I have been impressed recently with the number of people who are starting to take control of their own destiny. Nikki L is starting an amazingly successful book PR company. CelebAuthor is building a great 'book' gossip&news site. Mirella started a book review blog that is experiencing amazing success and attracting the attention of big name authors - after less than 4 months.
It doesn't surprise me when people step out of the box and take control of their own destiny. But, it does surprise me at the number of people who are creating their own businesses. Some of these businesses never really existed, or did not exist in the 'new' form, until these people built them.
I find it intriguing from my System Analyst training. (Alas, I am not some genius who just thought of all this great stuff and was able to manage what I did by magic.) As a systems analyst I was trained to walk into a failing business and turn it around, in 3 months. Most of what I was taught was 'out of the box' thinking.
Not to say that it is easy. When I started in the business world, everyone was taught that only certain people could succeed, and they had to have the right social status, money backing, and education. It led to a 'university culture' that believed that degrees led to success. Now, that crowd is wondering why they are so indebted they will never enjoy the good life.
It isn't easy because it is hard to be self-taught. There is so much garbage out there that is meant to sell a product - even if the information is not right. Take the SEO world, there are thousands of websites who are still making money teaching keyword density and PPC - because they have products to sell. Unfortunately, the last 'meta tag' search engine closed down almost two years ago. So, all this information is useless.
Success is hard. I have taught more than 4000 students in the last 5 years. Of those, more than 3000 dropped out because they found out success was hard work. Another 800 figured that 'their way was good enough' and they didn't need to follow the system.
The last 200 went on to success. Not that my classes are the only ones that teach success, I just have two or three formulas for success. There are other formulas, some good, and some not....
But - the world is changing. If you have a lot of determination, are willing to give 120%, and a willingness to think 'out of the box,' then you may find yourself experiencing success without following the crowd.
That said, there are some fundamental truths to the business world.
1. You need to give people what they want - not what you want. We see this in the blog world. There are blogs that make money, blogs that don't. There are blogs that get a lot of hits, and blogs with only a few hits per post - Focus on the audience and their wants/needs and you will do well.
2. Good enough is not good enough. Don't expect to work one hour a week and succeed. I knew a woman that said she was quiting her business after six months because it didn't work. I asked her to write out her schedule for 2 weeks and send it to me. After receiving the schedule, I realized that in six months she had worked less than 120 hours. About 4.5 hours a week.
She had a long list of excuses, laundry, kids, errands. How did she expect to be a success working only 3 weeks in six months? Success takes work - lots of it.
3. Find a success and copy them. This can take a while. A success isn't defined by a website that says you can make millions while sleeping in. Success is defined by knowing the person, learning of their success, finding they have something you need.
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