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0 - Introduction

Excerpted from Business Black Belt by Burke Franklin

We are limited more by our own thinking than by reality.

I’ve earned a black belt and I’ve built a business. Coincidentally, I started the process for each at the same time. What’s behind the nuts and bolts of success? Much has to do with willpower, luck, and some fortuitous technology, but only a few people have successfully built companies on those things alone. What else does it take, and can that be learned? I think it can.

Since 1979, I’ve participated in over 100 seminars—business, personal, sales, corporate. Some were touchy-feely, some involved screaming, yelling, and crying. I’ve read many of the popular books, listened to speakers and their tapes and videos, but only after building and running my company could I synthesize them into actual, usable direction for you. I’ve applied much of this knowledge and experience to building my own company, and I share with you what actually worked for me. I share selected processes that, from my experience, have had a profound impact on the success of my business. You will be more effective with people and your approach to building your company. These concepts will benefit you as a manager of a start-up as well as a mature company. Also, we’ve built much of this information into the JIAN line of software packages.

The ‘90s are very different than the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, but these years are only a warm-up for the coming millennium. Something big but subtle happened when we turned that last corner. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to apply new ways of thinking—doing the right thing, being supportive of people’s well-being, and paying attention to karma—to business in the ‘90s. (I use the definition of karma from Hinduism and Buddhism. Karma is the total effect of a person’s actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person’s existence that determine the person’s destiny.) No more hype and get-rich-quick schemes. They seem to be back-firing in record numbers. People are smarter and less victimizable. No more anxious pushing to close sleazy deals. They end up costing more in the long run and the lawsuits aren’t worth the trouble and the cost. Any form of harassment is intolerable. Crooked financial schemes are unraveling. Anything less than excellent workmanship is unacceptable.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt: The universal sales pitch
Scare the hell out of your sales prospects and they’ll buy your product or service. How is your underarm deodorant working today? Are you driving the right car? Are you spending too much money?

It occurred to me that many people around me are trying to scare me. Scare me into buying their product or service. Give me bad enough news and I’ll do what they want.

I’m already motivated to take action when something needs to be done. Like most entrepreneurs, I’m not predisposed to sit around, but when I decided not to be afraid, my mind became clearer. I knew what I wanted and how to go about getting it—without being at the mercy of other people’s fears or their projections of fear. The elimination of my unconscious physical fear on my way to becoming a black belt is largely what led to these invaluable insights.

A black belt for you?
I believe that everyone should practice a martial art of some kind—even if you don’t go as far as black belt. The martial arts are a safe channel for aggression and frustration, to train your mind with your body, and to enhance your skill and mental acuity in every other sport and physical activity. You can practice it for the rest of your life. You also won’t be afraid of the dark or anyone in business meetings, big cities, and foreign countries.

You’ll find many parallels between the martial arts and business. To earn a black belt, you must train, persist, and be prepared. You must know what to look for, what to do, when to move in, and when to back off. When you apply the martial arts philosophies to your business, you’ll protect yourself as you practice a healthier, longer lasting approach to successful business. The world at large may not quite be ready for businesspeople who “do the right thing,” so you need to watch out for yourself. But if you do the right thing to make sure that all parties win and generate a nice profit, you can avoid getting beaten up in the process.

Many times in martial arts, the subtlest move can have a major effect. This can be a helpful concept in management, marketing, and sales. Some moves are indirect, some are counter-intuitive. Your opponent zigs, expecting you to zag, but you might zig too. Instead of blocking and moving back, you sidestep and move in. Sometimes you need to be consistent, sometimes you need to be unpredictable. Flow with what’s happening at any moment in time and look for the openings, the opportunities. Sometimes you need to do nothing and let your opponents just wear themselves out. A true master is aware of the dirty game and can defend against the cheaters with dignity. In my Tae Kwon Do (tie´•kwon•doe´) school, we were taught to watch our opponent when we bow in the unlikely event that he or she might try to kick us in the face during what is supposed to be a gesture of respect. When you think, feel, and act like a Black Belt, you’ll have more control of the game and play it your way.

Compete without fear
When you have the wisdom to do business without fear, you also have much more time to think because your mind is not locked by fear. Why fear your competitors? Instead, use them for training, focus, and motivation. Why try to beat up your competitors? Just have the strength not to get beaten up by them.

What I see in business is very much like what I see on TV. Some guy gets beaten up or a woman is molested before the martial arts hero shows up. If the victim had just known some slick moves, he or she could easily have defeated the attacker. In business, you can get mugged, but why not turn the attack into a victory for yourself?

Everyone is in business one way or another. The insights in this book should help you run your business more efficiently, and be street-smart on the job. This book is dedicated to promoting the idea that people work together and do the right thing. How can that not be successful?

Where the rubber meets the road
This is not a management analyst’s look at business from 10,000 feet. Instead, I look at things likely to happen day to day, Monday through Friday (usually Saturday and maybe part of Sunday), that are going to bite you on your butt and cost you a lot of money—if you overlook them. If I’d had this foresight to do some things differently from the beginning, I’d have saved myself thousands of dollars and many headaches.

At the end of the week when I’m signing a pile of checks with hundreds and thousands of dollars going here and there, I know that every one of them is the result of my past attitude and actions—what I was thinking and doing in a previous moment to create that expense. I’ve enjoyed learning some very expensive lessons. In fact, each chapter in this book cost me from at least $1,000 to as much as $350,000 apiece. After reading all of it, I hope you’ll have profited from my investment.

We enjoy the same problems
This book is written from my experiences, from my perspectives and as I perceived them—the solutions I describe have nothing to do with others. What I write and describe are not about them. They’re about me and my contribution to the situation—good and bad (if you are making those judgments). This book is meant entirely to assist you (if and/or when you might be in a similar situation) to consider some alternatives to maneuver effectively through potentially painful and expensive situations. The reader (you) must not make any assumptions about who or which company I may have referred to as a source of any wrong doing—I make no accusations. No one person or organization can claim credit for providing the scenario I use as my example. (If you think or perceive that it’s you I’m referring to or embarrassing in some way, it’s not; however, I do appreciate any contribution to my learning.) Unfortunately, it often took several situations before I got the message.

Business Black Belt is an outlet for me to share the not-so-obvious and the obvious-if-recognized things I’ve learned or seen in business. I’m going to assume that I’m not much different from you as an ambitious businessperson. I’m sure that my experiences, with variations, will somehow benefit you. To make the most of this book, see how the information, anecdotes, and situations indeed apply to you and your situation.

I’m looking forward to doing business with you some day soon.

All the best,

Burke Franklin

All you need is a good idea...
sell it...
make millions...
and live happily ever after.
— A common belief

Click here to learn more about Business Black Belt or to order a complete hard-copy version for yourself or a friend.

About the author and reprint permission
Burke Franklin is the originator of the popular BizPlanBuilder® business planning software and the founder of JIAN (jee’on -- www.jian.com), the company behind a suite of successful business development software tools for Windows & Macintosh. Burke was elected to White House Conference on Small Business and nominated for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.” Burke is also an instrument-rated pilot, and a second-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo. Burke’s highly praised book, Business Black Belt draws parallels from the martial arts and is rich in hard-won advice for building and running a business today.
Permission granted to reprint this article in its entirety with no text alterations. You must include this byline in its entirety, plus, if it's to be posted to a web site, an active hyperlink to www.JIAN.com. (However, you may become an affiliate and insert your affiliate link to JIAN.)

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