From The Depths Of Deepness He Comes To Answer THE CHALLENGE
 

The challenge, as been raised again further down the board, has a couple of purposes.

First, it's designed to get you to think. WHAT IF you really were in that position? HOW would you really get by? If you can't answer the challenge, you aren't covering all your downsides. And one day you may find yourself asking for a government handout.

Second, to help you identify weaknesses/strenths about yourself. If you can't answer the challenge, you'll see the areas you're weak in and which need to be improved. You'll also see where your strengths are.

Third, to help you identify potential income streams you may not have realised existed.

I believe, the very first thing to do, with regards to my challenge, is to TAKE STOCK OF YOURSELF.

To me, this involves writing out a list of everything that's available to me and subcatagorising the list. I'd have subeheads such as,

Resources

Knowledge

Skills

Contacts

Etc.

And under each subhead a small list of items.

Under Resources I place items such as the Yellow Pages, Library, Internet Access, Telephone, Mobile phone, Computer, Printer, Number of reams of paper, Mic, Tape Deck/s, Lawnmower (if you've actually got one, unlike me), boks you may have and so on and so forth. Making sure to be as detailed as possible as you never know what item, which you may have thought nothing of, is of the most value to you.

Under Knowledge I place the knowledge you have. This is obviously a very personal thing and would include things such as, Search Engine knowledge, wher to find certain products at wholesale or below, Marketing type knowledge and so on. Again be as detailed as possible.

Under skills goes all the things you can do. Type X words per minute, program a VCR, operate a camcorder, computer, software skills, etc., etc.

Under contacts go all your contacts and what they relate to.

Place this list in columns. Maybe even with such a font size it all fits on one side of a piece of paper. And looks at it. Asking yourself, "How can I used this list to make money?"

After all is said and done, you should be able to indentify quite a few ways of making money. Many of them may involve hands-on type stuff, such as mowing lawns. Others won't. Only YOU can answer the challenge for yourself.

Also, the idea is not to try and only come up with something that makes $4,000 a week. Stay smaller, for the moment. Whatever you come up with can always grow to bring in more money. Remember, you've got to get money coming in first. Money which you can use to make more money.

If you can't figure a way to make money from your list you know you have a problem and can see what you you need to improve on.

If you can see ways to make money, why not give a few a go. Start them small and part time if you like. You may find these extra little sources of income are handy and could even grow.

Anyway. That the first thing *I* would do.

Michael Ross.

Not an obvious way.
 

Most people think cure, not prevention. I think most folks wouldn't consider what am I going to do now unless they were in a situation where things had gone bad.

Maybe successful people who watched the show thought about what they'd do if they were in that situation, but these challenges like the TV show only seem to reinforce the fact that successful people would do pretty much what they did before to get success again.

Would successful people even consider, worse case scenrio when things are going well? I'm not talking about if one of their products didn't sell, I'm saying would they consider the options of starting out again with nothing.

If they did and they'd had success, then it's back to what they did before.

And that's why I think these challenges are some what pointless. They only serve to show others how to do something that has already proven to be successful.

None of the people in the TV example radically changed the way they'd made money before.

Sure the TV show and the challenge in general are interesting as examples of how you got successful in the first place.

A better show and a better premise would be..."How to take your skills or learn new skills and find success" and then one could look at their current skills and situation.

I agree that taking stock of your life and your skills is fundamental, but I don't think a TV show that shows successful people using their past skills to get success again, shows people how to do that or at the very least not obviously.

Maybe someone sitting on the couch who's life was in the can would maybe think about their options, but would they really? Maybe they'd just get mad at the participants just doing what they did before.

Failure leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to.....where's Yoda when you need him.

Still, maybe the show would give a few ideas and that may help.

Maybe the challenge isn't totally pointless, I just don't think it's an ideal way to help unsuccessful people.

As in the show, the people who had success, would just copy what they did and people with no success would probably be blindsided by the how people make money aspect.

I just don't think that these challenges are specific enough to help people who have never had success, but they do provide viewers with a selection of ways to make money if you already know how.

Just my opinion.

Richard

Re: Not an obvious way.
 

> Maybe successful people who watched the show
> thought about what they'd do if they were in
> that situation, but these challenges like
> the TV show only seem to reinforce the fact
> that successful people would do pretty much
> what they did before to get success again.

I agree though there is a world of difference between a real world experience and a game show (of course)....

But it's not clear to me that they did the same thing....

For example, "Crazy" Ron sells mobile phones (cell phones). Yet to make money, he held a dance party.... He didn't go out there and sell more mobile phones.

