Sorry, but your “skills” are irrelevant.

Posted by in Uncategorized | 16 comments

Can I be blunt?

Try this exercise:

Mentally list your business “skills” (resume style).

Here’s the bad news.

One by one we could easily find someone that is more skilled than you and willing to do the job for FAR LESS money than you’d ever consider.  Odds are I could find someone in five minutes to replace you on EVERY POINT on your skills list.

Don’t believe me? Check out this just released article:
http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/employment/the-5-dollar-freelancer/

Be angry, blame politicians, blame education, blame your parents…but it’s true and it’s not going to change. It’s only going to get worse (or better depending on your perspective).

If you aren’t into “blaming” and “anger” what are the other options for the millions of us who are VICTIMS of a “skill based education” model?

Here are two basic concepts you need to grasp instead (they didn’t teach us this in school):

LEVERAGE and INFLUENCE.

I’ll start with LEVERAGE.

A small effort producing great results. That’s leverage.

For example, this article written by me in 20-30 minutes sent out to tens of thousands of readers at the touch of a button.

Or a website that you build once, step away from, and it sells and sells and sells for you.

Or an eBay business that you hire $10/hr help to run for you that consistently brings in profit from around the world.

Or a youtube.com video you make in 30 minutes that goes on to be seen by over 30,000 people (like my 10 year old son did).

Or an ebook that you write with virtually no expense and begin selling online over and over again (I’ve sold hundreds of thousands of ebooks using clickbank).

Those are all examples of using the Internet as a tool of LEVERAGE. There are hundreds of other examples, but you get the idea. Teaching the concept of leverage on the internet is why we launched the huge membership site MySilentTeam.com.

Now let’s talk about INFLUENCE.

Thanks to the Internet the “little guy” now has no disadvantage. Your income, your race, your gender, your location, your education etc. now have absolutely NOTHING to do with your ability to succeed. Your MESSAGE (or the message of experts that you partner with) can bring you instant credibility, followers, and INFLUENCE that people rely on and trust.

A blog, a newsletter, or a niche website dedicated to the smallest concept such as caring for some rare breed of dog can gain you influence over a group that was previously unreachable. People gather online in groups around common interests. Who will lead them? Why not you?  For example, NING.com makes it easy and free to establish communities around ANY common interest.

I teach the skill of influence through rapid email list growth in this recently released course:

http://www.listbuildingclass.com/

Email remains (and will continue to remain) the BEST way to quickly and cheaply communicate with any established community online.

Bask to the point of this article…

People with SKILLS work for ever decreasing wages while creative people applying LEVERAGE and INFLUENCE continue to thrive (and hire people with “skills” to do the dirty work).

For this reason I attempt to warn, educate, inspire and PUSH those that will listen away from SKILLS based thinking and towards CREATIVE BUSINESS THINKING.

Some tough questions to ask yourself:

  • Am I doing the SAME THING OVER AND OVER in my business or career? If so, you are likely in a rut with a soon to be easily replaced skill.
  • How many “big ideas” do I allow myself to be exposed to? Influential people aren’t afraid of “big ideas” – they constantly seek them out.
  • Does one negative comment or thought kill a new idea for me?
  • Do you hold tightly to simple tasks thinking you are the only one that can “do it right”?
  • Am I afraid of business failure? Afraid to try new things? Afraid to change course? If yes, am I letting fear drive my decisions?
  • Who am I listening to for advice on business issues? How successful in business are they?
  • Is any part of my daily routine replaceable with someone better/cheaper than me?
  • How scalable are the business ideas I’m pursuing? Can it all be “turned loose” (i.e. automated or turned over to others easily) some day so I can launch new income ideas?

What other questions do you have to add to this list?

What feedback do you have? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

The most insightful comment left here on my blog will win six months access to MySilentTeam.com or OfflineBiz.com – whichever you choose. Contest ends Monday June 14th so post before then for contest eligibility.

  • http://www.marketing-strategies-and-ideas.com David

    What keeps us down is the acceptance of the status quo. Rising above mediocrity requires thinking and hard work and ….. taking massive action.

    If only I had ……

    Wow, how many times have I used this one. If you told me that with a little bit of consistency and the ideas that are given at http://www.mysilentteam.com could help me to become financially independent, why would I not do it?

    If I told people that with a little bit of coaching at http://www.household-budget-made-easy.com they could be debt free within 36 months, why would they not?

    Because it is not an immediate or overnite thing. Our culture has been seduced into immediate gratification and our right to be taken care of by somebody else.

