It’s 2015 and we are only fourteen years into the 21st Century. We are alive and well in a new era that brings with it so much opportunity.
We are all pioneers at the forefront of a technological frontier and the possibilities are endless.
Yet, so many of us are stuck, in this new era, living our lives the old way!
We are stuck with a 20th century mentality.
We are stuck in the context of the industrial revolution. (That ended in 1989.)
We are stuck with the belief that there is only one way to be successful; a good job.
We are stuck believing that there is only one way to learn; to be taught.
We are stuck by what we don’t know or the fear of what we may not know.
We are stuck by the overwhelming access to the temporal richness of immediate entertainment.
We are stuck by the fear that uncertainty brings with any change.
We are stuck in our own stories about all the things that are wrong with the world today versus what is right.
We are just really stuck!
…and afraid!
What really makes me sad, is that so many of us are stuck in one or more of these ways, yet we literally have the world and all of its opportunity at are fingertips!
Yes! The world is at your fingertips!
This truth is the great equalizer of the 21st Century. The internet has connected us in so many different ways and has become the super highway of the Information Age.
In an effort to get us all unstuck; I have outlined 7 ways the world is literally at your fingertips:
1. The Mobile Device
Recently, I read a report on eMarketer.com that outlined the expectations of global mobile phone usage over the next three years. They expect 69.4% of the global population to have a mobile device in their hands by the end of 2017. Today over 4.5 billion people have a mobile device and are quickly adopting smart phone technology.
So what does all this mean?
Well, what I have deducted from this data, is that every time I pick up my mobile device in the near future, I have almost 70% of the world’s population at my fingertips.
They are reaching out to me through, blogs, videos, pictures and a host of other content and I get to choose whether I will reach out to them and create a connection.
The opportunity for global commerce has never been so wide open to the “Average Joe or Jane“.
We all should be working to figure out what gift/talent we have to offer, because the world is waiting to accept that gift/talent and buy!
2. Search Engines
As humans we will never achieve the ability to be omniscient, but we are further along than any generation before us.
The invention of the search engine has placed the knowledge and information we need and don’t need at our fingertips. We get to choose whether or not we will use it, but either way, the information is there.
The task we must undertake now is not how to get information, but rather how to turn information into executed knowledge.
3. VOIP
VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Let me explain why this technology is so revolutionary and important.
When I was a child, I had a few good friends that lived in other states. One of those friends lived on the east coast, in the New York area. I didn’t talk to him much on our wire line phone because in order to talk across state lines you had to pay a fairly expensive long distance premium.
Today, my friend still lives in the New York area, but I can talk to him on my mobile device for no premium at all. Better yet, I can talk to him at no premium, no matter where I am in the world.
Oh…and by the way, now I can also see him by using FaceTime, Skype or Zoom, via a WiFi connection for free!
This advancement has opened the door to creating meaningful connections across the globe. It’s no longer a matter of how to connect to that customer in Bali, Indonesia; it’s whether you choose to.
4. Mobile Pay
I can still remember the first time I took a payment from a customer, that was using a credit card, for my small business. It felt amazing!
At the time a didn’t really understand just how monumental that transaction would be, but all I knew is that for the first time in my life, I could do what the big mega-stores did. I could take a payment using a credit card.
That was some time ago. Today, the world of mobile commerce has made it possible for us all to carry our mobile payment device everywhere we go.
This past week, while sitting in the barber chair at my barbershop, I sent two payment request to customers. The transactions were complete before my haircut was done.
When my barber finished, I paid and tipped him using my cell phone.
In less than an hour, I had completed two global transactions and one local transaction and never went into my pocket for cash.
This is a global marketplace. Your customers aren’t just local anymore.
5. Social Media
Inspirational Perspective has a Facebook page. This page currently has about 3,100 followers.
When I break my fan base down by the cities in which they live, Chicago is number one in the rankings. Makes sense, because Chicago is my hometown.
However, I’m almost certain you wouldn’t guess the city that ranks number two. Here’s a hint…it’s not in the United Sates.
Kingston, Jamaica ranks number two, followed closely by Atlanta, GA. Panama City, Panama and Mumbai, India are also in the top ten.
I have more followers in Johannesburg, South Africa than I do in the neighboring city of Indianapolis, Indiana.
…and that’s just fine with me.
Maybe Indiana isn’t my market, but I’m pretty sure that Jamaica and South Africa are!
6. Language Translators
As you have probably already imagined, one of the barriers to working in a global market can be language.
…or maybe I should restate this.
One of the barriers to working in a global market used to be language.
With the help of online and real-time language translators I can chat with a client in Europe whose first language is German and later reply to an email I received in Spanish.
It really is up to me. I can make language the excuse or I can work to create whatever solutions may be necessary to keep in contact with potential clients and customers no matter what language the speak.
7. Travel Websites
Once again, the internet is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m an avid global traveller. I’m not only looking to make global connections from the comforts of my home in Chicago, but I also want to go and experience the world in which my current and future clients/customers live.
With the help of a plethora of different travel websites, I can learn the local customs, teach myself the basics words of the local language, identify the landmarks and locations to visit and see, and also book the best hotel for my needs.
My passport is the ticket to traveling the world, and the world is waiting to greet me, learn from me, buy from me, teach me and sell to me.
Your passport is your ticket to traveling the world, and the world is waiting to greet you, learn from you, buy from you, teach you and sell to you.
What are you waiting for?
The world is literally at your fingertips! Now what?
What are some other ways that the world is literally at our fingertips?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Please share and be sure to stay inspired; it’s a lifestyle choice!
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Resources used:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536
*World at the Fingertips*
by Prashant Trivedi
http://lotusocean.blogspot.in/2007/06/world-at-fingertips.html
one can now access anything: a person, music, movies, data, videos, info with a few touches of their fingertips
this immediate access gives a sense of power in a sense which was almost unthought of just twenty years ago
we are trying to discern whether this power is real or illusory
on the surface it seems you got it all; instant access to wherever, whoever, whatever … but is there any use of this, any real use of this supposed power to access? By real, I mean, does it evolve you? Give you a better afterlife by making you a better person? Does it enhance your importance in a local, galactic & multidimensional context?
the answer to this, from my point of view, is that this is only the case if this connectivity device is used wisely and precisely
for example one may read, listen or watch something on the technet(internet) which might trigger something dormant inside
they might utilize this awakening in their actual real biological life which can lead to evolution.
this is all a very touch and go situation … if this medium is used for mindless surfing of trivialites after encountering the real gems buried in the cybersea one will be becoming powerless instead of powerful
to think that this technology actually puts the ‘world at your fingertips’ is a misnomer
the world can only be at ones fingertips when one is perfectly embedded in the world
the term world here is the world of nature & the vast empty space within each atom
in our local sense the world represents the planet standing on which I am writing these words
it doesn’t include the artificial construct known as the modern civilisation.
to make my point simpler, I would like to say that one doesn’t own a piece of land just because they have papers from some fraud authority (known as government) saying so
one owns a piece of land if they are one with it i.e. their personal aura is perfectly embedded in the geomantic wave magnetics of the land
to quote Camelot ~ ‘Arthur and the land become One’ only when Arthur finds the grail
so one only has the world truly at their fingertips only if they are perfectly embedded in the Multiversal construct which creates the 14 realms/planes & the atoms and galaxies of the physical plane
at 13:48