Jul
7
The Business Peril Of Personality
by Crystal Clayton, filed under In General
That’s not personality with a little “p”, as in characteristics of individual behavior…I mean Personality with a big fat “P”, as in celebrity. Everyone has a personality, but famous folks are a Personality.
And with my Passive Income Glasses on, I view that as a problem. As an entrepreneur can be caged by their business because they don’t delegate and outsource day-to-day tasks, a Personality is worse off because they can’t delegate or outsource their role.
They are their job. Their job is them.
Think about it: What if Rachael Ray got sick, or just sick of cooking, and stopped doing her cable shows? Rachael is the shows and the shows are her. If she is paid per show like most TV actors, then she doesn’t get paid if she’s not in front of the camera.
However, among other things, Rachael has written and published umpteen cookbooks. As the author, she likely receives royalties—a small percentage of each and every book sale…forever. Here are some thoughts, ideas, and a fine example on how we can build this scenario for ourselves.
Getting Over Beyond Ourselves
Like Rachael, we must extend our business beyond ourselves, even if—especially if—we are the business and the business is us. We need to ensure we’re paid even when we’re removed from day-to-day operations, whether we’ve chosen not to do our work or we find ourselves unable to.
Think on these—
- Rachael isn’t the first or only celebrity chef to publish books or license her persona: Julia Child also wrote best selling cookbooks, while Wolfgang Puck’s name and face are on a dozen bottles and boxes in the grocery.
- Movie celebrities have a long history of insuring their signature body parts for up to 8 figures. Notable food critics insure their taste buds, dancers insure their legs, female strippers insure their boobs, and some male stripper insured his nethers.
- Even way-minor celebrities have to manage extraction from a business that’s closely tied to their personality. When Lisa of Hungry Girl wanted to get clear of her Monday-Friday ezine, she queried her readers for a writer who could mimic her tone and style.
With these in mind, here are a handful of ways to extend our businesses beyond ourselves. Each can take a variety of forms and some or all can be combined for a portfolio of continuous hands-free income:
- Write a book
- Package a process
- License or patent
- Teach others how
A Fine Example
Jim Horan of the One Page Business Plan is someone who assembled all of these. He started with a process for developing concise and effective business performance plans, then extended his consultancy beyond himself by:
- Writing books
His One Page Business Plan books are well-rated sellers at Amazon. Cleverly, he composed a 4-book series by directing his one process at four different groups—non-profits, consultants, creatives, and financials. The examples are specific to each group, but the core content is the same. - Packaging his process
In addition to his books, Horan packaged his process into retreats and workshops, as well as a web-based system with enterprise software and graduate school level e-learning. With these, his process is executed by certified facilitators and proprietary technology—totally hands-off continuing income for him. - Licensing his work
The One Page Business Plan site labels Horan’s process as “proprietary methodology” and his licensed consultants and international affiliates prove this to be true. Anyone who wants to resell his process to their clients has to pay up. - Teaching others how
Consultants wanting to resell the One Page Business Plan process pay a pretty penny for training and certification, as well as annual license renewal. But like any franchise, licensees benefit from his established brand and overall marketing, and get some support for training, sales, and demos.
A Few Notes
- At the heart of it, Horan has only one product. One. There’s no madly varied suite of offerings here, just his one great idea configured, presented, and earning in a myriad of ways.
- Horan’s collection is crafted for many spending levels and audiences. His books cost around $25, his smallest license and certification program costs $2,800 with a $250 annual renewal, and his executive certification program costs $10,000.
- Horan’s site says he has over 400 licensed consultants out there. Even if they’re all at the lowest consulting tier (and I’d bet they’re not), the $250 annual licensing fee comes to at least $100,000 each year.
- The production, marketing, distribution, and sales of Rachael’s books are delegated/outsourced to a publisher and partners who share her income, and are therefore dedicated to her success. Yum-O, indeed!
- If you haven’t already, catch Our Freedom at Work and James Hipkin’s great comment on resolving how there’s only so much of me to go around.
Et tu? Do you have a plan in place, or in action? Did this spark an idea, or give you a push? Lemme know down below…
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12 Responses to “The Business Peril Of Personality”
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Whew! Taking a short break from blogging, folks. More posts coming soon. Thanks for your patience!
