March 30, 2010

Why I do it



It happens now and then.

People write to ask, “Why bother? Why bring up all this stuff?” Or to suggest, “You’re swimming against the current, mate.”

All of which, I suppose, is fair game.

All of which, I suppose, gives me the opportunity to suggest that whether you jump out of bed—eager to start the day (which is one of my informal barometers of success, by the way, in case you’re interested).

Or whether you drag yourself out of bed, ruing another long, dreary, mundane day.

Whether it’s one or the other. I’ve got some ideas, some suggestions. Some theories.

That’s why I’m doing this.

Oh, and one other reason.

A reader sent me this note about the book.

All of which means, I suppose, getting just one note like that makes it—for me—all worthwhile.

Oh, notice that last part? The one that suggests talking about it?

That’s why, I suppose, I’m doing those workshops I described elsewhere on this blog.


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March 26, 2010

5 career facts you gotta know: Facts 5



This is the last of 5 facts I’m presenting to business owners and working folk on May 14.

Fact No 5: Retirement? Really?



The myth goes… Work hard, salt away money. Because… retirement will make it all worth it.

The fact is, retirement may not resemble the idyllic existence those commercials portray. The fact is, your retirement won’t be rife with fun-filled days lolly-gagging on a beach, warm tropical breezes on the 18th green, or romantic sunsets as you quaff Dom from your sailboat’s foredeck.

The fact is, you really won’t be doing any of that. At least not always. At least not even semi-regularly. The fact is, no matter how tidy your retirement fund, you’ll probably spend a lot of time at home. The fact is, retirement may see you wondering what to with those long, repetitive days. Don’t believe it? Ask Michael Schumacher.

The fact is, those bucolic depictions are a fabrication—a marketing program. The fact is, retirement is a myth. The fact is, if you don’t now have an itch for travel, a yen for golf, or the jones for sailing, there’s an even lesser chance that you will in 20 or 30 years. And the fact is, many people are too young for retirement, ending up, quite simply, bored.

The fact is, if you hate your job, not having to punch in every day will be the best thing about retirement. The opposite fact is, if you love your career, your retirement will mean a loss of identity, responsibility and accomplishment—resulting in you padding around in your kitchen, striving for a more efficient strategy for stocking the dishwasher.

The new reality is, don’t call it retirement. Call it a career change—a chance to finally, and once-and-for-all, do what you love doing.  And, if you do find something you love, if you do find your vocation—your calling—(as described in Fact 4), chances are you’ll end up earning income at it too.

The new reality, therefore, is this; if you agree with the above, if you agree it’s a career change—and not retirement—then why wait? Why wait until you’re 58 or 60 or 65 to finally do what you love? If you agree to call it a career change—and not retirement—why not change now? (And if this idea sounds improbable, might I suggest you revisit Fact 2?). If you do make that change, you’ll then begin to see life as a series of never-ending, meaningful careers. You’ll see it as an experience where work feels like play. And you’ll then see each morning as an introduction to a life of retired non-retirement—where, every day,  you’re doing exactly what you love doing.

Case study: Michael Schumacher, the winningest driver in Grand Prix history, retired four years ago at the age of 37. Citing that Formula 1 had become a sport for young, testosterone-laced jocks, he declared being doubtful about his aging instincts. After 4 years in humdrum retirement, he returned, this year, to his calling—to a sport where many of his competitors are half his age.

Harland (Colonel) Saunders only started to build his franchise at the age of 65. Ten years later, Saunders moved to Ontario to oversee his Canadian franchises, and to make continued public appearances.

Les Paul, jazz guitarist and father of the solid-body electric guitar, was a lifelong musician and a tireless innovator. Well into his 90s, Paul continued gigging. In 2006, at the age of 90, he won an unprecedented 2 Grammies for a just-released jazz album.

People. Regular people, deciding to pursue their passion. That’s what this is about. And my sincerest wish is that these 5 facts you gotta know do inspire you to seek out your true calling.

