Last Fall, I wrote about finding and taking advantage of your “thing,” i.e., making the most of your strengths, turning them into your “unfair advantage.” I identified one of my “things” as writing and publishing skills. That article was published in Action, my hard-copy monthly newsletter, which many of you may not even be aware of, others have been receiving.

Since then, I have been encouraged by my advisors to more fully utilize this “unfair advantage,” to use these skills not only to augment my business but also to help and encourage any whom my business gives me the opportunity, be they renters, homeowners, or those in between. You probably have already noticed my increased blog posts.

Another initiative is to share that newsletter with a much larger audience. So I’m introducing a new “Action plan” for a New Year. We’re changing the way we do the Action newsletter, and giving the whole blogger list the opportunity to receive it in one of two forms.

The first option is to receive the same newsletter online, in pdf format. It will cost just a little, about the price of two Starbucks’ lattes. “Click here for a sample of Action”.

The second option is to join my new Action Takers Club. For three Starbucks’ lattes, you will receive a hard copy of the newsletter, plus increased content and opportunities, including a quarterly Action Extra Insert. Click here for a sample. On the right, you will see how you can order these.

Here is a reprint of the article referenced above.

What’s Your thing?
At a party recently, I ended up in conversation with someone who’d just gone to Idaho to purchase a new dog. He’d done major research on this dog’s pedigree, and, boy, was he excited about its potential to be trained as a hunting dog, something he does on the side. He was so excited, he just couldn’t stop talking about it!

I was happy for him, but could hardly relate. It’s just not my “thing”. But it sure was his!!

I have another friend, in the financial services industry, who reads the Income Tax Act for leisure. Now, I’ve only ever met one other person who’s read the Income Tax Act, and he wrote the book on tax auditing, so I guess he had to. Would you read the Income Tax Act? For leisure? But it’s my friend’s “thing”.

At our Rent 2 Own conferences, we introduce ourselves by giving our names, our locations, and stating our “unfair advantage.” It refers to the strengths we bring to the table that could give us a leg up on our competitors. For one, it might be marketing savvy. For another, access to investment money. For a third, people skills. One of mine is that I have writing and publishing skills. And I enjoy it. I guess, in part, writing is my “thing.”

Last month, a major conference for entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to get ahead financially, and featuring world-renowned speaker Robert Kiyoski, revolved around the theme “Developing your unfair advantage.” It’s become a buzz word for those who take their own initiative to get ahead financially.

Do you want to get out of the financial merry-go-round, the one that seems to follow the same orbit every time around? Are you prepared to take your own initiative to break free from that orbit? Or, as Kiyoskai puts it, “to get out of the rat-race.”

Then my next question is: What’s your “thing”? Surely, we all have something that we just “get,” something that motivates us, and from which we derive much pleasure. Something we’ve become a virtual expert about. It doesn’t have to be weird or really out there, just something that we’re passionate about.

Have you thought about turning your “thing” into an unfair advantage? Getting ahead requires getting creative. It requires doing something different from all those others who are on the same merry-go-round.

No more “same old, same old!” Get creative! Maybe your “thing” can get you out of that orbit.