Married to your business…

I was talking to an old musician one time and he was relaying stories to me about some great musicians he had an opportunity to play with in his lifetime. He was a good musician, but felt he had missed his full potential. He told me that as a piano player, if I wanted to be great in my craft, I had to make a choice. I looked at him and wondered, “What is he talking about?” For the next few minutes he explained his logic. You see, he was well on his way to a music career and then it happened…he met a woman and ended up getting married. I looked at him at this point in the story like,” What’s wrong with that?” He then went on to explain to me that his priorities had to change at this point away from his passion of music to his passion for his wife. He then told me a line that should be in movies that I never forgot, “No great musician has been able to have both, a wife and success in their craft…one will be sacrificed at times if you try and entertain both.” He went on to say,”If you want to be a great musician, leave them women alone because they do not like to compete with anything, not even your passions.”

I was 19 years old at the time and sitting there thinking, “Could he be right?” Is it impossible for someone to maintain a strong relationship and entertain building a strong career? Is there some validity to what he said? Now at 30, I see what the guy was telling me, but I am able to put it into perspective. As an entrepreneur, a large part of your life has to be devoted to building your business. It becomes a type of “marriage” of sorts. You have to be fully committed to it, you can’t spend too much time away from it, and you can’t “cheat” on it with other endeavors or the “relationship” will suffer. For your business, or any passion in life that you want to cultivate, to be successful you must place high priority on it. Entrepreneurs typically are lonely people in the beginning stages of their business because of the time commitment required.

While other people are going out, you are at home working. While other people are trying to build relationships with the opposite sex, you are trying to build partnerships with a competing business. While others are “enjoying” life, you are supposedly living a “boring” life devoted to a business. Can you entertain a relationship and a business, career, or passion at the same time? It depends on the persons involved. The only way it can be successful, in my opinion, is if your mate is just as devoted to supporting your passions as they are supporting you. What does this mean? They have to understand the time commitment involved, in the initial stages, with your business. They have to understand that you are laying a foundation for you future, so you can live in the house of success later. They have to understand you.

Can you entertain a wife/husband or relationship and your passion at the same time? It depends on the person. I do not criticise people that say they are “married to their career” and I do not criticise people that say you need “the support of a mate” to accomplish your goals in life. It is a matter of choice. Balance in your life is not based on what people think it should be, it is based on what you want it to be. If you are comfortable with what you focus your attentions on and you know the end results, press towards your goals. Entrepreneurs are often lonely people, even when they make the choice to bring a relationship into the equation though. Simply put, the guy was right in one respect, few people will understand and have an appreciation for your passion as you do! No one said being “married” to your business or passion is a bad thing, you will probably go from “poorer” to “richer” a lot faster than you would being married to the opposite sex! Haven’t you ever wondered why in a wedding ceremony they say for “richer” first and then hit you with the bombshell for “poorer” next, but yet put in “sickness” first and in “health” second.

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.” -Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” -Vidal Sassoon

 

What is the price of freedom?

One thing has driven ordinary people to extraordinary results through out history…FREEDOM. It has caused people to lose their lives in pursuit of it, flee their homelands in hopes of experiencing it, and make alliances that normally wouldn’t be made to achieve it. Why are people willing to put so much into the concept and idea of freedom? Freedom has caused people to realize the strength and resolve they have inside. Freedom has caused people to fight to survive in the midst of oppression and resistance. Freedom has lead every great change in society and created the best civilizations in the world, including America.

With the history of freedom, and the sacrifce that people are still making for freedom…Why are there some people voluntarily in bondage? Why would someone choose the comforts of slavery over the unpredictability of freedom? Why don’t people take every opportunity to be free? Everyday in America, people go to work in places they are not passionate about. Everyday in America, people put their passions aside to chase the “almighty dollar.” Everyday in America, people enslave their potential and barter their freedom for what seems comfortable. I call them the enslaved free.

