GarthBox

Many exchange their hours for a price. Obvious.

More concerning: Many give up pay to give others the responsibility to tell them what to do.

I’m guilty of it.

I freelance for a newspaper (static compensation) when I could make more by turning my pieces into a blog or a book (dynamic compensation). On the other hand, I run my one-man business and am working on opening a craft beer bar (unlimited compensation). I do PR for others (salary) at the same time as I do PR for myself (monetarily limitless).

A friend of mine works minimum wage at a radio station when she could start her own podcast station and be successful at it.

A personal trainer spends his time getting people memberships to someone else’s gym instead of starting his own.

I agree there is a threshold of risk and responsibility. At some point it becomes overwhelming.

However, the problem I see isn’t that people are taking too much responsibility and are making too much money and are loving what they do too much. It’s the opposite. The problem is they’re giving up too much just to have someone else take the responsibility.

A friend once said to me, “Those who build ships for others rarely experience the real success of putting something out to sea.”

 

Stay Positive & Start Building Your Own Ships

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Leave a meeting without knowing about an area for personal growth.

Convince people to buy your product who you know will regret their decision.

Ignore the data and realities facing your industry.

Lead with answers and not questions.

Be a fox when you can be a hedgehog.

Spend energy on motivating your team instead of hiring self-motivated players.

 

Stay Positive & Just To List A Few

Photo credit (Good short read by Jiwa on regrettable decisions)

There’s a fine line between being remarkable and being over-generous.

Giving a customer a coupon for unlimited desserts for their life isn’t as remarkable as surprising each customer with a fresh, warm cookie out of the oven.

If I were to write you a note every day expressing my gratitude for you reading my blog, it would mean less and less as time waned on. Reminding you that I’m dancing with the same fears you are has a greater impact.

Bringing flowers home to your significant other each day usually stops being shareworthy after the first day.

Telling you which grade school a CEO went to is less powerful than telling you about what she did right when she became CEO.

The stories we tell about ourselves and our brands and our businesses must revolve around memorable moments.

Too much of a good thing really is a bad thing. However, that’s not to say you can’t have a variety of memorable moments. In fact, that’s what makes for the best stories.

 

Stay Positive & What Are Your Memorable Moments?

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You have two options when it comes to your weak spots.

1. You can hide them, maybe search for some false armor to cover them up. You can lie about them, ignore them or feel guilty for having them.
2. You can share your weak spots with friends and colleagues and others. You can make them visible and actively work to strengthen them.

You would be amazed at how quickly the weak spots go away when others become aware you have them and know you want to strengthen them.

The world’s not just filled with people who want to help. It’s filled with people who will.

 

Stay Positive & Vulnerability Is The Cure

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There’s a key distinction between remarkable and average waiters and waitresses.

For those who don’t know me well, I’m not too picky about the food I eat. Show me a menu and I’ll eat just about anything on it.

You might think how great that is, but it makes choosing something to eat sort of miserable.

My solution is to leave it up to the waiter or waitress.

“Pick your favorite and don’t tell me. I’ll be surprised.”

The average waiter and waitress freaks out under the pressure. They will either say, “No, you’ve gotta choose something” or “well the BLT is really good, do you want that?”

The average seeks out reassurance, confirmation, and certainty in being right. Once he or she takes the order, they can’t screw it up. If that meal comes out bad, it’s not their fault.

The remarkable waiter and waitress on the other hand, says, “Alright. No problem.”

The remarkable understands that it may not be right. He or she dances with the pressure and fear of being responsible for a potentially poor experience, but goes at it anyway.

If you’ve pieced it together… I’m not talking about just waiters and waitresses.

 

Stay Positive & Dessert Anyone?

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Many stories I hear from startups and entrepreneurs alike involve highlighting the features and lineaments of their business.

Attributes that can easily be copied and pasted into another business.

They open up earlier. Stay open later. Have lower prices. The buttons are bigger.

They’re selling their story short by focusing on being different in terms of variables that competitors can copy if they wanted to. It’s what ol’ Zig would call a race to the bottom.

Somewhere along the line the entrepreneurs got so focused on the details and being an inch better than their competitors that it’s all they focus on. As a result, they forget to sell what got them in business in the first place: passion.

The butcher who opens at 4 a.m. and uses a state-of-the-art system isn’t that appealing, is it?

A butcher who opens at 4 a.m. because the temperature at that time activates the most number of nutrients in the meat before being frozen in place shows passion in delivering the richest meats, doesn’t it?

Interestingly, the more you focus on the passion for your business, the easier it is to come up with features that are relevant, different and matter in conversation.

 

Stay Positive & Sell Your Passion, Always

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