For me, Elbert Hubbard‘s 1899 essay, “A Message to Garcia,” sums up the qualities of character needed for success, both for an entrepreneur and an employee. Hubbard is a delightfully pithy writer, so it’s a memorable lesson.

A Message to Garcia

By Elbert Hubbard (1899)

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

What to do!

Some one said to the President, “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.”

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by the name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?” By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing– “Carry a message to Garcia!”

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.

No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man– the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, and sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.

Summon any one and make this request: “Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.”

Will the clerk quietly say, “Yes, sir,” and go do the task?

On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:

• Who was he?
• Which encyclopedia?
• Where is the encyclopedia?
• Was I hired for that?
• Don’t you mean Bismarck?
• What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?
• Is he dead?
• Is there any hurry?
• Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?
• What do you want to know for?

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia– and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not.

Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your “assistant” that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, “Never mind,” and go look it up yourself.

And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting “the bounce” Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place.

Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply can neither spell nor punctuate– and do not think it necessary to.

Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?

“You see that bookkeeper,” said the foreman to me in a large factory.

“Yes, what about him?”

“Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for.”

Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?

We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the “downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop” and the “homeless wanderer searching for honest employment,” and with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.

Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with “help” that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away “help” that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues, only if times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer– but out and forever out, the incompetent and unworthy go.

It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best– those who can carry a message to Garcia.

I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of his own, and yet who is absolutely worthless to any one else, because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing, or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders; and he will not receive them. Should a message be given him to take to Garcia, his answer would probably be, “Take it yourself.”

Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work, the wind whistling through his threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him, for he is a regular fire-brand of discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled No. 9 boot.

Of course I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple; but in our pitying, let us drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on a great enterprise, whose working hours are not limited by the whistle, and whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to hold in line dowdy indifference, slip-shod imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude, which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry and homeless.

Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds– the man who, against great odds has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there’s nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes.

I have carried a dinner pail and worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; and all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the “boss” is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village– in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, and needed badly– the man who can carry a message to Garcia.

Character matters more than credentials.

And whatever you do, do it heartily . . .

I received a link to the infographic below, and thought it was worth sharing (despite a quibble about the use of “less” when “fewer” would be more appropriate). Many entrepreneurs struggle to explain to friends and relatives that “self-employed” is not a euphemism for “unemployed,” but rather a choice for independence, autonomy, and the acceptance of full responsibility for success or failure. Perhaps this useful graphic will make the less traveled path seem a more logical choice.

Created by: MBAOnline.com

There are five stages in the process: Do, Share, Teach, Package, and Multiply. It’s possible to earn a living without going past the first stage, but each stage beyond that can build addition streams of income and increase your financial stability. Let’s take a closer look at each stage:

Do

Choose something that matters to you; something you find delightful– we’ll call it your Task. It can be anything– writing, travel, fishing, bookkeeping, car detailing or repair, baking, scrapbooking, building, sewing, stock trading, party planning, calligraphy, child care, gardening, music, housekeeping, fitness, painting, tree climbing, proofreading, antique restoration, photography–whatever you enjoy and do well.

Learn to do it well enough to base a business up by reading both widely and deeply about it, taking classes, doing it for fun, doing it for free, and practicing it in many different situations and settings until you’re very good at it. At this point, your business will consist of doing your Task for others. The main thing to remember is that if the Task you choose is not meaningful or enjoyable, you’ll have a hard time devoting the hours it takes to get started and build your business to profitability.

Share

The better you get at your chosen Task, the more opportunities you’ll find to share it. In the early stages of building your skills, sharing will help lend purpose to your practice. You can volunteer your skills within your circle of family and friends, or in the community with a church, service group, or charity. This provides not only meaningful and realistic practice, but also real-life feedback and a growing audience of potential customers or clients. Once you can do it very well, you can begin sharing in paid venues.

You can also share your Task by communicating about it. You can speak about it, blog it on your own blog or for others, show it in photographs, take videos of the process, tweet tips, share it in a newsletter, or offer in-person tours. If you share online, you can easily create passive income by hosting AdSense or other discreet ads on your blog and sharing resources you use and love through appropriate affiliate links. Sharing is a stage that creates income while marketing your skills in a positive, organic way.

