Why You Should Invest in Platforms Instead of Real Estate

Many will say that real estate is the best investment. I disagree. Let’s start with supply and demand. The price of any resource is determined by the relation of supply to demand. In other words: How much is there and how many people want it? Price is a direct function of how many people want it (demand) versus how much of it there is (supply). If more people want it, but there is less of it, the price is higher. If there is more of it than people want, the price is lower.

Understanding supply and demand makes the world much easier to understand. If you’re a little foggy on supply and demand, read more on the Wikipedia page for supply and demand.

Real Estate

Here’s why real estate is so awesome as an investment:

1) Certain Demand: People are always going to want to own land. Whether it is to live, put a business or to store their antique car collection, as long as there are humans, they will want to claim a piece of land for themselves.

2) Fixed Supply: There are only so many usable square feet on this planet, so there is a fixed supply. You can’t print, manufacture, build or otherwise create any more land on this earth than there already is.

No question, real estate is timeless as an investment. But I’ve got something better.

Platforms

A Platform is just when people listen to what you say, like listen to your show, read your blog, read your magazine, follow you on social media, etc. It’s when you have their attention.

“The most precious commodity that we have is attention.” – Arianna Huffington

Here’s why attention is better than real estate:

1) Certain Demand: As long as there are people who want to communicate, for the purpose of selling something, fundraising, or any type of communication, there will be demand for attention.

2) Fixed Supply: The supply is limited by the number of humans and the number of hours in a day. There is no more attention. Humans sleep 8 hours a night, so there are 16 hours remaining in each day that we can potentially have their attention.

As long as someone wants to communicate, they’ll need attention.

The Internet has changed many things, most notably, the number of people who are trying to get attention. It has lowered the barriers to creating communication drastically. Right now, anyone can take a message, and make it available to everyone with access to the Internet. As of June 30th, 2012, and according to http://www.internetworldstats.com, that’s 2,405,518,376 people.

Information Overload

There is a massive number of people assaulting us with their information every single day from roughly the same number of people. This has made attention much harder to get, much more scarce, and therefore much more valuable.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said, “we create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003″.

Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of man to 2003. Information is no longer an asset. It’s a massive distraction. The asset is a group of people who listen when you talk, who’s attention you have — your platform.

The key here is that all this information is only potentially available to those people. An overwhelming majority of them will never notice what you just put out onto that blog post, social media post, or website. But if there is a group of people who are interested in what you are saying because they have heard your stuff before and they know that what you say is going to be interesting and valuable, they’ll pay attention to YOU and tune out all the other stuff.

Build platforms, build wealth, build life.

Photo by Rúben dos Santos on Unsplash

How to Be Happy 111 Hours a Week

By doing less of what you don’t like

Everyone wants to be happy. But few people actually take the action required to actually be happy. It’s because most people think that doing stuff you don’t like to do is OK. They think it is just “how life is.” Nope.

How much time do you spend each day doing something you don’t like?

Now answer this: How much time do you spend Living?

Before you answer that, let’s define Living. Living is when there is nothing else you’d rather be doing at that moment.

Living is when you are completely focused on this thing you are doing because it’s all that matters at the moment. You aren’t looking at the clock. You aren’t looking at the clock, thinking about what to do next or what to eat for dinner.

Now really ask yourself: How much time do you spend Living? A few hours day? A few hours a week? A few hours a month? A few hours a year?

If the answer is anything less than 111, you’ve got some work to do. Spend 111 hours a week Living.

The Math

There are seven twenty-four hour days in a week for a total of 168 hours. You sleep eight hours a night for a total of 56 per week. 168-56=112.

One hour a week you can spend NOT Living. That’s it. That leaves you 111 hours that you need to get to Living.

Why One Hour a Week?

It’s a lofty, but attainable goal. It’s my goal. I meet it frequently, but I miss it a lot. We all need goals that will challenge us. Especially when it comes to the only resource we can’t get more of — time.

Most People Aren’t Even Close

Let’s start with how you are spending your time now. If you are like 80% of Americans (citation), you spend 40 hours a week working a job you don’t like.

