Michael Port Interview: Part 1
August 12th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
We were on a teleseminar for Why Work Sucks a couple months ago with Michael Port. We had such a blast with him that we wanted to introduce him to all of you, just in case you aren’t aware of him already.
Michael has been called “a marketing guru” by the Wall Street Journal and is the author of the national bestselling Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients and Beyond Booked Solid: Your Business, Your Life, Your Way - I’ts All Inside. His next effort is due out in Sept. 08. It’s the highly anticipated Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays To Take Typical Sales Advice and Do The Opposite.
Michael’s messages for entrepreneurs and business owners are right in line with ROWE, and we love that he’s down to earth and passionate about what he does. You can learn more about him at www.michaelport.com and here, in Part 1 of our interview with him:
C&J: So, Michael, there are so many things an entrepreneur or business owner needs to do to be successful. What’s one of the most important things to remember as a business is evolving?
MP: What is your destiny, inside and outside of your business? If you serve others, but don’t serve your own destiny, things are going to fall apart. Often, people get trapped into doing a job, providing a service that they’ve been praised for, but that they don’t enjoy. They continue to “serve”, because they think it’s the “right” thing to do. But they are just using their skills, without being true to their purpose.
It isn’t easy having both, a successful business and a rich personal life, but it is possible if you are aligned with your larger goals and your vision for your life. You can have your business, and your life…your way. There will be times when you push hard at work, but there need to be times when you put energy into other areas of your life. Ultimately, the goal is to not push too hard on one (usually the business) and completely neglect the other. Implementing systems for your life, call it a “life-model”, can be used as a guideline that will enable you to achieve your destiny. Your dream was never to work every waking minute with no time for family, friends, hobbies, health-promoting activities, or holidays, was it? Creating systems for your business will ultimately free up your time. Learn how to use your free time wisely.
C&J: That’s hard to do - especially if you’re a person that has started a business and now all of your time is essentially your own. No one is dictating how you need to spend your time anymore. Do you have an example of someone you know that has learned to use free time wisely?
MP: A couple, who I know from my acting days, are an interesting example of the lengths we can go to - to find balance. She was an actor and writer. He was a hugely successful financial type. First they lived in London, where he worked obsessively. Then he was offered the chance to run a hedge fund in Bermuda (with a financial package they thought he couldn’t refuse), and they moved there. So he could continue to work obsessively. He wasn’t happy, just obsessed. Finally, she said she wanted to move back to the U.S. with the kids. Amazingly, he quit his job to go with her, because he realized his life balance had gotten too far out of whack if he was going to lose his marriage and family. He wasn’t serving his destiny and things were falling apart.
Long story short, he followed his dream to become a farmer, investing what he’d made working in the financial business into an organic cattle farm. And I don’t mean he became a gentleman farmer who sips martinis and surveys his land from afar. He became the kind of farmer who gets up at 5 a.m. and spends his time with the animals. He saved his marriage and his relationship with his kids. Now he and his wife work together on their marriage. Because of his ability to change and recognize that things were out of balance, he is doing something he loves and so is his wife. In other words, he’s now happy as a pig in…
C&J: We’ll stop you there!
In Part 2 of our interview with Michael, we’ll talk with him about “flow” and the secrets to sparking creativity in all areas of your life…
Hey Jody and Cali - this is a little OT, but I hear these anecdotes (like the one this post ends with) all the time about the man/woman who worked like a maniac and then realized that his/her life was out of whack and so took all the money they made in “x” and started an organic bee keeping business (or whatever). That’s a step that’s’ missing for most of us - I’ve worked like a maniac most of my life but there is no wealth to start my sheep farm. That’s partially due to poor money management, but mostly due to the fact that I, like so many other people, don’t make a lot of money no matter how hard I work. I think ROWE is super-cool because it puts the emphasis on NOT working like a crazy-person to get to the place where you pitch it all and find “life/work” balance doing something else; ROWE seems to be about creating a great life without having to start all over again with the fortune you made in investment banking. It’s as much for the 25k/year employee as it is for the fund manager. I think you are down to earth ladies who dig practical advice and I think it’s easy to get lulled into the fantasy of “this guy was on the edge of burnout until he realized that he needed to give it all up to do ‘x’” but that is really unhelpful (but still very seductive as an idea) for most people who are still working like crazy but not making nearly enough to give up anything for anything else. Just curious to know if you had any thoughts on these kinds of stories and whether or not they are useful.
Hey KT - great points. Actually, fantastic points. ROWE is indeed a way to not live this maniacal lifestyle - to keep working, but still realize your dreams. Yes - no doubt about that.
These kinds of stories certainly describe the minority. We’d have to climb back into Michael’s head, but we think that’s why he prefaced it with the fact that this couple is an interesting example of the *lengths* people can go to in order to find balance. If these were *lengths* for this particular couple, it’s lengths upon lengths for the normal, everyday person!
We like to take these stories and see them as moments in people’s lives when they realize something needs to change - and sometimes, it’s something drastic. For ROWE supporters, it can be a drastic move for some to start standing up to the status quo and not just settling for the way things have always been done.
Thanks for asking for the clarification on this
C&J