Hello again and welcome to another Own Your Life Club Newsletter!
Having survived Christmas and the New Year it's time to settle down and think about the year ahead. We hope you're refreshed and looking forward to an exciting year after the turmoil of 2008. It might be tough but there will be opportunities for those who want to take advantage of them.
I've been reading an amazing book, 'The Richest Man in Babylon', written by George S. Clason. In 1926 he produced the first of a famous series of pamphlets on thrift and financial success, using parables set in ancient Babylon to make each of his points. These Babylonian parables have become a modern inspirational classic and are as relevant today as they were in ancient times.
Why is it that wealth usually passes into the possession of a few very rich people and slips through the fingers of most people? Because they know how to acquire wealth, how to hold onto it and how to make it grow and earn them a future income.
Anyone can learn the steps to acquiring wealth and here are seven simple steps you need to follow:
1. Save 10% of every $1 that you earn. You will find you can live without it and will not even miss it. It may mean going without a small instant gratification; however it will be the beginning of your journey to substantial wealth.
2. Control what you spend. What you think of as 'necessary expenses' tend to grow as your income grows. Make a budget that allows for necessities, an amount for enjoyment and a few instant gratification purchases without spending more than 90% of what you earn.
3. Make your money work for you. Your wealth will come from the income that your money makes. Now that you have some small savings, invest the money to receive compound interest to continue building your savings.
4. Protect your capital. Obtain advice from wise and experienced people who have a good track record in handling money for profit.
5. Own your own home. It will give you security, possibly reduce your cost of living and will increase in value over time.
6. Ensure a future income. As your surplus grows, invest in an income producing property which will also grow in value over time.
7. Increase your ability to earn. Wealth is accumulated first in small sums, then in larger ones as you learn and become more capable. Study and educate yourself so that you become wiser, more confident and more skillful.
It takes commitment, discipline and work, but it really is that easy.
Even though the ancient civilisation of Babylon eventually fell, the wisdom of Babylon endures and our own civilisation owes much to it.
This fortnight's success tip comes from Robyn Henderson.
In 1992, Robyn authored and self-published her first networking book and is now regarded as a "Global Networking Specialist". She has written and contributed to more than 25 books on networking, self-esteem and self-promotion.
What are some of the more common mistakes novice speakers make?
Having been a professional speaker for the past 14 years, I have seen a lot of speakers and I have seen a lot of simple mistakes made by both new and experienced speakers. Some common mistakes include:
1. Trying to squash too much content into your presentation - many people who get up in front of the room may have worked in an industry for ten or more years and think they have to include every single thing they know in a one-hour talk. You'll discover it's far less stressful on both you and your audience to concentrate and expand upon just a few key points. This helps to imbed the learning and is usually much more effective than covering so much ground that you leave the audience's heads spinning.
2. Going over your allocated time - surprisingly, when you get into a speech you often reel off way more information than you planned to, and often underestimate the level of audience participation. This makes it easy to get carried away but you must keep an eye on the time. You are never to go overtime, no discussion at all on this. If you go over time you are taking someone else's time, be it the audience or another speaker, and you have no right to do that.
3. Not giving a handout to an audience, even if you are not being paid for the presentation - respect any and every presentation and treat it like the most important speech you've done. This means giving the same resources you would if being paid (this may be a simple one-page handout that adds value and also lets people know where to find further information).
4. Thinking you are better than anyone else in the room - well, you are not! Often this comes from a misguided belief about why you are at the front of the room. If you are not coming from a genuine position of wanting to help by sharing information and ideas then you might want to examine your motives. Remember, a speaker's role is to serve their audience and the greater service you can be of to people, the greater speaker you will be.
5. Arriving late to the venue, being unprepared and not knowing enough about the industry or profession of the audience - this basically says you do not care enough about your audience. If you can't commit to being on time and researching your audience then don't commit to the presentation.
6. Telling stories that go on for too long and have no relevance to the point you are making - the only purpose of a story is to make or reinforce a point. If it doesn't, leave it out and find one that does. Also, there is a difference between delivering a speech and delivering a training session. A good speech can deliver a story in 40 seconds that might take ten minutes to deliver in a training session.
7. Using quotes and stories from speakers or authors and not acknowledging them as the source - this is self-explanatory and as Brian Tracy once said, 'Always acknowledge your sources. First because it's the right thing to do and second, if it's wrong you can blame somebody else'.
8. Thinking that you can charge top money for poor quality presentations - there's a tried and true rule which can basically explain every business success or failure throughout history and that rule is to always 'under promise and over deliver'. If you concentrate on being the absolute best you can be and deliver massive value, then the money will eventually find you. Speakers that over promise and under deliver, in my opinion, do more damage to themselves and the industry as a whole than they realise.
9. Not walking your talk - many speakers deliver material that is completely inconsistent with who they are or what they do off stage. A classic example of this could be a very stressed person talking about work/life balance.
10. Criticising other speakers publicly - remember what your mother told you, 'If you can't say something nice about someone…' Criticising other speakers or telling derogatory stories about people without seeking their permission, which of course they would not give, is totally unprofessional.
Own Your Life Club contains even more great tips from Robyn Henderson.
CLICK HERE TO READ AN EBOOK AND INTERVIEW WITH ROBYN HENDERSON
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