Nine Things More Important than Capital by Jim Rohn

When starting any enterprise or business, whether it is full-time or part-time, we all know the value of having plenty of capital (money). But I bet we both know or at least have heard of people who started with no capital who went on to make fortunes. How? You may ask.

Well, I believe there are actually some things that are more valuable than capital that can lead to your entrepreneurial success. Let me give you the list.

1. Time

Time is more valuable than capital. The time you set aside not to be wasted, not to be given away. Time you set aside to be invested in an enterprise that brings value to the marketplace with the hope of making a profit. Now we have capital time.

How valuable is time? Time properly invested is worth a fortune. Time wasted can be devastation. Time invested can perform miracles, so you invest your time.

2. Desperation

I have a friend, Lydia, whose first major investment in her new enterprise was desperation. She said, «My kids are hungry, I’ve gotta make this work. If this doesn’t work, what will I do?» So she invested $1 in her enterprise selling a product she believed in. The $1 was to buy a few flyers so she could make a sale at retail, collect the money and then buy the product wholesale to deliver back to the customer.

My friend Bill Bailey went to Chicago as a teenager after he got out of high school. And the first job he got was as a night janitor. Someone said, «Bill, why would you settle for night janitor?» He said, «Malnutrition.» You work at whatever you can possibly get when you get hungry. You go to work somewhere—night janitor, it doesn’t matter where it is. Years later now, Bill is a recipient of the Horatio Alger award, rich and powerful and one of the great examples of lifestyle that I know. But, his first job—night janitor. Desperation can be a powerful incentive. When you say, “I must.”

3. Determination

Determination says I will. First Lydia said, «I must find a customer.» Desperation. Second, she said, «I will find someone before this first day is over.» Sure enough, she found someone. She said, «If it works once, it will work again.» But then the next person said, «No.» Now what must you invest?

4. Courage

Courage is more valuable than capital. If you’ve only got $1 and a lot of courage, I’m telling you, you’ve got a good future ahead of you. Courage in spite of the circumstances. Humans can do the most incredible things no matter what happens. Haven’t we heard the stories? There are some recent ones from Kosovo that are some of the most classic, unbelievable stories of being in the depths of hell and finally making it out. It’s humans. You can’t sell humans short. Courage in spite of, not because of, but in spite of. Now once Lydia has made 3 or 4 sales and gotten going, here’s what now takes over.

5. Ambition

«Wow! If I can sell 3, I can sell 33. If I can sell 33, I can sell 103.» Wow. Lydia is now dazzled by her own dreams of the future.

6. Faith

Now she begins to believe she’s got a good product. This is probably a good company. And she then starts to believe in herself. Lydia, single mother, 2 kids, no job. «My gosh, I’m going to pull it off!» Her self-esteem starts to soar. These are investments that are unmatched. Money can’t touch it. What if you had a million dollars and no faith? You’d be poor. You wouldn’t be rich. Now here is the next one, the reason why she’s a millionaire today.

7. Ingenuity

Putting your brains to work. Probably up until now, you’ve put about 1/10 of your brainpower to work. What if you employed the other 9/10? You can’t believe what can happen. Humans can come up with the most intriguing things to do. Ingenuity. What’s ingenuity worth? A fortune. It is more valuable than money. All you need is a $1 and plenty of ingenuity. Figuring out a way to make it work, make it work, make it work.

8. Heart and Soul

What is a substitute for heart and soul? It’s not money. Money can’t buy heart and soul. Heart and soul is more valuable than a million dollars. A million dollars without heart and soul, you have no life. You are ineffective. But, heart and soul is like the unseen magic that moves people, moves people to buy, moves people to make decisions, moves people to act, moves people to respond.

