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Keeping What You Reep

By Filed Under: Start Here
IRS goofiness

IRS goofiness, Abolish The IRS, IRS is EVILI don’t hide the fact that I’ve been knocked around by the IRS.  It’s pretty obvious that those morons have dug into me.  The dynamic blows: when I call, I view them as callow, shallow and parasitic opportunists that are too cowardly to make a buck so they hurt, enslave, and steal from others, anything to justify their existence.  They view me as a tax cheat, unwilling to wait my turn to reap the benefits of work, and stealing money from welfare babies.

The truth is probably a little of both or something.

But, the real challenge of running around this way, the real bummer of everything I’m trying to do is that–since this became acute at the end of 2006, it’s been damn near impossible to retain money.   They’ve levied multiple accounts while I was, in good faith, negotiating with them.  The decisions I make have to be based on a shorter than normal horizon because they can suffocate me by taking what I do earn.

It’s gotten better since I shored up my accounting and since I got everything (more or less) correctly filed.   I’ve learned that I can take a pounding and keep a marriage (more or less) together.  I learned that I can be a good dad and not snap at my kids despite some fierce stress.

But, it’s frustrating as hell working as hard as I have learned to and not build wealth.  I’m $85,000 in debt, today, and that’s half the amount it was.  I’m chunking out money every single month and it’s exhausting to run to beat the devil.  On my board sits the 5 major debts that I have (student loan, IRS, car, student loans for H & other).

Not having a reserve means you are on a rat race system, accumulating time debt and not able to do what you want to do.   Still, since we cut expenses by downsizing, we’ve got the wiggle room to move, because we don’t have any weeks that cost more than $800 bucks.  We can beat this thing back $300 at a time, and we are.   The interest each month is less.

If I didn’t have bizarre confidence in my skills, I would have caved a long time ago.  I know that I will beat this thing, and build something.  $35 dollars at a time, $200 dollars a week.  All it takes.

Oh, yeah.

You should all go to http://guerrilla.me/thesisblogs and tell me what to do to make that video better.  And, buy a couple blogs.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasingfun/

Consistency is What It Takes: Don’t be an Idea Guy

By Filed Under: Start Here

How do you create consistency in your life?

Showing up, fully engaged is a big part of work.  Being a machine, like Seth Godin, like NameTag Scott is the way to have wild success, wild wealth, and more of what you want.  The quality of your ideas is less important–by far–and less novel–by far than the execution.

Ideas are everywhere.  Execution is 90% of it or more.  “Idea guys” are worthless.  Utterly entitled useless pieces of crap.  The idea isn’t the novel thing, and the older and presumably wiser I get the more  I know it.  It’s easy to have a dazzling idea, a new and novel thing that you could make some day.

It’s hard to get up every day, look people in the eye and serve them with all of your heart, mind, mind, soul & strength.  It’s hard to show the patience and confidence you need.  It’s easy to be the smart kid, it’s easy to be the one with the answers.  It’s hard, really hard, to show up every day and have the enduring faith that it takes to work towards your goal, especially when instant results are out the window.

How many exciting, great ideas have you had that would be AWESOME if they were put into practice?

How many NBA players had roughly the same physical gifts as Michael Jordan (Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, Anfernee Hardaway) but didn’t hit the same heights?  MJ’s mental gifts were far more novel than his physical gifts.

Right now, I’m trying to learn to develop the consistency needed to get past the ‘next level’ and go to the one beyond that.  It’s not about intellect, acumen or acuity, it’s about just blocking out distractions and doing it.  It’s about getting up and rolling.   Not getting-ready-to-roll.  Preparation has its place, but only in moderation.

Lots of little things help.  Keeping a list helps.  Clearing a schedule helps.  Paying a little bet on a debt every day helps.  Morning pages helps.  I’ve come farther along than I thought possible.  But I need to be hitting it hard.

How do you create consistency?  Are you really doing it?  Are you being honest with yourself?

Ideas are everywhere, and without execution totally worthless.  A mediocre idea executed with passion and fervor will beat the hell out of genius ideas that sit in drawers.

Bullying People Is A Distraction: False Courage and a Monday Mea Culpa.

