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Category Archives: Mindset

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New Rules: How To Love What You Do

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valentine heart shape made by dollars isolatedIn the past the type of work we as humans did was based more on necessity than choice. You’re a farmer, or metal-smith, scholar, soldier, weaver—you did what you had to do, and circumstances were largely out of your control.

There have also always been people who dreamed of being more than their environment, but breaking out of the path many were born into certainly had to be more of an exception than what is possible today.

Things have changed. The internet, just as one example, is one of the greatest equalizers of opportunity ever! Anybody with a great idea, the skills and the resources can capitalize on a worldwide audience. Hopefully you’ve realized that but you know what? Out of habit many people still don’t.

As a society we haven’t figured out that the necessity of “doing what we have to do” isn’t as ironclad as many would be led to believe; that we have way more options today and way more opportunity then we can even handle. Yes or yes?

The fact is, though, most people do not love what they do for a living. They suffer through it. They do it because they “have” to do it, because they should do it, or because they’re skilled at it. I especially love that one.

“But do you like what you do?”

“I hate it but I’m good at it!”

Are you supposed to love work? Yes!

You know how we can make everyone successful? We’ll all just do one thing. We’ll all be internet marketers. Everyone will get rich, how about that? NO! It’s boring! Maybe not for you, but maybe for someone else who needs, wants and loves to personally interact with as many people as possible. The challenge for them is to find a way to get rich incorporating that into what they do or whatever their passion is.

So it’s imperative to do what we love to do, what we truly enjoy. Joy is a clue from the heart, different from pleasure. When you invoke the feeling of joy you’re tapping into your higher nature, your truer self, and the source of your full power, your full creativity, your full wisdom.

Passion creates energy. Energy creates enthusiasm. When you are passionate about what you do does that come through? Will people want what you’ve got? Have you ever bought anything or wanted to buy something from someone just because you liked that person, versus a person that’s got a really good product, but who shows none or—even worse—false enthusiasm? You don’t want to buy like that. It makes a huge difference for people.

Human energy, at its purest form, is love. And that energy transfers just like any other energy. When you’re passionate about something, you don’t have to sell it. You’re simply educating others on something you really believe in, and their lack of enthusiasm doesn’t temper yours, but rather the other way around. If you don’t love what you do, then what the hell are you doing?!

Now it’s your turn! What do you think? What are the barriers that keep people from realizing that there doesn’t have to be a discrepancy between becoming rich and becoming joyful in what you do? We want to hear from you!!

Opportunities Might Be Your Enemies

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iStock_000010763230SmallEnemies#2

There are so many sayings we say—most of the time without thinking about it—that make absolutely no sense. Yet we say them out of habit and routine, not realizing just how silly we sound.

For example: “Harv, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Well, what the hell’s the point in having the cake then?

Or how about this one: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Well, isn’t that exactly what the Trojans should’ve done?

The point here is that success building requires a lot of deprogramming from so many common beliefs and assumptions we’ve come to take for granted as true, even though a lot of the time it’s the exact opposite. We learned last week that a viable way to jumpstart an enterprise is to buy your product by selling it first.

Let’s take a look at another Rule of Opposites: Put all your eggs in one basket.

Most people will tell you otherwise. Why? Because if you put all of your eggs in one basket and something happens—like dropping it—you’ll lose everything. But I have a solution for that; take bloody good care of that basket!

We already know that no one’s reaching the next level without taking risks, yes? But the way we’ve come to think about our eggs and baskets is fear-based; fear of losing.

This truth is already established—if you want to be rich, you’ve got to be great at something. And to be great at something, you’ve got to focus on that something. For goodness sakes that’s where you put all of your eggs!

Rich people are focused. Poor people scatter their energies. Everything is one thing. It’s hard enough to make it in one business let alone divvying it up into dozens of different places!

‘But Harv—I’m constantly coming across great opportunities!’ This brings me to another Rule of Opposites:

Opportunities can be obstacles!

Opportunities can be obstacles if they take your focus away from what’s in front of you right now. That takes your time because you entertain them, maybe do some research and find out a bit more, and there you go again.

If you’ve got something semi-decent growing, put the blinders on and go for it. Not one person ever got wealthy to begin with in more than one business at a time. One business. One basket.

So you’ll have to choose, but then the next question is, ‘How do I choose?’ Look, pick one. It doesn’t matter because it’s the habit that’s the problem. Pick one to focus on. Worse comes to worse, even if you do mediocre with it, you can always let that one go when it’s finally done and get something going that does work—eventually without you. Then you can diversify and add more.

