Insights into the new economy
I’ve read some really great books, lately. In one of them was a thought that went something like this: You can’t make something new happen, by doing the same old thing.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when the same old thing keeps happening, in my life, for a long time, I get a bit bored. And, when the same old thing happens to be nuisanceful, or somehow detrimental, to my health, welfare, and happiness, it seems like it would behoove me, to find a better, or at least a new way of behaving, in order to create change.
Lack of change is also called stagnation. To my way of thinking, stagnation is tantamount to death.
My massage business was dying a crib death, at a time, when I should long ago have been experiencing the healthful and joyful success, to which I had committed myself, for my own sake, and that of those around me.
I finally realized that I had done nothing new, to promote my own business, in over 2 yrs. I’d simply allowed a stagnating behavior to continue. I was relying on someone else, and many other somebodies, to make great things happen, for me.
My mentor had put my name alongside his, on a coupon, and had a marketing company sell a whole bunch of them to the community at large. The marketing company profitted, and I did many hours of free massage, w/ out really knowing how to ask people to come back, so I waited until the following year, hoping they’d buy another coupon.
So, this year, I’m trying something new. My creative and computer savvy hubby has made me my own coupons and I’m mailing them out, myself. I’ve also read a lot of books on how to market myself, in my chosen field, or in any field. I read a lot of other books, on how to coach myself, and others to success, and have actually blogged, Today, to share some of those titles, because they’re greatly motivational and inspirational reads, and as you may remember, from one of my previous blogs: I am a commitment to healthful and joyful success, for myself, and others.COACH YOURSELF TO SUCCESS: Talane Miedaner100 WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF: Steve Chandler10 COMMITMENTS TO YOUR SUCCESS: Steve Chandler
SIMPLY BRILLIANT: (Edited and compiled by) Thomas J. Leonard
BOTTOM UP MARKETING: Al Ries and Jack Trout
FOUR STEPS TO BUILDING A PROFITABLE COACHING PRACTICE: Deborah Brown- Volkman
GROWING A BUSINESS: Paul Hawken
COACH ANYONE ABOUT ANYTHING: Germaine Porche and Jed Niederer
GETTING STARTED IN PERSONAL AND EXECUTIVE COACHING: Stephen G. Fairley and Chris E. Stout
These books, are helping me to create the life that I’ve always wanted, for myself. It surprised me, that I could make money, doing what I loved, because my parents always told me that that wasn’t possible. I believed my parents, when they told me, that people do a real 9-5 job, for someone else in order to make enough money to put into doing what they loved, as a hobby.
Lately, I’m hearing my own story come from the mouths of a lot of my contemporaries. I’m also reading, and hearing from experts that study Today’s market, and the plight of families, that just make ends meet, by being 2 or more income families, that it’s really NOT possible, anymore, to get by on just one income, from just one job, and often not on just one job, per parent!
Job security, and company loyalty, are simply not what they once were. It really is much safer to make money doing a few different things that you love, because those things tend to be under your own control. You’re the one who makes the big decisions about how much time and effort you put into any one aspect of your work(s). When you’re successful, it’s by your own standards, and if the results of your success are monetary, then you get to decide how to disperse the profit. (Tax requirements aside).
The authors of some of the books, that I’ve listed say all this, a lot more clearly, than I have.
The really successful, and happy people that I’ve met lately, have all acheived their dream, of doing what they love. There’s an RN, on Kentucky Street, here, in Petaluma, that is running her own shop, where she sells her own clothing, and teaches people how to live healthy lifestyles, free of drugs that their doctors have told them that they need, for medical conditions.
My husband is securing our future, by creating a website called Chess Magnet School. You’ll see the link, on my web site. He was laid off by a company that had him working more than 9-5, creating thier chess site. After they laid him off, they tried to cheat him out of credit, for his work.
You WON’T see their link, on my site.
So if you work for yourself, no one else can lay you off, or decide how much your time and effort is worth. Also, you can put your time, into several different hobbies. That would be Today’s version of playing the stock market, wisely. Our parents generation would call it diversifying. Instead of investing in the stock market, which has sadly disappointed us, recently, we’re INVESTING in OURSELVES.
I highly recommend investing in yourself. It’s quite ego boosting, and lately, a lot smarter, less risky and less disappointing than investing in the stock market. Besides all that, a lot of people haven’t tried it yet, so that would make it a new behavior. This kind of change of your behavior is going to have a huge effect, on your life, so get ready for an end to your boredom.