Street Smarts: "You Do What?"

"I import dirt," he said. And if he can keep his focus, it just might work.

1 | 2 NEXT

I recently read a New York Times article about a professor who'd done a survey and found that 35 percent of American entrepreneurs, by their own admission, are dyslexic. I think if she had been asking about attention deficit disorder, the number would have been closer to 90 percent.

It's no secret that most entrepreneurs--including me--suffer from ADD. Actually, I can't say that I've suffered from it, since I think it's had a lot to do with my success over the years. For that matter, I'm not sure I agree that ADD is a disorder. To me, it's just a condition, a personality attribute, and it has pluses and minuses. In some situations, I'm sure, people who don't have ADD are the ones at a disadvantage. That said, if you happen to be a lucky ADD sufferer and you're in business for yourself, you can do yourself a favor by developing some counterbalancing traits. The most important one is the most obvious: the ability to focus.

Let me tell you about Steven Friedman, who came to see me a few months ago looking for help. As soon as he walked through the door, I recognized him as a kindred spirit. He was a hyper young man in his mid-20s, with so many great ideas for businesses he could hardly contain himself. Every time he turned around, it seemed, he spotted another fabulous opportunity. Not only that, but his friends were constantly coming to him with more ideas. He was drowning in ideas. He didn't know what to do with them all.

"OK, let's just take it easy," I said in my most soothing voice. "Do you have a business now? Tell me what you do."

"Right now, I import dirt from the Holy Land and sell it," he said.

"You do what?" I asked, not sure I had understood him correctly.

"I import dirt--you know, soil--from Israel," he said. "I've been to Israel quite a bit, and I know how people feel about earth from the Holy Land. I figured it would be easy to import some in large lots, sell it in small lots, and make a lot of money." He noted that, at Jewish funerals, the mourners traditionally sprinkle dirt on the coffin. He figured that a lot of people would like the idea of sprinkling Holy Land dirt, and he could sell it through funeral homes.

I was impressed. "That sounds like a pretty good idea," I said.

"Yeah, I liked it, too, until I tried to bring the dirt in," he said.

Steven explained that, after getting the idea, he did some research on the Internet to see whether anyone else was importing earth from Israel. He found that several people had thought about it, but no one had done it. When he dug a little deeper, he discovered why. Because soil contains organic matter, it is subject to the same importing rules that apply to fruit and vegetables--that is, you have to get permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring it in, which involves getting it treated, tested, and formally approved. That process alone can add considerable expense, and then there's the cost of acquiring the dirt, shipping it, packaging it, storing it, marketing it, and delivering it to customers--all before you have any idea how much of it, if any, you can sell and at what price.

And yet Steven had somehow managed to overcome those obstacles. He'd imported 40,000 pounds of dirt from Israel with USDA approval. He'd even put out press releases at the time of its arrival, and the story had been picked up by dozens of newspapers around the country, including New York Newsday and the New York Daily News. He'd trademarked the name Holy Land Earth and set up a website where customers could order one-pound bags of the dirt. (The price is $39.95.) Lest anyone doubt where the dirt came from, he'd lined up an eminent rabbi in Jerusalem to vouch for its authenticity. And although he recognized the potential appeal of Holy Land Earth to Christians and Muslims as well as to Jews, he'd targeted his marketing at Jewish funeral homes and succeeded in making some sales.

"That's very interesting," I said. "Where is the dirt now?"

"It's in a warehouse that a guy I know has in New Jersey," he said. "He doesn't charge me too much to keep it there."

"So what are you going to do with it?" I asked.

"I'll keep selling it," he said, "but it doesn't take up too much of my time, and I've got these other things that I can work on." And he started to reel off his ideas, none of which had anything to do with Holy Land Earth.

"Wait a second, slow down," I said. "You're talking about six different businesses here."

He gave me a funny look. "So?" he asked. "It says in the magazine you started six businesses."

"Yeah, one at a time," I said. "And I don't even think about doing another until the one I'm working on either fails or reaches critical mass where it's able to live off its own cash flow. It's hard enough to concentrate on one thing and make it successful without having others competing for your attention. You'll be so busy chasing after opportunities that you'll miss the big opportunity in front of your nose. Listen, you've already made some classic mistakes with this one, and you need to learn from them. That's how entrepreneurs get to be good at what they do: by analyzing their mistakes so they don't repeat them."

1 | 2 NEXT

Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!

Renew | Contact Us | Current Issue

Select Services