Be Open to Being Open

In the past few posts, I’ve been outlining the best ways to leverage yourself with networking. In addition to getting out there regularly and having a loaded business gun so you are ready to make the most of a new connection, you also need to have the proper, open-minded attitude. In other words, you need to toss preconceptions about what type of people you want to connect with or what kind of opportunities you’re hoping to find. Some of the best connections and opportunities arise where you least expect them.

For instance, a long, long time ago a candle maker and a soap maker found themselves married to sisters. As brothers-in-law, they saw each other frequently but never talked to each other about their businesses because they created two different things. It took their astute father-in-law knocking them over the head to realize that what they did was actually very similar—they both produced tallow and fat based products sold to the home retail market. They decided to go ahead and try combining their efforts by selling both products types at each sales call and putting their individual strengths where it would do the company the most good. Within a couple decades they were one of the largest companies in Cincinnati. The simple candle and soap makers became some of the richest men in the region, something they were not likely to accomplish on their own.

Now their company, Proctor and Gamble, is known around the world and boasts sales near the $40 billion mark. And to think that initially they didn’t believe they had anything to offer the other! Opportunities are plentiful. You just have to get past the standard assumptions, think creatively, and consider ideas from many angles.

So, the next time you’re introduced to someone or an idea comes your way that gives you that “not my thing” feeling, stop and give it a couple minutes and see if you can’t come up with a way you could benefit each other. You never know what you might come up with. Keeping an open mind gives you so many more chances to multiply your finances, as well as business partnerships and friendships. You’ll be surprised at how often positive things develop if you just give them a little consideration.

Load Up Your “Business Gun” With The Right Ammo

As I’ve mentioned, networking and constantly getting to know new people is absolutely imperative, but those efforts are practically useless if you aren’t set up to develop a chance meeting from a couple minutes chatting to a long term relationship. The ammunition you should have in your “gun” might include anything from professionally designed business cards to a well crafted tag-line. The key is to have it ready and on hand when you meet your next great connection.

A business card is a given but in this day and age you need to hand people more than just a phone number. They will expect an email, a website and other online information. If you haven’t done so already, build a solid online presence, even if it’s just a one page website with basic information and links to other things you or your business are involved in. I also suggest looking into getting a LinkedIn account, creating a Facebook page, starting a Twitter account, or writing a blog. You’ll need to investigate which options will work best for what you’re doing and then spend some time forging them into the ammunition you need.

If it makes sense for your business, consider investing in promotional items. It can be anything from pens, magnets, or small gadgets related to your business that are easy to carry and hand out so people have a reminder of you and what you do. When at shows or conventions, have informational materials ready for those times when you can’t get in much more than your tag-line.

In addition, be ready to give back and help others. The more you assist others in their personal or business goals, the better they will remember you and the more willing they’ll be to assist you in your endeavors. Nothing in your arsenal will have more of an impact than a little gratitude and a positive image. Put this together with a solid on-line presence and plenty of ready contact information and you will have a truly well loaded business gun.

Making a Living From Your ‘Gift’

At the big fundraiser my wife and I hosted last week for Utah’s governor, we brought in an entertainer and speaker, Jason Hewlett (see more about Jason at jasonhewlett.com). He has a very unique show he puts on. Through stories, impersonations, songs and more he speaks about how each of us has a particular gift to offer and how he himself turned his talent for entertaining into a gift he shares with the great variety of people he now performs for. Everyone at the fundraiser, including myself, was absolutely wowed by his show. It’s obvious that he not only has a talent for entertainment but a serious passion for it as well.

From a young age, Jason knew what his gift was and carved out a very successful career using it. But most of us aren’t able to identify our talents so easily or we get sidetracked by life’s responsibilities and quickly lose sight of what truly moves us. If that is where you are right now, take a look at Chapter 5 of my book, How To Ignite Your Passion For Living. The Chapter titled “Turning Your Dreams Into Reality” is filled with ideas and exercises to help you discover or rediscover your gift and your passion.

Jason Hewlett took his inclination for humor and entertainment and turned it into inspirational entertainment about his experiences withreaching dreams and goals. No matter what your passion is, you can turn it into a vocation. You can do what you love for a living and love the work you do. Identifying your passion is just the first step but, in the end, it is the most important step you take.

The Secret to True Contentment: Work

I know everybody thinks that life is about getting to a place where you don’t have to work, where you can just take it easy and drink cocktails while sitting by the pool but I can tell you from personal experience, that is a road with few rewards. Work—having a job, a business, or personal objectives you are actively striving for—is something you will never want to be without. Work is not just for paying the bills, it is essential to having a fulfilling life.

