Putting the Odds in Your Favor

Here in Las Vegas, we post the odds in our casinos. They are not in your favor. That does not seem to dissuade people from attempting to beat them, of course.

I learned about  more favorable odds from my sister Margaret. Years ago, I was fretting about something–earthquakes or tornadoes, perhaps–and she said, “Barbara, don’t you know the odds are in your favor?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. She patiently pointed out that even in large disasters, most of the time more people survive than don’t. I’ve lost track of how many times that little tidbit has calmed me down in all sorts of nerve-wracking situations.

With our present economic situation, many people seem to be holding their breath. The media brings us new stories daily of lack and loss. Consequently,  I’ve had my share of e-mail from people wondering if this is a bad time to start a business. While there’s no definitive answer to that, I remind people that the current crisis seems to be most deeply impacting people who have put their trust in others for their financial serenity. At the same time, people who have not exercised their capacity for thinking creatively, may feel that their options are dreadfully limited.

On the other hand, people who have been creating small, thrifty, solid little businesses and have learned to be flexible and build an option bank, are far more relaxed. They know that the odds of surviving the current economic chaos are better for them than for their job-dependent friends. Many of those in Joyfully Jobless Land also are quietly certain that changing times bring with them fresh opportunities. Nice odds.

I’m not the only one to think so. In the past few days, I’ve been polling other self-employment experts and career coaches and there’s been a strong consensus that self-bossers are going to come through this more gracefully than those who accepted the myth of job security. Although I mentioned it earlier this week, if you haven’t seen Seth Godin’s blog piece called Too Small to Fail, I urge you to read it asap. 

Of course, if you want the odds to be in your favor, you also need to participate in stacking them. According to the National Business Incubation Association, 80-90% of businesses are still operating after five years where the founder has received entrepreneurial training and continues with a network group, as compared to a 10% success rate for those who do not receive training and support. 

Those are odds I could bet on.

We must participate relentlessly in the manifestation of our own blessings. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Putting Yourself in Good Company

When my friend Peter Vogt called this morning, I happily settled in for one of our always inspiring chats. The catalyst for his call was a seminar he’d attended yesterday. “I think I was channeling you,” he joked and went on to tell me a story about what he called a “smarmy SCORE volunteer” who was sprung on the group. Peter–and others–were extremely annoyed.  Peter knew I would share his upset, but that wasn’t what he called about. “The rest of the seminar was full of good stuff,” he said, “and it triggered pages of new thoughts and ideas. Once I get it all written down, may I send it to you for your reaction?” Of course I said yes.

Then our conversation moved on to the power of seminars. Peter and I know that something happens when we put ourselves in a room with others who share our interests and curiosity  that simply can’t happen any other way. We can get information from reading or the Internet, but seminars are about so much more than information. They’re about connection.

A couple of hours later, I talked to Della Kurtz who is planning to attend my upcoming  Compelling Storytelling event in Las Vegas. She had some travel questions, but mostly we talked about another seminar she had attended over the weekend. She said a day after that lively event, she was talking to a friend on the phone who commented that Della’s energy seemed stronger and clearer. Della eagerly shared some of the things she had learned and ideas that were sprouting as a result of her participation. Even though she’s been a lifelong learner, Della has that enthusiasm that seems natural to those who are determined to support their dreams with action.

Of course, we don’t simply wake up one morning and find ourselves in seminars like Peter and Della attended. We have to make a commitment of time and money in order to have the experience. Unless we make our dreams a top priority and back that up with action, nothing much changes. 

A mentor of mine had a mantra that went, “If you want to be successful, you have to do what successful people do.” Seminar participation is one of those things. Like Peter and Della, put this into practice : learn, take action, learn some more, take more action. Repeat indefinitely. 

We evolve at the rate of the tribe we’re plugged into. ~ Carolyn Myss

Spread the Spirit

Entrepreneurs have a well-deserved reputation for being independent. This can be both a strength and a weakness. Psychologists tell us that the maturing process happens in three stages. We go from being dependent to being independent to being interdependent. 

Our working lives often follow the same path. Most of us start out working for someone else, go out on our own and may be quite alone at first, then mature into a business that interacts and collaborates with other businesses.

One of the wisest axioms I’ve ever heard is the one that says to support that which supports you. If you are going to be entrepreneurial, that translates into supporting entrepreneurial activities in whatever way you can. 

There are some simple things you can do to use your business as a vehicle for supporting the entrepreneurial spirit around the world. For starters, look for ways to do business with other small businesses. You might pay a little more to shop at an independent bookseller or hardware store, but do it anyway.

