Trizle

Scenario: "Dude, procrastination just hurts you by limiting the time you have to do some shizzle. That's it. Yay!" Sure, you might delay some work until the few days before one of your project's deadline. Then when you finish -- you tell yourself: "Whoa-wey. Such a relief. I'm good as new!" But are you? Are you really? Like...really? Not really. According to one study, procrastination cuts away at your healthy behind:

Just over the course of a single academic term, procrastinating college students had such evidence of compromised immune systems as more colds and flu, more gastrointestinal problems. And they had insomnia.

So the next time you see yourself procrastinating, say: "Stop!" Then -- hopefully -- you'll stop procrastinating and keep your health in check for your fabulous business.

Say No! to Procrastino.

Scenario: "Dude, we gotta read books. Oh-yeah!" But what happens when most of us read books? Instead of learning really anything, we're confirming our preexisting beliefs.

• If we agree with: __________, then it's-all-goood.
• If we disagree with: __________, then we ignore it as drivel.

If you really want to be one-smart-sucka, start challenging your views.

Why Political Debates Go Nowhere

It goes a little something like this:

1. Wally Wa: "Big companies exploit the average American!"
2. Sally Su: "No hippie! Big companies provide people jobs."
3. Wally Wa: "No greedy @^^%! Corporate executives are money-grubbing hawks."
4. Sally Su: "Look @^^%. Corporate executive compensation provide motivation."
5. Wally Wa: "You suck!"
6. Sally Su: "No, you suck!"

Somehow we all grew up adopting: "I'm always right, everyday, all day, all-the-time. Yay!" Instead of listening intently to contrary opinions, we shut it off as "Blah!" Instead of learning, we lounge back and think we're kings of the mutha-@^^%^&-jungle. Our learning capacity levels flat-line. Take it from Wharton professors:

"I know everything!"

People tend to confuse their familiarity with a topic with true expertise about it.

"I'm a Greek God."

They frequently overestimate their skills and knowledge compared with those of their peers.

"Oh, I just know it."

In the calibration studies, people got in trouble when they moved out of their domain of expertise: the accuracy of their decisions fell while their confidence stayed high.

"Yes, I remember."

People also have a strong bias to think that anything they remember is true even when they've forgotten the source of their information. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

If you want to be a learning badass, challenge everything you know.

How to Learn

Exercise time! Yay! Hooray! Say you strongly believe: __________________.

1. Write that sucka down.
2. What's the opposing view? __________________.
3. List 10 things that strongly support the opposing view.
4. Congratulations. You just boosted your learning juice, drastically.

That exercise scares most people because they think: "Hey, if I take the opposing view, then my entire mindset will change for the worse. Ahh!" On the contrary: doing that exercise opens your fabulous brain up by inserting new information to form your decisions. That makes your decisions more objective, and as a result: much more effective.

How Can I Challenge My Beliefs in Other Ways?

In addition to challenging your assumptions about your super-biases, you can also challenge it if you're becoming too pessimistic for your own taste. For instance, these inner phrases might destruct your buisness:

• "I'm not a good seller."
• "I'm a lousy manager."
• "My customers don't like me."
• "I can't possibly help my employees."
• "I can't negotiate at all."

Start challenging your badass with 10 opposing reasons for each belief. Do a list. Write the suckas down. You'll start learning about yo-kickbooty-self-like-krazy. Word.

Challenge yo-self.

Scenario: "Dude, we're selling bikes so we gotta name ourselves Bicycles-4-You. Yay!" Pop-quiz! Say you're starting a bicycle shop. What corporate name makes the most business sense? * a) Bicycles-4-You * b) Jamoka If you chose (b), Ding! Ding! Ding! Correct-o-mundo-mutha-badass. If you're selling just bikes, "Bicycle-4-You" fits fine. But, what if your badass is trying to expand the business -- so you start selling scooters? * Or, tricycles? * Or, Canondale clothing? * Or, triathlon gear? * Or, baby seats? * Or, helmets? "Bicycle" as a company name won't capture your entire product line. Naming your company from a product drives away fresh prospects interested in other stuff.

