Up Market |
- Stop Chasing Your Dreams And Let Them Come To You: Mastin Kipp’s Amazing Story
- Symphonies of Talent
- Why Banks are Bad for New Entrepreneurs
| Stop Chasing Your Dreams And Let Them Come To You: Mastin Kipp’s Amazing Story Posted: 20 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT
The Daily Love was born out of Mastin’s own search for wisdom and guidance to help him find his true purpose and figure out the techniques to best manifest his highest potential. Not only did Kim Kardashian tweet about his site to 2 million people (creating a huge surge in subscriptions to TheDailyLove.com), but Oprah’s studios called and invited Mastin to pose a question to both her and Eckhart Tolle on Oprah’s Lifeclass, and now he is on tour with Oprah’s Lifeclass. Nice. How did all this happen? That’s where the story gets really interesting. I want to give a shout out to Marie Forleo (one of my favorite Sweet Spot role models – read more about why here) for introducing me to Mastin and TheDailyLove.com (to which I now subscribe) through a recent video interview that she did with him. You can watch that interview on Marie TV here. The 27 minute interview about Mastin’s story is so loaded with rich lessons and insights, I highly recommend that you make the time and watch it so you can hear the story first-hand and get Mastin’s vibe. He is very deeply rooted and grounded in his purpose for being on the planet, it’s palpable, and is clearly in his Sweet Spot. In the mean time, I want to highlight the key Sweet Spot lessons that I took away from watching the interview myself, and that struck me as invaluable to anyone on the path of stepping into his or her own Sweet Spot. Mastin’s journey started in 2005 with a daily newsletter he started sending just to his group of friends, in which he shared an inspiring quote of the day. (It was, in fact, called “Thoughts of the Day.”) He said about those early days that there was just something inside of him that said “You must send out quotes every day to help the world.” And so he did.
On the advice of a friend who told him he should get online, Mastin set up a very simple landing page where he could capture emails, and just kept focusing on putting out content that would touch people. He didn’t have anything to sell, and had no plans for what he would sell.
At this stage, Mastin just stayed focused on being of service, and steadily grew his list to 750 people, and then 1000. He also had a clothing line at the time that he’d been building with a partner for 4 years, which had national as well as international distribution. All within one week, that business fell apart, investors pulled out, the business partnership dissolved, Mastin’s room mate gave him 30 days notice to find a new place to live, his relationship with the girl he’d been dating dissolved and he got gout in his foot. Ouch. The amazing thing is that Mastin made a clear and conscious decision at that point. He said he chose to see that as a “Divine moment.” It was the proverbial fork in the road (something I point out in a lot of Sweet Spotter stories), and he recognized there were several options in front of him at that point: go back into the music business, something he’d done previously… go and get a job… Or, he could move into the 8′ x 8′ pool house belonging to an ex-girlfriend’s mother — who’d offered it to him at one point — and figure out the whole Daily Love thing. He chose option 3.
Mastin said it was a tremendous questioning phase for him, but he literally kept talking to the Universe (something he says does all the time) and he said, “You created everything. Why couldn’t you hook me up with free rent at the Chateau Marmont?” The answer he got was, “This room is the size of your faith… but it’s enough.” Mastin decided to make the little bit of savings last as long as he could, and would cut back on expenses as much as he could. He didn’t even have internet, even though he was running an internet company! Cosmic humor, right? He’d drive around in his car “borrowing” internet signals from people and writing in his car, and going to coffee shops to use their internet service. Mastin also took a strong stand with his parents at that time. They were worried about his financial well-being and kept asking him when he was going to get a job. Finally he told his Mom that, as much as he loved her, every time she asked him that question, it felt like she was ignoring his heart and soul. He told her that he was going to do the The Daily Love so he never had any regrets about “What if?” — and that if she didn’t stop asking him when he was going to get a job, he was going to stop calling home. She never mentioned the job thing again.