When author Barbara Sher learned that her neighborhood florist was in danger of going out of business, she went home and e-mailed her large database inviting them to order flowers from the shop and have them sent to her. She explained how wonderful the flower shop was and what a bright spot it was in her New York neighborhood. She assured us that even a small order would help. That’s the kind of practical support that we can offer one another.

Another way to expand the spirit of enterprise is to contribute to organizations who help others start businesses. For years I’ve been a strong supporter of Heifer who gives livestock to people around the world to get them started in business. These days, I’m especially enthusiastic about Kiva who gives us the opportunity to become micro-lenders for a mere $25. What’s especially fun about the Kiva model is that you get to select the recipient of your loan–and follow their progress repaying the loan. If you haven’t paid them a visit, I urge you to do so. 

Look what Kiva has accomplished in three short years:

 

Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $46,738,210
Number of Kiva Lenders: 348,752
Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 65,425
Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 77.71%
Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 88
Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 41
Current repayment rate (all partners): 98.69%
Current default rate (all partners): 1.31%
Average size of loan for funding: $456.57
Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $134.09
Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 3.58

By the way, did you notice the repayment rate? What does that say about the power of enterprising spirits?

On Fear and Failure

Three of my four siblings are coming to visit early next week so that was the impetus for me to go through a stack of magazines and move some to the recycling bin. My decluttering project slowed down, however, when I came across some articles I hadn’t yet read. Three of them were worth passing along to you. Happily, you can find them all online.

The October 13 issue of Newsweek had a special feature on women leaders. My favorite article was movie director Kimberly Peirce’s piece To Make It Big in Hollywood, You Start With a Good Story. What caught my attention is what she says about fear being part of the creative process. Pierce says, “Fear is part of creativity, whatever your job is. It’s part of believing in something and wanting it to happen. So I let it in and I say to myself, ‘OK, you’re scared.’ And then when something works out, I say, ‘Wow! You were scared!'” I’m going to remember that.

The big article goldmine I uncovered is in the September issue of Ode magazine, which always has thought-provoking articles. This issue is especially rich. For starters, there’s retired teach John Taylor Gatto’s piece called Childhood’s End which eloquently discusses why our schools are failing us. I think it’s important for anyone who has come through the school system in the last fifty years or so to understand the philosophy that has driven education. 

Gatto ends the article by issuing a call to arms to parents. He says, “School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers…Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for boredom; help your own to develop an inner life so they’ll never be bored.” 

I also love Gatto’s observation that “genius is as common as dirt.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the piece since I read it and am going to track down his book Weapons of Mass Instruction.

I urge you to read–immediately–Ode’s cover story, In Praise of Failure. It includes wonderful quotes from J.K. Rowling’s commencement address at Harvard. While we’ve all heard stories about people who ultimately succeeded after years of failure, this article points out, in the clearest possible way, why success is impossible if we resist failure. In fact, it reminds us that if our energy is devoted to NOT FAILING, we end up in mediocrity. 

Every entrepreneur should have this article at their fingertips to read again and again.

Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. ~ J.K. Rowling

Why Self-help Books Don’t Help

When I first discovered the literature of personal growth and development, there weren’t many titles to choose from. Today there are thousands. I always have a self-help book or two in my current reading pile because there’s so much to learn.

However, the self-help movement has spawned plenty of dropouts. Why don’t all readers find this genre helpful? Here are some thoughts on that.

° Refuse to abandon skepticism. Hanging onto cherished beliefs is a guaranteed way to prevent growth. “I tried that positive things stuff once. Didn’t work,” is the motto of the self-help dropout. Simply reading a single book is not going to produce visible change. It’s more a process of chipping away at limiting thoughts and behaviors that have taken hold over years.

° Exercises are too much trouble. Most of us think of reading as zooming from the beginning to the end of a book. Self-help books invite us to slow down and take a low-speed journey. Exercises are like rest stops along the way, causing us to pause, reflect and apply.

° Wrong book at the wrong time. Personal growth is an evolutionary process and we expand our receptiveness one concept at a time. Sometimes a book arrives ahead of our readiness. When that happens, don’t abandon self-help. Try a different book.

° Don’t have a laboratory to experiment. You’ve got to have context. If you are in a position to try out new ideas and assess the results, you’ll start synthesizing healthier attitudes and behaviors more quickly. That’s one of the secret rewards of self-employment. Running our own business not only requires a high level of self-awareness, but also a commitment to on-going growth and improvement. Best of all, we can try out our new ideas every single day.

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting. ~ Henry David Thoreau

So What Do You Do?

It’s fundraising week at Nevada Public Radio and since I’m an enthusiastic supporter, listener and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me fan, I received a call asking for additional support. The charming volunteer explained all the additional treats I’d receive and I found myself happily giving her my credit card information.

