732: Prime the Pump

prime the pump:

"to do something in order to make something succeed" —the free dictionary

This concept is at least as old as America. Probably much older. I recall as a kid (not yet a teenager), having to prime the old fashion water pump at the "Lower 40" as my granddad called his get-away along the Tuscarawas River. There was a little bucket of water next to the pump, and to get fresh water, you had to pour a little bit of water from the bucket into the top of the old fashion pump as shown above. It would cause a seal to form that allowed as you pumped the handle, the pump to extract water from the well below. Much like seed corn to a farmer, if you had no "prime water" you were out of business. Without a little water left over from the last time the water was flowing freely from the pump, you could not prime the pump next time. Without seed corn, there can be no harvest. Kind of like tithing... but I digress. This principal can be very important for your business. It is better known as bootstrapping. Take a small project for a very aggressive price that requires what you already have on hand, in order to generate some much needed cashflow. Use that small cashflow to bid on larger and larger projects. Build an empire and retire to Florida. Or not My post yesterday (Always be closing) struck a chord with a few folks. Great. Now what?

1. Determine the Weakest Link
2. Craft a simple yet Dynamic Strategy
3. Execute with Precision & Passion

Recall that the CEO and Founder of most any small business is always too busy. There will always be more fires than buckets with which to fight them! Just as you hand off many accounting tasks to trusted advisers, it is important to find qualified help for some of the other business functions. Ring me up and lets talk. I am fairly well connected to key players that know that which I do not. Of course after 20+ years working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I know a couple of things in my own right. Again, I am as close as your phone. Or fax. Or email. Twitter. Skype. Maybe even Carrier Pigeon (for you Ghost Dog fans out there!). It costs nothing but a few minutes to see if I can help. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey www.throughput.us/contactSKI/ P.S. Ghost Dog is a crazy yet entertaining film. Note however: "Rated R for strong violence and language." It is not for everyone. (c)2009, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.