Within one month, Kim Kardashian re-tweeted one of Mastin’s tweets to 2 million people, and The Daily Love subscriber list skyrocketed overnight. Coincidence? Nope. Mastin believes that event was a direct result of the decision he’d made a month earlier to completely surrender himself to The Daily Love, letting go of all other options. Mastin made a vision board reflecting what he wanted for himself, his life and his business. He put a few key things on it: Love, Money, Oprah, Hay House (the publisher) and The Huffington Post. Then he put the vision board away and forgot about it. He put it away as a result of a conscious decision: He knew that the vision was what resonated for him, but he also knew that the metaphysical teaching — including a teaching in the outstanding book Power vs Force by Dr. David Hawkins, which I highly recommend — was that “you attract what you are.” Instead of striving after the things he’d put on his vision board, he decided instead to “be” that, and conduct himself as if he was already on that level. He was testing the notion that whatever resonated with who he was being would come to him.
Check this out: within six months, Oprah studios contacted him to explore him appearing on Oprah’s Lifeclass. At first Mastin thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t. And here’s where the story of his experience goes to a whole other level. As he was going through the discussion period with Oprah studios, Mastin consciously decided:
Extraordinary! While most would get caught up in the excitement and fanfare of their dreams coming true, and one of the most powerful people on the planet seeking them out, Mastin instead deliberately chose to stay grounded in his core commitments, kept the main thing the main thing, and worked the metaphysical principles to the max. Brilliant.
Discussions continued with Oprah studios, and they chose to have Mastin appear on Oprah’s Lifeclass to pose a question to her and Eckhart Tolle who, through his books and teaching, had been one of Mastin’s great mentors. The appearance on the Lifeclass show ended up with Mastin going on tour with the show. On top of that, Louise Hay, founder of Hay House publishing (another object of his vision board) went to see Mastin speak, and asked him to speak at one of their Hay House events. As far as I can tell, he’s now manifested four out of the five things he’d posted on his board not that long ago. (Interested to see how The Huffington Post shows up — I’m sure it will!) What other lessons do you see in Mastin’s story that are relevant and useful to you on your path into your own Sweet Spot? Photo: TheDailyLove.com |
| Posted: 20 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT
If you're like me, childhood memories of recitals can be pretty rough. Sterile venues with a stage, a lone instrument and metal chairs filled with adoring but bored family members? I took up piano again after 30 years away from it. My daughter was taking lessons from her elementary school teacher and I noticed how different his approach was to music. She was learning sounds before note names, and the feel of music before the theory. This teacher — Paul — was teaching her music as a language, and she was enjoying the conversation. In the 80's my childhood teacher taught classical music with a rigid and rote approach. It was pretty stressful — and not very fun. Absent from the process was an acknowledgement of the style and interest of the student. Fast-forward to today, and the experience is very different. Paul is a facilitator of learning, a conduit for musical self-expression through the understanding of patterns in music. We are learning the foundations and applying them through practice, but then the conversation moves off the page and into our interpretation of the music. This is the power of both music and learning. My daughter’s recital was last weekend. Sure we were nervous — especially about the expectations from family, friends and her teacher. What if we make a mistake or forget our piece? But Paul's approach was celebratory and engaging. He did not sit and critique. He grabbed his bass guitar, brought in a percussionist and transformed us for three to five minutes into the rock stars we dreamt we could be. In this space, not injecting our own flare was breaking the rules. In that moment we understood the possibilities. My daughter sang all the way home and I started on a new song. Thirty years ago I would not have touched the piano for at least a week after the recital was over. I thought about this experience as it relates to organizational learning today. Companies have experienced bottom line growth over the last three years, but it's mostly due to cost cutting and downsizing. Now organizations need to expand their products and services, they need to think and learn outside the box, but their cultures may resist the very thing it needs most. Just think about the industries and companies that have been turned upside down because of the explosion of technology and the implosion of the global markets: music, publishing, banking, retail, legal, Sony, GM, RIM (Blackberry), Best