Brian Margolis - The Index Card Business Plan For Sales Pros and Entrepreneurs: How to Use the Pillar System to Simplify Your Strategy and Magnify Your Results

The Index Card
Business Plan

For Sales Pros and Entrepreneurs

How to Use the Pillar System to

Simplify Your Strategy and Magnify Your Results

Brian Margolis

ProductivityGiant.com

2018 Brian Margolis All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission except for short passages used in reviews or articles. For permission please contact

ISBN: 978-0-692-07411-4

Illustrations by Marylee Margolis

The advice in this book does not guarantee success or financial gain. This book is written and sold with the understanding that the author is not responsible for results gained, or liability incurred, from using the advice and strategies in this book.

FOREWORD

I n a million years, I never saw Brian writing a business book. When we talked almost 18 years ago about starting a business together, he was a scientist who, to my understanding, played with fish in oceans and rivers. I was the business guy, the sales guy. Fast forward a few years and Id taken a job while Brian was striking deals, getting industry recognition for the company wed started, and associating with the big boys. Hed become the entrepreneur while Id moved to the Midwest to stake out a career in sales.

Although we remained friends, it would be another decade before our business lives intersected again. I was making a great living selling financial products, but I wanted to go to the next level. So I approached Brian about helping me with a new strategy. It worked. Two years later, my income doubled. At the time of this writing, it has quadrupled. I can directly relate this result to what Brian and I worked onspecifically, the Pillar System described in this book.

Ive always believed Brians special sauce is his ability to take the increasingly complicated and cluttered mess of the average business or project and simplify it into an actionable strategy. He questions everything and accepts only assumptions that have been validated. I guess thats the scientist in him. Hes a master of the counterintuitive language of success. Hes taught me that less is more, that you must slow down to speed up, and that simplification is the goal in every area of my business.

When Brian began writing this book, he was fully on board, but it didnt start that way. He had little desire to write and even less desire to position himself as an expert. He readily admits that he initially developed the strategy in this book to address his own shortcomings. However, I believed this information had to get out, so I encouraged him for over a year until he saw the light. I believe when you understand the powerful system this book contains, youll be glad he did.

David Ingram

Cincinnati, OH

OVERVIEW

A chieving simplicity isnt simple. When left to human nature, complexity in any project, business, or industry will increase over time. Its challenging to reverse this, but the rewards are extraordinary . Consider the time and technological resources used to create the iPad a device so simple, most kids can use it before they can spell. Think about the amount of engineering and work that was done so we can turn on our lights by simply flicking a switch. The evidence is all around us.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Leonardo da Vinci

The good news for you is the hard work has already been done the blueprint for simplifying your business strategy, the Pillar System, is contained in this book.

Does this index card look like the weekly strategy for 40 percent year-over-year growth and losing 35 pounds? As youll find out later in the book, it is!

The first part of the Pillar System turns the complicated and overwhelming maze of your business into a list of critical weekly activities (pillars) short enough to fit on an index card. The weekly execution of these pillars, whose completion is entirely in your control, all but guarantees youll hit your goals in any viable business or project. The second part of the Pillar System provides a customizable strategy to turn weekly pillar execution into a habit.

In my own learning and teaching, Ive found that its easy to get so bogged down in the details that you cant see the forest for the trees. To help paint the big picture, Ive laid out the chapter summaries below.

explains what pillars are, the benefits of using the Pillar System, and the underlying principles that make the system so effective.

gives you the tools and the step-by-step instructions for correctly identifying the right pillars for your business or project.

features real-world case studies of pillar identification.

shows you how to refine and work with your pillars to streamline, organize, and grow your business.

explains the mindset and strategies needed to turn weekly pillar execution into a powerful and productive habit.

C H A P T E R 1

UNDERSTANDING THE PILLAR SYSTEM

Introduction

T o understand where the Pillar System fits into your business or career, you must recognize that being good at something is different than being successful . The skills required to run a successful business differ radically from the trade skills used within the business. For example, there are mechanics who can tell you whats wrong with your car blindfolded, but they cant necessarily run a successful auto repair shop or even remain gainfully employed. You can also see this distinction among authors. Great writers arent compensated as well or recognized as much as writers who are good at promoting and selling a book. Thats why you hear the term best-selling author not best-writing author.