When that was concluded, she said, “We have a matching employer grant. So who’s your employer?”

That’s not a question I get asked very often so I hesitated for a moment before saying, “Barbara J Winter!” I said it with such gusto that it startled her (and me). She laughed, then apologized for doing so, then recovered and said, “Would she like to make a matching donation?” Then it was my turn to laugh. 

That brief encounter also was a reminder that we who are blazing new trails through self-employment must not be intimidated by our minority status.

People who are newly self-employed often find it uncomfortable to be asked, “So what do you do?” A man I knew in Santa Barbara confessed that he’d been self-employed for more than a year before he realized that he was answering that question by sheepishly mumbling, “I own my own business.” Then he’d add, “But I USED to be the director of the YMCA.”

Anyone who has taken the step out of mainstream employment to create something wonderful on their own should be eager to share that. Alice Barry goes a step farther. She told me that if she’s setting up an appointment or meeting she always adds, “I’m self-employed so I’m flexible.” 

Here in Joyfully Jobless Land, we’re not much for titles, but we do love stories. Even an ordinary question like, “What do you do?” can be an invitation to tell a short story. Once you know how to do that, you’ll find yourself welcoming such questions–no matter who is asking.

If you’d like to master telling your story, I know exactly the place you can do just that: Compelling Storytelling, December 2-4, Las Vegas.

Your job is to make your audience care about your obsessions. ~ Bruce Springsteen

Lost or Found?

There’s no question that we are living in rapidly changing times, but what’s not given much attention in all the emotional conversation is that the outcome will not be the same for everyone. Some people will come through these times bitter while others will end up better. Money has nothing to do with which side we end up on.

Lately I’ve been thinking about something I heard spiritual teacher Terry Cole Whittaker say. When people would come to her for counseling and declare, “My life is falling apart,” Whittaker would ask, “How do you know it’s not falling together?” 

Most of us have had a time–or several–in our own lives when something that seemed tragic turned into something terrific. We humans seem to forget those past turnarounds so allow ourselves to go through all sorts of anxiety–often before our story reaches a happy ending.

The other day I was going through some back issues of Winning Ways when I came across an old AT&T ad which added a little more perspective. Here’s what it said:

I lost a boss.

I found a loan.

I lost a paycheck.

I found a payroll.

I lost an office with a view.

I found perspective.

I lost a title.

I found my own place.

I gave up a position.

I found my future.

Want to come through the turbulence better, not bitter? Try this: Stay calm, breathe, look for the gifts.

The important thing is this: to be able to sacrifice at any moment what you are for what you could become. ~ Cardinal Suenens

When the Going Gets Tough

I don’t have many routines in my life except for my daily trip to the post office. I grew up in a small town without mail delivery so picking up the mail has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father used to drive us to school, but a mail stop came first. As the oldest child, it was my duty to fetch the mail from the box. To make it more fun, I began taping coins to bits of cardboard and sending away for things I saw advertised in comic books, insuring that some of the mail would be addressed to me. Even though e-mail has replaced the personal letter, I still enjoy finding something handwritten in my mailbox.

Since today is a postal holiday, there won’t be a mail run, but I wanted to pass along one of my all-time favorite letters, although I’ll keep the writer anonymous. He wrote, “Exactly 24 hours ago, I took my penny pail to the bank and cashed it in for $23.09. Against my better judgement I decided to visit Border’s Book Shop to have a latte and browse through a book that had caught my eye on several previous tours. Before my coffee was cool enough to drink, I decided to spend over half my available cash on Making a Living Without a Job.

“After brooding for nearly two weeks and accomplishing nothing, I read your entire book in one sitting. Since then, I have sold books (not yours) to a used bookstore, sold an expensive golf bag to a secondhand sporting goods store, sold a rowing machine to a secondhand exercise machine store, took four large trash bags of good clothing to a consignment shop, dared to try my new Rollerblades, scheduled a meeting with my father-in-law to learn his business secrets, faxed a letter and resume to a local business college to teach several courses, made several phone contacts for some consulting work and listed 37 potential Profit Centers. Oh, yes, I also made a huge pot of Texas Red chili and did five loads of laundry.”

He goes on to write about his previous adventures being self-employed. “I have been making a living without a job, though I lacked an understanding of the process and certainly lacked the passion you so eloquently described. I knew the time had come to return to the dream. Thank you for giving it back to me.”

With the possibility of a letter like that waiting for me, you can understand why a trip to the post office is my first priority every morning.

Live in the active voice, not the passive. Think more about what you make happen than about what happens to you. ~ William Dewitt Hyde

Five Tips for Better Storytelling

So what does it take to be a great storyteller? The fundamentals are pretty simple.

