My friend and fellow Free Agent Academy Professor Justin Lukasavige offered an intriguing post last week that I just can’t get out of my head. Is it more important to have a compass or a map? As the FAA Professor for the Roadmap Group, I just couldn’t resist a hearty response. The comments on Justin’s post have been flying, and here’s my thoughts:

Bottom Line Up Front: You need both!

A compass is great for giving you an orientation to a fixed point. A physical compass always points north, which means you can always chart a course in any direction (east, west, south, etc.). In life and business, to me a compass represents your belief system and the principles you live your life by. My compass tells allows me to look at a situation or opportunity and decide it if fits who I am and who I want to be. It makes the decision to go forward or go back easier.

But a map…I love a good map! Not only can it show you where you’re at, but where you’ve been and where you could be. It shows you what’s over the hill and around the bend. The wisdom of those who’ve been there before drip off the edges of the map. Maps allow you to plot a course to where you want to be…helping you to see the biggest obstacles and sites before you get there.

Even more powerful is when you make your own map (read Seth Godin’s latest book Linchpin if you really want to understand the power in this concept). By plotting your journey–past, present and future–you create what only you can create. It’s personal and it’s experiential. It’s yours, and you own every wrong turn and successful breakthrough.

So if all you have is a compass, pick a direction and go forth! Just be sure to make your roadmap as you go. It makes everything more powerful!

It doesn’t matter how wonderful or brilliant or perfect your idea is. It’s worthless. Absolutely positively worthless…until you take action.

Back in the 70’s my father invented those diapers that can show when they’ve been, uh, “used”. He also invented a portable version of Kool-Aid that could be dropped into a glass of water instead of someone having to make an entire pitcher.

The trouble is, the ideas stayed in his head. He only talked about them AFTER they came to market and someone else made their millions. My dad’s an above average kind of guy. But in this respect, he’s normal like everyone else.

It’s happened to me too. I saw the dawn of internet video before most people could say “dot-com” (my degree is in computer science). Why didn’t I invent YouTube? I could have. But I didn’t. And I didn’t get millions of dollars when they sold to Google because the idea was only in my head.

So what do you do with those fabulous ideas?

1) Write Them Down – It isn’t real at all until you can see it. Put it on paper or in a computer file. Now it’s tangible.

2) Tell Someone About It – This is scary for most people. What if they laugh? Worse, what if they steal my idea? The truth is most people don’t have the energy to follow through on your idea. And if they do, it won’t be the same or as good as what you will do with it. You must find people who can shoot it down before you waste too much time and money, or who can help you refine the idea and make it happen. You’ll need accountability or you’ll give up when things get tough.

3) Get to Work – If the idea is going to survive and become a reality, it’s going to be a lot of hard work. Most people aren’t willing to do what it takes to be successful. Are you?

Don’t be most people and don’t look back years later with regret. Go make something happen!

Note: This article originally appeared in February 2010 issue of the Tri-City Review.

]]> http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2010/03/04/your-idea-is-worthless/feed/ 0 http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2009/11/30/you-are-not-a-statistic/ http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2009/11/30/you-are-not-a-statistic/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:08:37 +0000 James Woosley http://www.woosleycoaching.com/?p=429 Continue reading →]]> As I wrap up my Jobs & Careers theme for the month of November, I want to share just a bit of raw encouragement.

Too often we hear job statistics and our anxiety rises beyond proportion to the unemployment rate raising. Unemployment is currently above 10%. If there are 300 Million Americans in jobs or looking for jobs, that means 30 Million are out of work (I’m doing quickie math here and don’t want to get into arguments over the % of the population that has given up on finding work). If it worsens by 1%, another 3 Million will lose their jobs. Yet statistics show that upwards of 60% of people are worried about losing their jobs. That’s 180 Million people worrying, and a whopping 177 Million have nothing to worry about!

Now don’t misunderstand me. For those who have lost jobs or are under threat of losing their job, it’s a legitimately scary time. My focus here is on the hysteria surrounding unemployment statistics…and other statistics for that matter.

I worked for a company that went bankrupt this year. A lot of people I used to work with are still looking for work. It’s not as easy out there as it once was. Me? I was unemployed for a total of three whole days! And that was just the transition between jobs.

Was there uncertainty in the process? Yes. Was there worry? Not really.

