Aviation of Business

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 25

Most everyone by now has read or seen (or at least HEARD OF) The Secret. It’s a really good book about the power of positive thinking, AKA the Law of Attraction. I read it fairly recently, and liked it quite a bit. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, it essentially says that “the universe” provides whatever you need and want, but it doesn’t understand negatives.

In other words, you can’t think “I don’t want to get sick” because the universe won’t understand “don’t.” So it hears, “I … want to get sick.” And voila, you’re sick. From an entrepreneurial perspective, thinking “I don’t want to fail” all but guarantees your failure.

The answer is to think positively; think about what you WANT, not about what you don’t want. Thinking “I want to be healthy” will help stave off illness; thinking “I want my business to succeed” will help to avoid failure. And I think that this is true as far as it goes. Where it starts to get a little iffy, at least for me, is where the book and the film say that if you act as if you already have a million dollars, and feel like you’ll feel when you have a million dollars, that a million dollars will come to you.

Every result comes from action. And I absolutely believe that saying to yourself, “I want a million dollars” is better than saying “I don’t want to be broke.” But you still have to work toward that goal. If I wake up every day and say to myself, “I want a million dollars,” but then go to work like always, do what I always do, come home and watch TV all night, drink beer and eat Doritos, I’m still going to get what I always got. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

So why do people love the idea of “The Secret?” Because it sounds easy. But it’s not. You have to work as if you already have a million dollars before you will ever receive the money. And the positive thinking part of it is only beneficial inasmuch as it sets your mind in the right direction. If you are running away from something, you’ll stop running as soon as the threat is gone. That is negative thinking - an “I don’t want” thought.

But if you are running toward something, you’ll keep running until you get there - if the goal is motivating enough. This is “I want” thinking. The REAL benefit of positive thinking is that it opens your mind and senses to opportunities and possibilities that you never would have noticed before. The opportunities and possibilities always existed, but your negative mindset had you focused on what you DIDN’T want instead of what you DID want. So things slipped by unnoticed and uncapitalized upon.

Think of it this way - when you bought your most recent car (let’s say it’s a Volkswagen Jetta), all of a sudden you notice that there are Jettas EVERYWHERE! Where did they all come from? They were always there, you just never had reason to notice before. This is a function of your Reticular Activating System (RAS) - a part of your brain that subconsciously notices things that are important to you. And it does not have to be trained. It’s automatic. As an example, I rent small airplanes to do my flight training. I fly different aircraft, which have different identification, every time I fly. But if Air Traffic Control says the ID of the plane I’m flying, my attention is piqued immediately. Not because I am used to the aircraft ID, but because my RAS determined that it was important to me. It’s how you can hear someone whisper your name across a room; it’s how you recognize possibility and opportunity once you’ve told yourself it is important to you.

So even if you can’t bring yourself to believe that The Secret is scientific fact and all you need to do is think positive thoughts and good things will appear out of thin air in front of you, know that there is good evidence that a positive outlook and “positive thinking” can absolutely make your goals more reachable, in a more timely manner, with less frustration and work.

So run toward something good - not away from something bad!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 17

The following is a paid review, but is completely my own opinion and is not at all influenced by being paid.

I recently signed up for Pay Per Post, a blog marketing site which has been gaining and gaining in popularity with bloggers as a way to use a blog to make a little (or a lot) of money. It’s also very popular with internet marketers as a way to drive traffic to their sites! If you’re already writing, and you already use products and surf the web, why not make a little money while doing so, right? I’ve been experimenting and learning about online business for a little while now, and have not had much success. To be fair, I’ve also had a lack of focus and not spent my time where it might make the most impact. I’m trying to change that, because - as you see from my last post - I am edging my way back to my original career goal (since high school or college) of becoming a professional pilot.

Since flying isn’t cheap (my first flight in nearly four years lasted nine-tenths of an hour - that’s .9 hours or 54 minutes - and cost $115.64!), I’ve newly refocused my online ambitions to help me pay for the cost of flight training. I figure that if I can make $30 per day, every day, from my online businesses, my flight training will be nearly paid for! With that in mind, I am refreshing my interest in Pay Per Post, starting with this post. I hope to be able to use it to get a good start on my goal of $30 per day. If I am able to make more than that through Pay Per Post (and/or other advertising, donations, etc.), I will increase my flight time commensurately.

Up to now, I have found Pay Per Post to be pretty easy to use. It was very easy to add this blog to my account and get started. I actually got an offer for $30 to review a site - which I was pretty excited about, but then I got distracted and forgot to actually post about the site. The offer was susequently rescinded - unfortunately it happened on the day I remembered and was going to post about it! I ultimately would like to add some of my other blogs to my account at Pay Per Post (blogs like environmentastic! and Teacher’s Forum, but Pay Per Post requires that you have 10 approved posts before you can add any more blogs to your account. I wasn’t aware of this (or I had forgotten), and I was a little frustrated trying to find out how to add another blog to my account… you actually have to do that under the “my posts” tab. That was a little confusing to me, and then frustrating that once I found out where and how to add another blog, I wasn’t able to until I did more posts.

