One of my pet peeves is when someone tells me they are too old to learn anything new or to start a new venture. This is an excuse people give because they have either lost their enthusiasm, they have given up, or they are just too lazy to do anything. At any age, you have the ability to learn new things and to accomplish new things.

Technology is leveling the playing field. Everybody has the opportunity to do something great if they are willing to put in the hard work that is required for success, and if they are willing to learn new things regardless of their age.

I actually heard a 40-something individual on television a few weeks ago saying he was just too old to learn social media. He would leave that to the kids. Really???

Is that the attitude we have about age now? 40 is too old to learn anything new?

I believe part of it is not realizing the importance of learning new technologies or whatever it is you need to know to improve your life or business. But the other part boils down to our shift in how we view work. It comes down to our work ethic.

There was a recent story on a local news network about a local elected government official making a six-figure income and only working three days a week. He told the interviewer that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with this even though he was supposed to be working five days a week.

On the other hand, you have people who are striving to accomplish things and not allowing their age, or the poor work ethic that has invaded our country, to stand in their way.

These are the people who don’t make excuses and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep creating and learning new things regardless of their age. People like Warren Buffet and others a great examples of not quitting and continuing to contribute to the world.

These people are all around us. The people who make the sacrifices, keep learning new things, and keep innovating regardless of their age. They are not looking for the easy way out.

In the April 30th issue of Billboard Magazine, a music industry publication, their was an article about Paul Simon. Paul Simon is 69.

Here is an excerpt from the article – “Paul Simon has a career-high debut at number 4 on the Billboard 200 with “So Beautiful or So What” … It’s his best sales week since Nielson Sound Scan began tracking data in 1991 and his highest ranking since “Rhythm of the Saints” peaked at number 4 in 1990.”

It never ends. You can keep creating, learning, growing, and innovating at any age … if you are willing to do the work.

Don’t let your age be an “excuse” for not accomplishing something and making a difference. Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep growing.

The bottom line with any business is this. You have to figure out a way to get your product or services to the marketplace and make money. That’s it.

How do you do that? By getting in front of every person or business that can benefit from using your product or services. As I’ve mentioned before, you have to spend 70% of your time on marketing.

Whether it’s attending networking events, making in-person sales calls, or picking up the phone to call prospective clients, you have to get in front of people as much as possible.

Striking a balance between in-person meetings and using the phone to make sales calls is critical to the success of your business.

Most of the heavy hitters that I know, meaning they are making high six-figure or seven-figure incomes, know how to use the phone. They know how to make the calls and get results because this is the best use of their time.

They also do the networking part, but a lot of their time is spent making calls. A friend of mine makes 100 calls every day. As a result, he makes a 7-figure income – over $1,000,000 per year.

If you are not making the money you want to make, the solution may be to improve your phone skills. And the only way to do that is to pick up the phone and start making calls.

One of the big mistakes people make when getting started is spending too much time writing the “perfect” phone sales script. Just write something that you think will work and start making calls. Rehearse your script so it sounds natural over the phone. You may want to record yourself a few times until you have it down.

After each call make a note of what you think worked and what didn’t work. Modify your script and make another call. There is no other way to know if the script you have written works.

You also want to have a script for when you have to leave a voice mail. Rehearse this until it sounds natural.

The other thing you have to do is measure your results. Without metrics in place to track how you’re doing, you can’t move ahead in your business.

If you are making phone calls, you need to be tracking – how many calls you make, how many people you actually talk to, how many voice mails you leave, how many calls result in a closed sale, how many people call you back. You may think of a few other things but those are the basic numbers you need to know.

Learning how to use the phone effectively is one of the best uses of your time.

So if you want to grow your business … pick up the phone!

Wikipedia defines passion as – “a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something.”

My question to you is this. Are you passionate about your business or is it just a way to make money?

If you are a business owner, your clarity of purpose must be to make money. But money can’t be the only thing that drives you. It has to be something deeper.

For a lot of people, that little voice inside is telling them their business is making a difference in the world, and their business is making a difference in people’s lives. That is what drives them.

Ego can sometimes drive a business owner. For example, there may be a little ego involved if you are a professional speaker being flown all over the country by organizations, and being paid thousands of dollars to speak to groups. And that’s okay. Nothing wrong with that.

It may be a combination of several different things that drive you to keep moving forward in your business.

But the bottom line is this. You need something that keeps you moving forward in your business that is bigger than just the money, You have to be passionate about what you do and the people you serve.

Being a business owner is tough. It takes perseverance, stamina, faith, and a strong belief in what you are doing. And it takes passion.

So many businesses fail because people get into businesses that do not suit them because they thought they would make a lot of money. Of course, making a lot of money is the goal of every business owner but that cannot be the driving force behind what you are doing.

There has to be an unrelenting passion for your business and for the people you serve. Otherwise, it won’t work.

Because it’s hard to make those 30 or 40 phone calls everyday. It’s tough getting up in the middle of the night to work on a difficult project. Passion is the ultimate motivator.

Being passionate about your business does not mean you like everything you do in your business. Larry Winget, the pitbull of personal development, said if you like 10% of what you do, then you are very fortunate.

But what makes it all worthwhile is the passion you have for your business and knowing you are doing what you are meant to do. There is no better feeling in the world than knowing you have found your calling and can make a living pursuing your passion.

You have probably seen this strange image on real estate signs, on television commercials, in newspaper ads, and magazines. It looks like a weird barcode.

This is a QR Code (or Quick Response Code).

Here’s how it works.

You need a smart phone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Windows) and a QR Code reader, which you can download for free to your smart phone.

When you see a QR code, just launch your QR Code reader on your smart phone and point it at the image. It will take you directly to the merchant’s website or a video or to whatever location they chose when they created the QR Code.

If you scan the QR Code in this blog post, you will go directly to my website.

This is a great way to get your marketing message to your target audience.

For example, realtors are using QR Codes on signs to go directly to a video walk-through of the home they are advertising so potential buyers can watch the video on their smart phone.

I am starting to find more musicians who are interested in doing this. I don’t know how many times I have seen a band’s website on a flyer and never went to their website. How valuable would it be to the musician or a band if someone could click on a QR Code on their flyer and go directly to a video web page that showcased their performance?

Business owners could use the QR Code to go to a web page that has a 2 minute video of their marketing message. Much less expensive than a TV commercial and much more effective.

Now is the best time ever to start a business. We have tools available that make it so much easier to build a business than it was a decade ago.

Take advantage of this new technology to build and grow your business