How to be a Superhero – Part 4: Taking Action

This is the fourth part of a five part series on “How to be a Superhero.” If you missed part one, two, or three, then make sure to check them out.

In my last post, I provided some tips on how you can develop your superpowers. Once your superpowers are significant enough to take on evildoers, it is time to take action. What kind of superhero would you be if you just sat around all day in a rocking chair not helping anyone?

I am a member of a number of different organizations. In these organizations, I meet with superheroes that want to use their superpowers as professional speakers, authors, and consultants. The problem with these superheroes is that they believe there are not enough evildoers out there to pay the bills.

Speaking to one superhero, Mr. Invisible, he might say, “I can’t get anyone interested in hiring me to battle evildoers.”

Another superhero, Ms. Whynotme, might chime in and say, “I don’t get it. Ms. Wonderful has hundreds of people she has helped . . . Why not me?”

Why Not Me?

The reason that many up and coming superheroes are not finding chances to use their superheroes is that they are NOT TAKING ACTION. Instead they are just hanging out online, surfing blog posts, reading another self-help book, or working on adding more initials after their name.

While it is important to develop your superpowers, there comes a point in the development of your superpowers where you have to stop searching for some book, article, or program that will bring people that need help to you. It won’t happen. In order to help people you have to find those people. The best way to find those people is to take action.

Taking Action

Taking action is a big step for many new superheroes. It is the point where they have decided that it is time to stop thinking about being a superhero and start being one. That thought is a big mental hurdle for a lot of people, but it must be overcome in order for you to realize your greatness.

Some ways you can take action are:

Call People You Can Help – I admit that calling potential customers is extremely intimidating. Calling people scares me as well, but it is one of the most important actions that you can take to find people to help.When calling someone, I am not asking you to cold call anyone. What I am asking you to do is use what you have learned in previous posts and get out and meet people. Using your new found powers of awareness, you can develop a list of people you have met, their problems, and how you can help them.For example, when I meet with people that want to be professional speakers, I will visit their web pages. If they don’t have a website that is very appealing, then I will create a test site on my server that demonstrates what I can do for them to help them make their site more accessible to potential customers.Then comes the hard part., I will call them up mentioning when and where we met. I will tell them I visited their website wanted to how well their website was converting potential clients into paying customers.
If they don’t know, then I will tell them about the tools I can provide that will make their sites a destination and not just a business card. This sometimes leads to a discussion of how much I charge and when I can have a proposal put together outlining how we can do business.

Do I always close the deal? No, but I am reaching out trying to help people that need my help. I am taking action.

Follow Up with Contacts – How many times has someone you met at a networking event said, “I am having a problem with something you might be able to help me with.”You then said, “I will give you a call.”Did you ever call them back?It amazes me how many people avoid taking the action of following up with people that request their assistance. This action is quite simple. If someone asks for your help, make a commitment to call them and follow up on how you can help them. The amount of money that is left on the table is huge from people not taking this simple step.
There was a time a number of months ago that another blogger wanted to get together and chat about how he could help me on some projects. I thought that it could turn into a business relationship at some point, but I had a few other projects going on that was making it difficult for me to meet to discuss our mutual interests. I asked the person to call me back on a certain week when I would have a better idea of when we can meet.

The blogger never called me back and potentially missed out on a sale of his services.

To be a superhero, you must follow up with people that tell you to get back in touch at a later time and date. They might not seem interested when you first meet, but that could be because they are in the middle of some big project and need time and space to consider what you can do to help them.

Tackle a Big Project – Are you an up and coming blogger? Then create a large series of foundational blog posts. These posts can demonstrate your knowledge of the topic area you are interested in pursuing.I know other superheroes that have written a book, created a product, built a house, or planned a large overseas wedding.The goal is to take on a project larger than your current abilities, but still doable if you put your energy into the project. When you do this, you will find that your superpowers will grow in strength from the difficulty of taking on a big project.

Ask for Advice – Taking action can mean knowing what you don’t know and being humble enough to admit you need to learn what needs to be done to find people to help. Maybe you are at a loss for what people to speak with at a company, what organization would help you connect with the right people, or how to market your superpowers.Take the action of calling or e-mailing as many people that are doing what you want to do and asking them how you can get the knowledge you need to build your superpowers. Doing this you might learn what class you need to take, what books you need to read, or what jobs that you might need to pursue to develop your superpowers. It might also connect you with other superheroes that you can work with.

Connect with Other Superheroes – We will discuss this topic specifically in the last post in this series, however I will mention here that taking action can be joining forces with other superheroes in order to fill the gaps in your knowledge. I know speakers that join forces with web design experts to create educational websites. Taking action can be hanging out with other superheroes and finding out where a connection can be made that benefit both parties in their development.

A Personal Story

I have been blogging on and off for years. Most of my early attempts were on blogger.com before learning how to sign up for a webhost, buy a domain name, and install WordPress. After learning how to do that, I had to continue to refine my knowledge of the technology while working on my writing skills.

It was not an easy process and I have had many missteps. I have had my sites hacked, moved web servers, bought useful books, bought useless products, started, and then stopped many different blogs. Each time I learned a little more, developed my abilities, and became a part of different groups and communities. If you are reading this, know that I didn’t start knowing anything, but have gotten to a point where I can write and post this with relative ease.

I took action by getting out there and starting to tackle the big project of starting a blog. When I wasn’t getting the readers, I started to ask people for feedback on what I was doing wrong. I then reached out to other bloggers, did some guest posts, and started to develop a small but loyal readership.

What I have learned and continue to learn every day is that you have to take action to make things happen. People don’t magically come to you asking for help. You have to go out and find them and when you do, you have to take action to show them how you can help.

How will You Take Action?

As you have embraced your superpowers, I hope that you realize that the journey has just begun. There are many more ways for you to learn and develop and I hope that this post has highlighted a few that have benefited me in my development.

Let me know how you are going to take action in the comments.

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