Linchpin is different from his previous books such as Tribes (link to my book review), which was about the new meaning of leadership, and Purple Cow, which was about new type of marketing. Linchpin is about being a new type of employee, who is “indispensable”.

So? He is still talking about new concept, right? And there is certainly a market for this book as the unemployment rate is high and so many people are afraid of becoming the next victim of downsizing.

Well, I see the difference in empowerment. Upon reading Tribes, I understood I didn’t have to have a certain title or status to be a leader; I can just start leading, and the point is if I can form a tribe. That was empowering. His marketing books are also empowering to me as an entrepreneur because they help me see and do marketing in a new meaningful way.

Linchpin, however, requires an evaluator, someone who decides if he is indispensable or not. So the power is not in the hand of the linchpin really.

I’m not saying being an employee is no good. The world needs organizations and team members. Great team members, in fact. I just feel it is very difficult to be truly empowered as an employee.

My last corporate job was assisting a president of a midsize manufacturing company which was part of a global conglomerate. This position gave me the opportunity to meet indispensable linchpins — for instance, a brilliant design engineer with unique vision and expertise (who used to work for our competitor — we were so excited to get him). My boss was a linchpin, too, who literally resurrected a near-death company and therefore saved several hundred jobs. Yet the engineer was practically demoted when the company’s business direction changed … I’m not sure if he is still there. When my former boss leaves, his boss will surely replace the position, or may even do away with that position. That’s how corporate world works.

When David, the linchpin worker at the posh Dean & Deluca cafe leaves, Dean & Deluca may loose some customers, they probably suffer from some operational difficulties, but soon enough, they will find a replacement. No one is really indispensable in the corporate world. Of course, in the meantime, David can leverage his linchpin value and get a better job — good for him.

How do you become a linchpin? Here is a list from page 218:

1. Providing a unique interface between members of the organization
2. Delivering unique creativity
3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
4. Leading customers
5. Inspiring staff
6. Providing deep domain knowledge
7. Possessing a unique talent

We are each on a different path of evolution. If you are working for someone, read Linchpin. If you aspire to be a leader, read Tribes. Seth Godin has something for everyone, and together we can make this world a better place.

Now a bonus to this book review. I had the honor to interview Seth Godin by email.

Akemi: We all know you are a prolific blogger and author, but will you tell us the whole scope of your business?  Do you still take marketing clients and if so, do you choose your clients in some ways?  Or are you more about public education now, doing speaking, seminars, etc?

Seth: I’ve actually never done consulting. I do speeches, write a book now and then, run some seminars, help a few non-profits and cook dinner.

Akemi: Oh, that’s interesting. I always thought you are first and foremost a marketing consultant. So you have been in education (in the big meaning of it) always.

I think you are a change agent.  Will you tell us your vision of the world we are creating?

Seth: I fear we’re creating a long term world as an accidental by-product of a short term future. It’s not good. On the other hand, there are plenty of individuals making great art.

Akemi’s note: The concept of “art” is discussed further in Linchpin. He means a lot more than paintings.

Do you have technique or daily practice to stay creative? Or do you think creativity is a talent and you are just blessed with it?

Seth: Writing a blog post every single day is amazing therapy. Everyone should do it.

My gratitude and blessings to Seth Godin for this interview.

In What The Heaven Is Value?, I pointed out lack is an illusion.  If you want to make money, it’s critical you see this clearly.  So in this post, I am expanding on this concept, and I’ll use my own business as an example.  (It made $6K in January – not a super glamorous figure, but not too shabby for a nine month old one-person business, I guess) (Photo by shoebappa)

For those of you in a hurry (because people seem to be in a hurry when they talk about making money), here is the essence of the post:
The shortcut to abundance is to develop your spirituality so that you see abundance instead of lack.
If you get this, you are done.  If you didn’t quite get it, read on.

Lack is an illusion

In reality, things are just the way they are.  For example, it rains a lot in Oregon.  That is how Oregon weather is – it is not about lack of sunny days.  But in our thinking, we can make it about lack of sunny days if we so choose.  And make ourselves miserable doing so.  Or we can see abundance of rain water and make money. Like these people who make soaps with rain water, which is naturally soft water.

