HGTV Taught Me Everything I Know About Business

My salsa lesson was incredible last night. We had it on the roof of the building the class is held in, which is right in the heart of downtown campus. The view was great, enhanced by the sunset, and the weather was amazing.

What's not so incredible is how finicky some people are with money. I know a particular set of people who have 2.65 million dollars to spend in 6 months. Currently they've spent .25 million of that. And it took them 6 months to just do that. Because they have so much and I have so little I try to get them to share some of that wealth with me. And because they are so generous they are willing to give some to me.

Here is the process I need to follow to get them to share it with me. I come up with an idea, go and tell them all about it and why they can't live without it, and how much I want to make their dreams come true. They take my fantastic ideas, chew on them for a bit and then hopefully say "alright go ahead, we'll pay for that". In short I pitch them an idea, and they decide whether or not to fund it.

Some of you may think that is a great logical process. But some of you are also wrong. Here's the problem with this process. I'm sensational. Every idea I come up with is fantastic. An idealic dream that they never dared to hope could be a reality. As a result, I don't want to waste time explaining myself to them. Just give me the money and I'll do utterly amazing things with it.

If you think that's insane and no one would do it, I see it happen all the time. Just flip on HGTV. This is the premise for every show on that channel. Someone has a budget. An expert comes in, takes the money, throws the people giving them that money out of their house, and then completely changes everything about the place those people called home. At the end of the episode the people are invited back in, and then burst into joyful tears at the amazing transformation that has occurred. That is how I want to do business. Tell me how much you've got and I'll make you happy, and if I don't make you happy then just don't hire me again.