The Flywheel of Fame

Hard to get started, easier to keep going

I don’t know if you know what a flywheel is, but the picture above will start to give you an idea. It is a heavy wheel that is hard to get moving, but once it gets moving, it keep spinning for a long time. The faster you get it going at the beginning, the more the wheel picks up speed, as its own weight helps increase the speed.

I think this is a good analogy for the process of becoming well known and establishing yourself as an expert. When I first “got the call” to become a speaker and author, I was an unknown and nobody came knocking on my door saying, “We know you have lots to contribute; we’ll hire you and publish your books.”

I had to establish my reputation and learn to get my work out into the world. It was a lot of work, much of it didn’t yield any results, and I was often frustrated or stymied. But gradually, since I never gave up and just kept putting what I was passionate about and thought the world needed out there, little by little, successes and connections began to accumulate.

After some time, I noticed it was no longer me that was trying to convince people to hire me to speak, publish my books, and so on, I was starting to have to turn down offers and possibilities because I didn’t have the time to do it all. The flywheel effect was happening.

My point: The beginnings of your journey into Your Life of Freedom is hard; lots of work, some frustrations, lots of patience. But if you stick with it; work smart; build a reputation as an expert and find mentors, coaches and connection, sooner or later the flywheel of fame effect will occur.

Bucky Fuller and what’s wanted and needed

I was of fan of the late Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller. He had a simple idea:

We’re all in this universe for a purpose; nature doesn’t make things without a purpose.

We’re designed to make a contribution to the planet/species.

We are given intuition to discover what our purpose is.

Then we can simply look around at the world we see and notice what is wanted and needed that fits with what our intuition tells us we are to do.

Pretty simple, really.

So, what is your intuition telling you is your purpose?

And, what do you notice, looking around, is wanted and needed in the world that you think you could make a positive difference and contribution in?

Start now. Don’t worry about the money or how it will be a career. Don’t concern yourself with who will judge your actions negatively. Don’t let yourself be stopped by the “who the Hell am I” kinds of self-doubts.

Bucky believed if we all did this, the world would work for everyone, with no one left behind.

The risk you can’t afford not to take

“There is the risk you cannot afford to take, and there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.” –Peter Drucker (Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1998, p. 61)

I once had a job at a mental health center, but I was growing restless. I disliked the strictures of meetings, unnecessary paperwork and policies, and hours that weren’t right for my temperament.

There was another therapist working part time at the center who was ready to go to full-time work now that her child was school age, so we hatched a plot to switch positions. I would go to part time and she would go full time.

We brought it to our supervisor, who turned us down without explanation. Just said “No, that won’t work for us.”

A few months later, I left to start my private practice. It was a terrible thing to do. I had no clients, no business acumen, and no savings. And it was hairy at times, but it worked out.

I did the same thing when I became a speaker. I just jumped in the deep end, frantically thrashed about in the water and finally found a way to keep my head above water and then later, actually thrive and succeed.

I have never regretted taking those risks. They were risks I couldn’t have afforded not to take.

What risk can you not afford to take right now? Are you ready to jump into the deep end yet?

This message is brought to you by . . .

One of the strategies for making a living via the web and passive income is to build an email list and then develop a relationship with that list around some niche or interest.

I have a colleague who has built a 10,000+ list over the course of several years. She did it initially by offering a free report on the niche area. It was a good report and lots of people wanted it and told their friends about it. They traded getting on her list for the free report.

Next she did a series of free teleseminars. That got her even more people. Gradually she began to offer some things free (more free reports and live teleseminars), but if you wanted premium stuff, like the ability to download and listen to the teleseminars whenever you want and to get professional continuing education credits for them, you had to purchase them. She has several people who work for her. She pays their salaries and for health care policies for her full-time people. She has a dedicated server. She works her buns off night and day to deliver high-quality, great offerings. And she makes a good living at it. During a time when many similar businesses are in danger of failing, her business is thriving. I’ve learned a lot from her that has helped my business.

She sent out several emails about each offering. And then some people complained. “You are sending too many emails.” “It’s all business and marketing.” Stuff like that. [Of course, the people who complain are a minority; more people write and say they appreciate her offerings and generosity.]

I was fascinated by this. I have gotten a few (very few, really) of the same kinds of emails when I began to email my list more than once a month.  The comments were similar. My response: I give people on my list a bunch of free stuff every month. And this is largely how I make my living now-over the web and with passive income. How hard is it to unsubscribe if you don’t want the emails? Or if you don’t want as many from me, how hard is it to use your little finger to delete the emails you don’t want? (That is why God – or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs – invented the Delete key, right?)

I was thinking back to when I grew up. Watching television was free. Only it wasn’t free. You “paid” for that free service by watching some ads. Enough people bought stuff from those ads that the TV stations could stay in business and create more new stuff and broadcast it. The ads paid for the equipment and personnel to deliver that free stuff. In the UK and some other countries, I understand, one has to pay a license fee for TV. It’s not “free.”

