By Darren Hardy

A lot of jobs that once were, aren’t coming back. Ever. To look for what isn’t there is a waste of time and an insult to your dignity.

If you haven’t noticed, the world has changed — radically. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has imploded. The path to a high-paying job used to involve getting the highest academic degree you could obtain, along with specific technical job skills, to start climbing the ladder. Today, most of the ladders are decimated. If those jobs still exist, the needed knowledge and skills of those jobs have changed… and change again every day. These are the greatest times of opportunity we have seen in human history — but only if you know how to seize them.

To succeed you need to change with the way the world is working now. If you are unemployed, underemployed, or want to take control of your financial future, here are seven strategies to thrive in the new world.

1. Adapt to the new reality.

Over the last decade we have witnessed the death rattle of an era gone by. The corporate structure and monolithic systems of the industrial age have begun to crumble. We are returning to the way we started — as entrepreneurs. When America was founded, the majority of people had their own business, farm, market or trade. People used their skill sets and hobbies to make a living as entrepreneurs. Then the industrial age flipped the ratio and most people became employed by new systems of repetitive labor and mass production. Technology recently wired all of us directly to each other, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels, giving every entrepreneur immediate and direct access to a global marketplace of opportunity, right from their fingertips… or laptop. This means competition doesn’t just come from the business down the street, but also from every basement or second bedroom of every home in every city or suburb in every country of the world. You better become a continual learner and constantly improve your special skills.

2. Stop looking for a job and start looking for an opportunity.

Take the skills you have as an employee and turn those into a contract services business. You have an expertise, knowledge and experience in something that’s unique to you. Your skill set might be so unique you don’t even recognize it as personal expertise. What is your experience, knowledge or unique gifts? Ask a good friend, colleague or former employer to tell you. Once you discover your specialization, hire your expertise out, offer it to multiple businesses and entrepreneurs who need what you can deliver. More companies are hiring consultants and contractors for specific projects, specialized skills and services. Bartering services on the Internet are booming — sites like SwapASkil.com, UExchange.com, TradeAway.com and SwapThing.com.

3. What do you have?

What goods do you have that others might want? What goods do you have easy access to that most do not? What goods can you make that people would want? Answer one or more of those questions and take it to market through eBay or an automated Amazon.com store. You also can write about your area of skill or expertise. You can create a how-to information book and sell it through ClickBank, create a podcast or video blog series and distribute it through iTunes or other distributions channels. Follow through on a great idea. There are probably thousands of people who want to know what you know or how to do what you do. Plus, it has never been cheaper to build, outfit and market your business than it is today. Vendors are flexible and partnerships are open.

4. Who do you know?

If you want to calculate your potential for increased wealth, don’t look at your current bank balance, cars or property inventory. Look at the inventory of your high caliber relationships. With the Industrial Age over, we are now in the Relationship Age. Unequivocally, the relationships you build will be your No. 1 asset in these expanding and fast-changing times. Your ability to network is the skill you want to hone, practice and master. Your ability to get to, connect with and establish relationships with important and purposeful people will be your gateway to any goal, destination or aspiration you have.

5. What problem can you solve?

The economic downturn has created a ton of new problems that need solving. Problems are food and oxygen for entrepreneurialism. Those who create solutions to our new problems will become the beneficiaries of these times. Remember, 90 percent of entrepreneurs started out at the bottom, broke or with little capital or savings. Today they are among the world’s wealthiest.

6. Return to self-reliance and self-responsibility.

You make your choices; then your choices make you. Everything in your life exists because you made a choice about something. Choices are at the root of your results. Don’t choose at all and you’ve made the choice to be the passive receiver of whatever comes your way. Most people think they take responsibility for their lives, but many people operate in the world of blaming, finger pointing and expecting someone else — or the government — to solve their problems. You can’t count on anyone else for your success but you.

7. Take control of your future!

Separate from everyone else by developing the mindset, habits, actions and persistence it’s going to take for personal accountability and control of your future. Your soft skills can give you the leading edge. With the mind-blowing velocity of change and throng of competition, the skills needed for success today are less about academic, industrial, or technical training and more about soft skills — emotional intelligence, adaptability, resiliency, relationship-building, accountability, productivity and leadership skills.

There are no secrets, shortcuts or quick fixes to success. It takes hard work, personal responsibility and positive choices. You already know all the information you need to succeed. You just need a new plan of action. Now is the time.

Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success, has been a leader in the personal development industry for sixteen years, having led two personal development-based television networks, producing and launching more than a thousand television shows, live events, products, and programs with many of the world’s top experts.

As an entrepreneur, Darren was earning a six-figure income by age eighteen, more than a million dollars a year by age twenty-four, and owned a company producing $50 million a year in revenue by age twenty-seven. He has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs, advised many large corporations, and serves on the board of several companies and nonprofit organizations.

Now, as publisher and editorial director of SUCCESS magazine, Darren interviews leading experts on human performance and achievement, as well as many of today’s top CEOs, revolutionary entrepreneurs, superstar athletes, entertainers, and Olympic champions, to uncover and share the secrets behind their extraordinary success.