    Sure that can happen, but at what level? At the level of mediocrity. I want to rise above that level and soar with the eagles and honor God in all ways imaginable with the talents, gifts, and abilities that I have to bless others with.

    However, if all I do is “prepare” and not take action — where does that leave me?

    So the questions I would add to the above list is: Does my schedule reflect my goals? What am I taking action on today that will result in more income and freedom tomorrow? Is what I am selling a commodity that is easily replaced by a $5 payment or is what I provide so unique that I am needed?

    Will someone please take away the mirror?

    David

  • http://www.shetlandsheepdogstaion.com Dave

    Jim,
    Your points are well taken.

    At 48, I wish I knew some of what I know now, 15 years ago or so. Here are my insightful comments:)

    Somehow America has done itself a disservice. When we were young, as a country, pretty much everyone was in business for himself in some form or fashion, of course their were some who were employed, particularly immigrants.

    We tell our children to go to school, study hard and get a good job. Pretty sorry advice. I tell my son, find out what you are passionate about and make that your business or contribution (i.e a pastor is not likely to be self employed). It seems for many now, we want to be taken care of. What does get a good job mean? It means a job that gives you a better than average paycheck, pays part or all of your medical insurance and contributes to your retirement. But in the end, who is the success here? Its the owner of the business, not the employee because like it or not, the term I heard “wage slave” is all to appropriate. Sell ourselves into slavery and someone takes “care” of us. We don’t have to worry about new customers, bills to pay, etc. We do our jobs and get paid.

    Its no coincidence that the higher paying jobs in an organization are the ones that impact the business most directly. And who’s paid the highest? The owner(s).

    We have grown afraid of risk and comfortable with our salary. It will lead only to a mediocre lifestyle compared to what we are capable of as thinking people.

    We need to realize the limitations of working for someone else. Stop accepting the excuses no one likes their job and get moving. Stop being lazy. Take a chance. Invest some time and money in yourself. Set your goals and work towards them, you won’t quit your job tomorrow and you won’t have immediate success. But like the turtle and the snail a slow steady pace will get you there.

    My philosophy is “Do your best and leave God to the rest.”

    Best Wishes,
    Dave

  • http://www.stuart-turnbull.com Stuart Turnbull

    Jim
    In my ‘first life’ I worked hard at school, got good grades and landed a ‘secure’ job as a trainee loans officer in a high street bank. I worked hard for several years to acquire the skills and experience I needed to assess and agree loan applications.
    Fast forward to today, loan applications are no longer assessed by humans, an automated ‘credit scoring’ system does it (the same system also assesses applications for credit cards, mortgages, overdrafts).
    At a stroke my skills became obsolete.
    In my ‘second life’ (thanks to yourself and one or two others) my living comes from selling on eBay, creating information products, building joint venture partnerships, affiliate marketing and growing my own following by sharing all of this with anybody who is interested.
    The moral of the story?
    The world is changing rapidly, the internet has leveled the playing field for all of the ‘action takers’ amongst us, now anybody, anywhere can build their own business and they don’t need years of experience and training to succeed.
    Grab the opportunity!
    Stuart

  • http://www.viralgigs.com Andy (Viral Gigs)

    Jim

    I remember some advice you gave some time back about the 2 step success formula.

    1. Be successful at something
    2. Then teach others (being careful not to bypass the first step)

    The correct use of a skill is to leverage it!

    Cheers – Andy

  • http://www.terryconti.com Terry Conti

    Hi Jim and to all those reading my comment.

    Jim thank you for making me understand and realize with modern technology there is boundless opportunity around the world. All from the comfort of your own home or office.

    Thank you Jim for inspiring me and hitting home the reality of the Internet today and letting me write my thoughts here.

    Years back Internet business meant knowing how, if you didn’t know how you were lost. You needed to know how to function in computer land. If you were driven you had to find the information and take a whole bunch of time to learn, learn, learn.

    It wasn’t easy and still isn’t easy to learn how to do things on the Internet in order for you to earn a living online.

    Whether or not you knew how or learned, it all boiled down to doing EVERYTHING yourself.

    What you, Jim Cockrum, have made me realize is the Internet has changed. It’s not like that anymore.

    You don’t need to know or learn everything there is to know in computer land in order to function on the Internet today.

    You can now truly outsource your work for the cheap and get good quality for anything you need done.

    The beauty of what you’ve made me realize is you can outsource all your work or whatever you choose.

    The ways of the old days on the Internet are gone, even if you are a computer wiz and know what you’re doing.

    The point is you don’t have to get to know or do all the tech stuff anymore, others can do it for you.

