Posts Tagged ‘Self Education’
the good, the bad, the ugly (and socks)
they say we learn more in times of discomfort and challenge than we learn when everything is sunshine and lollipops. i'm not sure who "they" are, but I wish they'd stop saying crap like that. today i find myself ache-ing and nauseous. i'm thinking food poisoning of some sort, as my wife is now following in my slow, soft-stepping footsteps. so, that's the ugly part. the bad part is that neither of us can figure out exactly what it was that caused this. the kids are fine. now we find ourselves not wanting to eat much. here we've got the bad and the ugly. where's the good? what is the lesson in all of this. oddly enough, it comes from those soft footsteps. stepping softly - because my body hurts - somehow reminded me of high school. see, in high school, i always carried this reservation with me. it wasn't that i wasn't happy; i had my fair share of happiness along w/emotional ups & downs. it was just that i found i was holding back. i don't know how to articulate it clearly. in fact, i didn't even recognize this reservation until years later, looking back. in this reflection i wondered how much more happiness i would have gotten out of life if i would have let go and trust that i could handle life and that life would handle me. so, here i am today. achey and certainly reserve in my motions. yet in my entrepreneurial life i'm doing things i absolutely love. the talk show (Up In Your Biz!) has me out meeting people who are passionate about their business. i've plenty of projects ready to start moving forward as well. yet, today i wondered: am i back to my old self? am i missing out on some of what life has to offer? as they say: if you have to ask, the answer is likely 'yes.' durn them thar 'they', anyway). so, as i sit here desiring to hurl until my socks come out my mouth, this is a great day; for as i start feeling better and better, i can also shed any reservations toward living in this grand adventure called life! . "Have A Great Dave." :) --Dave C. Image Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barkbud/ / CC BY 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/dainec/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
CONFIDENCE: Why faking it ’til you make it may suck as a strategy
Acting with confidence can get a person far. But confidence can work SO well, SO quickly - even feigned confidence - that the individual develops a winning formula for getting things accomplished while still lacking actual levels of both confidence and competence. The result is a person who appears confident on the surface but is a disaster on the inside. As "success" increases in the material world, fear of loss increases at at least proportionally inside the ol' noggin. A typical response in the face of such fear is to seek to ACT with greater apparent confidence. The cycle seems to lead to a lonely, unhappy life; where the actor has few, if any, close friends. The actor appears to have it all together and can put on a great show for everyone around him; but when alone or in more intimate situations he has no idea how to be genuine. Certainly, this is opposite of the intended course. The key? Sit down with yourself and look for reasons you now own to actually BE confident. Don't worry, you don't have to make anything up; they're there. Now, act on these reasons (or, if you can find only one, act on that one reason. You'll find other reasons along the way). Growing from the outside in goes against natural principle. However, keep up with this Inside-Out habit and you'll grow surely, steadily, knowing who you are along your life's journeys. Questions? Suggestions? Compliments? Leave a comment, below; or email me at Dave@SelfEnterpriser.com. Thanks for reading! "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C. Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/ | CC BY-SA 2.0 Disclaimers & Such
Do Your Own Talk Show
As SelfEnterpriser.com is about to launch its new talk show, Up In Your Business! Real People: 7 Questions in 7 Minutes, now seems a great time to suggest a similar approach for anyone who has an itch to gab. Here are the basic of using a talk show to increase exposure and (more importantly) relationships: Start your own talk show. Invite people you think you would enjoy having a conversation with to be a guest on your show. These might be folks who you'd like to do business with (great ice-breaker) or perhaps individuals who exemplify whatever it is you blog about (that's what I look for). Post the conversations at your site. Why do a talk show? Having your own show gets you "out there" talking with people in your industry. What a fantastic way to "network". You're offering a relationship of value from the start. Instead of a lame, "Hey, let's connect on Facebook too", you're offering to give extra exposure to those who accept your invitation. Even if you have just a few people visiting your site each day, it's STILL extra exposure for just a few minutes of a person's time. Next, it gives you something to talk about