Page 44 - Free the Idea Monkey

companies, mortgage companies
and directly to consumers—and
intimately knowing and refining
every single metric that drives
his business. This guy measures
everything and therefore knows
how to make small tweaks and get
highly predictable (and profitable)
results. He’s the closest thing to an
operational genius that I’ve seen.
Marc is a (Ring)leader.

And he was stuck in a corner. The recession had driven the real
estate industry—a primary sales channel—into the toilet. Like
everyone else, Marc was surrounded by bad news. Insurance is a
capital-intense business and he was worried that his firm could
become undercapitalized, putting everything at risk.

Despite his amazing track record, he found himself tired, scared
and out of ideas. Marc called his nine closest friends—business-
people like himself—laid out his situation and asked for help. It was
absolutely the right thing to do.

Dan Baker’s excellent book titled What Happy People Know
includes this very important lesson: you can’t feel trapped and afraid
and happy at the same time. One solution, according to Baker, is to
manufacture choices. The more choices—even silly ones—you cre-
ate, the less trapped you feel and the happier you can be.

Unfortunately, when you are feeling trapped, it is difficult to see
or brainstorm choices. Marc needed choices. Marc needed ideas. And
that is what his friends provided. Here are some of the questions
that got Marc unstuck:

• What outcome do you want? What is standing in your way?
• What other services could you provide?
• If you were selling a product, what would it be?
• What would you do today if money did not matter?
• Have you considered_____________? How about ____________?
• Will you please come and work for me?

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