Bob Skinstad Unpacks How You Can Use The 8020 Principle To Drive Growth The 8020 principle is one of the most powerful success secrets in the world - provided you implement it. Most people have heard of it, few put it into action. Bob Skinstad is re-energising an age-old principle by sharing a collection of real-life examples from highly successful people of 8020 in action. Here's how you can start embracing an 8020 mindset today - and see phenomenal results in return.

• Player: Bob Skinstad
• What he does: Bob is an ex-Springbok rugby captain, businessman, entrepreneur, a director at venture capital firm Knife Capital and has recently developed an online course for millennials, 8020 Mindset.
• Visit: www.knifecapital.co.za and 8020Mindset.com

When Gary Kirsten arrived in India in 2008 as the new coach of the Indian cricket team, he recognised he had a key problem. Many of the players on the team were not only more famous than he was, but more skilled as well. How do you coach Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, on his stroke? You tell him to keep doing what he's doing, and get out of his way.

But Gary did need to find a way to build trust between himself and his new team. There were many superstars in Indian cricket, and yet the national team's results weren't good, mainly because they didn't operate as a cohesive unit.

To really make an impact, he turned to the 8020 principle. What small but significant area could he turn all of his attention towards, to achieve 80% of the results he was looking for?

He realised that the one thing he had that most of the other players on his team did not, was time. Cricket is extremely popular in India, and the members of the national cricket team had a lot of endorsement deals, which meant they were very busy. Whatever happened, Gary knew he could outwork them.

For the first 200 days of his contract, he spent every day at the batting nets, from 6am to 6pm. Each time a player came to the nets, he was there, ready to assist them, or simply to show he wasn't going anywhere. He also spent those 200 days really studying his team members and listening to them.

By leveraging this one key area, Gary built the trust he was looking for, and learnt an enormous amount of information about his players. He found the one place that would make the biggest impact. Three years later, that team went on to win the World Cup.

Game-changing principles

"What's incredible about the 8020 principle is that it's relevant in every single facet of life," says Bob Skinstad, an ex-Springbok rugby captain, businessman and now venture capitalist.

"Gary is just one successful person in his industry who has shared his 8020 experiences with me; there are so many real-world examples. I first discovered it while I was playing rugby in my early 20s, and I read Richard Koch's book, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More With Less, but I use it in my business development capacity at Knife Capital today, and have applied it in various ways throughout my life and career. It's an absolute game changer if you understand how to apply the principles, and the success that putting pressure on the right levers can achieve in your life."

To say Bob is passionate about fostering an 8020 mindset is an understatement. In fact, he believes so strongly in the principle that he approached Richard Koch himself to discuss how he could help millennials to embrace 8020 to lay the right foundations for their own futures and careers.

"Richard has a house in Cape Town. I managed to get his contact details and sent him a long email explaining how we had used his principles in the Springbok rugby team. We were a young team, and we used 8020 to figure out who needed to get their hands on the ball at which times of the game to make the biggest impact. Our game improved markedly once we started applying Richard's principles, and that led me to implement it in everything I did. Richard loved the fact that we had applied it in such different ways to how he'd laid the principles out in his business management books.

"I really wanted to share all the lessons I'd learnt, and also the experiences of so many other sportsmen, business leaders and entrepreneurs whom I know have used 8020 to achieve success. I didn't want to write a book though — I thought a course would be more immediate and practical, particularly for millennials, who I believe can really benefit from fostering an 8020 mindset early in their careers.

"Richard and I collaborated on the course. I wrote the content, recruited a number of my contacts to share their own success stories, and Richard reviewed all the material before it went live. It's been a great experience, and one I hope will spread the word of how significant a shift to the 8020 mindset can be. Once you understand the principles in action, it becomes the lens you use to make all of your decisions, which has an exponential impact on your life, business and career."

8020 in Action

In all business and personal development theories, there is a vast gap between understanding the theory and actually putting it into practice. Using the 8020 principle on itself, only 20% of the people who are exposed to 8020 will actually implement it, but they will reap 80% of the rewards as a result.

The problem is that reading about a theory is easy. Putting it into practice is hard. It takes discipline, and a real understanding of how the principles work.

If you've been exposed to 8020 (also known as the Pareto Principle) before, you know that 20% of a sales team is responsible for 80% of a company's revenue, 20% of clients bring in 80% of business, and 20% of your actions each day impact 80% of your life.

