Chris Knudsen on Life & Business

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Friday round up - why smart guys in the right place win

I’ve had an amazing couple of weeks and I wanted to share some thoughts on business that keep popping up in my daily life.

I can’t overemphasis how important the formula of lead + closer + high margin product is. DO NOT build a business. Build a process around lead + closer + high margin product and you will achieve success.

I mentioned this before but I’ll say it again: There are incredible opportunities to make money in a down market. America is broke. How do you make money off that? Trust me, there are a ton of ways. One thing I’m seeing in lead generation right now is how much demand exists for mortgages. Yes, you heard me right - there is still a high demand for mortgages. The problem is most Americans can’t qualify because their credit sucks, their underwater on their house, or any number of a hundred other reasons. The people making it in that industry have figured out two things:

1. How to work with people who are broke (providing value in both directions)
2. How to market in a down cycle 

For those smart enough to have it figured out there’s a lot of money to be made.

Along those lines, one of the things I hate about working in the Internet space is that you’re always competing for the best brain power. Its expensive and its taxing. The competition for talent is what’s keeping a lot of high potential companies from reaching the next level. I was out to dinner with a high school buddy last night. He used to work in tech but now he owns a janitorial company. His janitorial business is thriving because he’s a smart guy and he’s figured out some cool things about his industry that the sheep haven’t.

When I was in my undergrad I figured out that if I transferred back to UVSC from BYU I could graduate a lot faster. So I went to UVSC to finish my bachelors degree. At BYU I was just like everyone else in the room and the competition was stiff. At UVSC, I was a rock star. I’m not trying to brag but I was a little smarter there than the average student. I saw a lot of benefit from that. 

So here’s another formula:

Smartest guy among average people running averages businesses in average industries = huge success.