Kevin O'Leary

Kevin O'Leary 2013-06-19T12:11:54-04:00 Kevin O'Leary http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=kevin-oleary Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Kevin O'Leary Good old fashioned elbow grease. How to Win in Business Negotiations: Never Forget, it's All About the Money tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1130073 2011-12-06T09:55:14-05:00 2012-02-05T05:12:01-05:00

Kevin O'Leary http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-oleary/
Know What You Want
Anything can happen in a negotiation, so you need to understand exactly what you need, what you can accept and why. Be reasonable in what you ask for and map out a few scenarios of where the conversation can lead. Think about the interests driving the person or people you're negotiating with (hint: it's all about the money, all the time). Anticipate their questions and do your best to foresee the unforeseeable. When you can listen, respond and react in a way that makes sense for everyone at the table, you're in a good place. But if you aren't sure of what you want, or you can't explain why, you'll be crushed like an insect.

You Will Be Judged Immediately
Negotiations may take time, but the most important moments are always at the beginning. Everything matters here, from your body language to the way you dress to the way you start out the discussion. Establish your credibility by showing the other party that you're not a bad use of their time. Be confident, clear and get to the point. Whatever you do, don't leave people guessing about what you came to accomplish, especially at a first meeting. I need to know what YOU want within the first minute; otherwise, I'm on to the next thing. My time is my most precious resource (time is money, after all), so I go to great lengths to protect it. Waste my time and I'll send you an invoice.

Help Others Help You
No matter what they tell you, any business person worth their salt won't give you what you want because they like you -- they'll give it to you because it's in their interest. So why complicate things? Don't spend any time talking about why they should do you a favour, what you've done to deserve their favour, or how your plan would make your own life better. Instead, show them how the deal you're proposing -- whether it's an investment, a sale, or a chance to hire you -- will help them make money.

Know Your Facts
Know everything about the companies and people you are going to be negotiating with. Insist on getting the names of everyone participating in the negotiations. Leave no stone unturned; find out as much as you can. From Google searches to business intelligence reports, there are plenty of easily-accessed resources. And don't forget to pick up the phone -- a few short calls can pay enormous dividends. There's no excuse for ignorance, or for a missed opportunity to show the other party that you're thorough and that you respect their time. Imagine how foolish you'd look if, like one clever salesman who once pitched to me, you tried to license your product to a big industry player without knowing they just launched a competing product. With the right background research, he could have avoided that and other landmines -- and so can you.

Know When to Walk Away
I see negotiations as an honest attempt to reach a deal that's great for everyone at the table. But sometimes, for whatever reason, that's impossible. You need to accept that possibility -- don't make a deal for the sake of making a deal. If you do, chances are it will fall apart later anyway, with costs and headaches for everyone involved. And once you walk away, don't come back.

Business Is Not About Making Friends, It's About Making Money
Once in a while, I see my fellow TV investors praise a business just because they like the entrepreneur behind it. That kind of thinking might make you feel warm and fuzzy inside -- but let's get back to reality. I don't do business with people I want to have a glass of wine with -- I do business with people who can make me money. And so should you. There's nothing more important than money, so don't let your emotions take money from you. All business deals are about one thing: money. Everything else is just background noise.

Don't Let The Dark Clouds Of Greed Confuse You
Once you've got a good deal, it can be tempting to try your luck and squeeze more out of your new partner. Be careful. Unless you know for sure that you have a lot more leverage than the other party, you might risk killing a golden goose.

Concluding Thoughts
Get as much negotiating experience as possible. So much of life is a negotiation -- so even if you're not in business, you have opportunities to practice all around you. If you make it easy for people to make deals with you, you'll find that your opportunities will start to grow quickly.

Kevin O'Leary is a repeat entrepreneur, chairman of O'Leary Funds, and the bestselling author of Cold Hard Truth.

He appears on ABC's Shark Tank, CBC's Dragons' Den and CBC's Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@kevinolearytv), on Facebook (facebook.com/kevinolearytv) or at www.Kevin-OLeary.com.]]> Five Business Lessons From Steve Jobs tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1001669 2011-10-10T00:36:56-04:00 2011-12-09T05:12:01-05:00

Kevin O'Leary http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-oleary/
Never Lose Sight of the Value of a Dollar
As successful as he was, Steve never lost sight of the value of a dollar. I learned this first-hand when I was running The Learning Company, which at that time was the global leader in educational software. Steve wanted to launch Macs in schools using our software. Apple only had a small share of the market and it cost us over $50 million to develop the software he wanted. There was no way we would create the software on our own dime.

We thought we could share that cost with Apple, since Apple would benefit from having our titles. But did Steve budge? Not a chance. He stubbornly refused to give me a cent and insulted me for daring to ask for his money. He was so adamant about watching his company's cash that he kept yelling profanities, even in the parking lot as I was getting into my car to leave. Money, after all, is the result of hours of painstakingly difficult effort. Giving it away should never be easy -- and for Steve, it never was. (That being said, I have always said that Apple should pay dividends -- but that's for another day.)

Work Hard
It's easy to say, but so few people really know how to work hard. For Steve, there was no substitute for hard work. He took his business seriously, because to him, Apple was everything. Stories abound of how Steve worked all hours when necessary -- weekends, evenings, you name it. That's because Steve knew that life isn't easy, and that to be successful, you need a lot more than a good idea. You need to make big sacrifices, avoid distractions, and be as ruthless as necessary.

Steve made sure that others worked hard, too. Even after engineers thought a product was ready to ship, Steve was known for spending countless hours agonizing over every detail. He would send his staff back to the drawing board over and over again, as many times as it took, until everything was perfect. Do you think his staff always appreciated his thoroughness? Of course not. But Steve knew that sometimes, great leadership is about pushing people to work harder than they knew they could.

Business Is Not a Popularity Contest
Steve Jobs had his critics. Some saw him as an egomaniac, and others, as a control freak. He would remember who on his team added value and who didn't. And he never apologized for his relentless, visionary drive -- because he understood that business is about making money, not making friends. Like every CEO should, Steve kept a laser-like focus on creating value for his shareholders.

Don't Wait to Acknowledge Failure
I have met many entrepreneurs who have the passion and even the work ethic to succeed -- but who are so obsessed with an idea that they don't see its obvious flaws. Think about that. If you can't even acknowledge your failures, how can you cut the rope and move on?

Steve never had this problem. When a product or an idea failed, he wouldn't obsess over it -- he would calmly take it behind the barn and quickly put it out of its misery. Anyone remember the Newton? How about the Apple Pippin? How about the QuickTake? With these and many other barely-remembered flops, Steve understood the importance of acknowledging a failure and quickly moving on.

Listen to the Market
Business is fundamentally about creating things that people want. But to do that, you have to know your customers inside and out. Do they want simplicity? Lower pricing? A better experience? More convenience? The answer is different for every business, but every business has to know the right answer for itself.

In the tech world, no company knew their customers as well as Apple under Steve's leadership. Steve and his team knew that a lot of people wanted their digital experiences to be easier, friendlier, simpler, and less intimidating. That's why they had the discipline to say no to thousands of perfectly good ideas, and instead to build products with fewer buttons, less complexity -- and much higher profit margins.

Final Thoughts
One thing I've always loved about money is that it's one of the only things in life that's black and white: you either make it or you lose it. Steve Jobs didn't just make it -- he created hundreds of billions of dollars in value for his investors, and even more for Apple's resellers, suppliers, developers and employees. As we remember Steve, let's be sure to learn the lessons of his entrepreneurial legacy.