John Bird - The 10 Keys to Success

In his inimitable no-nonsense style, John Bird founder of the Big Issue shows us how to be successful in whatever we choose in just ten easy steps.

No one is born deserving anything you only deserve what you achieve by yourself. Drawing from this, Johns philosophy is based on the idea that success is about deciding what you want, working out what is important to you and then going out to grab it. The beauty of this approach is that we can all achieve whatever we want; we just need to go after it.

With unique lessons such as Dont be afraid to make mistakes along the way. Instead, make mistakes and learn from them and Take responsibility for yourself as you are no one elses problem, The 10 Keys to Success shows us how uncomplicated success can be.

John Bird is the founder and editor of The Big Issue, a news and current affairs magazine launched in September 1991. It is written by professional journalists and sold on the streets by homeless vendors looking to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Vendors buy the magazine at a wholesale rate and sell it, keeping the profit for themselves. They are self-employed and encouraged to be responsible for handling their earnings.

John was born into a London Irish family in a slum-ridden part of Notting Hill just after the Second World War. Homeless at five, in an orphanage between seven and ten, he began to fail over and over again in every area of his life. From the age of ten onwards he was shoplifting, house-breaking and stealing whatever he could lay his hands on. Vandalism and arson were also among the crimes he committed.

In his late twenties, and after several prison sentences, John became involved in politics. He also fathered three children, became a printer and successfully ran his own small business. At the age of 45, his many life experiences enabled him to start production of The Big Issue.

He has spent the last 14 years in charge of the development of The Big Issue which is now an international movement providing opportunities for people facing homelessness to help themselves. It forges partnerships with social entrepreneurs to launch businesses for social change in cities worldwide. Setting up street papers to help socially excluded people is central to this.

John Bird was awarded the MBE for services to homeless people by Her Majesty the Queen in June 1995. He is a Fellow of John Moores University, Liverpool, a Visiting Professor at Lincoln University, and a Doctor of Letters at Oxford Brookes University. In 2003, he was chosen by the Queen as one of the top Most Important Pioneers in Her Majestys Reign. In 2004, he received from the United Nations a Scroll of Excellence for his international work in poverty, presented by the President of Kenya at the Habitat Celebration in Nairobi. In the same year he also won a public vote by BBC London as Londons Living Legend, beating people such as Terence Conran, Barbara Windsor and Linford Christie.

I HAVE VERY little time for those books that contain mumbo jumbo like, You can be anything you want. You just have to believe. Well, excuse me for throwing cold water over your dreams, but I think we all know that is utter rubbish. You may as well say that just wishing for a million pounds will deliver it. The sad thing is there are people who believe this. They read these so-called, positive thinking books that tell them they only have to think it and they will have it. Now, seriously, how do you think thats going to happen?

Sure, there are those few people who seem to rise to dizzy heights despite having the odds stacked against them, but the reason we read about them is because they are special. The rest of us must learn to work with what weve got. Im not saying that your life is decided for you. I just think we all have to come to terms with our own talents and skills, and figure out what we can do with them. It may not be possible to be anything you want but it is possible to become something.

We have all seen those talent shows on TV where people who cant sing a note think that they can do it very well. All that happens is that they look foolish. You watch them and you start to wonder why they are doing it, when they could be putting their energies into something else. Apart from the ones who are really a bit mad, its obvious that many of them have not been honest with themselves. You can see them thinking, Anyone can do it, so why cant it be me? Well, sure, anyone can do it, but you need to be able to sing first. And then you need to have that thing called star quality. Frankly speaking, those two things alone mean that very few people can do it. The rest are living in a dream world.

My point is that you can have all the dreams you want, but you need to put something towards those dreams to make them work. The engine wont go if you dont put the right fuel into it. Have you got that fuel? For example, if you want to run a caf you need to know what people eat and how to make it. You need to know how to draw up a budget. You need some money to put towards it. You need the freedom to work all the hours God sends. You need to like people because its a people business. And then you need to put it all together, and be prepared not to make any real money for maybe a year. If you have spent the past 25 years working in an office for someone else, this kind of move will be a big shock. It is not an impossible dream but it means you need to be honest with yourself.

What are you aiming for? You might be thinking about moving to another country, changing your job or even improving your social skills. Get a piece of paper. At the top of the page write down your aim. Lets say its a career change. You might even know what youd like to do. Perhaps youd like to work in the City, and you know you need to get some sort of qualification in finance. You have seen that there are many courses on offer. So now you need to figure out how to fit that into your current life, because youre going to have to juggle both things for a while.

On one side of the page write down the things in your life that will help you make this happen. For instance, you might have help from your family, a strong desire to do the course and a college close by. Those are strengths. But on the other side you will need to write down weak points. These might include the fact that you have not studied for some time, and that you will find it hard to make time to study, even with family support. Once you have done this, you need to figure out how you can improve those weak points and maybe even get rid of them. Perhaps you could start work earlier one day so you can get to your course on time. Its a bit like trying to make the pieces of a jigsaw fit together, and you need to think it through.

It is only when you have a firm idea of what you want to do that you can work towards it. Say you want to live in the country. If you think, I want to move out of London at some point, you are less likely to achieve it. This is because moving out of London at some point is not a firm goal. It is too big and airy fairy. You need to think about where you will live and how you will live. In the country? In a house? Are you going to sell your house? Are you going to rent one? What work will you do? The more you narrow down your idea into something clear, the more likely you are to work out whether you can do it. Otherwise I reckon youre just playing at it.

If youve been honest about your skills and you have a pretty solid idea of what you want, what happens next? Well, you need to start somewhere and that means starting small. When I wanted to move out of a life of poor jobs, my first aim was to keep out of trouble. When I had managed to do that for a few years I was pleased with myself. Goodness, I thought, I can change. That made me feel that something new was possible.