A Real Estate Investing Enthusiast’s Look at People Over Profits
How’s it going?
As my Digital Property business continues to grow and I add on employees and acquire larger clients, I realize that to be prepared for battle, I’ve gotta get my mind right…
I feel like I need as much mentorship as possible.
Check out my “recommended resources” section to see the latest of the things that are helping me.
AND I’m still trying to get my sh*t together for sure. (for instance, never start a sentence with And) #myblog #myrules. LOL
Lemme ask you.
How’s your mind? Seriously, ever wondered if people knew what was really going on in your head whether they’d be terrified? I have…
I don’t know about you, but in reality, I tend to always feel like I got things figured out. Until… life teaches me I DON’T. Hear about the royal @ss kicking life gave me for being stupid here.
Sevenly and Dale Partridge
Let’s get to it: I’ve just finished reading People over Profit, written by Dale Partridge. The author is a co-founder of a company called Sevenly ,who from a dream they had, give $7 in charity for every sale.
Here is the book and author. Amazon below….Also available at Barnes and Noble from what I understand.
Sorry, I don’t have the People Over Profit PDF. but…
Here are the top 5 points I got out of reading it. If it resonates with ya, it may be worth the read for ya.
Some of the items that stand out are the following:
Number 1: The Not so Good Heart: Most businesses start out with a good heart but later on when they’re attempting to maximize profits and impress shareholders, they begin cutting the very things that the organization stood for at the beginning. Dale Partridge, author of People over Profit, points out that this is just a natural sequence of events.
Most of us are just trying to look good and when we finally decide that we want to share our hearts at the risk of looking bad I believe we begin a step towards freedom.
Number 2: Push Toward Transparency: Dale doesn’t believe in total transparency; but, he believes that a company from top to bottom should be relatively transparent in terms of earnings, salaries, difficulties, challenges, and victories. Throughout the book, he references other companies have a “town meeting” philosophy. The Town meeting philosophy is where everyone is gathered together and the information about what is going on in the company is shared.
Number 3: Greed be Gone: It is pretty evident that the author slams greed, opts for accountability in companies and mentions companies like Harley-Davidson who have displayed a commitment to ensuring quality even when it is inconvenient.
Number 4: Conscious Charity: He suggested that many companies may be generous to simply appear generous. He goes on to write that clients would be able to see that relatively clearly and that sort of action turns the seemingly generous hand into a snake oil salesman.
Number 5: Fearless Living: He also makes a great point about dealing with fear. Often we hide things because we are afraid of what others would think. We are afraid to go after our goals and dreams. Dale suggests that we should create a space for courage.
When he says create a space for courage what he means is that we should have a plan B that allows us to walk the tight rope of life, knowing that there is a net below.
An example he uses is that he has alternatives in his life that should he fail at his current company he could embark upon another.
He keeps these alternatives in his drawer and has a list of other things and companies that he could work for. Knowing that there is the safety net there he continually feels a sense of encouragement to take fear head-on. This really challenges the
This is a bit of a departure from the current thought on the subject of facing fear which is to burn all your boats and move forward into the fear.
Will Smith says… only have a plan A because if you have a plan B it will turn into your plan A.
So I think Mr. Partridge and he might disagree, but I’m gonna say they are both right. Whatever gives you the sense of moving forward takin’ on a little risk, is helpful.
I believe that the difference here comes down to personality. The personality type that is empowered by a challenge, would most likely benefit from having no alternative, safety net or a plan B. One who is a bit more cautious and analytical by nature; however, may need just that.
Certainly, over time, we can evolve into people who are willing to take calculated risks in a way that appear on the outside to be much riskier than what we see on the inside. An example of this would be someone that learns how to juggle and finishes his career by learning how to juggle torches and chainsaws. Most of us would be concerned about losing a limb; however, understanding that he did not start there and because his juggling skills grew to such an astounding level even juggling a chainsaw or a torch would become possible.
People Over Profit’s Summary
The big take away for me besides honesty, integrity, and authenticity in business and ensuring that those learners remain in place even after you grow is accepting your personality, your position and life in a way that allows you to show up powerfully for the things ahead of you. Just like the example of a juggler, sometimes we need to give ourselves grace when we recognize that we have come as far along as that hero that we might have looked up to. Everyone started somewhere and the journey goes somewhere. Accepting where we are in our journey ushers in a sense of freedom to grow and develop.
The author Dale Partridge really ends the book well by being clear that he was fired from his position at Sevenly and was pretty disappointed since he was a founding partner.
He learned a lot about not allowing your identity to be tied to what you do. He learned a valuable lesson about the people around you that may appear that they have the same interests as you do but learned that they didn’t. His own criticism is that he made the company too much about him.
My take away is to create a life that is separate from who I am as a business leader and entrepreneur.
I wish you the best in all your endeavors.
-Paul