Cameron Fisher sells Real Estate. Yet to make money, one of the things he did was to organize a celebrity luncheon....

It seems I'm the only one here who saw the show (apart from my brother Thomas), and I personally believe I benefited from watching it.... :)

Having said that, I agree the pressures are different from "real life"....

These people didn't really care deeply if they lost the $10,000 they started with -- they are all already millionaires. It would have just been a blow to their pride.... Therefore, they were all probably willing to take higher risks with their money than the average person would, if the average person needed that money for their long-term living expenses, or to support their family.....

> Would successful people even consider, worse
> case scenrio when things are going well? I'm
> not talking about if one of their products
> didn't sell, I'm saying would they consider
> the options of starting out again with
> nothing.

These guys started with $10,000 , so they weren't really starting with nothing.

I forgot to mention, by the way, in my write-up that they had to buy clothes (they only had the clothes on their back). "Crazy" Ron bought some loud shirts, while Cameron Fisher rented a suit. (We didn't see Pamela Noon buying clothes in the half hour show, it probably got edited out due to time.)

> None of the people in the TV example
> radically changed the way they'd made money
> before.

No, not too radically.... Though I still think organizing a dance party is not identical to selling mobile phones....

> Sure the TV show and the challenge in
> general are interesting as examples of how
> you got successful in the first place.

Not really, since what they did wasn't really identical....

However, I agree that their experience MUST have helped them to organize their successful ventures....

> A better show and a better premise would
> be..."How to take your skills or learn
> new skills and find success" and then
> one could look at their current skills and
> situation.

That would definitely take more than 2 1/2 days....

These people were "real life" millionaires. I think the BIGGEST problem with a show like this is getting financially successful people to participate.... What motivation could you give them?

Maybe that's why, so far, only one show has ever been made -- as far as I can tell!

> Maybe someone sitting on the couch who's
> life was in the can would maybe think about
> their options, but would they really? Maybe
> they'd just get mad at the participants just
> doing what they did before.

> Failure leads to fear, fear leads to anger,
> anger leads to.....where's Yoda when you
> need him.

> Still, maybe the show would give a few ideas
> and that may help.

I think different people would react differently to the show....

I think if a person thinks they are "cursed" to mediocrity, they'd just get jealous. "Look at those guys, they get all the luck!"

But someone with a success attitude would think, "So that's ONE way to do it! Why, I can probably do that too!"

At least that's how I thought.... :)

You probably read about my brother Thomas's beginning to organize an underage dance party -- that idea was directly stimulated by the show.

(Right now, he's doing very well with the new distribution business he just started.... I'm learning a lot from him, actually....)

> Maybe the challenge isn't totally
> pointless, I just don't think it's an ideal
> way to help unsuccessful people.

That might be true.... though I think it does depend on your mental attitude before-hand.... I think those with a "can do" attitude would benefit more than those with a defeatist attitude....

Someone I know always criticizes me for being "TOO optimistic." Yet while I've generally been successful at what I turn my efforts to (at least eventually -- I don't give up easily), she has not really been very successful herself....

While she criticizes me, she always defends her negative attitude by claiming, "I'm not pessimistic, I'm a realist."

Yet, I KNOW she can do much better than she is.... But the first thing she needs to change is her attitude.

I agree fully with Napoleon Hill, Maxwell Maltz, and the rest, the first change has to be a mental one....

> I just don't think that these challenges
> are specific enough to help people who have
> never had success, but they do provide
> viewers with a selection of ways to make
> money if you already know how.

There are clearly zillions and zillions of different ways to make money....

I believe which way is best depends on the individual!

At the moment, I tend to agree with something I read by Ross Perot.... He says the way to make money is not to have making money as your primary goal. Instead, your goal should be along the lines of doing something well, or building something better than anyone else....

Thanks for your views Richard.... I respect your views and your forthrightness, though we may not always agree on everything, it helps to keep life interesting! ;)

Cheers,

Dien

A great, systematic way to begin....
 

Thanks Michael!

I think your approach is a very good one.... very systematic, and good to identify the resources you have to work with....

I realize now there are ZILLIONS of ways of making money.... Just leafing through the Yellow Pages shows that -- all the different businesses listed are also many of the different ways of making money....

The list is endless!

But by using your approach, you can start to identify which of these zillions of ways you can start NOW, and which are right for you....

So thank you for that very good advice, Michael.... :)

By the way, Michael Ross has created a great game, called Market Forces....

I've been meaning to review it, as I had the opportunity to play-test it while it was still at the development stage....

Look out for the post.... It's coming soon.... :)

Dien


Michael Ross's Market Forces