° Curiosity. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, who not only produced innovative ad copy, but also trained many successful copywriters, wrote, “I have never known anyone who bounced out of bed in the morning, delighted and astonished by the world in which he found himself, who was not a success. A vibrantly alive curiosity  will put you right up there with the best of them. This intense interest in people and things—this sense of wonder—can be acquired.” 

Without curiosity, you’ll miss all the good stories happening around you that might be put to work on your behalf.

 ° Attention. TV  journalist Steve Hartman  created a popular feature on CBS called “Everyone Has a Story.” He began looking for his subject by throwing a dart at a map. Then he’d go to wherever the dart landed, open the local phone book and pick a name at random. Some of the stories were funny, some poignant, some  buried deep, but he never came away empty-handed. 

Hartman’s premise is that stories exist everywhere, but only storytellers seem to be paying attention. Follow their lead. Listen for inspiration. Listen for evidence. Listen for material. When someone says, “Your teleclass was so exciting that I was awake until 3 AM with all these new ideas,” use it.

 ° Edit.  Editing is critical in all forms of storytelling. The difference between a boring and an enthralling storyteller is in the editing. We all know people who start telling a story and then wander off to side stories about the characters or unrelated events or random thoughts.

So what does an editor really do? According to Sarah Tieck, the job of an editor is to ruthlessly look for what’s relevant and then eliminate the rest. In many ways, editing uses the same skills as are needed to identify priorities in the goal-setting process. 

°  Bring it alive.  Don’t you just marvel at all the ways chef Jamie Oliver describes food? That’s what a great storyteller does. Passion and a good vocabulary are the fuel.

Except for Prairie Home Companion, there’s not much storytelling in radio anymore. If you listen to Garrison Keillor—a master storyteller—you’ll hear how he adds just enough detail so we can imagine the scene. 

In marketing, part of the storyteller’s job is to help the audience of potential customers imagine how products or services will be useful to them. Storytelling can do that more vividly than just listing benefits.

°  Watch your audience. Bores do not notice their listeners fidgeting in their seats or gazing around the room looking for an escape. Alas, the self-absorbed among us are oblivious to this. A good storyteller, on the other hand, understands body language and looks for clues. After all, storytelling always involves at least two people: the teller and the listener. Both are important. 

Polishing your storytelling skills can be as good for your business as it is for your social life. If  you’re ready to make your marketing creative, fun and memorable by becoming a better storyteller, join me and Alice Barry at our upcoming Compelling Storytelling event on December 2-4 in Las Vegas. Special Early Bird pricing ends on October 25th.


Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make—stories that sell and stories that spread. ~ Seth Godin

From Seed to Blossom

When you read a luscious book, you probably don’t think about the numerous rewrites made by the author. Likewise, we seldom get to peek behind the scenes at the long and winding road that brought us our favorite technology tools or movies. Many of those stories would be tedious, of course, but I often think it’s a shame that we only become aware of new products or works of art or personal excellence after the hard work has been done. Because we don’t see the rehearsal, so to speak, it’s tempting to dismiss stunning achievement by assuming an extraordinarily gifted mind produced it.

If you’re curious about what it takes to bring an idea to life, I’ve got three great stories to recommend.

Although I’m a huge theater buff, I had never heard of the fascinating documentary Show Business: The Road to Broadway until a friend showed it to me a few months ago. Producer-Director Dori Berinstein had the vision to follow five Broadway shows from inception to debut to the Tony Awards. Along the way, were countless setbacks, side trips and surprising successes. The season she chose included Avenue Q, Wicked and Taboo. Even if you aren’t a theater fan, this film has much to teach and will inspire.

With the passing of Paul Newman, we’ve been reminded that he was a great philanthropist. He was also an accidental social entrepreneur. The often amusing story of the birth and growth of Newman’s Own is recorded in a delightful book (newly out in paperback) called In Pursuit of the Common Good by Newman and his pal A.E. Hotchner. I loved this story when I read it a couple of years ago. You’ll see that being rich and famous didn’t insure a direct path to entrepreneurial success.

Another favorite story of humble beginnings is Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Woods. If you aren’t familiar with this story, don’t wait another minute to track it down. Woods was an overworked manager for Microsoft living in Australia when he took his first vacation in years and decided to trek through Nepal. When he discovered a village school with no books or library, he got the idea to gather books from his friends and offer them to the school. That was a life-changing event which led Woods to found Room to Read, which now builds libraries and fills them all over the world. It’s a wonderful example of what can happen when you follow your passion.

 

To live so that that which comes to me as seed

Goes to the next as blossom

And that which comes to me as blossom 

Goes on as fruit.~ Dawna Markova