So, right there, you’ve used up your one hour by 9AM Monday morning. By the end of the day Monday, you’ve run up a deficit of seven hours. Maybe it will get better after work. Oh, wait, but you have to get groceries. Another hour. Actually, the drive in to work was hell and you were pissed off the whole time you were getting ready for work because it’s Monday, so that’s another two hours you were not Living. It takes a half hour to get home. Now we’re at about nine hours and we forgot about sleeping. That’s another eight hours so we’re down to four and a half hours of potential Living. You cook dinner for an hour, then tidy up the house and check email. That takes another 2 hours, so now we’re down to two and a half hours. What do you do? American Idol and CSI, while Facebooking on your phone. I think there’s a half-hour or so left, but what difference does it make at this point?

Your entire day was spent doing stuff you don’t like. Except the TV, but was it Living? (refer back to the definition of Living above, please)

A Better Way

Realize that your time is all you have. You can get more of any other resource except time. You have what you have. 24 hours in each day and no more.

Before you make the bed, return a phone call, mow the grass, brush your teeth, go to work, get groceries or anything else, ask yourself: “Am I Living?”

Stop believing you have to do a bunch of stuff before you can do the one and only thing you want to do — Live. Stop believing that life is all about sacrifice. It’s not; it’s all about Living. Stop believing that the only way to earn money is by doing stuff you don’t like. Stop believing that making the bed, getting groceries and mowing the grass are just part of life. They don’t have to be.

But the grass needs to be mowed, I need to make money and somebody has to make the bed.

True.

There are three ways to deal with these things.

Don’t do them.
Pay someone to do them.
Make them Living

Don’t Do Them

We do a lot of silly thing that don’t matter. Making your bed is a great example. Your just going to mess it up again the next night, so what’s the point?

It looks better.
It‘s nice to crawl into a freshly made bed.

OK, but when you look at the definition of Living above, is it worth it? There is some benefit in virtually anything if you look hard enough. But the real question is: “Is it worth it?”

What could you quit doing to free up some more time for Living?

Pay Someone to Do Them

But I can’t afford to pay someone to do them.

Probably not. Most people can’t. But start by being very aware of the fact that you are robbing yourself of Living every second you do these things. And remember that you’ll never get anything you want if you don’t create a vision for what you want your life to look like. Preferably a vision that seems really hard. A vision that is slightly beyond what seems possible keeps you constantly thinking and challenging yourself to do more. Best of all, it will keep you asking questions.

You’ll like the next one.

Make them Living

You can enjoy anything if you put your mind to it. Does that sound hard? It is. But again, this is your life we’re talking about so it’s worth the effort. What’s the one thing you do a lot of that you could enjoy more? Probably your job. If you don’t like your job (like 80% of Americans) do something about it. Whether that means starting your own business or changing careers, it will be hard.

But, eight hours a day is a third of the day — a third of your life! Is that worth it?

It Is Hard

Is this going to be easy? Nope. Nothing worth doing is. Will it be worth it? This is your life we’re talking about. What else is there? If this isn’t worth it, what is?

Stop looking at Living as something you only do in your spare time and start looking at as ALL THAT MATTERS.

Photo by Fernando Brasil on Unsplash

Why Businesses Fail & How to Make Sure Yours Doesn’t

It happens way too often. And it’s stopping you from making progress in your business. You go on Facebook and you see: “Best-Selling Book Free! Over 127 Millionaire Secrets Revealed”. (That’s real, by the way, I just pulled it right off Facebook). The cycle begins.

What’s Going on in Your Head

Because humans beings (which most of the readers of this blog are) really, really like instant gratification, when you hear these claims, you are so excited you might even pee a little bit. That’s OK. You got a release of serotonin, a chemical in the brain that makes you happy. Next, you buy into the guru, teacher or marketer’s offer. Maybe that’s a product, program or some free content. Doesn’t matter. What matters is what happens next.

You start consuming (reading, watching, listening to) the information or using the product. Consuming it is work. Making the million dollars is probably totally possible using what you are learning, but it is work — A LOT. And the serotonin is LONG GONE. Now you’re bored and have lost hope that this thing is going to be the thing makes you a million bucks.

It Happens Again

Then what happens? You open your email. And there is a an email with the subject: “How We Got 20k Subscribers From Facebook” That’s also real, I pulled it right out of the new and (Wonderfully Amazing; I could kiss whoever thought of that) gmail promotions tab. There goes the serotonin again! Let’s download that eBook! Hell, its free, what do you have to lose?!

You have a LOT to lose.

