Ole Miss Created Their Own Luck In Win Against Alabama
By Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of www.al.com
Alabama were favored to win their matchup against the University of Mississippi last Saturday.
The Crimson Tide was No.2 in the Associated Press poll before their SEC mathchup with the Rebels.
They had the opportunity to show everyone that were watching on ESPN that they were going to make a statement and prove that they were on a mission to make it back to the national playoffs.
Also, they had a great record against Ole Miss over the years, but wanted to avenge last year’s loss.
Ole Miss had other ideas as they went into Bryant-Dennenhy Stadium and shocked the Crimson Tide 43-37.
The Rebels basically dominated the game from start to finish.
They blitz the quarterback, Jake Coker, who was starting as a senior after sitting out last year, held Alabama’s running game to a hault.
Ole Miss also had some luck in their win.
Alabama was trailing by seven points going into the third quarter and had brought the heat against Ole Miss Quarterback Chad Kelly.
Though Kelly mishandled the snap and threw a bad pass that would have been intercepted, the football hit off the helmet of Bama’s defensive player and found wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo, who took the football to the house 66 yards to increase the lead by 14 points.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Alabama offensive lineman Cam Robinson said to AL.com. “It’s just kind of…I mean, honestly, it’s luck, just to be honest. No way in the world you plan that, but it’s kind of how it goes sometimes.”
That football play basically put a dagger in the heart of the Crimson Tide, though they made a furious push toward tying the ball game in the end.
In a lot of ways, Ole Miss created their own luck because they went into the matchup with a mindset that they can beat the mighty Crimson Tide at Dennehy stadium even though the place is one of the toughest places for an opponent to win in college football.
When someone has great success in their positive career journey, many will say that they were lucky to be enjoying their success.
What those same people need to understand is that they created their own luck and that is why there are successful.
And speaking of people creating their own luck, you should take a listen to the story of Kayla Chatkeiwicz on how she founded her company, Smylelin Media, Inc on What’s The Word?
She built awareness of MS by using social media and also creating a strong community through a Twitter chat she co-hosts called #MSChat
This episode was the first that was recorded on the live streaming platform, Blab.im.
You can watch the interview below
And you can also listen to the recording of the interview with Ms.Chatzkewicz below.
You can follow her on Twitter at @kaychatz and visit her website at www.keepsmyelin.ca.
Video courtesy of Ron Kiffin via ESPN
You Have To Believe To Succeed
By Cheval John
For many sport teams, it would be difficult for them to succeed if they are facing an opponent that seems better than them.
The opponent would have the bigger budget to have the quality players for their team like the New York Yankees.
Or in the case of college football, teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) having more scholarships than teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
When the teams from the FBS compete against teams from the FCS, it should be an easy conclusion that the teams from the FBS should always win.
It should be a warm up matchup for the FBS teams to get that easy win.
However, that is not always the case.
Like the time when Appalachian State, who were in the FCS at the time, defeated Michigan 34-32 televised in the inauguration of the Big Ten Network, that brought shock waves to the college football world.
Everyone including the ESPN analyst were “upset” mentioned that Michigan should have won that matchup because they had all of the talent and the bigger budget.
What they should have understand is that Appalachian State were a team that should not have been taken lightly because they were at that time a two-time FCS champion.
Plus, they had the mindset that they could beat Michigan when they faced them.
And Sam Houston State had the same mindset that they could have beaten Texas Tech when they faced them last Saturday in Lubbock.
Even though they lost by the score of 59-45, the Bearkats kept Texas Tech on their toes.
The Bearkats had 671 yards, which is the most yards they have ever produced against a team from the FBS.
Sam Houston did not go into that matchup thinking that they would not win because they were from the FCS.
Instead, the Bearkats believed that they could beat Texas Tech and almost won.
The important lesson that everyone can learn is that even if you are not the most talented person in your industry like public relations, etc, if you have the mindset to believe that you can succeed, then success will come to you.
