In this short time, I have already learned a lot about being a business owner. I know, I only have one week under my belt, right?  I think I have benefited by working with someone who has a true entrepreneurial gift. Just observing him in action has taught me the following about starting a business:

• Customers come from anywhere. This could be friends, families, strangers, goofy conversations, serious conversations, old connections, and basically anyone you run into.
• You have to be your own best cheerleader. You have to talk about what you do to just about everyone you meet, and you have to tell them why you are going to be better than the rest.
• You have to have no fear. Rejection? It happens. Uncharted territories? You will travel them. Failure? You betchya.
• All advertising is expensive, except word of mouth.
• Statistically, you get more business through word of mouth than any other form of advertising…
• It is easier to put the cart before the horse.
• You will have questions the Internet may not be able to answer.

Yea, it’s a lot. If things continue to go well, God willing, I will get to learn a lot more.

-Don-

When someone approached me to ask what the conversation was about, I stated, “leer jets, you know, something none of us will ever have the money for.” At this point, a co-worker (who actually is a millionaire, by the way) told me my answer was the reason I would never be rich. At first I wanted to say something like, “that and, I do not believe in the ‘power of positive thinking’, Norman.”

But then it started to hit me, after all these years, my wife was right. I tend to stop when things are simply “good enough.” I often pull the plug when there is too much of a risk involved. I tend to be a “safe” person. I have told her before I was surprised we live in a big house because I always figured I would be lucky to be a home owner. I never thought I would make a decent income. I always thought I would continue the trend of poverty which I grew up in. I know these are gifts from God to take care of my ever expanding family. But none-the-less, they really surprise me. God has been good to me, despite me.

I believe in some respects, this has been a sin. See, I have often let life just happen. Monday turns to Tuesday, and things just happened. I spend too much time waiting for the big invite as opposed to being the one doing the inviting. Instead of taking the risk, I calculate it over and over again. I analyze the opportunity to death hoping it will pass my by before I can make a decision. I believe all great things done in the Kingdom have to be planned and steps have to be implemented. As a follower of Christ, time is critical. All days should have a purpose, to glorify God in all we do.

We, I, cannot simply sit around and watch life happen. I need to be intentional.

By God’s grace and because of His mercy, I will be.

-Don-

Somehow, water was coming up through the floor and destroyed the carpet. The main room that was flooded was our kids playroom. I was cleaning up wet toys everywhere in order to get to the carpet so I could rip most of it out. As I was taking towys out of the room, I placed them next to a bunch of stuff. It was at this time I noticed my family was not without things.

Things take up space which in turns takes up my time. Think about it. First off, we have to spend time pursuing and researching our things. There are very few times in my life where I make a purchase without first comparing items and reading reviews. After I purchase the item, I have to learn how to use it and discover all of it’s great features. Then, when I am done with the item, I have to make a space for it to rest. This might mean cleaning a room or a shelf in order to give this item a place to lay dormant. Finally, there comes a day when I have to remove the item from my house because either it is broken, or I have decided not to use it anymore. This comes after I have moved it from place to place a thousand times because it is “in the way.” This means, instead of doing the things I enjoy to do or I am called to do, I am rearranging stuff.

Not only does our “stuff” clutter our lives, we let events clutter our lives. One thing I learned early on in life was to learn to tell people the word “no.” All too often we let ourselves get sucked into doing things we either have no business doing, or that extend us beyond our reasonable commitments. We often lose out on doing what we ought to be doing because we are too busy doing what we have no right to be doing.

I am hoping to set some priorities over the next couple of months and getting rid of clutter; both in terms of things and in terms of time. Please do not be offended if I tell you “no” or if I try and pawn some of my junk off on to you

-Don-

In this installment, I will be answering questions from the end of chapter 4. These questions are about setting goals and taking action.

1. Are you a goal setter? Do you typically set goals at the first of the year. If not, why not?
   I am a goal setter.  I tend to set goals for everything. This goes with me being a spreadsheet guy as well. I love to map out plans and try and make achievements. In reality, when I do not achieve a goal, it tends to make me upset. I am pretty drive and it takes a lot for me not to do something.
   New years day tends to be a day I do think about what I want the next year to look like. Many of my goals are similar or superficial. I did spend extra time this year thinking about what I wanted this year to look like. I could write another, longer post on those goals.
   
2. How would you describe your current focus on work?
   I have started to come out of a time when I was not focused on the task(s) at hand. I experienced months of failures, one right after another. For a time last winter, I lost focus. I had no goals to reach for, nothing I hoped to obtain. I was frustrated and felt there was no real way out. For the most part, I really stopped focusing on anything. It was one of those times when I let life happen to me. I did not try to do anything within my calling.
   This has changed. By the grace of God I have discovered there are things to do, even if they are not how I envisioned them, to spread the Gospel.
   