By Filed Under: Start Here
DiSC-InspirationalPattern

First, a friend passed this along to me.  DiSC-InspirationalPattern Click it to make it all big and such. I think.  I do

Al Pacino’s character in “A Scent of A Woman.” had one of the coolest speeches ever.  He was a ruthless dude, a poet’s soul that barked order’s at the world to obscure his mediocrity.  I know the type.

This speech, and another one where he talks to Charlie and says “It’s all right Charlie. You break my heart son. All my life I’ve stood up to everyone and everything because it made me feel *important*. You do it… because you mean it. You’ve got integrity Charlie. I don’t know whether to shoot you or adopt ya.”.

This above one was the more famous.  About 2/3 of the way through, he says that he knew the right path.  (Start at 4:30) “I have come to the crossroads.  I always knew…what the right path was….but I never took it.”

Amen, brother.  It’s hard.  Right now, it’s hard.  It’s gonna be hard later.

False courage is easy.  People are mostly sheep.  They are mostly afraid.  Notice this?  Any employee of a coproration hasn’t had to do what I do to make a living.  They just have to get sheered.  Over…and over.  Statement of fact.   I’m tougher.  I don’t have that thing in your soul that makes other people’s insanity tolerable (sometimes I generate my own).

Part of me does that.  I will–and do–stand up to anyone.  It’s easy.  It’s easy to pick a fight and it’s easy to pressure morons and liars into doing your bidding.  What they say in the Fight club is true: it’s tough to get someone to fight you.  People back down and wither.  You put pressure on an individual, and they buckle.   You win, you get your way.  But that’s not courage.

But it’s a DISC-D ruse/distraction.  Deal is, bullying people is a distraction.  It’s always easy.    It’s false courage.  It’s stupid.  Even the IRS Agents don’t like my jabs.  Nobody does.  Easy to be a loud dog.  Harder to pick your bullets.

Honesty, Mortgage Brokers, Subprime

By Filed Under: Start Here

Really digging into “Your Money Or Your Life” right now.  It’s a different personal finance book.  It really engages your mind; it’s got nine steps, and all of them take some personal commitment.  But when done, all of the nine steps make you accurate, honest and meticulous.

The first step is figuring out your lifetime income along with your net worth.  REALLY figuring it out, no guesses, get tax forms from the IRS figuring it out.  And it takes time.

Honesty is something that’s come up lately a lot.  I’m not perfect yet.  I want to be better, and get as close to honesty as I can.  Nobody does things perfectly–not me, nobody.  I’m certainly more honest than I was a year ago, and more than I was five year ago.

But most of the lying that we do is lying to ourselves.  I have been a good income earner most of my life.  Had a couple rough years (2001, 2006), but since I started working, I’ve not had that part of the equation be a fail.  I have failed in other areas–and it’s knowing this that allows me to be free from it.  I overspent on advertising.  I never really understood where business was coming from.

When you have a lapse in integrity, it’s important to man up.  To fix it PLUS one.  I had a recent dealing with Infusionsoft that is like that. The salesperson, Lou Caporaletti was lazy.  He offered me a favor that didn’t appear to be within his authority.  He overcharged my credit card.  This was an error, but he acted entitled, like I was doing him a favor when I wanted to be put right.  I didn’t ask for the favor.  He offered, I accepted.  When I wanted to hold him to it, he excused himself from telling the truth by saying, “Hey, it’s not like I was making money on the deal.”

Not a bad guy, but he made a mistake that he refused to correct.  I get 100 hits a day on CRM Reviews, and my Infusionsoft review, when it comes, will be tempered by this horrific experience and the fact hat he felt comfortable doing this.  But, I digress.  He wasn’t dishonest, he was lazy.  He made a promise he didn’t have authority to make, and when it went awry, he didn’t fix it.  The net effect is still dishonesty.

That said, I am seeking myself, and I reamain optimistic about the use of Infusionsoft.  It was built with a lot of care, and I’ll have it set up in a week or so, and let you know how I fare.

Your Mortgage Broker Didn’t Lie: He Just Didn’t Look Things Up

That’s how most lies are.  They are told for the sake of expedience.  People want to appease one another, end tension and get through the conversation.  They say any old thing, lacking precision.  We do that to ourselves.  For years, I didn’t worry about my looming IRS and other financial issues because I can earn money.  (Not as much as I think, my top line is OK but I piss away too much to earn it, and don’t do that math–If I earn $160k and spend 40k to get there, I forget the 40k and think of the 160k).

