Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life (29 page)

By the end of 2004, the virtual business model was a proven success. The investors were happy, and everyone who worked around the company began to enjoy the material rewards of their contribution to our success. By the end of 2005, we had expanded to provide five pharmaceutical products for different diseases and conditions.

During 2005, the Seattle biotechnology company that I had worked part-time for at the beginning folded. The investors had finally become weary of pouring in money without creating revenue. Because I had seen the exciting data coming out of the cancer drug program, especially the fact that the lead compounds had low toxicity, I made a substantial offer to them of five hundred thousand dollars to purchase the license. The money I offered would have allowed the company to keep the lights on for a few months more, and who knows, perhaps long enough to make the clinical breakthrough they and the investors were seeking.

George Rathmann had once given me another piece of sound advice: “When you are a small company and someone makes you a fair offer, take it. You never know if another one will come and the goal is to survive.” The staff at the company he chaired was deaf to this advice. They spent so long discussing my offer that the doors closed before they came to a decision. It was like watching Emperor Nero play his fiddle while Rome burned.

A few weeks later, under the terms of the contract between the biotechnology company and the inventor, the license returned to the inventor’s institution. I called the director of licensing at that institution, who was the same man I had built good rapport with during the original deal. I was ready to negotiate, but here’s one of the golden rules of negotiation:
He who mentions a number first loses. Always
. I waited for his opening offer. Hesitantly, he asked for a fee of just seven thousand dollars. Within days, we had agreed and signed the contract.

Four hundred and ninety-three thousand dollars better off than I expected to be, I set up another virtual company called ANU.

I thought that was a good description of how chemotherapies aim to treat cancer. In killing the unwanted, they bring back life. Several of the compounds in this oncology program seemed to have excellent cancer-killing properties without the toxicity.

Having purchased the license, I set up a team of consulting scientists who were so enthusiastic about the promising
compounds they worked for free. Under their guidance, we selected contract laboratories to perform the necessary testing, and I funded the costs myself. One sunny weekend morning, I treated myself to a glass of champagne as I placed a check mark against that long-time Intention for finding low-toxicity cancer treatments. When I connect the dots backward, I can see how the Intentions for my cancer compounds and the commercial company were achieved via the same move to Seattle, but all most of our friends and family see is that we are nomads who can never decide on a place to live.

For both companies, the next few years went very well, and I checked off Intention after Intention. Sales of our commercial entity grew significantly, and a company that boasted only $800,000 in revenue in 2004 was doing more than $15 million a year by 2008. All functions, including sales and marketing, were contracted as outsourced fee-for-service. We had no office facility and still had not hired a single employee. This model allowed us to increase and decrease services as demand dictated and proved to be highly profitable as compared to the traditional company model. More important, customers at the receiving end of any function experienced excellent quality service, and we saved many lives with the drugs that otherwise would not have been available.

The synchronicity in this story seems remarkable to those who do not yet follow the three simple steps, but it is commonplace for those who do. I can connect the dots retrospectively and easily understand how everything played out perfectly, but it would have been impossible to predict any of it. This is why I say that all you need to do is set an Intention, then relax and let life fill in the details. There is no point to trying to conquer the goal in the warrior’s style by charging toward the treasure. For all you know, you could be running in the wrong direction. Be like a wizard. The Intention is your magic spell.

It has been hard to describe this story without mentioning by name the many fantastic people, whether investors, partners, scientists, or vendors, who contributed to the success of both companies. The story, however, is about how great ideas become reality through the use of the three simple steps. The story is about the process, not the people. I have shared my gratitude with each and every one privately. Many of us are still together in other adventures. In some, I am but one of life’s details in their great Intentions. In others, they are details in mine. One of the most fantastic aspects of doing the three simple steps is experiencing the amazing people that show up to help you achieve an Intention. I enjoy that experience as much as any other.

In 2008, we expanded the commercial company internationally through the same outsource concept and soon children with rare diseases in Asia, Africa, and Europe were benefitting. We received letters of thanks from all over the world, and sometimes parents and doctors even sent us pictures of the people who had been helped.

Throughout this time, our approach was “whoever can benefit from our medicines gets access to them, regardless of their circumstances.” As a result, we gave away medicine for free to about 25 percent of patients. That requires a very understanding group of investors and business people, and I felt we had a perfect team.

As time progressed, however, I felt the company was growing beyond the support capacity of the virtual model. I believe the virtual model is excellent for small businesses but becomes less efficient above a certain size. Our investors were split about the future direction for the company. One investor keenly wanted to expand, but further expansion would have required building a more traditional brick and mortar infrastructure. For six years, I had enjoyed not having to waste a month of my life conducting performance appraisals, and I had no desire to return to
that life. It was clearly time for my Intention to be completed.

