Talk is Cheap. Really Cheap.
The more specialized society becomes, the less attention does it pay to the discoveries of the mind, which are intuitively beamed to the brain, there to be received only if the switches are on. Specialization tends to shut off the wide-band tuning searches and thus to preclude further discovery of all-powerful generalized principles.
- Buckminister Fuller, Synergetics
I previously mentioned the rather large tome, Zen and the art of making a living, which has been weighing down my kitchen counter begging to me to dive into its rich content. After finishing REWORK in quick fashion, I decided that tonight is the night that I would get into the book and read through to the first chapter. Before you laugh and think I only read 5 pages of a Forward and Introduction, there is a total of 70 pages to get through before reaching Chapter 1. There is:
- Preface to the Revised Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- How to Use This Book
- Introduction: The Grail Quest or the Bourgeois Nest?
That is a lot of information to get through before even starting upon following this “practical guide to creative career design.” Needless to say, I read it, and these first 70 pages have had more of an impact on my thinking of work than most other articles and books I have come across – and I haven’t even reached the best part yet.
I bought this book to help guide me through the process of discovering the best career choice for me. This is one of those books that is nice to have in your hands while you read, taking notes on the side, and being in a clear mental state while reading. Reading on my laptop or Kindle has a different feel to it. Not better, not worst, just different.
While this massive volume has been waiting for me to crack its spine, I have been thinking about starting up a consulting business for an area that no one has touched yet (or at least, does not have a presence on Google). I have reached out to some local consultants, talked it out loud with my father, and have done a lot of thinking about how to set it up, market, and build it. All of this was rolling around in my head when I read this over at Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn:
Finding success is all about taking action.
You can read all you want, but nothing will happen until you execute.
That is why today, I’m cutting this post short. Instead of reading my content, I want you to do something instead – right now. Do something for your blog, business or life that will get you moving forward and help you reach your goals.
All I ask is that you leave a comment of what you’re about to do (sort of like a pledge), and let’s see how much we can all get done today.
Sound good?
Two thoughts came to my mind when I read that:
- I over-think, over-plan, am always draft writing and am never finishing
- I should register the domain and get started with the business. Now. Not Tomorrow
So, I registered the domain, pointed the name-servers to Hostgator, and installed WordPress. I even confirmed my first client today to get things going. I will announce it more properly once the site is fleshed out more, but things are going to start happening around here.
Back to that quote
When I read that quote in Zen and the art of making a living, it silently confirmed for me the direction of both this blog and the consulting business. This blog is never going to be niche-specific. I risk beating a dead horse when I say it, but having a narrow niche is great for business, but not for your personal well-being. With the consulting business, it will target a specific group of companies, but aim to help them open more doors. There is a lot of opportunity out there that old-fashioned businesses do not know exist or have no idea on how to get started going down that path. I hope to help guide them and be a catalyst in change for how their operations work. I will be heavily influenced by the Zen book, Linchpin, REWORK, The 4 Hour Work Week.
And the title?
Talk is cheap. Action is expensive.
Anyone can fill up a blog post full of ideas, but not everyone can act upon them. However, since talk is cheap, I am going to give people the opportunity to talk on this site and make it worth their while.
On the right hand side is a comment counter. Simple enough. At the end of the month, the person with the most comments will get profiled on this site, and get a mention in the side-bar at the top.
What do I bring to the table? I’ve been averaging around 500 unique views per week since the start of the year, and it is climbing up. Yes, it is not as much as other blogs out there, but it is exposure, and I’m working doubly hard this year to get my traffic levels up significantly higher than they were last year. You will get featured to at least 2,000 people in a month, perhaps more.
So, spread the word: by commenting and by sharing the links.
For once, you will be rewarded for all that talking you like to do.
By James McCullough
- More at
Feb 12, 2011 @ 19:36:00
James,
I think you’re taking a great mindset when it comes to this blog; I’m having that same thought as I write this comment. I’ve realized that since the beginning of my blog, I’ve been mistakenly trying to capture the attention of two markets: young entrepreneurs and established business people.
I feel as if I can’t really go back now so I’m having trouble deciding on what to do with the blog; as a whole. And then it struct me – my blog isn’t my business so why am I trying to get people into that funnel, ya know? With that being said, I think I’m going to morph Murlu toward the young entreprenerus and cover the higher end business stuff on my actual business Okkopus.
As for taking action; I’m digging right into creating products for the PLR business but I think I’ll get the character/logo done for Okkopus since that’s a large part of it all.