9. Personality
You’ve just got to spruce up and sharpen up your own personality. You’ve got plenty of personality. Just get it developed to where it is effective every day, effective no matter who you talk to, whether it is a child or whether it is a business person, whether it is a rich person or a poor person. A unique personality that is at home anywhere. One of my mentors, Bill Bailey, taught me, «You’ve got to learn to be just as comfortable, Mr. Rohn, whether it is in a little shack in Kentucky having a beer and watching the fights with Winfred, my old friend or in a Georgian mansion in Washington, DC as the Senator’s guest.» Move with ease whether it is with the rich or whether it is with the poor. And it makes no difference to you who is rich or who is poor. A chance to have a unique relationship with whomever. The kind of personality that’s comfortable. The kind of personality that’s not bent out of shape.

And lastly, let’s not forget charisma and sophistication. Charisma with a touch of humility. This entire list is more valuable than money. With one dollar and the list I just gave you, the world is yours. It belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire whatever development you wish for your life. I’ve given you the secret. Capital. The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and that can secure your future and fortune. Remember that you lack not the resources.

februar 16, 2010februar 6, 2011

This is it—The GRAND DESIGN!

Are you ready?

Ready to write (and right) your future? Ready to be bold, dream big and put it (your aspirations) on the line (literally)?

Ready to proclaim your BHAGs (Big, Hairy and Audacious Goals)?

This is it. It’s time for the GRAND DESIGN.

This is actually the easy part. You knew about goal-setting before this course—how to make a list of what you want to accomplish in the next one to 10 years.

The difficult part has been the process we have gone through to get here—figuring out who you really are, assessing how you’ve done in life so far, and most important, what assets, strengths and opportunities you have to work with going forward. We’ll come to another big challenge later in the series when we work on figuring out how to take the dreams, ambitions and big goals from your Grand Design and develop the plan of action to achieve them. But right now we’re going to focus on developing your Grand Design. And as a result, you’ll identify the person, the accomplishments and the life you have always wanted to have.

The links to the Guidelines document and the entire set of worksheets to design your 10-year and this year’s goals are listed in the RSS feed excerpt sent to your inbox. The Guidelines document contains subtle and seemingly inconsequential instructions and questions. But following these instructions and writing your goals will help you transform your wishes and aspirations into results. We will also “scrub” all your goals to make surethey are S.M.A.R.T., BALANCED and will ultimately produce the whole-life success you desire.

A Custom-Fit Life

Deborah Norville’s career didn’t follow the path she’d mapped out, but she created something better along the way.

If you know anything about Deborah Norville’s career, you know she has experienced her share of challenges in television and radio. But she’s also enjoyed the thrill of success, receiving numerous honors, including two Emmy Awards, two AWRT Gracie Awards, as well as being named Mother of the Year by the National Mother’s Day Committee. A dedicated mother of three, best-selling author, entrepreneur and award-winning journalist, Norville celebrates her 15th year as an anchor on Inside Edition in 2010.

If you want to read more, klick here:

www.sfwmag.com/category/inspirations/

februar 11, 2010februar 6, 2011

Your BALANCE Sheet

In the previous installments, we inventoried your current assets, liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. We also looked at your potential opportunities and threats to your future. Before deciding where to apply those assets and the focus of your creative effort, we need to total the current balances in each account of your life.

This is a crucially important step for two reasons:

Imbalance = Disaster
We often see people who have become successful in one area of life, but are utter disasters in many other areas. Tabloid magazines are full of this kind of drama, with headlines of bitter divorces, drunk-driving arrests, family feuds, racist rants, bulimia, drug rehab, depression and suicide attempts. Many of these same people, the ones many Americans idolize, are some of the most unhappy, insecure and depressed people you will find. Why? Their focus on succeeding in one area of life created a great imbalance with the other areas.

Remember the final words given to me by dad’s wealthy friend the day before he died? Read them (and live by them) HERE.

Be wary of the price the rest of your life has to pay for the success in one area of your life.

Wrong Account
Someone recently shared with me an incredibly poignant distinction, he said before you build your business plan, build your life plan. Figure out what kind of life you want to have first—where you want to live, what type of people you want to be surrounded by, whether you want to work nights and weekends, whether you want to travel (and how much and where), whether you want to be home for dinner every night, if you want a short commute, what type of environment you want to go to each day, how you want to dress, etc.