The Simple Reason Why Businesses Fail

The reason so many businesses fail in the information marketing and online-type business in particular (and a LOT fail) is because of this vicious cycle of high-hopes followed by low spirits. When you get down, you raise your spirits by going after one of these new, fun “seratonin-pots.” But, if you had instead spent that time consistently and persistently executing against a very simple strategy, you would actually make progress, instead of that silly cycle.

I see it ALL THE TIME. I see it with my clients, peers, friends and total strangers in blog comments and social media posts. What is that next “Blast of Hope” that I can inject into my brain to get that next serotonin release.

Another thing that really sucks: While you are chasing the next serotonin release, you aren’t making any progress.

How to NOT Let Your Business Fail

Quit trying to become a millionaire overnight. Set a reasonable goal of bringing a few thousand or even hundred dollars a month. (by the way, a really cool by-product of this is that if you keep at it, you will become a millionaire)
Create a simple, clear plan and execute against it consistently. Even when it gets boring.

Imagine seeing small, incremental results and looking at your past accomplishments (small and large, but mostly small) with confidence, knowing that if you just keep at what you are doing, you will become a millionaire. Now YOU are in control. You are no longer at the mercy of the next email with promises of “pulling back the curtain” or “revealing the secrets of whatever or whowever”.

Becoming a millionaire is not going to make you any happier. How to Quit Working is not about becoming a millionaire. But if you want the exact tools, techniques and strategies you need to make a decent living that doesn’t involve going somewhere every day and doing something that you don’t care about, you are in the right place. Subscribe in a Reader for weekly content like this or like How to Quit Working on Facebook.

Put living first and create a life of freedom. Oh, and here is some great news: You can get that same serotonin boost by exercising! Read more about Serotonin here.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

How to Be An Entrepreneur

The world is a big wonderful place full of exciting, beautiful and wonderful things. But, without the freedom to explore it, what’s the point?

Most people agree, but a very small number stop and say, “Wait a minute, I’m going to do EVERYTHING I can to make sure I get to explore the world on MY terms. Those people are Lifestyle Entrepreneurs.

Back in April, I launched the “How to Quit Working Show,” which features the most amazing Lifestyle Entrepreneurs in the world! Each one of them is an inspiration. Each week, I interview another one and find out what they are doing that makes them successful and what they would tell other people who want to do the same.

This week marks the 25th episode and after that many interviews, there are very clear common themes. Seven of them to be exact! Let’s get to it:

Be 1000% Dedicated

This can’t be a hobby; it must be a dedication. It can’t be something you do only when there is time. It has to be something you do ALL THE TIME. Everything thought that goes through your head, every decision you make and every action you take has to be about Lifestyle. Make the decision that you deserve it.

Fight the Fear Monster

Your biggest enemy is not money, customers, marketing, technology or lack of business accumen. It is FEAR. Fear is the number one thing that holds potential Lifestyle Entrepreneurs back. What if I can’t pay the bills? What if I can’t get any customers? What if nobody likes me? It’s your survival instinct kicking in. Human minds evolved to be fearful to protect us. But, fear does not serve us in business.

Don’t Focus on Money

Focus on doing something you care about. Devote yourself to it. Once you’ve done that, layer good business smarts on top of it. Then you will make money. And don’t worry about where to get the business smarts. We’re talking about simple principles that are learnable and readily available on the Internet, in books and classes.

Never Regret Anything

Approach decisions and new situations knowing that it’s entirely possible (in fact overwhelmingly likely) that you will make mistakes. Mistakes are progress. They are good. Embrace them. Never say, “I shouldn’t have done that” because next time you do something or make a decision, you’ll hesitate, afraid to make another mistake. When you don’t regret, you don’t fear being wrong and you can confidently move forward.

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

Everything you do, you must do consistently. Whether it is your morning routine, content publishing, following up with prospects or clients, or daily meditation, consistency is critical. In fact, doing things consistently is more important than doing them perfectly. Consistency is what separates the real entrepreneurs from the talk-epreneurs. Unfortunately, there are a lot of want-to-be entrepreneurs who simply don’t make it because they don’t keep at it.

Do Something You Care About

Whatever you do, don’t start a business about something you don’t care about. There are enough challenges and hurdles without making it harder than it needs to be. If you are really devoted to what your business is about, then you’ll have the motivation you need to push through the difficult times. And there will be difficult times.