In that lengthy post about value and lightworkers / darkworkers, I described how the same world could be experienced either as the world of abundance and harmony or the world of lack and pain.  There was no real change between the two – in the latter, people just adopted the bad rumor of lack.

If things are just the way they are, you may argue, it is neither lack nor abundance, it’s neutral, isn’t it?  Good point.  However, things “are”, not “are not”.  Abundance exists, but lack does not – it’s the absence of abundance.  Just as darkness is the absence of light.  Thinking lack exists is an illusion.

“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.”  — Swami Vivekananda

Likewise, we are putting our hands before our eyes and cry we don’t see abundance.

Lack of income?

In the comment section of that post, I conversed with Hunter Nuttall, who I so respect and adore:

Akemi: Really? You still see lack? Give me an example and I’ll incorporate it in my future post. (Be it YOUR lack, not like starving children in Africa. Because that is a different issue. You don’t really know about those kids.)
Hunter: Well yeah, I see lack. For one thing, I have no income. Isn’t that a pretty big lack?

I guess this may be the case for some other readers, too.  And yet more readers are afraid of the lack of income.  So let me make a point here to help you.

First, let me ask you if all your material needs are met with or without income.

After I quit my corporate job in October 2007 and until I started to make money in June 2008, I had no income source.  But I always had roof over my head and foods on the table.  I had a chance to talk with Hunter about this, and the conversation went something like this (quoted with his permission):

Akemi: So are you experiencing any material lack?
Hunter: Well, no.  Not now. . . But I’m afraid I will.
Akemi: How long is your money going to last?
Hunter: Umm . . . I don’t know.
Akemi: You don’t know?
Hunter: . . . No.
Akemi: Okay, then you have enough money.  If you are really short of money, you know exactly how long it will last.

Note about homelessness

People say they are afraid of becoming homeless.  Fear of homelessness keeps people stuck in their jobs they so loathe.  It’s such an effective control system that I wouldn’t be surprised if some exploitative managements were paying those people in the back.

However, I’m pretty sure people who are in alignment with the energy flow of Divine Abundance would not go homeless.  Homeless people are either:

1. Extremely out of alignment and stuck.  Like believing it is possible to become homeless and continuously acting with that fear.
2. Working on some spiritual lessons that can be best learned in homelessness.  For example, the soul may be choosing to experience abundance in an extreme rugs to riches scenario.

And here are three examples of people who rose from homelessness to abundance.

• Alex Smith, owner of Alara Wholefoods in UK, started his business with 2GBP, about $3, that he found in the gutter.
• Chris Gardner, owner of stockbrokerage firm Gardner Rich and who wrote his story in The Pursuit of Happyness that was later turned to a movie, was homeless with a toddler while he was interning.
• Neale Donald Walsch, well-known writer of Conversation with God series, was homeless for almost a year after his car accident.  Yeah, not just a homeless but a homeless with a neck collar.

I’m just listing these people to show the incredible possibilities.  But again, I don’t think we particularly need to become homeless to enjoy abundance.

Limiting thoughts about “income”

Next thing I want to ask to those of you who see lack of income is your idea of “income”.  Is that limited to certain ways, like paychecks or established business income?

Money is just energy and it can come in various ways – if you let it.  But paycheck mentality runs deep in many of us.  Even those who become self-employed carry over this mentality.

Are you comfortable receiving money in unexpected ways or do you want “income source” that seems solid, like employment?  Does it bother you if someone just sent you money, like as donation?  Does it bother if you just picked up a $100 bill?

I’m not saying you should rely on these haphazard incomes.  I’m saying you might want to open up to all kinds of possibilities of income, all kinds of income sources.  So you always have income possibilities – as long as you don’t refuse it by believing you have lack of income.

Seeing abundance everywhere you go

To make money, you first need to see abundance.  You can’t create abundance out of lack – I mean your stubborn belief of lack.  It looks like this:

Dark grim outlook of lack: “There are no good business ideas, people don’t have money and they are not buying anything, and I don’t have any money or connection or expertise to do anything, maybe I’m not interested anyway . . .”

Gee, I just felt really awful.  Let’s get back to abundance consciousness, quick!

