Although I seldom purchase lottery tickets, today I was thinking of the marketing slogan used by state lotteries from time to time. You’ve probably heard it, too: You can’t win if you don’t play.
That’s true about much more than just the lottery, of course. In fact, the odds are more in your favor in other pursuits that don’t involve games of chance.
This weekend I’m heading to Colorado Free University to do a series of three seminars. As I was putting my trip together, I got thinking about some of the people I’ve met over the years at CFU.
There’s Renae Hansen who came to Making a Living Without a Job shortly before she returned to Michigan where she currently lives. Renae recently passed her real estate exam and celebrated by selling her first house.
Real estate is not a new passion for her, however, since she’d been investing in property herself for several years. Her experience as a buyer is going to serve her well as a seller, I suspect.
On many trips to Denver, I have a chance to catch up with Pat Blocker, another former student. Pat is a longtime dog lover left her less-than-thrilling job and now operates Peaceful Paws Dog Training. She regularly e-mails me to report on the continuing growth of her business.
In addition, she share tips with dog owners through classes and advice columns. When I mentioned on Facebook my return visit to Denver, Pat chimed in with these kind words:” Don’t miss this! Barbara is awesome! She’s taught me so much over the years.”
Then there’s Maureen Thomson whom I first met when she attended my seminars several years ago. At the time, she was working as a technical writer and building a portfolio of rental properties.
Then a new opportunity came knocking at her door—literally. As she was working on a remodel on her latest acquisition, people kept showing up inquiring about wedding services. It seems the house Maureen was fixing up had once been a wedding chapel.
At first, that amused her, but after several such encounters, it occurred to her that there were many people in search of alternative wedding services. That led Maureen to open Lyssabeth’s Wedding Officiants, a business that has grown by leaps year after year and now has branches in California and Oregon.
Things got even more exciting when she discovered that she could run her business remotely thanks to the pool of wedding officiants she had gathered to perform ceremonies.
As it happens, Maureen also has more than a bit of wanderlust. Earlier this year, she and her husband Jeremy decided to start another business offering their services as a caretaker couple.
Not only are they joyfully jobless, Maureen and Jeremy are now also happily homeless. After several projects in the US, they currently are caretaking a property in Australia.
Maureen blogs about their adventures at Vaco Vitae.
These three enterprising women are, of course, a tiny sampling of the folks I’ve met during my visits to Colorado Free University. As I get ready to return, I am wondering who will show up this time and start writing the next true story about entrepreneurial adventure.
And I wonder about all the folks who don’t bother to take advantage of programs like these to acquire ideas and information that can open new doors.
In his book Creating Wealth, Robert G. Allen discusses what it takes to be one of life’s winners. His answer might surprise you.
He says, “The will to prepare to win is more important than the will to win. Preparing usually means doing those kinds of things that failures don’t like to do. It means studying and learning. It means reading books, going to seminars. It means not being afraid to corner experts and ask foolish questions.”
If you’re in the Denver area (or Sacramento or Las Vegas in October), I would love to have you join me and discover what thousands of joyfully jobless folks are already putting to work.
It may be more important now than ever before.
As Eric Hoffer reminds us, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
That could be more powerful than a winning lottery ticket, but you still gotta play to win.
Barbara, I have been a silent fan of yours for years. Because of you I currently have two profit centers up and running and am actively in search for what will catch my eye next. My comment this evening is to tell you what happened today. Five years ago I took a “job” in Fort Worth, Texas. Several times a week, I would frequent a local Subway sandwich franchise located close to work. On one of my visits, I was the customer of a new trainee, a man in his late 40’s or early 50’s. He was very attentive to his customers request and appeared to be paying close attention to the much younger lady who was being forced to train him. Over the course of 9 months, I had many opportunities to be his customer and each time I went in, I noticed more and more confidence as he served his customers. After my contract for work had run its course, I left Fort Worth for another position in Austin and have not been back to Fort Worth since then. Now for what happend today. A road trip to attend a family reunion over the weekend led me through Fort Worth and I decided to drop in that same Subway for a sandwich. When I walked in, guess who I was greeted by? That’s right. The same man was behind the counter, observing as other employee’s served the customers. I took my turn, paid at the register and sat down. By now, this same man was walking around asking if the customers needed anything. When he approached my table, I explained to him that I was one of his first customers over five years ago and that I was suprised that he was still here. He then proudly told me that he was now the proud owner of the Subway I was sitting in and that not only did he own this store, but two more Subway stores as well. He then went on to tell me that he was also now the owner of two other “profit centers”, a vending machine business and a small window cleaning business. He volunteered to tell me that five years ago he quit working in a manufacturing plant. He said that one day during his 15 minute break, he heard a voice inside his head say to him, “This is what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life”. That would be his last day on the job. He decided that he had nothing to lose and that he planned on taking one step at a time until someone made him stop. He said the funny thing that happend was that no one has told him to stop yet. He said that he is now 57 years old and is enjoying life more now than he ever has. The remainder of my drive home included many voice notes on my phone. I kept saying to myself over and over again, “If this guy can do it ……………”. Chad (TX)
Chad, thank you so much for sharing this. You just made my day!