DECEMBER 2006
Greetings & Salutations:
If you are like most people in the U.S., you drive an automobile
- but - how often do you really think about what you are doing
while you are behind the steering wheel? -- You don't think about
applying pressure to the accelerator. You don't really
remember how you decide how much pressure to apply ... too little,
you slow down in the middle of traffic ... too much, you get
a speeding ticket.
Or, how about steering the car? -- Without remembering what
you are doing; or how you are doing it, you easily keep the car
in your lane of traffic. And, when you want to turn left,
or right, you just turn the steering wheel in the direction you
want to go and guide the car smoothly and accurately into the
correct lane of traffic in the chosen direction ... without considering
the coordination of steering, accelerating and braking you have
accomplished.
You don't think about it, you just do it. But, it wasn't
always that way.
If you will remember, back when you were first learning to
drive you probably had a hard time just keeping the car between
the ditches. -- It took a conscience thought ... and no little
effort ... to get the car to go where you wanted it to go, at
the speed at which you wanted to go ... without bumping into,
or running over, something.
The reason you drive so well (I hope) today is because, at
the time you were learning to drive, your dreams of driving yourself
to and from school events, or to a job, or cruising with your
friends ... chasing girls (or boys) ... was all-important to
you. Nothing else was quite as important. Your social
life and economic future were irretrievably linked to your ability
to drive an automobile.
Driving an automobile meant freedom ... freedom from depending
upon your parents ... freedom to go the places you needed or
wanted to go when you wanted to go ... freedom to explore places
you had never been before and do things you had never done before
... freedom to be yourself. -- If you didn't learn to drive an
automobile, you knew you would forever be dependent upon someone
else to get you to where you wanted to go.
Aren't those 'reasons' for learning to drive an automobile
very, very similar to the 'reasons' you've wanted to own your
own business?
Owning your own business means freedom ... freedom from depending
upon someone else for a paycheck ... freedom to have the things
you need or want when you want them ... freedom to pursue the
activities you just can't afford on a paycheck ... freedom to
be yourself. -- But, in all too many cases...
It Just Ain't That Important!
Think about it. -- Learning to drive was all-important to
you when you were young because, if you didn't drive, you simply
couldn't survive in our mobile society. Even the survival
of the human race seemed dependent upon your learning to drive.
After all, if you couldn't drive, you would be less likely to
find a mate and procreate.
But, owning your own business isn't quite that imperative.
Without a business of your own, you can still get a job and
earn enough to afford, at least, the basic necessities of life.
And, even people who have never held a job have mates and procreate
... and procreate ... and procreate some more.
Beyond that, when you were learning to drive a car, you were
more than willing to pay the price to achieve your goal. -- Even
though you had giant butterflies in your stomach every time you
seated yourself behind the steering wheel you persisted.
There were times you just knew you would never learn to control
that great iron-beast, but you persevered. -- After all, your
social and economic life depended upon you learning to drive
... not learning would mean the death of your hopes and dreams.
While owning your own business is a worthy goal, less than
2% of those who pursue that goal do so with any kind of dedication.
-- They have the desire but not the ...
Imperative Motivation!
Talking about 'motivation' is easy - but - getting 'motivated'
is not an easy task ... especially when there is no imperative
(life or death) reason to become motivated.
Face it, most people would like to be rich and successful
... or at least be better-off than they are. -- Some dream of
driving a luxury car, living in a big home in a fine neighborhood,
and taking vacations at exotic locations around the world.
Others envision paying-off their debts, having a little-extra
in their saving account, and being able to just go on a vacation.
The dreams are real - but - unless the person having those
dreams is 'motivated' to make their dreams a reality, it will
never happen. After all, they won't die if they don't achieve
their goal; no matter how grandiose their goals may be.
Young people won't die if they don't learn how to drive a
car either - but - they firmly believe that, if they don't learn
how to drive, they won't have a life; which is just about the
same as being dead to them.
When you think about it, it really is a ...
Sad Commentary On Life!
While over 90% of the young people in this country find it
imperative that they learn to drive a car, less than 2% of those
who want a better life ever do anything to achieve it.
It is especially disheartening when you receive a 'note' like
this:
"Jim, please take me off your mailing list. I have
been reading your materials for over 20 years. In all that
time it has never made me any money. I'll be 65 this year.
I really wanted to make some money from your programs but I guess
I'll just have to live off my Social Security."
Sad. -- Over the same 20 years he was reading my material,
I was making millions upon millions of dollars doing exactly
the same things; the very same way, I was teaching him (and all
my other readers) to do it.
Although there are thousand upon thousands of books, booklets,
reports and courses on the market on almost every subject relative
to making-money, no one has yet discovered a way to get the people
who read that information to "use" it.
What is the "Imperative Motivation" that separates
the 2% who succeed from the 98% who only dream? -- Maybe we will
never know.
Can you stump the old master? --
Betcha can't!
Over the past 50 years (man and boy), I have made bundles
of money in direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising,
entertainment (I was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist
& Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail
merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing,
finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business
consulting, steel fabrication, gold and coal mining, offshore
banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing. -- That being the
case ...
No matter what business you're in ... whether you're just
starting, well on your way, or at the top of the heap ... I've
probably been where you are, done what you are doing. -- So ...
Anytime you have a question about 'how' to do something in
your business - or - if you have any comments about anything
I've said in issues of this e-Letter; or if you want to add your
2 cents worth ... just "ask" me or "tell"
me.
Send your Questions, Comments or 2 Cents Worth
to ...
with "Question" - "Comment"
- or, "2 Cents Worth" in the SUBJECT.
If I, personally, don't have an answer to any question you
may ask, I will contact some of the professionals in your field
of endeavor (I will probably know one or more personally) to
get the real 'skinny' for you.
Note: If you want to ask a question anonymously
just tell me so when you send in the question. -- Nobody but
you and I will know who asked the question.
Copyright - 2006, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.