Month: June 2015

When I was a child,
I told everyone I’d be a millionaire.
I was dirt poor.
Many of the people around me
were dirt poor.
They didn’t believe me.

That didn’t stop me.
I continued to tell people.
The more I told other people,
the more I truly believed it.

I reached that ‘impossible’ goal
years ago.
My buddies who didn’t have
that same thinking?
They’re still dirt poor.

In June 2015’s
FHM,
Raekwon the Chef,
entertainer,
shares

“This [taps head]
is my biggest tool
right here.
I can make this
be a weapon
or I can make this
be expensive,
you know?
You think expensive,
you get expensive.
I’m rich in the heart
and rich in the mind,
and I always want to give you
the best of me.
My music is rich,
my vision is rich,
you know?”

Your thoughts are powerful.
Be conscious of
what you think about.

Last year, I was offered
a spot in a boxed set.
I was busy
and turned it down.
That boxed set
landed on the New York Times
and USA Today best seller lists.
The writers saw a huge increase
in readership and earnings.

I was lucky.
When the sequel to the set
was being put together,
I was asked again to contribute.
This contribution
earned me
my first mention on
the USA Today best seller list.

But second chances
don’t happen very often.
Usually an opportunity declined
is an opportunity lost forever.

In June 2015’s
FHM,
Guy Mowbray,
football/soccer commentator,
shares

“My best piece of life advice?
Don’t turn anything down.
Ever.
Be available for everything
because as soon as you miss one chance,
someone will come along
and take your place.
And if they do a better job than you,
you won’t get back in.”

While I don’t believe in
accepting every opportunity
(because, for many of us,
there aren’t enough hours in the day
to do everything),
I DO believe in thinking hard
before turning opportunities down.

Consider your opportunities
carefully.

Being both a writer
and an entrepreneur,
it drives me crazy
that writers
who write
all the time
are called ‘inspired’
or ‘passionate’
and business women
who build their businesses
all the time
are called ‘workaholics’
or ‘greedy.’

It is the same situation.
We love what we do.
We don’t mind
doing it all the time.

In June 2015’s
FHM,
Alex Shlaferman,
owner of Vante Toys,
shares

“When I was eight years old,
I had my first eBay account.
I’d sell whatever
my mom didn’t need
-lamps, shoes,
whatever was around the house.

Business has always
been in my blood.
I’ve got musician friends
that say,
‘I’ve been singing
as long as
I can remember.’
That’s how I am with business”

If you love what you do,
DO IT.
Ignore the labels.

One of the issues
many entrepreneurs debate
is should we buy fixed assets
(buildings, vehicles, machinery)
or should we rent them?

A plus
for renting
is it gives us flexibility.
We can swap the fixed asset
for something that might be
more suitable.

But owning the asset
gives us flexibility also.

As Kenny Chesney,
upon his tour bus
reaching 1 million miles,
shares

“It was a used Silver Eagle
when I bought it,
and the bank had no business
lending me the money,
‘cause all I owned was a little pickup
and my guitar.

But I knew if I owned my bus,
we could keep doing this,
keep bringing the music
to the people!”

Owning the asset
means we don’t think twice
about using it
whenever we want.

Put thought
into the owning vs renting
decision.

A young singer,
when asked which category
he’d place his music,
answered the interviewer with
“My music crosses
a number of different categories.”

The interviewer pushed back
with “Choose one.”
The singer refused.

There’s a reason
there are categories
or genres
or industries.
Prospective customers
want to know where to find you.
Third parties
(resellers, critics, partners)
want to know where to put your product.

‘All music’ contains
millions of entries.
No one will find the young singer there.
Partners won’t waste their time
putting him in that big bucket.
They’ll place him in a category.
By not choosing the category himself,
the singer lost control of this critical decision.

You WILL be placed in a category.
Choose or have it chosen for you.

In the writing world,
we have a saying
“Everything is research.”
Every experience,
good or bad,
can be used in a future book.

That’s true of
ALL product development.
I found inspiration
for children’s juice packaging
in the cereal aisle,
at Disney World,
at the beach.

In May 2015’s
Enroute Magazine,
Jean-Michel Gathy,
Principal Designer,
shares

“I have a very critical eye.
I spend my time abroad
measuring, assessing,
exploring and
critiquing things constantly,
and finding inspiration for ideas.
For example,
when I was in Milan
the other week,
I saw a wall treatment
that I thought
would be perfect
for the Mandarin Oriental
I’m working on in Bali.”

Everything is research.
Pay attention to the world
around you.

In May 2015’s
Enroute Magazine,
Rande Gerber,
co-founder of Casamigos Tequila,
shares

“Always listen to your gut,
your wife and your kids.
My dad worked hard
but his kids were always his priority
and work never got
in the way of time with us.”

My biggest mistakes in life
have been the result
of not listening to my gut.

If the facts point in one direction
and my gut,
that feeling in the pit of my stomach,
in my soul,
points in the other,
I go with my gut.
Normally, the gut perceives something
we subconsciously see
but aren’t consciously aware of.

Note: There’s a difference
between fear and our gut instincts.
One says ‘run away’
while another says ‘this is wrong.’
Our gut is usually less emotional.

Listen to your gut.

It’s a niche world.
But how do you know
you’re playing in a niche?

One way is…
you’re asked to represent it.

One of my pen names
writes in two subgenres of romance
–contemporary
and SciFi.
My contemporary romances
are more recent.
I haven’t published a SciFi romance
in over a year.

Yet I’m still asked to represent
this niche.
If a group writing project
is being organized,
the story they request from me
is usually a SciFi.
When I’m asked to speak
on online panels,
I’m often asked to
represent SciFi erotic romance.

If you’re asked to speak on behalf of
or otherwise represent a niche,
that IS the niche you’re playing in.
Either take advantage of it
(I’ll be releasing some new SciFi romances)
or transition to a new niche.