Inspire It Forward!

I was living my life purpose this week, which is to be Solar: light myself up with enough knowledge and inspiration to hopefully touch others with my energy. It took me a long time to realize I can only change myself and not others and the same goes with inspiration.

We can't inspire others, we can only absorb inspiration and inspire ourselves and sometimes that rubs off and inspires others. Four people told me something I did inspired them this week. One story I can share is the loop of inspiration with Keith Ferrazzi. Keith is the author of Never Eat Alone & Who Got You Back, both books that have inspired me. I have been author-stalking Keith for a while now and the other day he sent out a tweet about one of his followers who wrote an article about letting everyone you know know that you are in job search. So I decided to follow his advice and let him know about my Joyful Job Bounty. To my delight he retweeted my info and added "How clever!"

Well clever is as clever does, so after he kept promoting his upcoming Relationship Mastery Academy program I asked if he would take me on as a member on scholarship and if his techniques worked I would gladly repay him (plus match a donation to his favorite charity). He loved the idea of a scholarship program for those in job search and offered a 50% scholarship (need some skin in the game) to me and 9 others (apply if you'd be interested).

Here is the thing: he inspired me > I inspired him > he is inspiring me again (along with others who are inspired by the tweets and scholarships offered).

Lesson learned: don't focus on inspiring others. Focus on inspiring yourself and living fully self-expressed in that inspiration, and you will inspire others by example. Nothing pays-it-forward more than lighting ourselves up and in doing so we... Inspire It Forward!

06/02/10 UPDATE: And the inspiration continues to flow... see Keith's mention of me in his blog > http://su.pr/1Vq66w 
02/01/2011 UPDATE: I am now working for Keith! I am the Community Manager for his Business Relationship Masters Academy... life is weird and wonderful J

JOYFUL JOB BOUNTY... Who's Got My Back?!

As of April 1st I will be available for my next adventure, so I was contemplating the smartest and most efficient way to find a new gig. Sure, I have some ideas and strategies up my sleeve (honestly a few things I've already tried that haven't bloomed yet) but it occurred to me I don't know everyone I need to know to land one of my ideal jobs today. And frankly it is too tough out there and I am too impatient to not give my destiny a big push.

Then it hit me, I have an amazing agent that landed me my fabulous first book deal, why not enlist an agent to find me a great gig? Better yet, why not enroll the people who know me and already think I'm brilliant and create an army of agents out there all touting me at once?

Keith Ferrazzi is a business thought leader and author and his big idea is that no one can get to their greatness alone. We all need to ask for and provide help to each other if we want to truly succeed in life. And he is right. Sometimes I have a hard time asking for help because I like to think of myself as the helper. But when I turn it around, I am actually helping people help me! Yah that's the ticket, I can still be a helper and give the gift of letting others know how valuable and amazing they are. It's a win-win!

And that is how the JOYFUL JOB BOUNTY was hatched. I came up with the idea of letting others help me find a company/ client/ project that could use my help and in return I'll reward them with a lucrative 10% bounty. Actually that makes this a win-win-win!

My end goal is to find a gig that is a fit for me, and spread the karma by sharing my good fortune with those who helped me land the opportunity. If you would like to play, I would love to have you on my team.  Check out www.joysjob.com for details.