|
Command More Luck (CML): We have with us today a person who has successfully made the leap from the offline, bricks-and-mortar business world to the Internet. Rick Beneteau is a successful author and rapidly rising Internet entrepreneur. He also has an amazing grasp of how to use publicity to build a business.
Rick, I know your schedule is extremely busy these days. Thanks for joining us.
Rick Beneteau: My pleasure, Charles.
CML: Before we start, could you tell us a couple of your websites, where our listeners can find you online?
Rick: Sure. First of all, they can go to my name dot com (that's
http://www.rickbeneteau.com, and that pretty well leads to everything that I do.
CML: For readers who are not familiar with your name, could you give us a few words of background about yourself, your business and your career?
Rick: Sure. Right after high school, I decided to get into business. My family had a dry cleaning business, and I went to work for my dad. It wasn't long thereafter that I really began to like business. A few years later, I ended up buying my father out at fair market value and building that dry cleaning business.
All during that time, my passion in life, Charles, as you already know, is writing and producing music. And during the early years of my dry cleaning days, I was just song writing, had simple recording equipment, and I was sending my songs out to publishers and record companies and recording artists.
I started to enjoy some great success; won the Billboard Magazine song writing competition the first two years, and people were beginning to record my songs. I just had general acceptance of the work I was doing.
I decided in the late eighties to sell the dry cleaning business because I had enjoyed that success, and to enter a full-time career in music, writing and producing. In the mid-nineties I sold the dry cleaning business in order to pursue music.
What ended up happening, I lost a lot of - this interview is about luck, but in a period of bad luck, I was divorced as soon as I sold the dry cleaning business, and I lost my asset base in which to start the music production company. And as you probably are aware, it takes substantial financial resources to launch such a venture.
I was essentially broke and really morally devastated, and I had to go on and do something new. My friends had talked about how great and glorious the World Wide Web was, so I decided to take a look, and after about a week of looking around (I really didn't know what I was looking for), but I felt that with forty million people connected to the Internet (which there was at that time), that if I couldn't make a living in cyberspace, then I deserved to sell shoes. So that's essentially how I ended up on the Internet.
CML: Not a simple story.
Rick: Not at all. Actually, I tell the whole story in my brand new eBook "Branding You and Breaking the Bank." I tell it in very much detail because it backs up a lot of the points I make in the book.
CML: And the name of the book, again, is . . . .
Rick: It's "Branding You and Breaking the Bank." And it can be found at brandingyourself.com
CML: Brandingyourself dot com. So if visitors just type in
http: //www.brandingyourself.com they'll find your book.
Rick: They sure will.
CML: You've some "downs," but you've also had your share of "ups," too. Do you have any kind of working definition for luck or fortune or success that you use in your daily life?
Rick: Well, I totally subscribe to the laws of attraction. What you put out, you get back. If you put out good, for the good of others, you're going to get great. Pure and simple.
CML: I've read your inspirational poem, "I Will," and I loved that. How did you come to write it?
Rick: Actually, that's a song lyric from a motivational album I co-wrote and produced with my close friend Larry Thompson just prior to my leaving the music business. So it was a project that ended up with nothing really being done with it. But we are going to release that in a revamped edition at the end of the year.
CML: Oh, really!
Rick: Yes. I'm very, very excited about this project. It's kind of my re-entry back into music.
CML: You'll be selling that on the Internet?
Rick: Absolutely. But that lyric really is one of my core beliefs. And it
goes: "I will because I can. I'll do 'cause I believe the strength I need to make the change is deep inside of me. I'll walk where I have crawled, I'll run till I can fly. My wings will fill with winds of change the moment I decide - I will." That's one of my fundamental beliefs.
CML: Every time I hear that, something in me just wants to sing. I love that poem.
Rick: Well, thank you.
CML: Since you've gone through a couple of bad luck periods, I assume it looked like life was trying to thwart you every way you turned. Can you tell us what you learned from those times?
