Real Estate Information Archive

I’ve written about the importance of specialization before. If you’re not a specialist, you’re a commodity, which means you’re in a sort of prison. Commodity prison. 

Commodity prison means you can’t charge a premium for your product; you compete with your competitors based on price alone; your business is mainly prospecting driven (or spending your last few dollars on “hopeful,” usually ineffective marketing strategies) instead of attracting customers to you; it’s hard, if not impossible to establish customer loyalty. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Yep, commodity prison sucks. 

One key that will open your commodity prison door and grant you freedom into the land of specialization is purpose. Yes, purpose. I know, it sounds so fluffy, right? What the hell does that mean anyway? 

When you’re “on purpose” professionally it means you are leveraging your unique talents and abilities that you absolutely love and build a business around it. You generate your income from doing what it is you are super passionate about and innately competent with. 

Let’s address something right up front: many people I know and I meet are earning their income doing something they don’t love; in some cases doing something they absolutely detest. This is a road that usually leads directly into commodity prison. How the hell can you expect to stand out when don’t even enjoy your work?

You can’t. Here’s a perfect example of this situation and hopefully some inspiration to move you. A close friend of mine, John Strelecky, is currently an author. A best-selling author in several countries at that. He didn’t start out as an author though.

Several years ago, John lived in Chicago. He was a consultant at one of the big consultancy firms, flying all over the world working with companies, helping to make them more effective. Sounds awesome, right? 

Not for John. For him it was just a job; he wanted to travel the world on his own terms, on his own schedule and be in control of his income. And here’s the thing: John was making good money; but because he wasn’t on purpose, he would never move up the ranks of his behemoth company – he didn’t have the desire to work extra hard or be creative to stand out. You simply cannot access your creative talents when you're not on purpose (and what being on purpose provides for you).

So John decided to do something about it. He and his wife sold everything they owned, and with the proceeds plus his savings, traveled around the world for an entire year. Over the course of that year, John found his passion for writing and inspiring others, and wrote his first book, “The Why Café.” It took him about a year to do it.

He’s since gone on to author 3 more books and live a very healthy financial lifestyle. Most importantly, he’s on purpose. His books have a unique flavor that combine a fable with success principles that resonate with people around the globe. He’s now a specialist, and damn good at what he does. People buy his books and book him for speaking engagements without him having to lift up the phone. Pretty cool.

Purpose is essential to be at peace in your life and it’s an integral part of being a specialist. When you’re on purpose, you have the drive, determination and creativity to be different from your competitors and you find a way to stand out. In fact, because you’re doing what you love, differentiation is the easy part. Sometimes it’s your authentic passion around what you’re doing that creates separation for you.

Not sure if you’re on purpose? A great place to start is to read Dan Sullivan’s book, “Unique Ability.” This is a fast, simple read and when you’re done you’ll learn your innate, unique ability, giving you guidance to your purpose. 

It’s time to get out of your own, personal jail and taste the fresh air of specialization. Your life will be transformed when you do.

Author:  Marc Manieri

Over the weekend I caught glimpes of his story on TV.  I wanted to hear something new, something I hadn't heard before. I flipped from channel to channel until I finally settled on an interview with Stacy Brown, the author of a Michael Jackson biography entitled “The Man Behind the Mask”. He made a connection between Michael Jackson and Jesus, saying that Michael Jackson’s mark on the world could have left as much of an impact as that left by Jesus. Stacy Brown suggested that Michael Jackson could have really helped people make positive transformations in their lives… if only that was the choice he would have made. According to Brown, Michael Jackson was in the position to really have an enormous effect on the people he touched; far beyond just the music he produced. He had the power to help people recover from drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and other destructive behaviour. He had the ability to truly help kids in need, rather than create suspicion about his own intentions where kids were concerned.

He had the attention of millions and he blew it away. 

He was too focused on what other people thought of him, on how he looked, on trying to be perfect in the eyes of the public, and managing his image to really pay attention to the needs of others. The harder he worked on looking big on the outside, the smaller he got inside. He wasn’t all that different from many people I work with in private coaching. They spend so much energy worrying about other people’s opinions that they can hardly access their own. They lose sight of who they are and what is really important to them. I see this all the time through the Frame of Mind Coaching process. It’s really quite an ordinary problem. As extraordinary as he was, Michael Jackson was truly just an ordinary man grappling with ordinary issues. He just never saw himself that way. 

Even though most of us are not as famous as Michael Jackson, we all have the potential to have a positive effect on others. All we have to do is make the choice to do just that and focus on it. After all, what you focus on grows!

Author:  Kim Ades