The Wealthy Worker

The other day a colleague I had worked with emailed me out of the blue. I hadn’t spoken with him since we worked together a few years ago. Turns out he was working out of town and wanted to return to Calgary. He asked me about a specific opportunity that he had heard about. Come to think of it, two different people contacted me around the same time about this opportunity, even though they hadn’t contacted me since we parted ways.

I helped them out as much as I could, but it reminded me that as employees or contractors, we need to keep in touch with our network on a regular basis, not just when we need something. Perhaps forward a bit of interesting news, a relevant opportunity or just say hello. In other words, make it a two-way relationship. Don’t always be taking and asking from others.

So if there’s anyone you haven’t talked to in a while, drop them a line for no real reason at all!

Did you watch any of the Olympics this year in Beijing? It was very inspiring and a couple of things struck me after watching it above any beyond the amazing talent of the athletes.

First, many of the Olympians had persevered through adversity whether it be death of a close family member, injuries, or sickness of their coach to name a few. In our careers and businesses we need to break through our challenges and mental barriers to achieve a new level of success.

Second, the Olympians had worked for 4 years (since the last Olympics) to get to the Olympics and win a medal. Some, like Michael Phelps set a goal of winning 8 goal medals. Many doubted it could be done. We need to set short and long term goals and truly believe they can be achieved in order to know where we are headed and to make them a reality.

With the Olympics on TV, I’ve been blown away by the years of dedication they have put into making it to the Olympics. So I’ve been inspired to take things up a notch in my career.

When I’ve been teaching you about consulting, I’ve tried to explain that it is totally doable if you follow some of my techniques.  To me it seems so simple to do. I often see people with no confidence in their ability to pull something like I’ve done off and it’s hard to understand why they give up so easily.

I’ve recently decided to try a start a larger company, one that will most likely require venture capital, other partners, and lots of help with IT (web design, programming, support). This is extremely scary to me and is totally out of my comfort zone. But it’s helped me to put myself back in your shoes, when you’re first conceiving of moving to the next level but haven’t quite made it yet.

The things I can suggest to you and that have helped me recently are:

• realize your weaknesses (be honest about them) and find people to help you in those areas
• believe in yourself, that you can do anything you put your mind to (getting help to get there)
• write your plans and goals down
• decide that you will persist to achieve your goals no matter what happens
• face your fears and keep persisting
• enjoy the experience and celebrate any small wins or realizations