Rick: Probably the best way I can do that is - I'm building a catalog of quotes as I write new books and go out on speaking engagements, there are just little things that come to you; I just call them quotes. They're my own personal pearls of wisdom (or "bizdom"), and one of those
is: "our shoulders are never so narrow that we cannot carry the weight of our own world."
CML: Every man is his own Atlas.
Rick: Absolutely. I believe that whatever setbacks or problems we're given in this life, we have the capacity to overcome - actually not only overcome them - but learn and grow from them.
I think all of us would agree that life is both fair and unfair. At times it seems like the laws of karma are just not in place, only to find that somewhere down the road they were just a little late getting there. There's a cliché; everything happens for a reason, and I believe that's one of those universal truths, and it's very hard to believe sometimes.
CML: Could you give us a couple of examples from your own experiences?
Rick: One of the toughest periods of my life was when I realized I had to give up music, and that was just in order to live. I considered that a very, very bad luck period of time.
The thing that I went to after that was the Internet. I wasn't happy about it, and again, I thought it was the worst luck in the world. But that transition happened for the great reason that I'm enjoying tremendous success today, being able to help people make a living online. I was blessed to have been forced into that bad situation in order to be brought to the Internet and doing what I'm doing now.
CML: That sounds like the old quote: "In every adversity there is the seed of an equivalent or greater advantage."
Rick: That's exactly it. I didn't know then. I didn't know then. But today I know the reason.
CML: Do you now feel like you've come out the other side of those bad luck periods?
Rick: Oh, for sure. That period of time was a couple of years, and I've been pretty fortunate, Charles. I've not had many periods of my life like that.
CML: Anybody who has visited your website or read your articles and books knows you're a realist. You specialize in getting results. And yet there's a kind of thread running through most of your writing that reveals a deep awareness of the spiritual side of human relations. Did this come naturally to you? Or was it something you gradually developed?
Rick: A combination of both. I think I've always had that spiritual side. I know I ran my dry cleaning business a lot differently than my competitors did. I had more of a friendship relationship with my staff, and just my customer policies and different things. I was very, very successful. I think I had the best bottom line for a lot of miles, just because of how I operated that business. There were some spiritual principles involved in doing that.
I am very much right-brained. You couple that with spiritual tendencies, and I think you're always wide open to receiving new ideas and concepts, and therefore, grow more quickly than a lot of people.
Another thing I've said is the learning curve never flatlines.
CML: How much of this outlook do you feel like you got from your father?
Rick: You know what? I think I got a lot. My father passed away in 1996, and I've written about him in my new book. Whenever I go back to think and to see the growth that he went through as a human being and a father and a spouse and everything, I think a lot of that came from my father. My father was very religious, and I'm not religious; I consider myself very spiritual, but I think that those seeds are sown in the way you're raised, and then also the way you see "icons" in your life grow through their life.
CML: You know, this is a theme that has cropped up in several of the Interviews - this difference between being religious and being spiritual. Could you maybe discuss that for a second?
Rick: I don't want to get your readers upset with me.
CML: No no. That's fine. If they've read my book, they've already . . .
Rick: Okay . . . I don't subscribe to the concept of organized religion whatsoever.
What I find missing in the ones that I am aware of (and I'm aware of a lot of them; I studied world religions in high school), mostly the Christian denominations, I really, really miss the true essence of spirituality. To me, religion is not something outpouring. It's not something you go to do at a certain time. Religion is internal. It's from the heart and it's from the soul and from the mind. I find that missing a lot in religions. I've seen the history, just the terrible history in this world, the wars and famines and needless slaughter and starvation that were all in the name of religion.
CML: I don't think this is a new thing. Jesus, two thousand years ago, called it "whited sepulchers."
Rick: Yes sir. And he also did not (in my belief and in my limited reading of the Bible) envision the churches. He envisioned people helping one another and religion being internal. And I don't think he envisioned at all the structure and what it has come down to in this world now.
CML: Getting back to our main theme here, you're very much a creative, idea-oriented person. You write songs and books. You build new businesses. How do you recognize when a new idea is a really good one? Do you have a procedure for testing your ideas, or do you just somehow "know"?
