Who’s the Distinguished Gentleman?
Could you say that David has distinguished himself from others by scraping a few extra pennies together here and there? (OK – Maybe he’s “earned” a few extra dollars…).
I say yes. I say with confidence that David has distinguished himself from one group of people and will soon distinguish himself from even more people. You might consider reading further since this may apply to you too. Please allow me to explain my assertion.
My brother (David) has been trying to incite some friendly and positive competition between two siblings. He says “First one to a Million Wins!”, but I call it the “Who can get the most the fastest?” competition. I believe that he wants to get me involved in this competitive quest towards financial independence because he’d like to have someone to help hold him accountable for his accomplishments or lack thereof. In other words, he’d like me to be there to give him another reason to “get busy” when he needs it most. Not to mention, he’d hate for me to beat him at yet another competition. I could be his motivation for succeeding whenever his internal motivation is waning. This works for me as well. I have accepted his challenge. I’ll beat him to $1M in typical older brother fashion (I choose not to say “big brother fashion” since he’s ever so slightly taller ). A positive side effect of his defeat will be a much-improved portfolio of both financial wealth and knowledge. I can live with that.
David and I are significantly different creatures with an appreciation for similar things in life. As you might expect, our means to accomplish an end will undoubtedly be different. When it comes to business and the entrepreneurial spirit, I’d say that David’s biggest fear is inaction. This seems like a reasonable fear to me. Especially for a fellow who has spent most of his life effectively avoiding major changes. He realizes that if he keeps doing what he’s always done, he’ll keep getting what he’s always gotten (to paraphrase someone’s brilliant observation).
My fears are different when it comes to business. I tend to fear making decisions without enough information, education or experience. I’ve been programmed by my profession and society that I have the ability to make better decisions when I have better information to base them on. Most of us have heard that one of the most common reasons for the failure of a business is from “lack of planning”. Geez – That’s true for just about anything, isn’t it? Regardless, I believe that a person who does something with a plan is much more likely to succeed than a person who simply does something (a.k.a. “anything”). The person with a plan is even more likely to achieve their goals if they have education, experience and believe they can achieve what they set out to do.
There you have it – Two different people both wanting to greatly improve their financial position while improving the relationships and the world around them. Knowing these differences help explain why we have different approaches towards achieving the goal of our first $1M .
For David, motion in a new direction is progress (most any direction, as long as it’s “action”). He’s excited to sell $100 of household items on eBay in one evening. He may even pick up a few tables and chairs with the hope of selling them at an auction for some extra money. His enthusiasm is enviable. He’s adding on to his “$1M Pile” most every day. I’m more of a pragmatist. I’ve done the math and evaluated my level of interest in selling my household items on eBay and hauling furniture to the auction house every Saturday. If I were to make $100 profit each day (7 days/week), it would take me over 27 years to get my first $1M. Yuck! Not to mention that I’d be trading my time for peanuts and doing something in which I had little interest.
I don’t have a “need” for more money. I have a “want” for more money. Therefore, I choose not to pursue ventures that appear to have such a low yield. Instead of “earning” some more money, I’d like to “create” wealth. I’m keeping my eyes and ears open. My wheels are continuously spinning. I’m in search of ways to create new wealth and my next passion (my passion serves as my muse). In the meantime, I’m traveling through a state of preparation for opportunity. I’m learning about business, entrepreneurial mistakes and success, investing, real estate, and personal development in general. “When” I launch a business venture that I’m passionate about, I’ll be successful. Not from passion alone, but from education/information as well. Didn’t someone once say that success is where preparation meets opportunity?
I’m not afraid of “inaction”. My life has been one action after another. I’ve made a series of big changes in my life that leave me considering myself a “change junkie” with some significant self-inflicted experience in change. I’m consciously working to moderate this behavior by doing the same thing for an extended period of time. I have kept the same job for 3+ years, I’ve lived in the same country (and state) for this period of time and I’ve only lived in two homes… This is an improvement for me. My wife and I miss our ever-changing life together and are in search of the next passion that will make the fork in the road on which we are traveling. I believe that action will be taken once we’ve created the right opportunity. This is when and where our preparation meets opportunity.
Back to brother David - He’s afraid of inaction, yet he’s hitting eBay with some frequency, searching for the next set of auction items, and letting it all hang out on this web log. The world will know if he meets his goal or not. That’s OK, because he believes that he’ll reach his goal. He’s eating the proverbial elephant “one-bite-at-a-time” ($100 on each good night). I mentioned that one of the most likely reasons that people fail in business is because of lack of planning, but what I didn’t mention is that most people likely fail to enter the world of entrepreneurial business because of their lack of “start”. Their fear of the unknown requires a leap of faith to overcome. David is taking this step and has distinguished himself from people who have not. He’s working on his $1M pile and will soon further distinguish himself from others by having a plan that facilitates his achieving this goal within the next 11 months. Couple this experience developing action with his belief and he is a distinguished gentleman indeed.
As for me, I’m not yet distinguishable from the crowd, but I am doing what I feel is necessary for my success. Stay tuned to see how this competition unfolds. It’s sure to be interesting!
Cheers,
Michael (Big Brother)