Tony Soprano’s Top 11 Tips for Success
- Written by Neil Patel on December 17th, 2007
- 40 Comments »
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Over the past few weeks I have been watching an addicting TV series called the Sopranos (currently on season 2). You’ve probably heard about it or seen it, but in case you haven’t, it is a show about the mafia. Even though many of these mafia stories may seem a bit old or repetitive, there is a lot you can learn from them. Here is what I learned from the mafia in the past few weeks:
- Don’t let anything stand in your way – if you want to successful then you have to do whatever it takes to obtain your goal. Mafia members usually result to violence and break the law to obtain their goals but you should be able to obtain yours without turning to criminal activities.
- Show some respect – in every industry there are always a few individuals that are looked up to. There usually is a reason for this and instead of being jealous or talking trash, you need to start showing some respect. Without those industry leaders your industry probably would not be where it is today.
- Patience is a virtue – you may want to be the big boss, but you need to work your way up to it. You can’t have everything you want right away and there is not much you can do about it (unless you want to whack everyone ahead of you).
- The smartest route isn’t always the easiest one – in most cases there will be multiple paths to obtaining your goals. Instead of going with the easy route, you need to go with the smart route.
- Think things over – if you are angry or desperate you probably start acting based off your instincts in hopes of satisfying your feelings. Instead of acting on things right away, start thinking things over because then you will be able to act based on logic instead of on feelings.
- Friends and family first – money and fame are great things to have but at the end of the day you are nothing without your friends or family. Do not let things get to your head in life and make sure your respect and embrace your friends and family.
- Don’t show off – there is nothing wrong with buying nice things every once in a while but don’t buy something just to show off. Although attention is good, if you are someone worth knowing sooner or later people will get to know you. People who just show off draw too much attention and in many cases are hated by others due to jealousy.
- Gain a backbone – if you don’t stand up for yourself people will just walk all over you. If you let people walk all over you it will not stop and it will not get you where you want to be in life.
- If you want it, then earn it – don’t expect things to be handed to you in life. Your family’s name or money can only get you so far in life. These days the up and coming millionaires aren’t having it all handed to them, but instead are working hard for it.
- Money doesn’t always buy happiness – you need to do what you like in life or else you may not be happy. Granted, money does make life easier, but it does not mean you are going to be happy forever because of money.
- Follow the unwritten rules in life – some of the most important rules in life and the ones that are not written. If you want to succeed in many cases you have to follow these rules or else you will be disowned from your community.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 4:27 pm and is filed under General. You can follow the blog through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Surround yourself with positive people that will go to battle with you. You win as a team.
Nice tip! It is always nice to have friends who have your back.
good post. i always thought to be good at business you needed a gangster mindset, not saying kill the prick that stands in your way, but make it so that he never wants to get in your way.
i don’t think you need to surround yourself with positive peeps, but peeps that got your back are a definite must. every successful gangster has a solid crew.
PEACE!
A crew makes a big difference because not only do they have your back, but you can rely on them for advice.
You can’t let rejection get you down. Stand up for what you believe in and always know that the next day will be better.
In life it seems a lot people are afraid of rejection. People just need to suck it up and be prepared for it.
Interesting things to learn from the show. i really need to get the DVDs and sit down and watch this since I have only caught bits and pieces. All of these are very good lessons. Might also want to add “don’t turn your back on trouble!”
Or you could go to Blockbuster and rent all of the seasons.
Wow, this really got my attention as I just watched the final episode three nights ago after watching the whole series in order (for the first time ever - I’ve never had cable) over the past several months. I really think you did a great job of taking taking something with a catchy angle (Sopranos) and then delivering useful information along with it. Great Post! Enjoy the series Neil!
I hope the final episode was great. I so want to get to the last season, but I have a few weeks to go.
i’ve been watching past seasons too - hbo on demand - and i’m on the one where he was told pussy had a wire. so tip 12 is to stay away from people who will rat out your plans to the competition. snitches catch stitches and get thrown in ditches.
On the other hand snitches can be useful if you know that they are a “snitch”. Your may be able to use them to your advantage.
i see where you could probably give them fake information to mislead your competition and have them do something to your advantage that you knew they would do once they had such information.
Exactly, and if they go to your competition with it… you could screw them over. (not saying to do it, but you could)
Great angle! There is so much depth to that show that I still think about certain episodes as I’m daydreaming.
Tony Soprano? Seriously? You forgot the part about how when someone sitting around the table in the boardroom betrays you should whack them after hours in a dark alley. Honestly. Hello Dumb Little Man! Tony Soprano was a fictional character! Duh. Take his advice and end up in jail.
I hope you do not feel I recommend taking his advice when it comes to criminal activities. I was just trying to make a point that there are similarities with the mafia and good business practices.
