As some of you may or may not have noticed, I have not written on here for a couple of weeks now. Call it writer’s block or actually taking to heart some comments that were made about me and my network (Affiliate Venture Group) and actually giving a shit about what some faceless people had to say.
Then I got to thinking that they are going to say and do what they want to regardless – so pardon my language, why the fuck should I care about what they have to say? They absolutely add zero intrinsic value to who I am as an individual so why even bother.
That being said – I do want to give a few shout-outs to a few individuals who have managed to keep me on an even keel through this, let’s call it “momentary ordeal” and had my and AVG’s back through it all.
1) First is Chris Kautz (https://www.facebook.com/chris.kautzscanavy ), my right hand man at AVG – aka The Affiliate Slayer. He is the one that keeps the wheels turning, the budgets flowing and definitely keeps me on the straight and narrow. He and I go back to 2004 and work quite nicely together. While I am busy being the front for AVG (good or bad) – he is definitely about the cough cough….back end.
2) Next is Rheya Sahni (https://www.facebook.com/rheya.sahni.3 ), without her – AVG would not be able to bring you the whole slew of offers we have but more importantly, she is the intake to all my venting – and believe you me, I vent a lot. It was her specifically that got me through the mess we had with that daily deal site owned by an unnamed newspaper/TV station based out or Northern Va. ;-). Being a few thousand miles away, she still manages to keep me focused. Unfortunately for me and probably fortunately for her – she is getting married in a few months so no more venting for me. If you all are reading this – do take the time to congratulate her, she deserves all the happiness she gets.
Some call the added ridicule a sign of success and while I agree with that to a certain extent, I got to thinking what are some common elements and traits that all successful people share and here are my top three I came up with:
1) Willingness to fail – all successful individuals have gotten over a crucial hurdle – they are not afraid to fail. No proven successful person is sitting there saying “what if?” – they are out venturing and testing. Zig Ziglar says it best – “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street”.
2) Opinionated – do you know of a single individual who is successful who is not opinionated? They have to be willing to take a stance and not give in to what their peers may have to say.
3) Passionate – you have to be 100% committed to what you do with a level of enthusiasm and energy that rubs off on others. My favorite quote as it comes to passion is by one Howard Thurman, a great author and philosopher, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
What do you think are the common traits of a successful individual? Talk about it below.
In closing – while we all like and live for approval of others, the questions to ask yourself is, do they truly define who you are as a person? You know what’s right and wrong, we all live by a set of values – not values imposed from others, but values which come from within and your upbringing. If we can focus on these core values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more complete and purposeful life.
