How to Be a Novice and Join the Newly Successful

J D — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:14:58 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Mike Baird

Almost the entire world relies on experts. We listen to experts talking about our economy, our health, our businesses, and everything else. They say what can or can’t be done and why. They give their “expert” opinion and many people change their life because of it. We blindly follow these opinionated experts and I’m here to say it makes no sense.

We cherish the “wisdom” and “insight” of the experts, yet they are usually wrong. Do you remember when the mainstream media experts considered blogging a joke? They considered it unprofessional, biased, and just plain amateur. Now, they’re tripping over themselves to participate in what the novices started.

Novices are changing the world and the old-school experts don’t know what to do about it. So, are you ready to join us on the fringes?

Novices and New Success

Novices are becoming more successful and have more influence. They are going to further change traditional business and there is nothing people can do about it. The internet and blogging gives everyone a voice and if you’re not participating, good! They don’t want to use your success for their gain anyway.

Now, change every “they” above to “we” because we are going to fuel this change and become the new success.

We change the way people think because we have innovative / non-conventional ideas. While we don’t have years of experience, we don’t have what Chip and Dan Heath call the “curse of knowledge.” We are not stuck in our ways and we are dying to find new ways of doing business.

But what can we do to become successful novices? How can we join the revolution?

Challenge the Experts

If you are looking to become successful, you need to do exactly what the experts say can’t be done. Just find out what they think is impossible and do it.

Seth Godin, Chris Sharma, and Rock Climbing

When I was reading Seth Godin’s Tribes, he talked about rock climbing. The right way to climb rocks was by keeping two limbs on the wall at anytime. It was safe, accepted, and supposedly the right way to do it.

At least that’s what all the experts said.

Then, a man named Chris Sharma changed the way people climbed rocks. Instead of holding onto the wall, he jumps. Impossible rock formations became possible. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Comic Books and Business Plans

One of my friends had to write a business plan for a college class. He chose to write one for a comic shop and presented it to a panel of experts. They said it would never work.

Take a guess what happened.

He used the business plan, started the comic book shop, and has ran it for the past 15 years. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Blogging and My Success

When I started blogging, I came across opposition from many family members. They didn’t understand the internet or blogging and pushed for me to “get a real job.” They thought I was avoiding reality, but let me tell you that they sure are kicking themselves right now.

Almost everything I have right now I attribute to blogging. I bought a nice co-op with blogging money, I pay my bills with blogging money, and pretty much everything I own is a result of blogging money. Just imagine if I listened to the experts. I would have nothing.

The point is that once you get used to challenging the experts, there is nothing that can stop you. It does not matter what you do because you will be looking at the impossible and trying to solve it. You may fail along the way, but at least you’re trying and if you keep trying, you will join the newly successful.

Accept Novice Fear

Doing something new can be frightening, but it is essential to join the newly successful.

Worst Case Scenario

Just think about the worst case scenario. What would happen if you challenge what people believe to be true? What would happen if you take a stance and hold your ground? Do you really risk anything other than being guilty of expressing what you believe?

Absolutely not.

You can only wear another man’s costume for so long before you want to break free and express yourself. So, why torture yourself?

Best Case Scenario

Now, just think about the best case scenario. How would you feel if you change the world? How would you deal with the success associated with proving the impossible possible?

In a world where we have billions of people there are others who feel the same way you do. Luckily, we have the internet and you can find these people. If you are putting yourself out there and working to change the accepted norms, you will build a following. This applies to business owners, large corporations, and people since it does not matter if you’re writing a blog, selling cars, or drudging away in an office because if you are doing what you feel, you will be happy and other people will find you.

So, what I am trying to say is, you have nothing to be scared of. There are people out there just like you, or, who think the same way you do and will absolutely love what you have to say, sell, or do.

Do Something (anything)

If you aren’t doing anything, you might as well be doing nothing. If you’re not looking for a way to change or differentiate, you are sitting on a growth plateau and you will remain there forever. If you want to join the new success you need to be doing something new and making it your life.

Don’t get me wrong. You can keep a corporate job and still do something new. There are 24 hours in a day and you really don’t have to watch the news or American Idol. You need to use your time wisely and accomplish something. You need to stop being busy and start being productive.

But what can you start doing?

You can start a blog
You can start recording videos to Youtube
You can start reading books
You can start writing books
You can start reading blogs
You can start commenting on blogs
You can start selling your junk on eBay
You can start tutoring people
You can start teaching people
You can start learning to do your job better
You can start reading Prevential.com regularly
You can e-mail your favorite writers

The bottom line is you can do anything. Just start doing it, commit yourself to it, and adapt along the way because your big ideas are meaningless without action.

Start Today

You are extremely lucky to be reading this article because that means you are part of the minority. You are here looking up how to join the newly successful, which means you’re 100 steps ahead of the rest of the population. As a matter of fact, I am so happy that you are here reading this that you should e-mail me right now because I will help you get started today.

Just remember, you can’t start Step 2 until you complete Step 1. So, get to it.

Learn Exactly How Restaurant Mints Will Impress Your Readers and Everybody Else Too

J D — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:08:15 +0000

Have you ever noticed that when you leave a restaurant there is always a bowl of mints near the exit? From low-class diners, to high-end eateries, restaurant owners are giving away free mints. They give their patrons decent meals and send them off with a little something extra for the road.

It feels great. That just-brushed clean feeling puts a huge smile on your face as you leave the restaurant, and there my fellow friends and professionals, lies the rub.

The food may not have been amazing, but you left feeling great. You might even go back to that restaurant to try to duplicate that feeling. The restaurant owner knows this, so he will continue to give out free mints for the road.

Well, blogging and consulting is no different. Your success is directly dependent on how you make people feel.

Feeling Great

When I started blogging back in 2005, I scoured the internet for resources on how to make money online. I came across ebooks like The Rich Jerk (a complete scam), Digital Point, and Problogger. I fell in love with Problogger because every one of his articles gave me a specific action to implement on my blog. And, within six months, I was earning good money on the internet.

Now, do you want to know the morale of the story?

Here I am, nearly three years later, talking about those action items Darren gave me. I don’t remember his writing, I don’t remember his analogies, and I don’t remember his action items, but I remember he helped me succeed and it felt great.

Tip: Focus on giving your readers something they can take home with them (a mint maybe?)

Feeling Frustrated

The new growing trend in the internet marketing world is pop-up subscription boxes. Sure, they convert great, but are they really the people you want subscribing to your site?

Probably not.

The people who subscribe are probably looking for free stuff and moving on to the next website that will offer them more free stuff. This isn’t true “Permission Marketing,” a la Seth Godin. It’s tricking people who wouldn’t ordinarily subscribe into subscribing to your website.

Do you know what also happens? People like me and Leo Babauta are immediately turned off by these subscription boxes because it ruins the user-experience. It gives us an upset stomach before we eat our meal.

Tip: Make us feel great, and we’ll remember you forever. Make us feel terrible and you’ll have to work extremely hard to get us back. After all, you wouldn’t ask one of your restaurant patrons to lick a bar of soap on the way out.

The Bottom line

Your content may be mediocre, your analogies may be below par, and your sentence structure may need work, but if you give your readers or clients a mint to make them feel great, they will come back for more and consistently talk about you, your blog, and your company.

Bonus: Have you seen the main characteristic of successful bloggers? Well, it’s not happiness. It’s discontent.

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