The way to earn a fortune, is to earn it. That’s not a deliberate play on words, it’s a reflection of reality. Everything of value is earned, from trust and respect, to admiration and yes, money.
- There’s a massive difference between building and earning. For example, you can build a Twitter account with 100,000 followers, using software, but you can’t earn a Twitter following using software.
- There’s a massive difference between getting and earning. For example, you can get the attention of 100,000 people by sending them spam email, but you can’t earn their attention by spamming them.
None of the top blogs you read became successful because of some plugin they used. They earned it, over time, through consistently showing up and doing work that matters. The business leaders you admire, never achieved their success through a quick fix. They earned it over time, by consistently showing up and doing work that matters. See the link there?
- Put in the hours.
- Show up regularly.
- Do work that matters.
Let’s look at those in a little more detail.
Put in the hours
It takes time to earn anything of value. Malcolm Gladwell’s point, about the top people in any area needing to invest 10,000 hours in their craft, is a good one. I have discussed this with everyone from Grammy award winning artists to business leaders and international sports people and found in every case, they had put at least 10,000 hours into developing their area of expertise.
Personally, I had easily invested 10,000 hours into learning my craft, by the time I started my marketing business in 1995. It wasn’t the instant success my friends suggested. I’d worked and studied for a long time to be an overnight success.
Show up regularly
If you want to remain relevant, you need to regularly offer value and (if you’re brave enough) leadership, to your marketplace. The best tool I’ve ever known for this is a blog. Blogging allows you to reach thousands of people as regularly as you want to, with your ideas and insights. Your blog content is searchable, shareable and allows you to become a regular part of a growing slice of your marketplace.
Do work that matters, rather than work that pays
I explain this in detail here, in one of the most popular pages on this site. The best kept secret in business, is that the best paid people don’t do it for the money. They do it to make a difference, and because people who make a difference are so rare, they earn a fortune. It took me a few years to truly understand this but when I did, it changed my whole life.
Ironically, it’s entirely probable that the best way to get ahead as quickly as possible is to not waste your time or money on quick fixes.