Should I Start My Own Business
68Breaking Away From the Pack
Building a Foundation
It All Begins with Your Motivation
Everyone is motivated by something. You are motivated to work, play, or sometimes just vegetate. You are always motivated to do something by something. As we mature in life, our motivations evolve. "When I was twenty-one," as the song goes, "it was a very good year." In those days, I was motivated by a desire to excel . . . physically, for the most part. I was into all kinds of sports, running, and just about anything else that would buff my body physically. A woman who captivated my eye also motivated me. I wanted to look good for her, conquer any foe for her, and give her the world. Today I am motivated more psychologically and spiritually. I am concerned more for my future than I was way back then. At 21, I was sure that there would be no mountain I couldn't scale. Today I wonder sometimes if I can get the garbage can to the curb. As we grow, so do our motivations. Some remain the same, but for the most part, we become more realistic.
The reality of life demands that we, at times, re-evaluate our current position and direction. Why? As life unfolds before us, we learn new things about its reality. For instance, when I was young, I had no idea how expensive life would be when I had children. Therefore, when I began to have children, I learned very quickly that the amount of money I planned to live on was no where near enough. I hadn't taken into consideration how inflation and other money eaters, like interest, would lay waste to the best of my plans. I began to evolve new goals and plans. I also have a much greater motivation to succeed now than I did earlier in my life. I have four children, all girls. My motivation to make more money and provide a financially rewarding lifestyle for them is great. What is yours?
A Look at YOU!
Every person who undertakes the task of becoming successful needs to understand who they are, what they want out of life, and where they are headed. They need to be willing to make a commitment, to work hard, and to make some changes in their lives. There are things you do that you must stop doing. There are things you do not do that you must start doing. There are ideas you must learn and others you must unlearn.
It won't help for me to tell you, "Oh yeah, it's easy, like a walk in the park." I hope as you read this you are beyond looking for the "Get Rich Quick" type of business opportunity. It just doesn't exist. By now hopefully you have figured out that you can't sit around doing nothing and wait for the money to fall into your lap. It doesn't happen that way. True success like that is a lottery. On the other hand, planning out to be successful and then embarking on that plan makes success assured!
Building a successful life or business is certainly not a simple chore . . . but it doesn't have to be a impossible either if handled correctly. Anyone can really accomplish it.
Why do we need to be motivated?
Without motivation, we become no greater than the least of creatures in the world. The clam, for instance, just sits in the water waiting for food to swim by. It is limited to whatever happens to pass in front of where it is sitting on the bottom. Unfortunately for the clam, that could be just about anything these days, including auto parts, clothing, debris, and occasionally, real food. There's no real motivation here. On top of that, the clam has many hunters to fear – including man – possibly its worst enemy.
The orca, on the other hand, is a highly intelligent animal, which hunts the seas until it finds what it is looking for. It has been known to beach itself temporarily in pursuit of its prey. It is a sleek, beautiful, highly respected family oriented animal in the ocean. It has few enemies to worry about and swims the ocean freely, without any creature truly opposing it, not even the Great White shark the premier predator.
The clam gets what it is given, which is often not what it needs and it has no real hope for anything better. In contrast, the orca gets the choicest of foods in the ocean. It swims freely in search of the best that life has to offer. It is a family, or clan oriented creature, so it has many friends. It is most likely a very happy creature!
What do YOU want out of Life?
What can we expect from life that will be handed to us? NOT MUCH! Our society has created a monster of itself over the last 50 to 60 years. A large percentage of people in this country have come to believe that the government is supposed to somehow provide for their every need. This was not the promise of our forefathers, nor was it in any way their intent. Their intent was to ensure a climate of life and government that would encourage creativity, entrepreneurial enterprises, freedom to think and live however we feel, and freedom of religious belief. Now there seems to be a move within our governing officials to do away with all of that.
Today, some might appraise you as evil because you want to have money, or be rich. They think you have no right to climb out of the pit to be something other than what they envision you to be. In fact, if they catch you, they will try to push you back into that pit from which you escaped. What is sad is that those that oppose you are often family or friends who try to tell you, “That will never work!” However well meaning this seems to be on the surface, often times it is really an attempt to stop you from becoming what those loving people are afraid of becoming themselves.
Some try to tell us that to be wealthy is evil. Why is it wrong to have money? If you work hard and start something that creates wealth in your life or the lives of others, why is that wrong? Why must you pay a penalty for being creative? Most likely, the reason is power. Those who feel they are right in depriving us of the wealth that we have created for ourselves are after power. The last thing they want is a great number of people who can control their own destiny. They want to control people's destiny and send them down a path that they have ordained. I don't take real well to being forced into someone else's plans for me! I hope you don’t either!
