Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to find your true calling, the right work for you to do, and then putting your whole heart into doing it very well.

The happiest people are those who have carefully thought through who they are, what they want, where they are going, and then decided exactly what they need to do to get to their goal. Asking yourself five targeted questions can help you home in on whatever path is right for you.

#1: What do I do easily and well?

When you are seeking your true calling, you must look at the activities that have always been easy for you but which have been difficult for others. Often, you will get comments and compliments on how well you do a particular task. You will be surprised when you hear those remarks, because you never even thought about it that much. It just seemed natural for you from the very beginning.

My daughter is a natural and spontaneous little actress. From the time she was three or four years old, she has memorized lines and acted in every school play and function that has ever come up. In fact, by the time she was six, she was memorizing every line in the school play, not only her own but the lines of every other child. When the other children forgot their lines, Christina would whisper them and keep the play on track.

When Christina was 11 years old, she appeared at a city council meeting and gave a speech in favor of a permit allowing her school to expand. She stood up at the meeting, on a chair, in front of 150 adults, and gave an impassioned little talk. As a result, the permit was granted - and Christina was on the front page of two newspapers the following day.

#2: What are the things that I have done in life that have been most responsible for my success?

In looking back over your work and your activities, what are the things you have done that have given you the greatest rewards and satisfaction? If you work for a company, what are the activities you have engaged in that have achieved the very best results for yourself and your company? Your previous success experiences are signposts pointing to the sort of things that you should be doing more and more of if you want to deploy yourself more fully for greater happiness and satisfaction in life.

#3: What would I do differently, knowing what I know now?

Is there anything that you are currently doing that you wouldn't start up again if you had to do it over? Is there any relationship that you are in that you wouldn't get into if you could make the choice today? Is there any job or part of any job that you are doing that you would not embark upon, knowing what you now know, if you had to do it over?

As many as 95 percent of people working today are under-employed, not working to their full capacity for themselves and their companies. Only 5 percent, when interviewed, will say that they are working fully extended at their current job. Only 5 percent feel that their entire potential is being consumed and that they are working on the outer edge of their abilities. These people also tend to be the happiest, the highest paid, and the most fulfilled in any organization or enterprise.

#4: What work would I choose to do if I won a million dollars, cash, in the lottery tomorrow?

This is a question I sometimes ask my seminar audiences. When you hear this question, your gut reaction is a good indicator of where you are today and possibly where you should be going in the future. Most people, when they think of winning a million dollars, think of quitting their current job and doing something else. There is nothing wrong with that. Since most people have backed into their current jobs, taking them because they just happened to be there at the time a job was needed, most people probably should be doing something else.

Napoleon Hill once said the key to success in America is to find out what you really enjoy doing, and then find a way to make a good living at it. What do you most love to do?

Successful people don't feel like they work at all. They are doing what they love to do, and they are so busy doing it that their work becomes their play. Their work life and their personal life blends together like a hand fitting neatly into a glove. There is no separation. They are totally committed individuals who are accomplishing far more in a shorter period of time than the average person who is merely going through the motions.

#5: If I were absolutely guaranteed tremendous success in any job I chose, what field would I go into?

One of the major reasons people hold themselves back from doing what they are truly meant to do is that they are afraid they will fail in some way. And being afraid that you will fail is the surest guarantor that you will fail.

But what if you are absolutely guaranteed success in any field you choose? What would it be? What would you want to do if you had unlimited time, unlimited resources, and guaranteed success?

The answer to that question should cause you to tingle a little bit. It should make your stomach flutter. It should send a thrill of excitement and anticipation through you that tells you this is the job you should be doing.

Asking and answering the above five questions can change your life.

You have within you talents and abilities so vast that you could never use them all if you lived to be a thousand. You have natural skills and talents that can enable you to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you could ever set for yourself. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if you find your true calling.

When you become one of the few people who are doing what they love to do, who are totally absorbed in doing something they really care about, you will make more progress in a couple of years than the average wage slave makes in five or 10 years. You will come to the attention of people who can help you and open doors for you. You will be happy and fulfilled in both your work and your personal relationships. You will have more energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. You will unlock your true potential, and your future will become unlimited.

