Dig Gold, Sell Shovels (or either) ?
Dig for Gold, Sell Shovels (or Neither)?
"If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and
endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a
success unexpected in common hours." ~ Henry David Thoreau
Are your digging for gold or are you selling shovels? Which is best for your career, for your business, for you?
Is it possible that neither career or business strategy is best for
you? Let's begin with a bit of a history lesson for background:
The California Gold Rush
began in 1848, when gold was discovered in Coloma, California. By the
beginning of 1849, word of the Gold Rush had spread around the world,
and 300,000 gold-seekers and merchants rushed to California from
virtually every continent. By 1850, most of the easily accessible gold
had been collected and only a small percentage of people actually struck
it rich with the precious metal; however, the impact of the immense
population increase built a new, vibrant and diverse economy.
Today, many marketing strategies are built around the
competing ideas of digging for gold and selling shovels, inspired by the
California Gold Rush:
- Digging for gold is attributed to the human tendency of seeking the quickest route from Point A (where you are now) to Point B (financial wealth); largely viewed by the non-gold diggers as a foolish, greedy endeavor.
- Selling shovels is attributed to providing products and services to meet the demands of gold diggers; often perceived as the intelligent, virtuous strategy, summarized in the mantra: "Stop digging for gold and start selling shovels!"
- As the economy shifts ever more to a service based economy, the jobs and careers that seem to be the most promising are those that help others sell their ideas, products, and services; which makes the "selling shovels" strategy appear to be the most viable, and therefore the wise career choice.
A prime example for the competing ideas of digging for gold and
selling shovels can be illustrated in the ultimate serviced-based engine
-- the Internet -- and the explosion of blogs and other search
engine-friendly marketing tools.
With well over 100 million blogs on the Internet today, the
statistical likelihood of earning big money writing in a blog
is not much better than playing the lottery. There are, however,
millions of people who enjoy creating blogs and are quite confident (or
delusional, depending upon the particular case) that their writing and
marketing skills,
combined with incredible luck and timing will enable them to strike it
rich. These are the gold diggers.
But are we now in an 1850-like environment, where the easily
accessible gold has already been collected? Many of the most successful
bloggers are now selling shovels; they are selling products and
services to other bloggers, such as this eBook on (you guessed it) how to sell your own eBook.
"One's own self is well hidden from one's own self; of all mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
But is there really anything wrong with digging for gold? What makes
the shovel sellers smarter? Aren't they really trying to "strike it
rich" also?
Neither pursuit is
inherently wrong (or right). The only foolish pursuit is the one that is blindly
chosen -- the one that is chosen for reasons, such as money, other than
self-actualization.
I believe the true key to success at anything you do is rooted in
self-knowledge, which largely consists of defining terms for yourself.
Perhaps "digging for gold" is not even a pursuit of monetary and
material wealth at all. To know the Self is to be rich. Digging for
gold is a passionate pursuit. Selling shovels can also be a passionate
pursuit. The gold digger and shovel seller may view their own particular
career as prudent and the other as foolish. One would not be happy being (or would exist without)
the other; but this is precisely the point!
You may never find gold, in terms of monetary wealth; you may never own
a successful business; you may never make six figures as a blogger; but
if you discover your Self, you have found gold, in the form of meaning,
purpose and self-actualization, regardless of the monetary or material
result...
Do not endeavor to dig for gold or sell shovels; be yourself. Just consider the example and words of someone who happened to write a little book called Walden
during the prime years of the Gold Rush:
"A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom." ~ Henry David Thoreaucourtesy: financial philosopy
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