While getting ready this week, John Cleese appeared on the tv doing a stand up comedy routine.
It seemed odd to me, so I turned up the volume to hear him end with the punchline “I needed the money”.
The clip was actually part of an interview in which he explained that he was no longer being offered as many acting parts and he decided to find an alternative way of earning an income. (I am paraphrasing; I can’t remember the exact words). So he wrote material for a series of Stand Up shows, and the inevitable DVD.
Taking into consideration he has also fairly recently been through a tough divorce that really hit him in the pocket; it got me thinking.
Here is a man who has achieved the type of success most business people can only dream about achieving in their own industries. The belief being that once they get there they will be set for life. Yet at the time in most peoples’ life when they are looking at the retirement or enjoying the fruits of their many years of labour; he is in the position where he is not as secure as he thought he would be and is having to shift gears.
Thankfully he is so established and respected enough in his industry he can turn to another revenue stream that is totally within his area of expertise, rather than looking outside, as so many business people do and end up no better off.
John Cleese has always had a number of products he could bring to market. His acting, writing, videos, to name a few. Consequently when one dropped off and he was facing trying times, he could pull on the others.
How many business people who if faced with the same scenario in their life could genuinely say they would be able to bounce back in the same way?
If demand for their main product or service were to decline, or circumstances depleted ready cash, what do they have in place to reduce the risk of financial meltdown?