Listen

This is the most important. Forget your agenda and listen to what your audience (customers, prospects and followers) tell you they want. There is one mistake that almost everyone makes and that is creating the wrong product. They create a product that they think will sell, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t sell because it was the wrong product. If you first build a following, and then ask them what they want, you have the perfect product — the product that is guaranteed to sell.

Photo by Pedro Lastra on Unsplash

Why You Think Working Sucks

Merriam-Webster defines work as: “an activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something.” Exerting strength or faculties doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Every day, people complain about “work”. They say things like, “I don’t want to do that; it would be too much like work.”

So, why do we think “exerting strength or faculties” so bad? Why is it such a terrible thing to use your mind, your body, and your resources to perform something? Do our minds, bodies and resources even exist for any reason other than “performing something?”

I searched the Internet for “popular life goals” and found many lists of common goals that people have for their lives. One was very comprehensive: http://www.ranker.com/list/most-important-life-goals-list/samantha-dillinger

What We Really Want

Wow, what an ambitious bunch of people we are! We really want the best for ourselves and everyone in the world.

According to the ranker.com list, we want to start a non-profit, care for others, help the needy, bring peace to the world, be giving, raise wonderful children and on and on. Most of all, we want to be the best possible people we can be. We want to be happy, enjoy life, learn new languages, be healthy, grow intellectually, be true to ourselves, and appreciate beauty.

Money shows up on the list, but it’s a needle in a haystack. Also noteworthy is that “doing nothing” never shows up on any of the lists.

All of the the things we say we want require us to exert our strength or faculties to achieve them. Which, back to the Merriam-Webster definition, is work.

So why does work have such a negative connotation. The reason you don’t like work because too much of it is done to achieve things we don’t care about.

Working a Job You Don’t Like

Working a job you don’t like is what 80% of Americans do five days a week for over 40 hours. It’s the primary activity that we attach the term “work” to. No wonder we think “work” is such a bad thing.

Stop thinking of work as something you “MUST DO.” Redefine work as: “how you get whatever you want.”

Then look at all the things you are “working on” that you don’t care about and redefine it as: “wasting your life.”

Write down three things you want and what it will take to get them. Then bask in the wonderfulness of work, knowing it’s the exact thing that will get you whatever you want.

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

One Year Reflections – 13 Decisions

Wow. It has been one full year since I left the perceived security of my corporate job.

April 13th, 2012 was the last day I ever “worked”.

Shortly after that (June 28th to be exact), I sent an email to a number of friends, colleagues and other folks with what I called a “BIG Announcement.” The announcement was that I was writing a book. I was going to write about my journey from being a scared little kid to stuck in a corporate career to finally launching the life of my dreams. I made that announcement 292 days ago, and today I am thrilled to announce that my new book, “How to Quit Working, Create a life of FREEDOM using what you KNOW instead of just getting paid for what you DO,” is officially available for sale!

Now, obviously, I would love it if you would Click Here and order a copy (or 10)! But, instead of badgering you with a sales pitch, I though I would give you a list of 13 decisions you must make if you want to QUIT WORKING and live the most amazing life you can imagine that lets YOU DECIDE what you do each day.

There is a whole chapter devoted to these 13 things and 11 other chapters of practical how-to for anyone who wants to create a life of freedom in How to Quit Working.

OK, here it goes. Make these 13 decisions.

1) Decide to be Honest

Honesty is a value I hold very high. In this industry (the information/education industry), trust is of the utmost importance. When people buy, they buy YOU, not your information and nobody’s buyin’ if they aren’t trustin’. Not to mention, it’s just cool to be honest.

2) Decide to be Selfish

One of the biggest reasons people I talk to want FREEDOM in their lives is to help other people. And the best way to do that is to start by making yourself everything can be and that means focus. Focus on yourself, your needs and your own personal development. There’s nothing wrong with putting yourself first, because a) you deserve it and b) the better off you are, the more people you can help.

3) Decide to Never Regret Anything.

Ever. Regrets waste time, energy and keep you from focusing on what you really want. Let ’em go. Whatever you regret, you probably (at the least) learned a lot from anyway. I have not one regret in my life.

