The Billion Dollar Payday

The value of shares in Amazon.com soared almost 25% today on news of much improved earnings. This would probably have been a billion dollar payday for the founder, Jeff Bezos.

Quite the mind-bending concept.
A billion dollar day.

I'll bet the Google boys have had a couple of those.

So, if it has happened, even if by wild improbability or unexpectedness, then it can happen by design, according to a plan. If it can happen for others, it can happen for you. But only if you have a Billion Dollar Payday Plan.

I like that idea.

If I fell a bit short, and, after taxes it was only a few hundred million, it wouldn't be so bad. Heck, I'm still young and good lookin' with energy and time to spare...
I can tweak my plan and jump back in. A Billion Dollar Payday could put a smile on anyone's face!

I'll start with The System, it hasn't failed yet.

The System - Quick Start Guide

Now available:

the first edition of the Quick Start Guide
for The System for Achieving Goals.

Click here to download the Quick Start Guide.

Free.

Quotes

Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. 

 The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

TED's Secrets of Success

In Search of Entrepreneurial Flow

In considering the topic of Flow, and how it applies to my pool game, I did some research and came across an entry in Wikipedia which is summarized herein.

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.

(Think Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc.)

How can Entrepreneurs find Flow in their daily activities in building a business? It seems that there could be no greater goal than this!

As Csikszentmihalyi (the psychologist and originator of the term "Flow") sees it, components of an experience of flow can be specifically enumerated; he presents the following:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time - one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. When in the flow state, people become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

Further considering Flow in an Entrepreneurial setting, think how magical an organization would become if all of the people within it could experience Flow!

Csikszentmihalyi suggests several ways in which a group could work together so that each individual member could achieve flow. The characteristics of such a group include:

• Creative spatial arrangements: Chairs, pin walls, charts, however no tables, therefore primarily work in standing and moving.
• Playground design : Charts for information inputs, flow graphs, project summary, craziness (here also craziness has a place), safe place (here all may say what is otherwise only thought), result wall, open topics
• Parallel, organized working
• Target group focus
• Advancement of existing one (prototyping)
• Increase in efficiency through visualization
• Existence of differences among participants represents an opportunity, rather than an obstacle.

I'm not sure I understand all of the above points, but that may just be going against some of the principles of Flow, specifically: applying too much intellect to the endeavor instead of allowing the experience to happen. However, from my personal experiences of Flow in an Entrepreneurial setting, I recognize these things as being important in supporting effective and free communication. And isn't this the true job of the Entrepreneur?

Are you a real or wanna-be entrepreneur?

Perry Marshall, internet marketing guru, just released his list of the differences between a real and a wanna-be entrepreneur:

Twelve differences between those who dream and those who act:


1-Wanna-be's obsess about ideas. Entrepreneurs obsess about implementation.

2-Wanna-be's want more web traffic. Enrepreneurs focus on sales conversion.

3-Wanna-be's focus on positive thinking. Entrepreneurs plan for multiple contingencies.

4-Wanna-be's want to get on TV and get "famous." Entrepreneurs build their list.

5-Wanna-be's seek a perfect plan. Entrepreneurs execute and adjust the plan later.

6-Wanna-be's wait for their lucky break. Entrepreneurs engineer four, five, six plans and execute them in tandem, wagering that at least one plan will get traction.

7-Wanna-be's fear looking stupid in front of their friends. Entrepreneurs willingly risk making fools of themselves, knowing that long-term success is a good trade for short-term loss of dignity.

8-Wanna-be's shield their precious ideas from harsh reality, postponing the verdict of success or failure until 'someday.' Entrepreneurs expose their ideas to cold reality as soon as reasonably possible.

9-Wanna-be's put off practicing basketball until they've got Air Jordans. Entrepreneurs practice barefoot behind the garage.

10-Wanna-be's believe what they're told, believe their own assumptions. Entrepreneurs do original research and determine what paths have been already trod.

11-Wanna-be's believe they can do anything. Entrepreneurs do what they're gifted for and delegate the rest.

12-Wanna-be's think about the world in terms of COULD and SHOULD. Entrepreneurs think in terms of IS and CAN BE.

The New Truth about Marketing

Watch this video:

Seth Godin:

Sliced bread and

other marketing delights

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. And early adopters, not the mainstream's bell curve, are the new sweet spot of the market.