Lydia's List
NINE THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN CAPITAL by Jim Rohn When starting any enterprise or business, whether it
is full-time or part-time, we all know the value of
having plenty of capital (money). But I bet we both know
or at least have heard of people who started with no
capital who went on to make fortunes. How?, you may ask. Well, I believe there are actually some things that
are more valuable than capital that can lead to your
entrepreneurial success. Let me give you the list. 1. Time. Time is more valuable than capital. The time you set
aside not to be wasted, not to be given away. Time you
set aside to be invested in an enterprise that brings
value to the marketplace with the hope of making a
profit. Now we have capital time. How valuable is time? Time properly invested is worth
a fortune. Time wasted can be devastation. Time invested
can perform miracles, so you invest your time. 2. Desperation. I have a friend Lydia, whose first major investment
in her new enterprise was desperation. She said, "My
kids are hungry, I gotta make this work. If this doesn't
work, what will I do?" So she invested $1 in her
enterprise selling a product she believed in. The $1 was
to buy a few fliers so she could make a sale at retail,
collect the money and then buy the product wholesale to
deliver back to the customer. My friend Bill Bailey went to Chicago as a teenager
after he got out of high school. And the first job he
got was as a night janitor. Someone said, "Bill, why
would you settle for night janitor?" He said,
"Malnutrition." You work at whatever you can possibly
get when you get hungry. You go to work somewhere --
night janitor, it doesn't matter where it is. Years
later, now Bill is a recipient of the Horatio Alger
award, rich and powerful and one of the great examples
of lifestyle that I know. But, his first job – night
janitor. Desperation can be a powerful incentive. When
you say - I must. 3. Determination. Determination says I will. First Lydia said, "I must
find a customer." Desperation. Second, she said, "I will
find someone before this first day is over." Sure
enough, she found someone. She said, "If it works once,
it will work again." But then the next person said,
"No." Now what must you invest? 4. Courage. Courage is more valuable than capital. If you've only
got $1 and a lot of courage, I'm telling you, you've got
a good future ahead of you. Courage in spite of the
circumstances. Humans can do the most incredible things
no matter what happens. Haven't we heard the stories?
There are some recent ones from Kosovo that are some of
the most classic, unbelievable stories of being in the
depths of hell and finally making it out. It's humans.
You can't sell humans short. Courage in spite of, not
because of, but in spite of. Now once Lydia has made 3
or 4 sales and gotten going, here's what now takes over. 5. Ambition. "Wow! If I can sell 3, I can sell 33. If I can sell
33, I can sell 103." Wow. Lydia is now dazzled by her
own dreams of the future. 6. Faith. Now she begins to believe she's got a good product.
This is probably a good company. And she then starts to
believe in herself. Lydia, single mother, 2 kids, no
job. "My gosh, I'm going to pull it off!" Her
self-esteem starts to soar. These are investments that
are unmatched. Money can't touch it. What if you had a
million dollars and no faith? You'd be poor. You
wouldn't be rich. Now here is the next one, the reason
why she's a millionaire today. 7. Ingenuity. Putting your brains to work. Probably up until now,
you've put about 1/10 of your brainpower to work. What
if you employed the other 9/10? You can't believe what
can happen. Humans can come up with the most intriguing
things to do. Ingenuity. What's ingenuity worth? A
fortune. It is more valuable than money. All you need is
a $1 and plenty of ingenuity. Figuring out a way to make
it work, make it work, make it work. 8. Heart and Soul. What is a substitute for heart and soul? It's not
money. Money can't buy heart and soul. Heart and soul is
more valuable than a million dollars. A million dollars
without heart and soul, you have no life. You are
ineffective. But, heart and soul is like the unseen
magic that moves people, moves people to buy, moves
people to make decisions, moves people to act, moves
people to respond. 9. Personality. You've just got to spruce up and sharpen up your own
personality. You've got plenty of personality. Just get
it developed to where it is effective every day, it's
effective no matter who you talk to - whether it is a
child or whether it is a business person - whether it is
a rich person or a poor person. A unique personality
that is at home anywhere. My mentor Bill Bailey taught me, "You've got to learn
to be just as comfortable, Mr. Rohn, whether it is in a
little shack in Kentucky having a beer and watching the
fights with Winfred, my old friend or in a Georgian
mansion in Washington, DC as the Senator's guest." Move
with ease whether it is with the rich or whether it is
with the poor. And it makes no difference to you who is rich or who
is poor. A chance to have a unique relationship with
whomever. The kind of personality that's comfortable.
The kind of personality that's not bent out of shape. And lastly, let's not forget charisma and
sophistication. Charisma with a touch of humility. This
entire list is more valuable than money. With one dollar
and the list I just gave you, the world is yours. It
belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire whatever
development you wish for your life. I've given you the
secret. Capital. The kind of capital that is more
valuable than money and that can secure your future and
fortune. Remember that you lack not the resources. Credit Statement to be included
in Reprints: Click here for Jim Rohn's Online Catalog
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