4) Decide to Listen

Listen to what people say. You can be like the Snuggie and go out and convince people that they have a problem or a need that they don’t really have, but that’s not freedom. It’s too hard and requires too much pushing. Instead, just close your mouth and listen to what people tell you they need. Then create it. It’s also a great way to build amazing relationships.

5) Decide to Never Blame Anyone or Anything

Never Blame. Blame takes away your power and gives it to someone else and therefore is the most disempowering thing you can do. The only relevant question to ask is: “What could I have done differently?” Business and personal life, this is a universal truth.

We’re just getting started…

6) Decide to Set Goals

If you don’t know where you want to go, you’ll never get there. Just decide what you want, and then start working for it it. Set the goal, then figure out what you have to do to get to it. Then do it.

7) Decide to Be Positive

Positive is the only way to be. Successful people always look at what GOOD could possibly come from a situation, not what BAD could possibly come from a situation. I get it, this is not as easy as it sounds and, for me, I struggle with it sometimes. But recognizing it’s importance to your success is step #1.

8) Decide to Be Yourself

When you just relax and be who you are, life is so much easier. More people like REAL YOU. Some people won’t like REAL you, and that is totally OK. It means you are bringing something unique to the world. I know I’m getting a little Mr. Rogers on you, but it’s true.

9) Decide to Clean Your Brain

Turn off that awful box (the boob tube) that spits out negative news all day and all night. You don’t need it. Successful people don’t wallow in all the awful, horrible things going on in the world, they focus on creating improvements. No more news.

We’re getting there, only 4 more to go!

10) Decide to Work on You

This isn’t a journey of entrepreneurship, it’s not a journey of business, it’s not a journey of anything but personal improvement. It’s about becoming the best possible person you can possibly be, so you can inspire others to do the same. Then you are truly free.

11) Decide to be Healthy

Your personal health is the most important thing you have. Because really, without it, what else is there? Without it, none of this other stuff matters. Exercise, eat right and you’ll feel better and be more successful.

12) Decide to Deliver on Commitments

Back to trust, if you don’t deliver on commitments, you don’t build trust, and you don’t build relationships and you aren’t free. The people, prospects, clients and partners you come into contact with must know you are going to do what you say you will.

This is my favorite; I saved it for last.

13) Decide to Give Stuff Up

“The things I am giving up today are allowing me to have more of those things in the future.” I firmly believe that you can have whatever you want in life, but you can’t necessarily have it exactly when you want it. It requires hard work and sacrifice. Sacrifice is easy when you keep your eyes on what you are aiming to have more of — time, money, freedom … whatever it is.

The things I am giving up today are allowing me to have more of those things in the future.

This first year has been a crazy, amazing one. There have been ups, downs, times of sheer joy and times of unbelievable frustration. But, I can say this with 100% honesty, leaving my job and creating this life for myself was the best decision I ever made.

It was NOT the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It was NOT the easiest decision.

In fact, it was among the hardest decision and one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

But totally worth it.

Leaving my job and creating this life for myself was the best decision I ever made.

And the thing that keeps blowing my mind, over and over is that it just keeps getting better. The more I really embrace this life and the more I let myself enjoy and experience it, the more possibilities I see and the more excited I get for the future.

I’m going to be talking a lot more on this blog and on my show about what this life is like and what I’m learning along the way. I’m also interviewing the most amazing lifestyle entrepreneurs each week on my new show, called the “The How to Quit Working Show”.

Wherever you are in your journey, go farther. Look back over that list of 13 things and decide which one you you need to work on most and make it your goal to focus on that for the next 30 – 45 days. Then, do it again.

You’ll be amazed what happens.

I started this blog post with a picture of shy, scared Jeff in the 80’s, here’s a picture of Jeff in 2013.

How far do you want to go?

Leave me a comment below and tell me where you want your life to go. I love hearing from you and I read and reply to every comment.

Live Free,

Jeff

P.S.: I could never have come this far without all of the amazing people in my life. You are too numerous to mention, but thanks to all of you.

How to Quit Working on Amazon

Image Credit: Photo by Some Tale on Unsplash

Blog: Stop Following the Herd

Lifestyle means doing it YOUR WAY. It means doing life the way YOU want, not the way your parents, teachers, friends, family, celebrities, politicians or “lifestyle gurus” think you should do it.

