Look Fast, I Have A Monkey On My Head (it’s real!)

Look Fast, I Have A Monkey On My Head (it’s real!)

February 6th, 2014 // 12:12 pm @ Scott Manning

So, you have heard many expressions about “the elephant in the room”, “eat the frog”, or “the monkey on your back.” 

All of these things have to do with the somewhat obvious, destructive or at least obstacle that you have in your life or business that you need to deal with. 

In this case, you see here a picture of a real live monkey on my head from my trip to the Dominican Republic.  On this trip we drove about 1 hour to a small little village area scattered throughout the jungle and the mountains and went to a ranch where people actually live and they have a herd of donkeys that take tourists on a 45 minute mountain climb, up down and all around, and eventually we stopped parked the donkey and climbed down about 250 steps to this magnificent waterfall. 

There behind me you see this waterfall.  Yes, to answer your question, it was absolutely worth it.  I wasn’t much a fan of the trip back but that’s what you have to do. 

When we arrived at the waterfall there was a national asking for a few dollars to take a picture with the monkey, a capitalist and more importantly an opportunist at work. 

The water was freezing cold but so refreshing.  When we donkeyed up and make the trek back we were greeted at the ranch like celebrities and fed a traditional Dominican lunch. 

The funniest thing was when we got to the top of the mountain they had a makeshift gift shop with all kinds of collectibles available to purchase.  Since most people did not bring money to the waterfall they conveniently had people ready to accompany you back to your resort and collect when you got there. 

Of course to the best of my ability I grilled my guide (one guide for every single individual person, the donkey’s caretaker) about the business and met the “king of the mountain” and asked him.  He said more than 300-350 people a day, every single day go on this adventure and from 7 different ranches all feed into this waterfall, they have been resourceful, used what they have available and profit from it. 

The tour fee is $100 per person.  Let’s take the 30 people from this ranch, that’s $3,000, let’s say the ranch and the tour company split it.  That’s $1,500 a day, or about $45,000 a month for each party.  The guides are tipped, gifts are bought, other money is exchanged.  Now this money is for the most part split amongst the families in this village who make it all possible. 

Now, You and I both know entrepreneurs who won’t make $45,000 a year let alone a month.  Why is this?  Why can a small little primitive village in the Dominican Republic put together a million dollar enterprise (and understand for the primitive people $1 goes very far.  Gas is expensive but no one drives or has cars except more educated employed or tourist people.  They have very little expenses.

The point of my article today is two fold. 

First, you must decide to focus on your objectives, either use what you’ve got or go figure out what you really want to be doing.  This is the critical factor.  This village doesn’t try to sell food, fruit, or anything else it sticks to what it knows, it maximizes it’s resources and it is very profitable. 

Usually when I see someone who has good intentions but can’t seem to make any money or figure anything out for their business it is because they have no direct focus, purpose, or direction.  They are wandering around looking for things instead of tunnel vision locked on an objective. 

Know what you are supposed to be doing and do it. 

Next and to the title of this entry, unless it’s a playful nice cute little monkey actually alive sitting on your head for a picture, grow a pair, step up to the plate, quit making excuses and f’ing around and get rid of the obstacles in your life. 

Stop right now and make a list of the things that are holding you back, your elephant in the room, the frog annoying you in your life, the monkey on your back.  Get rid of it. 

I can assure you this is the most important thing you can do towards achieving your goals.  Every year I make a list of things I want to eliminate from my life, obstacles that I will finally tackle.  I try to achieve that list by the end of JANUARY.  Every single week I look at the one thing, that if it happens it would make all the difference.  And I do this.  It could be a project staring me in the face, it could be a deadline, a phone call, a confrontation, a bill that needs paid, an investment made.  Whatever it is, there is always multiple elephants, frogs, and monkeys in your life.  The more successful you become the more of these you will have to fight off…you do not live without them you only get very good at slaying them. 

Now, I leave you with really good news, getting rid of the monkey on your back may feel like an hour drive through a 3rd world country, riding atop a donkey over a mountain and what seems like an endless journey, but, once you get there, once you finally get the monkey off your back, you will experience the refreshing feeling like I did in the waterfall and best of all you don’t have to make the trek back. 

It’s not possible for me to over emphasize this point, no matter how successful you are, there are things you put off, delay, deny, avoid.  You have monkeys, until you tame them, the way my little friend has been, you will be at their mercy and not performing to your full potential, not realizing the income you deserve and the success that is possible in your business.

Category : Blog