10 Apr The Power of The Self Teaching Tool
Glen Cooper’s 7-Part webinar series on what business brokers need to know continued with a look at the first of 5 tools on his list, Tool #1 the Self Teaching Tool. During his recent Business Brokerage Press webinar he stated, “Business brokerage itself is a graduate course in life…this profession teaches you everything. It teaches you how to speak with authority if you learn a topic, it teaches you about a wide array of business issues, it teaches you how to listen for what’s important, it teaches you how to negotiate a sale and more.”
The Tools
Cooper places a good deal of focus and attention on Phil Stutz’s work “The Tools.” We touched on Stutz’s 5 tools in our last article covering this informative webinar.
Stutz’s 5 tools are Reversal of Desire, Active Love, Inner Authority, Grateful Flow and Jeopardy. Reversal of Desire is very important as it is centered around the idea that one must “embrace the paths of pain,” in order to achieve success. However, invariably, “embracing the paths of pain” means rolling up one’s sleeves and getting to work.
This sentiment echoes Cooper’s philosophy for how business brokers must conduct themselves if they are to be successful. Tool 5 “grateful flow” encourages readers to be grateful for everything they have, as even bad things can provide valuable lessons.
Learn Better
Additionally, Cooper recommends the book “Learn Better,” by Ulrich Boser. Boser’s book focuses on “Mastering the skills of success in life and how to become an expert in just about anything.” Cooper outlines the core six steps found in “Learn Better,” which are value, target, develop, extend, relate and rethink.
Summed up, these steps encourage readers to learn something that is of practical value, focus on what was learned, and develop it via practice. Then the next course of action would be to go beyond the basics to “extend” what is possible, see how what was learned relates and fits together, and finally to rethink the situation.
The Perfect Learning Environment
Cooper reflects on the “Perfect Learning Environment,” which includes six variables: Value, Target, Develop, Extend, Relate and Rethink. At the core of the philosophy is the notion that “it pays to be smart in business brokerage and that learning has high value.”
If you target what is important for you to learn, and then practice those skills and move beyond the basics, this will yield rewards. Discovering how everything fits together and finding ways to rethink and reconsider “all the different variables” will lead to impressive results.
Rather observantly Cooper points out, “It pays to be smart…learning definitely has high value because what do sellers want to know? Sellers want to know that you’re an expert.”
Ultimately, there is no replacement for learning, as it will help business brokers and M&A advisors to chart a course towards becoming an expert and, in the process, gaining the key ingredient for success as a business broker.
