I found a friend awhile back through sort of an International PenPal organization and we shot a few emails back and forth and I hadn't heard from him in awhile. We all get busy with our lives and I too hadn't wrote him but he sent me an email that resulted in this article. Here is his email to me and my response.
Mike,
Hey - sorry I havent been in touch for a while - I got heart disease - and have had all sorts of tests - I am now waiting for a by pass operation - nit bad for a fit and healthy 44 years old - We had no idea - until I decided to have a CT scan done - and we found a lot of stuff!!
Anyway =- hope all is well with you M
Richard,
This is a longer message than what I thought I was going to send when I started it but evidently your news brought up some issues I still had issues with so please bear-with.
Sorry to hear that, I have 3 stories on that 1 is heart-breaking(for me), 1 is a Sign(here's your sign pointed towards Mike) and 1 is very encouraging.
Will get the "Here's Your Sign" out of the way first... my biological father died at 46 from massive heart attack(I'll be 48 next month) I should be working out everyday. I am an easy 70 pounds overweight(260 Lbs/ 6 foot tall). I say biological because I only have 2 'visions' of recollecting him(he died when I was 4.
The heart-break was when my step-dad died, he was 56 and had been married to my mom for 27 years(since I was 10) I have a bunch of regret of not spending more time with him when he was getting weaker and weaker.
The "Encoragement" is from a friend and fellow construction buddy of my step-dad's, my step-dad and he had heart bypasses just a month a part. My step-dad had a double-triple(6) bypass and his friend Dean had a quadruple(4). Well I saw Dean a few months ago still going strong. My step dad was 50 when he had his bypass and Dean was 52 if memory serves me.
My step-dad always had a problem with following Doctor's orders, he had a gastric bypass when he was 29 but never changed his eating habits so he was sick(puking from over-eating) almost everyday till he died. My dad would sneak "no-no foods" and he ended up on dialysis for the last 6 years of his life. I really believe if he could have controlled his eating we would still be 'putting up with him controlling everyone and everything' still(he was a control-freak). Very successful though.
The stress of caring for him took it's toll on my mom but she had a big strike against her because she smoked, died from emphysema 6 years ago at the age of 71. She was 9 years older than my stepdad but they were like two peas in a pod.
Some of the following may not apply to you so catch what does and forgive me for what doesn't.
Now for you, if you smoke QUIT. GOD delivered me from a 4-pack a day habit 10 years ago come this October.
You and I need to start exercising(maybe you already were exercising), I know I have spent too much time this summer in front of the PC not getting a darned thing done except gain an extra 10-12 poiunds.
We both need to start eating much better, I can imagine you already have been given a List by your doctor of the "do's and don't" maybe you can share it with me. Vegetables are a hassle around my house but very much needed. My wife is an easy 130 pounds overweight, she needs your prayers as I do. You already have my prayer with you.
Enough of that, do you have Skype? I have the free version for instant messaging, etc. I got it because a friend wanted to send me some big files, too big for an email attachement. My skype addy is ( mike.feddersen ) without the parenthesis.
When we first started emailing each other you mentioned "I dont know where you and I got the beleif that we werent as good as others - but its time we both stopped thinking it!!!"
Well you are absolutely right on that and when my mom died it occured to me that "nobody that I had looked up to or had allowed 'power over me' had ever offered any sort of Help and that I was no longer going to give anyone control... Well here I am 6 years later still "waiting", I don't know what I am waiting for so maybe you and I can form a pact to start Doing what we (shoulda, coulda, woulda) done in the past but for whatever reason we stopped? I don't see myself with any grand plans yet but that is also one of the things that has held me back, "No Plans". (I read recently and have known this since my mother told it to me as a teenager, "If you fail to plan, you Plan to Fail.) She said it as, "Plan your work. And Work your plan."
You know Richard this has become a bit of an article without me realizing it, I hope you don't mind I am going to put it up at a little blog I have that doesn't get a whole lot of traffic... http://nichehow.blogspot.com
Thanks for writing to me Richard, I really am Praying for your Recovery and a long life.
Your friend,
Mike
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Niche of Mine'
I have a confession to make, and it might shock you that you may be guilty of this too, "I am a DIY a Do It Yourself kind of person". What I mean by that is when it comes to putting something together or driving somewhere I usually take the pieces out the box and see if I can cobble it together without the direction sheet or drive somewhere without a map or instructions on how to get there. Blah, blah, blah... so what does this have to do with anything? Great question.