Darren is a popular keynote speaker and appears regularly on national radio and television shows for CNBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX.

Did you know that the primary difference between the 5 percent of people who are wealthy and those who are not is that the 95 percent focus their attention and extra time on entertainment, while the wealthy 5 percent invest their extra time in education.

I don’t know about you but I want to be in the 5% group of wealthy people in the world. This is why I do my very best to focus any extra time that I have on education and building my own business.

I watch one football game per year… the Super Bowl.  (and mostly for the commercials)

The only time I watch TV is with my wife maybe once a week and we do rent 1-2 movies a week as well.

Click on the below link to read the rest of this post from Darren Hardy’s blog. It’s awesome!  You can become part of the 5% group!

Think about it: What if the time you spend…

• reading the sports page, you read a self-improvement book?
• listening to sports talk radio, you listen to an instructional CD?
• watching ESPN or Sports Center, you watch a seminar DVD or read a book?
• talking about sports scores and players, you talk about your goals and plans to achieve them?
• playing fantasy sports, you role-play your key skills training?

How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make YOU victorious… and far happier.

Oh, and let’s not leave out the non-sports fans. What if the time you spend…

• reading People magazine and other gossip rags, you read SUCCESS magazine?
• watching E! Entertainment, TMZ or Access Hollywood, you watched a seminar DVD or read a book?
• watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, or Jersey Shore, you read a book about YOUR reality?
• talking (or gossiping) about other people’s lives and foibles, you talked about your lessons learned in life and plans for growth?

How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make you victorious, and far happier.

Am I saying that anytime spent on any of the above for entertainment value is a bad thing? Of course not. What I am suggesting you look at, however, is the balance between the time you spend watching other people live out their dreams and the time you spend on making yours come true.

Last tip: Practice, train, develop, focus, and work as hard at your skills and career as the people you watch and admire do at theirs. Imagine that!

(Read entire post from Darren Hardy’s blog here: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2011/02/get-in-the-game/)

I can remember ever since I was a kid I wanted to own my own business and become a millionaire…. I wanted to be an entrepreneur just like my dad.  He has owned his own small business for 30 years!  He works his butt off 6 days a week and I’m very proud of him for what he does.

I am currently working at a J.O.B. to support my family, which there is nothing wrong with, BUT I am sick and tired of trading my time for dollars!  It’s time to step up and build my own business!  I’m ready to own my own time!  How about you?  NOW is the time to build your own business, become an entrepreneur and start living life day to day the way YOU want to, not how someone else tells you to.

So, I am building my business (Parker Marketing) part-time, with a full-time attitude!  My goal is to fire my boss within 6-12 months!

If you are ready, this is a great article from Darren Hardy (from The special Entrepreneurship Issue of SUCCESS) to help get you started…

Power to the Entrepreneur!

We know you’re the type of person who wants more out of life; your career isn’t about a paycheck, it’s about creating your best possible life and becoming your best possible self. That’s why, even though we pride ourselves on offering you meaningful content every issue, I believe this edition is one of the most important issues we offer all year.

Entrepreneurialism is the heart of our economic system. In a time when everyone is claiming there’s no work to be had, entrepreneurs are out there creating jobs. In fact, an entrepreneur pursuing his or her passion is the greatest stimulus package there is.

Today, according to stats from the Small Business Administration, small businesses:
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms
• Employ more than half the private-sector employees
• Pay 44 percent of the total U.S. private payroll
• Have generated more than 64 percent of all new jobs during the past 15 years
• And create more than half the private gross domestic product

Entrepreneurialism is also the heart of the American dream. Taking control of our dreams, pursuing our passions and following through on that wild idea not only makes life more enjoyable—it pays well! Eighty percent of self-made millionaires became millionaires because they started their own business.

There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. At the beginning of the 20th century there were a mere 5,000 millionaires. By 1950 there were 100,000; 1980—1 million; 1990—2 million. By the year 2000, that number had reached 7 million.

Today, more than 10 million men and women have reached that coveted but not-so-elite status. Want even better news? That number is expected to double in the next 10 years. Now is the time—and this is the resource—that will help you figure out how to claim the rewards of being a successful entrepreneur.

One more encouraging statistic: Even though entrepreneurs are among the world’s wealthiest, 90 percent of all entrepreneurs started out at the bottom, broke or with little to no capital or savings.

Anyone can become an entrepreneur–and at any age. You see, being an entrepreneur isn’t about who or what you know; it’s about what you do. The skills and knowledge you need to succeed are all attainable.

Here’s to your entrepreneurial success!

I just started reading Darren Hardy’s new book, The Compound Effect, and absolutely love it!  This is such a simple book with just 6 chapters, but don’t let that fool you.  All I can say is if you are looking to have success in any area of your life, you have got to read this book.