The lending industry was like that.  Most of the time, the lender just wanted to figure out what the initial rate was, where it capped, and that was it.  They wouldn’t familiarize themselves with the terms, so they’d pitch a deal with reasonably good intentions, the only problem is was that they are lazy, and didn’t bother to look too much up.

The net effect of not being meticulous is dishonesty.  People make mistakes, but not finding the information, not possessing it is the same thing as lying about it. I don’t know if it’s as bad as trying to defraud someone or not.  It’s just not a standard for me.

What Are You Lying To Yourself About?

By Filed Under: Achieving Goals, Start Here
liarliarposter

Iliarliarposter spent my 20′s earning–and spending–a lot of money.

I earned money from being a Real estate agent, and I spent money on nothing.  I had the ostrich head in sand problem for a long time.  Have played at this, but never DONE it.

I’m not unusual.  I have some cash in the bank, but when you take the IRS, the people I borrowed from to bail myself out of the IRS, and everything else, my net worth is -89,000.   That’s negative.  I’m 89,000 in the hole, and happy that I’m not in jail.  In the last 9 years, I’ve only had 2 years that were under six figures.   The bulk of the damage, the state and IRS tax bill that was once $170,000 is now down to $25,000.  It’ll get knocked out. And it’ll make a good story.

I honestly believed it to be less till recently.   I had made a $25,000 clerical error.  A GIGO problem.  A spreadsheet that I worked on had bad data.  But it was interesting, I think.

I hid this stuff from people.  Mostly myself.  I knew how to earn money, and I paid some lip service to frugality, but it was a ruse.  I didn’t care, I figured I’d be a millionaire soon.  Phil Hodgen, International Tax Lawyer (and good friend) says, that the “second you don’t need a Mercedes anymore is when you’ll get one.”   The dissipation of every bit of money I had on stupid schemes that would get me out of the last failed plan was kind of how I lived.  I was grasping for whatever.  When we got rid of the real estate and moved into a dive, things changed, our focus changed some.  Hopefully it’s not too late.

I didn’t spend a lot of money on advertising, I pissed it away on restaurants, shiny tech gadgets, clothing for my wife.  Oh, yeah, and rental properties that were a Bad Idea for anyone to own, that I didn’t care about.  The whole time, I hated my job.  There’s plenty to like to being a Realtor, I just didn’t have the passion for it.

Anyway, I lied to myself for a long time.  See, I had income.  Things are fine, I’m still a smart kid.  I made money, so I can’t be failing.   I’ll fix it later.  Who cares, everyone has these problems.  Thing is, they are preventable.

In the long run we’re all dead.  That’s what Keynes said.  But the thing is, how we lived matters.  I can’t endure the stress of it.  Deal is: I had all the means to have a good pile of wealth now.  Somehow, my ego never let me feel this.  I always find some excuse, some reason that everything was still OK.

It’s not OK.  The debt is suffocating.  I’ve taken it from $150ish (realmoney) to $89.  Now it’s time to home stretch this thing and get this smoked forever.  It’s all survivable, and it’s all a distraction.  You can’t operate with debt, not like you can in reality.  Think about this:  At 10% (my average interest) I’m paying $9,000 a year, or $750/month to debt.

Think about that.  That’s before I do anything, I gotta pony that money up.

It’s fixable, though.  I’m earning at a good clip.

I’m pretty sure at this point that there aren’t going to be any other ‘surprises’.  I honestly had believed that the debt was down below $20k.   And it’ not, and so this thing is going in a google doc.  that google doc is gonna get iframed into the sidebar.  And I’ll be updating it once a month.  All the component parts of the debt will get added in.    I’ll do this tomorrow.

I want to be transparent for selfish reasons.  I’m not bragging.  I’m currently doing pretty well.  I collected up all my debts and spreadsheeted ‘em.  I’m going to get rid of them one by one as fast as I can.  The first goal is a $4800 loan that costs $200 a month and is at a ghastly 14% interest.    I can do it.