Many businesses spend thousands and thousands of dollars finding new employees and personel only to use them for one task or another. They might be a literal gold mine of business innovation, marketing knowledge and past experience. They have lives before they come to work for you, after they are done for the day they have lives they return to. Ever think in the course of those lives they might have already stumbled across the knowledge that could help you?
I had a friend that I met at a seminar, we hit it off pretty well and after the seminar we kept in touch. I thought he was just a mortgage guy, turns out he was big in the real estate market at one time owning over 20 houses. My friend also is a master hypnotherapist. My friend also writes copy as a copywriter. Recently he started using some of his skills in a business advisory position with a direct marketing organization. That's just scratching the surface of what I know about my friend.
Most people, if they've been around awhile, have multiple hats that they wear or have worn. I can imagine the people you know and work with on a daily basis are the same.
That story about 6 degrees of separation, while the movie sucked the idea is very probable. If you are unfamiliar with it 6 degrees of separation goes like this: You are within 6 people of knowing almost anyone anywhere. If your circle is similar to mine you might be thinking bull.... but listen for a minute. Most people know someone that has money, family, friend or employer that's the first level. Well I can imagine their circle of friends and acquaintances is larger than ours, they probably know someone that is a big shot by their standards. If you keep progressing in this fashion you will find someone that knows the person that you are wanting to contact. Stanley Milgram and Duncan Watts are two names associated with this phenomenon if you care to ressearch it further.
How does 6 Degrees effect mining friends and employees knowledge? Well first you need to have a want, a wish or bare minimum a question needing answered. Then you need to start asking for help with your solution, either someone knows the solution directly or they know someone who knows someone, etc.
What solutions might you find if you started looking diligently?
Many businesses spend thousands and thousands of dollars finding new employees and personel only to use them for one task or another. They might be a literal gold mine of business innovation, marketing knowledge and past experience. They have lives before they come to work for you, after they are done for the day they have lives they return to. Ever think in the course of those lives they might have already stumbled across the knowledge that could help you?
I had a friend that I met at a seminar, we hit it off pretty well and after the seminar we kept in touch. I thought he was just a mortgage guy, turns out he was big in the real estate market at one time owning over 20 houses. My friend also is a master hypnotherapist. My friend also writes copy as a copywriter. Recently he started using some of his skills in a business advisory position with a direct marketing organization. That's just scratching the surface of what I know about my friend.
Most people, if they've been around awhile, have multiple hats that they wear or have worn. I can imagine the people you know and work with on a daily basis are the same.
That story about 6 degrees of separation, while the movie sucked the idea is very probable. If you are unfamiliar with it 6 degrees of separation goes like this: You are within 6 people of knowing almost anyone anywhere. If your circle is similar to mine you might be thinking bull.... but listen for a minute. Most people know someone that has money, family, friend or employer that's the first level. Well I can imagine their circle of friends and acquaintances is larger than ours, they probably know someone that is a big shot by their standards. If you keep progressing in this fashion you will find someone that knows the person that you are wanting to contact. Stanley Milgram and Duncan Watts are two names associated with this phenomenon if you care to ressearch it further.
How does 6 Degrees effect mining friends and employees knowledge? Well first you need to have a want, a wish or bare minimum a question needing answered. Then you need to start asking for help with your solution, either someone knows the solution directly or they know someone who knows someone, etc.
What solutions might you find if you started looking diligently?
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Niche "In the News"
I was sitting in the waiting room of a car dealers lube shop waiting on their sealcoat guy to re-apply whatever sort of gunk they put on that keeps your paint from falling off like it did on my 98 GMC pickup, when I heard the tv blaring about a 4 legged shoplifter. I stopped reading the book I had and paid attention to their tale of the thief with a tail. Here is the link to the video of that cool caper.
Now what I liked about the story was how smart of a PR tool this could be if some smart marketer would latch on to it and the right dog bone manufacturer. Dr. Paul Hartunian was a struggling marketer that was was working on a method of mail order that relied on Press Releases, he heard a story on the news about a contractor restoring The Brooklyn Bridge. Paul immediately called the contractor to see what they were going to do with the old wood he had seen in a pile in the news footage, the contractor said he would haul it to the dump where they would charge him to throw it away. Paul talked the guy into delivering it to him instead and that he would pay for it. The contractor liked that idea better. Now how would you profit from this story?
