14

Stop Whining, Start DOING!

I got a call from an old friend this evening and he was asking me to look at a post on Craigslist that was particularly funny. While I wish I was able to quote it directly, it has since been flagged and removed for being inappropriate to the area so I will have to paraphrase. The post was made in the “gigs” area, where people who have events and need staffing for them post job offers for potential employees or contractors to apply. The posting in question was just a rant, and was not relevant to the topic of the area at all which is what made it so interesting and it was titled, “Why is it so hard to make money?”. The ranting was from a woman who was mad at the world because, short of having sex for money, there were no opportunities for women to make any money in the world. She went on to say that nobody would give her a chance and she was upset that her dead-end job had no room for advancement and the world owed her something in life for her talents and the world wasn’t delivering.

Now, normally I would just laugh at such a posting and go about my business, and yet this time I felt compelled to write an email to the author.  This is what it said:

Interesting rant. I’m not sure what your point is but if you’ve got
talent in anything, you can make money. I don’t care what the current
economic state is. Making money is the easiest thing I’ve ever figured
out how to do in my entire life. All you need is a little creativity, a little elbow-grease, and a lot of tanacity and you can be successful in anything you set your mind to. So rather than taking a reactionary response to your life, you should consider a PROactive look at where you are and where you want to go. With some focus, a little coaching, and a creative idea, you truly can take charge of your life and never have to worry about money ever again!

She argued back, claiming that the only way she could make money is to become a prostitute and she wouldn’t do that.  After a lengthy dialog with her via email, I explained that the world is full of opportunities for her, especailly in this country, where people all over the world risk their lives to come here looking for a better way of life that many people who were born here take for granted. Her replies were frequented with insults and denial. She responded to me with such revelations as, “it’s all crap and costs money”, “i
dont have the TIME to sit n wait to build a business save money for it n blah blah i need it NOW and that’s what im doing” and, “You sound like one of those work from home scam people lol.”

Wow.

I couldn’t help but think about how this related to my life right now and the difference between being reactive and proactive. For a considerable amount of time, my closest friend, Timothy Noonan, and I have been saying we should start some new venture together. So earlier in the week I called him and said that this week we were going to pick a day, meet at Starbucks and iron out an entire new business idea. He agreed and today we worked dilligently at Einstein’s Bagles (was next door to the Starbucks) and did just that. In just a few short hours, we had a concept, a product, a business outline, some tentative names
for the company, website domain names researched, a structure
on how our partnership would work out in the company, how we were going
to delegate the work, and even how we were going to market and sell it
with a short and long term forecast. This was all done over a
few cups of coffee and bagels. When we were done, we shaked hands with a vision for the future which we both know will launch in a HUGE way.

The lesson here is that successful people think proactively. They brainstorm, they create, and most importantly, they take action on their ideas. Anyone can sit and whine about how bad the economy is, how the job market sucks, and how the stock market is in utter turmoil. While it is always important to understand the surroundings we are in, ultimately I choose to just ignore all the negative news the media loves to spew out like ash from an active volcano. Instead, I am making a conscious decision to start moving forward, creating new ideas and concepts and launching new business ideas all the time because I know it is this positive mindset which is what ultimate success is all about.

The interesting thing about this woman on Craigslist is that she has a choice. She can sit and whine about where she is in life with a welfare mentality or she can take action and stop relying on others to control her destiny. She may not realize it but she truly has more control of her life than she realizes. Now, it may take some time before she comes to this conclusion or it may be never. The point is, with a victim mentality she will always be at the mercy of others who control her. With a victor mentality, she is in the driver’s seat of wherever she wants to steer her life. So the question is, which are you? Are you a victim or a victor? And if you are a victor, what are YOU doing right now to take your life to the next level right now…this weekend? Talk is cheap, what are you going to DO?!