We need to take a long, hard look at our future and the things that we love to see if we are really on course to enrich them. Or are we on a path of destruction? No one who provides credit or creates debt is really on your side when it comes to your personal financial future. You need to come to grips with that! I'm not saying there's a conspiracy in the government or anything like that. What I'm saying is that this is a free country and anyone who can legally take your wealth has every right to do so. THEY WILL and THEY ARE! Credit needs to be controlled and used only when absolutely necessary. It is the number one thief of prosperity in America today.
There are people out there, who are supposedly helping you, who are not really concerned whether you or your family survives financially. They are only concerned with how much they can control your life and remove that "evil" wealth from you. You need to look at your source of personal motivation and see if their plan enhances your motivation, or leaves it to ruin. The banks and credit companies are not on your side no matter how nice they seem to be. They exist to make money and you are their source. Keep that in mind when dealing with them.
If we are not motivated by the right things, and believe me when I tell you that we are all motivated by one thing or another, we will strive for nothing. I promise you that if you are after nothing, you will surely get it every time!
Since we are all motivated in one fashion or another, the real issue becomes what motivates us. If our primary motivation is the way our fantasy football team is performing, then the likelihood of us going the extra mile for our business is not very high. If, on the other hand, my child is currently wearing out-of-date clothes that have been handed down to her from one of her relatives, I become very motivated to go out and try to excel in my business efforts.
The important point here is that you need an emotional issue to motivate you to accomplish greatness. As the story goes, Cortez once landed an army during one of his great conquests, and after putting the men ashore, burned all the ships that had brought them there. This left his army no avenue of retreat. He wanted to give his army enough motivation to win the battles ahead, and they did. You had better believe that an emotional issue, the threat of death, motivated them!
Am I telling you to invent an emotional issue to motivate you? No! I am asking you to examine your life and find the real reasons behind your desire to succeed. It won't be just about money . . . it's more than that, it's about freedom, it’s about love, it’s about something greater than greed. It may involve your loved ones, or maybe you're just tired of people forcing you into their mold. It doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it evokes a strong emotion in you. That's the key. If we feel strong enough about something, we will do almost anything to accomplish it. When you are willing to go any distance, to climb any mountain, or carry any load, then you will have no choice but to succeed. It’s called having a “Have to!” I “Have to,” succeed.
The great men and women of history refused to be turned from their tasks. We look at them and say, "If only I could accomplish that." You could! Thomas Edison said, "Genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." We need to see that any castle is built one stone at a time. The great pyramids didn't just appear one day; they were built stone upon stone for centuries.
You can accomplish anything you set your sights on with the right motivation and the right tools. I hope you noticed that I didn't say it required gifts or genius. While some of the people that have become legends of greatness were exceptional people, the majority were just dedicated, tireless people who refused to be stopped from achieving their objectives. It is said that Thomas Edison failed more than 10,000 times before he successfully created the light build we all take for granted now. Everyone who has ever succeeded in a big way will also tell you of a great many failures along the way.
How can we Stay Motivated?
In order to stay motivated, we must first clearly understand our own personal motivations. That begins with knowing how to differentiate between what you want and what motivates you. Many times I have the taste for a hamburger. But the taste of the hamburger is not what motivates me; it is the empty feeling in my stomach that motivates me to buy one. The taste sensation I desire is just my mind deciding what to fill the hunger with. If I cannot find a hamburger, I will fill the need with something else. When I buy a present for a loved one, it is not necessarily their need for the thing that motivates me. My need to feel that I have had some important place in providing for them; to be thought of as a good provider; to know I am fulfilling a responsibility, is what motivates me. You can better understand some of your personal motivation by asking yourself the "Why" questions.
WHERE are you going and WHY are you going there?
The "Why Questions” that follow are designed to help you to focus on why you want to be free. You must be sure that you are on the right path. If there is any confusion or misunderstanding of these issues and where you are headed, it must be cleared up. To assure this in your personal or business endeavor, you must come to grips with the reality of your personal dreams and goals. It's surprising how many individuals do not have any plan for their lives. It is as if they are drifting in a sea of life, hoping to find a safe harbor from the storms ahead. The "Why Questions” listed below will help you focus clearly on your motivations. They will also help you understand why you need a goal or mission in life. Without them, we are headed nowhere.
"WHY" Questions:
Answer each question as completely as possible. Use a separate piece of paper if necessary. The more completely you answer these questions, the better you will be positioned to understand what needs to be done to accomplish your goals.
1. If you didn't have to work for a living, what would you love to do with your life?
2. If you were given a million dollars, tax-free, what would be the first thing you would do with it? (Paying off bills is a given, what next?)
