Quotes by Steve Pavlina

It’s important to note that you don’t have to earn money from all of your interests. If you just dive in and pursue what you enjoy, you may be surprised to find out which interests help you generate income and which don’t.

Fail your way forward.  Recognize that Ready, fire, aim is superior to ready, aim, aim, aim.  Straightforward trial and error produces better results than endless vacillating.  If you’re afraid to make decisions and act on them in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, get a job.  Failure’s lessons are essential to success.

Embrace opportunities with limited downside, unlimited upside.  The best deals are those where your risk of loss is predictable and fixed if things go wrong, while your potential gains are enormous if things go right.  Take such deals whenever you can get them if the odds of success are halfway decent.

Do what you love, but be damned sure it’s profitable.  If you do work you love, but it doesn’t generate income, your business will fail.  If you do work you hate, but it generates income, your health will fail… and your business along with it.  If you can’t do what you love and make it profitable, you’ve either got a hobby or a headache, not a sustainable business.  Don’t settle for anything less than passion and profit.

Think for yourself.  Unplug yourself from follow-the-follower groupthink, and virtually ignore what everyone else in your industry is saying (except the ones everyone agrees is crazy).  Do your own research, draw your own conclusions, set your own course, and stick to your guns.  When you’re just starting out, people will tell you you’re wrong.  After you’ve blown past them, they’ll tell you you’re crazy.  A few years after that, they’ll (privately) ask you to mentor them.

Understand that relationships are more important than contracts.  Business deals are relationships between people.  The signed piece of paper is important, but it’s merely the result of the relationship, not the cause.  If the relationship crumbles, the contract won’t save you, although it could be very lucrative for your lawyer.

Network selectively.  Nothing says “business newbie” like shotgun networking.  “You never know when someone might say yes” is marketing for dummies.  Take the time to build a profile of your ideal customers, and target your networking activities to reach them.  Speak to those who are already predisposed to want what you offer.  Almost any profile is better than “anyone with a pulse.”

Everyone you meet in your life - even total strangers - is already intimately connected to you.  The idea that we are all separate and distinct beings is nothing but an illusion.  We are all parts of a larger whole, like individual cells in a body.

Tackling challenges that are too big for you is what makes you grow as a human being. Why do you think this problem keeps coming up in your life, staring you in the face? Do you think you’re supposed to ignore it and hide from it and wait for someone else to solve it for you? If you notice it, you own it.

If something is important enough to you that you feel the urge to donate your money or time to it, I think it’s best to try to express that form of giving through your career, not just as something you do on the side.  If you enjoy your volunteering and charitable activities more than your career, it means your career is in serious need of an upgrade.  In my opinion your career should be your best outlet for giving.