what do you guys do for $ care to share.
11-12-2007, 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by schwim' post='493243' date='Nov 12 2007, 09:01 AM
It really doesn't matter what any of us do. We all know the obvious high-paying jobs - doctor, lawyer, CxO, drug dealer... Some (many?) of us have chosen those areas for our careers. Most others are probably more obscure. As an example, I have a friend that paints houses, yet he has a garage full of $60k+ cars, a multi-million dollar home, and anything most of us could ever want. The difference is he started doing it by himself and now has a crew of 150+ employees doing it for him.
Some things I think are critical to success in one's career, financial or otherwise, include:
1. Passion - There is no substitute for loving what you do, whatever it is. If you don't love it, motivating yourself to do it and be VERY good at it will be almost impossible.
2. Ownership - I don't mean owning things. I mean owning your present and future. Take control of it, have a plan, even if it is just as far out as next week. Learn from your mistakes *and* successes. Make them your own.
3. Ambition - I am passionate about drinking beer, but you don't see me doing it every day.
I am passionate about my career as well. The key difference is that while I really like drinking beer, its not going to help me go places in life. Take that passion in your career, and focus your energies on it. Feed it. Let it thrive. Always be looking for something better from it, whether it be a promotion, a better way of solving a problem, a better way of working with your team, etc.
4. Introspection - you alone are the key to your own success. Know your weak points as well as you know your strong points. Work on them to make them stronger. Make your strong points stronger. Analyze yourself, understand yourself, and find the ways to make yourself perform at the highest levels.
5. Self promotion - Nobody is going to hire you, give you a raise, or a promotion if you are not selling yourself to them. I'm not saying you should brag - nobody likes a braggart. I'm saying you should advertise your successes creatively.
6. Be good to those around you - they can knock you down much more quickly than they can lift you up, and once that has happened it is much harder to get that momentum going again.
7. Take risks wisely - Most entreprenurial books/lessons hype the need to take risks, to stay outside of your comfort zone. Most of them also lack the statement "but be smart about it". I've seen too many wonderful attempts thwarted by stupid risks. Think and calculate before you act. Know the drawbacks intimately.
8. Network - establish yourself as someone to know in your field. This doesn't mean being the know-it-all, unabashed leech. It means making and keeping contacts, putting people together, and helping where you can. This will help people remember you in a time of need. You want this.
9. Pay your dues - don't buy that expensive home, car, watch, whatever, until you can really afford it. Be patient... you'll have your day.
Lastly, SUCCESS DOES NOT EQUAL MONEY, at least not always. Success is really just a long string of smaller successes. Collect them, savor them, and enjoy them.
Some things I think are critical to success in one's career, financial or otherwise, include:
1. Passion - There is no substitute for loving what you do, whatever it is. If you don't love it, motivating yourself to do it and be VERY good at it will be almost impossible.
2. Ownership - I don't mean owning things. I mean owning your present and future. Take control of it, have a plan, even if it is just as far out as next week. Learn from your mistakes *and* successes. Make them your own.
3. Ambition - I am passionate about drinking beer, but you don't see me doing it every day.
I am passionate about my career as well. The key difference is that while I really like drinking beer, its not going to help me go places in life. Take that passion in your career, and focus your energies on it. Feed it. Let it thrive. Always be looking for something better from it, whether it be a promotion, a better way of solving a problem, a better way of working with your team, etc. 4. Introspection - you alone are the key to your own success. Know your weak points as well as you know your strong points. Work on them to make them stronger. Make your strong points stronger. Analyze yourself, understand yourself, and find the ways to make yourself perform at the highest levels.
5. Self promotion - Nobody is going to hire you, give you a raise, or a promotion if you are not selling yourself to them. I'm not saying you should brag - nobody likes a braggart. I'm saying you should advertise your successes creatively.
6. Be good to those around you - they can knock you down much more quickly than they can lift you up, and once that has happened it is much harder to get that momentum going again.
7. Take risks wisely - Most entreprenurial books/lessons hype the need to take risks, to stay outside of your comfort zone. Most of them also lack the statement "but be smart about it". I've seen too many wonderful attempts thwarted by stupid risks. Think and calculate before you act. Know the drawbacks intimately.
8. Network - establish yourself as someone to know in your field. This doesn't mean being the know-it-all, unabashed leech. It means making and keeping contacts, putting people together, and helping where you can. This will help people remember you in a time of need. You want this.
9. Pay your dues - don't buy that expensive home, car, watch, whatever, until you can really afford it. Be patient... you'll have your day.
Lastly, SUCCESS DOES NOT EQUAL MONEY, at least not always. Success is really just a long string of smaller successes. Collect them, savor them, and enjoy them.
11-12-2007, 08:51 AM
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Originally Posted by schwim' post='493243' date='Nov 12 2007, 12:01 PM
It really doesn't matter what any of us do. We all know the obvious high-paying jobs - doctor, lawyer, CxO, drug dealer... Some (many?) of us have chosen those areas for our careers. Most others are probably more obscure. As an example, I have a friend that paints houses, yet he has a garage full of $60k+ cars, a multi-million dollar home, and anything most of us could ever want. The difference is he started doing it by himself and now has a crew of 150+ employees doing it for him.
Some things I think are critical to success in one's career, financial or otherwise, include:
1. Passion - There is no substitute for loving what you do, whatever it is. If you don't love it, motivating yourself to do it and be VERY good at it will be almost impossible.
2. Ownership - I don't mean owning things. I mean owning your present and future. Take control of it, have a plan, even if it is just as far out as next week. Learn from your mistakes *and* successes. Make them your own.
3. Ambition - I am passionate about drinking beer, but you don't see me doing it every day. I am passionate about my career as well. The key difference is that while I really like drinking beer, its not going to help me go places in life. Take that passion in your career, and focus your energies on it. Feed it. Let it thrive. Always be looking for something better from it, whether it be a promotion, a better way of solving a problem, a better way of working with your team, etc.
4. Introspection - you alone are the key to your own success. Know your weak points as well as you know your strong points. Work on them to make them stronger. Make your strong points stronger. Analyze yourself, understand yourself, and find the ways to make yourself perform at the highest levels.
5. Self promotion - Nobody is going to hire you, give you a raise, or a promotion if you are not selling yourself to them. I'm not saying you should brag - nobody likes a braggart. I'm saying you should advertise your successes creatively.
6. Be good to those around you - they can knock you down much more quickly than they can lift you up, and once that has happened it is much harder to get that momentum going again.
7. Take risks wisely - Most entreprenurial books/lessons hype the need to take risks, to stay outside of your comfort zone. Most of them also lack the statement "but be smart about it". I've seen too many wonderful attempts thwarted by stupid risks. Think and calculate before you act. Know the drawbacks intimately.
8. Network - establish yourself as someone to know in your field. This doesn't mean being the know-it-all, unabashed leech. It means making and keeping contacts, putting people together, and helping where you can. This will help people remember you in a time of need. You want this.
9. Pay your dues - don't buy that expensive home, car, watch, whatever, until you can really afford it. Be patient... you'll have your day.
Lastly, SUCCESS DOES NOT EQUAL MONEY, at least not always. Success is really just a long string of smaller successes. Collect them, savor them, and enjoy them.
Some things I think are critical to success in one's career, financial or otherwise, include:
1. Passion - There is no substitute for loving what you do, whatever it is. If you don't love it, motivating yourself to do it and be VERY good at it will be almost impossible.
2. Ownership - I don't mean owning things. I mean owning your present and future. Take control of it, have a plan, even if it is just as far out as next week. Learn from your mistakes *and* successes. Make them your own.
3. Ambition - I am passionate about drinking beer, but you don't see me doing it every day.
I am passionate about my career as well. The key difference is that while I really like drinking beer, its not going to help me go places in life. Take that passion in your career, and focus your energies on it. Feed it. Let it thrive. Always be looking for something better from it, whether it be a promotion, a better way of solving a problem, a better way of working with your team, etc. 4. Introspection - you alone are the key to your own success. Know your weak points as well as you know your strong points. Work on them to make them stronger. Make your strong points stronger. Analyze yourself, understand yourself, and find the ways to make yourself perform at the highest levels.
5. Self promotion - Nobody is going to hire you, give you a raise, or a promotion if you are not selling yourself to them. I'm not saying you should brag - nobody likes a braggart. I'm saying you should advertise your successes creatively.
6. Be good to those around you - they can knock you down much more quickly than they can lift you up, and once that has happened it is much harder to get that momentum going again.
7. Take risks wisely - Most entreprenurial books/lessons hype the need to take risks, to stay outside of your comfort zone. Most of them also lack the statement "but be smart about it". I've seen too many wonderful attempts thwarted by stupid risks. Think and calculate before you act. Know the drawbacks intimately.
8. Network - establish yourself as someone to know in your field. This doesn't mean being the know-it-all, unabashed leech. It means making and keeping contacts, putting people together, and helping where you can. This will help people remember you in a time of need. You want this.
9. Pay your dues - don't buy that expensive home, car, watch, whatever, until you can really afford it. Be patient... you'll have your day.
Lastly, SUCCESS DOES NOT EQUAL MONEY, at least not always. Success is really just a long string of smaller successes. Collect them, savor them, and enjoy them.
11-13-2007, 10:23 AM
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Let's put success in practical terms. The less you know about yourself, the less successful you will be. Success is defined and achieved from within.
You'll learn quickly that as you begin to achieve some of your dreams, there's a real need for a balanced lifestyle. You can read all the self-help and improvement books all day long, and you get about only about 5% out of it. But if you actively practice contemplation, retrospection and discovery of yourself on a daily basis, success will follow. Yes, it sound vague and uninspirating - so is diamond in the rough.
You'll learn quickly that as you begin to achieve some of your dreams, there's a real need for a balanced lifestyle. You can read all the self-help and improvement books all day long, and you get about only about 5% out of it. But if you actively practice contemplation, retrospection and discovery of yourself on a daily basis, success will follow. Yes, it sound vague and uninspirating - so is diamond in the rough.
11-13-2007, 10:40 AM
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There is a difference between success and fulfillment. On the journey towards achieving your goals, if you spend time being celebrating how far you've come and the progress you've made you will be much happier than if you are aways chasing focusing on what you don't have yet.
And when it comes to money/things.....there is always a bigger boat.
And when it comes to money/things.....there is always a bigger boat.
11-28-2007, 08:05 PM
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For trboda, if I get your original post correctly, you were wondering how your fellow e60 fans make a living, and the posts regarding how to succeed were right on; that being said only Russ1974 indicated where he is and how he got there with a career in IT, with a lot of initiative and hard work.
I'm now earning what I only dreamed of just a few years ago; two weeks ago my employer cut me a single quarterly check for commission and bonus that was more than I made in a year only 7 years ago! I'm in sales - only for a past few years - and I still cannot believe how good the money is, and of course the work is very difficult to do but I've learned to accept that.
Now the kind of sales I do is in a specialty market, and I have 7+ years as a 'consumer' and then another 4+ years on the 'commercial vendor' side working my way up the food chain (as it were). Russ1974 nailed it - you need to make strategic moves, not necessarily in a straight line up, but getting the needed experience and connections and building an outstanding reputation for a person who GTD - that is 'Gets Things Done'.
This year my W-2 will read something close to $300K, but that includes my company's stock options which were something like $100K this year. At any rate I'm thinking now about what I'll be doing 10 years from now and it may well include running a company at a salary level higher than that, but who knows. Even though I'm a bit older among my colleagues/peers (mid-40's, there are many of my peers that are 5-7 years younger) at this level age doesn't matter as does performance, relationships with customers, and outlook.
If I were to give a single bit of advice for a young ambitious person like I once was in my mid-20's, it would be to buy a copy of Earl Nightingale's "Lead the Field" on tape or CD and listen to it again and again. I have read a lot of stuff but that particular tape has had a strong influence in how I look at the world, and how I am able to continue to achieve more time and time again.
On the other hand, you could simply get an MBA in finance from a top-10 school, graduate near the top of your class, and then move to NYC to work on Wall Street. To think that there are hedge fund managers pulling down 8-figure and 9-figure incomes is pretty wild, but it certainly is an option. That being said I was no economics major, just a pre-med type as an undergraduate, but am now thinking that I'd push my kids in the finance direction as it can be very lucrative.
One last note - Brian Tracy has said that a full 80% of millionaires are self-made through owning their own businesses; 10% are degreed professionals (such as doctors, lawyers, dentists); 5% are sales professionals who worked for large corporations; and the rest are the 'glamor' people who inherited their wealth or play professional sports or are otherwise entertainers. It is why so many will try to start a business, and is worth considering.
Okay, gotta get some sleep now...
scooterdog
I'm now earning what I only dreamed of just a few years ago; two weeks ago my employer cut me a single quarterly check for commission and bonus that was more than I made in a year only 7 years ago! I'm in sales - only for a past few years - and I still cannot believe how good the money is, and of course the work is very difficult to do but I've learned to accept that.
Now the kind of sales I do is in a specialty market, and I have 7+ years as a 'consumer' and then another 4+ years on the 'commercial vendor' side working my way up the food chain (as it were). Russ1974 nailed it - you need to make strategic moves, not necessarily in a straight line up, but getting the needed experience and connections and building an outstanding reputation for a person who GTD - that is 'Gets Things Done'.
This year my W-2 will read something close to $300K, but that includes my company's stock options which were something like $100K this year. At any rate I'm thinking now about what I'll be doing 10 years from now and it may well include running a company at a salary level higher than that, but who knows. Even though I'm a bit older among my colleagues/peers (mid-40's, there are many of my peers that are 5-7 years younger) at this level age doesn't matter as does performance, relationships with customers, and outlook.
If I were to give a single bit of advice for a young ambitious person like I once was in my mid-20's, it would be to buy a copy of Earl Nightingale's "Lead the Field" on tape or CD and listen to it again and again. I have read a lot of stuff but that particular tape has had a strong influence in how I look at the world, and how I am able to continue to achieve more time and time again.
On the other hand, you could simply get an MBA in finance from a top-10 school, graduate near the top of your class, and then move to NYC to work on Wall Street. To think that there are hedge fund managers pulling down 8-figure and 9-figure incomes is pretty wild, but it certainly is an option. That being said I was no economics major, just a pre-med type as an undergraduate, but am now thinking that I'd push my kids in the finance direction as it can be very lucrative.
One last note - Brian Tracy has said that a full 80% of millionaires are self-made through owning their own businesses; 10% are degreed professionals (such as doctors, lawyers, dentists); 5% are sales professionals who worked for large corporations; and the rest are the 'glamor' people who inherited their wealth or play professional sports or are otherwise entertainers. It is why so many will try to start a business, and is worth considering.
Okay, gotta get some sleep now...
scooterdog
11-28-2007, 09:07 PM
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Import products in demand, made cheaper overseas and and sell them online, also i buy and sell cars..2-5k range!
ps: i'm very proud of my Company logo..hehe, see the pyramid!!
ps: i'm very proud of my Company logo..hehe, see the pyramid!!