He said to then build your business or professional plan around these criteria.

Whoa! I have been doing it all backward! You?

Most of us have done exactly the opposite—we build our business plan first. We outline all our big goals, plans and ambitions, and then figure out how to fit our lives around them (usually sacrificing much of the rest of our lives). Or sometimes we define a professional plan by outlining the money we want to make and titles we want to obtain—again, sacrificing much of the rest of our lives. If we continue to live this way, when we get to the end of our lives, we’re likely to discover we paid too high a price and sacrificed what was really important in life, for too little.

“Life without balance can cost you your relationships. Life without balance can cost you your health. Life without balance can cost you your spirituality. Life without balance can cost you your wealth and your happiness. So find things to motivate you from all areas of life. Your success depends on it.” —Jim Rohn

Don’t let that happen to you… and now is the time to find the right balance for you and your life’s desires.

Download and complete the LIFE ASSESSMENT Worksheet and WHEEL OF LIFE Chart. This is worksheet set 4. It will have to be printed first to complete. You will not be able to fill in the form fields on your computer. (NOTE: The link will be sent via the e-mail feed. If you are just registering now, the link will be in the next feed along with links to all prior worksheets. E-mail feeds typically distribute later in the evening following posts published earlier in the day.)

Have you learned some new things about yourself? Have you discovered some gifts, attributes, opportunities and hidden potential you didn’t fully credit before? Share your experiences with this ongoing process in the comments below. You are also welcome to ask any questions you might have.

februar 10, 2010januar 23, 2011

CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH

Don´t you have a hero?

Why not, what’s really wrong with admiring other, to look up to another human being? Things have proved wrong, because here in our small country people have to think long before they could name a hero.

Many don´t think it is necessary to admire others. I wonder why? It is healthy for you to know who you admire, to knowing your personal hero because it inspires you and because it is a mirror of your own qualities.

Do you have difficulty seeing up to another human being?

So, your challenge this month is to do it anyway.

februar 7, 2010januar 23, 2011

Eva Longoria Parker

Hardly Desperate as Actress, Producer and Restaurateur

The Desperate Housewives star is a businesswoman, philanthropist and positioning herself to become CEO.

Interview by: Mike Zimmerman February 1, 2010

Sometimes the most successful people hide in plain sight, not necessarily underestimated—they have serious achievements, after all—but definitely thought of as successful only in a certain way. That’s Eva Longoria Parker.

Most folks think of her as Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s Desperate Housewives, one of the funniest and sauciest characters in a show full of them. (A choice quote from Gaby: “It’s an elevator, silly. It has an emergency stop button. And I don’t.”) After that, what else? Yes, people might see her in celeb magazines with her husband, NBA star Tony Parker, or in her L’Oreal commercials.

That’s about, oh, half of her story.

To read the whole, very interesting story, klick here:

www.successmagazine.com/eva-longoria-parker-hardly-desperate/PARAMS/article/984

februar 3, 2010januar 23, 2011

Responding, Not Reacting, to Life by Zig Ziglar

When you respond to life, that’s positive; when you react to life, that’s negative. Example: You get sick and go to the doctor. Chances are good that after an examination, she would give you a prescription with instructions to return in several days.

If, when you walk back in the door, the doctor starts shaking her head and says, “It looks like your body is reacting to the medicine; we’re going to have to change it,” you probably would get a little nervous.

However, if the doctor smiles and says, “You’re looking great! Your body is responding to the medication,” you would feel relieved. Yes, responding to life is good.

A few years ago, there was much turmoil in the U.S. job market. People were losing their jobs through downsizing, mergers, and takeovers. This created some unusual opportunities for many people. For example, the Wall Street Journal reported that in a five-year period, more than 15 million new businesses were created, well over half of them by women. Very few of the women had any marketable skills, and all of them had great financial need.