There are tons of stories like this everyday in the news and if you look at the stories with a marketer's eye you are liable to be able to make money with many of those stories.
Now what I liked about the story was how smart of a PR tool this could be if some smart marketer would latch on to it and the right dog bone manufacturer. Dr. Paul Hartunian was a struggling marketer that was was working on a method of mail order that relied on Press Releases, he heard a story on the news about a contractor restoring The Brooklyn Bridge. Paul immediately called the contractor to see what they were going to do with the old wood he had seen in a pile in the news footage, the contractor said he would haul it to the dump where they would charge him to throw it away. Paul talked the guy into delivering it to him instead and that he would pay for it. The contractor liked that idea better. Now how would you profit from this story?
There are tons of stories like this everyday in the news and if you look at the stories with a marketer's eye you are liable to be able to make money with many of those stories.
In the "Niche of Time"
Sorry if that title has been beat to death but it did seem appropriate for this post.
I found an interesting article from a man I met through twitter. Here is a link to his timely post on doing due diligence(he described it as to vet). Due diligence is something we all "sometimes' put off on others. A line I often quote by the late Cavett Robert's, "Most people are walking around with their umbilical cord in hand looking for a new place to plug it in." We all get lazy with our "need" to let someone smarter, wiser and better than us to do it for us. Me too.
In my own experience I came into an economic upswing and decided it was time to 'invest in my education'. Well I got an MBA in the lesson of coaching groups, importance of "doing something even if it aint perfect yet" and doing it NOW! I joined a coaching program in a niche business(one I had no knowledge or experience in) because that was where the 'money was'. The coach gave a multiple item list of things to do but since the business was new to me I did not implement those things ASAP, I mule-trained-it. Well it just so happened that this particular niche was going to die in 6 months, but it was Red Hot for 5 months if I would have took massive action, maybe found a partner in that new the business and implemented across the board.
The guy who's blog post that talked about doing your due diligence did not completely explain why he did not get involved with the programs above, maybe he was smarter than the average bear, maybe that's his way. My way has been procrastination, looking for someone to do it for me, "looking for a new place to plug my umbilical cord in."
Now out of even the expensive lessons in life you can learn a ton, and I did. I met some great people just like the readers of this article. I still have a ways' to go but the contacts I have found because of choosing my path will be worth their weight in gold. Jay Abraham mentions in his "Your Secret Wealth" program that when he starts anything he visualizes a pot or bag of Gold coming from it and it always is found. That's an excellent program as all of Jay's stuff is, that and his book "Getting Everything You Can Out of All That You Got" are his least costly programs but they are great lessons in marketing and seeing the unseen.
In summary, coaching programs and opportunities all have their season, there time to act. What do you need to act on?
I found an interesting article from a man I met through twitter. Here is a link to his timely post on doing due diligence(he described it as to vet). Due diligence is something we all "sometimes' put off on others. A line I often quote by the late Cavett Robert's, "Most people are walking around with their umbilical cord in hand looking for a new place to plug it in." We all get lazy with our "need" to let someone smarter, wiser and better than us to do it for us. Me too.
In my own experience I came into an economic upswing and decided it was time to 'invest in my education'. Well I got an MBA in the lesson of coaching groups, importance of "doing something even if it aint perfect yet" and doing it NOW! I joined a coaching program in a niche business(one I had no knowledge or experience in) because that was where the 'money was'. The coach gave a multiple item list of things to do but since the business was new to me I did not implement those things ASAP, I mule-trained-it. Well it just so happened that this particular niche was going to die in 6 months, but it was Red Hot for 5 months if I would have took massive action, maybe found a partner in that new the business and implemented across the board.
The guy who's blog post that talked about doing your due diligence did not completely explain why he did not get involved with the programs above, maybe he was smarter than the average bear, maybe that's his way. My way has been procrastination, looking for someone to do it for me, "looking for a new place to plug my umbilical cord in."
Now out of even the expensive lessons in life you can learn a ton, and I did. I met some great people just like the readers of this article. I still have a ways' to go but the contacts I have found because of choosing my path will be worth their weight in gold. Jay Abraham mentions in his "Your Secret Wealth" program that when he starts anything he visualizes a pot or bag of Gold coming from it and it always is found. That's an excellent program as all of Jay's stuff is, that and his book "Getting Everything You Can Out of All That You Got" are his least costly programs but they are great lessons in marketing and seeing the unseen.
In summary, coaching programs and opportunities all have their season, there time to act. What do you need to act on?
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