t sit still in school, but have you noticed that you can sit still in front of your computer for hours when you’re hot in pursuit of a problem you’re trying to solve?
ADHD isn’t caused by lack of focus. It’s caused by not having something sufficiently interesting to do. Ritalyn is not the cure. Adventure is the cure.
Now the problem with serial entrepreneurs is, they have a hard time committing to things. There are several dysfunctions that come with Feral ADHD blood, beasts that must be tamed:
- Flitting from one opportunity to another to another to another and never finishing anything (yes I admit that can be rather entertaining though, for quite some time!)
- Looking down on the little rabbit fu-fu’s as, well, little rabbit fu-fu’s (hey pal, the world does need at least some people who will obediently follow the car ahead of them to work every day for the next 45 years.)
- Optimizing their business only for profit, rather than keeping the BIG picture in mind. (There’s more to the health, value and goodness of a business than its bottom line.)
- A hit-and-run, speed-seduction mentality towards acquiring customers. In the “speed seduction” world, the way you keep your current girlfriend in line is by having another one “ready to go” if the current one gets lippy. You dump her before she dumps you. (“Sex in the City” flips that around so it’s the girl who dumps the guy before he dumps her. Either way, it’s abusive and dysfunctional. Good marketing is “Getting and keeping customers.” Not “Churning and burning customers.”)
- Being willing to promote products you would never recommend to your sister or your mom, just because the commission is good. This disease is rampant online and it’s the #1 reason why Google has adopted a “slash and burn” policy towards affiliate marketers.
At all my seminars I give an “optional spiritual talk.” It’s optional and advertised as such because about 1/4 of the people at any given seminar think that spiritual stuff is just “sunday school” and isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
But others know better. The talk I’m giving in Maui is, “The spiritual basis of alchemy.” Those who come to the summit will hear the whole thing, but I’ll give you the short version right now:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Which is pretty much the aim of any sound market research program, is it not?
Children have no problem understanding this. Sometimes we adults have a hard time.
Our dysfunctions are well known. But when you get it right – when you hit the right balance of startup power and sustainability, when you have a mindset of delivering enduring value to customers, when you’ve built your network of highly resourceful geeks, freaks and misfits, that’s when the fireworks happen.
And as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t really matter how long it takes you to acquire those skills. If you’re a feral man, if you’re a feral woman, then you’re not going to be happy sitting in a cubicle farm.
Joe Jackson put it this way in his song “Wild West”:
Out to the west there’s a trail that leads somewhere
And a call of the wild that takes some people there
Through Monument Valley to California sun
From New Amsterdam to the Way the West Was Won
Well, years will go by when you won’t get nowhere
You’re cold and you’re tired and you’re free and you don’t care
You keep pushin’ on when your friends keep turning back
And you keep building towns and laying railroad track
And things get crazy and you have to use that gun
And you wonder if this is the way the west is won
But keep thinkin’ that way and you won’t get nowhere
‘Cause you got a right just to get where you’re goin’ to
Gotta keep runnin’ gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west
You keep on the move or you try to settle down
And there’s strangers from further and further away in town
And you give them some tools and they know what must be done
And you know who’s the boss and you know the west was won
And they say…
Where I come from you can’t get nowhere
I’m breaking my back for some opportunity
Making my fortune and I’ll take it all home
Tell my kids about the wild west
But there’s still beauty as the flowers bloom on desert sands
And there’s still hope as the sun rises over the Rio Grande
But it’s so crowded now and nothing’s simple any more
And they’re still knocking at your door
You hear guns in the night and you hope they’re not for you
‘Cause a dog eats a dog then he eats his master too
In the land of the free and the not so often brave
There’s both love or money, now choose which you will save
But… keep thinkin’ that way and you won’t get nowhere
‘Cause you got a right just to get where you’re goin’ to
Gotta keep runnin’ gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
30 Comments on “The Beauty and Bane of the Serial Entrepreneur”
Good point about the web becoming rife with products you wouldn’t recommend to your family – couldnt have put it better myself. Dodgy colon cleanse offers with sneaky rebills are all over the place. How do people get a good nights sleep recommending this rubbish?