How Umbrella Names Rock

"Jamoka" above rocks because it keeps people focused on the breadth of your offerings -- acting as an umbrella name. And, if you ever decide to dump your core/original product (bicycle) -- like how Walgreen's did it with ice cream -- you'll still have a relevant name. (See any corporate names with "8-Track" attached to it?) Keep in mind: All products fail/become-unprofitable. Umbrella names then lets your company stand the test of time -- no matter what market conditions dictate.

"But what if my umbrella name confuses people?"

It's the most common question asked, and it's why people still go with product-names-as-company-names. Here's our 2-cent solution: Slap a tagline on the sucka. That's what eBay did (""Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay."), and Amazon: "Earth's Biggest Bookstore" when they started. And for a fresher one, YouTube still uses theirs ("Broadcast Yourself.") The sweet thing with taglines involves its adaptability: As you provide different services/products, you can adapt your tagline to capture what you sell. And when your company attains celebrity status, you won't need that tagline anymore. So how do you find a sweet umbrella name for your company? Four steps we recommend:

4 Steps to Naming Your Company

• Step 1: Coin Your Company Name

  If you presented people with two names: (1) Thriving Software, and (2) Thrivati, people would overwhelmingly prefer the latter. People see unexpected names as puzzles, subconsciously compelling them to learn more about your offerings, according to one kick-booty study:

  Names such as Kermit green (unexpected descriptive) are effective because these names act as a sort of puzzle to be solved, which spurs individuals to consider more aspects of the products - particularly the positive ones. In addition, solving this small puzzle should create positive emotions associated with the product.

  Positive, juicy-good effects with a coined name? "Tell me it ain't so!" You-betcha-badass. Coined name: check. Next Step:

• Step 2: Harden Your Company Name

  Mamimo vs. Gaboogle. Do this. Go up to somebody and say this sweet thang:
  1. "Mamimo. Gaboogle."
  2. "Now, can your badass repeat those two names?"
  What happens? Likely something similar:
  1. "Well, I know Gaboogle was the second one."
  2. "What in the mutha-^@^^^& was the first one?"
  3. "Manimal?"
  Humans pick-up hard sounds much quicker because it's easily digestible. That's how Google makes its name memorable with the hard-sounding Ggg, Kinko's doing it with the hard K's, and Blackberry doing it with the hard Bbb. Hard-sounding words make your name so-much-freakin'-easier-to-pronounce. How does that help you?
  1. More referrals with greater recall.
  2. Positive associations with an easy-to-utter name.
  Harden name: check. Next Step:

• Step 3: Check Your Company Name

  With your hardened-coined-sexy name, type the sucka in Google. If your name doesn't mean/sound/seem/resemble something horrible in another language, and it doesn't infringe on any copyrights/trademarks/blah-blah, you got yourself something good going. (You might want to get a professional here just to be sure.) Congrats-to-yo-badass. Check your name: check. Next step:

• Step 4: Move the Heck On

  If some dude came up to you in 1998 and told you he named his company "Google", you'd probably kick him in the ass. Names, folks, are overrated. So, don't get too caught up in the process. Pringles had their name in 5 minutes. We got "Trizzy" in much less. The magnificently more important thing: Start rocking the world by building your business. That's where you should place all your time, effort, and dedication. (It'll make you sexier too.)

"Wait. Wait. Wait! What if I already named my name long ago?"

No sweat. You have three sweet options:

1. Stick with what you have.

   If you're thriving with your name, as the saying goes: Don't fix something that ain't broken.

2. Trick-out your name so it's less generic.

   You'd be surprised at the different variations you could pull off. We recommend doing this sucka if you named your company after a product. Here's some inspiration from those high-flyers who modified their names to better reflect what they "don't-just-do":
   • Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing? 3M.
   • Federal Express? FedEx.
   • Kentucky Fried Chicken? KFC.
   • International Business Machines? IBM.
   • Apple Computer? Apple, Inc.