[Ed. Note: Finding your true calling can help you find happiness, success, and even wealth. Put Brian's strategies to work, and you could have it all. And if you want to find your focal point and learn to maximize your income and minimize your effort, check out Brian's 6-CD Power of Clarity program.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

"A thought that does not result in action is nothing much, and an action that does not proceed from thought is nothing at all." - Georges Bernanos

Rarely have I seen a quote that I agree with more. You see I have great ideas almost every day, yet most of them are unimplemented and therefore not much at all. Those ideas that I HAVE implemented result in something positive. Even those ideas that turn out to have less than stellar results always propel me on to something further. Something bigger and better. So as you go through life in your business; life in your law practice, don't just think up great ideas. Go out there and do something to change your life. Do something to change those aspects that you're unhappy with. If you aren't living life to it's fullest, its no one else fault but yours.

In fact, he's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records: as "the world's greatest salesman."

To become the world's greatest salesperson, he used what is perhaps the most underused lead-generation technique in the world. Yet it's probably the most effective way of getting new business that there is. It gives a salesperson instant credibility with a prospective customer - making the prospect more likely to buy.

The idea came to Girard while he was attending a funeral.

Before I tell you what it is, let's take a look at some of the most notable selling statistics from Girard's 14-year (1963 to 1977) car-selling career (courtesy of Tom Sant's book The Giants of Sales, in which Girard is profiled)…

In total, he sold more than 13,000 vehicles. That's an average of six cars per day.
On his best day, he sold 18 vehicles.
His best month, he sold 174.
In his best year, he sold 1,425.
By himself, Joe Girard has sold more cars than 95 percent of all dealers in North America.
To make his feat even more incredible, he sold them at retail - one vehicle at a time.
Amazing. Especially when you consider that when he first applied for a job as a car salesman, no one would hire him. At the time, he was in debt and struggling to keep his family fed.

The sales manager who finally hired him at first said "No," explaining that if he hired Girard his other salespeople wouldn't like it because their share of walk-in traffic would be reduced. It was only when Girard said he wasn't interested in the walk-in traffic - he would generate his own leads - that he was hired.

He quickly found that selling without access to the dealership's walk-in traffic was more difficult than he had hoped it would be.

The first thing he did was grab a phonebook and started calling people randomly. He made some headway, but it was tough slogging.

The Funeral That Changed His Approach to Sales

It was around this time that he attended that funeral. It was a Catholic funeral. Mass cards were given out to all those in attendance.

Girard asked the funeral director how he knew how many mass cards to have printed up for each funeral.

The funeral director told Girard that the number of people attending a funeral always seems to average out to 250. So that's how many he prints up each time.

Soon after that, Girard sold a car to a Protestant funeral director. When he asked how many people typically attend a Protestant funeral, he got the same reply: "About 250."

When he attended a wedding, he asked the minister the same question. The answer was about 250 on the bride's side and 250 on the groom's side.

Joe Girard's "Law of 250"

It was then that Girard came up with what he called the "Law of 250."

The basic principle is that most people have about 250 people in their lives who would show up at their funeral or wedding. There are exceptions, of course. Some have more, some have less. But the average seems to be 250.

So how did he use this information?

First off, he realized that if he did a crummy job of selling a car to somebody, he could potentially lose 250 more customers.

But, more important - if he did a great job, he could gain 250 more customers.

So Girard reasoned that if he consistently built strong relationships with his customers and treated them fairly, it would make his job a lot easier in the long run.

So he set his sights on getting referrals. How did he go about it?

Here are the three main ways…

First, within a few weeks of selling a car to someone, he would call them up and ask how the car was running. If things were going well, he'd ask for a referral. If they weren't, he'd fix the problem - then ask for a referral.
He kept a file listing personal information about each customer - such as the names of their children, what they did for a living, their birthdays, their kids' birthdays, etc. He'd use that information to personalize his conversations with them. He sincerely cared about people, and made them feel so special they couldn't wait to recommend him to a friend or relative.
Every month, year after year, Girard would send a greeting card to every customer on his list. Inside would be a simple message. He knew they'd need a new car one day, and he wanted to keep himself top of mind. He was careful not to include anything that might sound like a sales pitch. Just an anecdote, a new idea, a news story, a book review, a birthday greeting, or a tip he knew they'd be interested in. (Eventually this task became so big, he had to hire someone to do it for him.)
Girard's dedication to keeping in touch with his customers instilled in them a psychological obligation to do business with him. His customers would never even dream of buying a car from someone else.

