The other day I ran into a friend at the park who told me that he was leaving Japan. It came as quite a shock as his wife is Japanese and I just figured he’d be around for years.
We chatted about what we’d been up to and I mentioned to him that my book was going to be released soon.
We exchanged information and he said he’d check my blog when he had a chance.
Later that night I got an email from him so I thought I’d share it with you today as his questions are very valid ones. (and he kindly allowed me to)
He mentioned how in a previous post that “we need to study things before we need them,” to which he asked the following.
- What if we study things, but we never get chance to use them in work or in life?
- What if I choose to study something that doesn’t help me get a job?
- Does the place where we live determine what we should study?
Below is how I responded to his email. I hope you find them useful.
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Great questions sir…and thanks for checking out my blog…
To answer your first questions – studying things is never a waste of time, just sometimes not the best use of our time.
Since we’re limited with how much we have, we need to understand which will give us the most return.
I am surprised by how many people choose NOT to study money, wealth or success and yet these things are pretty much essential for all of us.
The thing is, most of the time, people only want to do what they love.
Take you – you’re a dancer, so you study dance.
Makes sense.
But marketing and investing would also pay off big. Marketing especially.
I love magic and I love teaching English but I figured out that they aren’t the best ways for me to achieve what I really want – to help thousands/millions of people live a better life.
I will always teach English and I will always enjoy magic but what I LOVE is studying marketing, business, success and money.
My wife and I haven’t made it yet, but we’re on our way.
My book is one step in that direction.
Silver another. Stocks yet another.
And then there’s real estate.
To answer your second questions – if we study something that can’t help us get a job…doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.
You could turn it into an internet business, leave your job and build a business instead.
Makes more sense to me.
As long as it can support your lifestyle.
Which also answers your third question – today, there are no boundaries.
We live in a world in which you can be located in one country and make 95% of your money from elsewhere.
Use the internet as a tool, learn how to create websites.
Get your message out there. Start small, build up.
As you said today, there are thousands of amazing dancers but very few of them ever take the time to build a business for themselves, instead they look for work here and there.
Why not do both!!! Take jobs to earn money and then, in your free time, build your business.
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I believe in doing what we love.
But that doesn’t mean we should only do what we love.
There are many starving artists, out of work actors, poor teachers and the list goes on and on.
But by using the power of the Internet today we have the ability to not only make a living but a fortune as well.
Regardless of what business we’re in, by studying and investing our time and money each one of us can turn our dreams into reality.
Adrian Shepherd