“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.”

Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931)
Lebanese writer and philosopher

How often do you see the rose versus the thorns?

If I am focused on the rose, then the thorns on the stem and throughout the bush are merely small obstacles that I must overcome to retrieve my prize….the rose.

However, if I only see the multitude of thorns within the bush then it is easy for me to be swayed away from the goal of capturing the rose. Why would I ever want to entertain that mush risk for such an inconsequential goal.

A negative mind will always build an incredible case against success. Every risk identified with a negative mind become supported by the feelings of fear and pain. These become the legs of the stool that is our belief system.

Make a conscious choice to entertain the positive and the thorns will melt away form your vision. Slowly, but they will begin to melt away. Challenge fear, risk and pain by painting the picture of success in your mind. What if it could happen? What would it take to accomplish that? Start to see the steps and then take one. Just one one small step and enjoy the journey. You will succeed.

What if an individual took four years, contacted companies and individuals in the field they were interested in and offered to work for free as a way of building experience? Wouldn’t that be similar to going to college?

The primary difference being accountability.

Now you are working for someone who has a business and your input will have a result and a consequence. College your only accountability is a grade…not to be discounted, but it does prompt one to find short cuts vs. actual learning. Not to mention the value of real world experiences. The best sales training I ever had was working for the yellow pages. I learned to create a list, make a call, set an appointment, educate the client and close the sale. I quickly learned that the more time I spent qualifying my prospect list, the better my conversion. Had I not relied on those conversions to feed myself…I may have spent that time doing something else.

If nothing else, this begs the question, what if? I am unfortunately a little late in the life game to take advantage of this. However, I would be willing to help mentor someone through the process. Help them to define the goals, set the opportunities and craft a winning strategy.

I bet an individual could actually get more accomplished in two years than the traditional four and in this economy…they’d probably have a job when they were done!

“Life is a challenge, meet it.” - Mother Teresa

God loves an old lady who can set anyone straight in a sentence. Clear, simple, elegant and packed with truth. This statement grabbed me by my guts and forced to face more than a few situations. The bottom line of life in general is that it is not easy. The sooner we get over that, the sooner we can begin to live.

It does beg the question, What are you refusing to face?

I am sure that there are goals you want to achieve and I am equally sure there are obstacles in the way. Again, it’s how we view those obstacles that will determine our level of success. When I take individuals through experiential activities like firewalking, board breaking, walking on broken glass and bending re-bar with your throat I ask people to take a physical challenge and look for the psychological or mental challenge that they can relate the experience to. There really isn’t a huge difference between the two. That is what makes that experiential intiatives so strong. If you can face your fear and achieve under those circumstances, what else can you do?

Life is one long string of challenges that began with our first breath. Through our first steps, into our mastery of language, mathmatics, and social relationships to name a few, we have all learned by facing the unknown. There is no magic pill or secret information. There is only “do” or “do not”. Take a step forward and you will learn. It’s guaranteed.

So….what will you do now?

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found those dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch painter

Any sales person can sell price. A good sales person knows how to sell experience. If this market has re-affirmed any of my beliefs, it is the belief that those who have the means will always continue to buy the things they like.

Many of you will immediately think I am speaking about those with extreme wealth.

I’ll argue that it goes a few steps further and applies to everyone. All consumers will continue to buy within their means…your job is to find the consumer with the means to buy your product. Yes the competition is greater, the market tighter and the focus on value more extreme than ever before. These are the elements of your storm. Suck it up, face the facts and get over it so you can get back to selling your product and developing your business. It is time for you to re-define your existence and prepare for the future.

1. Re-define your customer. Most likely they have changed over the past year. Even if they are the same person, it is likely that their needs, and the psychology behind their buying decisions has changed. Are you selling to those points or continuing to use your old tired sales pitch that you used over the last 3-5 years when the market was good.
2. Re-define your strategy. You should have done this a long time ago. Unfortunately most sales people have not. Why are you selling and prospecting with old methods. Are you utilizing digital and social media? Why Not? Re-focus on the mediums that help you stand out….even if you do believe they are a short lived novelty. The beauty of this exercise is that you not only reach out to new markets, but you learn something in the process.
3. Re-define your goal. What are your key performance indicators? What does success look like for you? What will you celebrate? The reality is that the market has changed. Are you still measuring yourself against old criteria? Make sure you are setting yourself up for physical, psychological and financial success.

