Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
Wow, this seems incredibly simple, yet especially important to comprehend in today’s social media atmosphere. But this principal ends up getting lost in all the other marketing and advertising and networking advice one takes from the ‘learned’ ones that precede him or her. “Add as many followers/fans as you can!!”, one strategist might proclaim. “It’s all in the numbers!!”, another blogger might gloat. But the reality is that most people post minutia that a lot of us could care less about. The rest of them are trying to promote the heck out of themselves to the point of almost being considered spam. One would argue, “..someone out there cares what I have to say, I just haven’t found my niche yet.” And to a certain degree, they may be correct. But the principle above, aka ‘The Law of Compensation’, takes into account the quantity AND quality aspects. This law is applicable to every sector of our economy, from Twitter feeds and Facebook status updates, to the alternative fuel technologies or water conservation strategies.
The core lesson here is something I once heard from a wise old soul named John Kennedy. No, not THAT John Kennedy, but a wise one nonetheless. He said that social media is about education rather than promotion. It’s the same reason we all fast forward through commercials on television or skip adverts on web pages. We hate them, except on a certain Sunday in early February. I’m guilty as charged. But if we show a little restrain by limiting our self-promotion to a minimum, and sprinkle in some quality information that folks are actually seeking to learn about, we will be serving a greater audience with a greater purpose and with greater success. An alternate twist to achieving this, that takes it one step further, is provided here by cartoonist/author Hugh MacLeod’s GapingVoid.comentry, entitled “The Only One”.
In our story, The Go-Giver, the main character, Joe, meets a young lady that is the Founder/CEO of a very successful company that produces learning programs software for teachers worldwide. But before her success, she was devising new ways to teach her students by engaging their creativity and intellectual curiosity. However, she was only one teacher and in only one classroom at a time, and was “…frustrated with the fact that she couldn’t help more than twenty or twenty-five kids at a time. And she was barely surviving on her teacher’s salary.” Through a few chance meetings with some parents of her students that had the skill sets necessary to assist her, she launched the company that now expects to “…touch the lives of twenty to twenty-five million kids.”
“The first Law determines how valuable you are. In other words, your potential success, how much youcould earn. But it’s the Second Law that determines how much you actually do earn”
A great local example of this is the company Autistically Inclined, located in the San Marcos village of San Elijo Hills in North County San Diego. Founder Julie Sando incorporates these principles in both her business as an Autism Specialist and her everyday life. I should know, she’s my better half. Julie and her staff provide instruction and framework to family members and volunteers/team members to create home-based programs for children touched by Autism Spectrum Disorders. They promote connecting with the children socially by entering their world, instead of forcing them to enter ours. Through various trust building exercises, they create a bond with the children that encourages social interactivity rather than behavioral conformity or academic criterion.
Autistically Inclined also operates with a ‘Pay-it-forward’ mentality. Julie understands the financial burden that families touched by Autism endure. In response, she offers exceptional discounts off of her services to families in need, by having them pay-forward a service of their choice that can help someone else in need. Essentially, it creates an entire network of folks scratching each other’s backs. And it’s infectious. She is now participating with other local business to provide discounts community-wide through her ‘Wellness Partners’ program. These programs and incentives allow Julie to help as many people as possible with an incredible amount of value, in every way, shape and form. Seeing each of these Laws in action is truly inspiring.
I challenge you to also be truly inspiring by being the only one.
See you soon..
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