There Is No Silver Bullet To Success
by Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of Stuart Miles
One of the most important lessons about achieving your dreams of being a writer, etc., is you must be persistent.
If one door closes, you must be aware that another door will open.
Sometimes we forget that lesson because we are afraid of experiencing rejection.
It is true that rejection hurts because we want to be liked by everyone.
The problem is that some people will not like you even if you are a nice person.
They will always try to find something to put you down if they see the opportunity.
If you are building an online business, you will certainly experience rejection along the way because no one has ever heard of you.
You can keep on trying to associate yourself with an A-lister within your industry in order to gain traction in your business if they mention you to their audience.
The only problem is that everyone else is trying to do the same thing in reaching out to the A-listers.
If you want to achieve success with your online business, you must put in the hard work and dedication to make your business succeed.
You also must build your audience from the ground up because you will achieve greater rewards from finding the right audience.
I was very fortunate to attend the Self-Publishing Success Academy class taught by Kimanzi Constable and Jimmy Burgess earlier this year.
The program was excellent because both of them shared with us how to achieve success with our self-published books.
They did not taught the lessons from theory, they taught from their experience on achieving their own success with their self-published books.
They also taught us that a person must build trust with the people who are the decision makers of the large websites or podcasts because if you send a generic pitch, you will end up being on their bad list for your disingenuous approach to being a contributor to their websites.
I applied one of the strategies that helped me to get on a couple of podcasts including Caryn FitzGerald’s Coffee And Coaching Podcast.
And yesterday, I “made” an appearance on “The Travel Wisdom Podcast,” hosted by Ladan Jiracek.
Mr. Jiracek, a world traveler who currently lives in India, interviews people who are also world travelers, authors, speakers, polyglots(a person who speaks three or more languages) etc.
I did my research on his podcast and felt that I could share valuable information with his audience because I had studied abroad in Mexico for a month and studied/interned abroad in Chile for 3 months.
So I sent him an e-mail about the possibility of making an appearance on his show.
I was happy when he said that he would like to interview me on his podcast.
The cool part was that I was able to interview him on my podcast, “What’s The Word?”
I can say that the lessons that Mr. Constable and Mr. Burgess taught about doing your research on the podcasts that you want to make an appearance on and the large websites you want to guest post on, helped me to make those guest podcast appearances.
I also believe that it is just the beginning of achieving my goal of financial independence because I understand that running an online business is a marathon and not a sprint.
So if you want to succeed in your online business, you must put in the hard work and dedication to succeed.
In the end, you will enjoy the success that you achieved because you did not take any shortcuts to succeed.
What are your thoughts on achieving success in your career whether it is writing, etc.?
You can leave your comments below.
Focus More On The Journey To Your Destination
By Cheval John
We see the infomercials of someone who achieved their goals of making millions of dollars or even losing weight in a “short” amount of time.
The people who are broadcasting the infomercials are selling that if they can follow their system, then you can achieve the same success that they and their clients have achieved.
Though they mean well and those claims are true to a degree depending on the person, we think to ourselves that we can achieve the same goals that they achieve.
Or what about the person who got out of debt whether it is school loans or credit card debt?
That is more believable because we see stories on how they got through the debt and live to share about it to many others who are currently fighting to get out of debt.
Example: Eventual Millionaire’s Jaime Tardy, who got out of $70,000 dollars of debt in a short amount of time because she and her family was disciplined in their spending and also side-hustling with various work to achieve their goal of financial freedom.
What about stories of those who are still working their way to financial freedom and are looking for inspiration from those who are on the same journey to success.
Shannon McLay returned on my podcast, “What’s The Word?,” to chat how “Next-Gen Financial” was a model for her new company, “The Financial Gym.”
We chatted about how her dream goal of the “Financial Gym” was a three year plan because of some obstacles that she faced and her podcast,”Martinis And Your Money,” especially the episode ,”Overcoming Financial Obstacles” with Melanie from Dear Debt, Tonya from Budget and The Beach and Mrs. Frugalwoods from Frugalwoods.
Each shared about the challenges of gaining and maintaining financial freedom.
What was interesting is that they were willing to be vulnerable about their journeys and not pretend that they were on top of the world.
They understand that they are others who are currently facing debt and are looking for inspiration like people who are facing a combined trillion dollars in student loan debt.
They also know that the journey to the destination of financial freedom is really the best part because of golden lessons that they can share with others.
So it is always important to not focus too much on the destination whether it is financial freedom, achieving millions of viewers for your blog, making more money or achieving that prestigious degree.
If you only focus on the end goal, you will miss out on enjoying the journey to that goal which will be enriching to your life.
What are your thoughts on enjoying your journey to achieving overall success in your life?
You can leave your comments below.
Developing Your Social Skills
By Cheval John
When you are attending an event, whether it is a conference, sports, etc., it is viable to know how to act in certain situations.
Just because a person pays a boat load of money does not mean they should act like a fool.
We have seen at sporting events, fans who would try to get involved with the action of the games and would end up paying the price for it.
For example, an Alabama fan went after the Oklahoma students during the team’s humiliating loss in the Sugar Bowl.
She did not stop to think that her actions would hurt her reputation in the long run.
If she was an entrepreneur or a professional, many would point to the video and then wonder if it is ideal to do business with her.
In the same manner, if a professional is traveling overseas for business, they will have to understand how the norms of the country’s culture in which they are doing business.
Kara Ronin, founder of Executive Impressions, understands the nuances of doing business in another culture.
She has lived and worked in Japan, the United States and now France.
She had to adapt to the different working norms of the countries in order to succeed.
Her experience has allowed her to teach people from corporate to university students on how to adjust to the living standards of the countries through her company, Executive Impressions.
You can take a listen below.
After listening, what are your thoughts on developing your social skills?
