Positively Media

Some days I get jazzed up, belief or want to belief that by just having enough hope, EVERYTHING is possible.. Its just got to be, all the testimonies, all the books, websites, twitter comments, blogs more books, radio shows, newspaper articles, more books.. declare dream, dream big and it'll be all yours. Oh, I'm walking down the candy isle and grap 2 pkgs of HoneyNuts, throw them in the basket, why not? I'm living man. I stoop to rub my hands on the biggest frozen turkey, pickup 99% fat free hamburger, and buy the high-end mustard. Get in my vehical and head to the hand-wax place, where 50 guies await to polish and clean, then onto my next victory dance. I'm living the formula of thinking big and the sky will open. Some days are like this, and I'm rubbing sholders with all like minded self made positive psychologists, shunning government support, and take a break from all the bad, sad news that spews forth.
Then there are other days.........

Hello Pamela!
Just as your article would predict, I found the link to your post through your Twitter page...what a great piece! To this formerly depressed medical doctor who has now found fulfillment and happiness as an entrepreneur (flamenco dancer, wellness expert, coach & speaker), your explanation makes perfect sense. I especially enjoyed how you pointed out that the qualities most consistently associated with "living well" thoroughly describe the entrepreneurial personality and way of life. All the more reason to celebrate our freedom! The road sure isn't easy, but it is oh so rewarding.
Susan Biali, MD
(a fellow PT Blogger: Prescriptions for Life)

Hello
Its confusing, the seemingly contradictions. I'm trying hard to connect the dots, which the dots seem to dodge me, wily little suckers. My badly bruised finger is hurting from trying to put itself on something that's real. Since December of 08, I've been chasing the dream of the good-life. Sometimes I take a break within my pursuit to “see” how I am adoin”. With no apology, I journey to a grocery store isle, or say consider washing my Jeep, buying stuff. Yep, that’s me. I figure, life cannot be all that bad when you have an “ice-cream cone” in your hand. For if living well doesn’t mean once in awhile getting tangible proof (irregardless if my proof right now is being satisfied with relatively small investments… hey in my past a proof used to be a lot grandeur. And, hey, lets dispel consumption for me just involves food, but I won’t digress for this could lead into a food fight or something), and getting material proof means having the ability to do so. Now getting psychological value, is fine too! Not saying which comes first although I kinda suspect that sometimes they go hand-in-hand, or maybe mouth-to-mind. For its amazing isn’t it, how our whole demeanor changes just over a full stomach? One reason why I loved going to Grandma Roe’s House. I’d walk in a surly little rug-rat, and just a couple hours later filled with Grandma’s good cooking, walk out ready to go to a Eucharist (and I’m not even Catholic).

So, one dot connection, is surmising if only I could systemically brainwash myself I could become a powerful driving, self assured force to be reckoned with. Leading me to another wily dot bridge; thereby gaining ground in being able to make a living due to my heightened enlightenment, and reaping the tremendous benefits of self-competence, optimism, engagement and resilience. Finally arriving at that clever dot connection of, a mountaintop view of self-recognition will lead to living well plus having an “ice-cream cone” in my hand.

So, I've immersed myself in studying like the dickens, how to get the proper mind-set to turn one's life into a dream-fulfilling quest. Oh, the time-clock spins when you’re engaged in something you think is worth pursuing. I learned one of the first things, is to know what are my Specific Personal Dreams. They should be based on what my particular passions and past expressed interests are. So yep I too, wanted my dreams to be the types that I've uncovered that fire off inside my head, like light bulbs in a dark room. I need them to be blinding! No little dreams would do, I’ve learned. For a little dream only gets you to sit-up on your bed, and maybe the little dream will enable you to rub one eye or something. Well I got bigger fish to fry!

So, I've re-examined my strengths to make sure I'm not going down some little distracting rabbit trail, only to find out that at the end, I'll not be all that happy doing stuff like torquing a tire wrench, or getting myself into flying an jet-liner for 6 hours straight! Not to mention how disheartening it is, like when a tire blows up in your face, or having a tire-wheel fall off and there's no airport in sight, when you especially don't like blanket job to begin with. Oh, we've all had those moments of self-reflection!

I've got my MBA, and have worked in all kinds of aspects of business. Development, Marketing, Accounting, Business Research, this list goes on. You've said the logistics of starting a business is not the point, yet it seems foreign to ignore them. To be honest, Pam, by offering up, that psychological value is gained by just doing something helps you to jump-start into real building self-empowerment which creates such "self-power" as autonomy, competence, initiative, purpose etc., seems trite at the least. Well, all of this brain-washing wasn’t getting me anywhere, and I thought back to the time when the notion of results was a big in my life. So, I come up with a litmus type of test, that strips away the non-essentials to get the barren stark truth of what matters at hand. This sounds like negativity and scoundrel type thinking, but I’m begun to think it is absolute and real thinking.

Does this approach give answers? It won't seem like it, if one hasn't found a Real Deal yet. But at least, the focus will sharper. That is finding out the essentials of what makes an activity generate positive cash flow, and sustainable profits.

So, I’ve arrived at a premise to analyze business opportunity. Essentially created a new set of dots. To further my qualifying, I joined several forums and try to verbalize this particular premise. Also, I've challenged various people who suggest in this recession, creating a job is vastly better than trying to find one to track my progress. I've also am creating blog pages for people to track my discoveries as I meander down the promises highway, and report back with the experiences I've had in trying to find real deals.

Thru the often-aggravating process of shifting thru offers that promise the moon, but is weak on delivery of what is a provable market I become shaken. Make BIG Money In Your Spare Time, CASH IN, Would You Like to Earn Up To $1,000 a Week, $25,000 in 2 Weeks. The offers seem endless. I'd call up and get the sales pitch to buy their solutions.

Here's where the fun begins: I've asked one simple question, How can I prove that your idea will work in my location without having to spend any of my money right now?

Its like now, I've become their worst nightmare or something. Talk about an exercise in maintaining self-control, I will grant this. That is hearing responses ranging from condemnation, (had this one person who said I was a spammer and she was going to slap my future emails into her trash folder), another said over the phone, "you are naive if you think that any business can start without heavy investment, that's why you don't have a business started yet", another phone call "only we can tell you if there is a local demand, and I'm not allowed to tell you how unless you purchase our product", "market demand isn't important, its your commitment of $$ that matters right now".

This idea of asking this basic question, and or trying to determine it had its roots long ago with me. And still I feel it’s the most important key in starting any business. The premise of unless there is provable Real Market that has Real Unmet Needs that you can solve, than everything else is a Raw Deal.