Studies have shown that people are four times more likely to have a sense of contentment from work than they do from watching TV. That’s a pretty impressive statistic and yet, the majority of people (especially in the good ole U.S. of A.) spend huge amounts of time watching the tube. So why do we choose to watch TV rather than get to work on things that would further our personal and professional goals as well as provide us with more contentment?

It’s because work is hard. Worthwhile and challenging tasks usually take the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears and sometimes end up being a constant uphill struggle. Instinctively, we want to avoid what is difficult and TV can fill our time without taxing our brains or body. But it is the difficult work, the complicated and challenging goals we face in our day job or the effort we put into building a dream, that makes what we accomplish so satisfying. Watching TV, on the other hand, accomplishes little if anything and is not, at the end of the day, very fulfilling.

You probably enjoy games of some sort—tennis, golf, chess, sodoku, etc.—and you play because of the challenge and the way you get lost in it, looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish or motivated by that potential win. Likewise, in your work, if you take time to set difficult and complex goals and totally throw yourself into reaching those objectives, you will find that your contentment and happiness will soar, buoyed by your progress and that potential, if not actualized, win.

Bottom line: set up some very tough challenges for yourself, pushing yourself to do more complex and novel things (whether you’re a millionaire now or still working on it!). It’s the work that will lead you to a richer and more satisfying life and make the down time by the pool much more enjoyable.

The Real Costs of Your Investments

How often do investors think about what is involved in their investments besides money? If you’re handing your money over to a stock broker, the time it takes to invest is small but you also take on significant risk. In real estate investing, there’s both money and time involved in getting it into shape to sell or rent. In a small business investment, the common approach is to put in as little money as possible but all your free time. So considering everything, what investment makes the most sense?

The answer lies primarily in the risk level of the investment and how much your time is worth. For instance, investing through a broker takes little time but the pay back is either very uncertain or very small. Small businesses often take years to turn a profit and your time investment, which may seem cheap or free initially, can be very expensive if you consider how much you could have made working more hours or a second job. Just think, if you could have gotten $25/hour working a second job, then that 20 hours a week you spent over 6 months getting the business up and running cost you $12,500 in lost income! How long will it take you to recover that investment through your business?

In real estate, you invest both a significant amount of time and, sometimes, money (see last week’s post and page 184 in my book “How to Ignite Your Passion for Living” on how to get others to fund your investments) but the outcome is far less risky. The added bonus is that real estate will not continue to suck your time the way a small business often does, and the returns will inevitably be greater and more secure than stocks. This is why I really encourage you to look at real estate if financial freedom is a primary goal of yours.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t open that storefront you’ve been dreaming about or support your favorite budding green business with a capital investment—there are many factors beyond time and money to consider when deciding what investment is right for you—but just don’t pour your all your time and money into something that is not going to help you reach your financial goals in the near future. Keep an eye on the big picture. Because after you make your first million in real estate, you can pay someone to do all the hard work to get that business off the ground or invest in whatever you like. That’s the beauty of financial freedom.

Living Healthier in the Now

Most of us have some health related goal or area of improvement that we are working on or hope to work on very soon. Keeping yourself mentally and physically aware while exercising and eating by using the “living in the now” concept I’ve been talking about in the last couple blogs, can get you through a strenuous workout as well as help you eat right all while increasing your enjoyment of these activities.

For most of us, getting through an exercise routine is a struggle. But if you are completely attentive to your movements instead of thinking about how you’ve never yet been able to keep up an exercise routine or letting your mind wander to how much nicer it would feel to be lounging on the couch, you aren’t as likely to quit in the middle of it. Just keep focused on the feeling of your muscles moving and listen to your breath as you control your inhaling and exhaling (a primary concept behind yoga and its distressing effects, by the way) and soon enough you will have completed your routine or finished that 30 minute run and are feeling great.

When it comes to food, it’s all about being mindful of what you eat, how much, and how you eat. When you reach in the fridge for something, consciously decide what will contribute to your well balanced intake for the day and choose your best options. Stop eating directly out of the box or bag and lay out a small portion on a plate that you can then take to a table or out onto the porch to enjoy. Choose a place with no TV or computer or anything else to distract you. Taste your food, becoming aware of every flavor and texture, and chew completely. You will find that eating “in the now” is much more enjoyable. It will also slow down your eating so you fill up on less food and will help your digestion by having food well broken down before it hits your stomach.

