If you have been in a job all your life or had little experience understanding what people need and how you can use your genius to serve them profitably, you may be used to just following instructions without needing to identify someone’s problem and help solve it. That’s how you end up trapped in a job or unemployed waiting for someone to throw you a lifeline.
All successful business owners or investors could start all over again if their business failed, because they have built the ability to find out what people need and then deliver against that. They know this skill set is the best form of job security anyone can have today.
Everyone you read about in this book asked these five questions and used the answers to connect with those already in flow.
You have set your Future Vision and your Flight Path, so you know how much extra money you want to be making to move you to Orange Level. Set the amount of Superman Time you can put toward this goal each week. Set the specific amount of money you want to achieve in that time.
Now look at your genius and the current skill sets and experience you have: Write a list of the criteria you would want the job you create to meet, where you can feel confident you can add value to the people you will be approaching. What are the activities you would be energized by and confident in doing? Here are some ideas to get you started:
What people will you have gotten to know in your Future Vision? What is the industry you are most passionate about or the market you would most love to serve? Who are the leaders in the industry that you would love to have a chance to work with and learn from? Make a list of at least ten people and companies. Research. Ask around. Each person you talk to will know of others who you may not know about. Don’t assume you already know it all; go out with a fresh curiosity.
Remember: You are not just looking for the best. You are looking for the ones you have a trusted connection with. Either because they know you or because they know someone you know. Make sure each person or company you list is in flow and making money with an opportunity to make more. Once you have your list, narrow it down to the top three and focus on them. Be prepared to replace the ones that begin to feel like dead ends, but be confident that creating your job will happen with one of them. It isn’t a matter of whether it happens. It is just a matter of when.
Have a look at what opportunities each of your top three is already offering. They may already have partnership opportunities or be working well with others. Find out what their biggest problems and opportunities are. Find out what they need and how it links with the criteria you set.
If you are already connected with decision makers—people accountable for growing revenue or profit, not necessarily the founders or CEOs—then great. Meet with these people and tell them you love what they do and are committed to being of value to support them and willing to prove yourself. What would they love to see different in a perfect world? What are their biggest challenges? Where do they see themselves a year from now?
Don’t try to offer solutions to these challenges yet; just listen. Then connect with others in the company—with partners, with the decision maker’s gatekeeper (usually an assistant or project leader)—and write a list of at least three things that you believe you can help them with. Work out what that would mean to them in extra revenue or profit.
You have now identified how you can be of true value to impact a business. This does not happen overnight, but if you work on this with the support of your team, you will find it does not take many weeks to get to this point. The time has come to put your plan into action and put a trial in place.
From the responses you receive, you will narrow down your decision to work with one company and focus all your efforts on them for your trial. Be prepared to work for nothing first to prove yourself, knowing you are getting to choose your own job if you can do so.
A month trial is a good start and use of your Superman Time. What could you achieve in a one-month trial? How much revenue or profit will you aim to help them make? What other metrics would you include: Time freed for the decision maker? Putting a new system in place?
The first step is to make people know you are committed to serving them. The second step is to propose your project to them. Be upfront that you want to prove yourself first before asking for anything in return, but that you are also committed to making the extra cash flow you want. Based on your success, what level of results would you need to achieve to earn what you need to earn? Through your helping them, they will help you achieve that.
More often than not, people who commit to this process not only end up working with someone on their Top 10 list within a matter of months, if not weeks, but often the company decides to find a role and pay them.
Every company is willing to pay something to a partner or contractor who is able to bring them new business or improve their revenues or profits. Exactly how much will depend on the type of business. Online businesses with electronic products will give as much as 70 percent of their revenues away to affiliates that can help them grow their revenue. Service businesses will give up to 50 percent away; product businesses will give away 5 to 20 percent; and asset-based businesses like property will give far less, because the asset cost is so much greater.
Through conversations and research, find out how money in the company is normally split when it forms a partnership or brings in help. Agree on the basics: What are you going to do? What is the benefit to them? What happens if you are successful? (Do you get paid and a longer-term partnership or role begins?)
What are you waiting for, Superman? Keep yourself positive with your Clark Kent Time and answer these five questions to create the job that gets you on the inside.