Colleges and universities teach students to get a good job, work hard , and then retire. Some parents teach children from a young age to find a job so they can be “responsible” adults. Everything in our society encourages bondage, even though people don’t see it. You go to work to create “freedom”, so you think, when you are actually pushing yourself further into bondage if it is not what you are passionate about. What is true freedom? True freedom is pursuing what you are passionate about. True freedom is not based on money, it is based on opportunity and passion. Self inflicted bondage takes place when you voluntarily choose to stay in a place that you are not passionate about. Self inflicted bondage occurs when you realize you are so deep into the self enslavement that you cannot see how to get out. This bondage comes from working on a job and living above your means. You feel trapped and chained, and shackled! How do you turn it around!?

You must create an action plan to get free! You have got to focus on what you are passionate about and fight to go after it. You have got to put fear behind you. You have got to work towards your freedom! You have to realize that true freedom can only come when your full potential is released. Don’t enslave your potential. It may look more comfortable, but there will never be true security until you control your own destiny in life with God’s help. This comes through taking the necessary risks that you must take to make it happen. Fight for your freedom!

“You can’t separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” -Malcolm X

 

What are you waiting for?

I often hear people in my favorite coffee house talk about their dreams and goals and those conversations are valuable to me. When people quit dreaming, they quit living. If they don’t take actions on those dreams, they reduce the value of the life they are living. How many people dream without having the earnest expectation that they will happen? I enjoy these conversations because these individuals are working to make sure that their dreams happen. To dream alone will not bring what you desire into reality. The catalyst between the two is action. Do not just dream, take action to make it happen! Acknowledge that the sky is limitless above you!

Remove the ceiling
by M.L. Hodges
why do you refuse to acknowledge the sky?

there are no barriers around you,
hope and faith have found you,
everything that you see is true,
make the decision—what are you going to do?

why are you unwilling to reach for it and jump,
afraid of the wings that just might emerge?!
—the wind that will hold them up,
the direction that you will glide into?

why are you just standing there?
—in all your fear you are completely unaware that right now you aren’t going any where…

if you reach and jump,
you just might fly…
why do you refuse to acknowledge the sky?

Entrepreneurs aren’t crazy…

Sometimes I wonder as a small business owner if I am valiant for taking a risk or stupid for not thinking practically. You face so many challenges out on this limb that you feel at many times the limb is about to break and yield you free falling to the bottom! Running and maintaining a small business seems like an impossible feat…why would someone want to do that? Forget the reality that millions of Americans clock in at businesses every day that were founded the same way. Forget the fact that you will never obtain wealth working for someone else. Why would you want to live on the edge everyday working hard to make something materialize from nothing except your own great ideals? It seems insane right?

However, it is not insane. In the state of Texas where I reside, 90% of the businesses that employ people are small businesses. This means that the majority of employers in this state started out just like me…taking a risk that seemed insane. Maybe the “practical thinker” is the one that has missed that mark. Practical thinking usually equals conformity. Practical thinking usually equals assimilation and practical thinking may be the very thing that is actually more risky now. With rising gas prices, inflation, wars and rumors of wars–there is no job that is secure. When the economy is down, companies get rid of there most expensive commodities–employees. The other problem with practical thinking is that you live life so “safe” that you may be missing an opportunity to take the one risk that will be the portal to your dreams. So as I rationalized and analyzed this very thought today, I realized that as an entrepreneur I am not crazy. I propose the notion that the millions of Americans that are trusting someone else to provide for them by way of employment just might be though! We are increasingly becoming a society where we must depend on ourselves for the financial health of our families. This is not just a thought…this is becoming the reality in America. You must face it or be left behind.

You must have passion….

