Tom Cruise has a MASSIVE flaw.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the guy. He’s one of my favorite actors.
But he’s not a team player. And that’s a critical component of being a successful dealmaker.
Before I explain, let’s talk briefly about Tom…
He’s made some truly epic films. Blockbuster after blockbuster. There’s a reason he’s one of the top movie stars in the world.
However, he’s a loner in pretty much ALL of his films… never a team player.
Vanilla Sky… Top Gun… The Last Samurai… Minority Report… Collateral…
The list goes on.
My favorite Tom Cruise films are the Mission: Impossible films.
I remember when the original was released back in 1996.
I thought it was really profound – so clever. And I’ve been a massive fan ever since.
I absolutely LOVED the latest film. The sixth in the franchise… Mission: Impossible – Fallout. I re-watched it last weekend on a flight from Dubai to the U.K.
In this one, Ethan Hunt (Tom’s character) and the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team thwart a nuclear attack. In the movie, Ethan Hunt is a massive team player.
But in real life, Tom Cruise is not.
Why?
Tom does his own stunts. Which is crazy! He’s an actor, not a stuntman.
But his ego drives him to do both.
Tom’s insisted on doing at least 15 insane stunts… including scaling the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
That’s one TALL building!
There’s one scene in Fallout where Tom is running across roofs in London chasing a bad guy. During the filming for this scene, Tom fell and broke his ankle when he came up short on a jump.
This delayed filming (and ultimately the film’s release date) by many months.
But what does this have to do with dealmaking?
Dealmaking – especially buying businesses in the $1—5 million revenue range – is all about using human leverage.
You’ll need to hire a deal team, starting with a CPA or accountant. That person will conduct the financial due diligence for you…
And you’ll also need to hire a lawyer. That person will conduct the legal due diligence as well as write the documents you and the seller will sign to close the deal.
Note that you don’t pay for these advisers or their services – the business pays when the deal closes.
Even if you are a CPA or lawyer, don’t be like Tom. Don’t do this work yourself.
Your job as a dealmaker is to be the coach of the team. You’re there to make sure all your other players are doing their jobs. You can’t do everything yourself.
Your focus should be on originating as many deals as you can that fit your deal specification…
Meeting sellers and building incredible rapport so they view you as a trusted pair of hands…
Structuring deals and preparing offers so you’re putting in as little of your own money as possible…
Raising financing – although you don’t even need to do that. You can hire a finance broker who will do this for you, and they’ll take a fee out of the financing raised.
Even after you close the deal… as the new CEO of the business you buy, you want a trained team in place to do the work of running all the daily operations of the business for you.
That way you can do other things – relax with your family… travel… pursue hobbies… or buy more businesses.
So why does Tom Cruise do his own stunts? Ego.
Don’t be like Tom. He wouldn’t be a good dealmaker. He would want to do EVERYTHING himself.
That’s not very smart. Or cool.
Be the coach. Manage your players. Leverage them so you can originate more deals, prepare more offers, raise more financing…
And make more money.
Build your empire – one deal at a time.
Until next time, bye for now.
Carl Allen
Editor and co-founder, Dealmaker Wealth Society
