Bradford Shimp

It’s official. I am running for Village Trustee of Clyde, alongside David Albrecht. David is running for re-election. He is a great guy, a real listener and doer, and I hope to join him on the board and follow in his footsteps.

You can read more about why I am running for trustee here.

I am grateful for the opportunity to run, and if I am elected I will serve dutifully and work hard to make sure everyone in the village knows what is going on and gets a voice.

If anyone has any questions anytime prior to the election, feel free to email me (click here) or call me at 294-0019.

I look forward to meeting a lot of new people and getting a much broader sense of the issues and concerns of Clyde residents. I believe David and I will start walking the village and visiting everyone starting in early September.

There is a whole movement devoted to the power of positive thinking. There is a movement devoted to bacon, too, so I guess it is not such a big deal. But once books get written and experts arise, the waters tend to get muddy. So here is the truth about positive thinking.

Why it works

Here is why positive thinking is good and often effective. When you are thinking about positive things you are not focused on negative things. I think we can all agree that always seeing the negative side of life can really get you down. Focusing on the positive helps you to be more upbeat and energetic. Also, with positive thinking you are often thinking ahead to the future. That is obviously a good thing. Planning makes a lot of things possible, after all.

What is wrong with it

The only thing wrong with positive thinking as a way of life is that people take it too far. They banish negative thoughts and will not even deign to consider the bad things that happen or could happen. This is not realistic. You do not have to ignore the bad things in life to maintain a positive attitude. In fact, it is unhealthy to do so.

Positive thinking should not be about ignoring the negative things. It should not be about falsely banishing bad emotions and thoughts by not acknowledging their existence. Instead, true positive thinking looks at bad things in a different light. To have a positive mindset is to find the good in every situation.

How you should think

Here is what works for me. I maintain optimism by thinking about and being thankful for all of the good things I have. When my kids are being a pain, I take a moment to appreciate that they are part of my life. I also try to take an optimistic look at the future. I know that there are endless possibilities for success out there. I also know that each one will take a lot of hard work. I can’t just envision my way to success (and neither can you).

When bad things happen, or even more commonly, when I lose focus and have to deal with stress, I sometimes get in a funk. The best way out is to look forward, not backward. A life spent dwelling on the mistakes of the past is a life poorly lived. I agree that you should look more to the promise of the future than the heartbreak of the past.

Beyond that, I have learned how to find enjoyment in pretty much everything. There is much to enjoy in life, though sometimes it takes paying attention to the details. When you find enjoyment, you will find that you have a much more positive outlook on life (and you won’t have to fake it).

Everyone knows something, right? I mean, it is pretty hard to meander through life without picking up some useful knowledge.

I am fascinated by knowledge. It is interesting to me how one person can completely get how to do something, and the person beside them can be clueless. Not to say that we can all learn everything. Our conscious brains can’t hold that much information. So we learn what is important to us.

The Skills We Need

Lots of times what we learn has to do with the job that we do. A mechanic is always going to be better at fixing cars than a lawyer, even if that lawyer is pretty handy with a wrench. Why is a mechanic an expert? Simply because she works at it every day. Sure, there is aptitude involved, but most of us are more adept than we give ourselves credit for.

Helping Others

Does what you know do you any good? Sure it does. It helps you do your job, live your life. But I wonder if your knowledge could somehow help someone else. I mean, does anyone ever ask you for advice on a anything? No one asks me for advice on fixing cars, but plenty of people are interested in my opinions on computers, blogging, and business. Why? Because this is the realm in which I operate.

You can be helpful in the realm that you operate. Beyond that, you can probably make money (or more money) by being helpful. This is a way of introduction for me, to explain what I do. I help you be helpful to more people, and to make money doing it.

If you are wondering what planet I am from, don’t worry. Everything will get clearer. My job is to help you sort out your knowledge and find new ways to share it.

Repackage Your Content

Here’s a quick example. I recently met someone who put out a very nice video on a topic he knows something about. It is a wonderful resource, and he is using it to attract business. The topic of the video is actually brilliant, in my opinion. So, while I’m watching this video, I’m thinking, how can this be shared more widely. Something like a video can be turned into multiple useful things, such as an e-book, a webinar, a book, or even an educational course.

If you are already creating content, I can show you how to maximize the content, and perhaps how to monetize it.

But I Sell Real Things

And what if you aren’t really creating content? What if you are trying to make money the old-fashioned way, by selling a product and not ideas. Well, first of all, you are my hero. What you do, creating and selling something, is hard work. Here is how I would help you. I would first of all see if there are any supplemental knowledge products you could create and sell in complement to what you are already doing. Secondly, I would work with you to take the vast knowledge you have about your product and customers and to turn that into content, in the form of a blog, a newsletter, an e-book, a webinar, etc. Those things would not be for sale themselves. Instead, they would become marketing tools. I can teach you how to sell more by using an educational approach.

If you are ready to learn more, give me a call at 1-866-923-5608 or email me at bradford@broadrivercreative.com. If you aren’t ready yet, bookmark this blog for future reference. I’ll be waiting for you.

Does the world really need another personal blog? Probably not. But as I begin to expand my business, “build my brand”, and create products, I find that I need a place to talk about things that may not fit into the container of AllBizAnswers.com or BroadRiverCreative.com.

So here it is. From now on my namesake blog will be home to my personal brand. More to come.