I think we’ve learned enough of the basics; it’s all about action now. This means pushing away from blogs that don’t provide information we need, networking with people that are where we want to be and getting down the to the nitty-gritty, ya know?
Anyway, congrats on jumping right into your business; can’t wait to hear how it goes once it gets up and running completely!
Feb 13, 2011 @ 00:14:00
Hey Murray,
I’m glad you’re enjoying what is happening on this blog. I find myself a lot more motivated to do things with it in this new year. Lots of ideas in work for future posts, series, and how to promote it more properly.
I think trying to interest young entrepreneurs is the right direction to go. The job markets everywhere are just getting worse – yes, there are jobs, but they are more low paying jobs. It’s not exactly the direction young people want to take. A site like yours will be much more appealing to people my age (31) and younger. They will get more excited about the possibility of earning a side income and of potentially escaping the 9-5 job.
I can’t wait to see what you’re planning on doing with Okkopus, myself. It isn’t live yet, right?
Since I’m in a motivated groove to keep producing and working on things, I do want to cut down on the number of blogs I’m reading, but I still want to read content that provides me with information I haven’t come across yet – more for my own curiosity than anything. I find reading about other people’s passions helps motivate my own.
Are you reading the Earn1K newsletter this week? I want to write a post to summarize some of the concepts for early next week if you haven’t.
Feb 15, 2011 @ 01:22:00
Hey James,
Thanks for the kind words and motivation. Okkopus is still under wraps atm as I work on the PLR site but I hope to have it up soon once I’m back from my vacation in Asia which I have planned for in March
You’re exactly right about the mindset that us younger folk are taking. We don’t want to play into the same systems as our parents and those before them. There’s such a lack of jobs right now that it’s crazy and the last thing we, the youth, want to do is to commit to years of low pay and service to people that are generally unappreciative.
Now’s the best time, if ever, to capitalize on what we want to do. Yeah, it’s going to be tough but as my boss once put it:
“The economy is bad, we’re taking a hit but now’s not the time to be like everyone else and just play it safe. While others are stepping aside, we have the opportunity to make our mark, to jump ahead of the competition.”
Those were powerful words because you see it happening all the time.
I think Seth Godin talked about it as well (I’ll need to refresh my memory); I remember him saying that you’re either growing or dying a slow death when it comes to playing it safe in business.
It’s really awesome to see this huge shift in mindset when it comes to blogging; we’re well beyond the basics – we can begin to trim the fat (blogs we no longer find value from along with other sources of information).
Less noise and more focus.
As for the launch, it’s been a blast reading the emails. Ramit really knows how to stick you in the side but in a good way; a way to get you up off your ass and start doing something instead of just planning.
Be sure to let me know what else you learn from it along the way, would be excellent to hear how you’re progressing and hope that you do begin the journal of some sort to track your progress – I’ll be reading
Getting in the Groove: Inspiration - Four Sides | Four Sides
Feb 19, 2011 @ 00:06:50
[...] done. I was reminded of this when I mentioned the quote from Pat Flynn in the previous post (Talk is Cheap. Really Cheap). Pat’s message was encouraging people to stop reading and start doing. That may work for [...]
Mar 02, 2011 @ 20:08:00
Hi James, firstly thank you for featuring me as commentator of the month. That’s really appreciated.
I think reading is an excellent way to learn more, but ultimately putting what you’ve learnt into action is the best place to learn. What you learn from books is what worked for the author or the case(s) that they feature. They may or may not work for you.
Plus, what you’ll come to appreciate as a consultant that there is a world of difference between knowing what to do and doing something about it. Most of my clients just don’t know how to take the first step.
Mao Tse Tung’s famous quote I’m often reminded of when I work with clients: “even the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step”.
Mar 03, 2011 @ 02:35:00
I do agree with you that I need to put things into action to discover what I really know and what works best for me. One of the best ways to discover whether I had trained someone properly in the hotel was to have them train someone else and discover what they forgot or were never told how to do something.
I never really intend on using the information I read as a plan of action for what I want to achieve. In some cases, it is useful (ie when programming a website or doing something technical), but more often than not, I use books and blogs as a source of inspiration to help me discover my own ways. I plan on writing more about this in the series you have asked me to write.
I’m pretty sure Mao Tse Tung’s quote is in the “zen and the art of making a living” book, too. It’s all too true, and I’m glad I have taken that first step.