And even if you don’t win at your industry like public relations, etc. at least you gave it your all to be successful and did not allow doubt to stop you from achieving success.
Who knows, competing against a company that is larger than your company can allow you to eventually win in your specific market like writing, etc.
Video courtesy of Our Honor Defend
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
How To Convince People That You Are “Insane”?
By Cheval John
Most of the people were raised to the drum of “If you want a really great and stable job, you need to gain a quality education.”
They go to high school and learn about subjects that they are not interested in.
They study really hard for the SATs and ACTs so that they can make a high enough score to get into the best universities that money can buy.
When they get over that hurdle and know that they are “college material,” they are looking through different colleges to see which ones will get them towards the goals of attaining the all illustrious degree.
If they are a five-star athlete, recruiters from major colleges are paying visits to their home to try and sell to them their school and why they should compete for them.
They are continuously counting down to the day when they are finally free from the rigors of high school and are out of their parents watchful eye.
For most, they have selected the university that they want to attend close to the day of graduation.
If they are a five-star athlete (a.k.a. football), they are making their announcement on the university of their choice in front of a large television audience dubbed as “National Signing Day” broadcasted on major national networks like ESPNU, Fox College Sports, Big Ten Network, etc.
Then that day arrives when they achieved their high school diploma and are excited about the possibilities of going to college.
Once they arrive on the college campus, reality sinks in of achieving “independence” and the opportunity to choose which major they want to study.
They put in the grueling hours of doing labs, homework, writing papers, studying for exams for the four years (six years for some) to achieve the elusive goal of a college degree.
They want to be among those who made it through the rigorous demands of the university and proclaim that they are a college graduate.
They do not want to be among the majority who failed to achieve the college degree because that would be a failure not only to themselves, but their parents who spent their hard earned money to send them to college.
If they make the 40% of people who achieve their college degrees according to this 2014 story by NPR.org, they believe they are set for life.
The day arrives when they walk across the aisle to receive their college degrees and are excited about the possibilities that are waiting for them.
When most of the college graduates achieve their first entry-level job, they are excited to start the track to promotion.
They are in the workforce earning the salary, living the “American Dream” that they grew up with.
All of a sudden, they got an epiphany that they want to strike out on their own and follow their dreams.
When they tell their family, friends, etc about the decision, they wonder if they have gone “insane.”
They are wondering why you left that great company that have the benefits to go out into the unknown world of entrepreneurship.
Most have probably tried to convince the aspiring entrepreneur that 8 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first 18 months of operation according to this Forbes article “Five Reasons 8 Out of 10 Businesses Fail” by Eric T. Wagner via Bloomblerg Businessweek.
Though they are well meaning, they try to bring you back from your “insanity” of starting a business and to reconsider your decision to become an entrepreneur.
However, you don’t relent and decide to start your very own business.
I highly suspect that Brandon Sobotka heard the same concerns from his closest friends when he started his company, “Integrity Human Performance.”
Many might not have understand his vision of helping people who are either entrepreneurs or business leaders, to increase their productivity and profitability without overworking themselves to death.
Even if you try to explain to them why you have to follow your destiny of owning a business and the desire to make the world a better place, they still believe that you are “insane.”
In their minds, the reasons are valid because you are the one who have to figure out a way everyday to make the venture work.
It makes sense to them that you are insane because you are going into unknown territory of entrepreneurship.
So what should you do if you have a tough time in convincing your friends and family of why you decided to become an entrepreneur and leave the perks of the company that provides you a “stable” salary?
Don’t waste your time explaining to them the reason why you became an entrepreneur.
What you should do is come up with creative ways to make your company a success.
When they see the results from your hard work to build your company into a profitable business the right way, they will understand to a degree your decision to become an entrepreneur.
Maybe they will get inspired by your success and decide to become an entrepreneur themselves and hopefully realize that you were not insane after all.
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.
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