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?

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

Advice on getting started building an email list and generating online income

Some in my advanced coaching group was having trouble getting focused and figuring out where to put her energy/time and what to do first.

Here were my suggestions. After I wrote them, I made them a little more generic and thought some of you might want to read them. Could they apply in your situation?

I would put together a free report on your topic. About 15 pages, written in Word, spruced up with some graphics and turned into a PDF. Put another free offer of an audio someone will record interviewing you on your topic. Mention this audio in the report so even if people forward it to others, your name, contact information and your offer will be in there.

Send the offer of the free report out to anyone you can think of that you have permission to email and ask them to forward it to anyone they think might be interested. Announce it on your Facebook feed; your Twitter feed; etc. Put up a YouTube video on your topic area and put a live, clickable link to the free report on the YouTube description box.

To do this, you’ll need:
1. To have set up a mailing list management service (like AWeber or Constant Contact or iContact or MadMimi) to capture emails, manage them and send out autoresponders.
2. Write the free report, get someone you know to edit it and check for errors. Then get some graphically-oriented person to fancy it up and turn it into a PDF.
3. Start thinking about what products or services you want to sell once you gather a list and get more well known. Begin to create those products/services; create a page that describes each one somewhere on the web (on a blog or website); set up an online shopping cart and set up the product or service you are selling on that shopping cart; then get the code for that product and service and put that on the sales page you set up.
4. Start thinking about what additional services/products you would offer people who bought anything from you (this is called “the upsell” in marketing/sales). It could be a more advanced course (audio, video, online) going more in depth on the topic, etc.
5. Set up another page to describe and sell your upsell and arrange to send people to that page after they have purchased your initial product.

Will Smith’s wisdom – You gotta see this!

I can’t get no . . .

I read the results of a survey by the Conference Board today about Americans’ job satisfaction. It turns out that job satisfaction is the lowest it’s been in more than 22 years. Only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs. Fewer people consider their jobs interesting; they are not happy with their incomes and the high cost of health care.

That was true for me many years ago (in 1981, actually) and, as a result, I left my job and began working for myself. I have never regretted it.

When are you gonna get some satisfaction and start your own enterprise? It doesn’t have to be full time (until you are sure you can support yourself and your lifestyle).

It is easier than ever with the web tools and services available and all sorts of free information about how to do it, including this blog.

Could this be the year that you will fill out a survey like the Conference Board’s and say you are satisfied with your work?

What are you waiting for? The year is already 5 days old. Time’s a wastin’.