passion talks report

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PASSION TALKS! (Doing Work You Love)

Mohamed Tohami Interviews Dan Miller

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Milking Cows

In this short report, I would like to share with you the story of a person who is transforming the way people perceive Mondays!

He grew up on a farm where they milked cows at 5:30 in the morning 365 days a year. He thought there's got to be better options than this.

His father expected him to just continue with farming with him. They were very poor. They didn't have radio or TV in the house. So, he just started reading books. He started discovering a world that was much bigger out there than what he had experienced. Then, he went to college as a way to broaden his horizons.


He got his graduate degree in psychology. But hes always been an entrepreneur, always wanted to see how things could be done better or see how businesses could be started and run profitably.

So, hes done that for many years, but in the process he started having other people ask him 'How can I go through this career transition? I just lost my job, what should I do? I've got this idea about a business I've always wanted to start, is it really possible for me to do that?', so I became a sounding board for people, and that just grew and grew and grew.

And he started having people ask him 'What can I give my soninlaw who just lost his job?', or 'What can I read that will really help me understand how you've done things in business?', and so he ultimately then wrote a book that was "48 Days To The Work You Love", that has


done extremely well all over the world, in lots of different languages. And that set the platform for him to then be an author, speaker and coach.

Today, Dan Miller is the author of the widely acclaimed 48 Days To The Work You Love, No More Mondays and Wisdom Meets Passion (his latest books which is taking the world by storm). He writes regularly for many popular magazines and web portals, including CBN.com, In Touch, and Success magazines. He hosts a weekly podcast that is consistently ranked #1 under Careers on iTunes.

He continues to provide knowledge to encourage people that work doesn't have to be something that you dislike; it can be something that you love, where the hours just fly by. And beside doing something that you love, it can also be very profitable, those two go hand in hand.


It doesn't mean that if you do something you love then you have to learn to live on beans and rice, it works the other way.

I'm a big, big fan of Dan. He believes that meaningful work blends our natural skills and abilities, our unique personality traits, and our dreams and passions.

I was honored to interview Dan about his success story and in the next few pages I would like to share with you golden lessons from his successful quest.


1. Business Failure

Often times the challenges are what really make us think differently.

Quite a few years ago, Dan went through a real business failure. He had expanded a business too fast, got in trouble with the banks, and ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the IRS and to then other vendors and businesses. That was a very low point, but it forced him to look at new creative options.

Rather than thinking the only way he can build a business was to have bigger buildings and more employees, he discovered ways to build


businesses that didn't require employees and buildings! All of a sudden, that opened his eyes to some things that he didnt think he would've seen if I had continued being successful. So, as much as that was a failure in many ways, it was a very valuable experience to help him look at things with new eyes.

Over the last 20 years of Dans life, he was able to see things that other people don't see. Somebody recently ask him, Can somebody learn how to see things like you see them!

He said, Yeah, you can. Then he gave her this example. He said, If you buy a red 850 Volvo, you know what you're going to see the next day? The next day you're going to see eight of those on the road, red 850 Volvos. You think, 'Oh, my Gosh, did everybody go out yesterday and buy one of those?' Well, no, they didn't. They were there all the time, but


you just weren't attuned to seeing them. You just didn't notice them. But now that you have one, your sensing is different.

We can do that in a lot of areas, where if we train ourselves, have our antenna up, and we expect to see things differently, we'll see opportunities all around us that other people miss.

When we have our antenna up, we will see opportunities that other people miss.


2. The People

Dan was profoundly impacted by many success gurus like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins and the list goes on and on.

Now, many of those experts he has had the privilege of meeting after being exposed to their material for years. Dan believes that there's a wealth of wisdom out there where we don't have to wait until circumstances are just right or until we're lucky. We can access wisdom that's out there right away.


One of the things that is a real characteristic of highly successful people is that they spend time with people who are already performing at the level at which they want to perform.

Dan always tried to do that. He seeks out people who are high achievers and spend time with them. One day, he was having lunch with a gentleman who has had an amazing career path. He is the head of one of the record labels there in Nashville. He just asked him, Hey, I want to pick your brain. Can I buy you lunch? Well, sure! People are very willing to do that.

Dan had this wonderful journey of spending time with people who are excelling in what they're doing. Even if it's a different industry than what he is in, that's OK. Success principles are very transferable, and you want to learn from people who are already successful.

Success principles are very transferable, and you want to learn from people who are already successful.


3. The Money

There's a theory in business where, if you can make a little bit from the efforts of a lot of people, it will make you a lot of money. You may assume that that means a manufacturing company or a network marketing company, but there are a lot of ways to do that.

What Dan does is trying to create content that he can create one time and get paid ten thousand times for it. That's the distinction between linear and residual income. Linear income is when you do something once and get paid once. That includes people at a lot of different levels


economically. That includes somebody who's flipping hamburgers at a restaurant and it includes a brain surgeon. They're still being paid the same way, even though it's at different levels. You do something once, you get paid once. You want to look at what can create residual income. What is it that will create income even while youre sleeping?

