
Wow, check out this guy's comment - jmtame
I wrote a short blog about Mark Cuban and his journey to becoming a billionaire.  Not surprisingly, he was motivated by money.  I always have disliked money as a source of motivation, I still do.  Tonight at dinner I was caught off guard when my brother and both parents said "well of course everyone is driven by money... you mean you thought they were driven by something else?"  Regardless, a guy came to my blog and posted a comment that I found inspirational:<p>---<p>This is the first time I have read a blog and of course the first post of any kind. As a 36 year old plumber I have been fired from every plumbing company I have ever worked for. All of them fired me after about a year. The reasons have all been the same, they asked my opinion about their problems and I told them the truth. It seems every company always has some sort of problems they deal with but never know the answers. The last job I had was running a new hospital project and after 9 months I was asked by management to get rid of half the plumbers and replace them with non-plumbers to drive down cost.<p>The short story is I said no way, it’s illegal and I want no part of it. I then said if they go over my head I will turn them in to the state dept. of health. Well, I was fired….With the economy the way it is no jobs are available. So with a family of 4 and a new house and $300 in checking I started my own plumbing company. Anyone who cares to listen here is what I have to say. Weeks went by with no customers calling and I didn’t know what to do.<p>We were out of money and my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out. That night I freaked out and was up all hours of the night just thinking and thinking. Then it came to me. My problem was simple, I was going about this backwards. Money is a stupid motivator, customers are the real motivator. So here is what I did. I went to a printer and had them print up a 1000 $50.00 gift cards on heavy paper stock all of them with code numbers. The next thing I did was go door to door and meet people one at a time. Ya, it was crazy at first but the people were blown away, they loved it. As of right now I am the number one plumber in a town of about 40,000 people and am looking to hire another plumber.<p>So whats the secret? Give people what they want. All these years I was right, most people let money motivate them and that creates poor decision making. I let the customer decide. The economy is tough so just give the customers what they want, money. People were so blown away they thought it was a joke. Think about it for a moment, have you ever heard of a business come to your door, shake your hand, and while looking in there eyes tell them you would like to earn the business and by they way here is a fifty dollar gift card that can be used anytime for any plumbing service they need.<p>When it’s all said and done I wished I would have done this years ago. I enjoyed the article about Mark Cuban but I think money is just a poor motivator, money is the result of good business practice. My wife by the way thought it was crazy to give $50 to everyone I meet, she was wrong, but now she is my biggest fan. That $50 is nothing when you consider a customer spends thousands during the course of a life time, not to mention they spread word of mouth business like fire. Mike
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petercooper
A very nice story. I think, however, he overlooks the power of humanity in his
story. It's not down to that $50 voucher. It's because he became a real person
to the people he visited - a local guy, someone they'd seen in real life. It
really seems all down to pressing the flesh. The other points don't make any
logical sense, for example:

 _All these years I was right, most people let money motivate them and that
creates poor decision making. I let the customer decide. The economy is tough
so just give the customers what they want, money._

If it were really about him giving them "money" (a discount voucher isn't
money, but we'll ignore that) and money creates poor decision making, then
choosing him based on that offer is poor decision making.

~~~
ahoyhere
Agreed, it's the "look them in the eye, shake their hand, and tell them you
want to earn their business" part that really gets them.

The $50 voucher is the thing that gives the future customer "permission" to
follow up on their gut feeling of "Wow, I like being treated like a HUMAN
BEING."

~~~
theklub
I really doubt this. I live in a neighborhood where people come by all the
time. They don't offer $50 cards or really anything, they just drop off their
business card. Which I usually just throw in the trash. Obviously your going
to call someone if you have a $50 gift card with them.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
I think it is the combination that does it. I have lots of "discount vouchers"
for all sorts of things, which I never use. But I need a plumber and this guy
would be it.

~~~
stcredzero
What serves this purpose with a web app? Is it a stock photo of a person?
(Doubt it.) Some bit of humor that a corporate marketdroid would never write
for fear of pissing off his boss? The developer blogs? MySpace or Twitter
presence? I suspect that most of the time, most of these things don't succeed.

Perhaps this is part of the power behind "Viral Marketing" in the old days
when its effectiveness wasn't diluted by so many trying the same thing.

~~~
nailer
A real, honest to goodness, here we are, this is my desk, good-and-bad blog?

I signed up with Dreamhost because I truly felt they would care - their site
is very good at giving that impression. Their service was poor, so I left, but
that's another story.