Most of the new businesses were “trust” businesses, meaning that the women collected the money before they delivered the goods or services. Many, possibly most, of those new businesses would never have been started had not an unfortunate event occurred in the people’s lives. When those events did occur, and needs became obvious, the women chose to respond, and there is little doubt that many of them are better off now than they were before.

The message is clear: If you respond to life instead of react to it, then you’ve got a much better chance of achieving success.

februar 1, 2010januar 23, 2011

Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn

Shortly after Jim Rohn met his mentor he asked him, “Mr. Rohn, how much money have you saved and invested over the last six years?” And he said, “None.” He then asked, “Who sold you on that plan?»

It is better to be a lender than a spender.

To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise; turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence.

Financial independence is the ability to live from the income of your own personal resources.

If you depend on your company to take care of your retirement, your future income will be divided by five. Take care of it yourself, and you can multiply your future income by five.

He remembered saying to his mentor, “If I had more money, I would have a better plan.” He quickly responded, “I would suggest that if you had a better plan, you would have more money.” You see, it’s not the amount that counts; it’s the plan that counts.

If you were to show me your current financial plan, would I get so excited by it that I would go across the country and lecture on it? If the answer is no, then here’s my question: “Why not”? Why wouldn’t you have a superior financial plan that is taking you to the places you want to go?

He used to say, “Things cost too much.” Then his teacher straightened him out on that by saying, “The problem isn’t that things cost too much. The problem is that you can’t afford it.” That’s when I finally understood that the problem wasn’t “it”—the problem was “me.”

The Bible says that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It doesn’t say that it is impossible

januar 30, 2010februar 6, 2011

Finding Your Unique Advantage

Review: INTRO, WHY & HOW, PART 1 and PART 2

We’ve examined your life thus far and have looked into your future and established what direction you want your life to take from this point forward. You now know what you stand for (your values); you know the mission you will crusade for (your actions); and you’ve clarified the vision for your life (the outcomes you want to realize).

Before it’s possible to formulate the strategic life plan, you must first take inventory of your assets and liabilities. What are your distinct advantages? Where do you have unique leverage? What weaknesses do you need to shore up and what hazards do you need to avoid?

This is where I always start when preparing a plan to perform a turnaround on a company. Before you can make a plan of where to take the organization, you first have to figure out where it stands—you must know its current assets and liabilities. What are its current weaknesses and where might its most damaging threats come from? You need to be aware of its unique strengths as well as any unseen or underdeveloped opportunities. This is the same assessment necessary to do a turnaround on, or to accelerate, your life.

Your Personal S.W.O.T Analysis

STRENGTHS: We know we are most likely to succeed when we use our innate talents to their fullest extent. The problem is most people don’t do enough due diligence on their skill sets or introspection on their unique talents to discover their significant advantage so they can thrive—easily, joyfully and prosperously.

WEAKNESSES: Similarly, if you identify your weaknesses and build your strategic plan to work around those traits, by either improving, covering for or circumventing them entirely, it’s possible to avoid painful (and expensive) difficulties and potential setbacks.

OPPORTUNITIES: We are constantly surrounded by opportunities; unfortunately, they go unnoticed by most people. I will challenge you through a series of questions to identify and recognize some of the tremendous advantages and opportunities you have at your feet, but are not maximizing or might have missed altogether.

THREATS: It’s critical to identify where the landmines are before you march into the battlefield of life. In my mentorship of high-growth companies, I have witnessed that it is not lack of opportunity, lack of growth or lack of success that kills most companies, but the unplanned and unprepared for problems that arise which throw the organization into an unrecoverable tailspin. This is true for individuals as well. Our lack of threat assessment leaves us off guard. Problems seem to come out of nowhere and blindside us, resulting in disaster. I’ll help you identify your potential landmines so the course we chart for your strategic plan avoids those lurking dangers.

