Shark Tank Judge Kevin O’Leary often shares the three ingredients that 100% of successfully funded businesses present:
- A clear, 90 second explanation of their product or business and what it does;
- A clear explanation of why they are the right person(s) to bring it to success; and
- All the numbers: How big the market, how fast it is growing, how many competitors, the gross margin, what month they will break even, and when the Shark will get paid.
But before that, in the two minutes before the cameras roll, he says he can tell who will be successful by their posture, their focus, and the confidence they project.
He also shares something he learned from Steve Jobs. “Kevin,” Jobs said, “the 3-5 most important things you have to accomplish in the next 18 hours are your ‘signal’ for success. Devote 80% of your time to working on those 3-5 things; tuning in and responding to the signal. All the rest is ‘noise.’”
Forgive me for noticing it’s typically men who have wives at home handling the “noise” that allows them to spend 80% of their attention on “the signal.” But, in the end, doesn’t it really come down to the nature of our “business” and what defines success? In Robert Perry’s ACIM Complete Edition, he recounts the story of “Mrs. Albert, Miracle Worker” who worked miracles simply because she saw others as herself and communicated that with words and actions.
So, if our business is manifesting the “real world,“ maybe the two minutes before the action starts shows the extent of our confidence in Lesson 94, “I am as God created me,“ and the 3-5 most important things might not be something we decide in advance. Because maybe all of the noise is really the signal.