3. Do something new.

   Altria used to be Philip Morris. They're still kicking Wall Street butt. Your customers will react positively to your name change -- provided you're providing good services to them. And if you want to lure in prospects who know you through the old name, do the gradual shift in naming-changing: Stick with the old name, and then as you have them as a customer, present the new name. As always when you're deciding on your new name, we recommend the coined-hard-sounding-sexy names.

Good luck!

Coined, hard-sounding, sexy names rock.

Scenario: "Dude, we're going to add more features and lower the prices on our phones. We'll destroy mutha-@^^%^& Apple! Yay!" So that Silicon Valley dude over in Cupertino finally announced the much-anticipated Apple iPhone. Woohoo. Yay. Yoohay. Yadday. Kayay. And yes, you hear all the pundits, "experts", bloggers, analysts, consultants, scholars, media peeps, yadda, yadda, telling you why the iPhone rocks.

• "It comes equipped with Bluetooth 2.0," they scream.
• "It supports push-email!" they exclaim.
• "It uses an crazy Intel processor," they note.
• "It employs a 2.0-megapixel camera," they say.

And of course -- in the pessimistic camp -- similar types of folks scream, "It'll totally never succeed!":

• "It's a 2G, not 3G!" they cringe.
• "It's too bulky. People don't want that!" they snicker.
• "The battery barely lasts for a smart-phone," they yap.
• "It's way too expensive," they smirk.

But awesome fellas and ladies, listen up: Apple's iPhone could incorporate a cow detector, and it'd still rock -- and magazines headlines would still scream: "Cow Detector: Brilliant!" Its impending success has nothing to do with features. It has everything to do with building a brand that connects with your customers' soul.

Our Prediction on Apple's Competitors

Here's what we predict in the coming months: Unless they get their acts together, Apple's competition (Palm, RIM, Motorola, Nokia, et. al.) will start pitching overused publicity campaigns detailing how superior their features are:

1. "We pack more features into our phones!"
2. "We have more hard drive space!"
3. "We get you more bang for your buck!"

Then they'll start displaying feature-by-feature comparisions, and all that mumbo-jumbo -- trying to excite you on their product features. So what happens next? They fade into mutha-@^^%^& oblivion. Here's why:

Competing on "Our Products Are Better!" Sucks

Two reasons:

1. People don't buy rationally; people buy on emotions, then justify their purchases on rationale:

   "I bought the Ferrari because of its V12 and 600 Horsepowers. Yay!" Or: "I bought a Rolex because its durability will last long! Yay!" Better alternatives exist at much lower prices; but hey, if your subconscious is wanting luxury, you just "gotta have it!"

2. Your competitors with bigger resources will match your successful features, anyway.

   The minute the "biggies" see your features becoming a success, they'll latch onto your ideas. That's how Google Calendar demolished the Web 2.0 upstarts like 30boxes, Airset, Kiko, etc. And, that's how Apple's going to destroy Palm, RIM, T-Mobile, etc.

How to Compete Against the Biggies

Whatever fabulous business you're doing, you're probably competing against the biggies in one form or another. Here's two criteria we use when we're going against those big sons-of-@^^%^&!:

First: "Where can we beat them?"

Business books scream: "Be persistent! Don't give up!" True, but not totally true. Sometimes, it just makes sense to surrender if you know you can't possibly beat some competitor in five years. So instead of fighting bulls head-on, start chipping them on the sides. Know where you suck, and where you rock. For instance, if you're competing against Apple's iPhone, you know you don't have Apple's:

1. Brand recognition that compels people to buy.
2. Marketing power to tap the general-consumer market.
3. Evangelists to quickly spread your product.

But since you're a badass and know a little-thing-or-two about the education industry, you start constructing a smart-phone with the teacher in mind. "It's an overlooked target market by Apple, and one riped for opportunity," you say.