Other than that I think Pay Per Post is a really nice site to work with. It’s easy to learn, use, and navigate, and it has already given lots of people another stream of income! I know Tyler Cruz (visit his blog) has had some success with it… I hope I can make enough to start subsidizing my flight training soon! If you’re interested in making some money with your blog (even if only a little), check out Pay Per Post.

Have you used Pay Per Post? What did you think about it? Let us know - leave a comment!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 13

Today I will be getting back in the cockpit! I finally got in touch with my friend (a former student of mine when I was a training consultant in aviation) who is a flight instructor. We will be flying tonight - I’m going to attempt to pass a biennial flight review and aircraft rental checkout after nearly FOUR YEARS of not acting as a pilot of an aircraft.

Wish me luck - it’s a first step to return to my journey of becoming a professional pilot! The teacher again becomes the student…

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 18

I was listening to WCBE (90.5 in Columbus, Ohio) early this week. It’s Central Ohio’s NPR station.

While listening, I heard some news about the debate on setting goals to start reducing the U.S. footprint in Iraq. Apparently, the congress is debating (or, more accurately, the Republicans are filibustering) the idea of setting goals (which are the cornerstone of any success in any activity in life - ask any successful businessperson).

The filibustering isn’t the good part… my favorite part of the NPR story was the quotes (and I wish I could remember who said them):

“The best way to support our troops is to support our troops…”
“The best way to defeat Al Qaida is to defeat Al Qaida…”

Okay…

So…

What?!?

It could be said about anything that the best way to do something is to do it.

“The best way to fly a plane is to fly a plane.”
“The best way to lose weight is to lose weight.”

Yeah. Duh. But it’s not that simple.

There HAS to be a plan. There HAS to be something more than a blanket statement of the obvious… HOW do we support our troops? HOW do we defeat Al Qaida? WHY do we need to? WHO is going to do it? WHAT needs to our troops have? WHERE do we focus our limited resources to do so? WHEN do we check to see what kind of progress we have made?

I am sure there are many that nodded and agreed with the statements made by our distinguished representatives from Mt. Obvious. Those people, I’m sure, think that those statements were deep and thoughtful. I think that they were a waste of time and a sad statement about the people running our country. Don’t give me soundbites - especially not inane, stupid ones. Give me substance.

And we all know - the best way to talk about something sustantial is to talk about something sustantial.

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 16

Hooray! My first tag! I must be a real blogger!

Now that that’s over, on to the game:

Rosa Say, from Joyful Jubilant Learning, challenged several bloggers to come up with one song that makes their hearts sing.

Difficult? For me, yes. But not impossible. So I racked my brain and came up with a song that could be used both as one that tugs on my heart AND that expresses some business wisdom in the vein of my earlier post on Finding Business Wisdom Anywhere.

The rules of this tag-game are simple:

1. Post about the one song that makes your heart sing, and uplifts your spirit every time you hear it.
If you can provide a link to lyrics and/or audio that would be fabulous. But it’s not essential, so don’t worry about it if you can’t.

2. Include a trackback to this post

3. Tag three others and ask them to include a trackback to your post and this one when they post.

Rosa’s post was brought on by Rich Griffith’s. Rosa chose the song My Front Porch Looking In, by Lonestar. I’ve never heard the song, but the lyrics she posted were beautiful. Rich chose I’m Walking on Sunshine, which, he admits, may not be the world’s “deepest” song. It certainly cannot be argued that it is a downer, though.

I picked a song that many will think is a little odd, I think. Change by Blind Melon (find the lyrics here). This section of the song epitomizes the feeling of it for me:

When you feel your life ain’t worth living, you’ve got to stand up and
take a look around you then a look way up to the sky
And when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreamin boy cause
when you stop dreamin its time to die
And as we all play parts of tomorrow
Some ways we’ll work and other ways we’ll play
But I know we can’t all stay here forever
So I want to write my words on the face of today

While I have not heard a live version of the song I like quite as well as the album version, you can find a YouTube acoustic video of the song here. In every live version of the song I’ve heard, Shannon Hoon changed the lyrics to “’cause when you stop dreamin’ you know you’re gonna die / and I don’t wanna die….” If you know anything about Blind Melon, you know that these lyrics are pretty ironic, since Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose only a few years after releasing this first album, on which you’ll find the song. Most people remember the “bee girl” from the video of “No Rain,” but I suggest buying this whole album, as every song on it is worth your time.

