Michael Jordan Can't Coach Basketball

Main Business Updates:

My main business I am operating right now finished the month with $2.51M in revenue. Down 7% from July’s $2.69M. 

Despite what you might think, I am stoked, even though sales are down.

Here’s why:

In July, I fired my sales manager from his position. I needed to make this decision maybe 6 months ago but hesitated because I wanted to make sure of a few things.

First, I was worried that I had not been clear enough in what I wanted out of my manager. Our business was growing month by month and the requirements kept changing. 

My brain was unsure if the issue was as a result of my lack of proper direction or this person was no longer the right fit. 

However, my gut knew all along this person was NOT in the right position.

A sales manager needs to be a highly organized person WITH the drive to continually push the envelope of their team. 

They also need to be the emotional rock of the sales team.

Sales people are divas. 

Competitive, and emotionally driven. They are the personification of a Jager-Bomb. 

A sales manager needs to be a logically driven, systemized person.

To piggyback on the drink analogy, they are a smooth glass of Whiskey.

Here is one important thing I learned that I can pass on to you:

If someone is a great sales person, or even the most senior sales person, it does NOT mean they are going to be the best sales manager. 

It seems obvious once said outloud. 

Here’s where I went wrong: 

I promoted my best sales guy to manage the team because I thought he could train them to all close as much as he did. I assumed he would be able to get them to do what he did. 

That’s like expecting Michael Jordan to coach a highschool basketball team.

Most of the team would quit basketball. And none would ever reach Jordan’s greatness. 

This is why the best players never become the best coaches.

The same principle applies to employees, regardless of them being on the sales team, product design, customer service, etc.

My mistake cost me over $1,000,000 this year, I am sure of it.

Lesson learned. 

Hopefully by reading this email you don’t make the same mistake.

So in August, we ran the sales team without a full time manager. And sales were down, but nothing crazy despite missing a key person. 

Imagine what we can do with the right manager in charge!

Luckily, near the tail end of the month, we found a promising candidate and are in the process of onboarding and training him. I will give updates on this in future posts.

New developments

I met a friend. 

This might seem small, but being a 31 year old self-made multi millionaire entrepreneur, it can be nearly impossible to find men my age that are near the same level with a similar drive to keep pushing.

Most of my entrepreneur friends are 10-20 years older than me, have wives, children and are overall in a different stage of life than I am. 

Alternatively, I have old friends that are happy living a more traditional, 9-5 life. I love them for it but I can’t help but notice that we have grown apart over the last few years.

It’s been fucking lonely man.

My new friend’s name is Dave. 

He’s a 26 and has been in business since he was 11 years old. 

We met 8 days ago through a mutual friend. 

Turns out he has been having a difficult time finding friends too. Our instant connection was obvious to both of us. 

So much so that after a few days, I decided that I will move across the city to his building.

I hired a realtor to find me a rental unit.

I negotiated myself out of my previous lease with my landlord and moved all of my belongings over. 

I definitely learned to follow my gut and act on things that are obviously the right thing to do. 

I don’t need to repeat the same mistake of contemplating a decision as I did with my previous sales manager when my gut is telling me the answer. 

Future Interesting Projects:

I am going to Boston to meet up with @tommy.guarino from Instagram. He is a content creator who is connected to Matt Damon and Mark Walberg. 

He is looking to figure out how to properly monetize his audience.

Maybe I can help him come up with a business concept to grow on the back of his attentive audience, or maybe I’ll make a new friend 🙂.

I’ll update you on anything interesting I discover there.

Till next time,

-Vessal