Same thing with radio. Radio seems free but you contend with ads. AND . . . drum roll, please . . . the same thing with those of us who offer cool free stuff to our groups, email subscribers, communities, “target market.” Those pitches we send out pay for the servers and services, our time, the research we do, the emails we answer, the training we get, the books we read, the time we take to create the free and paid offerings, etc. etc.

I have answered thousands of questions about my work, about getting published, about becoming a speaker, about web-based marketing by email. I have put out lots of free valuable training and information to people on my list. I get a crushing amount of email each day, week and month. I pay lots of money each month to have the support systems in place to do all that. I spend hours of time on it. All unpaid.

I love giving stuff away for free. It makes the dopamine squirt into my brain. It’s more and more possible in this age of digital products and the Internet. My impulse is that when I learn or stumble across something new, cool and valuable, I want to tell everyone about it and get them to know about it or learn to benefit from it too. I want to continue to do that and make a good living doing it.

I know many of us are too busy and get too many emails and we don’t want any more. I know it’s a slight inconvenience for some.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not whining or trying to be snarky. Just upfront about this issue. I am incredibly grateful to people who have chosen to sign up for my email lists (about 7,000 so far). I feel blessed that my work is so widely known and read. That I got on Oprah. That my 30 books have been published and gotten out into the world. That I have been invited to speak in so many countries (27, I think, since someone counted them one time from a list of my workshops).

But, about the commercial aspect of things, I say: Get over it. Get used to it. This message was brought to you by . . . all the stuff I sell online that gives me the time to write these posts, write and give away free ebooks, handouts, slide programs, inspiring quotations, cool video links, book recommendations, music recommendations, useful research summaries, etc.

I’d be interested in your response to this. Please leave a comment below in the Leave a Reply box. [Hint: If you don’t see the place to comment, click the Comments link just below this post.]

Getting people to find you and your work

I am committed to making a positive contribution through my work and to helping others make their unique positive contributions. In order to get my work to be noticed, though, I had to learn how to attract people to it. I dove into the world of marketing and specifically, web-based marketing, since I didn’t have much money to spend on marketing, and learned a lot.

Here’s a succinct overview of getting people to find you and your work using affordable web-based tools and strategies. Hope you enjoy and learn something.

And check out my new teleseminar with Ruth B. of NICABM.com at:
“Getting traffic” teleseminar information

New Marketing R.A.P.

Here’s a short summary of what I think is the new reality in marketing, summarized by the acronym R.A.P.

You are unique, just like everyone else: The Power of Social Influence

I created this audio visual presentation to show the influence social messages and models have on us.

Can you come up with ways you might use this idea and information to help create your life of freedom?

Could it help you break away from some social influence you have found unhelpful?

Could it help you use social influence to increase your positive influence in the world?

Could you use it to influence people to buy more of your offerings?

Errors of ignorance versus errors of ineptitude

In his latest book (The Checklist Manifesto), surgeon Atul Gawande makes a simple yet profound distinction. Some mistakes are made because the person doesn’t know enough or know the right information or have the right skills (these are errors of ignorance), but other mistakes arise from not applying what we know.

In implementing strategies to move my life, work and income in the direction of freeing my time from money and still making a meaningful positive impact on the world, I must admit most of the mistakes and missteps I have made have been from not applying what I know.

I procrastinate on implementing what I know would help move me forward: hiring some more outsourcing help to implement the overwhelming number of ideas for projects I constantly generate; hiring a coach/project manager to “herd my cats,” that is, to help me stay focused and working on the right things and moving projects to completion in a more systematic and timely manner.

So, this post is to get you thinking about what kind of mistakes you make: Do you need more information or skills? Or do you need to use what you already know in a better way?

Location-free

I am visiting relatives today. And doing a teleseminar.

Teleseminars are a great way to generate income form anywhere. I make thousands most months from doing teleseminars.

If you are not yet doing teleseminars, why not?

It’s not that hard, if you know what you are doing. I stumbled around for several years not knowing much. Finally I learned and mastered the medium.

If you want to save some stumbling around and get started, check out the training I am doing with Ruth B. of NICABM.com.

http://www.nicabm.com/teleseminar/2010/howtocreateteleseminars//?affid=spkrlBn1101

The case for action

I was recently watching a Charlie Rose episode on the brain and one of the eminent scientists (David Wolpert from Cambridge) made the point that the only reason we have brains is to produce adaptable and complex movement. We only effect the world by action.

He drove home the point by talking about the “sea squirt,” an animal that attaches itself to a rock in the ocean, from which it never moves, and then proceeds to eat its brain. It no longer needs its brain; its automatic nerves and sensory tissues can handle everything it needs to do since it no longer needs to produce adaptable and complex movement.

I took from this a reinforcement of an idea that I have had for a while. The only way to make something happen in the world is by taking action. The titles of several of my books (Love is a Verb and Write is a Verb) reflect this notion.

The world can only teach you what works by responding to your actions. (And I hasten to add that speech is an action.) So, to create Your Life of Freedom, you must take actions.

Then notice what works to move you in the direction in which you want to go, adjust, and take more actions.

What actions will you take in the next period of time to help make Your Life of Freedom closer to reality?