Steve Jobs Advice to Experts
These days, it’s rare to hear about a man who literally changed the world for the better. I think you can argue Steve Jobs did that.
About a year ago I read two books that caused me to make the switch over to a Macbook. These two books, “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” and “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs” are worth your time, particularly if you do any public speaking.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs
Question: Hey Craig, awesome post man. I love these posts on the American dream. Makes everything seem possible to do. I’m about to turn 18 and working on my own “american dream”.
I want to start a gym within the next 2-3 years and I want to have an online component. The problem is, I don’t want to be seen as another “guru” or “expert” who hasn’t trained anyone. I have trained a couple of people but not to an extent of a full time trainer. I know for a fact I can help people, since I do that ALL the time.
I want my niche to be on Strength & Conditioning for combat athletes while also write about how to look like one (so fat loss and some muscle/strength building as well). Both topics really interest me and also spread the “be a warrior” message.
How do I go about this and not be another “internet expert”? I want to keep that respect from other trainers like Alwyn Cosgrove and Jason Ferrugia.
– Danavir
Answer: Hey, thanks for the question. The answer is obvious, although probably not what you want to hear.
The answer is that you go and dedicate the next 10 years of your life to becoming the expert you want to be. You build up hundreds of real world clients and become a world-renowned expert in your field. I guess if you do 2000 hours a year then you’ll only need 5 years.
So good news..I just saved you 5 years of your life. Start now, and you’ll be ahead of the game.
By the way, your question is timely, as just Wednesday I posted this on my Facebook page:
This quote reminds me of Alwyn Cosgrove and Jim Wendler – “It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior’s life.” – Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary from the 5th Century BC
Or perhaps as Steve Jobs may have said to you:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
– Steve Jobs
Question: How do I create a landing page? Also, the quality info products, including yours, are presented in the same way. Awesome graphics. How do I go about creating the presentation part of the product? – Erin
Answer: Hi Erin, thanks for your question. I checked out your site. Since you already have a site built, you should be able to get the same person to build you another site.
I’m not 100% sure what you mean by landing page…do you mean a blog, or a squeeze page, or a sales page?
Either way, you can find someone to build this for you. Try Elance.com or Odesk.com.
As for creating the product, all I do is create a word document, insert some photos and turn it into a PDF using Adobe Acrobat.
I also KillerCovers.com to create my ebook covers.
Hope that helps. And now…
Feedback of the week…here are two posts from the blog yesterday in regards to my question of, “What did it feel like when you made your first sale?”
“I didn’t actually believe when I had my first “real” sale of the poker ebook I wrote last year (I mean, finished. The writing part took about three years…). I say real because when I launched the book, a few friends bought it. So I kept thinking “do I know this guy?”, “where have I seen his name?”…After I concluded I didn’t know him at all, I was smiles all day long! – Marcelo
Craig, I actually made my first affiliate sale almost 2 years ago and I later found out it was my wife who thought I would like the product. She clicked on it through my newsletter., in which at that time, I only had about 90-100 subscribers. True story. It was the TT 31 intervals, and she still doesn’t understand affiliate sales. That’s ok though.
I sold my first product a few weeks ago. It was exhilarating. It was an amazing feeling, but I also thought, “this is just the beginning”. That excites me. I’ve learned from it and now that I have my feet wet, I have the momentum going.” – Mike Whitfield, http://www.WorkoutFinishers.com
Do great work,
Craig Ballantyne
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”Steve Jobs, 1955 — 2011, Stanford Commencement Address