Rick: You know what, it's more a "know" thing, Charles. A gut feeling.
Let me tell you a little process I go through. This happened in designing ad campaigns for my dry cleaners, writing music, writing somebody's album, and lately, writing my informational products. And I think most creators go through this.
Near the tail-end, when my product (be it a song, be it whatever) is done, I usually go through a period of uncertainty and sometimes self-doubt.
CML: Sounds familiar.
Rick: I did that with the "E-Zine Marketing Machine" just prior to release, and that book, after nearly two years, still sells like hotcakes.
Same thing recently with "Branding You and Breaking the Bank." As a matter of fact, I delayed the release about a month because it just didn't feel like the time, and it was that uncertainty about it. I released it a week and a half ago, and it's taken off like a rocket. I think this serves to keep the creator humble, and serves to keep creators - myself - grounded.
What the truth here is, all during the creation process, from the moment you get the idea, all the way up to when this happens, that's the truth. Not the small period of time when you have the jitters. But I'm a realist and I also know my next product could totally flop, and I would have to adjust to what could be perceived as a failure, but more, it would be a lesson in perhaps a little bad judgment. And I would learn and grow from that.
CML: I read somewhere that the typical businessman who releases new products on the Internet has a success rate of about one-in-four to one-in-seven. It sounds like you're beating the odds.
Rick: I haven't flopped yet.
CML: When I read that, I thought, "Wow, that's a bad suggestion!"
Rick: Well, you know, I'm very blessed in that regard, and I didn't mean that comment smugly whatsoever. I am a total realist, and I've got three or four more products that I'm working on right now. And I do realize that, be it timing, be it a bad idea on my part, for whatever reason, I could have a flop. What you do is, you pick up and go on to the next.
CML: Where do you get most of your ideas for new products or services?
Rick: Well, I'm half crazy. Put it that way right now. Sorry, I'll let you finish your question.
CML: Specifically, do you have some kind of brainstorming process you rely on, or do your ideas come from things your customers ask you about?
Rick: Hmmm. That's a two-fold answer.
One of my favorite quotes in the world is from Bob Proctor, and I know Bob. The first "self-growth" book I read was "You Were Born Rich." I haven't read many, but I did read that an awful long time ago.
There were three quotes that, up until I had my wallet stolen about four years ago, I kept on a piece of paper. I wrote them and I kept them for, I bet, twenty years.
The quote that just floored me, Bob said, "I am grateful for the idea that has used me." It's like every idea, from the light bulb to the Slinky, was already out there in the universe circulating, and it was just up for someone to have their antenna up and be ready to receive the idea. That is how ideas come to me, by and large.
There's also the practical side, which is part two of the answer.
My history and my true story of writing articles on the Internet was so successful, I had no choice but to write my first book, "The E-Zine Marketing Machine." That was a "no-brainer." It worked so well and I could help so many other people do the same thing. And it has. It was just there. It had to be done. And actually, my new book, "Branding You and Breaking the Bank," was the same thing. It's the logical sequel to "E-Zine Marketing Machine."
Then, sometimes your customers will tell you. And that was part of your question. There are two pieces that I've written that have become extremely popular. One is the "Entrepreneur's Prayer" and the other is "The Legacy You Leave." I've had countless people tell me, "Put those out, Rick." There are many major corporations that have asked permission to have the "Entrepreneur's Prayer," which is a lot older than "Legacy," hanging in their corporate offices. And just an infinite number of entrepreneurs and small businesses and what-not have asked for permission to do the same thing. I had enough of those requests that my customers actually told me to put that product out, and within a week or two, they're going to be out.
CML: Where can customers find that? Or are you ready to announce that yet?
Rick: Well, I'm just working up the logistics right now with my programmers. I believe it's going to be on the
http: //www.rickbeneteau.com domain. But if they go either there or
http: //www.interniche.net, they're going to be able to find that.
