My First Ever Business Lesson – The Bottom Line is Your Starting point

I used to have a coaching business, where I would teach men how to be more confident and attractive with ladies. It was called Warm Alpha and for a few years I poured my heart and soul into it. I haven’t been doing that for a while now, for reasons I may detail in future posts. However, it was my first business and I learnt a heap of lessons from it.

So now, I want to tell you a story about what I consider to be my first business lesson.I was sitting in my house and wondering what the hell to do with this new business of mine, Warm Alpha. Should I start developing a weekend workshop to help guys in one condensed 3-day hit? Should I focus on getting 1-on-1 clients who I will work with long term? Should I write a book? Create a video product?

There were so many options. I had some savings I was living off of back then (big mistake, but that’s another story again); nothing seemed rushed and I was having a really hard time making up my mind. I was literally procrastinating on this decision for weeks.

Back then I had the good fortune to share an apartment with, Chris. He was (still is!) a successful young business man in his 30s who owns a few companies (a computer games company, an animation studio and a few more). He was obviously the best person to ask business questions out of any of my close friends. So one day, when we hung out at the living room in our place, I asked him.

Almog: “Chris, what should I do with Warm Alpha? There are so many options and I can’t seem to make up my mind as to which is the better one. Which one do I go after first?”

I was expecting him to ask me what each of the options are and for us to brainstorm them together. Instead he asked me a question.

Chris: “Well Almog. Let me ask you. What is the purpose of Warm Alpha?”

…. Now let me tell you. When I started Warm Alpha, I sat down and asked myself a lot of important questions about what I wanted to do with the business. I wrote a document called “The Warm Alpha Manifesto” which included my vision on things, purpose statement, value list and so on. All very much “inner game of business” things I guess. Looking back, perhaps making that list was a way to procrastinate on taking action (it took a long time to write all this stuff too!). But when Chris asked what the purpose of Warm Alpha is – I immediately thought about my purpose statement and tried to remember it.

Almog: “The purpose of Warm Alpha is to… um… help inspire men to be their best, most attractive selves through… um… honesty, courage… Yeah I think that’s what it was”.

Chris: “That is NOT the purpose of Warm Alpha.”

Almog: “Yes, it is.”

Chris (smiling): “No. It’s not.”

Almog (a little annoyed): “I think I know the purpose of Warm Alpha better than you do, Chris.”

Chris (smiling even wider): “I think you don’t.”

Almog: “Alright smart guy. What is it then?”

Chris: “You could do all those things you said in your spare time. You can go on, and inspire men to be confident… and whatever… and not get paid a cent for it. But Warm Alpha is a business. And a business has one purpose. Making Money. THAT is the REAL purpose of Warm Alpha. And if you are looking for the next thing to do, ask yourself – which option is most likely to make me the most money, soonest.”

He hit the nail on the head. Here I was wasting time thinking about what the next best thing to do. Obviously, when you’re running a business, you have to keep your eyes on the prize. Your bottom line. How much money goes into your pocket.

Always start with that in mind. If you want to make money, you have to start with money in mind.