You write so intelligently, humorous and captivating all while grasping a lot of great point.
I really enjoyed this article. NEVER stop writing!
http://www.perrymarshall.com – da mejor. Guardar va!
Gracias
DingoDogg
Perry – this is a call to the “tribe” if I’ve ever read one. Appreciate your insights.
Reminds me of what Tim Ferris says (paraphrasing): most folks are dying from “Adventure” deficit disorder.
For all the feral people reading this, I’m posting an interview with Tom Hoobyar next week where he tells a story about feral rats and how entrepreneurs are the same.
Thanks again Perry!
Travis
Great post. And I have to go on record saying that I’m hooked on the jazz version of “Steppin’ Out” you mentioned recently.
Even though I left a comment already with a story, I wrote another one not so long ago, describing a similar situation:
http://bonesdiary.blogspot.com/2009/12/texas-tigers-and-billy-joe-bush.html
Thanks again Perry!
Highly instructive, Bones!
I’m with you Perry, I start to like you more and more.
Oops had to change my url there.
David
Hi Perry,
Great post as usual – have to agree with Maurice in that I relate to it on a few different levels.
Also Jessica’s point about the “wives of the feral” is a very good one – I think sometimes my wife despairs when I have a new idea (you know that kind of “What now?” look in her eyes). Fair play to her for not saying anything – she deserves a medal!
I used to try and do everything myself, but now more and more I’ve started to outsource certain projects. For something that would take me hours to learn how to do, and then actually do, a freelancer who is able to do it in his sleep can do in a very short space of time and the cost is well worth it.
For example I recently got one of my sites changed to a WordPress blog from a static site for $25. This may be really easy to do, but I wouldn’t have known where to start, so I’d have wasted days on it.
Using this, I’m trying to focus on completing stuff before moving on to something else.
I’ll get there someday soon!
Thanks again Perry for a great post – as part of my trying to focus I’ve unsubscribed from a lot of marketers email lists, but I always read yours.
GO PERRY , GO PERRY , GO PERRY! YOU ROCK!!!
From a fellow ADHD marketer… lol
Cya in Maui
Hey Perry,
Your comment about churning and burning customers made me smile – it’s what one current IM ‘guru’ calls ‘The Machine’ (you and most of your readers probably know who I mean).
I got caught in this email marketing slash and burn whirlpool and finished up poorer and burned out as a result. I didn’t even realize I had been billed for 11 months for a membership I hadn’t requested (on a little used credit card I don’t check). In the end I had to cancel that credit card because his helpdesk refused to respond to me and would not cancel the billing.
Great way to run a business if your only focus is to make money. Not a good long term model though, because I will NEVER buy anything from him again, and I’ve warned a lot of people off too. He brags about having a list of hundreds of thousands, so this sort of crap is affecting a lot of people. Be nice if big Google or the FTC took some action there, but probably not..
Thanks again for a great post,
Regards
Rocky
If for no other reason than the wit, I will read every email and post by Perry. Feral eh, I like it.
In my tech j.o.b. I’ve been under enough cubicles to tell you that way only leads to more cubicles. Looking over gives the same view. Even crawling in the sub-floor offers no escape. Breaking out will require radical maneuvers as there are patrols determined to keep everyone in their place. I’ve been working on my blasting technique, but I never thought of bribing the sherpa or infiltrating rabbit fu fu land with munchkins. A new project to dive into fueled by wit and common sense.
Wow Perry, now I have a name for it! Feral is a great way to describe it! A serial entrepreneur can’t be tamed for very long! I’ve been trained to think that being a serial entrepreneur is bad, but I like your version of it better.
Keep it coming brother!
This post just made me more feral…
cya guys later i’m off for a new project ;)
Wow you got me there! I have no staying power with my projects. I’ve found out now it’s important to get the staff in quick to take over from you when you get to that stage :-)
Funny thing is I actually trained to be a teacher and taught in 3 different schools before figuring out that bored me too….
It’s good to recognize one another. My sister has worked for a big insurance company for 20+ years. She says, “I can’t imagine not going to work in the morning.”
I said, “I can’t imagine going to the same work every day for 20 years. Just shoot me now.”
But yes, we need those people to keep the infrastructure humming along.
Really great stuff here! The only thing I’d add is a reference to the “Platinum Rule”… Do unto others as they want to be done by. We’re not all the same and sometimes what’s good for you isn’t good for me.
Some additional info on “The Platinum Rule” from Wikipedia.com:
George Bernard Shaw once said that “The golden rule is that there are no golden rules”. Shaw also criticized the golden rule, “Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.” (Maxims for Revolutionists). “The golden rule is a good standard which is further improved by doing unto others, wherever reasonable, as they want to be done by.” Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2) This concept has recently been called “The Platinum Rule”. Philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Bertrand Russell, have objected to the rule on a variety of grounds. The most serious among these is its application. How does one know how others want to be treated? The obvious way is to ask them, but this cannot be done if one assumes they have not reached a particular and relevant understanding.
Very true Perry
I think everyone reading this post will relate on multiple levels.
Still, there has to be a name and distinction from the serial entrpreneurs who are successful and folks who try this and try that and never establish nothin.
Any suggestions?
I hear all the people say finish a project first, get it working, benefit from it and don’t begin another until it’s finished. Well, here’s my version..
– Start a project
– 3 days later get a potentially fantastic idea for a new project
– Start the new project
– And repeat!
The only exception to this rule is when one of those projects is so interesting, it hooks me and reels me in. I then spend a continuos 16hrs or ‘Days’, bringing the project to at least a testable state – I do it becasue I’m probably hooked and have ADHD!
Being married to a serial entrepreneur, and not getting burned out or disillusioned, is an art-form all of it’s own. But it’s a hell of a lot of fun!
Great point @Jessica, I have a great appreciation for the wives/partners of us “serial entrepreneurs”, they are a special breed indeed!
@Maurice – I think the difference might be that a “dabbler” is not an entrepreneur.
“An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.”
A dabbler is one not deeply engaged in or concerned with that which they are doing.
Thats me in a “NUTT SHELL”!
Well that hit a nerve. Love the comparison to a feral organism. I think you’ve just summed me up in one statement. Only problem is I’m still trying to escape from domestication. Not long to go now though.
You’re a Genius Perry!
The ADHD accusation sure is common…
This is the entrepeneur’s strength and weakness. He can be great at starting a business, but sometimes is not the best person to focus on really growing it big.
The key to be a really successful serial entrepeneur is to start multiple business, find the right people to then manage, grow and mature them, and then to trust those people enough to leave the boring management stuff to them while you go on to more start ups.
A partnership of different individuals can also work well for the same reasons.
Have you ever seen the Bedard poster of two monkeys riding a tandem bike…the front one is peddling and sweating, the back one has his hands behind his back and his feet up? It’s titled “Partnership”
Perry,
You have to stick at things if you are building a Service company.
Flitting backwards and forwards is not an option is it?
We are agreed selling, but it is more than something or letter with lots of ps, pps’s etc.
For some of us we have to Actually meet people face to face, not from a keyboard.
Excellent article Perry. Entrepeneurs who lack integrity (promoting products they’d never recommend to their mom?) are destined to be caught in a rut.
I’d like to add that ADHD people (seems the whole world has turned ADHD) needs more than just “interesting” projects to keep them focussed, they need Creative projects. Creativity gives focus.
Great post. I’ve always thought about entrepreneurs as individualities who like freedom of thinking, questioned any ‘implied conventions’ or ‘established rules’.
Great post Perry!
I suffer from all of those points, but DAMN, I must love it!
I’m working a J-O-B right now, and it’s the weirdest thing ever- no one wants to actually get it done, they just want to blame someone! I wrote a little something about it:
http://bonesdiary.blogspot.com/2010/01/george-and-runner-painting-talking.html
Thanks!