Here are some personal finance bloggers:

The Simple Dollar – more consumerist than I’d like to be, but better than I am.

Five Cent Nickel – opinionated.  Tough.  And good.

The Cult of Speed Manifesto: Speed Is Everything.

By Filed Under: Business Building, Start Here
100spedometer

spedometerSpeed is everything in business.

The fast eat the slow.  The fast are the ones with the advantage.

I can launch a product and do it perfectly before you can have a meeting and talk about it.  Speed is everything.

How do you keep accelerating?  How do you floor it and get a better engine all at once?

Speed is everything, man.  It’s the end all-be all.

If you are slow, you are behind and you have to work three times as hard to catch up.  Speed in business is what needs to happen.   Elephants danced, but the gist is that you’ve gotta move your business, your life and everything fast.  You’ve gotta get the fast habit.

The Cult of Done Helps.

But I’m gonna talk about the cult of speed.

  1. Realize that someone already has your idea, and your idea is rotting.  Get it out there and put it to use.
  2. Realize that time is the enemy of all:  done today is better than perfect tomorrow.
  3. Realize that perfect is a ruse:  even in art, getting the gist out there clearly is important.
  4. Realize that complex loses.  Make your widgets super simple.
  5. Small Projects Are Always Better Than Big Ones because they get done.
  6. Realize Everything is an opportunity to demonstrate virtuosity.
  7. Realize that speed is soon nothing special and the ticket to the table.
  8. Realize that most mistakes are recoverable, most mistakes are easy to fix.  It’s impossible to fix it when you’re beat.
  9. Realize that it’s easier to sustain a lead than it is to overtake someone.
  10. Realize that people are all getting better.  Work on getting better, faster.
  11. Realize that all your soliders need to be on the field.
  12. Realize that your first draft goes live and you can correct it later.
  13. Realize that today isn’t soon enough and your ideas are already rotten.
  14. Realize that NDAs and bloated meetings are a waste of time.
  15. Realize that your throughput needs to get faster and higher and more, and it only does so when you have and increase your capacity.
  16. Realize you need a timer to measure and firewall projects from eating days.
  17. Realize that the faster you get your stuff done the more time that you can spend on the people you love.
  18. Realize you need a list to work off of to keep going fast and you need it with you somehow.
  19. Realize you must learn time saving shortcuts to produce more.

That’s it.  That’s the cult of speed.  That’s what you need to do–there are 19 things that make you faster, better more.  And that’s it.  There’s nothing to add, but you have to get faster, today.  Others are.  America needs to be obsessed with speed.  Making quick decisions, producing faster, having a culture of speed and getting things done.

Let’s Get Beyond Godin’s Less Annoying: Let’s Surprise and Delight Again & Slay Some Trolls.

By Filed Under: Business Building, Start Here
20060501-100558-starbucks

20060501-100558-starbucksWhat I’m after is an opportunity to amaze at the point of sale. Sonia Simone at Copyblogger hit it out of the park with a recent post on conversion killing.     People don’t have trust.  When they DO buy, that’s another time to make your systems work.  After you have that retail hit of euphoria that people get, what then?   You always feel a little let down.  I have that ‘this is it’ feeling when I buy stuff…especially after skilled internet marketers get me emotionally hooked.

What happens RIGHT after the sale is an opportunity.  Folks like Dave Navarro show some basic competence and good instincts by offering a truly good deal after that.  But, I wanna go beyond.  WHEN people buy…I want them to be amazed.  That instant.  Blown away.

Seth Godin talks about making things less annoying.  I don’t want to stop there.  I want to go far beyond, and overdeliver.  Every purchase–every job gets a package of goddies that you made to be super successful

See, people save their offers for securing the sale.  I want to put all of my ammo into securing lifelong trust.  I want people to feel smart and relieved when they buy from me, so the NEXT time they buy from me, they know that they’re getting a sweet, sweet deal.

I see all of these posts with things that offer $10,916 in FREE bonuses, and I’m insulted and squeemish.  I don’t want to be that guy.  I want to be the guy that does that for my customers.  There are opportunities to do this with everyone.