. . . okay, I think my vision is restored.  I see abundance now.  I see lots of people, with lots of dreams and desires, and therefore tons of opportunities to serve these people.  Energy is flowing, and all I need to do is to get in this flow.

Do you see it, too?  Look around and say out loud what you see abundantly, whether they are visible stuffs or invisible needs / wants / etc.

When you notice “lack”, take a moment and think if you can change your viewpoint to see abundance.  For instance, you see lots of people losing their jobs?  Means there are lots of people who will benefit with support services in their job search or businesses development.  Think you live in a small town where there isn’t enough market for your business?  Can you go online?  The population is exploding globally, you know.

Share abundance to get more abundance

One excellent way I know to tap into increasing abundance is to share the abundance.  Come up with a win-win game plan that make everyone better off – that will attract more people and money.

I just started promoting my new eBook by affiliate program.  Affiliate programs are easy way to share abundance.  My affiliates make money by promoting great products that improve customers’ lives, I make money, too, and customers are happy to easily find such great products.

Do you know other win-win game plans?  I’d be interested – let me know in the comment ; )

How I started my business

I had a pretty good job as executive admin before.  My motivation to go into business myself was more about the sense of service and increasing love and freedom for all, including myself.  In other words, releasing the light energy trapped in darkness.

I knew there were many many people who would benefit from my Akashic Record Reading service because I was one of them myself.  I had struggled many years trying to make sense of my life, always felt as if there were invisible walls around me.  So I saw abundance of potential customers – all I do is to reach out.  And by doing this, my lifelong experiences, many of which were troubling at the time, become my assets – another abundance.

I also write for this blog.  This is a free access blog and I hardly make money with it right now, but I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts, so I do it.  I have abundant resources within me.  And I sense there may be yet another abundance that I may be able to tap in by doing this.  I’ll see.

Okay, enough about me.  Here is another person working to release light from darkness, or “eliminate the chain and changing the fucking world”, in her own way.  While making good money herself (reportedly $200K last year)  And yes . . . a lightworker can use bad words – be quite good at it, for that matter ^_^

Do you see abundance now?  And with that empowered vision, what are you going to do?  If you are not doing what you aspire to do, what is stopping you?

So you carved out your niche from what you love and polished it to a marketable products or services. Now you have the basic idea of what kind of business you will be in. But how do you know if you are ready to leave your corporate job and become an entrepreneur?

There are things you can check to objectively evaluate your readiness. For this, I’ve already written the e-workbook 7 Check Points For Aspiring Entrepreneurs, so I’ll just do a quick review of that book in this post. Then there is the inner knowing, the critical sense of readiness.

Don’t sabotage your aspiration with perfectionism

There is one thing I want to emphasize before we move ahead, however. It’s about perfectionism. When you are caught up in perfectionism, you are likely to say one of the following two things (or both) to procrastinate:

1. “But I’m not ready yet. There are more I need to learn about this niche. If I’m starting my own business, I want to be the best, and I’m not there yet . . .”
2. “(Even though you have a clear plan or picture of your future business), but I don’t know if my plan is good enough. There may be things I have not considered . . .”

The truth is you don’t need to be the best to start a business. You need to be good at it, of course, to the point it makes sense people pay for your service or products, and it’s important you are committed for improvement, but you don’t need to be the best.

Starbucks don’t offer the best coffee. They may say so, but that is just their marketing. I know much better coffee. But I still go to Starbucks often because I like the atmosphere there. Did Microsoft perfect its technology before launching to sell their software? Did you buy their stuff anyway? Same with service industry. Is you doctor the best? Maybe not even in the small community you live in. How about your hairdresser?

Later, when we talk about marketing, we will be talking about what home-based business marketer Naomi Dunford calls USP (Unique Selling Proposition). No, I’m not going to repeat what she already taught you, so if you are not familiar about this concept of how to differentiate you from the crowd, please check out that post and maybe the rest of her Marketing School series. What I want to say here is “I’m the best.” is NOT an effective differentiater, so right here and now, you need to be heading to high quality and uniqueness, not the impossible conceited status of the best-ness.