1. "We'll build a cohesive system that helps teachers keep attendance, track grades, and run reports."
2. "We'll incorporate software that lets teachers communicate quickly with administrators, staff, and parents with two touches."
3. "We'll provide the phone with lesson material options so they'll bring their best to every lesson."
4. "We'll build teacher-support communities to help them thrive."

Watch your badass soar higher than a mutha-@^^%^& eagle as you start connecting to your customers' souls. (And, if you're gunning for the general masses, remember: you have to first build your initial audience. They'll get you that domino effect you're seeking.

)

Second: "Are we tapping our passions?"

Peep this:

1. Sam Walton's Walmart and discount retailing.
2. Howard Schultz's Starbucks and community.
3. Hewlett & Packard and technological contributions.
4. And, of course: Steve Jobs and innovation.

Passion transforms businesses into brands -- and keeps those brands thriving for eternity. If you're latching onto "the-next-big-thing," you'll drop out the moment that "thing" becomes less hot. (All "hot" opportunities eventually fizzle.) Steve Jobs didn't look at the smart-phone industry and think: "Hey, that sucka's hot!" No, he's entering a maturing industry. The kicker -- he's tapping the same passions he used for the Apple I in the 70s, the Macintosh in the 80s, the iMacs in the 90s, and the MacBooks in the new millenium: Innovation. Passion's like a muscle. The more you work on it, the more you strengthen it, and the more ass you'll kick with it -- no matter when you enter a market. And most important: That passion trickles over to your customers' souls.

@^^% features. Go where you passionately rock.

Scenario: "Dude, forget branding. It's a business buzzword. We'll sell on features. Yay!" Ask yourself:

1. Why do people prefer Coke over Pepsi when countless studies confirm Pepsi tastes better?
2. Why do people use Microsoft Word when much better alternatives exist?
3. Why do masses buy iPods when other music players have better features?
4. Why do 980421795151 people drink Starbucks when competitor coffees taste just as good -- and are lower-priced?

Pop-quiz for ya: It's one of these answers:

• a) Ohio State Buckeyes
• b) Branding

If you answered (b), Ding! Ding! Ding! You're right. [If you answered (a), ouch. What in the mutha ^@!*&$ happened? Where was your team?!] No matter what you do, somebody out there will one-you-up with better features, lower prices, more bells & whistles, yadda, yadda, yadda. Instead of competing in an arms race, do this sucka: Start building a brand, and watch your company flourish from the ridiculously large pack who think great features & prices automatically make great businesses.

Why You Can't Compete on Features & Prices

Think back to some irrelevant college math class when your teacher started delivering your test scores. Two scenarios likely happened -- depending on your smarts:

1. "Wow. I know I did horribly. I feel embarrassed. I just know I got the lowest score in the class."

   What then happened? You get a 60; but, you find little Bucky over in the corner there with a 35.

2. "I know I did so well. I'm sure I got the highest score in the class. You all = my biatches!"

   What then happened? You get a 95; but, you find little Benedict sporting his red bow-tie over there with a 105 for some mutha @^^%^& extra credit. Unfair!

How does that relate to business? After some experience building your business and trying to compete on features/prices, you eventually find out: "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, no matter how much I refine my products, no matter how much I think my products rock, there's always someone out there who ones-me up. Ahh!!"

We'll Describe a Scenario: Competing on Features

Say you start building a super-awesome broom, but not-just-any ol' broom: "I'll include a built-in vacuum cleaner! Fo shizzle!"

1. When your broom-on-steroids gains some success, some entrepreneurial dude three states over hears about your product.
2. He builds a broom with the vacuum-cleaner that matches up with your product.
3. Then he gets a little entrepreneurial: "I'll incorporate a built-in kite so they can clean and fly kites at the same time! Yay!"
4. Uh-oh. The dude's broom-vacuum-kite product makes your product fade into oblivion.