Teach

When you’ve been doing and sharing your Task long enough to be confident of your skills, it may be time to begin teaching in your community or online. Always begin small so you can hone your class materials and teaching skills before tackling a big teaching gig.

Good places to find teaching opportunities include county parks and recreation departments, service clubs, senior centers, stores that sell supplies for your Task, and non-credit learning programs offered by colleges. These don’t usually pay a lot, but teaching adds another stream of income and builds your reputation as an expert in your Task. If you like the teaching stage, you may decide to focus on this stage and teach in increasingly large venues.

Package

Packaging allows you to do your Task once and sell it forever. You can package instructions for doing your Task, stories about it, or tips for getting better at it in a book, pattern, kit, audio CD, DVD, or other reproducible media. Once you’ve created the product, its delivery can be as passive as you choose if you outsource manufacturing and shipping. You may want to begin by doing it yourself, but when you are ready to grow and build passive income, you’ll need to outsource.

Multiply

Finally, once you have found your Task and successfully walked through each of the first four stages, you’ll understand how to make your business grow. Sometimes multiplying simply means to do more in your favorite stage, and sometimes it means adding new tracks in all the stages.  Here are ways you could multiply each of the first four stages:

• Do: Add a new product, service, or design; hire a helper; outsource low-level or basic tasks.
• Share: Find new writing or speaking venues; build your blog or website to increase ad and affiliate revenue; start a second blog on a related or different topic.
• Teach: Offer new classes; create an advanced workshop series; teach in more places; try different teaching formats (seminar, class, workshop, retreat, mastermind).
• Package: Create more products about different facets of your Task; offer them in all available formats both tangible and electronic.

The 5-Stage Business Model can help you create a one-person business, debt free, and earn what you need, doing what you love, from wherever you are. What will your micro-business be?

At the recent Self-Reliance Expo, I met a fellow entrepreneurial writer  I’ve known online for many years. She and her husband attended the microbusiness workshop I did, then stopped by the booth to talk about current projects and managing a business while caregiving for an elderly parent. She’s doing that now, and I did it for about 18 years, and it’s not easy. It’s amazing how much can be done, though.

After the conference, she e-mailed me the question she couldn’t think of while we were talking, and after answering, I asked her permission to share it here. I have a feeling that many other entrepreneurs face similar circumstances, and might find it helpful.

Q- I had a question which I could not think of while at your booth.

• It was how do you budget your time?
• If you write once a week for your blog–how long does it take you?
• And with needing to go and leave messages at other blogs, and linking to them on your own—how much time does this take?
• Do you have a certain amount of hours that you reserve for this, or…?

I tend to gravitate towards “routines” rather than actual “schedules” with start and end times. If I have to end one thing to start another at a specific time (e.g. 10:15am), I tend to not finish until 5-10 min late, then start the next thing late, etc. and it all snowballs and…. well, you get the gist. I tend to do the “do the next thing” and where I finish at night, I start up at the next thing the next day. Anyway, any insights would be gratefully accepted. 

A- Time management gets easier if you think of the business things you need to accomplish in three categories. My categories are:

• Create (capital projects for long-term income, slides for talks, planning etc.)
• Communicate (blogging, answering customer e-mails, social media, etc.)
• Administrate (paperwork, invoicing, and all the rest of the stuff I’m rather bad at).

I try to designate all the hours before lunch as Create time; at least three hours after as Communicate time; and the rest for Admin. If Create is going well, I’ll let it go on, and if a blog post is running long, I will bump Admin to the next day.

Social media is 15-30 minutes a day unless there’s something special going on. I keep the blogs I want to follow on my Google homepage so I can scan them quickly and decide what to read/comment on. I preschedule many tweets using Hootsuite, and add others–retweets and replies– as needed.

No, thank you.

I value my focus too much to have it fractured by an incessant cacophony of dings, tweets, beeps, and pop-ups. I believe in doing what the name of this blog suggests– doing what matters, making it pay. Allowing ephemeral interruptions to destroy the power of focus would make this mission impossible.

You really do have a choice in how much to accomplish each day. You don’t have to check e-mail more than a few times. You don’t have to respond immediately. You don’t have to instantly react to every request or reminder that shows up on your screen. You can just say no.

Deny all requests to receive push notifications. Turn off all e-mail sound effects and notification pop-ups except for specific event reminders you set. Set a time to check and respond to e-mail and do it then. If something is urgent, pick up the phone. Save social media for after the big projects of the day have been completed (time-sensitive reminders and announcements should be prescheduled so that nothing preempts creative time.