And you can never foresee and prepare for all the challenges you will have in your business. You and your business are to grow through the challenges. You can’t have a perfect business plan and be done with it. Commitment for improvement is far more important.

How to check your readiness

I think the best way is to talk it out. Get a trusted partner who would give you honest feedbacks, not just nice compliments. You may want to hire a business coach – it’s a good investment compared to crashing a new business due to poor preparation. Again, be sure to get a coach who knows what it is like to start a new (probably home based) business and who is honest and has integrity.

Then, talk about your plan. If you find yourself hesitating to talk about certain aspects of your plan, that is a good indication that part needs further work.

My $2.95 mini e-workbook offers a lot of questions you can use in this dialogue in the following seven areas:

1. Motivation: The power of strong and sustainable motivation
2. Strengths and Weaknesses as Entrepreneur: How to realize the strengths that often go ignored
3. The Market: Understanding the market and its needs
4. Vision: The big picture of the business and its owner
5. Team Building: Strengthening the business by building a winning team
6. Risk Management: The biggest difference between an employee and entrepreneur
7. The Money Challenge: Testing the market and planning the cashflow

Be sure you are not “escaping”

In the first section “Motivation” of that workbook, I discuss the difference between moving toward your goals and dreams and moving away from what you loathe. This is important. If you want to escape, your goal is achieved the minute you step out the company building. It is not a sustainable motivation. If your motivation is all about escaping, you are not ready for a big adventure like starting a new business.

The inner knowing of readiness

I personally did this step really “wrong”, by the way. Sure, I studied and contemplated, but in the end, I basically just stepped out. No matter how much you prepare, there comes a moment you have to make a decision, and that comes as a quiet inner knowing. I knew I had to start a new life, so I did.

Please also read this article about money and abundance that supplements this post.
Or read on to Part 4 of this series.

I realize the paycheck mentality runs deep in us.

The temperature is dropping quickly and it’s suddenly fall in Oregon. It’s been almost a year since I quit my corporate job. When I did so, I thought I was free of the paycheck mentality. I was never the kind of worker who would spend hours in overtime, forgetting my own life and merging into the corporate system. Moreover, I had no problem asking for the best rate for the kind of work I did, so I thought I had good self-esteem and independence. (Photo by Michael Dawes)

Boy, what little did I know. I now realize that was exactly the sign of the paycheck mentality. And I find myself shyly coming out of that conditioned mentality finally.

Three signs of hidden paycheck mentality

Paycheck mentality is usually defined as the tendency to seek security and stability over freedom. It is also about dependency.

That is the basic idea, but here are three more critical signs that you are brainwashed in the corporate world, whether you currently work in there or not:

1. You think money for your work in terms of time spent doing the work.
2. You let others decide your value.
3. You compare yourself to others, real or imaginary.

Let me explain into details.

You think money for your work in terms of time spent doing the work.

Most corporate workers are paid by a certain rate, whether it is described as hourly or annual. From factory line workers to their president. You may think the president is different, but if he or she is not the owner, the situation is pretty much the same. It’s just their wage is set by the year and maybe comes with potential bonus.

But a business makes money by delivering value. There are a lot of factors involved, but fundamentally, the more value a business delivers to more people, the more money it makes. So why are the workers in that business are paid by the hour rather than the value they create and deliver?

For efficient handling of paychecks and stability of workforce, I guess.

The problem is, when I left the corporate world, I carried over this corporate paycheck mentality. I was thinking “Well, I made $XXX per hour before, so my first target is to make as much money as I did before.” When I was taking professional coach training course, I also checked other coaches’ rate and figured out what I may be able to claim as a new coach.

Total BS. As a business owner, I need to charge my service based on the value it delivers, not how much time I spend on it. For example, a good coach who can change the life of the client can claim humongous amount (like this guy). On the other hand, if the coaching is really not much more than a friendly chit-chat, that is close to free, and nobody would care about that coach’s livelihood.

I’m currently reviewing my rate for my Akashic Record Reading. There are some business considerations, but I think I’ve got the basic attitude right, finally.

You let others decide your value.

Closely related to point #1, look what I did before to determine the rate of my service. I checked others’ rate. When I was an employee, I did the same, and again, I thought I was doing great because I was not afraid of asking for the top rate.

