Why is it that the less time I have left, the number of people who want some of it multiplies exponentially?
A good number want to pay me for it, and pay me quite handsomely. (Where were all these people back when I was starving and living in my car?)
A lot just want it for free.
Not family or friends, mind you. Perfect strangers. And for some reason I still don’t understand, many actually believe they’re entitled to it… and get mighty pissed off when they’re denied it.
It was a minor inconvenience a few years ago but nowadays it’s a big problem. So big I now have to pay several people to protect me from it so I can live a normal life.
The number of people clamoring for my attention has grown so much recently…
I had to hire gatekeepers to protect my gatekeepers!
A total of five people are now making their living from my efforts because everybody wants “just a few minutes” of my time.
Hey, at least I’m helping the economy, right?
If that wasn’t enough, I’ve also had to hire a manager to manage the gatekeepers… and the gatekeepers who protect my gatekeepers.
Unless you’re one of the tiny handful of people who are my existing clients, most likely you ain’t gonna talk to me.
If you’re a real player and want to discuss the opportunity of working with me, one of my gaggle of gatekeepers will set you up with an appointment to talk with my business manager. If you pass his muster… and follow his instructions… then and ONLY then will you and I be speaking.
Geez, this all makes me sound like an arrogant prick, huh?
Why am I guarding my time like Fort Knox?
Simple…
I only have 4 short years left!
Chances are, you don’t have much time left either. You just don’t realize it yet.
This post shows you you how much time you have left.
For me, it’s 4 years.
Four short years.
So I’ve bought me a team of human Dobermans on steroids with big sharp fangs who would take a bullet to protect my time.
Having said that, there are still a few ways to get to me without writing me a 5 or 6-figure check.
The knights in my Marketing Camelot get a lot of time with me each month.
Something sent FedEx, Priority Mail or 1st class snail mail (in that order, BTW)… that still gets to me.
Email?
Nope.
Emails are screened by those two levels of gatekeepers. But snail mail… all of that still gets looked at by me. (After being sorted by gatekeeper #3.)
I do admire some of the creative things people do to get my attention.
Here’s an example of the most recent attempt. And he ALMOST got some of my precious remaining four years… until I discovered a fatal mistake.
This creative dude recently sent me a series of personalized postcards. Some had funny pictures. Some had quotes from people I study and admire. Kudos to him. He did a little research to find my likes, dislikes and what would jive with my warped sense of humor.
He even sent a personalized deck of cards with my picture on them. Nice touch.
All of this correspondence, which came over a series of weeks, was accompanied by a message saying he was my biggest fan and wanted a phone call. He never explained why he wanted a phone call… but his creative approach had my attention.
Since this guy went to a fair amount of effort and expense to get on my radar, in a moment of weakness (and unbeknownst to my gaggle of gatekeepers) I put him on my “to be called” list.
When the day finally rolled around for non-scheduled phone calls, I asked Jackie (gatekeeper #1) to check up on my “biggest fan.”
Guess what she found?
Nuttin’!
No record at all of this guy.
He wasn’t currently and never had been a knight in my Marketing Camelot.
He wasn’t a past or current client.
In fact, he had never invested in anything from me.
In my mind that totally negated his claim of my “biggest fan.”
Kinda hard to be a Tom Hanks fan if you’ve never gone to see any of his movies, right?
If I wanted to claim the title of Tom Hanks’ biggest fan, not only should I have purchased copies of ALL his movies… I would have DVD’s of all the old Bosom Buddies episodes. (I betcha you don’t remember that, do ya? Man, I frickin’ LOVED the 80’s.)
Nowadays the best way (and soon to be the ONLY way) to get my attention is…
Give Me Money!
A LOT of it. (Except my knights in the Marketing Camelot.)
It’s a litmus test. Are you a real player? Or are you just a talker? (VERY few of the former… wayyyy too many of the latter.)
Look, I’m not trying to beat my chest here about what a big deal I am. I know who I am. I’m just a dude from a poor family in Barberton Ohio. Nothing exceptional about me. I just decided to make HUGE sacrifices for 20 years to master a really high value skill.
And THAT has made my time inordinately valuable to me… and a whole bunch of other people who want a highly profitable business that allows them to have any kind of lifestyle they desire.
And that’s a LOT of people.
So I’ve had to surround myself with protection in order to live some semblance of a normal life.
Just a few years ago I DID acquiesce to those requests for “just a few minutes” of my time…
And it damn near KILLED me!
Lesson learned.
Here’s my point:
I’d bet you dollars to donuts you’ve been treating your time as if it’s an unlimited resource.
It ain’t. And if you’ve read this blog post you realize how little of it you have left to do the things that really matter.
THAT is my point for you today, dear reader.
Once you understand how little you have… and how fast it goes by… you’ll understand the value of your time.
And… I have a sneaking suspicion that will prompt a serious introspective look at everything you’ve been doing to make money. Because what kind of life you live is 100% determined by how you make money.
Big income and no time = sucky life.
Lots of time and meager income = sucky life.
Big income and LOTS of time =
AWESOME life!
And an awesome life is what you deserve.
But it all hinges on one thing… how you value and invest your limited and rapidly dwindling time.
Invest wisely.
All the best,
P.S. If what you want is BIG income and lots of time… I’ve cracked the code.
Pax vobiscum.