If you want to complete a creative project– even a blog post or newsletter– you need to focus. I have the 3D reminder you see in the photo directly across from my desk (my husband is a machinist and made it for me), because it’s tempting to get distracted and waste my creative time doing things that belong in the little fragments left over after the important projects have been completed.

No matter what you need or want to get done, focus can help you make it happen. Set a few boundaries and see how much you can accomplish!

*For an older article on a similar topic, see Telephone Rules for Homeschools on my Taking Time for Things that Matter blog.

What would happen to Etsy or Ebay if a single seller was accused of copyright infringement? As it stands now, there are ways to address this that would remove the specific offender. Under SOPA, payment providers and search engines could be forced to blacklist the entire site upon accusation– not proof, thus destroying the livelihood of thousands of individuals and small businesses.

Today, 18 January 2012, many websites including Wikipedia, BoingBoing, and others are blacking out in protest against SOPA. You can read about the SOPA Strike at their sites, or by going to AmericanCensorship.org. Google is providing concise information and a petition to sign at at its Take Action page. The ProPublica site is offering the SOPA Opera, keeping track of where individual members of Congress stand on SOPA. BlackoutSOPA provides a quick way to add a Stop SOPA label to your Twitter, Google, or Facebook profile.

The Center for Democracy and Technology is hosting a huge list of businesses, associations, and individuals who oppose this. A look at this list is instructive. It’s not a bunch of lunatic fringe groups (well, I guess that depends on your point of view– the Raging Grannies Action League may tip the the scales a bit, but they’re balanced by signers such as the American Library Association), but rather includes people and companies from extreme ends of the creative and political spectrum. I never expected to see the Tea Party Patriots in bed with the ACLU, or The Economist snuggled up with Human Rights Watch, but the breadth of opposition indicates that this is bad law for a vast array of individuals and businesses, not just for a small special interest group.

Here’s are two videos that offer a bit more information.

As a man thinks, so is he.

Remember the schoolyard taunt, “What you say is what you are!”? It usually followed a mature exchange of insults, often beginning with “cooties,” and progressing through booger-possession to “You’re just dumb!” Thankfully, the recess bell usually intervened in time to prevent meltdown, but “what you say is what you are” was usually the beginning of the end.

If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a slightly different and far more useful version of that phrase that you might consider posting over your desk. “What you think is what you are” can be a reminder to stay focused or to think of yourself as the professional you need to be. It can also be a gentle nudge to get off the pity party train, or a reminder that complaining and excuses will get you nowhere.

“What you think is what you are” can even change your life. The truth is, we do become become what we think. See yourself as a professional, and you’ll behave professionally. Think of yourself as a creative person, and you’ll be open to following creative paths. Choose to think like someone who makes things happen, and you won’t find yourself stuck. Be grateful for good things in your life, and you’ll find even more to be thankful for.

What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you were grateful for today?

Thoughts are powerful. They can create a positive atmosphere where creativity can flourish or they can keep you mired far below your potential. You can choose thoughts that help you grow, and you can choose to deflect thoughts (your own or others’) that keep you stuck.

Have you chosen your companions wisely?

It’s been said that an individual’s happiness and success measures at the average level of the happiness and success of the ten people with whom he or she spends the most time.

If you aren’t surrounded by people who are loving, positive, learning, growing, creating, and living the kind of life you want to live, be sure that you’re finding good companions in the books you read and the media you listen to or watch. Seek out those who support the person you aspire to be, and learn from them. What you think really will be what you are in ten years, so make sure you’re moving in the right direction!

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

Proverbs 13:20

However, it’s important to understand the difference between marketing a book, product, or service, and blatant self-promotion. Anything you write or do for marketing should always focus on the ways your product or service can bring delight, assistance, encouragement, or other benefits to readers or potential customers. Marketing that is courteous and respectful of others and their needs will be much more successful than promotions that are “all about me.”

Here are my top three tips for online marketing:

1- Spend more time creating a blog than you do on social networks.

