SUCCESS IS Just 6 Lessons Away

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SUCCESS Ebook

If you have not downloaded the SUCCESS Ebook by now, you should have (www.downloadsuccess.info) There are awesome bloggers all over the globe writing articles on Success this week . This is my one.

Photo courtesy of Kriss Szkurlatowski.

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Lesson 1: Stop Presuming

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“To Assume Makes An ASS out of U and ME. An annoyingly smarmy phrase made even more so by its strong underlying truth.”

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One of the biggest lessons I have learn’t in the last 6-8 months or so of my new business, one that has brought me the most grief and cost me the most money, is when I have presumed too much and assumed that certain things were obvious. Assuming is dangerous and to do so is also incredibly arrogant as it presumes that everyone operates and thinks as you do, which unfortunately, is simply not the case in real life however perfect you think your way of operating is.

For success you need to become an expert at working with people and a big part of this is an ability to communicate your ideas and wants effectively in a way that doesn’t get lost in translation. This is an art form, one that is constantly in development, and needs to be continually checked, honed and polished. It takes time, commitment and sacrifice but, as my dwindling bank account can testify to, it is worth the investment.

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Keep your communication skills as highly polished as a Hedge Funds welcome lobby and you can happily PRESUME you will be successful.

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Lesson 2: Use Standard Wherever Possible

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Almost 3 grand invested, 6 months in development and a lot of blood, sweat and salty tears and I find out we could have had a similar system for less than 50 quid a month in a matter of days – F@!£ Damn B*@£%$@! Son of a B*£$@.

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This is a lesson I should have learnt 3 years ago when I delayed the launch of my first product because I wanted to get it designed “Just right” That little badass decision cost me almost 3 months and 5 grand and I made exactly the same mistake just recently with the website e-commerce system of another one of my businesses. As it happens, the situation is not quite as black and white as that and the custom system will make my life easier in the long run but for a startup it would have been easier and a lot more beneficial to start with a standard and then develop a custom one when required.

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“When you are trying to reduce overheads – Use Standard. When you are trying to save time – Use Standards. When you are trying to befriend Batman – use….”

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Lesson 3: Learn From Your Mistakes

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Making mistakes is the only way to success – making the same mistakes again and again is just plain dumb.

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As highlighted in lesson two, not learning from my mistakes has cost me substantial amounts  of money and time as well as considerable stress, but really I have no one to blame but myself – although of course I do blame everyone else. I think the ability to learn from a mistake and take steps and actions in order to avoid making the same mistake again is what separates the truly successful people from everyone else.

Have a system for reviewing mistakes and making action plans in order to avoid making them again. If you don’t take the time and effort to access and correct your mistakes it WILL cost you in the long run. I currently am not practicing what I preach but given the amount of money I have lost so far, I definitely will be in the future.

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Fortune favours the bold, and failure follows the smuck that doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

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Lesson 4: Just Do It

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Most people treat ideas like they do journeys, they are waiting for all the traffic lights to lineup green before starting the trip.

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Even though I have just spent a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of Nike brand sports socks they defiantly got it right with the “Just Do It” tagline. Many people, myself included, tend to wait around until everything is “Just right” before taking action and actually doing something. It is one of the biggest reasons people are not successful. From my own experience I have found that if I have an idea and start testing it straight away it develops in wonderful ways and also grows in unexpected ways, other projects I have been developing to get them just right, are still developing.

For example, I have a project called Pictomins which I have been developing for over 2 years and it is still not really going anywhere because I have not got it out into the market to test it. On the other hand I came up with an idea for a SUCCESS Ebook, created a plan overnight and launched it the next day and over the last month it has grown and developed in amazing ways I could not have planned and has had almost 500 downloads in the first 48 hours of launch.

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Success and fortune rarely favours the smart, but the bold.

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Lesson 5: Experts Really Don’t Always Know Best

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It is amazing how many financial advisers and investors are not themselves stinking rich. They talk the talk but still live from pay check to pay check. Stamp on their toes.

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Again, I have lost major money and time in the last few year by presuming that experts on a  subject knew what they were talking about and especially when it related to my unique situation. I blindly followed their advice without putting the ideas through my own filtering system and deciding for myself if it was the right thing to do. Always look to others for advice, especially those that you respect and are more knowledgeable about a topic then you, but remember to take a balanced view from many sources and then run it through your own filtering systems to make your decision.

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Don’t fall into the trap of the blind leading the blind. Open your eyes.

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Lesson 6: Be Flexible

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Successful people are as limber and flexible as a Thai Chi practicing, double jointed gymnast at the peak of their career.

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We are no longer in the Industrial age, we are now in the information age and thus, like a cricketeer who has suddenly found himself in a basketball game, we need to learn to adapt and change the way we do things in order to succeed in this new, rapidly changing environment. Problems are numerous, setbacks are many and the damn world is changing so quickly that what you are doing this year might be out of date next year. This is not a bad thing and successful people will see it as an opportunity to be ready to take the new wave by storm. Learn to enjoy this world we live in currently, fast paced and all, and see yourself as being involved in the fastest and most exciting game in the world. Either that or shy away from the challenge and doggedly try to stick to old ideas of working and ultimately lose.

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Don’t be a stubborn slow moving dog, you adaptable, quick chameleon / cheetah hybrid.

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