Yesterday, I wrote about the lull that happens during a startup. I mentioned that I snapped my wife, Carol Lynn, and my partner, Dino Dogan, out of this funk, but left how as a cliffhanger.

Go back and read that article if you haven’t already.

Ok. Welcome back.

Let’s start with Dino.

A few months ago, I decided that I wanted an electric drum kit. I budgeted around $1,500, but as I did research my budget kept going up because I was mesmerized by modern drumming technology. Eventually, the cost coupled with where a kit would go in the house made the whole project go dormant. That was right around the startup lull I mentioned. My partner Dino who has been in the startup/investor world for three years was understandably skeptical when I threw out our operations objectives for the next six months.

How could I bend him to my will?

Well, I made him an offer. I told him to buy me a Roland TD-30KV. That’s a roughly $8,000 drum kit.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “How is that motivation for him?”

Here was my thinking…

Dino is an avid musician and the drum kit I selected is one that Dino really admires. Consider that if the next six months goes well and Dino has the disposable income to not only support his lifestyle, but to buy me an $8,000 drum kit, then things are going really well. Dino now wants to buy me that drum kit because doing so means that we’ve either hit or exceeded our projections. Yes, it’s good for me, but more importantly it’s good for both of us.

Dino’s funk is now a thing of the past. He’s now laser focused on that drum kit and success.

Next up: Carol Lynn.

These are my 300 words for the day. I am Ralph M. Rivera.

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