When you blog regularly (weekly, at least), you are creating a growing body of content that markets for you daily. Anything you create on social media is “one touch and done,” meaning that it lasts about a day, then is lost in the stream. Social media is good for sharing short quotes and tips to drive traffic to each new blog post (very rarely is “go buy my book/widget” an effective marketing strategy;-)). NAIWE.com provides simple, professional sites for writers, editors, and freelancers if you don’t already have a blog or website.

2- Instead of thinking “marketing” when you reach out online, think “networking.”

It makes all the difference in marketing if you connect meaningfully with others in your genre and make relevant comments on their blog posts, rather than just stopping by to promote your own work. I know that most entrepreneurs understand this when networking in person, but it’s worth mentioning for online interactions as it’s easy to get so focused on your own goals that you overlook basic courtesy, and that never pays in the long run. Think of what others are trying to accomplish and try to be helpful. Remember the golden rule!

3- Be strategically generous with your book or product.

Offer free copies of your book, product, or catalog (for more expensive items) to influential bloggers in your field for review, to local non-profits or conference planners for door prizes or silent auctions, or as prizes in a contest you create from your blog.

I’m always surprised when I meet an author or entrepreneur who is anxious for success and will pay for advertising or for marketing help, but can’t see the much greater value in getting organic public relations from these tactics. Most of the time, the cost of a book or product is much less than the cost of an ad or other marketing help (and you can send a catalog or small sample if what you offer is extremely expensive), and a review or mention in a magazine or non-profit’s newsletter or website has a lot more value than something you pay for. I’m not sure why this seems to be such a difficult hurdle for many.

I’ve been online for several years, and while the online landscape continues to evolve, these three common sense strategies have remained effective. I hope you find them helpful!

If you’re anything like me, I’m guessing there are too many things going on . . . and that’s just on your computer screen.

What about your desk? Is it a nice clear space with just a calendar and a few basic office tools (stapler, tape, three-hole punch), or is it full of distracting piles and miscellaneous papers that are silently nagging for your attention?

How inspired, productive, and motivated do you feel when you sit down to work?

I’m not trying to rouse the guilt monster, and yes– I’m talking to myself too. The bottom line is that there’s a price to pay for juggling multiple projects. If you spend a year jumping back and forth between three separate projects, you’re likely finish the year just as you started– with three partial projects on your hard drive.

If you focus on a single project, complete it, and set it up for sales before going on to the next, you’ll have income from the completed project while working on the second project. I’ve done it that way and it works.

Want to join me in single-tasking this week? I think I’ll start by closing 43 browser tabs . . .

After family, home, and friends, one of the biggest things I’m thankful for this year is the opportunity to choose whether to be an ant or a grasshopper. Better still, it’s not a one-time opportunity. Every single day I can choose to be an Ant or a Grasshopper– and so can you.

The Grasshopper makes excuses about not having enough education; the Ant goes to the library and checks out books on everything she needs to know.

The Grasshopper wishes he had a computer; the Ant goes to the Library and uses one there until she’s saved enough to buy her own.

The Grasshopper explains that it takes money to make money; the Ant begins a microbusiness and patiently invests and reinvests her profits (tiny at first) back into the business.

The Grasshopper wishes he had time to write the book he keeps talking about; the Ant decided to write for 30 minutes a day, and in less than a year, her book was finished.

The Grasshopper has had a world-changing, fortune-making idea for decades, but he’s never quite gotten around to making it happen; the Ant has steadily created and supplied small, perhaps even ordinary or imperfect things to the world, creating many happy customers.

The Grasshopper lives from paycheck to paycheck in an effort to keep up with the Jones; the Ant happily drives a ten-year-old car, takes affordable vacations, and lives debt-free.

The Grasshopper stays busy critiquing the government, big business, and all the other things that keep him from getting ahead; the Ant is too busy doing the work she loves, providing employment for others, and being a productive citizen to spend time complaining.

The Grasshopper complains that greedy people like the Ant should pay more taxes; the Ant quietly tithes and generously supports the charities of her choice.

If you’re reading this, you’ve been blessed as I have. You have the ability to read and access to a computer. With those two gifts, you have what it takes to start your own microbusiness and change your life. That’s what I had when I began many years ago, and it’s been an amazing journey. I’m grateful for the freedom to decide whether to be an Ant or a Grasshopper (and for the opportunity to make the decision anew each day if I haven’t stayed focused).

I wish you a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude and joy.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

From Aesop’s Fables

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.”

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: “It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.”

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Proverbs 6:6