Have you ever thought of reinventing yourself? Maybe you’ve been in a situation that forced you to do that. Maybe you’re thinking about doing it voluntarily.

But why would anyone even think about doing that? Why would anyone want to?

Well, I’ve been in situations before where I knew I wasn’t living my best life…at all, and I just wanted to do something about it. It’s sort of that ‘ok’ lifestyle. 

Just working in an ok job and getting an ok paycheck. Just settling. Just accepting. Just paying the bills.

But friends, there’s a better way. There’s a better life out there…for you. For many of us, we live in countries that still offer opportunity and a hope of a better future.

So…Don’t settle. Don’t settle for an ok life in an ok job. Because being ok is safe. Being ok keeps you in your comfort zone. Being ok doesn’t rock the boat and make any waves.

You know what is ok? Getting out of your comfort zone. Taking risks. Trying something. Failing at something. Learning from that experience and trying something else.

Hoping for a better future and making plans on how you’re going to make it happen.

But how? How are you going to do that? What will you do to make a better life for you?

Now, how does any of this fit into the theme of this Podcast?

Because making an impact can be done with either your full or part time business, or a Podcast.

Remember, paid speaking is a business. Copywriting is a business. Solving problems for people or any business in any realm can be a business.

So if you’re wondering how you could make your impact in the world, just turn whatever skills you have into a focused business plan and then…start your business or Podcast.

In Ep 28- Limiting beliefs that will hurt your success, I said this:

“We live in a time where it’s very easy to get discouraged and think that only the wealthy can have opportunity and success.

We seem to have a knack for dwelling on the negative, not the positive. We have to be taught to be positive thinkers and many people even pay to hop on someone’s course or community just to be part of the positive mindset and get help thinking and believing that a positive future is possible and obtainable.

And when it comes to our goals and dreams it can be easy to talk ourselves out of the very dream we thought up in the first place.

You can make a lot of excuses why your business won’t fly OR you can come up with a lot of reasons why it WILL succeed.”

To be a person of impact first requires the desire to be a person who lives a particular kind of life. A life where a difference is being made that matters beyond 

just what people think of you. It is not about being impressive or becoming a celebrity. It is about the lives you can and will change and the impact you have to improve people specifically, or society as a whole.

No matter your age, income, education, upbringing, history, or status, you can make an impact in the world. How big or how small is up to you. The effort, the self confidence, the size of the dream and goal, is all up to you.

Will you make a more local impact by addressing a problem or need in your local community? Or will you be engaging into a topic that solves a problem on a national level.

Will you be talking to people 1:1, or one to many?

Will you be in front of people leading for change, or doing things behind the scenes. You see, you don’t have to be an extrovert to make an impact. You can do huge, wonderful things being behind the scenes. Being that person that organizes or manages someone else’s business.

So, pick a goal. Take a little bit of time to think about this. Now, stretch it a little. Get uncomfortable with your goal. Stretch it to the point of making you a little nervous. Stretch it to the point of not even being close to knowing how to accomplish this newly stretched goal.

But get a clear picture in your head of what this goal is. Don’t make it fuzzy. I know what my goal is, and it really doesn’t revolve around money. That’s part of it, but the focus of my goal is more on the lifestyle freedom that I’ll have.

So… now that you have a thinly stretched goal, commit. Commit to it. Do you really want this goal? Then what are you going to give up?
TV? Sports? (I’m not talking about exercise, I’m talking about the time consuming task of watching a full game of …anything). Can you give up staring at your phone for hours on end (that may be the hardest thing of all). Can you (I must be crazy for suggesting this), turn your phone off and focus on your goal? I put my phone in the other room on a charger. That way I don’t have it right next to me and if it beeps and bloops I’m not going to get up and check it every time it happens. I’ll get to it later.

But the point I’m trying to make in all of this, is that, now that you have the work experience, or the life experience, or the drive to finally do what you want to do. Now that you have the money to pursue this ‘thing’ that you want to do… to have influence and impact…treat this goal with the theme of ‘time is short’, so I have to get to work.

Do what you need to do. Learn what you need to learn.

Who do you need to become to reach this goal you have? I’m not talking about being a phony, but we all have things we need to learn. We all have things we need to focus on for our personal development. We all have to stretch out skill sets and abilities to get to where we want to go in life.

I took some copywriting courses. Paid courses. Why? Because becoming a better persuasive writer is critical for building my personal brand.
• Website copy
• Landing pages
• Email marketing
• Blog posts
• Podcast episodes
• Course material
• E-book writing

I had to learn how to become a better writer. I had to learn how to be a better persuasive writer so that the words I use will move people to take some sort of action. This is what I mean when I say ‘who do you want to become to reach your goal’?

