NB:  Please don’t confuse this article about business success with success in life.  They’re not the same.  These are things that worked for me in business, and some apply to life . . . and many apply to getting and keeping your dream job, but being successful in life does not equate to being successful in business.

Here goes . . .

I made a bunch of money creating and running a business.

The business was software and Internet publishing and the money was quite a lot.

I believe that I can attribute my success to seven things that I learned; through books and from watching others, but mostly just from trying ideas out and flopping on my face the first couple of times.

Now, mind you, I didn’t come up with those seven things at one time and I didn’t “discover” them in some sort of a Eureka moment.  They just evolved.  In fact, it took me about 10 years to get my company to the point where I could sell it for the amount I was expecting.  And, it took me 8 of those years before we were even making a decent profit.

Despite what many purveyors of schemes (offline and on) might have you believe, there really is no special product, program, or plan that’s going to put you over the top.

Believe me, along the way I’ve tried some of the most highly praised get-rich-quick schemes in the business.  I do think you can learn a lot from many of them but,  in and of themselves, as complete programs, they’re not worth a lot.

Mind you, I don’t claim to have the answer to everyone’s future.  But I do have a series of key
elements that I know work for me.  They helped me make it in my last business, and I’m employing the very same keys in my current growing business.

1. Forget the money. If you’re even remotely doing something for the money, it’s not going to be successful in a big way.  I am not sure of why this is so true; but it is.  If you’re thinking about all the great things you’re going to do once you’ve made the money, you’re doing the wrong thing.  But, if all you dream about, and all you can think about when you first wake up in the morning is how anxious you are to get back to work, you’re on the right track.

2.  So, follow your passion.  Figure out what you love to do, I mean REALLY love to do, then do it.  There’s money to be made everywhere.  If you love something, chances are you’ll be pretty good at it; and if you’re better than most others around you, you’ll be successful.  Of course, I’d like to think that you’ve been striving to be the best in your field, but don’t forget that there are a few million quite happy and wealthy and successful number 2’s and 3’s around as well.

3.  Then create a product or service that matches your passion.  Don’t resell something somebody else makes. Make your own.  You’ll get into it and you’ll love your business because it’s truly yours.  My passion is teaching; I get a real buzz by explaining stuff to beginners . . . so, I love to run seminars, write books and articles, creating teaching and learning products and services, and run Internet businesses that relate to all that.  Whatever your passion, there are books, videos, seminars, and software that need to be made for it. Go, make stuff of your own.

4. Don’t be a perfectionist.  One of the biggest and earliest stumbling blocks to my own success was that I couldn’t let go of anything until it was perfect.  Phooey!  Make it fast, get it on the market, and let your customers tell you what’s good.  Then fix what needs to be fixed and move on.

There’s an old adage that goes something like this: “it’s better to be first than better.”  I think that’s true, and although most of us can’t really be first, we can be sooner!

5.  Drop what doesn’t work.  Fast.  And, do more of what does work.  There’s a sign that hangs in one of MIT’s engineering labs that I just absolutely love, and it says this:

-Do simple things first.
-Learn to do them flawlessly.
-Add new layers over the results of the simple tasks.
-Don’t change the simple things.
-Make the new layer work as flawlessly as the simple.
-Repeat, ad infinitum.

So, don’t screw with what works.  Just do more of it.

6.  Do not give up.  Ever.  I’ve never met anyone who achieved any real level of success quickly (Okay, okay, I know . . . those YouTube guys that sold out to Google for a couple billion in less than two years . . . but, know anyone else?).  It just doesn’t happen. Maybe it appears to outsiders like it has, but it doesn’t.  Come on, every single great leader, writer, business person, and motivator in sports, politics, business, and life tells us this simple truism:  Don’t quit.  So, why is it so hard for many of us to believe them?

Sure, I almost quit.  A dozen times.  It was only through the ongoing support of my partners (business and spouse) that I didn’t.  So, suck it up once in awhile.  How will you ever know if tomorrow’s mail or the next telephone call brings the order that will nudge you forward if you quit?

7.  And, finally, learn to trust your gut.  If you have a passion, it’s there for a reason.  Don’t do stuff because that’s the way it’s always been done, just because.  Do it because you believe in it.  Do it because it makes you feel good inside.  And, do it because, in your own private world view, it just feels right.

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