Are You A Leaver or a Taker?

Louise Evans started a thread a couple of days ago called "The Cost of Success"

Not wanting to hijack her thread, I had some thoughts that I wanted to share about success. I've included my post from Louise's thread and some additional thoughts. Would like to know what some of you think about this subject.

Brian

Hi Louise,

This is one of the topics that I love, thanks for starting it.

A little while back I wrote a book that is essentially about being a man and creating success in one's life. Below are some excepts from my book that address Success and Freedom.

Brian

Success will always be contained within Freedom, and as such, is a by-product of Freedom. You cannot have Freedom without having success, but you can have Success without having Freedom.

SUCCESS
There are as many definitions of success as there are individuals in the world. For most, what we define as success when we are 18 is very different when we are in our 30's, 40's and beyond. For some, success is measured by how much money they have in their bank account, the value of their investments and the worth of the property they own.


For some it may be the validation from others that they are successful. And for still others it may be achieving a career as a teacher or having a loving family or self-love. The bottom line is, success and happiness go hand in hand. If you are truly happy with what you are doing, where you are in life and what you have achieved or are working towards achieving, then you are successful.

Far to many equate success with money. Let me be really clear. Having a lot of money is not a bad thing, if you are happy with your life. If you are using the energy of money to create happiness in your life and making the world a better place, well, that's a good thing. Far too often the media portrays successful people as those who have money, cars, million dollar homes and a life that is interesting to others. Upon examination of many of these so called successful individuals, we repeatedly find that they have dysfunctional family lives, drug and alcohol abuse, major self-love issues and self- destructive behaviors. They are not happy, but they have many of the identifiers of success: money, cars, expensive homes, high profile careers, and the adulation of thousands of people. Again, there is nothing wrong with having these things when they are gained by being a MAN OR WOMAN OF HONOR and you are genuinely happy.

FREEDOM
Freedom is the opportunities created by our choices to own and create our destiny without infringing on another's freedom. In my estimation there are ten components to freedom. They are:

BELIEF -- Creating a loving connection with a source greater than you.

GRATITUDE -- Having true appreciation for all that comes into your life each day.

HONOR -- Integrity with your Choices, Actions, Attitude and Engagement with life.

RELATIONSHIPS -- Created with love for self, family, friends and all living things.

GIVING -- Giving your talents, gifts and energy to others and the world.

RECEIVING -- Learning to receive gifts and energy from others and the universe.

ADVENTURE -- Seeking self-growth, development, fun and going beyond preset boundaries.

DEBT-FREE -- Moving towards and achieving the goal of a debt-free life.

HAPPINESS -- Self-expressions of love manifested in thoughts and actions.

SUCCESS -- Self-motivation to learn the skills of success and applying them in your life.

The journey that you are now on, because you are DOING THINGS IN A CERTAIN WAY will result in you obtaining freedom in your life.
Brian

Quote:
Originally Posted by moneysoapbox

Zanti,
Thank you for that excerpt. To me, financial freedom is just one aspect of true freedom, even though (I hate to admit this) sometimes I get narrowly focused on that one aspect. There's always some lame excuse why or how, but no matter. You've reminded me I'm better than that and pointed out correct perspective. Thank you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andyhenry

...On Zanti's point on Freedom - That is the context within which I view money. People always want money from you (for your home, fuel, food etc.), so it's very difficult to live in this world without some level of financial income.

Once you have enough money so that people won't interfere with you going about your daily activities, then the rest is gravy.

....It's easy for us all to get focused on our problems, but we really do all have something to be thankful for everyday.

I don't believe that making $1 a day from Adsense is running a successful business - especially if your rent/mortgage is $1000 a month. In that situation you could have a successful business but be homeless because you can't pay your bills.

Many newcomers to IM spend thousands on products and systems before they ever build any sustainable income, so even if breaking even was a measure of success - it often takes people years to actually break even financially. Then if you include the opportunity costs of learning IM (the stuff you could've been doing to make money in other ways) then IM is definitely not easy to be profitable for most people.
Andy
###

Thank you moneysoapbox and Andy. Success is such a funny issues. To often I see people get confused about success and money. As Andy and others pointed out we all need money to survive, that's a given. So the argument is not about the objective of being in business is to make money.

I think it goes deeper than that.

It has to do with our attitude and approach about money and business. I see a lot of people here with low post counts who seem to solely focus on squeezing the last dollar out of their customer, if they have any. Those who don't have customers take the attitude and approach that when they do get them, to make sure they don't leave anything on the table.

I honestly wish the most success for any of you who hold this type of attitude and approach.

I was fortunate in my career to sit at the feet of many great men and women who were not only financially successful in their business but also in life. Many have become great friends of mine.

What I learned from these successful people, was that there is a common element that runs through each of them: They all gave more to help others, including their customers and employees, seeking nothing in return. It was just the way that they did business and their attitude and approach toward their business.

To sum it all up, in my opinion, it's about being a Leaver and not a Taker.

There is a wonderful book by Daniel Quinn called Ishmael. No it's not a business book on the surface, but in the context of what I speak of it is one of the greatest business books. A short quote from the book:

"The premise of the Takers' story is 'The world belongs to man.' ...The premise of the Leavers' story is 'Man belongs to the world.'"

So I guess the question I have for IM'er is: Are you Leavers or Takers?

Just to clarify, I'm not saying this is the only way to run a business, but is in my experience and opinion, what I have seen works with unbelievable results.

Which are you, Leaver or Taker and why?

Brian