You could:

  • Give away your back catalog for new customers.
  • Develop a product/service MORE VALUABLE than what you sold, and give it way for free.
  • Deliver it in more & higher formats–if they bought a book, make it in an MP3, if they expect an MP3, make a video.
  • Package OTHER People’s good stuff on the same topic in an-i’ll-share yours-if-you-share mine.

Some of this is being done, but far too little I’d think is being done.  Once you secure a customer, THEN knock their socks off.  Overdeliver by an order of magnatude and then all the work you spent on getting that customer will be rewarded each time you sell something.

If someone has been treated amazingly well, then they’ll be back.  Again, and again.

One of the things that Starbucks used to (and I mean used to) have in its culture…was the ability to surprise and delight.  When you went, you’d get coffee and panache, a smart person would look you in the eye and try to do make your day happy.  Your Third Place, yada yada.   Ya go there now, and you trip over CD racks, and you feel used and monetized.    And, I was in recently and the place had the stench of greasy eggs in it.  I come for coffee.  Live by coffee die by coffee.  I come for coffee and public privacy, and the good pure smell of beans and hot water.

They used to give more for your $2.00 than you’d have a right to expect.  They fell when they wanted you to be monetized.  What if we did it  right–what if we committed to having an astonishingly good experience with FREE bonuses?

How would we work it out so when they bought they didn’t feel simply like you were shoveling out free stuff?

How would we work it so that it DID impress people that are cynical and bitter?

How would we work it so that, say 20-25% of people saw our commitment to being amazing?

How would we work it so that people were not let down after the purchase, but had stuff to do, had marching orders and felt great about what they just bought?

Then we’d be slaying trolls left and right.

How to Set, Measure Share and Track Goals on Google Docs Part 1 of 6

By Filed Under: Achieving Goals, Start Here
I’m not gonna be all paranoid like my new friend Michael Martine and de-googlify my life. Google has its limitations, but really, it’s a tool in a tool box.  I’m using them to publically track and share my goals.  Nothing more, nothing less.

I love achieving something.  Breaking a BHAG down into tiny bites.  The wheels came off my life this week because of some seriously sweet distractions, some opportunities that were unexpected, and because I moved into my kicking new office.  And frankly, because I let complacency back in and rested on my imaginary Laurels. F#@% that.  I got behind because I was doing more writing than usual, and that is something that simply takes time.  Enough.  2nd Quarter is here, and it’s time to kick ass.  I’ll pay no mind to those that resist me by ignoring me.

Anyway, this will be a six part series in how to make goals with Google Docs, it’s all I’m going to run this week.  This is the prelude, running Sunday.

How To Set Achievable Goals

Think bigger. I’m not saing decide to be an astronaut, but everyone has a sense of what they COULD accomplish if they did whatever they could in a big way.  We know that we could lose X pounds, sell X widgets, whatever.  And a lot of people decide to let the clutterpeople in their lives set goals for them.  When I was at First Ohio Home Finance, the owners out and out laughed at my goals.   Don’t let others set them.  My goals are huge–as youl’ll see at the bottom of the post.

Make it hyperspecific. My goal: lose 25#, or do 300 sales of F#@% Therapy …is spefic.  It’s got steps.  “Be an astronaut,” is not a specific goal.  It’s also not, “Get inlinks” for F#@% therapy.  it’s SELL F#@% therapy.  i may need inlinks to do it…but I don’t care if I don’t get ‘em.  That’s why my website at http://rightrightnow.com is awful.

I’m going to set and hit some goals, and I’m going to make it seriously public.  There’s a lot that I intend to do, but the core stuff:  Ftherapy , Right Right Now, Guerrilla.me are my primary projects.  Those things need to perform at consistent levels, Right Right Now is the company I run freelance business through.  Note: it has–at best–a bad website.  Finishing the website is something that i’m indifferent towards.  I can get by without it….because I’m 80% Twitter and WOM.

Break it down: I don’t believe in annual goals.  I believe in–at most–quartelry goals broken down monthly…then weekly  You can get away from an annual goal fast.   After the quarterly goals get broken down, you look at weekly and daily behaviors that lead to goals.   You’ll see my sidebar get relaunched with the goals I’ve got this week.

Start with quarterly, break it to monthly, then weekly, then daily, and figure out what you have to do.  Ignore everything else, and just focus on the stuff that gets you to the next deal.

Here are qnd quarter’s goals.  I’ll break the rest down for you in a bit, how to measure and track ‘em.  For now, I’ll leave you with this.

2Q09 Goals and Predictions:
—
End Goals:

Ftherapy: 1200 total sales  (I get 17$/per)  ($20,400)

300 april
400 may
500 June

Right Right Now: (My Freelance Projects)

$45,000 in gross revenue, netting out $27,000 to me. (60%)
Keep the work quick and small, no big projects.

Average ticket is 1800 right now: 25 gigs needed. (I should reduce average ticket also)

Guerrilla.me:

250 total sales @ $300 Average Sale  = $75k.  Affiliates Avg: 20%.   $60k left, cost of execution ~$6,000ish Split $54 50/50= $27k.

Launch Freelance Sales How to: (Name TBD)

$69.00/month
10 clients in May
+10 in June
Acquire net +20 retainer/monthly revenue clients.  (500/month for one on one coaching using GOTOMEETING) $10,000/month
Lose 25# (10 in april, 8 in May 7 in june)  Been plateauing for a quarter.  Time to bust that.  I’m 55# over where I want to weigh, and I carry it OK.
Refile 06, 05 taxes.
Cut total debt down by 20%.
Pay all ’08 tax liability & get current on ’09 with q1 and q2 accurate estimates filed.
Family: 1 date a week with my wife
1 day a week with Just The Kids so the Wife Can Stay Semi Sane (tracked, checked off)
1 time hanging with Jack/week.
1 time hanging with just ruby/week.

The E-Myth: Regurgitated. (A Michael Gerber Hit Piece)

By Filed Under: Start Here

The E-Myth, Revisited.  Loads of people talk about it.  It’s one of the biggest books an entrepreneur “must read.”  And I’ve read it.  I’ve read it a few times, actually.  And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

For most people, it’s a bad idea.

The book is fine.  There are enough disclaimers.  He doesn’t pull a Kiyosaki and lie all the time.  But the ‘hustle your ass off so you no longer have  to work thing.”  well, that’s no good for the economy, no good for business, and a stupid, stupid goal.   Most people get the wrong lesson.  Cristina Favraeu says that the Journey is the Point.  Damn straight.  The point is not to outsource your stuff in some 4HWW-esque goal.   The point is to do something you’re PASSIONATE about.   To put yourself in position where you get to do the things you enjoy most.  Not to seek idleness.

Not to detach and wander off.  The entrepreneurs that take no vacations for a decade?  They’re hustling.  Winning.  Putting their passion into it.  Not trying to work their way out of the business.

I’m for systems.  I’m for writing EVERY F#@%ing THING DOWN.  I’m for processes and making yourself REALLY GOOD.  I’m even for making it so you can replace yourself.  But I’m not for WANTING to replace myself.  I’m not for starting with a “jobber” ethos.

Here’s why.  There is something to working “on” and not “in” your business.  But the smug BS that comes with it, the self aggrandizing, and the self righteousness that the Gerberites have is revolting.   And I don’t know one that succeeded once they caught that bug.   I know it cost me because I began to resent the stuff that’s below my level.   I started resenting the necessary paperwork, the necessary customer service and the necessary bolts and nuts to win the war.

Think I’m kidding?  Maybe.  But here’s the deal.  A business that’s started to ‘get out of,’ or ‘get away from,’ is no business at all.  It’s not something the owner loves, with all his heart.  When there’s no passion, and when everything is delegated…a couple levels down, you can feel it.   Call Dell’s customer service.  Then watch Michael Dell on Charlie Rose.

You can feel it when the joy dies.  You can feel it when someone cares–mind body and soul–and when someone doesn’t.   You can feel it when you’re dealing with the owner, and when you’re dealing with a salesperson, and when you’re dealing with a wage earner.

You can’t replace a passionate and vibrant business with wage owners.  You need believers.  You can hire people, but hire passion, talent, vibrancy.   Google doesn’t hire people that don’t believe.  Neither does 37s. Neither will Scott Ginsberg, Greg Swann, Jeff Brown, Seth Godin, Tim and Julie Harris.  Not hiring someone is far better than hiring someone that has tepid beliefs.  Don’t look to work your as off then phone it in.