But no matter how assertive I was, I was NOT the person who determined my rate. My boss had the final say, and I had to either take it or leave it.

I was so used to this “I’m a brilliant assertive employee who can ask for the top rate.” mentality that I didn’t notice what a dis-empowering approach it was. After all, everyone in the company was letting someone else to determine their value, either meekly or assertively – including my boss, the president.

Now that I’m the owner of my business, however, I need to determine my own value. Honestly, it still feels scary to me.

You compare yourself to others, real or imaginary.

This is the flip side of point #2. Because the paycheck is set in the pay system, I always compared myself to others to determine how I was doing as employee. When the company was purchased by another, I compared myself with my counterpart in the new company. Sometimes I compared myself with the imaginary figure described in magazines or movies.

Not that the comparison started in the corporate world. It started long before I entered the corporate world, in the school system, which is just a system to make more employees.

And when I compared myself to others, I NEVER felt good about myself. I was a straight A student – well, actually, better than that, I broke many academic records of my high school, and when I attended the college in US, I graduated with honor – but there was always someone ahead of me. Like that math genius you see in Little Man Tate. And I knew my #1 rank in test scores was something so fragile, unreliable stuff. I wasn’t even doing what I liked doing.

Enough. I don’t want to bring the same comparison-based (fake) self-esteem to my business. Focus on delivering value to my clients. If I can deliver value and make my clients happy, I’m good in my business.

The entrepreneur mentality is about realizing the power within yourself.

This is the best part of being an entrepreneur. It is empowering and liberating. But it took me a whole year to just realize how badly I was conditioned in paycheck mentality.

I recently read a great post written by home-based business marketing expert Naomi Dunford. Well, actually, it was the email she quoted in the post that I felt strongly. It’s an email written by personal development blogger Hunter Nuttall with the subject line of “How to Work from Home When You Have No Fucking Talent”. Here is the excerpt:

“. . . People who are fabulous copywriters can be you or Brian Clark or James Chartrand . . . (more name dropping about “talented” entrepreneurs.) The company I work at is likely to shut down in early October, which is actually great timing because that’s about the point when my tolerance for a corporate environment will be exhausted. I’m looking at what options might be available . . .”

While we all wait for Naomi’s new eBook that addresses this issue, here is my 2c: That is paycheck mentality, Hunter. Wake up. Stop comparing yourself to those big names, see what you can do to create and deliver value, and start doing it. It took me a year, but you are better prepared than I was a year ago (I basically just walked off and moved myself across the continent).

People who has done it knows. Here is Harry’s comment to that post.

“This is so surreal. I’m reading Hunter’s email and thinking, “But I’m a regular Joe, too.” The thing is, we all start at ground zero. I was scared shitless two years ago when I lost my cushy, high-paying, regular 9-5 job. It’s difficult to let go of that security blanket the weekly paycheck provides. James and I had talent, yes. We also had an idea. But that didn’t make it any easier.”

Best wishes to all who are starting to believe in your hidden talents and willing to take action.

Special Thanks

Coincidentally Hunter just published a great interview – of me as Akashic record reader. Please check it out.

Editor’s note: This article is contributed by Ken King of Destiny Building. Thank you, Ken!

Have you ever had a feeling in life that you were exactly where you were supposed to be, doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing?

If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to experience it, you know that when it happens you feel a deep a sense of contentment in knowing that you are on the right path. All is as it should be, and the path that led you to that point was exactly the one you should have taken.

One afternoon last week I hopped on my bicycle and went for a ride to one of my favorite vistas, a beautiful lake overlooking downtown Orlando. Much of my writing is inspired in nature; composed of things that either “come” to me when I open myself up to ideas, or often as the result of meditating on a subject and then writing whatever begins to flow naturally.

While riding over towards the lake it began to dawn on me that in life our experiences are actually much more about the journeys themselves than about arriving at any particular destination. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I was so focused on getting where I wanted to go, I was ignoring wherever it was I happened to be. You see, one of the blessings I get to experience is that I live in an area with lots of older, unique homes, mature trees, brick streets, and in a community where people walk, ride, and jog along the main thoroughfare. Tables at outdoor cafes are common, and so when heading from point A to B there’s a lot to experience if you don’t get so focused on your destination that you block it all out.