Hangin’ with Tom and Walt

On a recent beautiful spring day in St. Louis, I was at a friend’s house and saw exactly what I was talking about. Tom has an English Bulldog named Walter. Walter is old for a dog. He’s about 10, which is up there for a Bulldog. But he hasn’t lost his zeal for life.

While we were hanging out, drinking beer and philosophizing about life, politics and whatever else, Walter seemed antsy, so Tom went to get Walter a raw-hide bone to chew on.

Hearing the sound of the wrapper on the bone made Walter’s ears perke up and his head was tilt to his right as if to say, “Could it be? Is it possible? Today? Might I be about to get a (insert drumroll here) bone???!!!”

Great Day for Walter

Walter’s hope was true. It’s as if he has received the most wonderful thing a dog could receive — a raw-hide bone.

Walter was very excited about this bone and all the joy it has in store for him. He immediately went to town, chewing away at it, fully immersed in the sheer joy of chewing. Nothing could get him down now.

Walter went at the bone for about 5 or 10 minutes, then suddenly stopped. He laid the bone down, sat back on his haunches, and looked around–as though he were looking for something.

He did that for a few minutes and then picked up the bone and headed off with the bone in his mouth to a spot just 5 or 6 feet away. He set the bone down and began scratching at the ground as though he were trying to dig a hole. He kept at this for a while.

The Perfectionist

But he soon set the bone back down and looked around some more, as if to say, “This spot won’t do. I have to find a better place.”

After looking around a bit, he moved to another spot, and went through the digging motions once more. Again, this spot just didn’t seem right. So he moved to a third and final spot, and clearly, this was where he needed to be, because he confidently went through the digging motions, deposited the bone and then pushed his nose in a sweeping manner towards the bone.

A Job Well Done for the Wrong Reason

All done.

Walter plopped down, satisfied with a job well done; his bone supply now one greater.

I left an important detail out of this story: This all occurred in the living room.

Doing What You Are “Supposed to” Do

Walter was doing what he thought he was supposed to do. He did it because when he was a puppy, he saw everyone else doing it.

The result? A lot of energy spent to accomplish Absolutely Nothing.

Studies show that 80% of people are dissatisfied or disengaged with their job. (citation) That’s because 95% of the population is just doing what they think they are supposed to do.

Scratching at the hardwood floors in a vein attempt to accomplish something.

80% of the population is just scratching at the floor in a vein attempt to accomplish something.

Most don’t even know what they are trying to accomplish and their efforts certainly aren’t leading to anything useful or meaningful.

What’s the difference between the 80% who are unhappy and the 20% who are?

The 80% Say:

But if everyone is doing it, it must be right.

Wrong.

Followers Have Never Mattered

Ancient Greek crackpots had a crazy notion that the world was round. Those nutballs remained on the fringes of society through the days of Plato and Aristotle in the 300’s and 400s BC, through the middle ages, and until Ferdinand Magellan finally circumnavigated the earth in 1522, finally proving who the real crackpots were. Details courtesy of Wikipedia, cause I sure as hell don’t remember any of that from school.

The 20% Say:

Why?

Now What?

We’re not followers. We are lifestyle snobs. We want the freedom to pursue life on OUR terms.

We don’t do what everyone else is doing, just because everyone is doing it. We watch everyone else trying to dig holes in the hardwood floor, baffled as to why someone would do that.

“Why?,” we ask.

Keep asking why.

Live Free!

Image Credit: Photo by Andrea Lightfoot on Unsplash

How to Be a Lifestyle Fanatic

How much time do you spend each week doing something you don’t like? 80% of Americans hate their job (citation) so that’s at least 40 hours. When you add laundry, mowing the lawn and other chores on top of that, it’s almost all your time. As bad as that sounds, the worse part is that everybody thinks that’s just how it is. It’s Bullshit. I’m Jeff Steinmann. I’m a Lifestyle Fanatic and I have another way.

How You Spend Your Time

Besides sleeping, there are only three things to do with your time:

Living Your Life
Building Your Life
Sustaining Your Life

Think of each of those things as spheres — like a Venn Diagram.

Living Your Life is the only reason to be alive. It’s all the things you love doing, like music, writing, talking with friends, playing with your kids, walking in the woods or having a glass of wine.

Building Your Life is creating things that improve the amount or quality of time you spend Living, like building relationships with people who inspire you, creating a business, or writing a book.

