For Spence

Via Lazyway:
Advanced Secret of Success -- Be a Contrarian

It is extremely rare to achieve financial success as an employee. Salaried folk, unless you are the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees, will not get rich. You can say some Microsoft employees got exceedingly rich but their wealth came through ownership, not through salaries. Basically you have to own something that appreciates majorly to realize great wealth.

Probably the best way to do that is to build a business. One thing that distinguishes super successful entrepreneurs from the run-of-the-mill is a contrarian mindset. Super successful entrepreneurs start out not liking the status quo. They have a low regard for the conventional...

These contrarian guys and gals are NOT driven by the desire to amass great wealth. Instead they are driven by passion. Wealth just happens as a by-product of their passion...

To be successful, you must either become one of these contrarian-types by nurturing the rebel within you OR you have to team up with one.

He who embraces the status quo is destined to punch a time clock until he can punch no more.

and, of course:

Finding Your Calling

When I tell someone the secret to success is to do what he or she feels passionately about, they frequently ask me how they can identify the passion that will bring them the greatest success.

Here is what I answer:

You are a unique individual, endowed with many things that make you special. God was not stingy in giving you many powerful qualities. You have more than one passion and more than one talent.

So here is how to start the process. First, make a list of all your gifts. In other words, what talents or characteristics do you possess that are special? What makes you unique? Include on your list those positive areas where you are a contrarian or a deviant or a rebel. Your power lies on this list.

Now make a second list of all those things you love to do or feel passionately about. Include on this list the answer to this key question: what do I GIVE that when I'm giving it I am filled with great joy. Chances are that you love giving what you have in abundance. And what do you have in abundance? Those gifts or talents you put on the first list.

It would be extremely helpful to consider WHY you like a certain activity. What are all those things about a particular activity that feeds your passion? If something lights your fire then you must have some insight into why it does and in what ways it does. Write down what about it inspires you, what pleases you, what reveals more of yourself to you, what makes you laugh, what about it contributes to a greater good, etc.

NOW: think of ways or activities that involves SEVERAL of your talents, gifts, passions, and unique characteristics at the same time. We want to kill two (or more) birds with one stone OR, better put, hug two or more birds with one embrace.

The more passions and gifts that you can intersect at one point the better.

If, for some reason, that intersection of passions does not have a commercial component, modify it with more passions or talents until it does. At the intersection of many passions and talents, there should emerge a service, or a product, or an artwork, or a body of information that can be spun off commercially. This way you get to pursue your passions, grow your talents, give of yourself to others, contribute to a greater good, and, as a by-product of all this playing around, generate wealth.

Failing all that, there's this:

Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace