Show #434: Provide value, get paid – with Jeff Goins

Show #434: Provide value, get paid – with Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins “stumbled” upon success. Meaning, he had an education, a good job, a family…and a joy in writing. So, he wrote. For his work, in blogs and more, till something happened. His wife got pregnant and would lose their second income. Then he got serious. He turned his joy of writing and the value he was providing people through it, to not only a second income, but a dramatic income. How? Providing value. But not to everyone. Just those who he personally related to. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It is. This is a must-listen-to show. Thanks to Salesforce for supporting this episode.

This is The Ziglar Show, episode 434. We bring you Jeff Goins. A guy with a good education, a good family, and a job in a Christian ministry. Instead of giving up big money to serve in a ministry, he gave up ministry for big bucks. And now has a ministry and income bigger than he ever planned for. Doing what he loves. Writing. And showing others how to do the same. Buckle in folks…

Hey, Ziglar inspired, true performance pursuing listeners…hello. This is Kevin Miller, your host and radically grateful messenger of hope and encouragement for your life, and the lives of all you come in contact with. Today we have a show that will set you back on your haunches and cause you to go…hmmm. You’ll have to consider it. You’ll have to consider your life, what you have to offer, and how can you NOT…offer it. Here to tell his story and what happened, and how he grew to have an amazing income from work he just loves…writing and teaching others to write and make an income from it, is Jeff Goins.

Jeff Goins is a full-time writer who lives just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, son, and border collie. He is the author of four books, including the national best-seller The Art of Work. His website, Goinswriter.com, has been visited by more than four million people from all over the world.

Jeff had a good job as Communications Director for Adventures in Missions, a nonprofit, Christian organization. He had a young family. Enough income. But he also loved writing and kept putting out blogs. Eight different ones. Until he found he was providing value to people. Then he had a reason to get serious…and he did.

Today he leads and teaches thousands. How? Why? What’s so special about him?

Well, that’s the show. Join him at TribeWriters.com. But now, listen in, as I bring you, Jeff Goins

Jeff, I’ve known of you for years, we have many mutual friends, especially in my old home of Franklin, TN, where you reside, but we’ve never actually connected. So, it’s an honor, and I’m excited to bring your story to the Ziglar Show audience! Thank you!

So, Jeff, you went from a fairly normal trajectory of life, to now being a best-selling author, speaker, presenter. You lead and influence a big audience of people. You shared that you found your purpose by helping people get what they want and you learned that from Zig.  So, when was this desire birthed, and what was the root?

>>Listen to the show

Many people have a desire to help others and offer value, but as you well know, they discount themselves. “Who are they to stand up and say I can help?” What made you believe you had something to offer others?

>>Hear Jeff’s responses

So, did you just step forward and start trying to offer, or did you get some equipping, training, counsel?

>>Listen to Jeff’s reply

In regards to this show right now, you said you want to inspire the Ziglar Show audience with the message that they -- and everyone has a creative gift to share.

First, define “creative” in reference to this statement:

>>Listen to the show

Next, should we, then, all always make a career out of that creative gift?

>>Hear what Jeff has to say

In your work helping people with writing, as you do with TribeWriters, how much of the effort is skill and tactics-based, and how much is motivation/inspiration/self-image/emotion?

>>Listen to Jeff Goins

Many people who have gone from ground zero and achieved something and want to help others, for pay, do what they did. Not to diminish them at all, I’m one of them… or put you on a pedestal… but where does your passion/burden for others…what is the core? Where might you be a bit different?

>>Listen to the show

On your website, you say, “Getting Noticed is Hard. Let’s face it. The world’s best writers aren’t necessarily the most popular ones. And if this bugs you as much as it should, then I’d like to help you get past that frustration, and take the right actions to finally get noticed and find your own tribe of loyal followers.”

You go on to say, “Get the Attention Your Writing Deserves. Are you tired of writing words nobody reads, sharing a message people just won’t pay attention to? Most people with something to say are…”

Sounds like you have a heart for people with a valuable message not being hidden.

In my past pro cycling days, Greg LeMond was the legend. Once in a while we’d come across some guy who was just naturally…amazing. Just jaw-dropping strength and power and more. But, for various reasons, or even one, just didn’t have it in them to put it together enough to succeed. And we’d ponder that the best there is will often remain in anonymity.

As Seth Godin says, and I gratuitously paraphrase, “Your art is only as good as your ability to deliver it.” So, you are speaking to people who have an ability in communicating via the pen or the keyboard. The written word. But nobody knows.

Then you see lesser writers whose books face out from the bookstand. So, what are some highlight things, tangible steps, that help people overcome this issue?

>>Hear Jeff’s comments

tribewriters.com/ziglar

I believe we all have a creative gift worth sharing with the world.

How do creative professionals make a living? What does it really take to get published?

Here is where we wage war on the blank page, where we band together to discover our purpose and our art, where we find our true voices.

But we could replace “creative professionals” with “great carpenters and mechanics and inventors and even accountants”, any skill…

BLOGS

http://goinswriter.com/waiting-to-be-picked/

The reason publishers are signing authors who have built their own platforms is the same reason YouTube sensations are appearing on car commercials. It’s because they’re not waiting to be picked. These people are choosing to start, in spite of the fact that no one’s given them permission. And this is what makes them so attractive. These are the trail-blazers, the trendsetters, and true difference-makers of our day. They’re the ones “crazy enough to change the world.” And you could be one of them, too — if you would just stop waiting.

http://goinswriter.com/discipline-of-blogging/

For many people, blogging is just a hobby. It’s a diversion. A fun activity.

But for the serious writer who has something to say, it must be more than a hobby. It must be a discipline. Blogger and marketer Chris Brogan talks about the discipline of blogging (and why he’s been doing it for so long) in this post: “Discipline and the Blogger’s Opportunity” He says that he writes, not because he’s passionate about it, but rather because he feels a sense of obligation to the community to provide useful content for his readers. I like that.