Building Value into the Life of Our Dreams

I have been a professional writer for over twenty years, so it does not bother me when I have to start an article over a couple of times in the process of working out my ideas.  Sometimes more than one idea is fighting to find its way to the surface, and that’s part of the organic process of being a writer.  Or,  as a teacher of mine used to say, “Writing is re-writing.”

My original plan was to write a short piece about what a lucky time we are in right now.  For, despite all the dark clouds and genuine difficulties many of us are facing economically, there are also tremendous opportunities to be found in these challenges.  There is a silver lining emerging from the crisis, and I am struck by the sheer inventiveness, gusto and creativity with which various people are meeting the shake ups in their life plans.

Not quite so prosaic as making lemonade out of lemons, we are seeing a turn to the Plans B and C that may have been put on hold years ago as being too impractical.  Suddenly, everyone’s “impossible dream” is looking like an excellent financial plan worth investigating, and that’s a good thing.  It is how we are going to re-build our communities and our country.

Of course it goes without saying that if Plans B and C had been such surefire great ideas, we have to wonder why they were on the back burner in the first place.  For many people, the answer to that pragmatic question is that they do not know how to begin building their own business from scratch.  They start looking around for “recipes” on creating a new life out of nothing but a few dollars and a dream, and that’s when the tidal wave of information overload can overwhelm the delicate craft that is one’s latest foray into the deep waters of entrepreneurship.

As many are learning in today’s creative business environment, you can buy a lot of expertise to help you shape a project and forge a plan.  Added to this, the stunning paradigm shifts of life and business online and the relatively new options of self publishing and teleseminars are making available an amazing amount of previously inaccessible information. Coaching, marketing, branding and technological interventions open doors to a whole new way of living your life and fulfilling your dreams.

And this is a two way street.  Not only can you can gain guidance and mentorship, you can also offer it with unparalleled freedom to promote, distribute and re-shape that content into multiple platforms.  Wow – that’s a lot of creativity, information and new ways of thinking, all occurring at the same time, and just as the fundamental ground rules of business as usual are also changing.  This much change can be confusing, even to the experts.  So how do we sort out what is worthwhile, what is meaningful and what is right for us?

I think this is a good time to emphasize value.  There are two kinds of value I am thinking of here.  The first is the kind you offer your customers – genuine value, as in a good, unique, quality product or service which you can be proud of and which contributes to the health of your business community.  The second kind of value is a more general ethical set of “values”, by which I mean heart-centered integrity and empathy for the other people with whom you transact business.  One of the most important choices you can make when seeking guidance about how to grow your own business, develop your brand and cement your hard won reputation is to work with coaches, experts and teachers who truly have your best interests in mind.

Unfortunately, there are some bad apples out there, taking advantage and sending people down the wrong path.  One thing we want to avoid is making money in today’s marketplace by helping other people learn how to make money by selling the same nebulous marketing techniques to other people.  I have come across this several times now, wonderfully packaged in multiple content streams, books, teleseminars and the like.  I admire the technological inventiveness and certainly see the value in using the Internet, teleseminars and self-publishing to teach, guide and provide selling platforms for all kinds of businesses, but let’s make sure we are selling and creating something of actual value.  Make sure that the heart of anyone you trust with safeguarding the word and integrity that is your precious business reputation is in the right place.  Let’s stay away from the pyramid scheme mentality that got us into this mess in the first place, and create actual products and services instead of selling dreams that are bound to fail.

Genuine value is found in fresh new products that have some unique characteristic – a special flavor, a local ingredient, a handcrafted technique.  Genuine value is found in services well done at a reasonable cost to a satisfied clientele willing to offer their testimonial in support of your expanding business.  Genuine value is discerned in the individual stories of the purveyors, inventors, writers, artisans, healers, accountants, stylists, musicians, house cleaners, lawyers and teachers who make our community a thriving, living and growing network of neighborhood connections.

Can we grow our “neighborhood” to include the rest of the the country and even the world?  For some of us that is indeed appropriate and yes we can!  Is the Internet a great and unprecedented way to reach thousands of new customers with our special offerings?  It most certainly is.  Are working with skilled marketing and coaching professionals both locally and online good ways to improve our business?  Absolutely.

Let’s build value into the life of our dreams: genuine value and ‘values’ blended together as we work   hard and make a life, contributing to our family, friends and communities by offering products and services of which we can be justly proud.  Yes, we can build a wonderful life with our long deferred Plan B –  and we can do it with plenty of heart, integrity and vision along the way.
Author Tobey Crockett PhD
www.tobeycrockett.com