Friday, March 07, 2008

Are you king, knight or serf?

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In medieval times, a prince would build an army to levy taxes while also set up trade routes protected by hired mercenaries.

Linkedin enables you to act in such a princely manner. Yet, most people do not know how to do this. They use Linkedin as a virtual Rolodex when it can be so much more.

What is most important, before we even get into how you can economically and financially leverage Linkedin, is how you view yourself.

Who do you think you are?

Usually, this question is meant to challenge a person because he or she seems to have too big a self-concept.

But in fact, you cannot think of yourself highly enough. Your very self-concept is the receptacle of everything that life offers.

If you believe you are a millionaire, you shall become one. If you believe the maximum you can make is $80,000 a year, you will make that amount of money. If you believe you can retire financially rich before age 40 (and this is my belief exactly concerning my esteemed person), then you will retire before age 40 with loads of money and a recurring stream of income enabling you to afford your favorite lifestyle.

Remember the Spanish proverb: "After the game of life is over, both the king and the pawn return to the same box."

Your Linkedin profile shows, rather tellingly, your self-concept. Most people are not aware that the self-image they project onto the world, is also the image (or filtering apparatus) they have of themselves.

By "filtering apparatus," I mean that a person will ONLY perceive information or accept ideas that are congruent with his/her self-concept.

If you think you're a millionaire, you will naturally have ideas popping up in your head about how to make a million dollars. If not, you might still get those ideas but they will be so quickly filtered OUT of your conscious frame of mind that you will never be aware of their existence.

This blog is about Linkedin, so why all this talk about becoming a millionaire?

Because that's what Linkedin ultimately enables you to do.

I have over 700 connections. Yet I never invited anybody. I just created a profile that is interesting enough for people to want to have me in their network.

More and more people also want to become licensed affiliates of my proprietary products and intellectual capital so they can sell them in their home countries. I have 22 countries being targeted on my entrepreneurial dashboard.

The sky's the limit. But first, you have to ask yourself: "Who am I? Am I king, knight or serf?"

Whoever you think you are, you are 100% right.

So be careful before you decide, for decision is destiny.