You can achieve anything in life that you put your heart into. I really believe that people contain the tools to their personal success on the inside. In my life, I have realized that God has often lead me in my pursuit of purpose back to the things He gifted me with on the inside. He designed all of us with everything we need to fulfill our lives and impact the lives of others. We must always look inside and above to achieve all that God has in store for us. The best is really yet to come for you! It takes time to refine what you are purposed to do and patience because of the seriousness of the assignment that you have. Every one can choose to make the most out of life or they can choose to squander their time away. You can decide from this day forward to reach for every day in front of you with all that you have to be the person that you desire. Go after your dreams in life as if your life depends on it. Chase your dream as if it is a criminal that has taken everything valuable from you. Go and get all that you are designed to be and all that you desire to be. Be patient, stay focused, and you will reach that goal! Winston Churchill once said that “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Do you see opportunity or difficulty?

Question of the day?

Why do committees always meet and never accomplish anything? In many businesses, clubs, and organizations people often will assign committees to perform certain tasks to ease the load of the total group. Many of these committees ,however, are not given clear tasks and the end result is a complete waste of time for every individual involved. There is nothing more excruciating than sitting through an unorganized meeting! I have a suggestion for all people that want to form committees…Make sure that you have a CLEAR objective before you assign a committee. Here are my five points for committees that I think will help you in your business, organization and/or club.

1. Make a mission statement for the committee that will serve as a mechanism to ensure that everyone one on the committee and that joins the committee in the future will be on the same page

2. Set goals for the committee in the beginning that have to be completed by a specific date

3. Assign members to the committee that have a level of expertise in the area that the committee is designed to research (i.e if the committee is structured to research computers, you need a computer expert on the committee)

4. Make sure that whoever designated the committee serves as a check and balance system for the committee by keeping them on target with their time lines and tasks

5. If the committee is not performing up to par, dissolve it or assign more competent leadership for it

Hopefully these suggestions will help people to quit wasting valuable time on committees that have no clear objective and are clearly unorganized. I know that I can not personally take sitting through another unorganized, waste of time, committee meeting!

You can build a succesful business!

Everyday millions of Americans go to work on a job that they assume will be there. They wait for a check that they assume their employer will have with confidence. The employer or company founder however, is simply some one that took confidence in his or her own ability and convinced you to believe their story enough to tell it as their employee. When you work for some one, you are telling their story, bringing their dream to reality and putting yours on the “back burner”. That’s right…you are growing the dream of someone else. Every company started with an individual with an idea.You perceive that working for someone else has more value than creating work. You perceive that you cannot make it on your own. You perceive that the possible reality is an impossible dream that is not attainable. You perceive that the founder of your place of employment is different than you! Unfortunately, you equally perceive that your employer will always have your check. These assumptions are not only flawed, but they can be psychologically damaging when you realize that the truth is different.

The truth is an employer can get rid of you at anytime for whatever reason they choose. The truth is to corporations, government agencies, schools (yes, schools), and all other employers you work for—you are expendable! Yet, you go to work everyday looking forward to retirement—while miserable in the present. You live your life dependant on another individual’s success or failure. You buy houses, cars and get into debt with the expectation that the job someone else created for you will always be there. How can you possibly put that much confidence in another person?! The reality of life is ultimately you are responsible for yourself; your family, and making your dreams become a reality! That is the only absolute that you can count on! You will never reach your ideal job in your career until you create it.

There are two kinds of people in life: 1. Visionaries 2. Followers. If you are a visionary you can see beyond your surroundings and work hard until your dream happens. If you are follower, you go with the flow and get a good job, work for 30 years, retire and enjoy a little bit of life just before you die! Entrepreneurs are visionaries. Entrepreneurs never give up, chart their own course, and literally make up in their minds that nothing will stop them from being successful. Entrepreneurs understand that trusting someone else to provide for you is simply another means of enslaving your potential and stifling your creativity. It will not get better, your boss will never appreciate you as much as you value yourself, and you will never become wealthy working for someone else! Change your perception! The gifts that God has given you are not exclusive to your employer—they go wherever you go because they are a part of your spiritual and psychological make up. You can chart your own course in life! You can climb to the mountaintops of life and plant your flag of determination that catapults you to the limitless sky above. You can achieve it!!! You have got to believe what you are capable of and quit living beneath your potential.