Why do the buttons on men’s clothes go on the right hand side, while the buttons on women’s clothes go on the left hand side? After all, 90% of men and women are right handed, and it’s easier to button from the right, so it stands to reason that it would be better to have the buttons on the right.

It all started because women had other women dress them and button their clothes and tight corsets in days gone by, and even though they generally don’t have maidservants dressing them anymore, old habits die hard. The same goes for the QWERTY keyboard on my computer – it doesn’t make sense to have the letters in this order, but we all resist change.

Success is the Result of Consistent Action

We know that success is the result of consistent, small, regular, good choices and actions, and that our habits make us or break us. We naturally resist change, get addicted to our comfort zones, and justify bad choices. When you mix with people who share the same bad, debilitating, limits that you have, you’re unlikely to break free from the herd mentality. So how do we go about creating new habits that will empower and free us?

The best way I have found to do this is to spend time with people whose success I wish to emulate in any given area. When your habits clash with the habits of those with whom you are spending time, something has to give. If you’re a stinky smoker, you’re going to feel uncomfortable with non smokers over a period of time. If you love trotting off to the junk food trough, and you’re a fatty like me, and your friends are all health food fanatics, there will be a spot of conflict, and you will start to modify your bad food habits.

Our habits are the staircase to our destinies.

Each step is a choice, and by consistently climbing in the same direction, whether up or down, your path and your destination are pretty plain to see to the objective observer. In business, it’s all about profit and time. If you want more profit with less time invested and less risk, you need to change your business philosophy, which will affect your habits and actions, and ultimately put you on the right path.

Stand back and take a good, hard look at your business. Are you heading up or down? Do you hide behind loser, has-been words like “Old school”, “Been there, done that”, “Laid Back”, “Experience has taught me”? Are you motivated to change? Have to reached your pain threshold? Can you overcome your ego? What habits have to be stopped or modified, and which new habits have to be instituted in your life? Read the books, “The War or Art” and “The Slight Edge” – they will help a lot.

The best system I have ever found to dramatically change your business to high profit, low risk, and little time, is Joint Ventures.

Robin J. Elliott
www.JVWisdom.com

Most successful leaders believe that only 3% of people are truly successful, and statistics support this. Only 3% of the North America population, for example, reads books. If you look at retirement and wealth statistics, baseball batting averages, and business sales ratios, you’ll find that magical 3% everywhere.

That means that 97% of people are not ideal business partners, and you frankly don’t need them to succeed if you can get to the 3%. Entrepreneurs who try to be well liked, popular, and politically correct, waste a lot of time appeasing losers and consoling whiners, instead of  focusing on the leaders, the winners, and the results. It’s more important to be respected than it is to be liked, and then only by the 3%.

I once heard a good analogy that a friend of mine taught when illustrating that “the tall trees catch the wind”.  He said that he regarded the complaints and resentment of wanna-be’s as he would barking dogs. The opinions of successful people were important to him and he took advice only from people who were achieving more than he was. Some say they justify tolerating underachievers and has-beens with the old saying, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince”, however we don’t build relationships with frogs. Those are simply the duds that lead to the studs. You don’t carry stepping stones up the mountain with you.

You don’t have to justify or explain yourself to anyone who does not contribute to your success.

You simply don’t have the time and resources to waste. Rescuing victims and enabling parasites is for government and social workers. John Addison said, “Never take advice from someone more screwed up than you are”, and Boreh Dean said, “You have to earn the right to whine to me.” Casting pearls before swine is fine if you like applause, but if you like profit you need to conserve your resources.

If you are serious about creating wealth:

• become extremely selective
• set high standards
• discipline yourself
• and develop a thick skin.

You need courage to achieve success, and, if you want to join the 3%, popularity is superfluous. Study the life of Winston Churchill for a great example of this philosophy. Do what winners do, and you’ll get what they get.