other than yourself as a method for bringing traffic to your website. It's hard to be the hero of your story when you have to tell everyone else how great you are all the time. Let's face it: Sooner or later (hint: sooner), folks get tired of hearing a person tell them how they're the "answer" to they're prayers. It's simply poor form. But, with your own show, you can shout from your virtual rooftop all day long about the wonderful people you're getting to meet each week. Finally, it establishes YOU as the expert of whatever it is you do. The magic of The Business of Being Yourself is that you have the opportunity to provide value for others in your chosen industry WHILE you're actually in the process of learning more about it (which should read, as long as you're in business). Sounds great, Dave, but VIDEO is king. Don't be so sure. I enjoy video. I'm planning to do a LOT of cool stuff with video, both inside of SelfEnterpriser.com and outside. Yet while everyone is focused on video, it makes it easier to be heard (ha! get it?) to run some audio programs. Even more relevant to our topic, video is more expensive, more difficult to provide quality content, and greatly decreases the amount of individuals you can meet with (audio can be done over the phone with folks all over the world). Tools and other helpful thing-ies: Something that amazes me is the amount of tools and services that are available to you and me that allows us to create and exchange value with others for FREE, or close to it. This includes everything you need to run and publish your own talk show. There are plenty of blogs and articles out there regarding equipment, editing, or whatever. Some stuff I've found helpful: Audacity.comn (recording/editing) About.com (explore how others do [...]
First Impressions: Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich
It's been a long time since I've delved into a Kiyosaki book; tho I still would be quick to recommend Rich Dad / Poor Dad to anyone looking for a philosophical foundation for money. I've not read the entire book (um... that's why I entitled this "First Impressions"). My first impression (see, there's the title in action) is that it should be a pretty good read. While it's clear in calling today's financial disasters the result of conspiring men and women, it doesn't seem to be a book that's overly focused on the "Oh my gosh, how can men be so evil" downer side of things. Sure, mean people suck; but let's focus on what good people with good intentions can do to improve their own circumstances. That's the direction I feel this book is heading. Most people leave school not knowing even the basic differences between a stock and a bond, betweent debt and equity. Few know why preferred stocks are labeled preferred and why mutual funds are mutual... Many people think debt is bad, yet debt can make you rich. Debt can increase your return on investment, but only if you know what you're doing. Only a few know the difference between capital gains and cash flow and which is less risky. Most people blindly accept the idea of going to school to get a good job and never know why employees pay higher tax rates than the entrepreneur who owns the business. Many people are in trouble today because they believed their home was an asset, when it was really a liability. These are basic and simple financial concepts. Yet for some reason, our schools conveniently omit a subject required for a successful life-the subject of money. +++ Okay, so there we have one of the problems. Again, I feel the problems are introduced only as a stage to introduce solutions. He later states: +++ Smart investors understand that owning a business that adjusts to the ups and downs of the economy or investing in cash-flowing assets is much better than owning a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds- investments that crash when the market crashes. +++ This is how I see the book might appeal to Self-Enterprisers. We want our business to reflect who we are as a person; but we also want to be smart and not end up broke because we're, well... to put it in Kiyosaki's words, *playing by the wrong set of rules*. Do I recommend the book? I'm still undecided. I mean, if you just need to read something, and you've already read and understand the books on my Good-Enuff-To-Get-Going list, sure. Or, if you're finding yourself in paralasis by the bad news that's being presented daily (hint, turn off the news), then perhaps the book could be a booster shot of Vitamin B (B, meaning *Business*, of course). I believe it's a great time to start and build up a business. Perhaps better than any other time in history. To be able to take the things you care about the most and use these to create value for others makes for a great life, in my opinion. And the [...]
Speed Reading
BTW: In the recording studio tomorrow: Self-Enterpriser, Kris Madden to discuss his Speed Reading start-up. --Dave C. Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysphotos/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 Disclaimers & Such
