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Legacy by Design

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In September, the first week of treatment I attended “XCentric” which is a super-cool event put on by “EO” or the Entrepreneur Network that I belong to.  The location is moves around and this year it happens to be in Dallas. Me and 500+ other “misfits” who start and run businesses get together, network and hear some amazing stories and speakers.

This year’s event is about “Legacy by Design”.   I’ve always been a fan of “Lifestyle Design” and other proactive ways of planning.  

This year one of the speakers told the story of his wife’s inoperable brain tumor, which is basically inaccessible due to the location, meaning they don’t know if it’s benign or not.   He told the story of how this changed his “lens” and his life in a pretty dramatic way.   

We also heard the story of Bradley Callow, who was to be our keynote speaker who was fatally shot tragically a few weeks earlier.  Needless to say, we all now are thinking twice about our “purpose” and our “legacy”.

Life is short.  It’s a gift.  Get over yourself and accept it.

Bingo.   I think I know now that this story needs to be shared – however it ends.

What I will say is I’ve made no secret of this journey.  I post regular updates on Facebook and the EO community has been amazing and supportive.   

What is an “investment in yourself” worth?

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We “Invest” in ourselves constantly.

Except we think about it like this…we “invest” in a gym membership, a nice house, a savings account etc.

Jay Z was just named the first hip-hop billionaire.   Rock on Shawn.

Here’s the difference.  He knows enough to invest in himself and RETAINS the rights of what he builds.

If you are working for someone else, either as a consultant, employee or an investor – you really don’t have the rights to your work…someone else does.  If you have value, then you can make a huge difference in your future self by honoring what you are contributing and not giving it away for free or a low value.

I had a colleague once told me that even though he was the CEO of a global company, he still does many critical negotiations himself.  He said that’s the only part of his business where he can make $1,000,000 (or more) an hour.

To paraphrase one of his lines, Jay-Z became a check writer instead of a royalty receiver. This is how you bring your worth. This is how you become a billionaire.

But first, you have to know that your work is worth defending. Jay-Z evidently does.

From Inc. Magazine