What are you counting on? A simple and straightforward question. It reveals more about you and I than meets the mind.
The things we’re counting on reveal our identity.
Maybe you’re counting on someone to make you happy. Maybe your counting on that quarterly bonus. Regardless, these things shape our identity without notice. A subtle defining that happens slowly over time. Identity should be formed by the immovable or at a minimum something we’re willing to stake the risk on.
Here’s a brief list of what I’m counting on:
God’s understanding
My wife’s commitment
My children’s love
Friendship of a few
Solitude
As you can see from my list, there are some things that could fail me. I don’t mind because I’m willing to take the risk. And oh, the heart-break that could ensue just the same. This is living.
Don’t count on what is fleeting and temporal. Marketing often bugs us to the contrary, but that’s just selling something we really don’t need.
It didn’t take me long, as a kid, to know I was born an entrepreneur. A risk-taker who understood that to live, is to risk.
a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
The above definition is from dictionary.com and notice the word any.
I wasn’t the kid selling lemonade on the street corner for twenty-five cents. Though I had similar ventures way back when. I liken my path as a life entrepreneur, who had varied enterprises, with varying levels of risk. Each of them shaping who I have become today.
I haven’t always gotten it right or been celebrated for my achievements. Quite frankly, some of my biggest successes are ignored to this day.
So I think…
What are you risking today? Are you involved in any tremors or ripples? Have you stood up when most remain seated?
I've been at this entrepreneur (risk-taker) thing for awhile-even before I knew it consciously. The learning never stops. I had a couple of great conversations today around marketing and the target of those intentions. Driving away from those conversations, I thought about who I'm marketing to. Maybe the question is appropriate for you as well.
Who are you marketing to?
My intentions with marketing may be different than you. Are you marketing yourself to a prospective employer type? Are you marketing yourself to a prospective client? Regardless, it pays to know. I know you may now be thinking I deserve the big "duh." Stick with me.
In the early days of Epic Living I put significant time into knowing who my target audience was. It was a noble effort, but it lacked the sobering understanding needed in the final analysis. Quite frankly, this lack of sobering understanding tripped me up. In other words, failure upon failure. Here's what I discovered some time ago:
I'm not marketing to me.
This reality is crucial. No matter how excited I was about a product or service or how much I thought what I was offering would change the world, I was a poor example of who would buy and follow. The deception lies in a belief that my excitement and applause represented the "whole" needed to sustain my ideas. The dirty little secret is often I didn't want to hear that my "great" idea was only interesting to a few. Ouch!
My friend, Craig Lerner of Involve, always follows my announcement of a new idea with a question. The question, so what? Yep, so what. So what if it does this, does that, saves starving children, and on and on. He's not trying to shoot my dream down, he's putting me through the sobering understanding thing. He has helped me immensely, even when I didn't want to hear it. You need a Craig Lerner.
So where does that leave us? Here are some key take-aways to consider, and remember, this is based on my experience.
Does anyone really care enough about what you offer to keep coming back? Yea, I know you may be a master closer, but after you let go of the vice grip, are they really a fan?
Is what you offer sustainable, solve a problem and have real demand? Sustainable in that it can be reproduced and used repeatedly. Solving a problem speaks for itself. Demand is that essential "it" quality that makes people pay a premium. Not because you sold them, but because there's true value present.
Is it simple? Most people (customers, employers, partners, etc.) have compressed attention spans and don't want to spend minutes trying to figure things out.
Have you real data to support what you do? Real data is not data you spin in-order to get a result you desperately want.
Are willing to set your hopes and dreams aside so that the integrity can emerge? I respect leaders who know that certain ideas stink or need another time and space to work. This is difficult, very difficult.
It seemed like the right time (just my mood I guess) to right this post about the 10 things I've learned from marriage. This list is could be longer, but I recognize I only have you for so long.
Here we go:
It goes by fast, so I value the now and the memories.
Your not as smart and "together" as you think you are.
When times get tough, there is no greater a friend to have.
Marriage has kept me from drowning in my own blues.
One person can make a difference like no one ever before.
Marriage is not, nor will ever be, a 50/50 proposition. I have needed more than her 50 percent on more occasions than I care to admit.
It's the hardest and most rewarding work I've ever been involved in.
The art of commitment.
Falling in Love can go on and on and on and…
Marriage is the riskest venture I've ever undertaken. It's taught me about the reward and the loss that are inevitable in life.
Life is in motion and in a constant state of flow-forward.
I told someone last week that time flys. They agreed in aknowledgement and understanding. It dawned on me right after the exchange that time has not increased or decreased its pace. Kind of sets one in a place of grappling with daily choices.
I am in awe of each day now. The realization that a significant part of my life has been lived. And before you think I live in a mystical world, where all is spinning in perfect balance, you should know that each day is a fight for what I believe. I make decisions that carry risk-some small and some great. I face fear and watch courage appear. I know I don't have as much time as I once did. I am driven.
There is a war going on.
Ever notice that not many will stop you and inquire about whether your living out your destiny? At some point life became way too complicated and many surrendered to the insanity. Almost like slaves that have resigned themselves to a life without freedom. Freedom to live, love and dream.
I realize my voice is somewhat faint in an overcrowded world full of gadgets, entertainment and medication. But I also realize I can't be silent. Kind of like the air in a deep breath. I'm in and out.
This interview with Seth Godin will encourage you to try and fail.
Are you in a workplace where taking a risk and failing are frowned upon? Do you frown upon it yourself? Why not begin a small experiment today with risk and failure? It could liberate you.
In the interview Seth gives some good examples of what a small experiment might look like. The following are my suggestions:
Interact with a client in a different way. Make a surprise visit to their office and engage with the receptionist and no one else.
Sign up for a cooking class, even if you see yourself as a lousy cook.
Try something that your kids are good at, but you're not.
Suggest a unique place for a work retreat. Like this spot.
Introduce yourself to someone you've never met at work, at school or in your neighborhood.