That doesnt mean that you have a manufacturing plant full of employees who are working over night. No. If you have books and audio programs, instructional manuals, seminars, online products, you can be sleeping and people can go and purchase those products from your online or offline store. It's a very different business model.

That's not a magic ticket for everybody. A lot of people wouldn't enjoy the things that I or Dan does. But for me and Dan, it was a way to expand our thinking about business; a business that has no financial limitations and can grow exponentially without a lot of the constrictions most businesses experience.


Today, there are many opportunities to find what is it that really fits you? What is it that allows you to be authentically who you are and to release the very best that you have in you? And you can definitely create an economic model around that.

Think residual income


4. Passion vs. Money

A lot of people ignore their passions and what's authentic about them. They just try to find an opportunity. So, they look at who's hiring, what are the new businesses that just opened where I could get a job? What are the trends, academically, that'll put me in a position where I can make a lot of money? And so, they just try to do what's going to make money. That's a reverse process.

If you try to chase money, it's going to always just stay out of your reach. But if you really do something that's an authentic fit for you, that really is an expression of your dreams, it's surprising how money shows up in unexpected ways.


As an author, Dan said that if somebody came to him and said, "I want to make a million dollars," there is no chance in the world that he was going to advise him to be an author, because, typically, authors make very little money.

But if that is what makes your heart sing, if that is really your passion, then absolutely do it and do it in a way that most authors never dream of, so you can be extremely successful financially as well.

So, it's really a matter of being authentic to who you are. And that's not what most people do as a starting point. They just look at, where can I get ahead? How can I make the most money? And they have all these short term, frustrating paths trying to figure that out.

Be true to yourself


5. Reading

Dan developed the habit of reading or listening to positive material at least two hours every day. As a minimum!

I always go over that. That is the minimum., Dan said.

He started that habit in that very low period when he had just gone through a business failure. He knew that his mind is like a garden. If you let weeds start there, they grow and multiply. If you put corn in there, and you nurture it and you pull the weeds out and you water and fertilize it, then you get a beautiful crop of corn. Our minds are like that.


Dan knew that his mind was a sitting duck for negative thoughts to take root and grow. And so, he would listen every minute he was in the car to those positive, pure clean messages. He didn't read the newspaper, didn't listen to the news, and didn't talk to people who were saying gloom and doom. He just force fed his brain with positive, clean material. And he still does that today.

One night, Dan had a gentleman who came by his house, from out of town, to spend the night on his property. He came by at about 8:30 pm. Dan was sitting in the living room, all alone, with soft music on and reading a book. The visitor was surprised! There was a big screen TV right in front of Dan, but he didn't turn that on. Instead, he had music on, and he was reading a really inspirational book that he was just absolutely devouring.


A lot of people allow so much negativity to get into their mind. It's no wonder they think the world is going down the tubes and there are no opportunities anymore. We allow all that negativity to shape our thinking instead of seeing opportunities.

Read and grow rich


6. Passion To Profit

Look inward first. Thats what Dan said when I asked him about his process for turning passion into profit.

He believes that 85 percent of the process to having the confidence and proper direction in your career comes from looking inward. It's not about just deciding, OK, here's an opportunity. I'm going to do that., or Here's somebody who's hiring, I'm going to apply. No, look inward. What is unique about you? What are your skills and abilities? What is it that you do really well, perhaps, better than anybody else? What are your personality traits? How do you relate to other people? What kind of environment are you most comfortable in? So, if you're very outgoing


and gregarious, that's fine. If you're very shy, that's OK. You don't need to change it. But you need to know what is true for you, so you can embrace that.

Also, look for what Dan calls recurring dreams. What is it that keeps showing up? Oh, it's when you're working with ideas rather than people, that you really come alive. Or it's when you're working with children, or it's when you're working with people who are in nonprofits, you could go on and on. But, 85 percent of the process is looking at yourself first, then you have a really good opportunity to turn that into meaningful, daily work that embraces what you know about yourself.

A lot of people who have really artistic, creative skills think, "Well, I love playing golf," or "I love growing dandelions," or "I love sculpting in wood," or "I love art or music," ...but..."But...I have to do something practical and realistic, so I can create income to provide for my family.", or whatever.


Dan says, It doesn't have to be a tradeoff. I'm walking around here in my office space and have several beautiful pieces of art that have been done by artists who are very notable in what they do. I'm looking at a piece of art here done by a lady whose art is now all over the world. She just did a massive mural for the Olympics in London. There are a lot of good artists, but how do you create those kinds of opportunities? What happens a lot of times with the things that people enjoy most, they think that, "Well, it either just happens or it doesn't." I'm saying, "No, it doesn't just happen or it doesn't." If you're an artist, and you want that to be your form of income, or you're a musician, and you want that to be your form of income, you have to be just as strategic about creating a business plan as if you were going to open a restaurant, or a bowling alley, or a hardware store.