Why?

Because I had already changed my perspective on work and because I’d already plotted out several moves in advance.

My Perspective on Work
I used to think that if I worked hard enough and long enough, the big corporation would notice me and realize how valuable I am, therefore granting me job security. The truth is that when I work for only one company, my job is automatically more insecure than that of the hot dog vendor on the busiest street corner downtown. He has hundreds of clients…I have one. He can lose a bunch…I can’t lose any!

When you start to think of yourself as working for yourself and not for someone else, even if you really do work for someone else, something inside of you changes. You work differently. You appreciate things differently. And eventually, you get to the point that you really don’t want to work for someone else at all!

Thus began my pursuit of self-employment and entrepreneurship.

Planning Ahead
In my last job, the signs of bankruptcy were everywhere. Management constantly told us that we didn’t have $1 Billion in debt…it was actually only $990 Million! Notes were coming due. Changes were happening at the top. Company loyalists were hoping for the best…a restructuring without the burden of our debt. After all, we had great people and great products…how could we cease to exist?

Several months after declaring bankruptcy, the company was sold off in bits and pieces. My project couldn’t be sold to the primary buyer due to conflicts of interest. All I could do was wait it out, hoping for a smaller buyer to suck us up. Well, not really.

I started looking. I looked at other companies. I looked at becoming an independent contractor. I looked at anything I could do to affect the change instead of being a victim of it.

And while some of my friends were left without options, I created my own. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t as smooth or as perfect as I would have liked, but with a plan I landed on my feet.

Not everyone can have that experience. Sometimes there are no (visible) warning signs. Sometimes you show up for work and get a punch in the gut that takes your breath away.

You feel like a statistic. Like a random number on some report somewhere at a company headquarters or government agency.

Refuse to be that statistic!

You have a name. You have a family. You are a unique creation of the Ultimate Creator! You have a mission and a purpose, even if it hasn’t been revealed to you yet!

You are not a number!

So don’t think of yourself that way. It’s time to get to work getting to work. Don’t start getting up late and watching Oprah in your pajamas!

Invest some time learning. Remember all of the value that you created over the years…all of the accomplishments. Those are real.

Realize that starting over today isn’t the same as starting out back when you really started. You have experience and knowledge. You are a known quantity (and hopefully a good one).

Take the job loss as the opportunity to change paths. What is something you always wanted to do but just didn’t? Could now be the perfect time to go do it?

Your job is now to find a job. Spend the same 40 hours per week in pursuit of the next job (studying, researching, learning, interviewing, asking, networking…all of that counts!).

For the Employeed
Mark down the names of the people you know who have lost their jobs recently. Encourage them as you’d like to be encouraged. Help them if you can. But at a minimum I want you to check back with them again in 12-18 months. Ask them what they’ve been up to. Those who have put themselves to work finding new work (with a company or by starting their own) will invariably say that losing their job was the best thing that ever happened to them.

They didn’t know it at the time. Neither will you.

March into the unknown realizing that you are not a statistic. You are a success. You can be knocked down, but you know how to get up. And you’re going to keep getting up, time and time again…always.

And most of all…never treat yourself like a number. Never!

Why is that? Is it because they hated their job so much they never quit? Or is it because they never realized they could do something else?

I believe that today in America people have a choice in their work. You can choose to work somewhere or you can choose to leave. You can choose to start your own business or you can choose to work for someone else.

Sure, we all have commitments and obligations to fulfill. Spouses to care for, kids to feed, student loans to repay…but don’t we get to choose HOW we do it?

I’ve had lots of jobs. I’ve enjoyed some and hated others. I’ve stayed too long in the ones I didn’t like. And when it was over…I wondered why I stayed so long.

No more. I’m creating the work that I love! I’m doing the things that I want to do, the things that I’m passionate about. Sure, there may be some rough times along the way and not every day will be enjoyable. But on the whole, I’m not putting up with the misery of a job I cannot enjoy.

In the long term, I’ll probably find more success and make more money pursuing work I love (whether in a job or self-employment) than I will slaving away for a 30 year pension and gold watch. I know I’ll enjoy it more. And I know I’ll have a greater impact on the world around me.

Step one to finding work you love: Realize that when you define your work as play, you’ll never work another day in your life.

Ready to join me on the journey, or stick with a job you dislike/hate/loathe for the false security of a paycheck?