Everyone is currently in favor and generally supportive of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn because they are safe and offer a relatively low risk of complete and utter failure. The problem is not the portals, but the lack of risk taking. The true power of social media lies in it’s ability to draw attention and make connections. These connections can then lead to actual sales and referrals when they are followed up on by more traditional forms of sales and marketing. Social provides the first touch and friendly reminder that makes everything else a warm call.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk. One of the biggest advantages of Social media is that it is relatively in-expensive. You design a cheap, fun and easy website for next to nothing these days and use it to drive exposure. Create a funny PSA and blast it to Digg and everyone else. Create a promotion that si literally out of this world and the actually give it away when you reach a level of followers you would have not thought existed. And do it all organically……not stupidly.

Take some risks people. It’s not the end of the world.

I am a perpetual entrepreneur and a maverick in my own mind. Here’s what that means….

I am constantly and consistently looking for the new idea. It excites me. Drives me crazy in fact. I realize the society has built people like me who are hungry for the next idea thought and form of entertainment. You want to connect with me? Thats great! Do it in a way that gets my attention. Do it in a way that stands out. Which is exactly why I have supported and used social media since day 1. I signed on to use LinkedIn shortly after it hit the scene and spent a lot of time trying to get others involved. I still do because it’s a new medium that people are interested in or curious about. It may one day fade. And if it does, there will no doubt be another form that takes it’s place and I’ll use that to contact you. Don’t be a fraid of the new and don’t try to justify it’s potential short term impact by your beliefs on it’s long term viability.

I’m also a fan of the tried and true. Writing a card, a personal letter or a call to an old friend shows class and attention to the most valuable commodity we have. Time. It takes time to do those things. It takes intentional thought. We can’t copy and paste onto a hand written notecard and the reader of said card knows that. Again though, you are embracing a medium for contact that stands out. Someone told me (and we all knowhow accurate information is that begins this way…just sayin) that over 80% of business communication these days takes place via email. 80%!!!!! This means that the other 20% is split between all of the other mediums out there. And we all knwo that email, even the coolest newsletters, is not a high touch form of communciation. I delete probably 50-60% of the newsletters I willing signed up for, so I can hardly expect a prospect of mine to open any email that I send.

Unless we have a relationship.

And that is third key  I’d like to rant on. Relationships, networks, tribes….whatever you want to call them, are the basis of any great success. Every time I have conceived a plan for business, be it an internal strategy or a full fledged start up, I have started with the thought of community. How do I reach them? Where do they shop? What they use as their buying decisions? Who do I know within that or industry or a feeder industry? It is is your ability to tap a community that will make you successful. Take the time to build and nurture the relationships that most benefit you and your goal. You will always be a better developer of business (and life for that matter) when yous pend time on others.

Being an entreprenuer is often mis-understood. We are seen as Mavericks, rule breakers and disruptions to the status quo. OK…maybe we’re not mis-unserstood…but we are all those thinsg because we are idea people. We find new ways of communicating and solutions to problems. We don’t see a brick wall, we see the crack that will bring the wall down and the pot of gold on the other side. We work harder than others and see risk as fun. Most importantly we are not afraid to live life. It is the living of life and lack of percieved fear that brings about great realizations, profound success and joy.

So if like me you see yourself as a Maverick of sorts then go forth and re-invent something. Make a great thing happen and be awesome in the process.

Lately I have taken to adapting a quote from a TV character by the name of Barney Stinson, there many variations and essentially it says…

“When I hit a brick wall, I stop being frusturated and be awesome instead. True story.” Barney Stinson

Dude! just be awesome!