Cameron Herold covers five leadership lessons: secure financing before you need it (he nearly went bankrupt at 1-800-GOT-JUNK despite holding $5M in cash), manage seasonal cash flow by maintaining year-round revenue, don't bring work stress home, exercise to reduce stress and clarify thinking, and reframe confrontation by accepting feedback instead of arguing to be right.
Chapters
I was very good at showing other people where they were screwing up or where they were making mistakes or where we had broken systems or problems. But why did I take it so personally when they were showing me areas that I was weak or areas I was messing up or areas that I had a system broken? So I had to realize that if it was okay for the goose, it was okay for the gander. If it was okay for me to show people areas to improve, I had to take those same areas as not confrontational anymore. So I already covered the first five lessons in letters to my younger self from my book, Double Double. I'm going to cover off the next five as well. So we're going to go from number six through 10 right now. Number six, get money, especially when you don't need it. Man, this was a big one for us. We almost bankrupted the company. We were doing about $100 million in revenue and we had no credit line, no loans, and when we needed them, the bank wasn't going to loan to us. And I'll explain why. When you don't need money, that's the time to make sure you get your credit lines and financing in place while your balance sheet is strong. When you need money, you have to be able to act. When you need money, no one will want to loan it to you. Even if you think you don't need it, you soon will. Keep increasing the amounts that are available to you as you grow systematically every six to 12 months, keep getting all of your credit lines increased. And do it at a time when your business is financially the strongest. Don't just grow using cash. Leverage the cash that you have to use multiple finance mechanisms. You do not want to end up in the situation that we were in at 1-800-got junk, where Brian had to go out and borrow $420,000 from his mom just to meet payroll. When six months before, we had $5 million in the cash that we spent on renovations and office moves and bonuses and taxes. Had we gone to the bank with 5 million in the cash, they would have loaned us 5 million. We when we spent 4 million, 4.5 million, they didn't want to loan us a penny, even though we are the same company. You need to understand how to leverage your balance sheet and how to access cash or have it available when you don't need it. Seasonal businesses are tough. This is number seven. Cash flow is harder in a seasonal business. College Pro Painters did all of its revenue in just four months. 12 months of expenses and only four months of revenue makes it really tough. The founder Greg Clark used to mortgage his house every winter and just to get us to spring revenues. Seasonal businesses amplify the bad times and promote sloppiness in good times. Try to build parts of your business and parts of your revenue so that you have more consistent revenue 12 months of the year. And never stop marketing when you're your busiest in production or in operations. That tends to be when companies take their foot off the gas. They tend to stop marketing and stop doing sales because they can't handle any more clients. Keep stepping on the gas. Keep driving hard on marketing because when the slow period comes, you'll wish that you never stopped your marketing in the first place. Number eight Don't Bring Problems Home My wife used to say that she got left over Cameron. That's because often when I got home I'd be so exhausted I'd have nothing left to give. I need to put my problems in a box and leave them at work at the end of the day so they'll be there in the morning and they'll always get worked out later. Stewing about them overnight doesn't work. So what I decided to do was when I closed my laptop at the end of the day, I would leave it even if I was working from home. Once I closed it, I physically felt like I was closing my laptop, locking it in my office, locking the company door, driving home and locking the keys to my car. Locking the car and it was almost like I didn't have access to work. I've used that same feeling to this very day that once I shut my laptop, I try to leave it alone. I try to not check email frequently, I try to not check text messages frequently, I try to actually write down my notes and at the end of the day I scribble them all down on a piece of paper so that I'm no longer thinking about the business. The business will be there in the morning, but not to bring problems home so that at the end of the day I can actually be the best person showing up for my spouse. One of the things that I've also learned that works really well for me to not bring problems home is to go to the gym at the end of the day, get a workout in at like 4:30 or 5:00', clock, which allows me to decompress and de stress and forget the problems that I actually left at work. Number nine running. It's amazing. For me, it relaxes me, it helps me think, it clarifies my mind and it quiets me. I always feel better and more confident, not only during the run, but afterward too. Sadly, three years ago I had to get my hip replaced. I've done too much running over the years, and at 6 foot 4 it just had its downsides. So now what I've replaced the running with is gym workouts and yoga. But by getting gym workouts in and I can't wait to get to the gym later on today, or by doing yoga, it does de stress me the same way that running used to. Number 10 confrontation. My debates tended to be about arguing to be right. Instead of arguing to solve a problem, I'd let things get to me personally. I would at times feel like I was being attacked or criticized. I countered my insecurities by arguing, and it never helped. Something I learned over the years as well, and it was after I even wrote this lesson down, was that I was very good at showing other people where they were screwing up or where they were making mistakes or where we had broken systems or problems. But why did I take it so personally when they were showing me areas that I was weak or areas I was messing up or areas that I had a system broken? So I had to realize that if it was okay for the goose, it was okay for the gander. If it was okay for me to show people areas to improve, I had to take those same areas as not confrontational anymore. Part of that was by slowing down and responding versus reacting as well. But my one of my core love languages, my two love languages are words of affirmation and physical touch. So a big pat on the back or a high five or a hug is huge for me. Likewise, words of affirmation. Hey, you did well. This was great. Was huge for me. Anytime I was criticized, I took it very personally. So I've worked really hard on that over the years to realize that sometimes that criticism is just constructive criticism. It's feedback. It's areas for improvement. And the reality is people aren't going to tell me that if they don't care about me. So I had to learn how to take that criticism in a much more positive way. Hopefully those five tips help you again. There's another 53 in here that you'll want to read and share with your team. They're all in chapter 17 in my book, Double Double. So don't stop now. Click here. There's more great videos that you can keep learning from and together we're unlocking amazing leadership lessons together.
