Overhead Overboard
Overhead Overboard
Meet Your Host, Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it.
His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on several boards of directors in various capacities.
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 30th year and sixth edition. His newest is Your Legacy is Now: Life is not about a search for meaning but the creation of meaning (Routledge, 2021). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages.
Get to know AlanShow Notes
Here’s how I saved the entire $450,000 tuition bill for my kids by not having an office.
I’ve never needed nor desired employees for my strong, seven-figure business. I want help that’s “in and out” very quickly, no long-term obligations. I use very good outside firms because I believe in investing money to save money. My worth isn’t based on “virtual assistants” whom I find virtually worthless.
Observe the “total days to cash” dynamic, and improve your cash flow by collecting early, not late, on your terms, not the client’s terms. Remember, it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.
You can do this without sacrificing well-being: first class air, hotel suites, and limos. That’s because you charge clients basic and reasonable expense rates but can afford to upgrade yourself.
But you have to eschew fanaticism. You don’t need version 4.1ab.7-a of anything. I learned the nonsense of ridiculous backups in pre-computer Prudential Insurance. Never “automatically upgrade.”
Do I drive the last of the blazing fast, manual shift Corvettes, or do I drive a seven-year-old Chevy? It depends upon how you perceive it.
Make your corporate bylaws as favorable as possible in order to use pre-tax and not post-tax money. Maximize every retirement plan available to you, and “catch-up” if you miss a year.
Minimize meetings to increase your margins, and learn how I saved a month a year by simply refusing “small talk.” Oh, yeah: Web sites are not sales tools, so stop investing anything beyond basic credibility needs in them.
Success, not perfection, my friends.
Alan Weiss’s The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.
Introduction to the show recorded by Connie Dieken