Sustaining Your Life is all the things you must do to keep life going. Things like making money, mowing the grass, brushing your teeth and getting your annual physical.

The Problem

The problem with the “normal” way is that we spend almost all of it Sustaining, barely any time Living and almost none Building. That’s why two-thirds of people are unhappy. (citation)

The Lifestyle Myth

You’ve been told to live your life like this:

Spend a fortune on college to learn how to do something you’ll probably hate.
Work for someone else doing something you hate because it is the only way to make money.
Buy lots of big things on credit so you have no choice but to keep working the job you hate.
Hate your life until you retire and are too old to do anything.
And thats just the way it is.

Lifestyle Fanatics look at these ideas with distain. We do not believe “normal” is a worthwhile goal. This must change. That’s why I’m here.

Become a Lifestyle Fanatic

Being a Lifestyle Fanatic means never spending more than one hour a week not Living. Here’s how. You can Build and Sustain while Living. Your happiness is a function of the size of your spheres and the degree to which Building and Sustaining lie inside Living. Designing your life like this is a commitment. It starts with YOU. Decide that YOU are in control and you are not going to spend more than one hour a week doing things you don’t like. If you decide that YOU are in control of your life you will be. But you have to commit.

Get Started

Click here to download a worksheet to get started. On the worksheet, draw your Lifestyle spheres twice. First draw them how they are now. Then draw them how you want them to be in six months. Next, write on the lines in the center, the one thing you can do now that will move you toward your goal the fastest. Finally, make your commitment public. Snap a pic of the worksheet and go to http://facebook.com/howtoquitworking to share it with the community.

Quit Working, Start Living

About Jeff

Jeff Steinmann is the founder of the boutique lifestyle consulting company, Braveau Experts and author of How to Quit Working, a simple plan to leave your job for a life of freedom. He is a speaker and hosts a weekly show called “The How to Quit Working Show” that features Lifestyle Fanatics who have rejected the idea of having a JOB and put lifestyle first. Jeff also founded a real estate investing company, holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration and is a Certified High Performance Coach™. Jeff was a vice president at a major financial institution for over 10 years, managing large technology programs, including website conversions for the largest bank mergers in the U.S. His extensive knowledge of marketing, sales, business strategy and technology, combined with his experience building businesses for clients and himself have made him a sought after consultant to people at all levels of their businesses worldwide. Most of all, Jeff is a Lifestyle Fanatic, fiercely devoted to finding better ways to “do life”.

Image Credit: Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Building Relationships: It’s All Your Fault

One of the 13 decisions I made early on in my life was to never blame anyone for anything. Ever. That means taking 100% responsibility for EVERYTHING. Even if someone “wrongs” me, it was my fault for not setting better expectations, not creating a situation where I had as much control as I should have, or simply choosing to rely on the wrong person.

While nothing I’m saying is really controversial, most people have a silent objection. That silent objection is articulated something like this: “But that means I’m letting the person who was ‘wrong’ off the hook, which is NOT FAIR.”

Not true at all. I discuss how this affects your relationship with clients and prospects in this week’s blog post and short video, which you can watch below or just scroll down and keep reading.

This problem is this. When you blame others,

YOU GIVE THEM CONTROL.

If you view it from the standpoint of ‘how can I handle this differently next time,’ you are in control. If you are blaming someone else, you’ve given them control and you are the helpless victim. Let’s look at how this applies to building relationships with clients and prospects.

I follow this thought process in everything I do, and particularly with clients and prospects. Despite the many great reasons above for never blaming anyone, there are some really good reasons to keep this in mind when dealing with clients and prospects.

1)Any time someone feels “blamed”, right or wrong, it is sending the relationship downhill.

2)When you start blaming clients and prospects, you are losing control of your business.

3)When you are constantly looking for how YOU can do things better, you are constantly improving your business.

Never Blame

I had a situation the other day with one of my highest paying clients. We had a meeting on the calendar and

Building Relationships Its All Your Fault

the time on my calendar was two hours later than he believed the meeting was. This ended up being a time zone misunderstanding, however, nobody at my company did anything “wrong.” We did not provide any incorrect information and we did do an adequate amount of confirmation and validation. However, I did apologize and indicate that I will provide additional clarity next time. Now, we provide more time zone detail in our confirmations. Stronger business processes.