CML: Getting back to the subject of luck, do you still sometimes find yourself getting into a slump period, or a time when you feel like, "Oh, man, I just don't feel like motivating myself"? And if you do, do you have a set of techniques for putting things back on track?
Rick: I just told you about those periods just prior to release of products. I'm really glad that happens. I do believe that keeps you grounded. Keeps you humble. And also, it makes a success so much more spectacular because you've been from - I wouldn't call it a low point - but it's less than your normal optimistic thinking. I was so delighted when my new book just shot like a rocket, and coming out of that period, it just made that victory so much sweeter.
You and I were at the SuperSeminar 2001 conference that John Harricharan put together, and I don't know if you recall me saying that when things get a little tough or I need to be motivated I do what's called "the blessings count." I take a very good look at all the great things in my life. My family, my friends, my health, my successful business, the talent that I have, and the ability to help a lot of people and make a good living while doing it. That serves to center me very much. All ego aside, I will read my "Entrepreneur's Prayer" and lately, I will read "The Legacy You Leave." That really, really seems to center me.
CML: It sounds like you actually work at keeping your attitude and your mind centered on what you're doing.
Rick: I wouldn't call it work. For the most part, I'm very self-motivated. I'm a positive thinker. I mean, we all have our bad days. You're on the Internet, and you know how bad a bad Internet day can be. Whatever little periods I have now, aside from just prior to releasing a product (because that seems to be a pattern in the last several weeks or a month), for a little pick-me-up I'll just read something, or think of a good quote, or take a look around me, like how much good I have in my life and how fortunate I am to be alive at this time and be thriving. So be it a momentary thing or a bad day, I do my blessings count.
CML: What's the difference between success and luck?
Rick: Well, you will always find luck when you're in a success state of mind. By that I mean, you could be like I was three years ago, dead flat broke, but as long as you're working on your success, you are successful. As long as you believe you are successful and you put that vibe out there, luck will find you. So many people consider successful people lucky, but it's the other way around. They first created that success mindset that in turn created the success reality where luck comes knocking on your door all the time.
CML: Interesting viewpoint. I haven't heard it said that way. That's good.
How big a role in your successes do you actually feel is played by luck. I know you've partially answered that question just before, but the unexpected breaks, the unplanned-for introductions to just the right persons, suddenly coming across a piece of information or a book that moves your project forward, that kind of thing?
Rick: Putting yourself in the position to receive that luck is what's key here. Luck will happen if you do that. To me it's a law as sure as gravity. That luck could be a book or a person you meet, or a flash idea that comes to you. But you put yourself in that position to buy that book, run into that person, or receive that great idea.
I've had an article half-written for a long time; I just never had the time to complete, called "What's Luck Got to Do with It?" and it's about this very concept.
CML: What books or teachers have helped you grow?
Rick: I mentioned Bob Proctor and "You Were Born Rich." That was a very powerful read for me. It opened my eyes to the power that we all have in us, and that it's simply a matter of finding out how to utilize it.
Have you heard of Wallace D. Wattles?
CML: Yes!
Rick: Oh my gosh! Just my favorite, favorite modern-day teacher. He was born in the late 1800s, and I believe he died in 1903 - the early 1900s anyway - and the most amazing, amazing teachings that all the present-day self growth authors and speakers build on.
I've not read as many of those great books as I would like to have. I've always been so darn busy. But the thing I find in the ones I have read and speakers I've listened to is, everything boils down to a couple of really simple truths. It's just how the teachers put a twist on that truth, their ability to create that thing in you where it's like a light switch and finally you get it. The "ah-ha moment." Wallace D. Wattles just totally, totally amazes me.
CML: When I read his stuff, I found it was just incredibly condensed. He didn't spend a lot of time giving illustrations and stories and for-instances. He just simply stated one principle right after another.
Rick: You got it. You know the law of attraction and that you deserve good things. That whole concept is so important.
CML: Have there been certain people who either knowingly or unknowingly served as mentors to you along the way?
