For the final email about lessons I’ve learned from Thick Face, Black Heart, I’ll share perhaps the greatest one that I got from the book. It’s all about:
The Leapfrog Theory.
Here’s the backstory:
The author, Chin-Ning Chu, moved to Portland, Oregon back in 1985 and shortly afterwards she was appointed to help the Oregon state government with a business delegation that was coming from China.
It was a great opportunity to make important contacts, but Chu was unaware of the resentment it created with local consultants who desperately wanted the gig. Soon they were putting up roadblocks for her and trying to “get back at her” at every opportunity.
Frustrated, she adopted “The Leapfrog Theory”. This meant that she “leapt” past the petty local enemies, and started writing books to get herself onto a much larger stage.
Soon she was appearing in national newspapers and all over television, including appearances on Larry King Live. She became an expert on Asian business culture and in high-demand as a speaker and consultant. The enemies in her local sandbox could no longer hurt her, since she blocked any impact they could have on her success.
I also employed this strategy in my own life.
After going through messy business closures in 2009 and 2012, I was getting attacked by a lot of people in my home town. It seemed like everywhere I turned I had someone trying to hold me back, and I dealt with the local media that loved to run negative stories about me, without presenting all of the facts (I could have coined the term “Fake News” years before Trump did)
Tired of dealing with the BS, I jumped out of my small sandbox in early 2014 when I started my coaching business. I had run a local business in real estate for over a decade, but I shifted everything to coaching online: Skype, webinars, online communities, social media and all that jazz.
Like Chu, I started to get traction and after awhile my business really took off. None of my clients are from my little part of the world and few are even from other parts of Canada. Most of my clients are in the United States, with a healthy number in Europe, Dubai, and I’m even starting to work with one in New Zealand next week.
I don’t know your situation, but if you feel stuck in a little box with petty idiots trying to drag you down, you don’t have to stay there. You’ve got access to over 7 billion people in this world, and you can leap past the locals and create something with people thousands of miles away who value what you do.
When I started my coaching business I didn’t grasp the full power of this. Now I do …
I hope you do too.
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