Think Bigg-r

A journey with scars, but new friendships, immense learning, more victory over self, all of which is driving greater success in alternative ventures.

When you pick up one end of the stick (own choices), you also pick up the other end (not free to choose the consequences). Being proactive means you face reality, acknowledge mistakes, learn from it and move on. The mistakes at TPK did not hurt me because I chose to respond in ways that created value.

Start with the end in mind. I bought The Powder Keg (TPK) with the intention of returning to South Africa. I had a clear understanding of where to take the business, and how. The Manager was given the opportunity of gross margin sharing from which he would pay selling and administration costs. Empowerment.

A material shift of the end in mind. Six years back I decided to stay in Europe. With this change, the TPK decision was to “burn or cross the bridge”. Financially I should have “burned the bridge”, but in other dimensions, it was a journey with no regrets. My self belief (too much maybe), a big factor in why I stayed too long in something I could not turn around. A small business needs skin in the game and on site ownership.

With reflection, I should have spent more time articulating the “end in mind”, removing my passion, to an objective assessment of the gun industry, the licensing process and its administration. Even if I had returned to SA, I would have come to the realisation that my talent is more productive elsewhere. We should continually look in the mirror to determine the accuracy of our maps.

Legacy is a 24 hour problem. Not in this industry!

I have an inside-out approach to life, I start with myself, meaning that if I think the problem is on the outside, that is the problem.

When I bought TPK I did not do a proper due diligence. I could have blamed the stock that was over valued as a result of invoicing arrangements with overseas suppliers, or that the firearms register did not align with police records, but none of that would have been a proactive step in the solution. Finding blame and excuses is a victimhood mentality, an obstacle to real progress.

Patience when you on the right path is great, but if you on the wrong path its just a slow death.

Observation. Consider carefully buying an owner operated business where the owner does not have a mindset of generational wealth. There is a high risk of mess. Owners focused on building generational wealth ensure that their ventures are proper and can be taken forward profitably.

Thanks to my dad, now 93, for an ingrained mentality of generational wealth.

People determine outcomes.

An ex colleague and friend said to me in the first 30 days “do you really think that the TPK team have the competence to implement your strategies?” I was slow to recognise this, or maybe filtering it out, or just too much self belief. Contemplating changes from abroad revealed burning complexities related to the firearms industry.

I was naïve to think that a manager in a small business had the inner security, a source of direction in life, judgement, discernment, comprehension, integrated wholeness needed to give strength to accomplish the growth initiatives. Someone with these attributes would have their own business, or have a career in a multi national organisation.

Growing older, my tolerance for shallowness tightened. Empty conversations, the absence of depth and a lack of shared values weaned my interest. I am comfortable being uncertain, I just need the real score. The gap between myself and the team was simply to wide to bridge.

Proactive measures taken.

In the first month we handed over 300 firearms to the police for destruction. These firearms, irrespective of value, were fog in the process to clean the register and just another distraction, especially in a small minded subsistence mindset at TPK, interacting in a philosophy of lose /lose.

The number of firearms stored on behalf of “customers” for no value added complexity and fog. In the context of everything, I made a decision to return firearms in storage to their owners, irrespective of whether storage fees could be invoiced going forward, or not. The cancer had to be cut out, the collateral damage being some healthy cells (revenue). Put the mask over your own face before trying to help others with free storage.

Getting above the level of the fog. Clear as mud.

A hostage of people and the firearms industry.

Chaos was either acceptable to our manager, or it was a strategy of hostage to prevent me exiting the business. My on site involvement was not an option, and the manager did not accept the entrepreneurial approach of gross margin sharing. That statement seems like an outside-in approach, but its the ladder test.

Back to inside-out, I do not subscribe to the victim mentality, I have an absolute rejection of the victim mindset, I shoulder full responsibility. I was not looking down the barrel of a gun, so no excuses!. Instead, I was focused in Europe where my energy was better spent. Action in a hostage situation is not easy, but nothing is impossible.

I stopped the retail selling of firearms a few years back, slicing a significant revenue stream. I did this knowing that the holding of firearms for sale and awaiting licences was the chain around my balls in an exit. I did not want to rely on selling the business to exit, rather have the ability to load a container and ship the stock to Europe, if needed, and as we are doing now. I needed exit options in an industry with few.

An outsider view (and management) of my decision to stop selling firearms was “stupidity”. For me it was carving out escape options, far more valuable to me than revenue from selling firearms. Staff and police incompetence to control records was at the core of this decision. Even today we are resolving 2 barrels that are not properly accounted for since my purchase of TPK.