Rick: You know, one person I've admired ever since I was in my early twenties getting into business is Lee Iacoca. From the inception of the Mustang to saving Chrysler. That man should be president of the United States. He would never get unelected. They would change the voting laws and just keep him. Just an amazing man with an ability to motivate huge volumes of people to share in a single vision and turn everything around. That man has just always impressed me.
Jimmy Carter is another man. I wasn't really into politics. I'm not now, but I was less into politics when he was president, and he really didn't impress me as a president. But I always felt that he was a very sincere man, maybe too sincere for that job (if there is such a thing). What that man is doing now just impresses me. Habitats for Humanity. He's just using his influence to make a lot of positive change in the world.
CML: He is one of the most active ex-presidents I've seen.
Rick: Absolutely. And you know, that is selfless. He doesn't need it. That is just concern for humankind, and I truly, truly admire people like that.
John Harricharan has become a friend to both of us just recently, and John and I have become especially close in the last half year. John is a wonderful human being, and I've learned a lot from John.
CML: Looking at it from the other side of the relationship, why do you think somebody would decide to mentor another person? What's in it for them?
Rick: Success. We all learn from one another, so why not learn from those who are successful in their personal and business lives? I'm not talking about tips, tricks and tactics here; if you mentor a successful person, be it business or be it personal, you discover how they think, how they act, what happens as a result.
CML: Why do you think they do it? Why does the teacher adopt somebody to teach. What do they get out of it?
Rick: Well, that's an interesting question. You know, perhaps it's a need. About six months into my entrepreneurship on the Internet, I was flabbergasted, even red-faced and embarrassed by a lot of the e-mail, communications, phone calls, by how much influence I was having on people.
When I really started to find out that, be it an article or be it, lately, my book, they were really helping to change people's lives. It almost feels like a responsibility now.
In the music business, I was always in the background; writer, producer. I would never be onstage. My name would never be a household name - didn't want it. On the Internet, without even knowing that this was going to happen, all of a sudden, you're the one writing the articles; it's your name, it's your book, it's this interview. And I just think it becomes almost a moral responsibility.
CML: Do you find yourself reaching deeper into yourself to pull out more of this to give now?
Rick: Another good question. Yes.
I go into very reflective periods of time. Usually just prior to starting a new project or creating a new book or whatever, and I analyze that very, very carefully. It's almost like meditation. And you question all the reasons you're doing this and making sure that all your reasons are noble, that your intentions are correct, that you're very, very centered on why you're doing this, the direction you're moving, although from day to day (you know, the Internet's so crazy) different things happen. But you make sure that your prime reasons for doing what you're doing are good, solid reasons.
CML: So it's more than just "throw out a product and sell it."
Rick: Well, for me it is. I'm sure you've noticed, my products are quite different than everybody else's, be that good or be that bad. I'm friends with just about everybody that's putting out marketing products and are successful doing it. But there is a common spirituality between us all, though. My products are not really how-to. I mean, I do give some steps and things, but it's always more the approach of doing, which is what I center on, and which is largely responsible for my success.
I'm friends with Marlon (Sanders) and Yanik (Silver) is a new friend now, and Declan (Dunn), and Michel Fortin. There's a real common thread there that runs through all of us. Even though our products are different, we have this internal thing that lets people know that we're doing this for good reasons. Oh yeah, we want to make money, for sure, but these are good products. These are going to help you, and we're honest. I always go back and revisit that.
CML: Your life today - are you living totally freeform, or do you carefully structure and plan out your life?
Rick: I'd say it's a combination of both. I'm currently, as I told you, developing several new products, and I need to have a more structured setting while I'm doing that. I've already admitted to the fact that I'm right-brained. I'm also a Virgo, and they sometimes fight one another, but while I'm in this product mode and really working intensely, I try to accomplish more in each day than I set out to do. I'm pretty hard on myself in that area, but I don't consider myself anal about it. If the day goes by and there are some interruptions, I don't beat myself up. I pick up and go on the next day.
