Pizza For A Dream

A Letter From The Boss

My brother sent me this "letter" the other day and I thought I'd pass it along.  It speaks for itself...

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

Leadership By Example and The Young Entrepreneur

I'm a serial entrepreneur and have had several businesses that I've run over the years.  It's neat to see that one's example can have a big impact on others, especially future generations.  The post Entrepreneurship: A Narrative shows the impact my example has had on one of my nephews.  What example are you setting for those around you?  People are watching!! Stumble It!

Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

I just read a great post from Financial Jesus titled The Difference Between Good Debt and Bad Debt.  This post is a great synopsis the concepts of Robert Kiyosaki's, Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!   Change your thought process on debt and you'll change your future.  Applying these concepts have made a huge difference in our family!  Our kids will benefit big time from learning this at such and early age!
Stumble It!

Got Weeds in Your Head?

Take a field and till up all the soil and leave it for a month or so, what happens???

Are You an Ant or a Grasshopper?

Parable of "The Ant and the Grasshopper"

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances
and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm
and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so
he dies out in the cold.

Are You an Apple Farmer or a Potato Farmer?

I heard this story several years ago and thought it extremely appropriate to entrepreneurship, business, and everyday life.

Give It All You've Got

I read this post the other day and thought that Bluntmoney nailed it.  Checkout Give It All You've Got. Stumble It!

Entrepreneurship and Failure

In the last couple of weeks I've started to read the regular postings from the blog, mywifequitherjob.com.  One of their most recent posts is Entrepreneurship: What Is Your Definition of Failure?  Great post that I highly recommend reading.

Try, fail, adjust, try, fail, adjust, try, fail, adjust, try, fail, adjust...try, succeed!!!

Checkout Growth Only Occurs in the Valleys of Our Lives for another post relating to failure. Stumble It!

The Success Habits Wheel, Part III

Thus far we discussed reading and listening in Success Habits Wheel, Part I and consistency of work and learning in Success Habits Wheel, Part II.  In part III I'm going to discuss the habits of association and goal setting.

ASSOCIATION

I'll never forget growing up and hearing my parents tell me to stay away for this person or that crowd because they were a bad "influence."  I've heard it said more recently that if you want to catch a cold, hang out with people who have colds.  Well, for some reason, at a certain age (I have yet to determine what exactly) we cease to heed those warnings about bad influences and associations.  We hang out with whoever we want and we "associate" with all kinds of media (tv, music, internet) that is nothing but a bad influence.  We watch any kind of movie we want without concern for the messages that are taught.  We listen to lyrics that pollute the mind.  We spend time with people who have nothing good to say and who are always trying to keep us down in order to justify their lack of success.

To be successful in your chosen endeavor, you must consciously control these associations.  You must protect your thought process and isolate yourself from those who can do nothing but hurt you.  An example in my life is my associations at work.  I used to work out of a cubicle every day and in doing so got caught up in all the gossip and negativity that thrives in most work places.  Eventually, I was allowed to telecommute and my entire world changed!  I now had the ability to shelter myself from all the "water cooler" talk and focus on what is important to get the job done.

Every time you raise your head above the crowd, people are going to throw tomatoes!  Don't let this get you down, but also realize that the tomato throwers can't help you get where you want to go.  Get yourself around people who have a vested interest in you and your success.  Find mentors who are willing to cheer you on and also shoot to you straight about your progress.  In my business, I've found mentors who can help me out in all facets of my life.  Some provide paid expertise (my lawyer and accountant) while others have taken interest over the years and are willing to share their feedback and insights as a friend.

GOALS

Entire books have been written on this topic, so I won't do that here.  I just want to stress the importance of setting them.  Anyone can beat the greatest archer in the world (in archery) when the archer is blindfolded!  Is it any wonder that people who don't set goals, don't hit their target?!!  While some people go way overboard with their goals and have them set for everything, I think it's important to set some goals in several areas of your life.  Some of the goal areas I focus on include: business, work, financial, spiritual, fitness, reading.  Here's some of the goals I set at the beginning of 2008:

1. Read the entire Bible
2. Get back in shape running and get to 210 pounds
3. Pay cash for a van to replace my wife's car
4. Place 50 new vending locations
5. Place 3 more (for a total of 6) Houston Highlights locations
6. Bring 50% of our graphic design work in-house
7. Purchase and move into our first house
8. Do 150% to quota for the year at work

As you can see these goals span a wide range of areas of my life and to be honest, I've done much better at some than others.  I'll give you a final assessment of how I did in 2008 at the end of the year.

My goals above are all mid-term goals (essentially 1 year or less), but setting short-term and long-term goals are also important.  Short-term goals might be goals for a day, a week, or a month.  They could be as simple as setting a goal for the number of hours you might read or the number of miles you might walk/run.  One of my weekly short-term goals is to post 6 days a week on this blog, as an example.  Long-term goals might be for a 3, 5, or 10+ year period of time.  They might be to retire by a certain age or to have your house paid off by a certain time frame.  In a future post, I'll break down long term goals and how to translate them into short and mid-term goals.
Stumble It!

Just got reading the latest blog entry from Mark Cuban titled, The Cure To Our Economic Problems .  Love him or hate him, the guy knows his stuff and has proven it with his business success.  Other than an occasional expletive, great post! Stumble It!

"The cure to our economic problems is the Entrepreneurial Spirit of All Americans"

Just got reading the latest blog entry from Mark Cuban titled, The Cure To Our Economic Problems .  Love him or hate him, the guy knows his stuff and has proven it with his business success.  Other than an occasional expletive, great post! Stumble It!