Show me your friends and I will know you.

I met the good, the bad and the ugly. Experiences which kept pushing my boundaries of continuous learning. I am fascinated by how peoples conditioning in life (especially childhood) play out. I learned through scars that for every enduring relationship going forward, if the other party is not scripted in win/win, I walk away. Simple validations of integrity, maturity and abundance mentality are enough to know. In tough times the clarity is flawless, obvious.

Without self reflection and a desire to seek objective (accurate) maps of the world, the leopard does not change its spots.

TPK was not able to attract high discerning customers. It would not be proper for me to expand other than state that birds of the same feather flock together. The consulting part of my work (www.thinkbigg-r.com) was named out of the frustration of a subsistence type mindset at TPK. Firearms such as in the picture below were not able to be sold with a small mind mentality.

Follow your talent. Not your passion.

As a child my dad said “keep guns your hobby”. Following a successful innings in corporate, I pivoted back to a venture in TPK (my passion). The scars of the journey, got me refocused in the zone of my leadership talent. My inner strength ensures the scars in TPK added another dimension of learning, a filter for future ventures, that I bring in consulting.

I acted on feelings instead of subordinating my feelings to values when acquiring the business. A simple due diligence would have uncovered the cancer.

Stop asking “what’s my passion” and start asking “what’s worth suffering for”. Passion sounds fun. The real question is what pain you’re willing to sit through. That’s where the answers lie @scottdclary

Signs that the lift did not go all the way to the top were there early on.

The managers inability to keep meaningful relationships, communicating only good news, never admitting wrong, friendships that were not honest, and so the laundry list goes on.

My frustration came from expecting a team to see what I saw, but they didn’t because they couldn’t. In all of this, I was the problem because I did not recognise that if someone’s gate is not open for self reflection and learning, I was pissing against the wind.

A red flag.

Staff who put being liked before being respected, who cannot say no, who don’t get back. They destroy businesses. They attract customers who interact in the paradigm of Win/lose and the business gets “f..cked”. Such a profile of manager rarely has skin in the game because they don’t have skin. They tell you what they think you want to hear. No matter how many times I would say “I don’t trust that there is only good news”, it was never heard.

Inside-out approach to life. My lack of proactivity exposed.

I knew I was a hostage to personal interests. People (me in this instance) only change when the pain of staying the same becomes unbearable. Finances were not enough pain given my diversity and a functional addiction to work. The pain that became unbearable was a loneliness, not sharing any depth with the team, many in the industry, and a level of dishonesty, even in high financial worth customers.

People lessons.

Your network is not the people you know, the LinkedIn connections, social media follows; it is the people who return your call, about 5 for most of us. Friends who don’t just want you to win, but help you win.

The more seriously I took my goals, the less I had in common with the team, not any criticism, just more clarity over time of different priorities.

My TPK journey resulted in friendships that are exponentially greater than the accumulated scars of the ugly. Divorcing from people who have compromised values and principles at their core is beautiful. Values are not principles. Thieves share values with fellow criminals. My overriding philosophy is to do good no matter what. Short term losses are surpassed by medium and long term benefit.

I am not impressed by people whose sense of personal worth comes primarily from their net worth. They are vulnerable in anything that effects their net worth. I accept that most people are scripted in Win/lose behaviour.

The elephant in the room.

I have a finish line that never ends. Some call that ambition, to me it is a functional addiction to work, focused on the journey rather than end goals. Doing the right thing no matter what is the lighthouse in my life. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Repair speed is a great metric that predicts success in next ventures. How fast you come back from a fight. Many ask how I navigate the stress of dealing with issues remotely. Thanks to Kirsten, trustworthy and consistent, doing the right thing no matter what. Attending to the boring stuff.

They say if you need loyalty, get a dog. TPK needed Kirsten.

Coping with stress.

I have no negative stress in the fight or the scars. Below a screenshot from my Hume Band. The reason, my life is centred on correct principles and values which never change irrespective of the situation, creating my security, wisdom, guidance, and the power to act.

Final reality.

“Shit” or get off the toilet. “Stupid” people benefit from failing faster. It took me longer (too long), but my proactive approach in facing reality will ensure a quick closing, and the quality of my next moment. Restart faster! My scars not an obstacle to next moments, just a filter.

Life is not short, just don’t waste it. If you do, do it in ways that you enjoy. I never regret what I have done. My regrets are always something I did not do.

Think bigger!