]]> http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2009/11/11/work-as-play/feed/ 0 http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2009/11/03/im-going-to-save-the-world/ http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2009/11/03/im-going-to-save-the-world/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:25:52 +0000 James Woosley http://www.woosleycoaching.com/?p=334 Continue reading →]]> My kids are great at teaching me lessons that they don’t even know yet. For example, my son Ian is on a superhero kick. Everything is about good guys and bad guys. He takes off his shirt to show off his muscles and “flys” around the house saying he’s going to save the world.

Ian cheesing the camera in his Halloween costume (as a racecar driver instead of super hero this time!).

I pat him on the head and being pragmatic, tell him he needs to start one person at a time and see how it goes from there. He doesn’t hear me anyway, and I’m honestly happy that he doesn’t in this case. Who am I to stunt the growth of his ambition?

But there is a serious lesson there for us grown ups. We can have the biggest dreams and ambitions, but if we spend all of our time thinking of how to “do it all” or “do it right”, we rarely get started in the first place.

I do the same thing all the time. I want to be one of the most successful coaches in the country, with books and radio/tv shows and people lining up for an hour of my time. But I can’t start there. I can’t save the world until I’ve helped one person, then two, then three and so on. Eventually, maybe I can impact the whole world. It’s good to dream! But a dream without action is never going to come true.

In order to help myself help others, I’m declaring November as Jobs and Careers month on my blog. I’ll be posting articles related to job searches, resources, self-employment and other topics within the theme all month long. I may even have a special announcement somewhere in there. Plans for December are all I’m going to say today.

So what are you going to do today to impact someone’s life? Be that kind of hero!

Do you have a question for James?  The simply click here to send a question!

———————————

Danny,

There are several distinct issues in your question, Danny, so let me address each one individually.

1) Relationships and Debating
I hope you’re just having a fun kind of debate with your brother, and not the kind of debate that ends with both of you feeling badly toward each other.  Remember that no matter how logical your position, neither of you is likely to concede within the context of the current discussion.  People do not change their minds.  Ever!  But they will make different decisions based on new information.  That information may simply take some time and experience to settle into the old grey matter.

2) Is life gambling?

I think the common thread he’s using to tie life, gambling and the stock market together is the word risk.  Yes, all three have a degree of risk.  But the real question is how to respond to the risks.  Life without risks is not life at all.  Investing and gambling are both risky, but in varying degrees that we need to explore further.

3) Is investing in the stock market the same as gambling?
First we need to define some parameters for our discussion:

• Let’s limit the stock market to mean the buying and selling of shares of stock in individual companies (not including mutual funds).
• Let’s define gambling as placing money in the form of a bet on a random set of circumstances occurring.  Guess the outcome and win.  Miss the outcome and lose.

We have to evaluate both investing in the stock market and gambling in terms of risk (opportunity for gain or loss), reward (potential return) and skill (ability to influence the outcome).

Risk:
Gambling is obviously high on the risk factor, with varying odds depending on the game being played.  The big lotteries like Powerball have a very low chance at winning with odds of more the 1,000,000 to 1 against you (likely much worse).  Casino games like blackjack, poker and even slots have much better odds, though there are no games where the house does not have the advantage (warning sign, right?).  Win the bet and you get paid.  Lose and you get nothing.

The stock market also has risk.  When you buy a share of stock, you get a small piece of ownership in the company.  The value of a share of a company’s stock goes up or down almost every day, based on what the public believes the overall value of the company is.  Buy low and sell high is the mantra to make money in the stock market.

Because you have the share of stock, you are getting something for your money rather than just a random chance (the lottery ticket or betting track stub don’t count).  That share is worth something, even if it is worth less than it was when you bought it.  It can eventually become worthless if the company bankrupts, so there is no guarantee of future value.

So from a risk perspective, the stock market wins over gambling, but it’s still too risky to put all of your money into one company (Enron, anyone?).

Reward:
Again there is a spectrum to the rewards available from gambling.  Buy a lottery ticket for a dollar, and you could win millions.  Great return!  However, the odds are very much against you because the old adage that you are more likely to be struck by lightning is true!

The rewards are smaller when it comes to the casinos, where penny slots may be the least risky but offer the smallest rewards.  Poker or blackjack may be better odds than the lottery, but aren’t likely to make you rich (and again, the odds are always against you).

