Get Leverage! Get Naked! Get Rich!

Archimedes must have been pumped!

It must have been like winning the Calculus Super Bowl!

How else can you explain an old naked Greek guy running and screaming through the streets of his town?

Archimedes lived about 2200 years ago. He was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer and is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. When you look back at where the human race was during his time, and the volume of stuff he created, it is absolutely amazing!

What is even more amazing is he equally famous for being naked. Legend has it that once while taking a bath, he finally figured out a math problem that had been bugging him for some time. When the answer came to him, he leaped out of his bathtub and ran through the streets yelling “Eureka”, which means, “I found it” in Greek.

He was history’s first recorded streaker.

If he tried that today, he would be all over CNN and the YouTube video would go viral.

He invented tons of stuff, including the screw, which if you think about it was a pretty big deal.

Some of Archimedes’ coolest work mathematically explained the principles involved with the lever. He once famously quoted about levers: “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.”

And thus, the concept of “leverage’ was born.

Everyone has heard of leverage. But not everyone knows the awesome power of leverage and how he or she can apply it to their business. Or, how they MUST apply leverage for their business to really be successful.

In most jobs, you trade your time for money, one for one. If you stop working, you stop getting money. End of story. Even if you have a high salary, no work = no money.

In business you want to take advantage of leverage whenever you can.

There are several types of business leverage:

Financial Leverage occurs when you make your money work for you. When you invest in the market, people, or your own business, you benefit from the power of financial leverage. You put some in, you get more out. Of course, you must invest in the right opportunity at the right time. Raise your hand if you would rather let your money work for you than you work for your money!

“Financial leverage is the advantage the rich have over the poor and middle class.” – Robert Kiyosaki

When folks in your organization both above and below you are all rowing in the same direction, you are Leveraging People or Talent. Their work = money for you. Your work = money for them. There are more of them than there is of you, therefore you will greatly benefit from the leverage of people in your organization’s work. A good compensation plan is critical to make this happen.

“People without leverage work for those with leverage.” – Robert Kiyosaki

An equally important but lesser understood form of leverage is System Leverage. In order to take advantage of system leverage, a system must be duplicable so others in your organization can do the same thing. A system must also be scalable. This means that you only need to perform a task once, and there is no limit to the output that you receive. The importance of this attribute cannot be overstated. Who wants to be stuck having to call every potential customer or partner? Who wants to be stuck going to every meeting or training every new person one on one? Why not use a system to leverage your efforts, do the work once, and lay on a beach all day?

“Leverage is the reason some people become rich and others do not become rich.” – Robert Kiyosaki

It is rare that a company capitalizes on all three forms of leverage. But, if you really want to make it big, you must implement leverage. If you always trade time for money, you will always be limited in what you can do.

And when you do take advantage of leverage…Eureka!

Clothing is optional.

Take control of your destiny
Murray Beaulieu

P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments and questions below.

Comments

Chris Anderson, July 23, 2024, 10:15

Great insights, Murray! Leveraging systems is something I need to work on. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Michael Johnson, September 4, 2011, 18:15

Excellent read! The story of Archimedes really brought the concept of leverage to life. I’ll definitely be applying these principles to my own business.

Emily Davis, September 5, 2011, 11:00

Great article, Murray! I particularly enjoyed the section on system leverage. It’s something I need to focus more on. Thanks for the tips!

Brian Lee, September 6, 2011, 14:50

I’m a bit skeptical about how much leverage can really help, but I’m willing to give it a try. Do you have any real-life examples of this working?