Updating my own sites in addition to facebook, working for myself
8 November 2007Raphi is back from yad kennedy bike ride jerusalem. Updating http://www.raphisalem.com (this blog), http://www.salem.co.il & http://www.JerusalemRealEstateGuide.com. Meeting with Shimshon Young, for http://www.JudaicaStore.com and http://www.Chanuka.com.What I have realized time and time again is that I (and many others) consistently waste our time and work to benefit others instead of ourselves. One immediate example is that I have spent the last week studying and assessing facebook and updating my profile and doing a lot of work for them. So not that that’s a bad thing and indeed it does benefit my professional life, but when I look back at all of the social networking that I have been doing, I realize that I have not been updating my own websites. So from now on, though I will be updating my facebook, linked in and ryze pages, I am also going to commit to keeping my own blogs and websites updated. In the end, the social networking sites do indeed benefit me and my company from an SEO and link perspective. But at the same time, my own sites are the ones that also help me and my company.And on an even deeper “meta” level, how many people out there work for corporate America or large companies where they are living paycheck to paycheck, making the large corporations bigger and stronger and not getting paid what they are really worth. And this goes to the people who work for me as well. Though we have a profit sharing program in our company, my guys are really working hard in start-up mode for the potential of being on the ground level of a growing company. On the other hand - would they do better working for themselves?
And so the question is - CAN everyone work for themselves? It’s funny that some entrepreneurs are actually forced to work for themselves not because they can’t hold down a job or they wouldn’t be an asset to a larger company. And sometimes its not an ego thing either. It’s just the realization that they CAN do it for themselves, they can motivate themselves and they have the skills to make it all happen.
A new colleague of mine was an air force pilot for many years. He was all set to become a pilot for a large commercial airline and then realized that the amount of money he could make as a pilot did not compare to the amount of money he could make in real estate. So now he is BUYING jets, in addition to flying them.
So who do you want to work for now? Yourself or someone else? How do you get started? Go onto any search engine and ask how. There are no fewer than a billion articles and websites on how to start up your own business. True, about 95% of them are scams and get rich quick schemes, but if you get onto a reputable site, Dale Carnegie, Brian Tracy, even Donald Trump, there is some good stuff out there. Do not do anything for $19.95. Do not do anything for $1000. You need references. From friends, relatives and close family or community members. Always do due diligence before you start up your own company. And by the way, being your own boss does not mean working less, it means working more. But you have the freedom to set your own hours and at some point you can choose your own customers and clients.
For me, its taken over 10 years to realize all this but if I had good advice and a good mentor I probably could’ve done it in 3 - 5.
Email me if you want to know more. I haven’t started consulting or coaching yet but someday I probably will. I can’t stand these coaches these days that HAVEN’T been there and done that. Only trust coaches and mentors that are multi-millionaire successful people. Don’t take someone who just completed a course, work with someone who drives a Jaguar, has a big house, boat or owns a lot of real estate and vacations a lot. Those are the people you want to learn from. And usually they are the most giving.
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