In the stock market, there’s the potential that you buy a stock just before they announce the cure for cancer or something that will see its value skyrocket overnight (anyone own Apple before the iPod came out?).

Timing is important, because it’s all theoretical until you buy or sell.  Losses and gains are not realized until a transaction takes place.  I had a friend who had more than a million dollars worth of stock options with MCI Worldcom.  They hadn’t matured so he couldn’t sell them, and then the company went bust.  Was he ever really a millionaire?

Most of the time, individual stocks will go up or down at a somewhat slow pace.  The reward is not likely to be quick, and if the gains are high, brace for the losses to be just as dramatic and unexpected.

Again, give the stock market the nod on the reward side of the equation.  You aren’t likely to get rich quick, but your odds of gaining over time are much better.

Skill:
What is your ability to influence the outcome when gambling?  Lottery?  None.  Casino?  Depending on the game, you can learn enough to avoid some losses, but very few of the games could be called games of skill vs. games of chance.  Remember that the house always has the advantage (which is why their house is bigger than yours!).

If there is no skill involved other than knowledge of the odds for or against you, and you cannot affect the outcome, stay away.

What is your ability to influence the value of a company’s stock?  Very little if any at all.  If you work there, you can have an impact over time.  If you make a video about how they destroy guitars, you can bring the value down for a bit if enough people watch it.  But on the whole, between you between you and the insider trading laws, there isn’t much chance you’re going to affect the value of a stock in a significant way.

Even the ability to pick a good stock is in question when monkeys throwing darts can perform well against the experts!

Call skill a loss for both fronts.

What is Your Intent?
An added dimension is the spirit of the transaction.  “He who hastens to be rich will surely not go unpunished.”  –Proverbs 28:20. Translation: don’t go for get rich quick or you will get burned.

It either doesn’t work and takes you down, or it does work and destroys your life.  There are countless stories of overnight lottery millionaires who are broke and/or dead within years of winning.

Are there risks in life?  You bet!

But is life a gamble?  Not if you have a God who loves you!  He owns the house, and the house always wins!  Be a member of the family.

———————-

Risk/Reward Spectrum
Here’s how I see the spectrum of investing risk/reward, with a mind toward retirement:

• Do nothing – High risk, no reward.
  You need to do something to advance your future or you will have the future someone else plans for you.

  Life Analogy: Stop breathing.

• Stuff cash in jar/mattress – Low risk, no reward.
  With inflation considered, you’re actually losing money over the long term.

  Life Analogy: Couch potato.

• CD’s/Savings Accounts – Low risk, low reward.
  Few accounts keep up with inflation, but it can be a safe place to put money in the short term for specific purposes.  Your retirement should not live here though.

  Life Analogy: Breathing, but little life to speak of.

• Money Market Accounts – Low risk, low reward.
  Better rates than CD’s or Savings Accounts, but not good enough.  Okay for the emergency fund, but it is not an investment.

  Life Analogy: Signs of life emerging.

• Mutual Funds – Low risk, moderate to high reward.
  Investing in good, steady mutual funds may not be as fun or sexy as rolling into a casino, but you aren’t likely to lose your shirt either.  The markets over the long term gain 11-12%, so this is a great place for your retirement to both grow and beat inflation.  (Still, it should still be spread around…don’t put everything in one account.)

  Life Analogy: Wisdom abounds…life is good.

• Stocks/Bonds – Moderate risk, moderate to high reward.
  If you pick the right stocks and time things right, you can make money.  But do you really have the time or knowledge to bother with it?  Stick with mutual funds.

  Life Analogy: Living on the edge…

• Lottery – Extremely low risk, extremely high reward.
• Lotteries are a voluntary tax on the poor and stupid.  If you want to blow a dollar every once and a while (and you’re feeding your kids!), it probably won’t break you.  But you’re playing the get rich quick game…and it’ll bite you eventually.

  Life Analogy: Hoping for a miracle that God rarely grants…but the other guy might.

• Casinos – Gambling my hard earned money away just isn’t my thing.  If you like losing money and can afford it, that’s another problem altogether.  Just don’t expect to win.  You won’t see me at the tables or slots anytime.

  Life Analogy: Running into traffic…life is a rush if you survive.