Girard has often said he doesn't believe in hard work. That what he does believe in is working smart. And no one approached selling cars any smarter than Joe Girard did.

No matter what product or service you sell, if you don't have a referral and repeat-business strategy in place, you're working too hard.

Here are a few referral-related tactics you can start using tomorrow:

1. Go the extra mile for your customers and prospects.

Do things that will make you stand out from the pack. If you see an article that you feel may interest one of them, mail it (or e-mail it, but sending something in the mail tends to have a greater impact). A good way to find appropriate articles is to set up a Google News Alert for topics you feel would interest your customers. If you think a story is relevant, send them the link.

2. Make sure your customers know about every service you provide.

If you sell Product A to someone, make sure they also know you carry Products B, C, and D. The more solutions your customers know you provide, the more likely it is that they'll know someone who will benefit from getting a call from you.

3. Establish relationships with people who sell complementary products or services.

For example, if you sell boats, contact the local marina and introduce yourself. Tell them you'll be referring your customers to them, and make them aware that you'd be open to any referrals from them.

4. Ask for a referral.

If you don't ask, chances are you'll never get a referral. Customers usually don't volunteer them on their own. When the time seems right, say something like "Do you know anyone else I might be able to help out?"

5. Always thank your customers for their referrals.

Obviously, say "Thank you." But then take it one step further. Send a thank you note or a small gift. It could lead to another referral.

6. Keep your customers informed.

Let your customers know what happened when you called the person they referred you to. Offer to keep them in the loop as things progress.

Develop and follow through on a referral and repeat-business strategy and, like Joe Girard, you'll make more sales… and have an easier time doing it.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Here are six questions that must be asked.

"Do you have experience in direct marketing?"

The answer should be "yes," and backed up by samples.

"Do you have experience in my industry?"

Previous experience dealing with your industry or product is a great plus to look for in a freelance copywriter. It helps to have a writer who already speaks the language and knows the buzzwords. Also, a writer with experience in your industry can offer valuable insight and guidance a neophyte cannot provide.

"If I wanted to hire you, how would I go about it?"

Some writers insist on payment up front, a practice many clients won't agree to. Others get advance retainers. Some simply send a bill when the job is done. The important thing is to make sure you are comfortable with the writer's prices, fee arrangement, and working methods.

"What is your style?"

Get samples from several writers, and pick the one whose ap proach seems "in sync" with your own. Don't hire a writer whose style you don't like and then ask him to write in a different style. It just won't work.

"How well has your copy pulled?"

It doesn't hurt to ask the writer how his copy has pulled for other clients. Just don't weigh this information too heavily. After all, most freelancers, when asked, will naturally say that their copy is successful. Also, keep in mind that many freelancers do not have access to timely, accurate response figures.

"Who have you worked for?"

Lack of a client list means you are probably talking to a writer who is just starting out in freelancing (not necessarily a drawback). A long client list tells you the writer has been in business a while and is probably somewhat successful. However, keep in mind that it's easier for a freelancer to get a small project from AT&T than it is for a major ad agency to win the entire AT&T account. So don't let the client list impress you too much.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Vince Lombardi once said, "A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."

Focus on your goals. Don't let the small things in your practice steer you off course. Stay focused on the finish line and you will accomplish your life's dreams. They're your dreams. Make them happen!

I ran across this very powerful acronym recently.

Save
Yourself
Stress
Time
Energy
Money

Think about that. Isn't that what you already know? Isn't that what I've been harping about? Saving yourself stress, time, energy and money sounds great doesn't it? So what processes in your office can you create a system for in order to save yourself stress, time, energy and money? I can answer lots of questions but not knowing all of my readers personally, I can't answer this question for each of you. Focus on those tasks that you do on a daily basis that don't really require you to do them. For one week keep a daily log of what you do all day. When you analyze that log after the end of the week you will be amazed at the amount of very low values tasks you spend the bulk of your time doing.

Even if it takes you twice as long to document, explain and describe a system for some task that you do on a regular basis, it will begin to save you time almost immediately once you are able to delegate this task to someone else. Ideally someone who doesn't cost as much as you do! Even if you don't have anyone currently working for you in your office, you should begin to document and organize systems in your office. This will accomplish two things. First, it will keep you from having to reinvent the wheel and figure out how to do certain tasks which you perform regularly but infrequently and second it will make training your staff much simpler when the time comes.

