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Brilliant Ideas Are Old Ideas
George was tired of being broke.
Every day was a struggle. "How will I pay my bills? I'm going deeper into debt. I can't afford to buy anything."
So George constantly worked on new ways to make money. "If I could invent a new can opener, all my money problems would be over." "Maybe I could sell funny hats on the Internet." "If I found some investors, I could open a new underwater restaurant."
George had tried a few ideas, such as manufacturing a razor blade that never got dull, building the world's largest tree swing and a selling lamps made of salt. All his new ventures had failed. To survive, he had to work at McDonald's as an assistant manager.
George felt he should solve his money problems with new ideas. Unfortunately, unproven ideas are often wrong.
Affluence
"Affluence* Attainment, consists of: ... Doing the things that won, not new things untried as yet." -- L. Ron Hubbard (Affluence: abundance; wealth)
You enjoy affluence, not from new ideas, but from things that have already worked.
George decides to try out this approach. He asks himself, "What has made me money in the past?" He lists the following:
* Selling shoes at a store paid $350 per week.
* Selling sunglasses at weekend festivals paid $1000 per weekend.
* Buying old cars, fixing them up and selling them. The last car he restored, a 1961 Ford Mustang, earned $1500 profit with two weeks of work.
* Working at McDonald's pays $560 per week.
George realizes he can go back to his two best-paying jobs immediately: sunglasses and car restoration.
He convinces the sunglass company to give him 200 pairs on credit so he can sell them at an outdoor market that weekend. He then finds a wrecked 1988 Mercedes and makes a deal to buy it for $500, on credit.
George quits his McDonald's job. He makes $800 selling sunglasses that weekend. He spends three weeks on the Mercedes and sells it for $4500.
George uses old, proven ideas to boost his income.
How Businesses Achieve Affluence
When a business sticks to proven ideas, and avoids untried methods, it usually succeeds.
For example, the owner of an auto dealership notices his car sales are dropping. His marketing director says, "We need a new TV commercial. Let's use elephants! We've never tried it before. It'll be great!"
The smart owner says, "Let's wait on the elephants. Instead, find which of our old commercials worked best. What made our sales jump up?"
The marketing director comes back the next day and says, "I hate to tell you this, but our best TV commercial is that one of you wearing diapers and crying. You swore to never show that commercial again."
The owner says, "I hate that commercial. Oh well, show it again. In fact, buy twice as many time slots! And schedule the film crew to shoot a new commercial with me in the diaper. I'm really going to cry this time!"
Car sales and income jump to new levels.
Doing things that won is essential to good business.
Copying Ideas
If you do not have anything that has made you succeed in the past, you must still avoid new ideas. Instead, do things that worked for others.
For example, you want a career helping people and making a decent income. You write down the careers of everyone you know. You realize your uncle Jay, who is a dentist, helps a lot of people and makes an excellent income. You take your uncle to lunch and ask how he became a successful dentist.
As another example, you want a successful marriage and family. You find who has been happily married for a long time and has a successful family. You learn all you can about what helped them succeed and then copy their ideas.
If you want to succeed in any kind of job or business, interview the people who are succeeding. Find out what worked for them. Use these ideas as they are proven, not untried as yet. Luckily, most successful people enjoy talking about their success secrets and do not worry about competition.
Doing things that won for you or others is reliable route to success.
Four Steps to Boost Your Income
1. Make a list of income ideas you are using that are new and unproven.
2. Work out a plan to drop these idea.
3. Make a list of income ideas that have worked for you or others.
4. Next to each item on both lists, write down how you can use these ideas to boost your income.
Copyright © 2006 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org. For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here. To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here. |
