In any endeavor, one must put forth some effort to stand out from the crowd. There is always limited resources and limited time and both must be used to best effect to accomplish one’s goals. It is vital to gain experience and, ultimately, mastery of both resources and time in relation to yourself and others so that you may be in control of your life and influence others, rather than be controlled by others or simply by circumstances.

My Own Experience

My first job was at a movie theater. There were any number of fifteen-year-olds that could have vied for the position I won, but I put forth extra effort and took advantage of the social connections of my family. I started out as a doorman, basically cleaning the theater between movie showings. The guy who ran the film projectors hated working the “midnight movies” on weekends and I offered to learn his job and be his backup and soon became a union projectionist at the ripe age of sixteen. I was making the wages of a family man while still in high school, all because I saw some opportunities and went after them.

In the digital age, there are nearly limitless opportunities to create and profit from content. The internet has proven to be a highly effective content distribution system among other things, giving almost anyone with a computer and a connection the ability to be creative and build an audience for their creations. Never before has there been such ready access to the tools that open up the power to be seen and heard by others and to affect others in powerful ways.

The most successful people of our times often started by taking up digital tools and grasping the opportunity to use them in creative ways. Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, used computers and the early internet to initially sell books, perfecting his e-commerce model and applying it to other products until Amazon became the world’s dominant marketplace. He capitalized on the digital resources available to him and his customers’ desire to save time in finding desired products and is now a powerful and profitable influencer.

You can also take up the same tools, computers and connectivity, couple them with your own creativity and pursued opportunities, to expand your own influence and empowerment.