You have to be just as strategic: What am I going to do in terms of marketing? What has to happen financially for this to work? Who is my target audience? How am I going to get my message in front of them?A lot of people think that if it's something they really enjoy, then they should treat it as a hobby, rather than a business. But if you really want that area of passion of yours to work then approach it with that much precision.


Dan shared with me the following great example of how he promoted his latest book Wisdom Meets Passion.

Most authors when they write a book, they hope to get an opportunity to go into a Barnes & Noble, or whatever your local bookstore is sit there on a Friday night from six to eight o'clock, and you hope that you have 10 people come by and buy your book. That is a horrible way to release a book. When we released "Wisdom Meets Passion", my newest book, we threw a party and I mean it was really a party.

We booked the Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club House. It's a beautiful and spectacular building up on top of a hill, and we booked that for the night. We had catered food for everybody. We invited people who were movers and shakers. People of influence, people in the media, celebrities, and politicians we had people like that in the room.

We fed them wonderful food, we had live music, and then everybody got a gift bag, where they had two autographed copies. They had an Ubuntu


medallion that was designed by my son, and we cast them in brass. It's a beautiful medallion that everybody got, plus a box of specially created toffee candy and some other goodies in the bag. That's how we released the book.

So we created this amazing buzz. It got news coverage and a whole lot of influential people who then had two books in their hand, one to read and one to give away. That's unheard of for an author to do that.

My publisher...I have a very large, wellknown publisher. They had never seen anything like that before in their lives. They were blown away but those are the kind of things that you can do as an individual. You just have to do it differently than perhaps it has been done before. There are ways to take any kind of passion that you can dream up and turn it into a real, viable profitable business.


I mean look at the things that are being done right now, like with Pinterest. It's like a bulletin board where you go in and pin a photo on a wall and yet it's growing faster than Facebook did at this stage of development. There's plenty of room for new ideas. What I tell people too is you don't have to do something brand new, nobody even thought of before. All you need to do is do something 10 percent better than what's being done now and you can make millions of dollars.

Decide what is unique about you and this will give you focus. Then it's a matter of figuring out, "OK what kind of work, what kind of business would allow me to express this uniqueness? My skills and abilities, my personality tendencies, my values, dreams, and passions. What kind of work would bring those together?

Do something 10% better and you can make millions


7. Your Story

We all have a life story and in many ways our life story is unfolding just like a movie. If we see it as such, we ought to be able to sit down and write the script for the movie of our life. Recognize you're the director of that movie, so decide in advance what you want that to look like.

Too many people end up feeling like victims of circumstances. "I live in the wrong place, didn't have the right parents, didn't have the right educational opportunities, so I'm just stuck with that..."


Dan says, No, write the next chapter. Even if the last chapter of your life doesn't look like what you would want, you can decide what is the next chapter.

My wife, Joanne just went out to the Tennessee Prison for Women. We have a prison here with about 800 women in it. Obviously that's not a desirable place to be, but it's where they are. She went through some of the principles in "Wisdom Meets Passion" and inspired those girls to recognize they could still write the next chapter of their lives. Now there's a few who'll never get out, but there are many who'll be out in another two or three years. She let them realize they're going to be in charge of what the next chapter in their life looks like.

They aren't victims, even though they may have been through some horrific experiences. They can still choose what they want that to look like. It was a real moving experience for both my wife and for the ladies there, to cry together and to realize and have that new sense of hope.


This is available for anybody, no matter where they live, and what they've come through. You still have those options of hope for the future, if you choose it.

You can still write the next chapter of your life

Those were Dans final words...(Thanks Dan Miller)

One of the things I love about the world we live in today is the thing like you and I are doing right here. You're in a different country, a different culture than I and yet the principles for fulfillment and being successful are absolutely the same. It doesn't depend on any of the circumstances. This is very much an inner game. I appreciate you being an advocate of that and encouraging people where you are, that they can do this as well.


Summary


When we have our antenna up, we will see opportunities that other people miss.

Success principles are very

transferable, and you want

to learn from people who are

already successful.

Think residual income


Be true to yourself

Read and grow rich

Do something 10% better and you can make millions


You can still write the next chapter of your life

About Mohamed Tohami

Over the past 9 years, Mohamed Tohami, bestselling author and motivational speaker, has been helping thousands of people restore their passion for life and work. Tohami is known for his series of interviews with ultra-successful people about their secrets of success, having recorded over 150 interviews with the world's leading success and business gurus like Jim Cathcart, Tony Alessandra, Michael Gerber, Mark Sanborn, and many more. On May 19, 2009, his first book, The Pharaohs' Code, was Amazon's #1 best-selling motivational book.

For more information and free motivational videos, please visit: http://www.TOHAMI.com


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