Let me leave you with two more items… If you’re thinking, oh sure it’s easy for you to say, you probably caught all the lucky breaks… then please read this post..

And last, please click on the image below for an inspirational trailer that illustrates how some folk used a catastrophic event to find their true calling:



More on this: This blog has quite a number of posts on retirement. This post called A “way better” retirement strategy details some of what you read here, while this post takes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek view of the retirement thing.

Yesterday: You want fans

Suggestions? Ideas? Questions? Please post a comment.

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March 25, 2010

5 career facts you gotta know: Fact 4



This is the 4th in a series of facts I’m presenting to business owners and working folk on May 14.

Fact No 4: You want fans



The myth goes… You must constantly develop a customer base, maintain a customer base, leverage a customer base.

The fact is, that kind of mythic thinking is so… uhhh … 1990.

The fact is, you don’t want customers. The fact is, customers are fickle. The fact is, customers want a good deal, a cheap price, an ironclad guarantee, and a cash-back-reward-card.  The fact is, customers buy from you. That’s it. They come in. They buy. They leave. The fact is, there’s no synergy there.

The new reality is, you want relationships, you want connections, you want people on your wavelength. The fact is, you want fans. The other, crucial, fact is, very few businesses get this point. Which means, if you develop a fan-base, you’ll be head-of-the-class, top-of-the pile—numero uno (OK, so that last one, idiomatically, doesn’t really fit. But hey, it was kinda late, when I wrote it).

Now then. You want fans? That’s great! Not sure how to get ‘em? Well, here’s the recipe. Start by paraphrasing the first 3 facts in this series.

Fact 1) It’s what think—not what you do—that gets you fans

Fact 2) Remember that you can do it—you can get fans

Fact 3) To get fans—you must divert your attention from the maximization of income

Next, mix in these two final ingredients;

1) Do what you love: If you’re a foodie, why are you selling real estate? If you’re a writer, why are you working in accounting? If you’re an entrepreneur, why are teaching? If you’re a leader, why are you following?

I read, somewhere, we’re all born with a gift, a purpose—a calling. I think you know what I mean. There are things that come naturally to each of us—a flair for creative design, a knack at a trade, a proficiency in… stuff.  And yet, how many of us turn our collective backs on that natural talent, that inherent genius? Only to pursue other avenues—perhaps because someone advised us there’s more money in that. If that sounds familiar, remember fact 3, and then return to your true love (hmm wasn’t that used in a Dylan song?).

2) Be who you are: Be authentic. Flaunt your passion. Enthuse in your unbridled enthusiasm. Why? Because fervour and passion are contagious. Because what’s contagious is catchy. It’s catching, and it’s catching on. People talk. A buzz builds. And you get fans.

One last thing though. Are you rock or jazz? Country, classical or rap? Remember, people like what they like. Rock bands don’t do classical. And you shouldn’t be what you’re not. If you try, your authenticity evaporates, your music diminishes to noise—just one more phoney, contrived voice in a sea of corporate bafflegab. And people notice—their BS detectors pinging their alerts—and people walk away. Or become, at best, disaffected customers. And you don’t want that.

Case study: Regular readers will know of my affinity for Apple. MacBook, iTunes, iPod, and, soon, iPad. I’m a fan and so are millions of others.

Here are two Steve Jobs quotes that nail the Apple zeitgeist. From a CNN interview; “…It’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want…”

And from cnet; “We’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody, and you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy.”

Yet, I’m also a fan of other businesses, Scrivener, for example. Or have a look at what makes Yvan Chouinard tick (he’s the brains behind Patagonia). Read his book, Let my People go Surfing. See if you don’t become a fan.

More importantly, if you are a fan of a business (or a product) please tell me. I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment.

More on this: This blog has a number of references to fans, here are just two of those posts: You don’t want customers and How to get fans. But maybe my first piece, which I wrote in 2005, is still the best one. You can find it here or here.

