I Invented The Internet

How to See Your Job as More Than Just a Job, But What You Produce?

Producing For Others – Part 2

Let’s talk about what it means to produce.  Just by defining the word will change your perspective on what it means to you and for your life, your business.  Produce: to make, cause to happen, to come into existence. There are things that you do that make, cause to happen, and to bring something into existence.

I often tease with our daughter, Tamia, that I helped invent the internet.  While she doesn’t believe this at all, there is some truth to it. In her thinking, “the Internet” is too great of a thing or concept for someone she knows, especially Dad, to have created.  What she hasn’t considered is that I’ve played some important roles in companies that have enhanced, altered, and produced what we all now enjoy as “the internet.” In my early career, I worked for BellSouth, who became AT&T.  I later worked for Bright House Networks who later became Spectrum. These companies represent a huge stake in telecommunications which today provide internet to millions. So in essence I’ve worked for over two decades helping make “the internet” what it is today.

What have you been producing?

The Thought or Concept:
What have you been doing all this time?

The easiest concept to imagine in terms of producing is to start with your job, your employment.  What is it you tell others you do on the job? You see you spend and have spent a large amount of time working for your employer, but why?  What have you been doing all this time? What skills do you possess that no one else possesses? What can you do to produce results for yourself and if not yourself for the company in which you’re employed?

The Practice:
We produce on our jobs.

Let’s start with our jobs, the places we’re employed.  If I were you I’d begin with my current job. Both my wife and I work outside and inside the home.  Therefore we have two jobs. We will begin with hers. In this exercise, take a moment to describe what you and (if you have a spouse) what your spouse does.

Due to privacy concerns for our companies, we won’t mention their names directly.

What my wife produces?  

• Access to doctors.  My wife helps produce a service to patients that gives them access to their physicians.  Imagine that. Just a few years ago this wasn’t a skill she possessed. We put this in our family plan because we don’t just go to work; we produce a service that’s necessary and valued by others.  Therefore what she does is not only important, but critical. Without her service, patients can’t see a doctor for their health needs, and doctors are unable to see patients to provide them with the care/service the doctors wish to provide/produce from them.  In other words, Pamela is a connector of people.

• Access to publications.  Prior to her current role, she worked for a company were her role was to provide publications to large enterprises.  She could have viewed her position as a person who sold magazines, but what she provided, what she produced (because we have a plan) is much more.  Not everyone can handle such volume or speak the language that large enterprises speak. She took this roles beyond what it was given and made it profitable for both herself and the company that employed her while providing value to her consumers.

Now I ask you to draft what you or your spouse produces.

My products and services.

• Information Services.  I spend my days providing people with information services.  I come up with solutions to information problems. That means I must know, not only how their computer equipment works, but the systems that are used for them to perform their jobs.  Many days I take it for granted how many systems and moving pieces there are, but what I never forget is how to help others solve their information problems. We’re talking about the services we produce and the products we offer.

• Project management.  Prior to what I currently do, I could sum up my product as project management.  You could give me a task or job and I’d put the team together to get it done and oversee its progress to completion.  Not to get too caught up in what I do, what is it you do for others? 

Together we produce.

• Content to enhance and better the lives of others.  Everyday we spend some of our valuable time creating content that serves others.  Like what you’re reading now. We have a few platforms that allow us to share what we’ve experienced and what we’ve been given.

What are you and your spouse producing together?  Side-note: I’d like to add this to our content on marriage.  I believe when a couple partners together to produce, there’s less time for challenges and arguments.  Their mission together in life is far too important for the petty things of life.

Today is Friday!

So what are you and how are your producing today?  That question alone will get you to think about your job differently.  Jim Rohn said this, “work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Since you must work on a job, don’t just go to work on the job, go to work on yourself.  What you produce? That skill, talent, gift is more important than the job itself. It’s time to stop working and start producing. 

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Our team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. Find out more about the Family plan here.[/su_note]