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thenduks
> my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out

"...to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health to love and to cherish, from
this day forward until death do us part."

It's reading things like this that make me appreciate my wife more than I
already did. Get a 'walmart type job' or get out? My wife would _never_ say
that to me, especially in such bad times. At the very least she'd suggest we
_both_ get walmart jobs, not threaten to leave.

:/

How depressing.

~~~
Tichy
As I get older, I am not sure if life is so simple anymore. Although I guess
ultimately it boils down to this: women want to have children, and children
cost money. The time in which women can have children is limited, so they
can't sit around and wait for you to get a hold on life forever.

~~~
thenduks
Fortunately for me there will be no children involved to cause this sort of
problem.

------
fallentimes
Cuban was motivated by a love of business.

Before Broadcast.com, he sold garbage bags as a kid, gave disco lessons to
sororities in college, threw parties as a quasi event planner, started a
computer company (MicroSolutions) and ran a hedge fund. After Broadcast.com,
he bought the Mavs, started HD Net, formed a charity (Fallen Patriot Fund),
actively invests as an angel and cofounded numerous movie production &
distribution companies.

~~~
daniel-cussen
So true. I love business and would do it even if I had to wait tables to do
it, for free, in my spare time, with no chance of personal financial gain (but
a nonzero chance of success). Just seeing businesses start and grow is reward
enough, even if I don't make any money.

------
reitzensteinm
What really struck me about that story is how one great idea executed well can
make the difference between bankruptcy and roaring success. It's something
that I've seen first hand, and probably the reason why being stubborn is so
important. If you don't give up you'll eventually stumble into a strategy that
works - after exhausting all possible alternatives. :)

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scudco
I hope to not be "that guy" but wasn't this plumber's ultimate motivation
money? I mean he was out of it and needed it. He was willing to work at a
loss(or lower profit) so he could get business. He innovated and won. If he
had had customers immediately then is he suggesting that his motivation
would've been the love of money? Given his track record of honesty I would
guess not.

~~~
ahoyhere
The reason this comment is so striking for HN is that most people here who
would describe themselves as "motivated by money" don't foresee themselves
having to do gruntwork such as door-to-door sales, giving the customer what
will really appeal to them, to earn that money. They think that it will be
easy and hassle-free, somehow.

It's like Puritan Work Ethic porn.

edit: Also, he passed over the easy money (e.g. violating his ethics/the law)
which got him fired to begin with.

------
huhtenberg
Reads like a completely made up story to me.

Nice, inspirational and all, but _that_ was not written by a plumber after
reading first ever blogpost in his life.

~~~
KWD
I tend to agree with you. I did get that "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" vibe from it,
and that was a made up story.

------
jd
The usual arguments against using money as motivation are that (a) money is
not enough to keep you motivated during the "darkest of times" and (b) even if
you get there the money will probably not make you happy.

But Mark Cuban _was_ motivated enough to take his company public. And Mark
Cuban likes to make extravagant purchases (e.g. The Dallas Mavericks). In a
nutshell - he seems to enjoy the billionaire's lifestyle. So money was
probably the right motivational force for Cuban.

------
cousin_it
_my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out._

Is it really this way in the US? As a foreigner I'm curious.

~~~
rms
Maybe in some situations, but it would be a shitty situation as a walmart-type
job does not provide enough income to live on. Some epithet towards the wife
is probably appropriate.

~~~
randallsquared
A lot of people don't get this. When I was failing at running a small business
in semi-rural Alabama, nearly everyone around me told me I should just get a
job at walmart or a convenience store, even though that wouldn't have been
enough to live on. For many people, a job seems to be something of a talisman,
rather than a source of a certain amount of money.

~~~
motoko
This is true for me in semi-rural Ohio, too.

~~~
rw
I'm in SW Ohio, you? I do not think there are many Ohioans on HN, and we ought
to find each other!

~~~
brentr
Bowling Green

~~~
motoko
Waterville, visiting family. We should meet up.

------
Prrometheus
That's an interesting anecdote about business practices, but I don't
understand what it has to do with the pro/con virtue/evil
desirability/undesirability of being motivated by money.

~~~
yters
He was successful despite not selling out his principles and succumbing to the
motivation of money.

~~~
Prrometheus
How is he not motivated by money in this post? Is plumbing his love and
passion, or is he trying to provide for his family? And what's so wrong about
being motivated by money, except for that it offends the secular liberal
religion?

~~~
yters
Yes he was motivated by money, but in the same way that you're motivated by
food. It's important for accomplishing your goals, but there are more
important things.