You either have to keep piling on features -- while lowering prices -- or your company dies. That creates one lousy business model that generates lousy profits. So what do you do? Be like Coke, Microsoft, and Starbucks -- get out of the price-&-feature arms race and start branding your kick-booty company to defend against better-features/lower-prices/yadda/yadda. Here's one way to do it.

How to Build Your Brand

(We'll dive deeper into this how-to in a future article.) How can you be like your favorite companies -- those you constantly gravitate toward? Stay true. Cheesy, but it's so right and: Stay true to who you are. You grew up with a unique a personality that made people love you. So, why shouldn't your company?

The Business World's Crime

Too many entrepreneurs/business-builders/etc. dive into the business world thinking: "Oooooooooh, my business gotta be like: _______________. Then people will take me seriously. Yay!" So, they talk corporate speak. They buy books on "How to Communicate Properly in Business." Their businesses become robotic working drones. Nevermind that they start resembling the other 98409127519581 drones out there: "At least they're taking us serously!" they scream. Look suckas: You = boring. Don't be like them. Stay true. Be like David Packard, Sam Walton, Howard Schultz, Henry Ford, and embrace your company's personality -- derived from your entire team. You're already badasses, so by all means: start exploiting it.

Rule of Thumb to Effective Branding

If you remove your logo from your marketing materials, your employee manuals, your ads, your website, your business cards, your front-line employee uniforms, yadda, yadda -- and people still recognize your brand, you're doing super-awesome. You're putting your company's personality-on-display for all-to-see. High-five. The template for ya:

"Forget price-&-feature wars. I'll brand my shizzle."

Scenario: "Dude, we have to cater to all of our customers. Let's send them all super-personal birthday cards on their birthdays. And, super-duper-personal Thanksgiving cards. Billions! Yay! Yay!" Conventional wisdom says: "Treat everybody that comes through your door equally well!" We say: Blah! Why?

• 20% of your customers make up the bulk of your profits (~80%).
• 80% of your customers make up a lousy percentage of your profits (~20%).

Yes, your other 80% is important -- and you hafta treat them well; but if you're doing it at the expense of your top customers, take caution: When you focus equally on both camps, you get mutha $@!%&^ problems by leaving mutha $@!%&^ profits on the table. Profits from your top 20%, that is.

Why Catering to Everybody Sucks

What is your booty essentially doing when you're catering to everybody? You're working ridiculously harder to generate a much smaller pot of Benjamins. That is, you're expending more time, resources, headaches to serve a group of customers that give you minimal results -- relative to your super-extraordinary customers.

Consider Cheap-Ass Chappy.

1. You're providing marketing services to his "super-awesome" business.
2. Chappy needs five of your company's top "personal" marketing consultants because he thinks his business is "The Bomb!"
3. Really, Chappy's business is a pathetic piece of scam trash that barely generates any profit to feed his self-absorbed narcissistic personality. So, he rarely pays on time -- if ever.
4. He needs you to hand-hold him all-day, everyday -- wasting your (1) resources, and (2) precious time.
5. He needs you to explain things to him five times because he "forgot."
6. He tries to squeeze out every frickin' penny from you -- so that takes him even longer to pay you.
7. Profits you generate: $2,000

Now, Consider Kick-Ass Client Tomas.

1. You're providing marketing services to Tomas's company.
2. Tomas runs a $10 million financial service company filled with super-happy clients. They love his service.
3. Tomas doesn't micro-manage you. He lets you do what you do best, and gives awesome input.
4. He pays you on time, orders more services from you, provides you with fresh leads, and even gives you financial advice.
5. Profits you generate: $8,000

Relative to Cheap-Ass Chappy, Tomas took less of your time, caused you less headaches, kept your morale super-upbeat, conserved your people resources, and drove you to kick major booty everyday. Most importantly, Tomas gave you a much bigger bang for your resources. What's the key for your badass, then? (1) Drive away customers like Chappy (more on this later), and (2) start finding more customers like Tomas.

