"You Don't Get it By Dreaming"
by Dennis Hessler
Spyglass Point Productions
I'm
talking about the American Dream.
And
I'm so upset about what it isn't that I just had to write about it. Not just
what the American Dream is. But how to achieve it. What you have to do. Can it
fall into your lap? I don't think so. Let me tell you why.
I'm
in the international trade information business. I export my products and show
newcomers to the global marketplace how to get started (click
here if you want to learn more about it). And, yes, this does have something
to do with international trade but it's bigger than that. It's about life. It's
about the way you choose to live your life. And if you're not an American -- and
many of my clients and subscribers are not -- it applies equally well to you.
But let me tell you what first ticked me off.
A
couple of years back, a state lottery jackpot was approaching a quarter of a
billion dollars as the payout. Forget about the fact that your odds of winning
are about 10 times less than the chance of being killed by debris falling off an
airplane. You have a better chance of being hit by lightning.
Of drowning in your bathtub. And would you line up for that? Still, you
say, somebody is going to win. Yeah, if you call that winning. Let me explain
what I mean.
What
snapped my chain was the comment of a guy who waited 4 ½ hours in line (!) to
get a lottery ticket. He was asked by a reporter what he was going to do if he
won. "I'll have the American Dream," he stated. As though the American
Dream is something handed to you on a plate. As though the lottery is something
more than the old numbers game that used to run in the seedier parts of town as
a successful way of taking away poor peoples' money.
But
I digress. This guy didn't realize -- or didn't want to realize --
that he had not a snowball's chance of winning. The point I'm making,
however, is win or not, he is a loser. Even if standing in line for 4 ½ hours
to get a one-in-a-zillion-chance ticket didn't make him loser enough. No, he's a
loser because he doesn't want to achieve. He wants to be given. My
friend, that's not the American Dream. That's a loser's lament.
The
Inertia of Inaction
I've
known rich people and I've known poor people and neither side has a monopoly on
being a loser. A loser is someone who thinks fortune and success are owed
to him (or her) because of breeding, inherited wealth, past wrongs, good looks,
righteous indignation or need. Like a pauper king, they sit on their
ragged throne expecting life's bounty to be delivered before them. They cannot
and will not do anything. They are suffering from the inertia of inaction.
Okay,
let's get back to cases. What's this have to do with you and with international
trade? Simply this. Over the years I've sold thousands of export start up guides
and books. Naturally, I think the buyers were pretty smart. They made a small
investment in information, one of the best investments you can make. I know that
if they follow the steps I outline, they will succeed. I'm not just talking
about my products. There are lots of great information products out there that
do the same thing. They will get you started in a business or franchise. You
won't fail if you follow the steps.
I'll
go even further. This information can be as valuable to you as a college degree
in terms of reward, money, cash, the long green bills. And I've been selling
this information for a long time. I've constantly updated, modified and
corrected what I write with the idea in mind of giving new international trade
entrepreneurs the best possible chance at success. But here's something I know
that you may not.
Most
of Them Will Never Even Try!
Shocking,
isn't it? But it's true. It's the inertia of inaction. The fact is that the
trading of products in the international marketplace works if you give it a
chance -- if you give yourself a reason why it can work. This is the American
Dream: having the confidence, the energy but mostly the will to make your own
way. Not to sit in lines for 4 ½ hours hoping to buy a winning ticket for
millions you've never earned.
When
you complete your first trade or start your own business, you will have a
feeling of freedom, of power, that the lottery winner will never, ever have.
Check out the stories of many of the big lottery winners. Years later many are
broke or miserable or both (in fairness, some have done great things and set
up charitable foundations and the like but do you think the man I quoted earlier
is one of them? Nope.)
The
truth is that our world is a world of great possibilities.
Check out the potential of starting you own business whether it's in
international trade, information publishing or something else. Explore the
possibilities. Dare to succeed or fail but make the effort. I'm going to
write that again so you know how important I think it is. Make the effort.
If you find international trade or publishing is not what you want, fine. Look
elsewhere. But resolve to make the effort anyway. Today.
Because
you are not a loser. You may not have triumphed yet but you can be
successful. And when you are successful, you will know it in the very core
of your being. And, my friends, success breeds success. The more successful you
are, the more successful you will be. Conversely, the more you think you cannot
succeed, the more likely you will fail.
So
what if you haven't succeeded yet? The stories of great successes that were
plagued by failure are legion. Walt Disney had to go to more than 150 banks
before he found one who believed in him enough to loan him money.
Elvis Presley was fired after just one show at the Grand Ole Opry and
told "you ain't going nowhere, son." Malcolm Forbes who was editor of
the wildly successful Forbes Magazine wasn't quite good enough to make the staff
of his college newspaper. Heard enough?
Don't
wait in line on life's lottery. Get out of line and work at carving your own
niche. Don't wait for things to happen. Make things happen.
And don't quit. That's the real American Dream.
copyright 2000 Dennis Hessler
This article is an excerpt from my monthly international trade newsletter, The Export Connection. Click here if you want to learn more about it.
Click here if you want to get started in your own international trade business.
Click here if you want to be an information publisher.
Click here if you want to email me.