And during the process, even when I'm working in the structured setting, and as disciplined as I get, I still am pretty freeform within that. I don't beat myself up to get certain things done, and if a problem comes my way, or we're working on the software program and something comes up, I'm very, very easy when it comes to problems like that. My programmer can't believe me, sometimes. We'll crash and the ordering system goes down and it's twelve hours later, and I'm not flying off the handle. I've been through stuff way worse than that, and so have you, Charles, so it's always going to come back to you. I fully believe that stuff always happens for a reason.
CML: You're talking about perspective.
Rick: Yes, absolutely.
CML: For a person who's practically buried in problems, what do you suggest they do first?
Rick: Okay, that's pretty easy. First and foremost, they need to know their own thinking process. That is absolutely key. They will discover the root of their "problem attraction" right there.
CML: Their problem attraction?
Rick: Yeah, you attract problems. You attract luck. So they have an attraction problem. Most likely they're thinking negative thoughts; they're thinking negative thoughts most of the day; they're surrounded by a lot of (or at least some) negative people. And I would say, most likely they buy into the creed that life is controlling them as opposed to what's really the truth, that they control their own life. And they are attracting into their own life these exact results.
We talked about Wallace D. Wattles. There's a book that I believe everyone should read, but especially people who feel they're down on their luck. It's called "The Science of Becoming Excellent." It was written by Wallace D. Wattles way, way back and rewritten, I think, just in more modern-day language, by Dr. Judith Powell. Everybody should have this book. It's an eye-and-mind-opener.
CML: Can they get it on Amazon.com?
Rick: I wish I could tell you that. I don't know.
CML: But they can do a search.
Rick: Do a search. It's "The Science of Becoming Excellent."
CML: It sounds like what you're saying is: until you take responsibility for creating the bad stuff in your life, you won't have the power to create the good stuff in your life.
Rick: That it absolutely true.
CML: Do you believe that every person can improve their life and their luck?
Rick: Again, absolutely. We're masters of our own destiny. I also believe that, as human beings, we are totally boundless and we're full of potential. What it really takes is true desire to improve our lives and make the necessary changes in your life. It's not always easy, but it is always doable.
CML: How does a person who has maybe been raised in a very rigid, negative early childhood - and they don't believe all this stuff - how do they turn their mind around?
Rick: In a lot of cases, Charles, I think people really have to bottom out. They have to reach a point where they're just so unhappy that they know something has to change. They have to make the decision to change, and then go on a course to try to find that light switch, that "ah ha" that I talked about. It is not hard to find. Just go and seek it.
Reading. Read that book. Go into Barnes and Noble or whatever the bookstores are in your area, and just go to the self-help or personal growth section and just read as much as you can get. If a top speaker comes to your town, go and see that speaker. Somewhere along the way you're going to find something that turns that light switch on. Just desire it, and that will happen.
CML: I read an interesting illustration recently. It said, "Your mind is a bucket of water; if the bucket is full of dirty water, all you have to do is turn on a slow trickle of clear water, and eventually the bucket will be filled with clean water."
Rick: That applies. That applies. Surround yourself with good stuff.
CML: And just keep at it.
Rick: Keep at it. You know, I can't stress this enough, and it's very, very
unfortunate: the world is full of negativity (turn on the news). Get rid of most of that, as much of that as you can.
CML: What? You mean don't listen to the news first thing in the morning?
Rick: Yes, that's what I mean. Absolutely. I mean that. You know what? I'm being a hypocrite here because I love CNN. I love the technology. I love how "on the fly" that whole thing is. I'm like the next person; when a big story breaks I like to go see what's happening.
CML: But that's not your only diet.
Rick: Absolutely. And I know how to filter that. A lot of people don't know how to filter that. And what also is fundamental is negative influences from other people, from relationships in your life. We all have them, and it's important to shelter yourself from them as much as possible. As much as that may seem cruel, that is fundamental to experiencing good growth.
CML: So instead of battling people you feel are negative in your life, what's a more effective way?
Rick: Well, removing. And that may sound harsh. Just not letting the negativity influence you. You know, you have to be strong to battle it, okay? But a lot of people just don't have the strength to battle it. So therefore, they get sucked into that whole negative way of thinking, and that can be a very, very destructive force.