    You choose what work you want done. Unbelievably low cost equals good quality work.

    As a result, today work can flow so much easier. Thanks to the Internet, your work on the Internet can be channeled differently for better results than ever before.

    Now we all have the opportunity to take all the tech weight off our backs and have more time to explore all possibilities of bringing our business to it’s fullest potential.

    You don’t have to do everything yourself. The Internet has made it so so much more efficient and different.

    Look at what’s happening now.

    Notice newspapers getting smaller?

    Notice the United States post office wanting to cut mail delivery to five days?

    Notice telephone books becoming obsolete?

    Notice college courses offered online to get a degree?

    Notice you can now take a defensive driving course online to reduce your car insurance?

    The list goes on and on. Take a good look around you.

    The Internet has changed and is changing everything we do. There are still people out there not into computers, as it was said years ago you’d better start getting into computers because they are the wave of the future.

    Now the time has truly arrived that computers are a way of life. Jump aboard now or you are going to get left back big time.

    Yes, knowing computers can be confusing. Yes, most things are hard to do (even easy things if you don’t know how). Yes, trying to figure it all out can take hours upon hours, days, weeks, months or even years of your time.

    That’s why there are still some people who aren’t into computers. That’s why there are people who give up on starting or improving their business. That’s why there are people who give up on their dreams.

    Jim you have made me realize now the time has come where you can get anything done you need to to start your business or improve your business at an incredible low cost with or without that much knowledge.

    Now is the time you should check into starting or getting your existing business online if it’s not already, with out all the tech hoopla.

    Now is the time to leave all the tech stuff to someone else so you can move onward to succeed to the highest heights. It has now become so very real to do, thanks to your enlightenment.

    It’s come to the point where anything you need to do can be done for you so you can keep on finding creative ways for you to improve and expand your business AROUND THE WORLD.

    For the sad news, which can be turned around into good news, is for those of you who know computers, you don’t have to deal with all the tech work stuff anymore.

    Why consume all that time, unless you want to. Everyone should keep in mind though, in business time is money.

    It can be outsourced now for the cheap and the result is good quality pieces of work to make more quality time for you to do as you please.

    Get others to do all the tech work for you. The cost of getting all this done is next to nothing now. This is the now of the ever changing and evolving Internet.

    Terry Conti

  • Cedric

    I am a long time (years) member of your newsletter and I am a mysilentteam member since it launched. I am more and more confused by your open ended blanket statements lately.
    It seems you think up these ideas only to promote your stuff. Now there is nothing wrong with self promotion but your info used to be more balanced. Constantly telling people their current skills are useless and a dime a dozen (any one can do that for short money attitude) is making me look else ware for a guru business advisor.

    [reply from Jim]:
    I’m not sure I follow you Cedric, but I think you may be misunderstanding the point of the article. The “skills” that are becoming increasingly irrelevant are the skills that you trade hours for in exchange for dollars. This article is a WARNING, not an indictment.

    It’s true that my products and ideas (and yes – even the ones that I charge money for) all are designed to help people STOP trading dollars for hours…and in this case (this article) the SKILLS that so many people are focusing on acquiring are so easily replaced by someone cheaper and better that I feel I’m doing the reader a service by warning them about it.

    If you do look elsewhere for business advice I wish you every success though!

  • http://www.jimcockrumcoaching.com Nathan Bailey

    I will throw in a free coaching session to ad to your offer Jim. Great Post.

    Nathan

  • http://privatelabelunlimited.com/Traffic2.0/traffic2.0.html Gary David | Drive Thousands Of Traffic

    Excellent article again from you Jim! You are really one of the best! I’m learning the law of leverage, in fact, I’ve even heard that the key to become rich is to apply the law of leverage. Rich people and successful business, all of them applies the law of leverage, and they work smart. I agree that people that are more skilled, and willing to be paid for lesser money can help us leverage our business.

    Looking forward to hear more from you Jim.

    Regards,

    Gary

  • http://mikewalshblog.com Mike Walsh

    Jim,

    You nailed it and I will go one step further. Anyone who expects to get a job with a big corporation and be taken care of and have security for the rest of their life is sadly mistaken. Just ask the retired and fired employees from Ford and General Motors. With the shrinking of the globe, any skill is easily replacable, as you say, at a much lower cost.

    The post WWII United States of our parents (and grandparents) is gone. The funny thing is, maybe we have gone full circle and come back to where we started, as an entrepreneurial country.

    The good news, as you stated, is the low cost of entry to start a business. The average guy really can be very successful, as you have proven.