I learned how to do a Podcast. And , I’m sure you can hear it, but the audio wasn’t as good for some of the beginning episodes until I learned how to make it better through split channel recording using Zoom.

I actually re-recorded the first batch of episodes because the original audio was so bad. And friends, that’s ok. If you need to learn how to do something, then learn it. Give yourself some time to learn what you need to know and go for it.

If you want to be a professional, paid speaker, then you’ll need a speaking coach. If you want to have a great Podcast that reaches people all around the world and moves them in some way or another to jump on your bandwagon, then you’ll need a Podcast coach.

Whatever you choose to do, you should seek some sort of help in learning what you need to do and how you’re going to do it.

Take your personal and professional experience and channel it into something or someone. Put what you know to good use.

If you’re over 40, or 50, you’ve been through a lot in this world. You’ve probably got a lot of stored up wisdom that you don’t even realize yet.

Start making forward motion toward your goal so that you have the opportunity to get that wisdom out.

Do whatever you have to do.

Do you need to write? Then write. Do you need to speak to people? Then figure out how to get in front of people.

Four Steps to Becoming A Person of Impact
1. Think for yourself.
2. Speak for yourself.
3. Take Personal Initiative to make a difference that matters.
4. Begin with small steps of impact, then grow.

Impact is WHAT you do, HOW you do it and WHO you are. Your impact is your reputation. Your personal brand.

Dare to ask, dare to stretch, dare to grow, dare to think big and act bold!

Become a Person Of Impact. Three words that could change you, your life and your family…even your legacy.

Are you going to wait for permission, or will you take initiative?

Are you going to be controlled by fear, or will you get out of your comfort zone?

Will you procrastinate, or can you be determined to get things done?

Will you open yourself up for feedback, or will you buckle at even the slightest criticism?

Will you be distracted, or will you be focused?

Now, you may be thinking…Why me? And I get it. You’re not feeling the confidence right now. You’re not seeing a vision of your future self right now. Like me, you weren’t brought up to be a dreamer or a risk taker and coming up with an uncomfortable goal is making you uncomfortable.

But think about this. Is anyone LITERALLY telling you that you can’t have a goal to make an impact in the world?

Is the only thing stopping you, your own thoughts? Your own negative thinking? I learned to say this to myself about 20 years ago…’Think about what you’re thinking about.’

Stop your negative soundtrack in your head that keeps playing the same thing over and over again, like a broken record stuck in the groove. And if you’re over 50 you’ll really understand what I mean here. If you’re not sure what a broken record sounds like, you can actually go on YouTube and see and hear what that sounds like. Yes, someone made a YouTube video of a broken record and how it skips and plays the same thing over and over again.

You might also be asking yourself, Why now?

Well, friends. If you have experience in something and can solve a particular problem for people or a business, then the world needs you. Now. Why? Because the world needs to be a better place. And it needs you to get out of your comfort zone and turn the TV off or stop staring at your phone and make an impact.

Who influenced you? Did anyone make an impact on your life, ever? Who are the people who have had the greatest impact on my life? Why did they do it?

Do you see someone you admire because they’re making an impact in the world? Well, could that be you someday in some sort of variation if you take little steps toward that goal every day?

Friends, don’t limit yourself. Don’t just think that impact and influence is something for others and not you.

A friend of mine Steve, started with a dream of raising funds for one water well for an impoverished village in India. And so he asked his friends to all chip in and they did. And, they figured out how to communicate through the channels necessary to get a well installed. There are organizations out there that do this.

Well, his friends said ‘Let’s do another one.’ And they did. But after the second one, he said to himself. ‘Maybe this is an opportunity here to start a non profit org so we can do this over and over again and make an impact on the world?’

And so, Fresh Water Friends out of Buffalo NY was formed and they’ve installed more than 200 wells to date.

But he didn’t start with a goal to do that. He didn’t know where his original goal of doing one well would take him. He moved forward doing something good in the world and one thing led to another.

So think about Steve’s story and how it might apply to your situation in your life. If you’re already doing something that makes an impact in a smaller way, maybe that’s the one thing you could do on a larger scale.

I had a Zoom call last week with someone that has a team of instructors teaching people how to play instruments in local schools, but also over Zoom. We talked about his idea and how to expand it and build the business around that so he can grow and scale it to a new level.

Friends.. think about how you can make an impact. You don’t have to have all the details on how to do it now. You start with a dream. Start with a goal. Make an impact in a small realm and then think about how to build on it.

You can do it. How do I know? Because many, many others have done it before you and for the most part, what do they have that you didn’t? If they can do it, then so can you.

Hey, if I can do it, then so can you.

To your success, 

Tom