Why Catering to a Certain Few Rocks

When you focus on the few that create the bulk of your bottom line, two things happen:

1. You sustain your morale to kick-booty everyday.

Ever worked with a viciously-demanding customer that pays you pennies? Not too fun. Of course, part of your brain thinks: "If I can just solve Chappy's problems, I'll be okay!" On the surface, it sounds like that. But, dealing with bad customers cuts much deeper. Bad customers gradually shrivel away 'kicking-ass-mentality' level by pounding your morale each-and-every-time they demand something from you.

2. You start fattening your profits to grow your business.

Think of it this way: Every single one of your customers has an ROI tag attached. The more you invest in finding and keeping your top clients, the more money you generate. If you attracted more Tomases -- and reduced your Chappys, you'll soon discover how just how profitably sexy your business will be.

"So, how do I know who are my top 20%?"

Ask your badass two questions:

1. "Who are my most profitable clients according to my financial sheets?"

Measure each customer's ROI by the profits they've generated for you this week/month/quarter/lifetime.

2. "Who are my profitably-hidden clients?"

Don't confine yourself strictly to financial docs. Several members of your actual top 20% won't be so profitable on your financial docs; however, they bring with them lucrative associations that make you more profitable. For instance, those associations can include key people connections, a juicy source of referrals, priceless feedback/tips/advice on your business, industry expertise, etc.

"So, how do I serve my best clients?"

Think of it this way: if you only had that top 20%, how would you run your business?

1. You'd refine your offerings to suit that sexy 20%.
2. You'd innovate like crazy to their needs.
3. You'd start helping them reach their mutha $@!$%! goals.
4. You'd go the extra 8519417402174 miles for them.

As for the rest of the 80%? Treat them super-good too, but remember: your priority is with the top 20%. You serve them.

The Secret Sauce to It All

Now, you could stick with your current 20/80% customers; but if you really want to kick ass, we'd go further. Ask you super-crazy-badass these two ridiculously awesome questions:

• "How can I attract more customers similar to my top 20%?"
• Or better yet: "How can I reduce more customers like my bottom 80%?"

For instance, consider Chappy in the example above. You want to eliminate customer behaviors like Chappy's. So what do you do? You start:

1. hiking up those fees for "personal" marketing consultants (or removing them completely)
2. write training manuals so you don't have to repeat yourself a million times
3. charge for technical/marketing support so customers like Chappy don't abuse your company's resources

Will Chappy viciously drain your resources in the future? Not likely if you have the right policies in place. That lets your badass focus on your company's juicy top 20%, and equally important: attract more customers like them. The template to get you started:

Top 20% = Juicy good.

Scenario: "Dude, just let time run its course. Yay!" Or, you could just do this: exercise your boo-tay. In a study by Ohio State researchers, scientists discovered exercising sped up the recovery process:

Who Poked Who

Ohio State University scientists delivered a small puncture wound to 28 sedentary men and women ages 55 to 77.

What They Did

They then asked half of the group to exercise on a treadmill, ride a stationery bike, and strength train three times a week, 1 hour per session, for 3 months, while the other half stayed inactive.

What Happened

In the end, the skin wounds healed an average of 10 days faster (29 days versus 39 days) in those who exercised than in those who didn't.

Injuries can affect how fast/much you perform. A bad wrist injury from snowboarding for instance will divert your attention from fully concentrating on your work. So, if you want to heal yourself faster and get back to your business with a vengeance, start moving that boo-tay.

Exercise like a badass.

Scenario: "Dude, if you want to learn as much as you can, don't sleep. Oh Yay!" Did you ever spend all-nighters cramming for some crazy science exam? Unless you did squat the entire semester, you probably didn't learn much. If you're staying up the entire night trying to learn something new for your awesome business, take caution: you probably won't improve what you do, anyway. Harvard's Robert Stickgold's sweet study linked sleep to performance:

After training 24 participants in new tasks, Stickgold's team of researchers kept half of the participants awake until the second night of the study while allowing the other half to sleep. All of the subjects were allowed to sleep on the second and third nights. But on the fourth day of the study, those who had also slept the first night performed better than they had the first day. Those who didn't sleep showed no improvement.