I love this song because it reminds me that no matter where you are in life, no matter what your circumstances, you have a place in this world - we all “play parts of tomorrow.” And as long as you have dreams and goals, your life is worth living…

The business link is that dreams and goals are absolutely required to build a business, and each business and each person affects the world and the future, for better or worse. And often the only thing standing in the way of building that business and changing the world is a fear of change. This song starts with Shannon Hoon singing that people say “hey look at him; I’ll never live that way / and that’s okay… they’re just afraid to change.” And then it ends with people saying, “hey look at him, and where he is these days / when life is hard, you have to change.”

And that’s exactly how it is with business - people think you’re crazy when you start, but they envy you when you start to reach your goals. They seem to forget all the work in-between…

Now I’m supposed to tag three other bloggers, so here goes (I picked some of my most admired):

Verna Wilder @ Out of the Cube
David Askaripour @ Mind Petals
and
Tara Hunt @ HorsePigCow

Have fun - I did!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Apr 27

Have you ever noticed the paths that are worn into the grass from where people walk when they don’t use the sidewalks? Why does that happen? It could be argued that sidewalks are a way to keep people in line and conforming to what someone else wants them to do, and that the fact that there ARE paths worn into the grass means that the entrepreneur mentality is widespread in the human population - this is why people don’t follow the path laid out for them by the sidewalks.  Walking in the grass is a way to buck conformity and “blaze your own path.”  We’ve all read the following poem a million times:

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowthThen took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

However, once everyone starts taking “the road less traveled by,” it becomes more like a path cut in a field by cattle… follow the leader.  Humans are just as likely to fall into the “herd mentality” as any other animal. 

Sidewalks are just convenient borders, not necessarily useful paths.  So the fact is that paths get cut into the grass by human nature, which is to take the path of least resistance.  The only real “trailblazing” entrepreneur was the first person who walked the path - before it was even a path - and most likely it was done more out of laziness than out of “risky,” trailblazing, entrepreneurial moxie. 

So what is one to do?  Beyond the obvious environmental and aesthetic reasons to avoid the “beaten” path, I believe that the simple act of walking off the path beaten by so many cattle-minded folks will begin to train your mind to be different than others - which, we all know, is step number one to becoming an entrepreneur.

So do you want to be like the rest of the herd, killing the grass and making lazy trails across your corporate or campus lawns?  Or do you want to think about what you do and why you do it, taking care not to destroy something to get where you’re going? Leave a comment telling us how you train yourself to think and act differently than others so you can get what others don’t have!

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Mar 17

My wife and her father often play Dr. Mario, an old eight-bit Nintendo game.  In this game, each player starts with a number of “germs,” each one of three colors: blue, red, or yellow.  The goal of the game is to eliminate all of the germs from the screen.  To do so, you must either stack up (vertically) or line up (horizontally) four blocks of the same color.  The blocks are actually pills; some are all one color - most are half one color and half another.  They come in any combination of two of the colors above.  Players can move and flip the “pills” to get them lined up or stacked properly to eliminate the colored germs with same color pill (or half-pill).  The pill’s and germs disappear when four or more of one color are lined (or stacked) up.

What is interesting about this is that when playing in competition, it is possible to “plop” on the other player by arranging your pills so as to make more than one line disappear with one move.  The other player will have two (or three, or four!) “half-pills” drop down at random on his/her side of the screen.  These plops generally land in inconvenient places and are inconvenient colors.

Why the hell am I giving you a crash course in Dr. Mario, you ask?  For this reason:  The competitive style of playing the game is uncanny in its parallel to entrepreneurship and business.  Stay with me here…

 Business is competitive by its very nature.  So the competition aspect of Dr. Mario draws an obvious similarity; however, there is much more!  Due to competition in business, there are constant “plops” in your business from your competitors… these “plops” are neither convenient nor avoidable - they happen no matter what you do.  They are totally in the control of your competition.

Now it gets truly interesting.  What you do and how you react to these “plops” often determins your success in the game… just like in business and entrepreneurship.  If the “plops” distract you from your ultimate goal of eliminating germs, your competition will beat you in short order.  On the same token, if you ignore the plops and play as if they aren’t happening, you’ll also get beaten.  To win the game, you have to change your actions to take the plops into account while always keeping the germs in mind.  If you can eliminate the germs while dealing with the plops, you have a good chance of winning.  By the way - sometimes the plops are actually beneficial.  Just like in life, luck plays a role.

My wife consistently wins at the game… often she wins three rounds straight - “skunking” her opponent.  She also regularly comes from behind after being ruthlessly “plopped” upon.  She is a master of adjusting her actions and strategy based on the reality of the game - always focusing on the end goal of eliminating the germs.

We need to do the same in business - focus on our goal, but always see the reality of our situation.  Only a combination of the two will lead us to success so we can “skunk” our competition.

Fair Winds,
Andrew