Peak Experiences: Why We Work So F#@%ing Hard.

By Filed Under: Achieving Goals, Business Building, Start Here

[[I wrote this earlier this year on a blog I'm no longer maintaining.  I brought it over here because it's important that we bring it up.]]

The enduring memories that we have that we live for. The time we were able to push ourselves to run a marathon, to do our jobs better…peak experiences are why we’re alive. Some of ‘em are found at work. Some of the things that we live for are in our jobs, but some things have nothing to do with the loan business. Peak experiences leave us with a permanent mark, changing us for the better. And let’s be honest. Making money is fantastic, it’s fun, but it’s not an end-all be-all. Having an extra $600 bucks from a closing in your checking account isn’t the point.

…the freedom money allows is the point.

The reason we’re in this business is to fuel those peak experiences. That’s it. The reason we do what we do The picture you see is e on May 1 2008. I’m holding my brand new baby daughter, Ruby. A peak experience to be sure, she was born healthy and happy. Raising my son, shown on the right is the most joyful and important thing that I’ve done.

Not Every Peak Experience is found at work! The work that we do–even in the mortgage business–can make it so we can be around for more and more peak experiences. If we are ALWAYS having things that change us for the better, exposing ourselves, pressing ourselves, and doing whatever we can to have new and better experiences…life becomes a fulfilling playground of wonder and joy. And that’s what L.O.S.T is all about. I created a program that was going to give you more Peak Experiences.

Know Your Peak Experiences

Often, the worry about money, the worry about ego driven “junk” can hide from us what the peak experiences we’re after really are. We elevate other things that don’t matter, and we strive for stuff that doesn’t really make us tick because we think we oughta have it. Some people who don’t care about cars buy a Mercedes. Some people that don’t care about houses buy a big house. These decisions are made because they do what others do, they don’t take JUST a moment to figure out and connect with what really turns them on.

The business planning that we do at Loan Officer Survival Training STARTS with YOUR peak experiences. We anchor how you spend your day in such a way that you always are weeks away from what could be a peak experience.

Sometimes peak experiences cost (i.e. Christmas shopping in Manhattan), and you need to arrange your budget to include them. Sometimes, Peak Experiences don’t cost much at all (taking my kid to the park, playing baseball with him). The point is, we need to have a peak experience to look forward to.

What If I Don’t Know What My Peak Experiences Are?

Be adventurous. Try new things. What might your peak experiences be? What do you think you’ve always wanted to try to learn? Don’t think about what other people are doing–what turns YOU on?

What are the best memories that you have?

What things do you want MORE of in your life?

What things do you want to have in your life?

What is going great right now?

Spend some time thinking about this–how can other people be served by your peak experiences?

You’ll come across goals that really charge you and really turn you on when you’re always asking the question: what next?

A List of Peak Experiences

To help you get started, here is a List Of Peak Experiences.

  1. Shopping in New York City
  2. Paying off A credit card
  3. Running a 5k
  4. Running a Marathon
  5. Being completely debt free.
  6. Being recognized as #1 in your office.
  7. Starting a scholarship fund in your community.
  8. Competing in an Iron Man Triathalon
  9. Giving Money To Church.
  10. Completing A Course on Being a Public Speaker
  11. Running in a Road Race.
  12. Making amends with family members
  13. Buying a Sports Car
  14. Performing our Art in front of a good audience.
  15. Getting the recognition of our peers.
  16. Getting in world class shape.
  17. Reading 500 books.
  18. Learning a new language.
  19. Renewing wedding vows.
  20. Taking a month long vacation
  21. Meeting a famous mentor
  22. Helping a famous mentor.
  23. Creating a new church program
  24. Quitting Smoking.
  25. Going to Mardi Gras.
  26. Going to a World Series Game
  27. Teaching your child baseball.
  28. Re-finishing family heirloom furniture.
  29. Becoming an expert in a sport or game
  30. Getting an article published in a magazine.

This List of peak experiences is just few things–but they come in a wide variety of things. What are your peak experiences? Let me know in the comments!

The Blessing From the 2009 Depression

By Filed Under: Business Building, Start Here

The credit crunch was a blessing.  I’m grateful for it every day, and the opportunity that the new economy presents is amazing, wonderful and American.