First you need to identify your base earnings target. That's how much you want to keep not the gross revenue of your practice. Let's say that figure is $300,000.00. Pretty ambitious eh? But you went to law school to make money right? Sure, we help people, defend their interests and rights, but it's much better to have money than not, let's be honest. Once you have your base earnings target you take the average 220 days per year that you are available to work. The Two Hundred and Twenty available days takes into account five days a week and holidays. Then you multiply that by 8 hours per day (or however many you want to work). This will give you the total number of working hours available to you per year. Your base earnings target of $300,000 divided by your number of available working hours equals your base hourly rate. In this case that is $170.45 per hour.

Next you must determine how many actual productive hours you have in a day. In a survey of Fortune 500 CEOs on average they stated that they only had 28 productive minutes per day! Lets say that you are much more productive than that and you have 1/3 of your time is productive time per day. Now multiply your base hourly of $170.45 by 3 (your actual productive hours) and that means that your time must be worth $511.36! Eye opening isn't?

Here's what it looks like:

Base earnings target: $300,000.00
Divided by (220 days by 8 = 1760)
Work hours in a year
÷ 1760
= base hourly figure $170.45
Times productivity vs. nonproductivity
Multiple
x 3
= What your time must be worth
per hour:
$511.36

So you see, it really is simple. Obviously this is a very rough equation but it is much better than what you had before, which was no idea. Now only focus on those tasks that help you toward achieving your goal. Is what I'm doing worth my hourly rate? If it's not worth $511.00 per hour, have someone else do it. Someone you can pay significantly less to do it for you in order to allow you to focus on your most profitable activities. If you begin to think of your time as actually being worth what you just calculated, don't be surprised if before long you are actually making this kind of money.

Now it may be that you need to systematize a process that, for now, only you know how to do. That's fine. As you are finally committing that process to writing, that is getting it out of your head so that someone else can pick up that piece of paper and learn how to do it in the future, think of the leverage that you are creating. This is likely the very last time you will ever have to do this mundane task. Awesome isn't?

I have to admit that even I fall prey and fail to do this. Just recently I committed a process to writing and systemization that I did only once a month but really hated. This task is absolutely critical, really vital to my business so I was very hesitant to let anyone else do it. Since I did it so infrequently once a month I would scratch my head and reinvent the wheel. And I really hated it. Not only because it's boring but also because I knew in my heart that it wasn't a great use of my time. So, I finally systematized the process, delegated it to staff and now that task is gone from my existence forever! Sure it took me an extra hour or two to write down the process but every month I get at least that hour back in saved time.

One of my mentors is a very smart marketer by the name of Dan Kennedy. Dan is probably about 55 years old and he has the art of time management down to a science. So much so that he has figured out that he lives to a predetermined age (I think he has it figured out to 80 years old) that he only has a certain amount of time left in his life. He even has a giant clock counting down to the end of his life. His point is not to be morbid or bizarre but to provide himself a constant reminder to not allow anyone waste his time and he doesn't.

His point is well taken. We all know we aren't going to be around forever, so why do we waste so much of our own time? My theory is because it's just so much easier to do the "other" stuff than to do the stuff that we know is most important. Focus can be difficult but it is achievable. What is the highest, best use of your time? Of your special and unique talents? The answer to this question holds the key to your ultimate success.

There is no such thing as "free time." There is leisure time but as I just said above, we all are limited by the amount of time we have on this planet, so we'd better make the best of it. All time has value. Think about it. As honest Abe said, all we have as lawyers is our time. If you fail to focus on what's important and more importantly, most profitable than you a committing what I believe to be a grave sin. You are wasting your potential. Your stubborn inability, or worse, lack of discipline to prioritize your professional life and professional time is costing you money. A lot of money. If you don't care, think about your families. If you would just take the time to reflect on the best, highest use of your time what would it mean to them? Would you be able to work less? Maybe. Would you be less stressed if you had more money? Probably. Would your spouse or kids notice? You bet they would.

The way you think about time and think about yourself will affect everything that happens to you for the rest of your life. You have to value your time before anyone else will? So what exactly is your time worth? I'll give the exact answer in my next post. It's really awe inspiring because it's different for everyone.