Buy, Dewey & LeBoeuf, just to name a few. In the past decade, 46% of the Fortune 500 dropped off the list and today growth in the US is stalled at around two percent. Many organizations have command and control cultures driven by markets, which worked for a long time. Employees and stakeholders that "play only the notes written on the page" and that follow the carefully constructed processes have been preferred. Wandering off the page is risky to necessary outcomes — so goes the thought. Today unplanned change happening mostly at the task level is the norm, instead of the exception. Business processes, while necessary, cannot keep pace with complexity. Hiring, training and evaluating people on their ability to stay on the page severely limits an organization's ability to grow. What does your rock band look like today? And what does it need to look like in order to jam in today's environment of complexity and change? What instruments can members play or learn to play? What kind of lead singer will you be? Here are four questions to consider:
Twentieth century talent strategies and mindsets will ensure everyone is playing only what is written on the page… but you will be missing the great symphony of possibilities and sealing your organization's fate in mediocrity — and perhaps extinction. Twenty-first century strategies recognize the individual, promote and reward creative thinking and embrace the process of learning. Can your organization play more than what is written on the page? Image credit: Jazz Ensemble of Bethel College |
| Why Banks are Bad for New Entrepreneurs Posted: 20 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT
In reality, new ventures get most of their early capital from personal savings, personal credit cards, friends and family, and cash flow from the business. Banks typically come into play much further down the road, but not for lack of trying. If you are in the early stages of your new business, do not waste your time dealing with banks. Even if getting a bank loan were possible, it should still be avoided. Keep reading to learn why. The Odds are Stacked Against YouHaving secured business financing from banks in the past I can tell you it is extremely time consuming, and unless you can show 2 to 3 years of positive cash flow, you chances of securing a loan are slim to zero. The amount of information required is ridiculous, and just when you think you’ve handed over everything, they request even more information. Weeks later you get the dreaded no. Been there. Done that. It ends up being a huge waste of time that could have been spent marketing and selling. In the event you are “lucky” enough to get a loan, the bank will require significant collateral in the way of receivables and / or your personal property. By personal property, I mean your house. One of the benefits of incorporating is to protect your personal liabilities. After all of that work, many entrepreneurs turn over their homes as collateral to banks in order to secure business loans. Not only does this strip away the corporate veil, it blows it to smithereens. Your Confidence Will Lead You AstrayOne of the greatest assets for new entrepreneurs is their confidence and optimism. The positive energy is contagious and goes a long way in helping generate buzz around your product or service. But when it comes to finances, this sort of optimism can be your worst enemy. Overconfidence in future success can cause inexperienced business owners to agree to just about any terms. The over confident entrepreneur thinks, No problem. We’re going to hit it big anyway. Unfortunately, for most entrepreneurs success will not come quickly or easily. Lack of ExperienceNew entrepreneurs simply do not have the experience to sit across the table from a seasoned loan officer who eats new entrepreneurs for lunch. New entrepreneurs are in too much of a hurry to get their hands on cash. Because of this haste, they will not force multiple banks to compete for their business. Unfortunately for most new entrepreneurs at this stage, the mind set is more like, Wow I can’t believe they are giving me money! I better take it before they change their mind! If you don’t trust my words, then trust those of Howard Shultz, the CEO of Starbucks. Here’s what he says in his book “Pour Your Heart Into It”, a book I highly recommend for all entrepreneurs:
Seeking bank funding eats up precious time with very little pay off. In a post on my own blog, I discussed the top sources of funding for new entrepreneurs. If you need funds, it is best you start there. The odds are far greater than dealing with banks. |
Did you play an instrument as a child?
Why would a new venture want to avoid banks? After all, won’t you need a bank to secure much needed credit lines and other forms of funding? Does not conventional wisdom say your banker should be one of your closest advisers along with your attorney and your accountant? Let’s add this to the growing list of entrepreneurial myths.| You are subscribed to email updates from Upmarket To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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