A big part of me thinks that we were exposed for not working hard, for enjoying the fruits of a life we had yet to earn, and that the reason we’re in the mess we’re in is because we’ve gotten away from what makes us American.

Work a little harder.

Spend more time on the details.

Deliver faster.

Serve More.

Give more.

Think more, help more.

Not blame more, want more.

This is an opportunity to relearn a national work ethic that won two world wars, got us through a depression, etc.

Just a thought for a Superbowl Sunday.

For my part, I’ll be working harder and smarter than as many people as I can.

REPORT ON DAVID KNAPP AND ARTISAN OUTDOOR LIGHTING

By Filed Under: Start Here

I rarely take the time to write this type of thing, but then again, I’m rarely this impressed with my treatment at the hands of a small business. David Knapp and Artisan Outdoor Lighting probably have countless testimonials to their dependability, workmanship, and craft, but hopefully mine will stand out.

Not sure about exactly what I wanted, David showed up personally for the design consultation and helped me understand my options. He could have easily inflated the quote and taken advantage of my lack of lighting knowledge, but a bit of online research and some phone calls makes me confident he gave me a fair and affordable price. He didn’t try to push things I didn’t need, and I appreciated that.

David Knapp means kept every word of his guarantee and it shows. On time, great work, fantastic family business. I couldn’t be happier as David Knapp and Artisan Outdoor Lighting’s customer! I’ve even added him on Linkedin and Facebook!

Precious and Abundant: Stealing Ideas is Obsolete

By Filed Under: Business Building, Start Here

Jonathan Fields got me thinking in this post:

http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/steal-this-idea-im-begging-you/

Regarding ideas, he writes:

If it’s that good, people will try to knock it off the moment you gain any level of traction, notoriety or both. Maybe sooner. In fact, if they don’t, it just may speak to the fact that what you’ve got is either not nearly as cool as you think it is or you’re not able to communicate it’s coolness…

I know that people will steal ideas.  I steal ideas.   I work with great people at places like Lenderama and BHB and those folks throw off great ideas all the time.  For free.  For real, and they keep on doing it, all the time.  One of my synapses will fire a half formed idea, and then Tood or Greg or Pat will throw off some nugget that I didn’t know before.  And I’ll be enriched with thoughts and thought, and I’ll be able to do my job more effectively.  These ideas are given away for free.  All the time.

And they are precious.  Look–if we apply the lessons that are here already for the taking, we’re going to get so far ahead of the curve, so enriched, so smart, that we’ll never finish.   The value of Twitter is mostly that we see other brains having firing synapes together.  Ideas are everwhere, and they’re precious.  An idea to use a spammy plugin like FeedWordPress to create a non spammy blog network came out of a conversation.  Anyone can use it.  There you go.  It just requires putting it into use.

And there’s the rub, isn’t it?  We all know essentially, in broad strokes, what to do to to make life happen.  We know that we need to pick up the phone and call people, we know we need to connect, think, help, add value.   And yet, we find ourselves not executing because the next big idea is right around the corner.   Well, the next big thing…is simply executing what we do well already.  It’s taking the bull by the horns and getting things DONE and not started.  Execution is more profitable than shere creativity.

There is nothing staggeringly new about what’s happening now.  The best of what we do is about elegance, not novelty.  Facebook could have been twitter, could have kept twitter from happening.  They didn’t go that route.  Twitter could have been blogging.  Livejournal could have been WordPress.  Etc.  Etc.   All of those ideas were half thefts, and just SCAMPER type solutions.    What was different is execution.  There isn’t really an ‘information advantage’ out there right now that has a lot of meaning, except in the realm of execution, finishing projects, getitng things all the way done.

Even though they are abundant–ideas are precious.  Having what it takes to finish, to do, to be, to have whatever we seek…starts with being created in the mind.   Instead of fighting over who owns the knife, we should help one another grow a bigger pie.  Or mix a better metaphor.   All it takes is a realization that scarcity and value are different things.  In an abundant world, we can continue to freely throw off knowledge.  Hoarding knowledge is going to become a thing of the past.

How can we encourage others to think?

How can we encourage ourselves to think?

How can we continue to make sure ideas grow?

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