Start Opening Your Mouth!

Posted on | February 22, 2012 | No Comments

credit to http://www.pollsb.com

Many people are scared their ideas will get shot down and ridiculed …so they keep their mouth shut. While I am not advocating shouting out idiotic ideas that aren’t thought out at all into the street, it is important to get the word out if your idea is a good one. Good doesn’t mean that people agree with you! It just means that you have thought it through and have reason to believe it could work! Sometimes, it just means saying, “Yes, I can handle that.” when asked if you are up for doing something new.

When I get to speak at places, it usually isn’t because I am the very best speaker they have ever heard of. (Though I am working on getting better to someday be that person.) It more often is because someone says, “Hey, would you come speak to our group on this date?” They know I like public speaking and figure I won’t be as expensive as some other people, so I get called. I say, “YES! I would love to!” Of course I have to check my schedule and such, but it is simply saying, “Yes” that makes those events happen.

Once I got the chance to plan an event for about 10,000 people. How did I get that job? I said, “Yes, I can handle that.” Then set about making it happen. You can do much more than you think you can if you put yourself in the position that people are expecting you to deliver. Decide that you can do it, that you won’t let them down…and then deliver. Repeat often and you have the recipe for success. Open your mouth and say, “Yes! I can handle that!”

Start Right Where YOU Are!

Posted on | February 21, 2012 | 4 Comments

In the “good old days”, in order to make it in the movie business, you had to be connected to Hollywood. In years gone bye, in order to make it in the financial world, you had to be able to trade on Wall Street…the literal street in New York City. In order to be anyone in Theater, you needed to make it on Broadway.

Now days, there are as many films made in towns like Omaha, Nebraska or Springfield, Missouri or Tigerville, South Carolina as there are in Hollywood, California. You can trade stocks on any computer with an internet connection from Bali to Tegucigalpa to Hong Kong.  People star in shows all over the country from Nashville to Chicago to Branson. Where you are located is no longer an impediment to your starting your dream! You used to have to be physically close for there to be interaction. Now, it is quite possible to daily interact with people from all over the globe.

The internet has brought the world to you…but don’t forget that it also enables you to take yourself to the world!  Your ideas CAN compete in the wide open marketplace known as the World Wide Web. Start right where YOU are and see if you can make your dreams come true!

Finding The Encouragement to Start Again!

Posted on | February 20, 2012 | No Comments

Many of you have started something in the past that failed. Maybe a diet, maybe a business, maybe a plan to get into shape…we have all failed at some point. If you haven’t failed before, then you aren’t dreaming big enough and need to set some real goals! The successful person will fail, but then they will learn from that failure, get back up and with the new knowledge they attained through the failure, they will start again…better prepared and with more chance for success! Starting again can be painful as we struggle to overcome the inner voice that tells us that we failed last time and will fail again. Accept that you might fail and start anyway! You increase your chance of success by 100% when you take the first step toward accomplishing your goal! Get started and see what you can make happen!

Blogging Awards For Startstuff.net

Posted on | February 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

Thanks to all of my great readers and their comments, Startstuff.net received a nomination for two awards. The 7 Links Challenge and The Tell Me About Yourself Award.  I will share the first parts separately, and then do the recommendations together.

The Rules for the Tell me About Yourself Award:  

1. 7  random facts about myself.
2. Share the award with 15 bloggers.

7 Random Facts About Myself:

1. I used to Speed-skate.
2. I am crazy in love with my wife.
3. I speak Spanish and English quite well, and speak passable French.
4. I have gone to at least 15 schools in my educational upbringing. (Elementary – Colleges)
5. I once sneaked into a party where George W. Bush, Ted Coppel and Dick Chaney were attending. (FYI, George is fun, Dick is a cold man I would not want to cross, didn’t get to talk to Ted much, but he seems cool.)
6. I enjoy public speaking…I know that is something most people fear immensely, but it is such a rush for me!
7. I would love to meet Fidel Castro and Billy Graham before they die.

The Rules for the 7 Link Challenge:

1. Provide 7 links for the provided categories.
2. Share the award with 5 bloggers.

7 Links Categories:

1. Most Beautiful Post – Getting Back Up…Literally!
2. Most Popular Post – Start Asking, “Why do we do it that way?”
3. Most Controversial Post – Why you should start speaking English!
4. Most Helpful Post – Why writing YOUR blog is important!
5. Post Whose Success Surprised Me – Start with a relationship!
6. Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved – Starting Stuff is simple, but its really hard!
7. Post That I Am Most Proud Of – Welcome to Startstuff.net! It was the very first post! So I got this thing started that day!

The 5 bloggers that I am passing on these awards too: I would of course have given one to Deeone Higgs of Releasingmetoday.com, but he is the one who nominated me for the awards and he already has both of them. I also know I was supposed to do 15 for the first award, but the truth is, I don’t follow that many blogs enough to feel right recommending them. Here are my top 5!

1.  Hiten Vyas
2. Becky Robinson
3. Michael Hyatt
4. Brian Alexander
5. Jeffrey Beesler

Start by knowing your competition!

Posted on | February 18, 2012 | No Comments

Part of my job is coaching track and field. One of the reasons I love coaching at the NCAA D2 level rather than the D1 level is that I can take more risks on recruiting. I can take a kid who has some great potential but hasn’t had the best coaching in high school and work to form them into the phenomenal athlete I believe they can become!  One of the things that my head coach and I agree on is that we will never put a kid into an event they aren’t ready to compete in. They don’t have to be ready to win it, but I never want to put a kid into an event where they will get embarrassed. In order to do that, I need to know their competition!

In life and in any business, it is equally important to know your competition. For example: if you start a blog, you are competing against multiple things for people’s attention. There are somewhere around 250million+ websites in the world, but you aren’t really competing against all the other sites out there. You are competing against other sites and blogs that are talking about the same things you are. Your site might only rank in the top million sites overall, but it might be the best one in your field. In order to measure your success, you must know your competition!

Like track, your competition isn’t your enemy. They are there to make you stronger. Yes, they are trying to beat you, but you can all get better together.  Not only should you get to know your competition, but be willing to work with them in order for you both to succeed!