USE WHAT YOU HAVE

At some point in my life I felt I was bulletproof and didn't make mistakes. I was always right no matter what. I was very hot headed and had immense strength so violence was a tool I used to settle issues. Many people stayed away from me because of my explosive temper. I was living like this until I heard the song Man In The Mirror by Micheal Jackson. I played the song over and over for many days. It changed my life. While I was a brute I noticed not many things went my way. I would get into situations with solid arguments then I get angry and everything is destroyed. I was losing things from winning positions. I knew something had to change but I felt it was what was external that needed to change. I was perfect. Remember? 

I found the lyrics to that song and wrote it down. I read it everyday. It struck me that if I wanted to make any change about my fortunes I didn't need to look at others. I needed to look in the mirror and address what I saw. It was what I had in me that was driving away good things I should get. 

A lot of people are in this boat. They are looking for solutions to issues outside of themselves without, first, exhausting the solution within. There is no human being on earth that is born without talent or some crude skills that can be honed. The problem is identifying this skill. The educational curriculum is designed to find these unique skills in all of us and hone them but the quest for paper qualification is numbing this drive. People now finish school and are not better than they were when they began. University education is wonderful, if you can afford it, but if by the time you finish high school you have not found one thing you are just inexplicably good at you have a small problem. 

Anyways, my point here is that to get what you desire out of life you have to start by using what you have. There is a resource you have that you can use to create value that people can pay you for. It is somewhere around you but you can't see it because you aren't looking. These things are usually freely available. Perhaps that's why we ignore them. What we don't pay for we find hard to value. This resource could be your smartphone, a piece of land, a jalopy car, a person, a book and so on. It could just be anything. Find it. Let me give you examples with myself. 

I have been on whatsapp since I can't remember. I have read over 500,000 messages on whatsapp. I have sent probably that same amount or more. This is a conservative estimate. If I put together all the messages I have read on whatsapp I may have read 200 books easily. I have never considered whatsapp a money making tool until last week. I started offering a pizza delivery service on whatsapp last week and to my surprise people responded. On a Saturday when my restaurant was closed I made about $300. I already have 6 orders booked for next Saturday and today is Monday. Do you know how mind-blowing that is to me? I talked about building value is one of my articles which you can read here. In it I explained that people will come to you once you have value to offer. 

I have just finished writing a book and I needed an editor to go through it and make sure things are in the right places. I don't know any book editor so I went in search of one. I searched on Facebook and found a group of book editors. Long story short, I have engaged a lady who lives in Nigeria to do the job. She charged a fee. Get this. I live in Canada. She lives in Nigeria. Distance has not stopped up from connecting and interacting. It's the same Facebook that people post all kinds of things on and seek validation from strangers. This lady is on the same platform earning money. Of course, she will get credit in the book as the editor. If she does a good job, which I believe she will, she will get more jobs from Canada. Please reflect on this and review what you are doing on Facebook. 

Two days ago a friend called to pick my brain (I don't know why people think I have one) on a business idea. He wanted to start selling on Amazon. Brilliant idea. He has a source of men's jeans at very good prices. He checked the same brand on Amazon and found he could sell at a lower cost and make almost 100% profit. Selling on Amazon means you will pay them some commission to use their platform. Then there's shipping which he doesn't understand. I don't understand too. We agreed that he should open a Facebook account and start posting pictures and videos of his product. He has done that and is getting engagements from people. It's not many, but it's a start. He hopes to ship his first order next week. What are you doing on Facebook? 

We are always quick to tell people to use what they have to get what they want. What do you have? Or don't you want something? Are you using what you have to get ahead? Business is about cost reduction so you can maximise profit. I don't have funds for adverts. I have started using Facebook and whatsapp for that. They are free platforms and there's many groups of people there who I can reach directly with simple messages. 

Use what you have to get to the top. Start now. If you don't know where to start, buy a good full size mirror. See you at the top.