Lead Your Own Self to Success!

I have attended hundreds of talks and seminars on leadership and success, read hundreds of books on positive thinking/mental attitude and listened to hundreds of CD's/DVD's on these topics.  Let me just say that I think it is generally a good thing to think and speak and act positively for your basic well being.  Let me also say that after 30  years of observation, doing that is not going to make you rich. Thinking, speaking and acting positively and having big goals and dreams will not magically bring pallets of cash your way.  And let me just interject, I believe that 99.99% of people across the spectrum are NOT leaders and never will be.  This trend to put every single employee in a company in "leadership training" is silly.  I find that most corporate CEO's and presidents are not really leaders.  I can only name a handful in the entire country across all business and political spectra.  Most true leaders are born with those skills and maybe can tweak them a bit for improvement and refinement, but someone born with no innate leadership skills is not going to become a Bill Gates by attending a weekend seminar.  John Maxwell, anointed leadership guru once said that on a scale of 0-10, with zero being no talent in a specific area and 10 being a one-in-the-world talent, if you honestly score yourself in a particular area; then with intense work, 8 hours a day for years, you might raise your skill level by 1-2 points, but that's about it.  So if your singing skill is zero, like mine; with intense voice training every day all day for years I might improve enough not to embarrass myself in church.  But I will not become an Andrea Bocelli and make bazillions of dollars.  The same is true in business, sports, music, acting, etc.   Fortunately leadership does not automatically equate to financial wealth and financial wealth does not require leadership skills.
So why do some average people make a lot of money with average skills and average products and services?  Have you ever noticed how much mediocre and sometimes downright silly things succeed big in the marketplace, while other stuff that actually appears useful and valuable flops?  The accountant staring out of his window one day back in the 70's dreamed up 'Pet Rocks' and six months later had personally netted $16 million.  The most important factor for generating a lot of money is being able to touch and impact a lot of people with your product or service who see enough value in it to pay you something for it.  For example, professional athletes not only perform for the 75,000 fans in the arena, but millions around the world.  Thus advertisers will pay the teams for TV ads and for the athletes to wear advertisements on their clothing and equipment. Musicians touch millions through concerts, CD's and social media.  The same for successful book authors.  Actors touch millions through TV and movies, thus advertisers pay a lot to broadcast their work.
As you can begin to see, it's not based upon the 'true' value of your work.  Doctors do great work, but they only touch a few thousand patients a year, thus they are compensated fairly well, but nothing like a Justin Bieber.  Teachers and professors do very important work, but they only touch a few hundred people a year, thus they are not compensated like a Peyton Manning.  Donald Trump builds housing, retail space, hotels, resorts and golf courses around the world that provides services for millions of people, thus he makes billions while your local real estate agent is lucky to clear $100,000 a year.  And look at those late night TV commercials for some silly gadget and if you order now for $19.95 they will double your offer!  Goofy cheap stuff, but being advertised to millions of people every day.  It doesn't take many orders (their profit margin is usually very high for that stuff) to make a few million bucks.  Now think about what you're doing every day in your job, or even small business.  How many people do you touch around the world with something of value every day that they would be willing to pay you something for.  None?  You're probably being paid a meager salary for a service to a single employer as a very small part of their whole operation.  No chance for personal wealth there for you, no matter how many leadership seminars they send you to.
Colonel Sander's sold fried chicken at a single local family restaurant in Kentucky for years and just did OK.  The chicken is pretty good, but probably not the best you have ever eaten.  At age 65 he decided to franchise the chicken around the world and very quickly built a billion dollar business, on average fried chicken; but now convenient for busy people everywhere.  Same with McDonald's.  Best hamburger in the world??  Well, you answer that.  Did you ever ask yourself that question, how much money would I have if I had a nickel for every cup of coffee consumed in the United States every day?  Well Folger's did and so did the founder of Starbucks.  They're doing quite well.  Good news, you don't have to be Steve Jobs and invent a personal computer.  Ever seen those little cheap plastic sleeves you slip between your center console and car seat to catch stuff you drop being advertised on TV?  Not exactly an iMac.  What is Facebook, really?  Just a way to put your diary and scrapbook online for everyone to see.  Big deal.  Funny thing, it is, but it isn't.
Think about this as you're falling asleep tonight.  As you are hemming and hawing, someone else is about to market the next great microwave egg cooker!