CML: How important a part of success is the feeling that you deserve good things?
Rick: Oh, that's infinitely important. I wrote "The Entrepreneur's Prayer" just because I believe in that concept so much. I know that in every success story, be it Lee Iacoca, Jimmy Carter, whomever, you're going to find that deep-rooted belief.
CML: In your experience, what's the best way for a person to begin building in that feeling of deserving good things.
Rick: I think they simply have to believe that they do deserve good things.
CML: And how do they build that?
Rick: The reading that I spoke about before. Also, I think you'll find that very truth in every major world religion. Again, it's echoed by all the modern-day personal growth speakers and authors. You talked about us being raised with negative philosophies (and most of us were), which is in direct opposition to this thinking, but if you desire to change, you're unhappy with your life (you have to desire to change it, okay?). You have to get rid of that prior baggage, and it's not always easy but it is doable. And you will arrive at the point where you believe that you deserve all the happiness and all the riches and all the success that you could possibly handle.
CML: Do you have some kind of special technique for going out and seizing good luck instead of waiting around for it to find you? Or do you just simply feel like it's attracted to you like a magnet?
Rick: Well, I scream loud clear: it's there. It's there; it's there to happen; it's there to happen in your life.
Whenever you try to force it, it probably won't happen.
When I've tried to force it, what I realized is that I wasn't focusing on me. Whenever I focused on helping other people and I work with a sincere heart and lots of integrity, I've almost always enjoyed success.
CML: It has been said: "Life helps those who help themselves," but it's also true that life helps you even more when you help others.
Rick: So true.
CML: What was the hardest thing in your life to change?
Rick: Oh, I guess that would be my address.
CML: Your address?
Rick: I'll explain that one. I had spent about two years building a great recording studio in my home prior to selling my dry cleaning business. I had planned to sell the business, and the two years prior Larry Thompson, my dear friend and music mentor and I worked very hard putting the studio together.
As part of the divorce, I was ordered out. There's quite a long story here, but there were custody issues and everything else involved, but that time was just very, very difficult for me.
CML: Changing your address actually included a lot more than just the physical address.
Rick: Oh yes.
CML: Your dreams, your plans for the future.
Rick: Absolutely.
CML: Do you feel like you've finally arrived at something like a coasting phase in life, or are you still on an uphill track, still learning lots of new stuff?
Rick: Coast? Who me? No way. Charles, I've always said that if a day goes by and we don't learn something new, it's a wasted day. Uphill is good; Dan Hill bores me. Sorry, that's a bad music joke. Probably only some of your readers will get that. But seriously, I think that if you ever think you've got it all figured out, you're going to go downhill.
CML: Does learning ever get any easier the farther you go?
Rick: Yeah, sure it does. The more you learn, the more you grow and the more open you become to new ideas and concepts. To me it's very cyclic, and it's the entire reason we're put on this earth. I already talked to you about my dad, and I saw him grow so much in his latter years. It was wonderful.
CML: So being open to learning is something like a skill that you can polish and get better at?
Rick: You know, I think as long as you're open and receptive, new things come to our attention every day, and most of it's not worth learning, but there are going to be a few things that are. As long as you're receptive to that and apply that knowledge to your life in a positive way, it's a great thing.
CML: Do you have any advice for people who don't really like to learn new stuff?
Rick: To me, it's one thing to not like learning, but it's a whole other thing to refuse to learn. For those who refuse to learn, I
think: enjoy your day job.
But everybody is capable of learning, both from their past and new things that come their way. If you're not happy with where you are, it's only new things such as changing thinking patterns that will move you on to something better.
CML: A lot of teachers say that the earth experience is about to undergo a big change. How do you envision our daily life changing over the next, say, fifty or hundred years, or in the next five hundred years?
