Escaping Mediocrity

If you a) think making money is bad or b) you are in the enviable position of not needing to make money, you can skip this post.

If, however, you would like to make money from your blog, your business, your writing, or whatever it is you are up to in the world, then this post might prove helpful.

During Creating Irresistible Presence 2010 (the live event I held last September) I shared the equation (I refuse to use the word “formula”) that I use to help me actually create profit. It looks like this:

Clarity+Confidence+Courage = Profit

Now, before I go any further, this is not the ONLY profit equation. There are lots of important others. But for me, if I don’t start with this one and nail it down, all the others are pointless.

Let me bread down each piece a bit.

Clarity

Definition: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

If what I am about is indistinct, ambiguous or vague, there’s not much hope that it will yield a profit. It’s got to have laser sharp edges and I must be able to articulate it to myself and to others with precise language.

Confidence

Definition: belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities.

Once I am clear, my confidence goes up exponentially as a result. If there are skills or knowledge I must gain to sustain that confidence, that I need to be about acquiring them.

Courage

Definition: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. [the definition I found added "without fear" but I actually think fear it part of courage.]

Having clarity and confidence in place makes it MUCH easier to dig down and find courage when the challenges come (because, believe me, they are inevitable). This is the place I use to falter – mainly because I didn’t understand courage. It’s also the place where I see those who achieve great things separate themselves from the pack.

Clarity + Confidence + Courage = Cashflow

So there you have it: my profit equation.

Yes, I know there are more mechanical equations based on skill sets and executables. Like I said at the beginning, the right ones are incredibly valuable. But without Clarity, Confidence and Courage in place  first, the Profit will most likely hover in the realm of the mediocre.

I am going to dig into this equation during CIP ’11 which will be held Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 in Atlanta, GA. Those of you who are who are committing to 28 Days of Getting Your Sh*t Together will get first dibs on the 50 available seats when I open registration at the end of January.

Want in on that?! Sign up here: http://bit.ly/28DaysBlogSeries

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts about this or any other profit equation.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 10th, 2011 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Uncommon Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.