Dear friend,
Practical entrepreneurial idea:
Focus on doing what only you can do!
DOWNLOAD PDF: Don’t do something that someone else can do
Who are your heroes?
“Don’t do something that someone else can do.” – Edwin Land (inventor of Polaroid, and inspiration for Steve Jobs).
A simple idea:
To find inspiration, figure out who inspired your heroes.
For example, Steve Jobs is one of my heroes. Jobs was deeply inspired by Edwin Land. Thus, studying Edwin Land is a great role model for anyone interested in technology, innovation, science, and art.
I really like this idea of only working on things which only you can do.
What is your Archimedes lever?
What is your #1 strength in life? How can you maximize your personal strength, in order to maximize your impact in the world?
For example, I don’t know anyone else on planet earth who is as skilled in blogging and photography-philosophy as I am. Thus, it makes sense for me to focus on blogging/philosophy/photography — because nobody else on planet earth has that same unique skillset as me.
Don’t be humble
No matter who you are, you have a unique gift and skillset that nobody else in the world has.
I believe a skillset is a combination of all of your unique skills, strengths, and life experiences. This means to “cross-pollinate” all of your primary strengths, to make an ultimate strength.
For example, I can distill everything I can do into blogging. Blogging is my #1 strength. Of course my blogging is a sub-section of:
- Writing
- Internet technology
- Marketing
- Teaching
- Photography
- Graphic design
- Video and music production
- Research
- Editing
I was designed to blog. I’ve always been curious about life philosophy, and blogging is perfect for me, because it’s the ideal way for me to share my ideas with the world. I’ve been blogging since I was 15 years old, and I’ve been going strong for 15 years. I plan on blogging until I die at age 120. This means,
Never stop learning, and never stop creating.
Can someone do this better than you?
I have lots of passions and interests in life. Yet, at least with business — we gotta figure out what we shouldn’t do in life.
For example, I love coffee, and I’m interested in roasting coffee, and even have some pipe dreams about opening my own coffee shop. But to be frank, it is best for me to kill this idea, because there are a trillion great coffee roasters and coffee shops in the world. I shouldn’t squander my strength, energy, and time and attention on coffee — best for me to just coffee shop, and blog at random coffee shops while I’m on the road. I cannot get tied down with a “bricks and mortar” coffee shop.
How much do you care?
You can do anything you desire in life. But the question you must ask yourself is this:
How much do I care about this thing?
For example, for a long time, I got super frustrated that no option existed for photographers who wanted to actually improve their photography — to get honest feedback and critique on their photos. Thus, I started to build ARSBETA.COM with my team Kevin, Cindy, Annette, and Jun — because I cared.
I started this blog, and started to passionately blog about street photography, because it was something I cared about.
I started to write about entrepreneurship, because I care for it.
I started to blog about philosophy and life, because I cared.
Only do things which you care for. You cannot fake enthusiasm, passion, or love.
Prune things you don’t care about
You can only give so many fucks in life.
I say — ruthlessly prune things, people, and stuff from your life which you don’t care about.
Make a list of things you don’t care about — and figure how to subtract these things from your life.
Cut anything which hinders your flight
You were destined to fly high. Cut anything that holds you back. Fly high, soar, and never stop elevating yourself and others!
BE STRONG,
ERIC
Learn More: Photography Entrepreneurship 101 >