3. What hobbies do you have? What other skills and interests do you have?
   My hobbies range from blogging (obviously) and writing, to playing my guitar, to reading. I also enjoy playing with IT and networking. My interests, which I am not as active in, include landscaping, hiking, and camping.
   As for skills, I honestly do not know if I have anything I really excel in. One area I do think I have gifting in is preaching, however, I do not know if I do it overly well. I have not spent enough time honing this skill. Other than that, I do not do a lot of things really well. This is not a “poor little ol’ me” sentiment, but I do not really do a lot of things well. You could say I am a jack of all trades, yet master of none.
   
4. How are you involved in community?
   I am involved with my church to a great degree. I spend time with my community group and some of the men at our church.  At times we take classes together or hang out. I hope to continue to grow with my community.
   
5. What was your father’s or mother’s attitude toward work and how has that affected you?
   I am pretty sure both of my parents were pretty hard workers. My dad is the kind of guy who takes pride in his work and has always done an excellent job. I believe my mom to be the same way. they both impressed upon me from an early age that I needed to work hard in order to be a productive member of society.

There you have it. I am a goal setter. I think at times I am too easily distracted from my goals. If I decide I am going to go for something, I will, with everything inside of me. If I get distracted in any way, I will usually put it (my goal) on hiatus. Setting goals is not the problem, I think at times I set too many. I need to simplify my life a little and make sure I am doing what God has called me to do, and not everything else.

-Don-

There are seven areas Dan Miller thinks are essential to achievement. Today’s assignment is to go through those seven areas and see where I stand and how I am contributing to each area.  I am going to go a step further and investigate ways I need to improve.

Here we go:

1. Financial
   Of course this comes after I spent money on clothes, shoes and blew $3 at a gas station on a Cliff bar and a Coke. All without it being in my plans.  Honestly, this is an area I get streaky in. I do well to attempt to get us out of debt (got a ton of student loan debt) and then I spend about a month making no progress. I need to sit down with wife and go over budget and look at our plan. I would like to make some additional income to knock out debt faster.
   Mr. Miller suggests having a five year income goal, mine is to increase my income by 50%. This should not be too hard as I do not have an incredibly high income currently.
   
   
2. Physical
   Just started working out again. I went up about ten pounds over the winter and have lost 3 of them (I am now at 170, do the math). Looking to get down to the 160 area and put on some muscle over the spring and summer.
   
3. Personal Development
   I feel this has been at a bit of a standstill. I have not pursued any real education over the last couple of months. I started a book by John Frame and discovered it took more concentrating and study than I was ready for, so I put it down in favor of an easier read by John Stott. I chickened out on my development.
   I would like to do more studying and researching into being a better writer. Not just for blogs, but overall. I will include this on my reading goals for the remainder of the year. I would also like to begin my studies in learning Hebrew.
   
   
4. Family
   Dropped. The. Ball.  I have not been as active or engaged with my kids as I would like to be. Sure, we play a game at night and I read to them, but I feel I spend more time correcting them (“don’t do that to your sister, put that down, don’t climb the refrigerator!”) than I do actually playing with them and teaching them.
   I am thankful my wife and I have had time to have good conversations. I feel our relationship, by God’s grace, gets stronger and stronger daily. I would like to take her out on a date as it has been awhile since we have gone out, just the two of us. I need to work that into my financial goals.
   
5. Spiritual
   I do not have a good gauge to judge this right now. From the legalist standpoint, I would look pretty good. I read my Bible, pray, and participate in church activities, etc. On the surface, the world seems to be good. I do know I feel a bit of lack in my relationship with Christ. I want to know Him more and to glorify Him in more areas of my life. I know I have sin to kill. I would like more conversations to be intentional and Gospel centered (especially with non-Christians).  I would also like to simplify my life so I can be more generous with time and money, and fast more.
   
6. Social
   I have come upon some challenges in the social area. My wife is helping me to push my boundaries more and to get out and be more social (I’m pretty introverted). I would like to “network” more with people who have similar interests. That is part of the reason behind this. I would also like to spend more time deepening current friendships and being helpful to those around me. I would like to get to know my neighbors better. I have lived here for two years and have only shallow relationships with most of those around me. I would say this is my weakest area of achievement.
   
   
7. Career
   I am learning more skills which may get me higher pay in the future.  In turn, I am also learning about my love of writing and I am looking for ways to improve. I am hoping ot either transition to a higher paying position within my current field (IT), or making a switch altogether into something different. I am also praying about my future in ministry and what that might look like. I do not feel the calling to pastor or church plant has left me in any way.

This exercise is a easy, but insightful. I would recommend anyone out there take a swing at it. If you want, take one or more of the categories and put your responses to it in the comments.

-Don-