I think it important that any entrepreneur knows when he has done all he or she can do, and that it is time to step aside and let others take up the reins. Some people are best suited to maintenance tasks and some to construction. I am a wizard, a believer in the three simple steps, and enjoy starting things from nothing far more than I enjoy maintenance. I knew it was time for me to move on. I changed my Intention to:
I sold my company for more than $100 million in a deal that was of benefit to everyone involved
.

The first suitors turned up in late 2008. In early 2009, we accepted an offer to divest one of our products for $57 million, which was a terrific deal in difficult economic times. The purchaser went on to enjoy great success with the product, which in turn benefitted from their company’s much larger sales force and resources.

Then we started receiving offers for the rest of the company. At one time in the process, there were 170 full-time employees, from five different companies, performing due diligence on our virtual company with its zero employees. No one but me seemed to get the irony.

We turned down better deals than the one we accepted. Of critical concern to us was that patients would be given the same or better care and attention in the future, and that was the case for the offer we accepted.

Eventually, the ideal new owners stepped up, and under their tutelage, I know the company will go from strength to strength. In the end, it was a perfect match. From starting with a few thousand, the total sales price was more than $107 million, just seven years later. Who says the American dream is dead?

In 2007, a trip to China had connected me with a billion-dollar company run by people whose goals in life are also to make positive differences in the lives of others. It is a remarkable company staffed by some of the brightest and most humble
people I have ever met, many of them Buddhists. For them, taking quiet time every day is natural. It is not considered esoteric but as normal as drinking water to quench a thirst.

By 2011, ANU grew to have several promising compounds in development, and I formed a joint venture with the Chinese company. I remain a hands-on director with the drug development program. Their much greater financial and people resources will speed up the progress of these promising treatments.

We agreed to name the leading cancer compound
AD1
after my mother, Audrey Dawick. Of everything the three simple steps have given me in an adventurous life to date, I am most grateful for this one small thing.

The End

I
F MOST PEOPLE DO
not read a book’s introduction, I assume the same is true of its conclusion. I will keep it short.

I believe the application of these three simple steps can get you out of the quicksand and on your way to amazing adventures. Each principle is free and has no negative side effect. What do you have to lose by being selective with the media, avoiding the complainers, treating yourself to 2 percent of your day for stillness, and writing daily Intentions?

I look forward to hearing about all your adventures at
www.threesimplesteps.com
, most of which I am sure will be even more exciting than my own.

Cheers!

Trev

Janet Wynne: From the days when we used to hit each other over the head with kitchen implements to today, you have been a constant in my life. Your support and encouragement has been appreciated more than I have ever said.

Edwin B. Hernandez: Who has been my fellow wizard for several projects over the last fifteen years. We have played, fought and celebrated like brothers during that time, and I can’t imagine having anyone more talented or fun to create havoc with.

Sarah Maddison: For filling the void so readily and humbly, and for the best steak and kidney pie on the planet.

Eva and Gus: For stepping outside their comfort zones and pointing out the right path for me to take.

BenBella Books: Erin Kelley (editor) for bringing clarity and structure on paper to my cluttered thoughts. Glenn Yeffeth (CEO), a fellow re-inventor who immediately understood the significance of the
Three Simple Steps
. To them and the whole BenBella team who helped me to get over the discomfort of revealing personal stories, and who make the writing and production of a book a true partnership.

Papua and my spirit team for their magic. Sweet dreams to us all.

Author of
Three Simple Steps
, Trevor Blake is a serial entrepreneur. He was founder and CEO of QOL Medical LLC, a company focused on solutions for rare diseases, that he started in 2002 with a few thousand dollars. Its virtual business model was unique in an industry crying out for change, it was the top grossing nonemployer in the United States, and it sold in 2010 for over $100 million. In 2006 he founded ANU, a unique not-for-profit dedicated to developing low side-effect cancer drugs. In 2011 he co-founded Kalvi Medical LLC and is its CEO.

Prior to this, Trevor was VP Commercial Development at Ceptyr, and Director Commercial Development at Orphan Medical. He has worked in the UK, Europe, and the USA with companies such as Lipha, 3M, and Biogen and has won many industry awards, including marketing professional of the year.

A graduate of Britannia Royal Naval College (UK), he has a degree in radiography, and an MBA from Durham University (UK).

www.threesimplesteps.com

    
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For a taste of Trevor’s next book
Virtual Success
, which is a practical (but not dry) guide to starting, surviving, and succeeding with a virtual business, please visit his blog at
http://trevorgblake.com
where you will find many useful articles for success in business and life.