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Great post Crystal. Whether it’s a book, a license, a process or other people this is all about delegation. Easy for me to say. Taking the plunge and letting some other person / entity take your baby forward is really tough. But, you need to do it.
As with many difficult things it’s all about the first step. When you take it you will find it’s not as hard as you thought it would be. Try something small. Get the feel for it. Soon you will be delegating for fun and profit.
Recent blog post from James Hipkin: What Commuting Says About Time Management
Nice perspective on self-worth. Rachel has made herself into a brand. Branding yourself as indispensable no matter what line of business you are in will always bring royalties along with it IMO.
Thanks James! Very cool to think of it all as just one thing–delegation—in a collection of forms. It seems more manageable that way.
And I don’t envy folks who hadn’t planned to release their baby to someone else’s care, and then find they have to. It’s heartbreaking to even think of it. We invest a lot of time, energy, and love into our projects/businesses…
…and woe be to the person who reminds us that it will need to leave home some day…or that it’s ugly!
And it is easy to say, but if we can’t/don’t say it, we may never try to do it
Thanks again!
@Jim—Thanks for your comment and welcome!
I agree that indispensable can bring royalties galore when it means “incapable of being disregarded or neglected”…that’s what it’s all about, yeh?
But we trap ourselves in a job or a business when we allow ourselves to be “absolutely necessary” (another definition of indispensable)…
Hi Crystal,
Well, I have a couple of ideas that are bouncing around in my head. I just need to get to the business of taking action with them. Thanks for the great inspiration!
Recent blog post from Kimberly Ben: Setting Rates You Can Live With
Crystal,
This is interesting as I am on the way to doing the same thing. Question: In your opinion is the order important or can you trademark and license the methogdology before the book comes out?
Best,
Karl
Recent blog post from Sales Training: Messaging: You can leave it, if it is the right one. Part 1 - No flashing lights!
@Kim—Glad I could help!
@Karl—IMO (not a legal one…it’s just what I would do), I’d get all that legal “It’s mine all mine” stuff taken care of before letting it loose on the world.
The more eyes on it, like with a widely-read book, the more likely someone will get ornery and try to take it for themselves.
I’m not usually a “Mine all mine” kind of person, but it appears that much of the earning value is in it’s uniqueness. for this kind of thing.
But like any other rule, we gotta be ready to enforce it if someone steps over the line. The trademark/licensing is only worth the trouble if we’re prepared to take legal action to get them to cut it out.
Great question, I hadn’t thought on that, and it’s important to have something in mind for it, if not in place.
@All—Exchanged some emails with GirlPie and she has a fantastic alliterative (my favorite!) phrase for what Jim Horan did:
Publish * Package * Patent * Preach
@All—Though, based on Karl’s comment, I suspect it may be better to do it in this order:
Patent * Publish * Package * Preach
Sorry for the extra comment…I gotta remember to finish thinking before I start clicking!
BEING my company is definitely something that concerns me. When I worked for a small company, my boss talked about creating a machine that would not depend on p(P)ersonalities to drive it. My freelance copywriting business is nothing but a Personality. Thus, it’s not something I can sell later on when I get tired of writing.
I am working to expand the definition of myself and my business, but I struggle to find the time to take the extra steps.
[...] week I mentioned Jim Horan, a consultant who earns passive income by certifying other consultants to resell his licensed One Page Business Plan system. He charges [...]
Really nice ideas about personality factor which are must for working with some corporate firm where quality matters rather than quantity!
I hadn’t had the opportunity to read your blog before, but I kind of stumble on it by way of Google, looking for info on personality and success.
Great article on Personality (with capital P).
I’ve been telling my clients (most of them solo entrepreneurs or independent salespeople) that they don’t really have a *business* but an *occupation*.
What’s the difference between the two? With a business, you can delegate, work with others even take a vacation and the business (and income!) keeps on coming. But if you are your business, then it is an occupation, and you cannot even have a weekend off without your business (and income again!) suffering…
My blog The Success Voyager (read it at http://successvoyager.blinkweb.com details some other characteristics of the Successful Voyager (as I consider us).
Keep up your work,
Jorge Pinkus
Your Success Voyage Guide & Coach
http://successvoyager.blinkweb.com