What's Next For You?

How has your life been going so far?  Do you wish for more, is it just ok?  Do you wonder why some people make it and others don't?  Have you ever looked at someone and wondered why they have a "great life" and you don't?

If so, what is next for you?  Would you like to know the difference between the people who slug it out at work 9-5 and still can't make ends meet and those who don't ever appear to work and are always having fun?

If you do want to know the difference and change your life, you have found the right place.  I will show you how a lot of people have created great lives and I can show you how to create yours, and it all starts right here.

I didn't know it at the time, but I found one of the great rules of success at a very early age without knowing it.  Was I pursuing a "passion"? Nope.  Was I getting big money from my parents trust fund? Nope.  I just stumbled into something that worked and it was the rush that I have been chasing ever since.  Until a few years ago though I didn't understand it at all.

I tried the passion path, and spent more money than I care to admit building three business that were nothing but a headache.  I was in love with the product, and the process, but the business just didn't work, and I didn't get it.  Other things were so easy for me, and then one day I broke the code.

Looking back I knew it all along, I just didn't understand it.

In the spring of 1984, I was moved to the "continuing education" campus of my high school.  I didn't fit in and didn't like school at all.  I was working at Burger King which oddly was a pretty good job for me at the time.  The owner liked me, and I figured out the work pretty quick.  It still wasn't enough so I joined the Air National Guard, Security Police.

Security Police was not much of a job either, but I was lucky to be surrounded by some very talented people.  After graduating from tech school, and returning to my base with my "badge", I was offered a full time position.  Basically an active duty Air Force job at the Air National Guard Base.  Not having any other way to make money, I took the position.

After three nights of walking circles around airplanes and freezing my tail off, I was beginning to think I had made a huge mistake.  I didn't drink coffee or smoke (and still don't) so I didn't get as many breaks as the other guys.  I didn't fit in and I knew I couldn't do that job forever.

Lucky for me somebody gave me the secret.  I just didn't know it at the time.  Within a few months, I was enjoying my work and wasn't walking around airplanes any more.  One of the side benefits of learning this secret (that I didn't understand back then) is that I have never had to interview for a job since.  The great work that other people want, just seems to fall into my lap.

How would you like someone to walk up to you tomorrow and say "Hi, I would like you to come work for me, doing X."  That is pretty much how it has gone ever since.  Even when I was hired as an airline pilot, my "interview" wasn't anything like what other people were talking about.  It was more like friends talking about a hobby they enjoyed together.

So what is the great secret?  It is a little more than will fit in one post, but if you read my blog regularly you will see it.  It isn't chasing a passion, instead it is doing something that challenges you.

In my Security Police job, the base had a competitive shooting team.  When I tried out the first time, I didn't make the cut, but I had fun and got along with everyone that made the team.  When the first person was transferred out of the base, the team Captain asked me to fill in.  He spent the extra time with me to get me up to the level I needed to be.  It wasn't work, it was fun, five championships later it was rewarding.

That sort of situation has played out over and over throughout my life.  And so has another situation. The other situation is the opposite.  No one asks me to do any work.  I just decide to do it because I am "passionate" about it.  The results, not so good.

After having some success in an area and gaining a bit of freedom, I would get some book or take some class by a "guru" and then try to step out on my own and follow my "passion".  So far my record in this area is 0 for 3.

It would play out like this.  Life would be going great, and I would start to feel guilty about my success and not being like everyone else.  Trying to justify my success, I would go find a book or a class to mask the guilt and frustration of not fitting in and living a "comfortable" life.

I would take the classes, read the books and then go out and start a new business.  I would put my heart and soul into it along with all of the money I made doing other things.  Two or three years later the stress and lack of money would cause me to throw in the towel.

Each time that happened someone would be there to say "Great, now that you have stopped that nonsense, how about you come do X for me?"  My life would become great and fun again and then guess what?  Go back two paragraphs and read it again.  Do this twice, because I am slow and didn't get this lesson very quickly.  I am writing this hoping you don't repeat this cycle ever.

Passion is for the birds and bees, not for business.  Passion is for your attitude towards life, not financing your life.

After closing up my third "failed" business it hit me like a Wreck It Ralph.  Luckily, I was able to close my companies, and acted in good faith with my clients.  Bankruptcy wasn't an option for me, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  You don't want to spend a lot of time with a bankruptcy attorney, and this is from the experience of someone who was only getting advice.  I can't imagine the stress of actually doing it.

So what is the secret? In simple terms, we all have value that we bring to the table.  In very very rare cases it also might be your passion.  For me I will admit it isn't.  What I like about my work is seeing the changes in my clients. That brings me the happiness and gives me the financial freedom to have passions and pursue dreams without wanting to create income from them.  This is a very different approach.

Being driven isn't being passionate.  You have a value sitting within you that people are asking for and you probably don't even see.  One of the tests that I use is asking the question: What is it that people come to you for that you gladly do for free?

That isn't your passion, but it can be your value.  Even though you don't charge for it, you might be able to.  In my case I can charge a lot for it.  The work itself doesn't actually bring me any happiness. It brings me great financial rewards.  What brings me the happiness is the change that my work makes for my client.

Passion isn't the driving factor, serving my clients is.  I am always taking classes to get better in every area of my life an business.  My passion for life has infected my work, so people mistake my drive for passion.  Trust me when I say, my passions are very very expensive hobbies which only take money out of my bank account.  No one is offering me money to do them.  I have tried, and been paid, but never enough to survive, never mind maintain my lifestyle.

When you aren't sure what that value is, try it all.  One might hit a spark and light a fire inside you.  You might start a few fires.  Maybe people are saying you should be a personal shopper because you have a great sense of style.  Try it and charge for it.  See if the income lights a little fire within you.

The world isn't about money, but every time I see someone get good money for stuff they were doing for free, there is no mistaking or hiding the excitement.  The first time an actor is paid, the first time a lawyer wins a big case, the first time a race car driver wins a big check all change how that person looks and the energy they project to the world.  Guess what happens next, like an addiction, they keep doing it.

In my case I didn't figure it out until I tried the "guru's" way three times.  Thankfully I broke the code before I tried a fourth time.

You might not know your value right now, but come back often or sign up for one of my "break out" classes and find your values.  We all have more than one, and the trick is finding one that pays enough to make life fun.  What are the values that you bring to the world?