^^^Wow, missed the ENTIRE POINT of this article. Well done, that must have taken considerable effort
Good points for any type of business
Great list and show. Might I add another, Have a cash business that generates money 24/7 (Bada Bing)
It would be interesting to see what Vinny Chase (Entourage) tips for success would be.
I believe the most important element is ‘luck’ !
Good points up here, but bad example…Mafia?? and good business practices?
I also think luck is very important, but I still think you can learn a lot from the mafia. Granted they have unethical business practices and break the law, but there are certain things that they know well such as respecting superiors.
If you are going to make a point, go big, break kneecaps. No point in teaching lessons that no-one else is going to see.
Great list Neil. I’m glad you’re not condoning resorting to violence though.
Six is really important. I spent a long time working all my waking hours and barely seeing my family. Then one day, I had to ask myself, if I died tomorrow, would I be happy with the way I’d spent my time over the last few years and the answer was a definite NO.
As the saying goes, “violence doesn’t solve anything’.
That is a weak statement. The real statement is “War cannot be avoided; it can only be postponed to the other’s advantage” or “Before all else, be armed.” This is the sopranos, not Run’s House.
Thanks for the input. I’ll probably end up using “War cannot be avoided; it can only be postponed to the other’s advantage” in a future blog post.
Just make sure you know that it came from Niccolo Machiavelli, not me. I should have quoted above, but didn’t.
I think I might be one of the last few people to have seen a complete episode of this show, but I definitely should. Great write up and list here Neil, it’s a good “Survival of the Fittest” type analogy too.
I like what you gained from the show. Some people might have come away with other things, like don’t eat box, wash money through strip clubs and garbage services, steal, etc… but on the real loyalty and a good crew is key.
A lot of people take it for granted, but a loyal crew can make a big difference in your life.
Just having people you can depend on can make or break you. Unfortunately I have been living by the “if you want it done right, do it yourself” motto too long. I need a loyal crew to expand and grow.
I used to live by the same motto, but then I realized that my revenue potential was capped due to the amount hours in each day.
I know have a loyal crew and it has helped drastically with growth, but it took years before I could find all of the right people.
teamwork success comes when you find people smarter than you in areas outside your expertise to do all the things that you can’t do because they are either too time consuming or too technically involved for you to handle as efficiently as someone who specializes. then your skill is to learn how to control all the geniuses you have on your team. in the sopranos each soldier knows more about their micro-operations than tony; that way they do all the legwork, and he just collects his cut; even his psychiatrist, who ultimately works for him, tipped him off that his mother tried to kill him by interpreting his dream because she is so much smarter than him in the subconscious department.
Controlling all the geniuses on your staff is always hard (or at least from me). I always have a fear that I am going to lose my employees.
I am not sure if there is a solution for this other than to keep your employees happy.
You know the more successful you become, the harder it is to keep staff loyal. They see how you do things, emulate and copy many aspects of your program and become your competition. I guess the best case scenario then is to treat them well as you say, then at least they are allies rather than enemies. Like you said it pays to have people have your back. I wonder what your experience is with your own staff. I’ve found that about 2 years is the limit until people open up shop for themselves, the entrepreneurial souls on our staff can’t work for others for too long. It is against their nature.
Therefore the better your staff is, the more likely they are to jump ship in due time. This means that no matter how great an organization you have ( like Google for instance) when the time comes and they can cash out, they will. You can profit from this and help them succeed or you face competition that never needed to be.
for one, i know just b/c someone is an excellent technician - like a programmer, for instance - doesn’t mean they can run a programming company successfully; they need sales, administrative, and accounting skills, plus the eye to find good talent to do that work for them efficiently. i read in the e-myth, that’s why most businesses fail: technicians try to be entrepreneurs without acquiring the skills needed to run a business. in my experience, the smartest technicians love to do what they do like an actor and just want to do that in which they excel. they know that if they run their own businesses, they will have to get into sales, accounting, and other details that fall out of what they love doing. now if they are just being a technician as a back up while they build their business, they are not among the best technicians out there, because they don’t solely work on their craft; and even if they are so good that they have done so much for the company that you hate to see them leave, offer what you can in terms of money and quality of life, ensuring you’re still pulling a postive roi from them; if they go, f it, there are always good people out there that can continue to make your company great. more competition always grows your market.
Good points. I have lost a few staff members that think they can do design or marketing on their own after working with me. But after a few months on their own, they usually realize that it is very hard to succeed and it is much easier to work 9 to 5.
one more thing, there are always non-compete clauses in employment contracts where an employee agrees to not pursue a similar profession or trade in competition against their employer.
The problem with non-compete clauses is that they do not hold up well in certain states like California.