Tomorrow: Retirement is a myth

Yesterday: It’s not about the money

Ideas? Suggestions? Comments? Please leave a comment.

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March 23, 2010

5 career facts you gotta know: Fact 3



This is the third, in a series of posts that summarizes a presentation, about 5 career and business facts you gotta know, that I’m delivering on May 14.

Fact No 3: It’s not about the money


The myth goes… in this world of business and commerce, you must always maximize income. Get rich—the sooner the better.

The fact is, you’re already rich. The fact is, if you own the computer you’re reading this on, you’re rich. The fact is, 90% of the world’s population can’t afford a computer. The fact is, if your annual salary exceeds $30,000, you’re part of a select group—only 5% of the world’s population earns that kind of dough. The fact is, you probably don’t feel rich. The fact is, that doesn’t change how 90% of the world perceives you. The fact is, it’s never about the money. The fact is, it’s about perceptions. The fact is, it’s all about beliefs—more about the perception of money than about money itself. The fact is I’ve already told you all this, in prior posts.

But here’s another fact. One I haven’t told you. Notwithstanding my disclosure of this fact requires me to clamber out to the very edge of a flimsy limb—and tell you something you may denounce as heresy, or that may cause you to sigh, in exasperation, I’ll tell you anyway. Regardless, I’ll tell you. And what I’ll tell you is this—money is an illusion.

But why? But how? How can I say such a thing? Here are two concepts;

1) A Philosophical View: There exists an underlying—almost unspoken—expectation that more money automatically means a better life. While only a fool argues it’s better to have no money at all, this old fool (the one writing this post) nonetheless suggests it takes blind acceptance—a certain naivete—to believe more money always makes things better. The fact is, money is but one of many ingredients required to live a full and complete life. The fact is, too often, too many of us ignore those other ingredients—time, health, relationships, vocation—to focus on the accumulation of money. The truth is, time, health, and vocation can facilitate your ability to earn money. The greater truth is, no money—no amount of it—will buy you those other elements. And to believe that an ever-increasing supply of money will result in a more complete, purposeful life is to believe in illusions.

2) A Mechanical Perspective: The fact is, banks—your bank, my bank, everybody’s bank—rarely lend out their own money. Not a surprise, right? Everyone knows that. The fact is, it’s not even other people’s money that banks lend out. The fact is, the money that banks do lend out does not exist. I know, it’s hard to believe, but the fact is, it’s all an illusion—like landlords collecting rent on nonexistent apartments. And, the fact is, it’s perfectly legal, entrenched, hundreds of years ago, through a system called Fractional Reserve Banking, that allows banks to lend out many multiples of the money they keep in their reserves.

Money… it’s only an illusion.

Case study: I’ve played this game of business a long time—more than 25 years. I worked with clients scrounging to make next week’s payroll. Feeling sorry, I’d help them find money–somewhere, somehow. Yet mere months later, even with a fresh injection of funds, they were broke again—a picture of impoverishment, of misery and dejection. You see? These clients possessed deeply-ingrained beliefs about money—perceptions that told them money was hard to come by, that they didn’t deserve money. The solution, I realized, wasn’t to help them find more money. It was to help them reframe their beliefs about money.

With all that happening, I was, at the same time, advising businesses flush with cash, profitable year-in, year-out. And yet, oftentimes, those owners, too, were unhappy. They cashed their big dividend cheques, and longed for something else. The funny thing was, they weren’t sure what they were longing for—but they knew it wasn’t money.

More on this:  This blog has many references to money. To read more on why it’s not about the money, click here. The post here offers more ideas about money as an illusion, while this post explains why you’re rich and don’t know it. To see all posts about money, just type “money” in the blog’s search field (in the top right corner)

Tomorrow: You want fans

Yesterday: You can do it

Ideas? Suggestions? Questions? Please leave a comment.

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