Great is as Great does

Today I would like to talk about a topic that fits in with the materials presented in The Secret, but which is not addressed directly. If you saw the movie Forest Gump, they you may remember a scene where Forest is talking to someone on a bench and that person says "are you stupid or something?". Forest responds by saying "Stupid is as Stupid does".

I want to talk about the opposite of this. If I were to ask you: What is a great basketball player? Would you respond with a list of requirements of what makes a great basketball player, or would you just say Michael Jordan? Same with Golf, would you give me a list of requirements of how to be a great golfer, or would you just say Tiger Woods? Notice I am asking what, not who; but it does not matter.

If Michael Jordan wrote a book that somehow contained all that he knew about being a great basketball player, would I become a great basketball player just by reading it? I think we can all agree that the answer is "certainly not".

Somebody who is a true great is the person who defines what it is to be great; but it is never the person who is trying to copy someone else. Prior to Michael Jordan, there was no one who played the game like he later would. He was not following any patterns, he was inventing his great career at every moment.

Since he had (obviously) decided within himself that he was a great player, it simply followed that everything he did would be great. Does this sound too simplistic? Well there is also the matter of belief. When Mr. Jordan had the thought in his head that he was a true great, he really believed it. And that made all the difference. Nothing can stop the Law of Attraction faster than unbelief.

Have you ever wondered why the great basketball player takes almost three steps on the way to his dunk and the rookie player gets called for traveling for taking 1.5 steps? It is not because the officials are favoring the great player, despite what many might think. It is because the great player believes or "be"s the great player in his/her mind first, and then with that strong belief (and some practice to be sure), is enabled to make great plays that are things of beauty and which do not attract adverse calls by a referee.

OK great you say, but I am not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods . . . in fact I am not even close.

And I have to strongly disagree with you on that point I am afraid.

I know you are not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. There can be only one each anyway. Being Michael or Tiger is not the point, but being yourself is very extremely much the point.

Because you have some sort of talent; and with practice and proper development of that talent you can become the next world great. You have to know what the talent is first, and you may need some help getting to a world wide stage; but the Internet is a world wide stage; and this blog potentially reaches millions of people for the promotion that I give it, as an example.

So here is how it goes . . .

You identify one or more talents that you have: Things that you seem to be able to do better than almost anyone else.

You practice towards the development of that talent(s). For multiple ones you would pick the one that you enjoy doing the most; NOT the one that you think you can make the most money from. I will explain this in a bit.

You may, at first, work a day job that allows you to use and develop that talent. This is great as long as it does not stop you from taking the next step.

You will start your own business, with you as the owner, of being of service to people by using your talent, whatever it is. As you do this, you will begin to learn fundamental principles of marketing and especially Internet marketing so that you can grow your business. I am here to tell you that you can not learn these principles in any class (Sorry to the good MBA schools).

No, the only way to learn how to market something is to create it first and then get out there and sell it on the Internet. You will learn your first lesson when the hundreds of sales that you envisioned just are not happening for your first attempt. Real world results are a better teacher than all the theory classes you will ever have. As the Klemmer folks say: Never judge anything except by the results, it is sometimes harsh, but it is always fair.

If you enjoy what you are doing and if you are talented at it, and if you have some sort of a followup strategy, such as a customer newsletter (which I have used successfully), then you will slowly grow that business. The key is repeat business from existing customers to add to new business from all marketing sources.

I have written previously about my computer help business that I have started. I created this out of thin air. Because I am talented in the areas of technical troubleshooting and personal communications, I can not only solve my customer's issues, but I can do it in such as way as they enjoy my having been there. Everyone wants my newsletter after my first visit, and once they have received that 3-4 times then I become entrenched as their computer guy. Even if I raise prices later, they are likely to stick with me (unless I am way out of line . . . but I have no overhead and my competition, if you can call them that, has a lot).

So it is a slow but steady growth process, and a business that keeps growing will one day become a big business, as long as it is not mis-managed. I like to say that it is the growing direction that is the most important, not the growing speed. If you have more customers on your newsletter list at the end of the month than at the beginning, then it is a growing business, and when they keep growing you eventually get to the point where you need to hire some help, and then the business can grow some more.

But do not be afraid to start small or slow . . . I charge insanely low prices currently for what I do compared to my competitors. Having no overhead allows me to do this. I charge about $80.00 for two hours of home computer consulting where my competitors charge more than twice that. The appropriate time for me to raise my prices will be when I am so heavily scheduled at my current rates that I can hardly keep up; and as the business continues to grow, that day is surely coming.

You could argue that I am defining what great is for a home computer help business, for the simple reason that I believe that I am great at it. My customers are very appreciative of the work that I do, which I judge when they cheerfully hand over the money for my services. This actually suprised me some at first, people handing me this money so willingly, but I had provided such value to them that they were only too happy to do it. Now I am not surprised by it any more.

But learn the key here. Your greatness has to come as the result of running your own business, or it is never really your greatness. Working for someone else, in any capacity, is not likely the path to the unrestricted presentation of your talents, and you salary is typically always bounded in the upper direction, no matter how much value you provide to how many people.

But do not quit your day job just yet. It is important that you be free to grow your talent inspired business at an appropriate rate, and being free from worrying about how much you are making at first will be GREATLY helpful. Desperation around finances may motivate some to succeed, but in some cases it can actually drive away that which you seek. When should you quit your day job? Do not even start thinking about it until you are making in profit twice as much as what your salary is counting all of your benefits; and seeing a clear path and reasoning for how your business continues to grow. Sometimes you can reduce hours at your existing job to free up some more time for your porfitable business.

As your business grows to a certain point and beyond it, you will begin to have a better understanding of what they are talking about in The Secret when they talk about living in the "magic of life". And why not? You are growing a business and gaining increasing income doing what you love to do. You are providing value to others and have the satisfaction of doing so. Your upward income and value providing possibilities are unlimited. You are being a creator. You have created a business out of thin air (really is is from The Field); and you are learning about how to be a creator.

I am here to tell you that this is one of the most important things we can do during this lifetime, and that is learn how to be a creator. Trust me on this one.

We were ALL meant to create.

Please do not stop yourself from doing so.

Joseph