3. In light of the abrupt changes that life can take, how secure do you feel in your current lifestyle?
4. If your job suddenly ended tomorrow would you be prepared to do something else?
5. If you were given the opportunity to recreate your life, what would your life be like?
6. What do you see as your life's purpose? (Please detail this.)
Now you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, and more importantly, why! Now you can learn how to stay motivated because you have detailed out the driving forces in your life. Keeping an example of what clearly motivates you in front of you as much as possible is the easiest way to stay motivated. If it's your family, then keep their pictures in your wallet, on your desk, on your bulletin board, or on the visor of your car. Does this sound too simple? Think about it. As you go through life, how many times do you ask yourself if what you are currently doing is worth it? And at that moment, when you're caught in the middle of a traffic jam wondering why it is that you do this day after day, you can look up and see your beautiful family smiling back at you. Then you know why! You no longer need to search for a reason to be right where you are at that moment. You can turn on the radio and start singing because you are fulfilling your priorities no matter how frustrating your current predicament is.
If your family is already well provided for, your motivation might be accomplishment, promotion, prestige or anything else that can evoke an emotion in you. It may be to have more time to be to more involved in volunteering.
At one time, my brother's motivation was flying his plane. He had pictures of his plane all over his office. He even had a model identical to his plane that sat on his desk. Was he crazy? Why, because he was emotional about having time to fly his plane? He was able to fly his plane often because he had a clearly defined example of the plane in view all the time while he was working. He always managed to make time to fly it, and I flew with him. We had some great times, and I know that we, as brothers, will happily remember those times forever.
That's enough, isn't it? Everyone wants happiness. After all, what good is success if there is no happiness to go with it? Success isn't just measured in dollars. I cannot tell you what success is for you and neither can anyone else. You will decide what success is for you and who cares what others think.
Escaping the Routine Path from Average
We understand now why we commute to our job every day, why we toil for a weekly paycheck, and why we continue to answer to a boss who is using us to pad his own bank account . . . or do we?
Linear income is the inescapable problem that everyone in America faces today in their attempt to out-run their expenses and build a lasting financial future. Linear income is the one-to-one relationship between work and pay. For every complete day of work, you receive a specific amount of money. No matter how high you go at your particular job, there is only so much money your company will pay you and that is based on that one-to-one relationship.
Non-linear expenses with a linear income
To escape this problem, you must escape the linear relationship between the amount of work you do and the amount of money you receive in return. The only way to accomplish this is through multiplicity of effort. You can accomplish through building a growing business.
In the business Phase of Growth process, you initially work hard for a small return on your efforts. A good part of this time is spent in training and learning how to do your particular business. But, as time goes by, the relationship between your personal efforts and the income return from those efforts begins to take on a non-linear relationship. What that means is that your income and the work effort you put forth no longer reflect the one-to-one relationship as it did with your job. The reason is that you are hopefully utilizing the efforts of tens, even hundreds of people's efforts to produce through what is called word-of-mouth advertising or referral business. Happy satisfied clients will produce repeat business and recommend you to others. With the right program and the right plan, there is no better chance for the individual to see early retirement and future financial prosperity far beyond most people's imagination than with a personal business.
The Winning Formula
Your success in this endeavor, or any other, is really proportional to the amount you help others. The most successful marketers are those who are focused on clients and their wants and desires.
This is what J. Paul Getty said,
"If you want to be financially secure, you must:
1. Be in business for yourself
2. Have repeat products
3. Duplicate your efforts
4. Guaranty the product
5. Give better service than the competition
6. Reward those who do the work."
If we are to escape the mundane of our financial lives, then we must first escape the plans that the economical and political systems have in store for us. That means we need to cut a new trail. The biggest struggle you will face in this brave new undertaking is the obstacle between your ears. You must begin to believe that you can accomplish whatever you desire, and then, just begin.
Around 96 percent of the people in this country are destined to fail financially. This statistic comes from the Department of Health and Human Services. This is the system that you and I are currently a part of. When it comes to success, who should we believe about our ability to achieve financial success? Are we to believe those around us who hold nine-to-five jobs and will be part of the 96 percent of Americans who fail? Or should we believe those who have succeeded? Make the commitment and do what is necessary and you will achieve whatever level of success you are willing to work for. It takes work . . . you can't sit back and hope things work out for your family. It is well worth the effort to insure that you and your loved ones are taken care of your way, not someone else's way!
You are totally responsible for your own financial successes or failures. No one, not even those helpful friends or relatives who will try to talk you out of your dreams, will be there to soften the blow. You must make the decision yourself, and then do the right thing. You must be bold!
Goethe wrote, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
Lee Jamie 4 months ago
Success is based on our own efforts. Yes. Thanks for the hub!