Choose one and get freaking good at it. Got it? I’m not saying you can’t buy real estate on the side. I’m just saying watch out. Every minute you do the other one you are losing time and energy that could have gone into your one basket.

There’re a lot of opportunities within your business. Make sure you’re doing well with one thing. First get rich and then you have the opportunity to go into other things. Get rich first!

Now it’s your turn! Can you identify one new opportunity within your business right now?  Will you take action and explore it ASAP?  Share your thoughts below and let me know if putting “all your eggs in one basket” just might be a lucrative opportunity for you.

A Closed Mouth Never Gets Fed

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Closed Mouth$

I don’t watch a lot of television, but this one commercial sticks out to me about a kid who was born with seemingly ultimate confidence: asking girls out for dates even though he’s clearly shorter and younger; graduating college when most graduate high school; performing open-heart surgery in a crowded concert hall with a ballpoint pen. But when it comes to negotiating a fair price for a new car, he’s frozen in his tracks.

One of the reasons I think that commercial works so well is because it taps into a common fear that a lot of people have; how to negotiate. No one wants to feel like they just got conned.

If you think about it, though, we’re using negotiations all the time: reaching agreements with our loved ones, friends, or employees. “Where do you want to eat? What movie do you want to see? I think I deserve a raise of …”

If you settle for Italian food rather than the Chinese you really wanted, it isn’t that big of a deal, is it? In business, though, you potentially have so much more at stake while negotiating. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you want to get better pricing and more favorable terms. As the old saying goes, “In business you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.”

For a lot of people that’s disheartening because they either think the strategies of negotiating are beyond them, or because there may even be a little guilt factor; if they win, the other person is losing.

First of all, both parties can win, and if anything you want to avoid win/lose or lose/lose situations altogether. Secondly, even if you have the best intentions, you can’t make choices for your fellow negotiator, but you can always help yourself by doing this one simple thing: ask for a better deal.

People are so afraid of hearing “No” that they often don’t even try. You have nothing to lose by just asking! A good friend of mine once told me, “Harv, a closed mouth won’t get fed.” Open your mouth! Say something if negotiations aren’t going the way you’d like.

There is one thing you do want to hold back on: never come out with a number first. Why? Because they now have flexibility to make countering statements and reasons why not to go with what you want instead of affirming statements (For example, “That’s not in the budget”). You want to say things and be in a position to force them to admit, “Yes, that does make sense.”

The best negotiating tool is to tell the truth. Know what you wanted going in and the absolute least/most you can go that makes sense to your bottom line. Then communicate that to them. The idea of good negotiations is to work together so you both get what you want, you both feel good and the deal is fair. Win-win scenarios are not always going to work out, but better to aim for that—or choose not to enter into a deal that will leave either party resentful.

Ask for what you really want, be truthful and fair, don’t get attached to hard feelings if things don’t work out, and you might just find that negotiating is a helluva lot easier and actually more fun than people might think.

So now it’s your turn!  What are your feelings on negotiating?  Have you overcome obstacles in this area?  Do you still struggle when closing the deal?  Share your thoughts here.

What good is creating wealth if you’re going to kill yourself in the process?

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Help!What’s the point of starting a business? To make more money, yes or yes? And what’s the point of that? So you can do more of whatever you want whenever you want.

If you haven’t experienced this for yourself, though, then you might have heard: that’s often not what happens, at least not at first. People get caught up in their business, a lot of the time working harder either out of necessity to make sure that it’s running, thriving and growing, or out of fear—sometimes over-reacting panic—that without their presence, the business will collapse.

In other words, the business—for one reason or another—takes them over. And that’s not unusual, at least not in the beginning stage of a business. However, if you find yourself in that same “supervisory” position after years and years, then I’d say you made things harder on yourself than you had to, and that’s because the freedom of accumulating wealth through business is directly related to how well you structured your business’ foundation.

What happens if you try to build a house on a weak foundation? It eventually cracks, caves in, or turns into the leaning Tower of Pisa. The business equivalent of building a solid foundation is creating a system, repeatable methods and procedures that produce profit. The idea is to systematize your business so that you can effectively and efficiently sell and support your product or service in bigger numbers as you grow.

So how do you create an effective business system?

Keep it simple. When it comes down to it, business should consist of only 3 parts:

  • Marketing—getting people to know about what you have to offer
  • Production—getting the products and/or services made, distributed, or performed
  • Administration—accounts payable/receivable, human resources, finance, assistants, etc.

