Sunday, March 2, 2008

You ship will never come in

“Once ship to comes in, I will retire and relax.”




I am here to tell you…Your ship will NEVER come in.




If you never send it out.


Anthony Robbins calls it "Massive Action." Nike says, “Just do it.” In the Bible it says you reap what you sow. Robert Kiyosaki says, "9 of 10 business fail...that just means I need to start ten times."


Whatever you call it these sources are all getting at the same idea. If you ever expect to have "your ship come in" you need to send it out. If you want to have good luck, go out and make it. And it just makes sense. Success isn't going to just drop out of the sky and land-in-your-lap. You have to take action. Sitting on your can surfing the Internet is going to get you nothing.



“A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.” - Chinese Proverb


Small steps are fine. You just have to take lots of them.


They say that you reap what you sow, but that isn't really true. Really you Reap MORE than you sow, but sowing takes faith. Seeds are small, compared to the plants that grow out of them. We were planting seeds last spring for my daughter's small business of kitchen herbs. The instructions said to plan 3-5 seeds in each hole we dug. 3-5 seeds?! But we only see one plant that really grows and becomes viable. Some of the seeds are dead to begin with, they produce nothing. Other seeds do germinate and grow, but they produce weak plants, I don't know if it is the soil, or the seed, the water or a host of other things that might be involved but they grow but in a short time they die. Then there are the other seeds some of them grow and they really grow strong. They go crazy and take over all the other ground. They take up all the light and grow grow grow. Can you pick the seeds by looking at them in your hand? No? Neither can I. So, we just planted them, following the rules, 3-5 seeds per hole, and you know what? Each pot has a great little plant in it now!




So no one wants your product. So that seed is dead. Move on. So, you sell a few products but you can’t turn a profit. That plant is anemic. Move on. Plant more seeds. More and more and more seeds. Take Massive Action! Planting one seed at a time? Then expect to see a lot of failure. Plant a lot of seeds all at the same time and you will be amazed at how many plants you have. You will also not remember the seeds that didn’t grow. They aren’t failures they are just the seeds needed to get to the few that grow.

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Most Important thing my Father taught me

I learned a lot from my father, but I thing the most important thing I learned from him was that ignorance is good.

Talk with any inspirational speaker or any very successful business person and you will find that they are ignorant too. Yep. The more you can cultivate your ignorance the better off you will be.

Ok, now, of course you know that I don't mean that the way it sounds.

Somewhere in my high school days I was in a deep conversation with some friends. I knew that the point I was trying to make was right but I couldn’t really explain why or how. I talked about it with my dad. I remember it clearly we were in the basement office of our house. He shared with me a phrase that I remember often. A phrase that propels me to success.

The phrase was, "I don't know the answer." If you can get comfortable with the idea of not knowing you will find yourself much more successful. IF... IF you follow up that phrase quickly with, "But I can find out." these two ideas, "I don't know, but I can find out." will propel you over the top. So many people think they have to know it all, so they bluff and because they bluff they don't learn.

Me, I am happy to say I don't know. I want to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am. They make me successful. My advisors and mentors help me do better than I could ever do myself.

Face it, You can't know it all. So, accept your ignorance, embrace it, revel in it and surround yourself with smarter people.

Repeat the phrase

"I don't know, but I can find out."

Friday, February 1, 2008

Lessons from Christopher Columbus






"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

Have you ever thought you knew what you were doing ...only to find out that you were completely wrong? Was this a bad thing or a good thing? Is there a pattern to when it is a good thing or a bad thing? In my experience, as long as I am taking positive action toward a goal, it almost always turns out to be a good thing.

Look at Columbus. He was trying to find a new Silk Road, a new route to Asia. Well he missed it by about 15,000 miles! More than a little bit off buddy. He messed up. But he discouraged because he didn't find a new route to Asia? um. no! (fact is he didn't know he wasn't in Asia) What he found was a route to the Americas. A world whole world that Europe didn’t know existed.

I recently ran in to a roadblock with a project I was working on. I had all kinds of plans, time, and personal investment rolled up in it. But ran into an issue that made it impossible to continue. At first I was really upset about it. But then I thought, Well, What if I had run into this problem 5 minutes after deciding to pursue this project? I would have let it roll off my back and not thought further of it, knowing there are a Million good ideas out there and the fact that this one is not possible to pursue just means that there is another, better idea for me out there. Something just waiting to be discovered.

You act. and yet something goes wrong. What do you do with what is handed to you that is what determines the outcome.

So next time life throws you a curve ball, a road block, or a sharp turn. Check yourself. Your reaction is what will make the difference. (Of course I question the sanity of Chris C. If I had landed in the Bahamas with no crush of tourists around, I think I would have settled down with a palm frond umbrella and a cool drink and just kissed Europe bye bye. :-)


For more information about Christopher Columbus see http://www.columbusnavigation.com/

Friday, January 11, 2008

Ready, Fire, Aim

Don't just stand there...do something!

I had the idea to start Celtic Scrapbooking for months before I decided to do anything about it. what kicked me in the pants? finding out that my wife was pregnant with our third child. Within 4 weeks of finding out we were pregnant, Celtic Scrapbooking went from a nice idea in my head, tossed around over drinks with friends, to starting production in China and putting the finishing touches on our website. I had never done international trade, I had never studied it, I had never built a website, I had never started a business. I just did something, and then the next couple of things would come up then the next, and the next. Ready, Fire, Aim

"Once you've decided, don't delay. The best is the enemy of the good... a
good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week."
(Gen.
George S. Patton Jr.)


So Act now. If you have an idea. Act on it. Don't wait around until the time is right. AND Don't get discouraged if they fail. Remember failure is all part of the deal you have to fail to push the envelope. They say that 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years. Is this discouraging to me? No, all it means is that I need to start 10 times. Heck that isn't hard! Besides by the time I get my 10th try at it starting won't be a problem at all. This is the idea behind Ready, Fire, Aim. Just start firring, see where the bullets hit the target, adjust your aim and fire again. don't wait to get it right because... YOU WONT!

Ready, fire, AIM .. Do it now!