“Living in the now” will help you by not only increasing your appreciation of the sensations of exercising and eating well but will also help you attain your goals for a better, healthier life. You’ll feel great because of your accomplishments along with gaining the long lasting and compounding effects of the bliss that comes with being consistently happy in the moment.

Living in the Now while Planning for the Future

As I mentioned last week, you can strive to make your life better but you also need to appreciate what you have and what you accomplish today. This is the concept of living in the now. No matter what your circumstances are at the moment, you should strive to enjoy the life you are living today. This can be a difficult concept to put into practice, especially if you focus so much of your energy on the future and reaching your goals. So, how do you live in the now while working towards a better future?

The answer is to balance your thoughts between enjoying what you have now and looking forward to what you will have in the future.

Chances are if you are reading this blog you are a goal setter, or are trying to become one, so you probably spend a lot of time thinking about your future. And you should regularly take time to think about how your life will be when you reach your goals as it will help keep you focused on what you are after and motivate you to keep going. However, while chasing your goals, you should also be striving to live as fully and as passionately as you can, today.

For instance, don’t go to a cheap diner and spend the entire meal thinking about how you’ll be able to eat at high-end, ritzy places when you are successful and rich. There’s nothing wrong with letting that thought in—for a moment. But then sit back and enjoy your meal and don’t let your mind wander back to what you aren’t able to do, right now. Because right now, being frugal is probably necessary for you to eventually reach your goals as well as take care of today’s responsibilities. And besides, no ritzy place is going to have that sweet old waitress who calls you ‘hon’ and always has a colorful joke to get you laughing at the end of a long hard day.

So become a keen observer of your own mind, being conscious that you spend the majority of your time focused on taking in the experiences and sensations of the moment you are living in. Because what is the point of working through today just hoping to enjoy tomorrow? You should be enjoying today as well!

Become One of the Influential People

I know I have been talking a lot recently about keeping the influential people in your life close to you. But what I may not have gotten across is just how important you are—or can be–to the people around you. You have run into people throughout your life that had amazing talent and wonderful gifts and were willing to share them with you and help you live a richer, fuller life. Well, you too have gifts that you can share with others that can help and inspire them. You probably influence more people than you know already and you can influence and enrich even more lives by just being aware of what you have to offer.

Take a moment or two this week to think about your gifts and talents. Ask your family and friends how you influence them. There may something you’ve said that you had no idea inspired your daughter to take a chance that landed her the great job she has now. Your best friend may have watched you reach your fitness goal and is now getting on the treadmill at home every day because of what you accomplished. Perhaps witnessing your kindness and generosity with the new guy at work, encouraged others to do the same with the next new hire. It’s hard to say how you can enrich others’ lives until you find out what you have done and start paying attention to what you are doing today. Then, once you know, you can look for more opportunities to do the same great things again and again.

The pay-off of being a great influence is not only knowing that you had a positive impact on someone else’s life but it is also an energizing and motivating way to live. Seeing the encouraging effect your actions and words have on others will boost you through the hard times as you struggle to reach your goals or deal with your own personal dilemmas. Working on being a positive influence is a win-win situation, good karma, and the ultimate way to pay forward all the great, motivating influence you receive from the great people in your life.

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Being a Responsible Influence

Recently I ran into an old tennis friend and eye doctor, Dr. Steve T. Jackson. After we caught up a bit, Steve stopped to thank me for giving him a copy of my book, “How to Ignite Your Passion for Living”. He mentioned that he had loaned it out and was having a hard time getting it back. It was a book that really influenced him and he knew it was helping those he shared it with.

The encounter with Dr. Jackson was not that unusual. One of the most rewarding things about having written the book has been having people stop to tell me how helpful it has been for them. But this chance meeting with the doctor was a little more than confirmation that the book was truly helping others. It also affirmed for me the idea and goal I’ve been talking about in the last couple of posts.

Steve said it was the chapter on goal setting that really got him thinking about getting back in touch with the people that influenced him. Like me, he set a goal to organize a gathering of all the great people he’d meet over the years. Dr. Jackson, life myself, had realized just how important the influence of others are in our life and what we do with it.

He thanked me profusely for reminding him of this point, one that I hadn’t even realized was there. But that, in the end, is the point. We influence people in ways we don’t even expect and the people that influence us don’t always realize the impact they’ve had. That goes for the negative influences as well as the positives. So whatever you do, aim to promote the admirable qualities and the motivation to succeed in others.

I hope all who read and are motivated by “How to Ignite Your Passion for Living”, pay it forward by motivating and energizing the people around them. What a fantastic world this would be if we all did that. And what huge gathers Steve and I would have to put together!