Rick: Oh my heck! Charles, I'm no Jules Verne here, but technologically, I guess things like flying cars, communities on the moon and Mars and who knows where. Maybe even transporting people like they do in Star Trek will be commonplace in fifty to a hundred years. I couldn't even begin to imagine five hundred years from now. I have imagination, but it's not that vivid. I think, too, most of us will work from home as most manufacturing jobs will be robotized.
CML: It seems like the big changes in society have always come from huge quantum leaps rather than the incremental changes. The Internet was a big leap, for example. Got any hunches about the kind of big, discontinuous leaps mankind may face in the future?
Rick: You know, Charles, I see some really, really great things. I don't know about technological leaps, but I see great advancements in medicine. I don't think we have a clue what scientists are capable of doing right now, but I know very soon most of the major diseases will not only be curable but preventable by treating people at the genetic level. Birth defects will be all but eradicated. Our life spans are going to grow a lot. People will be healthier and feel a lot better.
I pray, though, that whatever advancements are made for the benefit of humankind that they spread all over the world, and they're not just isolated to the industrialized part of the world that we're very fortunate to be in.
Another thing I see, and this is probably a more direct answer to your question; I see a great movement in spirituality coming. I'm not talking about a new world religion but a leaderless, higher consciousness and awareness of the real truth of the world. And people will begin migrating to this. As such, I think the power of politics and money will play less and less of a role as people will demand real justice, and just people will come into the power positions.
I think it's through this higher consciousness that the injustices all over the world will begin to diminish. I don't think this is going to happen quickly, though. I think it's going to evolve slowly over decades. But what I see the Internet doing is being a facilitator of this.
CML: Interesting viewpoint. I like that.
Any parting words of special advice to readers who are still floundering around trying to get out of the starting gate?
Rick: I think the bottom line here to this whole interview, and the reason you're doing it, is just to let people know what is really simply, the truth. You make your own luck. The world does not dish it out to you. If you find yourself in a rut, you can dig yourself out. Easy? Nope.
Among my quotes is one that says, "Mountains do move, one stone at a time." And that's the truth.
Another thing. I've written an article and I've done a lot of thinking on the concept of fear because I believe fear is the greatest crippler to success. It's what I call the dividing line between success and failure. It's very, very natural to be afraid of something new. Natural to be afraid of changing. Getting out of your comfort zone is must uncomfortable, but unless you do, your life will most likely stagnate.
CML: You know, I'm not sure why people call that "comfort zone" because most people are not comfortable in their comfort zone. How about "familiarity zone" or . . .
Rick: That is absolutely the truth. And bottom line? Not a single person has ever accomplished anything of significance without first feeling scared to death.
CML: I've heard it said that it's very hard to move a comfortable person.
Rick: Ain't that the truth! You know, this has been a wonderful interview, Charles, and if there's only just one more thing that I can leave your readers with, it's that becoming successful is not a matter of luck.
Luck comes with creating the thinking environment within yourself for luck to find you.
CML: Terrific wrap-up. Rick, thanks for being with us today. I'm sure our listeners have discovered some great ideas in your advice and suggestions.
Listeners can visit Rick Beneteau's main website at http:
//www.rickbeneteau.com and also http://www.interniche.net.
And where can they find your products that you're promoting?
Rick: I have three affiliate programs right now, Charles. My first book "E-Zine Marketing Machine" is at
http://www.ezinemoney.net. My new book "Branding Yourself and Breaking the Bank" can be found at
http://www.brandingyourself.com. And I also have a very cool product called
I.D. IT! Plates . They're elegant chrome plates that go on the back of your car and promote your web
business: http://www.iditplates.net.
CML: Listeners can find your products there?
Rick: Absolutely.
CML: Rick, thanks for talking with us today. It's been fun.
Rick: My pleasure, Charles. It sure has been fun.
Charles Burke is the author of "Command More Luck," a book
offering powerful suggestions on getting more cooperation from life, luck, and your own mind. Stop waiting around for
good things to happen. Whether you call it synchronicity, or
serendipity, or just plain old luck, you CAN become more "naturally lucky." To find out more, visit the More Luck
website at:
http://www.moreluck.com
|