So, chillax.

For learnin', start sleepin'.

Scenario: "Dude, you can't!" Oh-yes-you-betcha-you-could. It's what most business books/authors/scholars/journals/yadda/yadda unfortunately don't really get you doing: Laughing like a crazy mofo. When you laugh, your brain releases serotonin -- making you experience the "oh-my-gosh-ooh-i-feel-so-so-good" feeling. (Friday bonus tip for you singles: That's how you attract a mate.)

If Research Says So...

According to researchers:

Watching Comedy Central may give your creative thinking a boost. Studies show that people are better at solving exercises designed to measure creative thinking immediately after exposure to comedy. Subjects said they felt more alert, active, interested and excited after watching comedy.

That's why we personally love funny shows/books/authors/bloggers/people.

Why Seeking Laughter Rocks

Our three reasons:

• For one thing, it takes your mind off work -- refilling your energy tank for another blast-off.
• Second, it keeps you sane with your hectic schedule, preventing burnouts.
• And best of all, it empowers your creative side, subconsciously -- making it seem as if you're doing zero work for the super-phat effects you'll get afterward.

So when you're heading out for your fabulous weekend, remember: Fun-nay activities/events/shows/movies/friends/family/people = Good. Your creativity will thank you.

Laugh like a mofo.

What makes your fabulous badass laugh?

Scenario: "Dude, we gotta keep all of our employees. If our turnover's low, we're doing super good. Yay!" We read a while back in some prominent business magazine that a super-company boasted about their 0% turnover-rate. Who could blame them? If masses of business books, scholars, and conventional wisdom says so, it must be true. Shouldn't it? Not quite.

How Keeping Everyone Goes Wrong

You're mixing a variety conflicting values when you keep everyone you hire. That results in a blah-employee environment. Instead of getting a rockin' atmosphere of people who passionately share the same values and aspirations, you get working-drones who come to work everyday just trying to make a living. If you're looking to build a spectacularly awesome business that rocks the world for ages, forget keeping everybody. Instead, start looking for people who magnetically share your values and pursuits -- and drive out those who don't.

Why Mixing Values Hurts Your Company

Mixing conflicting values in your company is like starting a classical group with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Snoop Dogg. What happens? Good entertainment for the first hour -- but, then culture corruption:

1. Yo-Yo Ma: "Let's spend our budget on Viola string adjusters!"
2. Snoop Dogg: "No wizzle. We're spending it on weed. Done."
3. They box.

Your company's values slowly erodes for every person you keep with conflicting values. Before you know it, your company becomes another boring, lifeless, entity on the corner. Blah.

People Thrive When Working with Similar People

Think of the top five people you've worked with. Chances are:

1. Their work experience = irrelevant.
2. Their credentials = irrelevant.
3. Your values matched with theirs super-crazily-well.

No politics. No back-stabbings. No drama. That's how business teams should function. And, that's how the best companies tick: finding people who passionately share similar values.

"But suckas, what values do I choose?"

Peep this:

• Google wants super-innovative tech stars.
• Starbucks wants community-driven people.
• 3M wants super independent innovators.
• At Trizzy, we want humanitarians.

Asserts the fabulous Jim Collins in his six-year Stanford study, you don't need to choose a certain set of values; you just need to have some mutha $!@% values:

There is no right set of core values for a visionary company. The crucial variable is not the content of a company's ideology, but how deeply it believes in its ideology and how consistently it lives, breathes, and expresses it in all that it does. Visionary companies do not ask, 'What should we value?' They ask, 'What do we actually value deep down to our toes?'

Stay true to your fabulous self, get people who share your values, and watch your super-dope team rock the world like it ain't no thang but a chicken wing on a string.

Seek values.