------
rms
[http://jtame05.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/theory-disproven-
mon...](http://jtame05.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/theory-disproven-money-as-
motivation/)

I wonder how he found your blog.

~~~
jmtame
I'm wondering the exact same thing. I only posted that on hacker news, so he
either saw it on wordpress or he reads hn.

~~~
vizard
maybe someone emailed him a link or something.

------
augustus
I really loved this post.

It brings out one of the obvious truths in economics or business if you will.

Customers are not that interested in paying you to help you out. They are
interested in getting what they want. Money is just a reward for getting what
they want.

Too many businesses focus on getting paid, they lose track of why customers
are there in the first place.

~~~
NyxWulf
I just don't buy this. Most small business are really bad at collecting their
Accounts Receivable, and it is one of the number one reasons for small
business failures. I agree with what someone else wrote, there may be a kernel
of truth to this, but it's too polished and too neatly tied with a bow to be
true.

------
KWD
The success of the plumber was really marketing, which is the success factor
for any business. He never gave away $50, he offered a discount on his
services (how many plumbing jobs cost less than $50?). Also, he was driven by
money, just not for greed's sake, but for the sake of supporting a family.

------
jmatt
_I went to a printer and had them print up a 1000 $50.00 gift cards on heavy
paper stock all of them with code numbers. The next thing I did was go door to
door and meet people one at a time. Ya, it was crazy at first but the people
were blown away, they loved it. As of right now I am the number one plumber in
a town of about 40,000 people and am looking to hire another plumber._

This is just good marketing. Small businesses do this all the time.

My mother owned a small business and did this sort of advertising at least
yearly. I used to have to help hand out flyers as a kid. We would also go
around and get permission from the property owners to attach flyers to car
windshields. I always thought it was a waste but there is a reason people do
it - it works.

------
ralph
I don't get it. Is the $50 only against his labour charges? If the customer
pays nothing for the parts too, then he can't subsidise the scheme for long
enough to start being paid one the coupons run about by his, now loyal,
customers.

~~~
jjs
If he charges _x_ dollars for "up to the first hour", and _y_ dollars for
every hour thereafter, where _x_ >= 50, then there's no problem.

~~~
ralph
Yes there is, depending on the type of job he's hired for with the vouchers,
and whether the voucher covers parts as well.

~~~
jjs
Not so: In my scenario, the labor for any job would eat the entire voucher.
(I'm assuming he's got a "limit 1 per customer" clause in the small print).

~~~
ralph
Sure, you can pick a job like that. But similarly, the voucher recipients
could pick jobs that cripple the plumber financially.

~~~
jjs
Perhaps I'm not following you completely. Please give an example where that
could happen, given the scenario I outlined above.

------
IsaacSchlueter
_Think about it for a moment, have you ever heard of a business come to your
door, shake your hand, and while looking in there eyes tell them you would
like to earn the business and by they way here is a fifty dollar gift card
that can be used anytime for any plumbing service they need._

Why is it that so many people seem to think direct sales is some kind of new
idea?

------
sown
Perhaps he'll be the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Baker> of
plumbing... :)

------
kwamenum86
Sounds just like "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

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rwalia
i think in a way... money was the motivator for the plumber.. if he could
afford his bills... he wouldnt have spent that one night thinking and
thinkingg...

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sammcd
Great stuff. All companies have moved away form this, I hope that the current
economic situation will force companies to care about their customers again.

------
jey
_my brother and both parents said "well of course everyone is driven by
money... you mean you thought they were driven by something else?"_

What the fuck? They really think everyone's goal in life is to buy as much
crap as they can?

~~~
mike_organon
Money isn't an end goal, it's a means to something else. Who said the goal
would be buying crap? A better use of money is financial security for raising
a family, having free time, buying things you really value, retiring early and
enjoying life. Money is an excellent motivator, but it's indirect, the real
motivator is your values and your life.

~~~
jey
Then that's like saying you're motivated by food, water, shelter. I see money
as just one resource that I need in my life to maintain my lifestyle, like I
need food/water/shelter. It would be nice to solve the money problem once and
for all by doing something to accumulate a large pile of it, but only so that
I can stop expending my energy on generating money and move on to the things I
_really_ care about.

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prime0196
people are motivated by the "reward" their efforts may reap them. For some
people this "reward" is money or power, for others it may be acceptance from
peers or loved ones, for the plumber it was the ability to take care of his
family.

------
lqtm
Well it's a good thing someone can profit from a shit gone awry!

