Free PR; Peers vs. Managers; NetGain Multiple; Costco

Hello ScaleUps,

Hope it's been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

NetGain Technologies Receives Top Multiple When Sold —
The Rockefeller Habits were instrumental in Jason Jacobson receiving one of the highest multiples in his industry. More below, but first…

Free PR, $.99 Kindle —
Grab a copy of Cameron Herold's practical book on how to get TONS of free PR while it's less than a dollar. More below, but second…

Employees Learn More from Peers than their Manager —
According to new research 80% of people learn as much or more from their peers as they do from their managers. This article details the 7 reasons, including relevancy, safety, and reciprocity. This reinforces the importance of moving to more of a team of teams organizational structure and away from traditional hierarchies. Thank you to YPOer Paul Berman for pointing me to this article.

Implement Peer Coaching —
If people learn more from their peers than managers, the key is to implement peer coaching, something we've been emphasizing for years since Marshal Goldsmith noted the importance. Choose a colleague (inside or outside the firm) and then decide four or five behaviors/actions/activities you're going to do more of, less of, or better to be more successful personally and professionally – and then support and hold each other accountable on a daily basis. And the cost? Nothing! The article above points to a white paper on peer coaching.

The Resilience of Costco (thanks to Tim Ferriss) —
Tim Ferriss highlighted this "article" on Costco. Notes Ferriss, in his latest 5-Bullet Friday post (one of my favorite blogs each week): "For 40 years, Costco has succeeded with a simple formula: reinvest merchandising profits into lower prices and better products; be a disciplined operator; and treat customers and employees well." This is a great study in simplicity (drastically reducing SKUs, per slide 44, and keeping the stores barebone, per slide 70), contrarian decision-making (no expensive advertising, per slide 54, and only offering bulk sizes, per slide 58), and much, much more It also makes one wonder where Amazon Prime memberships will take Amazon, retail, and the world at large…" Please take 2 minutes to click through the 146 slides (it really is quick to absorb!). Thank you, Tim, for highlighting this great biz example – and love the clever way the story is told via slides.

NetGain Technologies Top Multiple (Scaling Up Case Study) —
Notes Jason Jacobson, NetGain's CEO: "I know you like to hear success stories so I wanted to let you know we recently sold our business to private equity. It was unexpected, but we realized selling your business is often not on your timeline, but on the market's timeline. I know you probably hear this a lot, but I specifically wanted to let you know I think one of the reasons they felt very good about our organization was the fact that we have implemented your habits. From the daily huddles to the one-page plan, I truly feel the disciplined culture we formed around the Rockefeller Habits helped us achieve the top 10% of multiples in our industry on the sale. Here is our press release:

Free PR just $.99 Kindle —
This is the book I've been waiting for Cameron Herold to write – and it's available on Kindle this week for less than a dollar. To quote from Amazon, In Free PR, you'll learn how the media world operates while you gain invaluable insider knowledge and actionable advice on how to:

• Build your own in-house PR team
• Provide effective interviews
• Score great media coverage for free with just a few easy steps

PR Better Than Marketing —
Amazon continues: Landing public relations coverage for yourself and your company is a powerful tool to help elevate your personal brand. PR is easier to generate than marketing, PR is easier to leverage than marketing and PR is more cost effective than marketing. In other words, Public Relations is more critical than ever in growing your brand and your business. You've got more passion, commitment, a larger stake, and a deeper understanding of your business than any outside PR firm could ever have. So, stop wasting money and take the reins yourself. Learn the secrets to landing TONS of Free PR for your company. Cameron, thank you for writing this important and well written book.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. March 12 – 15; Jun 4 – 7, 2019.

EXITING: Thinking about selling the business for $40 million or more? Want to get 25% to 200% more than you thought? Request the whitepaper from the Exit Strategies Summit at Harvard from Denise Richmond at (610) 299-6466 or email at [email protected]

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Contact us at [email protected] for more information or visit https://coaches.scalingup.com/.

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability – Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.aligntoday.com – on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

Better Book Club — What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.