Get Rich Taking Notes!

“I want you to take notes. Don’t write what I say; write what you think as a result of what I say!” Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, aka “Mr. Tremendous”.

“Where did you get that material?” Dick Gardner asked that question one evening after I had rather eloquently introduced him to a sales organization where he was to give a group sales presentation.

Dick knew me from the time I was a neophyte in his selling classes and even greener as a public speaker. Until that evening, he had not heard me speak in front of an audience except in training in the early days of our association. My introduction took him by surprise.

In answer, I reminded him of what Charlie Jones always said in his seminars. It bears repeating: “I want you to take notes. Don’t write what I say; write what you think as a result of what I say!”

Jones told of a man from one of his audiences who came up to him afterward and complimented him, “You were great tonight, Mr. Jones. You interrupted my train of thought seven times!”

If it would work with Mr. Tremendous, it would work with the seminar company’s other speakers as well as Dick’s own speeches to sales groups and his introductory speeches of leading speakers of the day at his seminars.

Take note of what you think as a result of what they say. It’s seemingly a minor point, but it can have a powerful effect on productivity.

Jones’ premise is not only excellent advice for note taking; it is also an excellent strategy for stimulating creativity and generating original ideas.

Admittedly, when not being reminded of other thoughts to take note of, I did take note of some great quotes, our current topic included. However, this advice has paid off in some pretty terrific dividends for me.

A person should do his own work. A lot is being made of private label rights articles and ebooks. This sub-niche is developed to the point that software is being used now to do nothing but identify spun and rewritten articles and ebooks. Being anything but original working against the article in the search engines.

Yes, original writing is work. Yes, it takes time. And yes, time is money. But there is (or once was) such a thing as pride in craftsmanship; pride in authenticity. Today the best craftsmanship is used to find new ways to take shortcuts.

There is nothing wrong with being inspired by another’s work, but failing to give proper credit is plagiarism. Give proper credit to a quote and you won’t have to worry about rewriting it.

On the other hand, writing down the ideas you get as a result of having read another’s work, is probably the highest compliment you can pay them without “sending money.”

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones not only taught sales people to sell, he taught them (us) to stretch from within and become greater than they (we) are. His speeches regularly stimulated plenty of inner growth in the form of new ideas.

Using Jones’ premise, the sales person can read a sales training book, or even a newspaper, and be made mindful of new sales approaches. The real estate professional can be reading the newspaper and be made mindful of an investment opportunity. The musician can be listening to the breeze through the trees or to the sounds of traffic and be made mindful of a new song.

You read a statement. Question it. Why? How do you know? Where did that come from? What alternatives are there? Is it sound reasoning? Is it a hasty generalization? Is it an assumption? Could it be a false assumption? Does it present other questions or problems? What is the most likely outcome and consequence? What will the ripple effects be? Could it present unseen opportunities? Might there be money to be made or other benefits to be derived? What other ideas come to mind?

This is the mindset with which H. L. Hunt taught Morgan Maxfield to read newspapers, and which Maxfield used to amass millions of dollars. He merely read stories of what was going on in the world (his world: Texas and the U.S.). He deduced opportunities that he rightly surmised to be worth millions of dollars; no, tens of millions!

If Maxfield could squeeze ideas worth tens of millions of dollars out of newspaper articles, surely the rest of us can use others’ writings (others’ ideas) to inspire a few original ideas of our own!

Enough of these original ideas and original articles or ebooks, with text-embedded links (maybe affiliate marketing links) might surely be worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

“Where do ideas come from, Daddy?” “Son, they come from a fertile and inquisitive mind; a mind that takes note of its surroundings and is open to opportunities; a mind that knows that problems are just opportunities in disguise. Each person decides for himself whether he has that kind of mind.”

In truth, each person already has that kind of mind; he has only to decide how to use it.

Now you know how to generate original ideas for yourself… on demand!

Original ideas are golden!

Copyright