You can leave your comments below.
Video courtesy of Bon Blossman
Life Is Not Harder Than Death
By Cheval John
Nicole Welch (left) interviewing Pat Flynn (right) at Podcast Movement 2015 Courtesy of Vallano Media
A customer came in to order some supplies after work.
After his order, I asked him, “How was his day?”
He said, “It was a Monday, but it is not the same after working the weekend.”
Then, I followed up with his occupation.
He mentioned that he was a lawyer.
I had a feeling that he was not happy with his work granted that he had spent a huge amount of time in college to achieve the law degree.
So I asked him what his dream goal would be.
He mentioned, “Not working and sitting on the beach and watching his kids grow up.”
He added that he would not be able to “enjoy” life until he reaches the age of 75.
And when he was about to leave, he said, “Life Is Much Harder Than Death.”
That statement was a dagger in my heart.
He had accepted the old dogma that he had to work the long hours in order to be successful.
At the same time, I was not surprised because he is among the many Americans who are unhappy at their work according to this Forbes article by Susan Adams.
He did not see that he had the power to make the life of his dreams come true by finding his true calling.
The truth is that anyone can change their situation and make it better.
I had the fortune to spend the weekend at the Omni Hotel in Ft. Worth for Podcast Movement’15, organized by Jared Easley, Dan Franks, Mitch Todd and Gary A. Leland.
Though it was a national conference, which was the first of it kind, it felt like a small gathering of like-minded people who were either podcasters, about to start a podcast or was learning more about the medium.
They have podcasts about different subject matters like sports, books, self-help, video games, etc.
The podcasters that attended are authors, entrepreneurs, sales people, etc. and are all rock stars in their own right.
The best part was meeting fellow podcasters who I had developed great friendships with online and meeting others who I met for the first time.
What is more impressive is that they did not settle for the status quo like the majority of people that was mentioned in the Forbes article.
They knew that they were meant to do more to make their lives better and also to help people to achieve their goals of making the world a better place.
People like Kimanzi Constable, who worked as a bread delivery person for 12 years before breaking free after he self-published two books that sold over 45,000 copies before getting a book deal with Sound Wisdom.
Now, he is is an accomplished speaker, coach and a contributor to large websites like Entrepreneur, the Huffington Post and Mind Body Green.
And because he did not settled for the mediocre, he was one of the co-founders of the Self-Publishing Success Academy, where they teach about being successful as a self-published author and has helped a lot of people to be accomplished authors.
And Patty Elizee, who has a podcast called, “The Brand You Economy.”
I had written about her story in the previous article, “Making An Investment In Yourself.”
She was energetic and was introducing everyone at the conference.
She brought a lot of life to the party.
Another person I will mention is Nicole Welch, who hosts a podcast called, “Real Time, Real Men Only.”
She was really awesome because she brought a lot of value to those who spent time with her.
Mrs. Welch also was one of the few who had the opportunity to interview Smart Passive Income’s Pat Flynn at the conference.
She showcased her personality and asked really good questions.
Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that Katie Krimitsos, of Biz Women Rock and the energetic, South Florida Podcast Group, wrote an excellent post on how to arrive at the Omni Hotel using the TRE Railway if attendees were arriving either at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport or Dallas’ Love Field Airport.
That thoughtful post made a big difference for those who were visiting Ft.Worth for the first time.
All of these podcasters showed that if you really want to enjoy life, you must create your own destiny and not settle for the mediocre.
The truth is, “Life Is Not Harder Than Death.”
What will you do to achieve the best life that you want to fulfill your calling to make the world a better place?
You can leave your comments below.
Pushing To Achieve Your Career Goals
By Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of Stuart Miles
The thing about chasing your dreams as a writer, public relations practioner, sports professional, etc. is that things will not come easy.
You might think there is an easy path to achieving success.
That is not the case.
For example, those who aspire to play professional in Major League Baseball (MLB), have to go through the different levels of the minor league system.
If that person is really good, they will get called up to the Majors within a few years or even a year.
Now let’s delve deeper into the minor leagues.
The people who are in the minors don’t have a huge salary like their counter parts in the majors.
They have to travel for most of the year and probably have to pay their own way as well.
That can lead to them having stress and even doubt their abilities to be a major league baseball player if they have been in the minors for such a long time.
Most might think about quitting their journey to become a major league baseball player and will end up giving up on their dreams of playing baseball in the MLB.
For those who keep their dreams alive, they will eventually achieve their goals of playing baseball in the Majors.
People like Alan Zinter.
Mr. Zinter spent a long time trying to make it to MLB.
At that moment, he had a family to support and it seemed like he was not going to achieve his dreams of playing baseball in the Majors.
I can guess that they were times that Mr. Zinter wanted to quit.
But he saw that he had to keep on chasing his dreams because people were looking up to him.
Eventually, Mr. Zinter kept his dreams alive and made it to MLB in 2002 with the Houston Astros and again in 2004 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Though it was short lived, Mr. Zinter achieved his dreams of playing Major League Baseball.
Maybe you had thought of quitting your podcast, blog, writing career, etc. because not many people were listening or reading your blog.
You might have been feeling a sense of defeat because you see others are successful with their blogs or podcast with the high number of downloads or viewership.
The truth of the matter is that everyone have faced that sense of defeat and wanted to quit at one point or another in their writing or podcasting journey.
I know I have at one point or another wanted to quit podcasting or blogging.
The thing that has kept them going with their podcast or blog is they understood that it is a marathon and not a sprint.
The truth is that people are watching you whether you see it or not.
You have to keep on pushing towards the obstacles in order to achieve your goals as a writer, podcaster, professional athlete, etc.
You might never know who you will be impacting for the better when you finally achieve your goals of succeeding as a writer, podcaster, etc.
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