100 Steps: Steps 51-55

By Walt F.J. Goodridge

Special to the Saipan Tribune
Originally published: Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008


The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest—in other words, your passion!


The following is a continuing excerpt from a previously unreleased book titled The 100 Steps Necessary for Business Success by Walt F.J. Goodridge. It is provided exclusively to Saipan Tribune readers!

STEP 51: SHAKE the MONEY TREE.

According to Robert Allen, author of Multiple Streams of Income, the perfect business needs to be a money tree. Each letter of the phrase “money tree” represents a quality or feature that the perfect business should possess in order to survive and thrive.

Multiple--Your business must create multiple streams of income for you

Outstanding--Your product or service must be outstanding in its field.

No Money Down--Your business should require little or no money down as an initial investment.

Employee-Resistant
--The less employees your business requires, the safer, the easier and the more profitable it will be.

Yield should be high--You must be in an industry and have a profit margin that produces a high profit yield.

Timely--Your product or service should be timely.

R
esidual--Your business should create residual streams of income for you.

Essential--What you provide should be essential, or at least people must feel that it is.

Enthusiasm--In order to survive and thrive in business, you must be enthusiastic about what you do.

STEP 52: BECOME an empire builder.

Every idea that you have has the potential to be the basis of an empire. When I wrote my first book to help music entrepreneurs in the rap industry start their own record label, I immediately started thinking about extending the concept to apply to other types of music as well. I envisioned books for gospel, rock, jazz and rhythm & blues musicians. It was this sort of vision that always drove me to create new products along the same original theme. Today, the empire has become the “Turn Your Passion Into Profit” line of products. To build your own empire, you must become a possibility thinker. You must think in terms of sequels, 2nd editions, translations into other languages, modifications for different ethnic groups, religions, special interests, children, movie rights, calendars, mugs, clothing and even food! You must ask yourself, which other target audience could I sell to using the same concept. What other types of products could lend themselves to being marketed under the same theme as my original idea? A prime example of this type of “empire thinking” is Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. There are now Chicken Soup for the golfer's, mother's, writer's, children's, and probably even chicken's souls! Just kidding, Jack! From the onset of your business, you should be an empire thinker

STEP 53: INCREASE your prices as you narrow your focus.

This step is based on the concept that your time as well as your expertise become more valuable as they become more personal and more specialized. When you sell general information, you can afford to charge lower prices that the masses can afford. When you begin to sell your consulting expertise and personal time, your prices should go up.

For example, let's say that you are an expert in cooking. Your observations on the state of the restaurant industry can be the cheapest “product” you offer. You can give away those thoughts in the form of free reports, or you can charge a nominal fee ($1 per word) to publications who wish to print them for their readers. When you offer recipes of your own creation, you can charge more (say, $39.95) in the form of a cookbook. When you give a lecture at a culinary institute, you can charge even more (say, $5,000) for your expertise. When you cater an event, the price goes up even further. When you host weekend workshops for an exclusive clientele for whom you will make your secret recipes, you can charge them thousands for the privilege of your personal attention! In much the same way, any business owner can create different levels of offerings to the public.

STEP 54: LEARN the Law of Obligation

The Law of Obligation simply says “There ain't none!” No one is obligated to do anything simply because you want them to. Remember this and you will save yourself much heartache. Remember, unhappiness is nothing but an unmet expectation.

Whether in business or life in general, people really aren’t obligated by YOUR sense of right and wrong, to do what YOU want them to. We all live in a society in which we hope the accepted standards of conduct will be adhered to by everyone. We hope people will say “please” and “thank you.”

We hope others will take our concerns seriously, hold up their end of a bargain, return our calls on time, pay back what they owe, allow us to merge into traffic, hold the door open for us, treat us as we treat them, patronize our business, and so on. In our daily interactions with others, we hope people will play along with our game plan, and often get upset if they don’t. The truth is, however, these are just our opinions and expectations of what others should do. Remember, unhappiness is nothing but an unmet expectation. Can you accept that others will do as they please? Can you still keep smiling when you don’t get your way? Can you give up the victim game and stop waiting for someone to treat you the way you want? If you can, you might find the road a little less bumpy and less aggravating. Now, that doesn’t mean you’ll accept abuse. You won’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of. And you’ll remove yourself from destructive people and situations as soon as possible. And for heaven’s sake, don’t lower your expectations of people so much as simply detach yourself from the outcome. You might be surprised how liberating it might be! Keep doing what you know to be right, and know that all will be balanced... if not from “him” or “her,” but through another.

STEP 55: TITHE.

Tithing is the act of giving a percentage of one's income back to the source of one's spiritual support. Many people tithe to their churches. Others tithe to individuals from whom they derive their spiritual sustenance. Still others donate a percentage of gross income to organizations whose mission they want to support. Wherever you choose to give, you'll find that the act giving will, in ways that seem miraculous, create more wealth for you. Those who have practiced tithing have reported tremendous positive results in their finances, relationships, health and careers.

The word itself, with its origins in biblical times, means “tenth”. Consequently, many tithers habitually return a tenth of their gross income to their church, synagogue or spiritual teacher. Others tithe much more. Some have been known to tithe as much as 50 percent of what they earn.

Think of tithing as planting seeds of prosperity. The farmer knows that when he reaps his harvest, that he must return a portion of it to the soil in order to continue to reap a harvest in coming years. If you continuously take and take without giving back, eventually the flow of abundance will stop. On the other hand, when a person tithes, the universe which works under the spiritual law of tithing says, “If you have that much to give, that means you are open to receive more.”

For more tips on building and growing your business, visit www.passionprofit.com!

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Until next time, remember, success is a journey, not a destination!-Walt



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