Imagine if you knew which 20%, and could put all of your attention into those key areas. Imagine how you would supercharge your own growth and success, opening hours each day to concentrate on high priority tasks instead of getting sucked into the quagmire of "busyness' we all fall victim to without even realising.

"A few years ago, I was involved in a restaurant in Cape Town. We realised that 80% of the food customers ordered came from 20% of the menu. Through this simple insight, we were able to take a 36-page menu down to two pages. We saved costs on wastage, streamlined kitchen processes, and increased our efficiencies and customer service levels through this one simple change.

"The hardest part is getting started. Once you see success in one area though, you naturally start looking for the 8020 in other areas of your life, and before you know it that's how you look at everything," explains Bob.

"I see examples of 8020 everywhere, but I also see a lot of what I call "2080' thinking. Take the "latte factor' as an example. A few years ago, the idea took hold in the US (and South Africa) that if you just stopped drinking a latte once a day, you'd save $250 in 100 days. I disagree completely. If you really want to impact your savings, renegotiate your bond with your bank once a year. That will give you a far greater saving than cutting out lattes, and you haven't deprived yourself of something that makes life pleasant.

"One key negotiation at the right time will have a much bigger impact on your life — speak to your bank, negotiate a raise — but look at the key area that will have an 80% impact, instead of an almost insignificant impact. That's where you should be putting your willpower, energy and self-discipline.

"Gym is another great example. We're told to spend 20 minutes a day at gym. That's great for your health, and you should do it, but in terms of weight loss and body shaping, it's negligible if you compare it to changing your eating habits. Gym is 20% of your body. Eating is 80%. Where should you be putting your focus? Instead, we see people gyming and then eating two packets of chips, and wondering why they aren't losing weight. It's all about what levers you pull, and where you put your focus."

Small changes, Big results

In 2017, Bob brokered local VC firm Knife Capital's expansion into the UK. Based in the UK, Bob's role as a director at Knife Capital is business development — how can Knife Capital assist its investments to build high-impact businesses from a small base?

"Once again, 8020 hits the target every time," he says. "We've recently invested in a Swedish-based business called MOST, which develops environmental monitoring solutions for the transport and shipping industry. An early investor in MOST is King Digital Entertainment, the creator of Candy Crush. We love MOST. It's tracking really nice numbers, the management team is excellent, the product is next level, the business model allows for recurring revenues — but our aim as an investor is to grow the business.

"We needed to analyse which areas to concentrate on that will have the biggest impact on growth. Through applying 8020 we realised that 12% of MOST's current customers are responsible for 82% of the business's revenues.

"How much energy, time and resources are put into the other 88% of clients who are only responsible for 18% of the company's revenue? And what can be done to bring more customers on board who are like the 12%, and not the 88% of MOST's customer base? Focus on the right areas, and you'll exponentially grow your revenues without increasing overheads or expending more energy — in fact, you could actually do more in less time, with fewer people, if you know where to concentrate your efforts."

Bob believes that at its core, 8020 is common sense — you just need to apply your mind to the principles, and ask the right questions:

• What's your 8020?
• Who are your biggest customers, where are you spending most of your time, which actions have the biggest impact, and where are your waste areas?
• And in each case, can you 8020 the results you're looking for?
• What's the 20% that will generate 80% of your returns, or impact 80% of your success?
• What's the 20% that will affect the world and your customers' lives and businesses?

Local entrepreneur Keith Rose-Innes shares how he increased Seychelles' fly-fishing tourism industry by 600%: Keith Rose-Innes built his profile and expertise to become the go-to-guy for building fly-fishing trips around the world. Based on this expertise, Seychelles tourism hired him to increase visitor numbers to their islands.

The Seychelles is isolated and expensive. Keith did his research, and discovered that only 20% of fly-fishing agents were responsible for most of the fly-fishing trips booked around the world. Instead of spreading his efforts, he concentrated exclusively on those top agents, pitching the reasons why they should promote the Seychelles to their clients. Within six months he's increased year-on-year sales on the islands by 100%. This grew to 600% over the course of four years — simply because Keith focused his efforts where he would have the greatest impact.

Take the course

8020 Mindset is a five-hour online course endorsed by Richard Koch and presented by Bob Skinstad. It's designed to help participants think like results-orientated super-performers.

Visit: 8020mindset.com or email info@mindset.com for more information on the course and corporate talks.