Catching myself doing exactly that, I was reminded of the career paths that made up most of my existence. Too often I traded in the richness of the experience for benefits I believed would accrue when I arrived at my ultimate destination.

My focus on the future was killing my present.

My arrival at the lake provided a moment for reflection. As I looked back upon my career path, I realized that the shift away from enjoying the experience began in college, where after two years I changed my major from music to finance because I had no stomach for playing the role of a starving artist. Once out of college, I ignored jobs with challenge and high paying potential, looking instead for those that provided security and stability.

I found both in a career with the federal government. I had my own 6′x6′ cubicle, an excellent health plan, and three mid level supervisors sitting within 30 feet of me. I also found excruciating boredom and developed a distaste for mindless routine. I worked in an office full of people who kept retirement calendars pinned to their cubicle walls, counting down the years, months, and days until they would arrive at their ultimate destination (retirement). It was then that I began to realize that the chase for security left much to be desired.

My focus was chained to the future, and it was killing my present day by day. Yet so strong was my future orientation that I persevered in spite of my distaste for the environment. Eventually I grew to the point where I simply couldn’t stand it anymore.

My successes and failures as entrepreneur.

Six years later, after one more degree and the birth of my child, I made a radical shift, this time going into business for myself. I started a cleaning business that I ran for seven years and was financially successful with. Initially the challenge of building something from the ground up motivated me. Everything was my creation, from the logos to the advertising, hiring, firing, and networking with other local companies to bid on and complete large contract work.

I loved the creative portion, yet my outlook was still future based. And once the business became established I no longer enjoyed the day to day activities very much because to me the work lacked intrinsic value. I eventually sold the accounts and decided to take on an entirely new challenge.

My next business venture turned out to be my biggest failure, and yet also potentially my greatest blessing. I purchased an established retail operation and had ambitious plans of growing it even bigger. It too was void of intrinsic value, but the money looked good and I decided to go for it. It was a business that catered to homeowners and was almost entirely dependent upon the real estate market. I bought it at what turned out to be the worst possible time. Instead of making it big I ended up losing a lot of money and ultimately had to sell it at a loss. In short, I failed.

Yet I now had another chance, a choice to either do something that motivated me and was in line with my values, or to seek security in a steady income and put my focus on securing a successful retirement as my ultimate destination.

Embracing my journey to my life purpose.

Fast forward to that scene at the lake. There I sit, perusing my ambitions as a writer, life coach, and aspiring public speaker. I’d always had the urge to write, and I’ve been passionate about personal growth for many years. I’m a strong believer in being a lifelong learner, having taken courses in project management, public speaking, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), life coaching and improvisational comedy simply because I loved learning and had a genuine interest in these things. I’d never taken any courses in writing, yet in the back of my mind I often imagined myself doing it someday.

Does my new career choice satisfy my desire for intrinsic value? Absolutely. To me there’s a deep sense of gratification in helping people overcome challenges and live out their life’s ambitions. To see that I’ve made a difference in someone’s life provides me with a sense of satisfaction unequaled by anything I’ve done before. So as I sat there overlooking downtown Orlando, pen and notepad in hand, suddenly it dawned on me.

I was right where I was supposed to be, doing right what I was supposed to be doing. All of the experiences of my life had come together to bring me to this point. They were all part of the journey. And quite often the experiences I labeled as “bad” proved to be the catalyst for change that ended up taking me where I really wanted to go.

I also learned that destinations in life are like checkpoints -once you reach them it’s time to move on to something else. It’s in the actual journey towards our destinations that we learn, grow, laugh, cry, rise, fall, and experience all the beauty and emotions of life itself. Lesson learned, I packed up my pen and pad and hopped back onto my bicycle. Riding home, I missed not a thing along the way.

Contributing writer’s greeting:
Thank you, Akemi, for allowing me to contribute to Yes to Me.
My blog, Destiny Building, is dedicated to helping people discover and live their true potential. Please check my blog if you enjoyed the above article. Thank you.
– Kenneth King