A $5 bracelet, a $3 offer, and a real lesson
Welcome to the Dojo!
Last week, I attended BizWorld’s RiskMaster Luncheon, and one of the highlights was watching very young entrepreneurs pitch their products and negotiate prices.
At one point, I told a young girl I’d only pay $3 for her $5 bracelet. She looked me straight in the eye. No hesitation. No discount.
Respect.😀
On the Mat
- Let’s Train: Last week, I tried to negotiate a $5 bracelet down to $3
- Ask Feras: Internal alignment before external deals
- Sharpen The Blade: 50 essential business terms every new consultant needs to know
Let's Train
Last week, I tried to negotiate a $5 bracelet down to $3.
The founder didn’t budge—and gave me a look that made it very clear the price was the price.
Lesson learned. 🙂
I was attending BizWorld’s RiskMaster Luncheon, and one of the highlights was watching very young entrepreneurs pitch their products and negotiate in real time. When I made my offer, the young founder looked me straight in the eye—no hesitation, no discount. I respected that immediately.
That’s one of the things I love about attending events for entrepreneurship, and about organizations like BizWorld. You show up to support a great mission, and you leave reminded that the fundamentals of entrepreneurship—confidence, value, negotiation—can be taught early, and taught well.
These events also have a way of creating unexpected conversations. In the same room, you might find yourself listening to a fireside chat between Tim Draper and Sal Khan, or talking with people who care deeply about education, entrepreneurship, and impact.
A few moments from the event stayed with me:
Sal Khan talked about the importance of “keep fiddling.” Entrepreneurship isn’t about getting it right the first time—it’s about staying in motion long enough to learn what works.
He also shared why he chose the nonprofit route over a traditional for-profit model. It gave him the ability to reach people globally and focus on impact over constraints. Different vehicle. Much bigger surface area.
Another reminder that resonated, especially for mission-driven founders: you don’t need unlimited budgets to attract great talent. Paying at a solid middle or upper-middle-class level can still bring in exceptional people who value purpose as much as compensation.
And a phrase that came up more than once throughout the day: rejection is redirection.
All in all, it was a good reminder that entrepreneurship and learning don’t have an age requirement—and that sometimes the clearest lessons come from founders who haven’t yet learned to overcomplicate things.
Ask Feras Recap
Internal alignment before external deals
🔥 The Challenge
I spoke with two co-founders who are pursuing big partnership deals with large companies and asked for help thinking through partnership agreements with those external partners. I gave them a few tips and then asked a basic question: “Do you two have your own partnership/operating agreement?”
Their answer: No.
🛠️ What I Told Them
Before you negotiate external partnerships, make sure your internal partnership is solid. If you and your co-founder/s haven’t aligned on the hard stuff, a deal with a big company won’t fix it—it will amplify it.
At a minimum, you need to talk through (and put in writing):
- Who owns what, who’s responsible for what, and what each co-founder brings to the table
- What happens if one founder wants to leave and the other doesn’t
- What happens if one wants to take money out of the business and the other wants to reinvest
- What happens if one of you becomes unavailable unexpectedly
- How decisions get made and how deadlocks are resolved
The point isn’t to be pessimistic—it’s to be professional. Big companies will ask about your structure anyway, and your future selves will thank you for having the uncomfortable conversations early, before pressure forces them.
The good news? The two co-founders told me they’ll work on their partnership agreement next—that made my day. 🙂
Sharpen Your Blade
If you’ve just started a consulting business—or you’re thinking about it—here’s the part no one warns you about:
You’re about to get hit with a wall of business terms.
And whether you understand them or not will quietly determine if you land your first client, get paid on time, or burn weeks “building” a business that never really starts.
It’s like meeting your fiancée’s family for the first time…
Her dad launches into a detailed explanation of his golf handicap.
You’re nodding. Smiling.
Hoping no one notices you have no idea what’s happening.
That’s exactly how many new consultants feel in their first year.
So I put together a breakdown of 50 essential business terms every new consultant and service-based founder needs to know—covering consulting basics, pricing models, sales, marketing, finance, and tech.
Think of it as a crash course in learning the language of business—before it costs you deals, confidence, or momentum.
What terms did you have to Google way too late?
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