Success is a Skill

Seth Godin's philosophy on Success is that it takes work. Surround yourself with people who are succeeding. You become who you hang with. By surrounding yourself with people who are succeeding, you’ll learn what’s working and what’s not. You can model their success and open doors that you might otherwise not see.

Master Mind groups and attending conferences are ways to interact with other successful people.

Another Big Lesson from Seth:

Everyone is not your customer.

Seth teaches us the key to failure – "the key to failure is trying to please everyone." Listen to your real customers. .... Seth on figuring out what your customers really want — "Most people have no clue what they want, and if you ask them, you’ll get a lame answer. Most people don’t know they want Pretty Woman or Slumdog Millionaire. They don’t know they want Purple Cow or one of your killer articles. So if you want to have an impact, all you can do is lead. You can’t ask."

What Do People Want Most? To be Connected.

That's why Facebook is booming. That's why people want to use the Internet. To get Connected... to like-minded people. To share themselves with similar people. To feel like a part of something.

According to Seth, "You can lead a tribe of people, connect them, commit to them and create a movement." Seth on building your tribe – "It adds to that the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about. Everything the organization does is to feed and grow and satisfy the tribe."

You provide that access, but you can also provide that Connection by helping your customers network together. If you introduced one of your clients to someone who became an investor or large customer or strategic partner, don't you think he is going to remember who made that introduction?

"The thing that makes something remarkable isn’t usually directly related to the original purpose of the product or service. It’s the FREE PRIZE INSIDE, the extra stuff, the stylish bonus, the design or the remarkable service or pricing that makes people talk about it and spread the word."

Last thought: "Seth writes that an entrepreneur is trying to build something bigger than themselves. They take calculated risk and focus on growth. An entrepreneur is willing to receive little pay, work long hours, and take on great risk in exchange for the freedom to make something big, something that has real market value." That's YOU!

[Thanks to Lessons Learned from Seth by Sources of Insight blog and to Seth Godin for sharing his ideas and insights].