Using the S.W.O.T. framework you will come to better understand yourself. You’ll see the tremendous advantages you possess and how you can leverage them to begin to separate yourself from your peers. You’ll also discover special talents and abilities that you may need to further develop to achieve your most ambitious goals.

360˚ VIEW

Now I have a scary challenge for you. How committed are you to your personal growth? This part of this installment will test your mettle. If you want to break out of your rut and take your life to the next level, do this—I dare you.

I want you to ask three friends to answer a few tender questions, essentially asking them how you “show up” in the world. We all think we know ourselves and how we appear to others, but our perceptions might be one of our greatest constraints and limitations to doing better.

One year, a while back, I asked several people in my life how I was “showing up” to them.I was flabbergasted by what they told me. Wow, I had no idea I was “doing that!” I thought I was behaving one way, but I was being perceived completely different than I imagined. At first I was hurt; then I grew defensive. After receiving the same response more than once, I knew I was busted. I then realized why I was having difficulty advancing in certain areas of my life.

This could be happening to you… without you even knowing it. While it might be a scary and possibly painful process, it might also help you break through barriers that could be holding you back from your greater potential. It is well worth it.

Download and complete the S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS Questions and Worksheet. The 360˚ VIEW questions and tips are included on that document. (NOTE: The link to the download is sent via the e-mail feed. If you are just registering now, it will go out again with the next feed. E-mail feeds typically go out the same evening following the published post.)

This process will help you assess your internal and external advantages, as well as hindrances you might encounter so you can more effectively build your plan. Thursday I will guide you through the process of totaling your life’s current balance sheet. Where are you really in all the areas important to becoming a whole-life success? I think you might be surprised by the result.

januar 30, 2010januar 23, 2011

What helps leaders and managers to grow and develop – MENTORING DO!

Growing leadership expertise in a short period of time within an organization is a continual challenge. The speed of projects and the speed for innovation have increased so that we are shoving people into positions of management and leadership in an ever-increasing pace. How are they going to learn? But more important, how are they going to be able to quickly apply what they have learned within their organizational culture and business environment? In the past, an individual would learn skills and knowledge through training, education and experience, and the organization could afford to wait around for him/her to come up to speed. But today, organizations need to have their people learn – and be able to apply that learning – more quickly.

Studies have proven that there are limits as to how fast you can drive education and training and have it be effective. Also, due to economic constraints within organizations, many times the problem is not how fast to drive the education and training, but how to even find available dollars and resources to get it to individuals that are destined to lead the organization now and in the future. What can organizations do to help solve this dilemma and assist in the transition between “education” and “experience”? Mentoring can assist.

By definition a Mentor is an individual with the experience, knowledge, and/or skills in a specific content area who is able, willing, and available to share this information with another individual. There is nothing in this definition that denotes that the Mentor must be older, of a higher job grade level, or have been with the organization for a longer period of time. The most important aspect is that the Mentor has “experience”, “knowledge” and “skills” that he/she wants to share with someone who needs them. In many cases, it may not even be the “knowledge” or the “skills”, but the “experience” – the application of that knowledge – that is important.

We have learned that under the direction of the Mentor, the learner is given immediate access to valuable insights and past experiences. Within mentoring relationships, individuals are learning by doing. Individuals are able to practice what they are learning. Another advantage of mentoring to an organization is that it showcases those individuals that have the necessary skills/competencies to coach and develop others. Many times these are the same types of skills/competencies that an organization wants displayed in its leadership. Even individuals that do not wish to take on a “managerial” or “supervisory” role within the organization can satisfy a need to “lead” through a mentoring relationship as well as allowing the organization to tap into a greater pool of talent/skill.

Many times individuals do not get any experience in specific coaching roles until after they have been given the title of “manager” or “supervisor”. This means they are in a reactive mode of learning these skills/competencies. If individuals have the opportunity to learn and practice these skills/competencies as a Mentor before they obtain the title of “manager” or “supervisor”, it is proactive and much better for them as well as the organization.