When I meet someone, I listen carefully to establish what pain he or she is suffering. It’s usually in one or all of three areas: Finances, Time, and Freedom. I then get the prospective customer to elaborate on his pain,
using open-ended questions. I turn the knife in the wound, as it were. I ask:

• How does this situation affect him, personally?
• What impact does it have on his family?
• How will it affect his future?
• In fact, if he doesn’t solve the problem?
• What will his life look like in two years?
• What are the consequences of NOT solving his problem?

Now that he realizes he has a problem, and having dwelt on it, is acutely aware of his need to solve it, I have him tell me what his life could be like should he be able to solve his problem:

• How will he personally feel once this problem has been resolved?
• What effect will it have on his family and profits?
• How will it change his future?
• Give him a glimpse of the rewards he will reap by solving the problem.

Next, I become the solution, or the bridge to his better life, by connecting him with whatever product or service is necessary to solve his problem. When I connect him with the business that solves his problem, I
receive an on-going (yes, I said on-going) commission from that business. That income is 100% margin to me, if it is not my own product or service, so I can’t lose. I create value and get paid for it, and I have a happy customer. Whether he buys from me or not doesn’t matter – he is happy and I made money. I solved his problem and was paid for the service.

Link supply and demand and get paid.

It’s not about you or your business – it’s about value. Be a good listener, help people to get what they want, and you get rich. Stop telling people about your products and services – they don’t care. They care about their problems and goals, and you need to shut up and listen to them so that you can solve their problems and make money. Selling is old hat, as out of date as a commodore 64 computer, boring, childish, and naïve. Solving is the way things work these days, and the ideal vehicle is Joint Ventures.

Robin J. Elliott
www.JVWisdom.com

We bought a washer/dryer at Sears. The salesman came round to my house in his own time to disconnect the water pipes at no charge, the night before delivery of the new appliances. He had a great, friendly, helpful attitude. He recommended I buy longer pipes and a longer drainage pipe so that it would fit better, which I did. When the machines were installed, the installers forgot to remove the supports, so when we turned the appliances on, they leapt around like kangaroos. The salesman came over, fixed everything, and arranged a $100 discount.

This salesman used his own, private time, got his clothes dirty, never complained, went the extra mile, and made sure we were happy customers. Amazing service. Would I want to help him, send him business, and support him in any way I could? You bet I would. Did he have to sell me anything, pitch anything, or ask for anything? No. My daughter is about to buy a new fridge. I called her and suggested she give this salesman her business.

I have an amazing insurance / financial planning guy who has been a great benefit to me and to strong businesspeople for who I have lots of respect. I refer him to people and he gives them a complimentary consultation. He saves me thousands in tax – why would I not refer him? He didn’t have to ask me to do so, because he went the extra mile. He’s reliable, honest. Astute, professional, always on time, and responds fast. You will probably e-mail me and ask for his telephone number. I’ll be glad to pass it on (if you’re in Canada.)

When you take the time to go into the forest to chop the wood, meticulously prepare the fire, get your hands dirty, and make sure the thing blazes away, you deserve to enjoy the heat, but not before. Entitlement, arrogance, socialism, shoddy service, and impatience robs many people of excellent referrals in business. It’s not about the money, honey. I don’t even know what I paid for the washer/dryer stuff – I just chose the most expensive and bought it. It’s all about the service.

“If you want a friend, BE a friend” – good advice. If you want benefits, you have to contribute. When the contribution stops, losers don’t understand why they’re not still enjoying the benefits. Create massive, unexpected, glittering value, and you can rest assured smart people will reciprocate. We bought expensive hardwood flooring from Home Depot and had it delivered and unpacked. Then we sent it all back again three days later since the floor was too uneven. They collected it and didn’t charge us a blue cent. They even paid the delivery and the installers. They didn’t have to. Now we’re loyal customers, and this article will be read by thousands of people.

Yes, what goes around comes around. Keep your promises, deliver on time, be friendly and helpful, and you will have little competition. Give additional service and go the extra mile, and your success is all but guaranteed if you’re serving good people. If not, you’ll wake up one morning to find you have been replaced by someone who understands this. We help those who help us. The good news is that you can use Joint Ventures to create MASSIVE additional value that your competition can never equal, at no cost to you.

Robin J., Elliott
www.JVWisdom.com

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly…