Dream Big (thanks to Tim Klabunde)

Tim Klabunde's most recent CofeBuz blog posting is brief, and I don't think he will mind my stretch of copyright rules to republish it in full.

I like being comfortable. It is so easy to enjoy the normal flow of life, the moment by moment interactions of daily living. Yet every once in a while my life is shaken from the inside out by a force that boils up from within me, a force that demands that I do something incredible, achieving something that is greater than myself.

It is in these moments that I truly understand what I am capable of, the realization that I am able to do so much more. I struggle to find dreams that are big enough; I look in vain for obstacles that can’t be conquered.

I find it strange that throughout my life I have worked to suppress this force through logic and rhetoric. ”I can’t do that because…” and “if that were possible someone else would be doing it.” Yet today, I can see that success isn’t found in a single accomplishment, it is one’s approach to life that makes greatness. It is something that I can do and live today. A choice to rejoice in the past, plan and dream for the future, and live life to the fullest in the present.

Your turn

Monday morning has its own way of reminding us that life happens not in individual moments of greatness, but during everyday actions. It is the culmination of your actions today and tomorrow that will turn into your greatest successes. So today what are you going to pursue that is greater than yourself?

I certainly share and believe in these thoughts. Through our lives, opportunities arise to change course, to take risks, to adventure beyond our safety zone, but we need to be ready spiritually, financially and physically. Then, at crucial points -- we generally know in our heart when they are -- we can take the risk and seemingly dive off the deep end, though we often know the risks we are taking are more in the perceived fears of others than in the practical dangers we are about to experience.

(So, at 25, I went off to observe a war in Africa, for a while riding a motorcycle around Bulawayo as Rhodesia turned to Zimbabwe. Sounds daring, and the experience certainly opened doors for my life, but I used common sense and local knowledge to stay out of trouble. And, at 34, I flew to Washington, D.C. with non-preference U.S. immigration visa applications for about 300 people, but I knew I was complying with all the rules and laws, and having some fun while helping others to achieve their dreams. Yes, the scheme delivered the goods and helped me to find my current passion and connection with the Washington-area community.)

If you are in business for yourself, or if you have discovered your passion is marketing and business development and you are reading this blog in part to grow in your own abilities, you may have found part or all of the answers related in Tim's posting.

But there are other aspects you can only find in your own heart and soul. When you let go of your fears, when you accept responsibility for your mistakes, and when you take risks and reach beyond the ordinary by combining your strengths and your solid moral codes, you'll achieve greatness, too.

Go for it.

Risk taking and rewards in life, business and marketing

Among my experiences today, I rode the Roslyn Metro Escalator -- At 205 feet, 8 inches, the escalator to street level is the third longest continuous span escalator in the world, an engineering marvel.

Today, as we conducted interviews for writer/editors for Washington Construction News, I thought about the ironies and opportunities that define our lives and choices.

In Washington, we are resurrecting a business that had fallen apart -- yet in its original birth and its resurrection reveal intriguing lessons about risk, failure, choice, and revival.

(What is a Canadian doing in the U.S. capital city, publishing a local newspaper? And how, three years after closing the publication as our business almost failed, could I come back and re-start it in the midst of a major recession?)

I'm here because of accident, experience, and choices made in far away places at far away times.

What drove me to fly to Africa and live out the end of the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe war as a journalist, only to return home just as a major recession in 1980 threatened to destroy the newspaper industry (and, like the current crisis, resulted in the failure of dozens of publications across North America.)

And why, back in 1987, did I decide to exploit a loophole in U.S. immigration regulations, collecting several thousand dollars in revenue as I embarked on my first visit to Washington -- to deliver applications for the first U.S. non-preference visa lottery. (Our initiative proved to be successful in more ways than one: Several of the approximately 300 people who paid us between $25 and $100 for their chance at a Green Card, indeed received one -- I did!)

These observations may seem like brags, and they are, in a way, but my list of dumb mistakes and blunders is equally impressive. Many of my lessons have been learned through the school of hard knocks.

Nevertheless, in Africa I learned an important lesson: Risk is a relative thing -- and perceived risk is often greater than real risk. After all, who really has more job security? The person who owns a business, keeps a close eye on it, and cuts where necessary, or the person with a job who can be cut anytime (or clings to a morale and mind-sapping job just because of "security"-- giving up soul and heart in exchange for a "steady pay cheque".)

If you are afraid now for your future, if you are yearning for security and hope, remember that the biggest risk may be taking none at all. This does not mean I'm advocating throwing good money after bad and investing real cash in an untried business. You need to find a way to start without any money (or very little, if you wish.)

Then, if you have the courage to follow your dreams, you will find opportunities in places and circumstances you least expect.

I'm happy to be thinking these thoughts as I sit in the airline lounge at Reagan National Airport waiting for my flight home.

Self fulfilling prophecies and your construction marketing future

The bus terminus in in Masvingo, Zimbabwe is an ocean away from your challenges in finding clients for your construction business. Yet the lessons learned here taught me the principals of self-fulfilling prophecies: The world becomes what you think it will become.

Where do you really feel and think you will go? You will get there, most likely. This principal of success (or failure) underlies much of the self-improvement and personal achievement movement of the last century. You can argue and debate about the science -- or lack of science -- behind the concepts advocated by many motivational gurus, but (if you accept absolute responsibility for yourself in the real, current world) you can use these insights to shape your construction marketing, and business, direction.

Blog readers know that I achieved my first major life goal -- becoming a foreign correspondent -- in 1978-80, when I obtained employment as a sub-editor on the Bulawayo Chronicle and then, with a little white lie to the then Rhodesian authorities, obtained an immigration visa and work permit marked "journalist". This allowed me to live through the end of the African civil war, and the birth of Zimbabwe.

Most of the young Rhodesian whites I spent time with shared the same voice: Serving their nation in constant military call-ups, they said their black nationalist opponents were terrorists who would destroy the country, and black majority rule would be a sure road to poverty and destruction. Conversely, most idealistic western journalists saw the white Rhodesians as unmitigated racists, living (in 1980) with the values and paternalistic impressions of life common to whites in the U.S. south in the 1950s and 60s (or, for that matter, for Canadians, English-speaking Montrealers in Quebec.)

Now, fast forward 30 years, to 2008. In a few weeks, the U.S. will have its first non-white president, And Zimbabwe, still ruled by that 1980 war winner, Robert Mugabe, has just printed $1 Trillion notes (that is $1,000,000,000,000) which might buy a loaf of bread, as more than 1,000 people have died in recent weeks from cholera, a disease rare in any country with basic hygiene and medical systems.

So the majority of the whites I spent time drinking beer and riding motorcycles with in 1979-80 were right, eh?

Well, yes, but not everyone believed the same story. I didn't know him at the time, for example, but Eddie Cross didn't buy the white racist story -- he and a few other young business people even went to white Rhodesian leader Ian Smith and told him that the whites could not hope to win a protracted war with the black nationalists, and suggested compromise and a peaceful solution. And, as a journalist, I refused to buy into the obvious cliches and assumptions, and spent some time getting to know local blacks and realized that the great majority of the population in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe are just like the great majority of the population everywhere: Most set low expectations, hoped to win the lottery, just wanted to live their lives, and a few were of exceptional achievement, ambition and vision.

Next week, I expect, the Rhodesian situation will turn with a meeting involving the key players, including the South African president. The country will be rebuilt, and prosperity will return. And one of my projects as a senior citizen in the decades ahead will be to help this nation so close to my heart to rebuild.

You by now may be wondering the relationship of this far-away story to construction marketing.

Consider these foundations, and you will soon see the importance of the responsible application of reality and vision to achieve your goals and dreams.

• Assuming your work and reputation in your respective trade or profession are great, you can succeed in marketing. If you are great at marketing but your underlying business and values are not of the highest standard, you live in truly dark spaces.

• Your challenge is to find your place beyond the crowd, your own vision, your insights, and your world view. Most great construction industry practitioners are not great at marketing, but some emphasis and understanding of effective marketing will likely lead to the solutions of your business problems.

• Think short term in your immediate life but think long-term in your vision (you may not know exactly where you are going, but you know in your intuition and heart you are heading in the right direction).

Read, think and learn. Most importantly, however, believe in yourself, truly. If you respect yourself and your community, if you view your life and the world in a longer-term frame of reference, you can, and will, achieve your self-fulfilling prophecies, and they will be wonderful.

Writing the book

It is time, at last, for me to write a book on construction marketing. Like any first, this challenge is both daunting and somewhat scary; perhaps, you may say, surprising, since I've earned plenty of money through my adult life as a journalist and publisher, which suggests I should know what to do, and how.

But you may be in the same boat when it comes to your own business. You may be an excellent architect, trades person, engineer, or general contractor, but "marketing" is something outside your expertise, your comfort zone, your knowledge. You know it is a good thing to do, but how?

Your best answer: You seek out a coach, a consultant, a mentor, and you discipline yourself to learn what you need to know, and set a deadline to get it done.

Ironically, if you are doing your fundamental work well, marketing won't be a big stretch. You simply need to systematize your processes and build on models which induce and encourage word of mouth and repeat clients -- applying other techniques like advertising strategically to support these objectives. But if you've been conducting business the conventional way in the industry, these systems will seem distant and daunting to you. You are used to just "finding" business through references and repeat calls -- or going through the process of submitting bids or reading leads service data, and hoping something materializes.

Guess what -- you and I are in something of the same space right now; because I have just these challenges in writing the book. I 'should' know what I am doing here, but as I've never travelled down the book writing path, I am somewhat scared, somewhat confused, and very much aware that this project will need help and support to complete.

So, I've engaged Cindy Shearer as a coach. And you can help out, too, with your questions, comments, and observations. My goal: To have a draft ready for thorough editing and review by December, and the first copies printed by Feb 1, 2009. What are your marketing goals, and what resources will you use to achieve them?