Taking my own advice

A few months back, on a social networking site, I came across the following posted question.

"If you had the chance to give advice to a room full of people and could only say three things, what would they be?"

I posted the answer below, received a couple of nice notes from a few motivational speakers (cool), and then forgot about it until it came up in conversation with a very good friend a few weeks ago. The friend liked my answer so much that he asked if he could use them in his training classes and materials. (Really cool!)

Curious? Well here they are:

• Build social capital. Be nice to people. Help others out without asking for anything specific in return. In the long run, those investments will pay huge dividends when you need them most.
• Everyone, yes EVERYONE, will make a million mistakes in their lives. The sooner you make those mistakes, the more you learn, and the quicker you'll be successful and happy. If at first you DO succeed,the try and try again until you fail. Only then will you find your limits and reach your full potential.
• Find your passions and enjoy them. Work, family, recreation, art, music, whatever. If you don't have anything you are really passionate about, keep trying new things until you find it. Life without passions is just sad.

The most profound words ever written? Probably not. But as I'm venturing out on my own, trying to fulfil a desire to build my own business through FluidHire, I find that I'm referring back to the "Big 3" on a daily basis to stay focused.

I'm so thankful for the help and support I've gotten from friends and colleagues in getting FluidHire off the ground (including getting this blog set up. Thanks Lee!). I guess that means I've build some social capital over the years, so that's good.

I've been successful in many areas of my career. But doing it by myself, without a net, that's a whole new ballgame. Will I find my limits through FluidHire? Too early to tell. But I know there will be both triumphs and mistakes along the way - so I'll definitely be pushing myself farther than ever before. Two for two.

I stumbled into recruiting by accident, and had a passion for it from the word "go". I love it. I thrive off the challenge, the chase, the close. I love learning about new and exciting companies, meeting talented people, getting to know them, and most of all adding value to careers and business I serve through my services. What I do improves people's quality of life and makes our business community stronger...and that is really what it's all about.

Wish me luck!