What you can learn from "Citizen Kane"....
 

Hi Gordon,

I think what you say has a lot of wisdom behind it.... Particularly the advice to Do What You Love.

I think it's much easier to succeed if you love what you are doing.... And if you love what you're doing, then it's like it's no longer work!

And furthermore, life is too short to do something you hate....

I remember reading somewhere that the biggest reason that people start their own business is not for the money (though that's nice too), but to change their lifestyle....

We all have different loves, and every person's different perspectives are very important. It may be hard to believe, but some people LOVE working with numbers. Others LOVE learning new languages. And others LOVE any kind of work where they can meet lots of people. If you're doing what you love, not only will you be more likely to succeed, but you'll be having a ball doing it too. :)

And you're right -- the number of ways of making money is truly mind-boggling!

I know you're an expert at this, since you've also succeeded at so many different things.... :)

Jim Straw also seems to be a treasure-trove of money-making information, from his extensive experience....

And Michael Ross is also very knowledgeable in this area -- his extensive business know-how is impressive too!

And I agree with what you say about coaching.... Julie Jordan Scott is one of the best. I feel privileged that she posts here at Sowpub.... She has changed many lives for the better. :)

And I agree with you fully about what you said regarding FOCUS.... A focused mind is like a powerful laser-beam.... A powerful laser beam can cut through anything, even metal. But when the light's not focused, it becomes like an ordinary flashlight.... There's still light there, but without the focus, it's nowhere near as powerful.

Gordon, I'm grateful to you that you've shared some of your wisdom here.... I value it, and I know many of the wise Sowpubbers here value it too. As a generally wise bunch, how can we not value it when wisdom is placed before us? :)

Gordon, do you have any advice on how to KNOW what it is you want?

It might sound like a strange question, but there are lot of people who really don't quite know what it is they want.... They may think they want something, but when they get it, then they realize that it's not really quite what they are looking for....

I realize that this is not an easy question to answer. People have spent whole lifetimes trying to answer it....

I recently watched the film Citizen Kane again.... Have you seen it? We just have to remember the film.... and "Rosebud." (If you haven't seen it, then rent the video! I don't want to give it all away here, just in case there are those who haven't seen it yet....)

However, even though it is a tough question, if you have any insights into this I'd be grateful if you'd share some of them....

Thanks! :)

Dien

Joe Worker vs The Universe
 

Do what you love and the money will follow?
But how do I find out what it is I love?

I'd like, if I may, to re-introduce Joe Worker. He's a hard worker, and he's not happy. He feels unfulfilled. He WANTS more out of life and spends vast amounts of time searching for that one thing that calls to him, and very little time doing.

BUT, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what Joe is doing. In fact, it's natural!!!

The Universe is big. Real big. And everyday it gets bigger because it EXPANDS.

The Universe also operates under certain laws. Laws that apply to pretty well everything.

I'm thinking here of two sets of laws.

1: The laws of motion. And in particular, the greatest amount of force is spent in getting a resting body to move. And the initial movement is slow. (Sounds like starting a business, right?)

2: The laws of life. For an organism to live it must GROW, it must EXPAND. An organism that doesn't move is dead and dead things decay.

Now lets look at Joe again. For Joe to live he must EXPAND. And not necessarily in height or width... mentally will do fine.

Joe, like millions of others, hates his Job. So he leaves and gets another, better job.

At first he loves his new job. BUT, over time he begins to also hate it, until, he leaves and gets another job which he loves at the start.

Sound like anyone you know?

Joe, at some point, settles into a job he hates. When he reaches mid life he undergoes a crisis. He buys loud shirts and a sports car and does crazy things.

WHY?

Same reason he changed jobs all those times.

Joe is EXPANDING... and thus living. NEW items are entering his mind, expanding his mind, and keeping him alive.

Gordon said he likes to find out how things work and move on.

Don't we all?

We SUFFER greatly when we don't experience new things. And it's very hard to experience new things in a job - or business - that doesn't change.

Ever seen how a chimp acts after bein caged for great lengths of time?

They sit there rocking from side to side. Going stir (and most likely, literally) crazy. Because, once caged, you cannot experience new things and expand your mind - and thus live.

Why is the face-to-face sales process such a buzz?

New people, new sale, totally new experience each and every time.

I may LOVE designing webpages. But I'll get pretty sick and tired of it if I simply design the same page over and over again - just like Joe gets sick and tired of his job which has him doing the exact same things each and every day.

A herd of animals will run out of food and die unless they move to a new area and experience the food in that area.

Stop moving. Stop EXPANDING and that's the end of you. Plain and simple.

You want to know HOW to know what it is you LOVE?

Anything that expands your mind.

Joe's research is a STEP in that direction... even though he doesn't realize it.

Joe's not suffering from mid-life crisis... he's suffering from a mind crying out to expand while he is physically keeping it trapped in his job.

When he buys the shirt and car and acts crazy, he's simply satisfying what his mind longs for... new experiences and the chance to expand.

Apply the same to your business. Started off great but became a drag?

The answer is probably because it became mundane. Not enough change.

An artist may love what they do. But only because what they do is different each time. Even they would become unhappy if they painted the same scene, or sang the same one song, or played the same piece of music over and over and over again, without adding anything else to their range.

Why don't we read the same books over and over?

Because most of the time we get nothing new from them. When we do get something new from another reading, we enjoy the reading and will most likely keep re-reading until we get nothing new.

I think the whole answer to the question is less about what you're doing and how you're doing it and more about what you're getting out of it.

The thrill of beginning and building a business runs deep for an entrepreneur because the whole process is based on new experiences. New experiences which expand the mind - keeping it in a state of growth and thus LIFE. Universal laws!

Watch a child play a video game. What happens once the child masters the game?

The game isn't played anymore because there's nothing new to get out of it. No new skills to expand the list of skills acquired.

Think about this. Really think about it.