    I want teach my children to think creatively, to rely on themselves for success and to be an owner, not a worker.

    Have a great day,

    Mike

  • Dan Strayer

    The section of your post that REALLY makes me think is the one on leverage and influence.

    More proof that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear! I’ve just finished upgrading my skills (thanks to the state of Michigan), and while I’m grateful for the opportunity, it’s obvious to me that’s not the only thing I need to do.

    Thanks for posting this. I keep coming back to the 2 base words in my mind – leverage and influence!

  • Jim O

    Jim, You continue to offer many of us a better alternative to trading time for dollars, totake advantage of leverage in the age of technology, even when we don’t have enough courage in ourselve’s to step out on our own. Thank you! Please don’t give up on us.

  • http://DebtFreeFiveKids.com Wayne Larimore

    Jim, I totally agree with your posting. I’m glad I came across your material a few years back at http://www.SilentSalesMachine.com. Because of it, I have a couple of income streams that bring in automated, passive income with little involvement on my part. Benefits? I bought a brand new Snapper riding lawn mower this past spring from this income. Working smarter, not harder has always been the wise path. The application may have changed over time but the principle remains the same. When will folks wake up and take action? I challenge all of my students to do just that at http://www.DebtFreeFiveKids.com because it is very doable and not a pipe dream. Thank you for being bold enough to speak the truth. I guess the only question I would add to the list is this: Are you seeing solutions to people’s problems yet ignoring them?

  • Susan

    Jim,

    I have always felt that way about what you say about skills. My DH, love him dearly, but I can’t for the life of me see why he wants to go, at 60 yrs of age, for another postgraduate degree. He is working on his 3rd Masters degree. He already has 2 Bachelors degrees. Me, I took 2 terms at a community college and I hated it. I hated the cocky attitude of professors and instructors. I was told (and treated) all my life that if I didn’t have a college degree, I would amount to nothing. Then I would see people going to university while they worked during the day, only to be told by their company that in order to be on the “team”, he needed a Masters. All those years and money wasted for nothing. Here all my life, I worked in a hot, grungy sewing factory but I retired early, when the jobs got outsourced and now, because of the internet, I can market my skills learned in those awful places and have used eBay to sell my sewing. Now eBay is trying to close the gap where if someone wants you to do something custom, they don’t want to show you their email address in the message section. They’re already doing it right now. But to make a long story short, Here, I have people raving about my merchandise when the whole time when I was a “wage slave” in a sewing factory, I was told by management I am the lowest of the low and this is the only place that’ll give you a job and you wouldn’t amount to anything. But I was smarter than them. I knew they said that to keep you stuck there for the rest of your days. They were afraid of you quitting!

    Regards,
    Susan

  • jOHN

    This is my first comment: I love this article. It is so so true. I always thought this way but your everyday connections with people make you believe that you are from some kind of another planet. I though I was the only one to have those opinions. It is SO great to find your thoughts exactly expressed in a blogpost. My God I I feel do good I am not the only one who realized it. Thank you so much Jim.

  • Melissa

    Many years ago my husband and I embarked on a journey to find “the way” out of being someone else’s employee.

    We have educated ourselves and participated in a number or “wealth creation” areas such as Property Investing, Shares and an Ebay Business. My husband has an amazing skill set in his field and it is absolutely worth it for him to negotiate a great deal with his employer so that he earns a fabulous salary without all the “headaches” associated with running the business. His skills actually allow us to use leverage in numerous ways…they go hand in hand!

    I on the other hand have spent the last 10 years at home raising our children and trying so hard to get a website & ebay stores up and running. I can honestly say that I have spent over $7,000 on ebay courses and I am extremely disappointed in the “dream” that so many of these guru’s sell people. Online marketing and selling is time consuming,complex & competitive. It requires constant education and a never ending skill set that only suits a certain % of people – don’t be fooled into thinking you will be the next ebay millionaire, there’s probably a better chance of winning the lottery!

    So…after much reflection I have decided to keep focused on one little bit of information I learnt from Robert Kiyosaki -
    “an asset is something that puts money into your pocket, a liability takes it out of your pocket”. So, before embarking on any new ventures do your due dilligence and make sure you are investing your skills and leveraging abilities into an asset and not another liability.

    All the best…

  • http://www.john-edwards-blog.com Ed

    Hey Jim,

    You know this post simply, brings to light that doing the most simpliest things as long as they are targeted can bring you the biggest results!

    Whereas in some cases the hardest work can be in vain, and I love the way you implement the use of outsourcing most of your business needs to be done while you take care of family life!

    Thats *leverage*!

    Ed.