This is what John C. Maxwell has to say about it… “The Compound Effect is a must-read book for success seekers. You want to know what it takes? You want to know what to do? It’s all in these pages. The Compound Effect is a clear and concise success operation manual!”

Here is the bottom line… (from Success.com)

The Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What’s most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don’t feel significant. Whether you’re using this strategy for improving your health, relationships, finances, or anything else for that matter, the changes are so subtle, they’re almost imperceptible. These small changes offer little or no immediate result, no big win, no obvious I-told-you-so payoff. So why bother?

Your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult daily disciplines compounded over time. The results, the life and the lifestyle of your dreams can be yours when you put the Compound Effect to work for you. If you use the principles outlined in The Compound Effect, you will create your fairy tale ending!

Here is where you can buy the book and also get some awesome free resources… http://TheCompoundEffect.com

This is a great article by Success Magazine publisher, Darren Hardy! I have been thinking about this topic for a while. Thank you Darren for writing about this!

Darren Hardy helps clear up some of the very dangerous illusions our current culture has created about what it takes to be successful.

There is a common reality to the superachievers Darren has interviewed and featured on the cover of SUCCESS, be it Donald Trump, Dr. Oz, Colin Powell, Donny Deutsch, Suze Orman, Richard Branson, etc — they all are hardworking.

A few important points:

1) They LOVE what they do, so in reality, it’s not really “work.” In fact, most of them would rather be working than laying on a beach somewhere.

David said it well, “…if I’m not working on Saturday, somebody else is. I believe that people who don’t work on the weekends are people who don’t like their job.”

2) They don’t just work to be working; they are still only spending time on high-value productivity strategies. They are advancing their dreams.

3) They do value time off, BUT as a necessity for greater productivity, not for time-off sake’s. This is a super-important distinction. Said another way, time off is a means to the end (accomplishing their passion, dreams and ambitions), not an end or the objective itself. Get it?

American Surplus Has Created American Sloth

From Darren:

I spent some time recently with an immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. He told me about his experience the first time he walked into an American supermarket and saw the endless amount of food available. Then he walked into a Wal-Mart, a 99 cent store, an open-air farmer’s market and all-you-can-eat buffets in Vegas. He said it was so surreal to him he said he literally felt like he was on a different planet, in a different era. Then he told me the story of how he grew up never having enough to eat and what he went through to escape communist Uzbekistan to finally arrive in America completely penniless.

Today, he is incredibly wealthy with an incredible home near the famed Pebble Beach golf course in Carmel, California. He said becoming successful in America was easy. All he knew was working hard. He simply outworked everyone else (he is a very successful developer, started out as a simple carpenter).

This is how he explains how he did it, “Outworking Americans is easy. Everything comes too easy for Americans. They have been spoiled by their riches. They lack the hunger. I know what it is like to be hungry, that is my advantage.”

Don’t buy into the genie in a lamp, sit on your couch and wait to attract the checks in your mailbox, rub crystals, walk on fire, channel a 2000-year-old guru, chant affirmations, ad nauseam “secret” to success. That is hocus-pocus commercialism appealing to your weaknesses, particularly laziness, entitlement, greed, something-for-nothing and the lottery mentality. That’s not the way it works.

Here is what it takes to be successful: HARD WORK!

Read this entire article on Darren’s blog:  http://darrenhardy.success.com/2009/06/hardwork/

A message from SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy…

I want to offer you the most important insight on achieving what you want in 2009…

When asked what has been the biggest secret behind any success I’ve had, my answer is this: my system for designing, following through and achieving big goals.

I have studied the process of setting and achieving goals vigorously for 20 years now. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars attending seminars, reading books, listening to audio programs and interviewing super-achievers on how they do it. After much of my own real-world trial, error and achievements, I synthesized all this knowledge and experience into a system I have used for myself.

Years ago I taught this system in a training class that cost $49 to attend. My SUCCESS editors have helped me develop the program into a book and achievement planning system called Design Your Best Year Ever — A Proven Formula for Achieving Big Goals.

We want you to have this program, so we are offering the complete 164-page book and achievement planning system, with a complimentary audio introduction, for a limited-time price of only $19.97 (reg. $49.97).

This system will also help you:

- Avoid the fatal mistake most make in setting goals. Most people set themselves up for failure and don’t even know it, which is why they don’t achieve what they want.

- Go from goal-setting to goal-achieving. There is what I call the “magic factor” that makes the big difference in obtaining your goals.

- Why 95 percent of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions within 2-3 weeks and how to ensure you don’t suffer the same fate.

- How to invoke your creative power to attract the people, circumstances, resources and guidance you need to achieve your wildly ambitious goals.

Setting and achieving goals is the single most important skill you can develop to achieve all you want in life. There isn’t a better $20 investment than acquiring the exact formula on how to design and achieve big goals for 2009, and beyond.

See a video introduction and read the first section of the book here: Design Your Best Year Ever

Here’s to your best year ever!

Darren Hardy
Publisher, SUCCESS magazine
http://2009BestYearEver.info