Keep Control

If there is one thing I could communicate to the world, it would be that when you blame others, you are simply giving away your control to them. If you blame clients and prospects for things that don’t go the way you want, you’ve given THEM control of your business and removed your control. I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs get caught in that trap. Never go there.

Constantly Improve

When you are looking at how YOU can improve a situation, you are keeping control of it and making everything in your business better and of higher quality. If you are putting things in place that actually prevent or deal with the “bad things” that clients or prospects do, you are building a business that is rock solid and stronger than your competitors’.

What Can I Do About It?

Just change the way you think about everything to be view every situation from the standpoint of “how could have handled this situation differently?” Just thinking that way empowers you in a huge way.
When there is a situation where something didn’t go the way you both expected, find a way to respond and use language that clearly outlines what happened and what YOU are going to do to fix it. This shows that you take responsibility and that you really CARE about your clients’ success and are willing to take action.
Every time something doesn’t go the way you want it to, make it a learning experience, and incorporate the learnings into your processes and procedures. This builds your business and makes everything you do higher quality.

As a side note, this mentality is very freeing. It opens you up to be calmer, more successful and in control of your business. Apply it to your life, too.

Let me know what you think. Comment below and let me know what changes you could make that would put you more in control of your business?

Image Credit: Photo by Ruthson Zimmerman on Unsplash

Talking to People: Your Tone

As we continue to discuss how to effectively build relationships with Clients and Prospects (and really everyone you talk to), let’s talk about always keeping a positive tone.

Using a positive tone keeps you in the forefront of people’s minds as someone they WANT to talk to because you are always showing them something positive – ie. That they want or like.

I see people mess this up all the time, usually by using language that unintentionally puts people on the defensive because it accusing or jabbing at them somehow. They don’t even realize they are doing it and I’m going to talk about how to avoid it.

I made a video about this, which you can watch below, or you can just scroll down and keep reading.

Let’s discuss a few examples. These particularly irritate me.

“You lost me.”

Have you ever heard this? When someone doesn’t understand what someone else is saying, they say, “you lost me.” Communication is a two way street. It almost always requires some back and forth in order for both parties to understand each other. When you say, “You lost me,” whether you mean to or not, you’ve just communicated to the person you are speaking to and trying to build rapport with that they have done their job poorly and they need to try again. Why send that message? Use it as an opportunity to better understand the person and their perspective.

Instead try something like this:

“Mike, I don’t understand this point. Could you help me understand this better?”

Now, you have opened the channels of communication for both of you to begin a dialogue and better understand each other! Now we’re building relationships.

Just don’t use language that makes it seem like there is something “wrong.” There really is very little “right” or “wrong”. It’s a giant gray area. Instead, use what appears as a disagreement to better understand the persons perspective, concerns, wants and needs. If this is a prospect, understanding how they think about their situation will be invaluable in your ability to provide value to them and ultimately, sell stuff to them!

Let’s look at another example. The word “but.” I completely eliminated this word from my vocabulary a long

Talking to Clients and Prospects Your Tone

time ago. The way we use “but” is almost always negative in it’s tone. Here are two examples that state the same thing but one says it in a much more positive and uplifting way.

“That looks great Gary, but you need to make the margins wider.”

Versus

“That looks great Gary, and making the margins wider would make it even better.”

The first statement created a problem, the second statement created an opportunity. Two totally different ways to handle the exact same situation that also has two very different outcomes.

Side Note: Once you understand how these things work, you may still use them, but differently. You will actually use them when you have lost control and are TRYING to make it a conflict situation!

Here’s the big objection that many will have with this.

“But Jeff, I don’t want to appear weak or look like I don’t understand something.”

Get over it.

You don’t know or understand everything! Nobody expects you to and asking questions doesn’t make you look weak or ignorant. The most brilliant minds are as brilliant as they are because they asked so many questions and have such a diverse understanding and perspective.

So, when communicating with clients and prospects, remember these three things, to turn each conversation into an opportunity to build a relationship:

1)The language you use is either building up or tearing down your relationship. Choose your words carefully.

2)Every conversation is an opportunity to learn more about the client or prospect you are talking to, so never disagree, only seek to understand.

3)Nobody is no right or wrong. It’s your job to get to the heart of each party’s perspective and understanding of the situation.

Image Credit: Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash