|
The CONTROL Commandment is not about absolutism but about risk mitigation and
probability. You can violate CONTROL, defy the odds, and still succeed.
Think of it this way.
If Amazon refused to sell JK Rowling’s latest
Potter
novel, do you think her
sales would go from millions to hundreds? Of course not. She is fully diversified
from influence because she controls her brand and her platform with the power
of a productocracy: readers are fans, fans are disciples, and disciples are loyal to
you, not the channel through which they buy your work.
Which brings us to the final element of control…
Your brand.
If you’re taking risks and spending precious time to build a business, for the
love of God, make sure your investment goes toward your brand and not
someone else’s.
If you’re selling Avon, Herbalife, Amway, or some other branded product not
invented by you, you are violating control.
UNSCRIPTED
is my trademarked brand, and you might even say
Fastlane
—
either way, when these terms are used in an entrepreneurial perspective, people
know that they reference something I own: the
UNSCRIPTED
philosophy.
THE “BLACK SLIP”—ENTREPRENEURSHIP’S PINK SLIP
If you ever had a job, you know an infamous “pink slip” is synonymous with
getting laid off. No job, no income. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs play
similarly when violating control—except these gambling entrepreneurs don’t get
pink-slipped; they get black-slipped.
In April 2013, the online poker world suffered what’s called “Black Friday.” It
was a day when the federal authorities indicted three of the largest online poker
websites: PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and Full Tilt Poker. Authorities charged
the websites with numerous offenses, including money laundering and violation
of several gambling acts. Instantly, those sites ceased to operate and thousands of
“entrepreneurs” making stacks of cash were out of business. According to
The
Wall Street Journal
, players at Full Tilt were out more than $300 million.
86
These
player/entrepreneurs didn’t get a pink slip but a black slip—the ruinous black
swan, which takes you from king to pawn in a matter of moments.
UNSCRIPTED
empires are built on solid ground, not thin ice. If you think of
your
UNSCRIPTED
journey as the construction of a building, the
Commandment of Control represents the land you build upon. Do you own it?
Or is it leased or rented from someone else? Can someone misrepresent or ruin
it? Change its terms of use? Not renew its terms?
You could have been the best online poker player in the world and it
wouldn’t have changed the eventual outcome—you do not own the house in
which you play. At the end of the day, owning your own land, or being able to
influence it, ensures that your business has longevity, mitigates catastrophic risk,
and insures your work.
It also sets the stage for astronomical returns.
For example, every billionaire on the planet has become one through a
method of control. One common method is to build a company and take it
public. Controlling shareholders SELL their shares into a capital market where
they become fabulously wealthy; folks like you and me are the BUYERS.
Take for example a company like Facebook, Airbnb, Alibaba, and Uber.
None of these companies really owns anything, but instead,
they control things
.
Facebook makes no content but controls it. Airbnb owns no real estate; Uber
owns no cars; Alibaba owns no inventory—they all control it. As you can see,
control does not always equate to ownership.
In another example, billionaire investor Carl Icahn is an activist investor. He
doesn’t buy shares of stock and “hope” they appreciate, like the
SCRIPTED
populous. The cornerstone to the Icahn investment philosophy is CONTROL. In
a letter to investors, he explains:
[W]hile the typical Graham & Dodd value investor purchases undervalued
securities and waits for results, we often become actively involved in the
companies we target. That activity may involve a broad range of approaches, from
influencing the management of a target to take steps to improve shareholder
value, to acquiring a controlling interest or outright ownership of the target
company in order to implement changes that we believe are required to improve
its business, and then operating and expanding that business. This activism has
brought about very strong returns over the years.
87
In order to influence your outcomes and mitigate risk within an
UNSCRIPTED
pursuit, you need control. It makes the difference between an
“OK” return and an explosive, “holy shit” return.
In Icahn’s case, his investment fund, Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP), has
returned 1,674 percent since January 1, 2000, versus the S&P 500’s 82 percent
return. If you’re going to ignore the compound-interest scam and its capital-
principle outlined in Chapter 25, please do so by investing in an activist fund
where control is a part of the investment philosophy.
In the end, decide if you want to lead or follow. Direct or be directed.
If it’s the former over the latter, congrats, you have the DNA to do great
things. I mean, seriously, why do you want to be an entrepreneur? So someone
can tell you what to do, what to sell, and how to sell it? Do you want to risk
getting “black-slipped” for some unknown reason?
When you violate the control, you essentially gag entrepreneurship with the
mask of employment—someone in a gilded tower can fire you with one decision.
That’s not entrepreneurship, that’s guppyism.
Tell God you want to be a shark.
CHAPTER 34
THE COMMANDMENT OF ENTRY:
DIFFICULTY IS THE OPPORTUNITY!
If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the
crowd.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