Each part requires specific processes so they run smoothly. Aim for flawlessness, but be prepared to settle for “almost automatically.” The idea is to create a well-oiled machine—a money machine. And what do machines do best? They repeat the same functions over and over. Your system must be a repeatable process that can work without you!

Why?

If you want to gain wealth you can’t have a ceiling on your income. Your earnings must be unlimited. If you have to be physically present for your business to work, it can only grow to the extent that you can personally handle. It doesn’t matter how brilliant and energetic you are, you still only have but so much time in a day! You have to eat, sleep, relax, talk, think, meditate, spend time with family and friends …Tired young couple resting at the beach

In other words, all the things you’d rather be doing other than stressing. What good is creating wealth if you’re going to kill yourself in the process?

Work on the business, not in the business. Creating a system is what gives you freedom to do just that. With a strong system in place, you’ll two have options. You’ll have the flexibility to hand it over to competent managers and have an excellent source of passive income, or you can sell the business and become an instant millionaire. The more solid your business foundation, the quicker it can happen.

In both cases, because you created a system, you win. An effective system that works instead of you working is an absolute must in order to enjoy the ride.

 

You know the drill….it’s your turn!  I want to hear from you.  Make sure to leave a comment below and share your insights with all of us.  Have you had successes with growing your business in ways it can thrive even when you are not around?  If so, share your tips and strategies here.  If you have not gotten to this point (yet!) share your struggles and challenges—you might be surprised with the support and feedback from the others in our community.

Practicing Happiness

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Olympic Torch

Practice makes perfect, right? Wrong!

First of all, nothing’s ever perfect. I’d even say you don’t really want anything to be “perfect.” Why not? Well, once you’ve reached it, where else is there to go but backwards or, even worse, nowhere?

With the Winter Olympic Games starting this evening (in Vancouver, no doubt!), I started to think about the art of practice and perfection.  Watching the athletes get ready to compete, I am in awe of their strength, dedication and focus. There is no doubt these athletes are striving for pure perfection.

But I believe that the point of practice isn’t perfection. We want to strive for perfection, yes, but that’s only going to work if you understand that it’s not just about the destination but the journey as well. That’s why it helps to look at process when it comes to those outcomes we’re reaching for. Because what would be the point of getting to where you always wanted to be if you’re beat up and worn out by the time you get there? Where’s the happiness in that?

Happiness is a process as much as an outcome. I mean, don’t get me wrong. A hard-earned victory is awesome. But think about it; should happiness in life be restricted to success in finances, or business, or career, or the attainment of goals?

We have all been there at some point in our lives, saying something like, “If only I had [fill in the blank], I’d be so much happier.” Hey, sometimes we may even get whatever it is we think will make us happy, but what usually ends up happening? We’re psyched for a little while—if at all—and then we find out it wasn’t really enough to make us as happy as we thought it would. There’s always more.

You can work your butt off to get to where you want to be by practicing your delivery, your backhand swing, your investment strategies—you can practice anything until you get it down, but that doesn’t mean things are always going to turn out perfectly. Practice doesn’t make perfect.

Practice becomes habit, and habits become permanent unless we consciously change them. We’re practicing something all the time through our habits, even when we’re not really thinking about it. If you practice the thought that “I’ll be happy when [fill in the blank] happens,” then guess what? You’re always delaying your happiness until [fill in the bank] happens. Not because things will never be great, but because you’ve become a master at being unhappy. Unhappiness will be your habit!

You have to practice being happy no matter what is going on in life; whether you win or lose, succeed or experience temporary setbacks, whether everything is the way you have always dreamed or if you are still on the road to your next major destination.

Practice whatever you want to be in the future now. If you want to be more patient and less reactionary, then practice patience now. If you want to be a manager of your own personal wealth, start managing your finances now, no matter how much money you earn. If you want to be successful, then practice being successful now. Start small. Engage in things that you’re already good at and challenge yourself to be better, even if it’s just in small increments.

The key is to enjoy the process, enjoy the journey. We can have moments of perfection, times where we wouldn’t want a single thing to change, but it’s unfair and unrealistic to ask that of life all the time. But it’s totally within our control to practice being whatever we want to be right now!

So now it’s your turn:  What are you going to practice right now?  What’s that one thing you want to achieve and are willing to enjoy the process while making it a habit?  I want to hear from you.

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