2012 - Day 008 - Proactivity
One of the greatest achievements for the employee-minded is being truly proactive. I say this, not to single out an entire group of people but individuals in it. Far too often, people who have been in the job force for any length of time, develop what is known as "employee mentality."
Though to be proactive on the job is encouraged, this is more so in higher-paying jobs than in the lower, where, for example, most non- (or minimally-) skilled positions, where employees are required to abide, almost totally, by outside directives rather than those of their own. Indeed, we've been taught to follow our leaders throughout school and many job positions are but an extension of this protocol.
To be proactive on the job, many times, is contained within defined directives with little to no individualism. In many situations, this is a necessity, however, there are by-products that come from this...
Employee mentality (and herd mentality)
Both of these mindsets are inhibitors to true entrepreneurship. From what I've gathered from studying these things, there are millions of folks out there who fall for false entrepreneurship...or opportunity-seekers. This interesting correlation came from a short-lived membership, "HomeTek" (spelling may be a bit off) which turned out to be a MLM model.
In the tutorials, this distinction had been made. There is an entire industry which caters to opportunity-seekers...we know them quite well... The average consumer cannot readily distinguish between what an entrepreneur is and an opportunity-seeker, joining get rich quick schemes. The results are often disastrous to people who have no idea what is what.
One of the reasons I dropped out of HomeTek was the methodology taught which involved baiting folks who have misconceptions of what an entrepreneur is. In this particular MLM, it was far too obvious that the real product wasn't the insurance benefits involved but the membership itself...and its propagation from level to level throughout its infrastructure.
Getting More Out of WA By Being More Proactive
One thing many new folks find here when they come in is that, outside of the 30-Day Success Clubs and WAbinars, training here is unstructured. When I say "unstructured" I refer to the fact that there isn't a classroom setting here. Members go where they feel they need to go and what training suits their needs the best.
Without the structured coursework of university-settings, requires far more discipline to get the training in. I'm guilty of not doing what I need to be doing with this, and suspect there are others here with the same problem.
Nobody's going to take you by the hand here (unless you ask for it,) and I am in favor of this set up here because it abides by the unwritten laws for entrepreneurs...being proactive. I urge new members, and fact, all members, to brush-up on what entrepreneurship is. I know very many are quite aware of this, but do we practice it?
Before I proceed, I want to clarify that I do not mean that help isn't given here. It most certainly is and will reiterate that part of being proactive is to ask when needing help. There's no tests, homework, a certain number of required papers, etc. There's no certifications to be earned.
Am I truly proactive? Am I practicing being proactive?
I don't and it's time to make some serious changes with that. I've long knew the difference between employee mentality (that is, consistently following outside directives) and entrepreneurship (setting one's own directives and carrying them out.) Knowing something and not doing something about it is certainly not being proactive...it's procrastination...for whatever cause.
In this way, I see WA as education far superior to university-type education because its training is open forum. For WA members, it's their money or their life...better said...it's their money and their life.
Entrepreneurs are highly proactive and not opportunity-seekers out trying every new shiny thing that comes along. They are educated in the right things, in doing the right things and a disciplined bunch. WA is a great start, but if you have employee mentality, unless you learn what an entrepreneur is, it's going to do you little good.
Of course, those with employee mentality who come here are in a positive environment wherein they can have the entrepreneurial spirit rub off on them! Though this is a guarded secret of sorts in many other training programs, it is far from the case here at WA. This is the driving force behind this membership that stood out more than anything else and from the very beginning, I knew this was it.