This morning, I attended the North Surrey Business Expo 09 at Kempton Park Racecourse. Now, I am typically someone who likes to mingle (and that's a far more generalised event than actual networking) and I like to do this with the ordinary man - the tradesman, the mini-entrepreneur, the average man or woman looking to make some money from a hobby, or an idea, making a difference in their lives and those of others. As you can probably tell from where this paragraph is going - there were no such people at Expo 09...
I always take the liberty of going to something that's free. When it comes to networking, because you can do it anywhere - in a supermarket, laundrette or even walking the kids to school, I don't see the point of paying for it simply because they offer you a free cup of coffee and a slim wafer. So, when the email advert was junk mailed in my direction, I jumped at the chance to attend.
The Surrey Chambers of Commerce are a jolly bunch - lots of BMW's and smiles, but for me, the key points I yearn for stop there. These are people who are businessmen and women who have big desks and their employee figures go into the hundreds. So this got me thinking - not so much about their lives, their cars and how much Pimms and Tennis will be talked about at the event, but the word "success."
How do we define success?
The the common definition of this word is in the third party - in other words, it is a term we would use to describe someone else and rarely ourselves. To us, we define it as power, money and influence, or maybe one out of three, yet I feel this is where we go wrong. What separates us from Jonathan Jay and others, is our own perception of this word - and nothing else....
And I meant "nothing else..."
No, I haven't gone barking mad - it is literally all about perception. We only look at someone being successful when we see that they have a pot of cash, an Aston Martin and a fat Filofax - they may well have inherited the lot, yet we don't see that - we see someone who has been successful in something and it is usually in business.
Take something silly you've done today - bought a pint of milk perhaps - you made the decision to step out of the front door and get some milk, why? Because you had identified a need for some (you might see where this is going now...) so you went out and got a pint and probably came home again - you were successful. Full stop.
It's as simple as that. Most of us will see that as simply going about their daily chores, a bit like a wealthy businessman will go about his daily chores too - he might check out the stock exchange, sell some shares, do a deal with ICI for a 7 figure sum etc, etc, - the two are the same - it is only the way we perceive it, that is different - as soon as we stop seeing a vast difference, then we can truly be successful in everything we do...
Take today and the events which happened in my life - I heard from two people I met at a networking event last week - they both emailed me today. I was approached by the head of a major influential company who had read one of my articles on a website. I attended two free seminars which taught be valuable lessons in marketing - tips which could make and save money. I managed to find the venue for these seminars without getting lost or stuck in traffic on the M25. I have had a very successful day.
Someone else might see it as a day spent wandering around, driving for most of it, listening to two people waffle on about something, got a couple of emails which might not amount to anything and the car sounded a bit rough on the way home..... you see? It's all about perception.
If we shift the levels of success, we begin to see our own achievements for what they really are - achievements. We erase the line between stacks of cash and fast car and just ticking over and we find that we are successful in every day of our lives. The key to being rich is a matter of luck and judgement - nothing else and no NVQ is going to teach you any different. Being successful on the other hand is simply a matter of how are own minds work and changing it.....
Until next time....
Have a successful day......
Michelle Duffy 2009
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