Motivation

Most people who have never had businesses of their own think that owning a business automatically means you have dough. "Sure, you can get the check because you can just write if off." Seriously? Do these people understand that having a business is the most delicate balancing act of cash management that anyone can probably undertake? The cash we all have is as precious as air itself and writing things off does not mean free money. When I was in school getting my MBA professors would say, "cash is king" (as religiously as I tell my children to wash their hands) consistently and with purpose.  I was paying attention at school but never really understood the seriousness of this message until cash in my first business became more than king. It became air. Without it we were going to die.  I remember going to my accountant and saying, "This year end looks awesome! We made some good money, eh? But, where is all the cash?" She replied, "Well, those financial...

Someone once said to me that success isn't everything, and I think I know what they really meant. I believe they really meant that money wasn't everything, and I certainly agree with that. But I do believe that success IS everything. First,  you need to succeed to survive.  We must take the seasons and learn how to use them with the seed, the soil and the rain of opportunity to learn how to sustain ourselves and our family.  But then second is to then succeed to flourish in every part of your life. A good question to ask mature people is, “If you could do better, should you?” I think almost everybody would answer the question in the positive. If you could improve your health, shouldn't you do that? If you can learn more, shouldn't you do that? If you could earn more and share more, shouldn't you do that? If you can improve your relationships and spirituality, shouldn't you do that? I think that is what success is really all about. It is not just a destination th...

Philani Dladla, a homeless man living on the streets of Johannesburg, is probably the last person youd expect to be a bookworm. Yet, the 24-year-old is quite a voracious reader. And instead of begging like other homeless people, he has chosen to make a living by reviewing and selling books. South African director and cinematographer Tebogo Malope played a tremendous part in bringing Philanis unique and inspiring story to the world. Malope, 29, recorded an interview with Philani called the Pavement Bookworm; the videos have gone viral since he put them up online last year. The two-part interview features Philani speaking about the books he has read and why he likes them the man is so full of infectious joy as he discusses his love of reading. His sense of passion and appreciation of books is extremely rare, especially for someone who leads a difficult life. Philani seems unfazed by his own living conditions, he only wants to tell the world how great it is to read. Photo: imgur On a ...

I have started multiple companies. I believed in every single one of them. Put my heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into each and every one of them. 90 percent of them have failed.  Being around hundreds of entrepreneurs, I have learned something very important.  It’s NORMAL. Accepting failure as a lesson is one of the most important things I have ever learned. But what do we do when the rug is being pulled out from underneath us? What do we do when all hell breaks loose and you are standing alone, looking into the abyss?  Well my friends, I am going to tell you what has helped me and hopefully it will help you. 1. Accept the situation : Understand right away that some things are NOT in your control. It is a marathon, not a sprint. The quicker you stop getting upset, the quicker you can use this as a lesson to move on. 2. You are not alone : Surround yourself with like-minded people. One of the biggest assets of being part of an entrepreneurial community like  All...

Mastery “Challenge everything you do. Expand your thinking. Refocus your efforts. Rededicate yourself to your future.” — Patricia Fripp “Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like the weather.” — John Champlin Gardner, Jr. “Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances.” — Thomas Jefferson “A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.” — Louis Nizer

When corporate leaders decide to re-engineer the corporation, they don't just set out to improve the present system. They set out to create an entirely new system. When you set out to re-engineer your life, you're not just improving your present circumstances. You're creating a whole new set of circumstances, in keeping with your vision of what life should be.  Harvard Business Review  compares it with the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. “A butterfly is not more caterpillar or a better or improved caterpillar; a butterfly is a different creature,” note authors Tracy Goss, Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos. Becoming the butterfly you want to be means putting the old circumstances in the past and concentrating all your resources on creating the new ones.  This can be risky and scary. You're leaving the comfort and security of the old cocoon and accepting the challenges and uncertainties of a free environment. It's natural to want to leave the path ope...

In last week’s post I shared the story of how Oprah was able to transform her knockdowns and great obstacles into a great strength, developing great empathy for people and becoming a beacon of hope for thousands who have come into contact with her. This week I will continue our theme of POW and what to do to get back up when life knocks you down. There are countless of other examples of people who experienced great knockdowns in life just as Oprah did. We all need to learn how to get back up when we are knocked down, and what better way to do that than to hear inspiring stories from some of the people I’ve been fortunate to interview: Roger Crawford was born with a physical handicap that affected all four of his limbs from the elbows down and from the knees down, leaving him with two fingers on his left wrist and one on his right, a partially developed right leg with three toes, and his left leg from the knee down was amputated. But he became a world-class tennis player, ...

Over the years I've learned to challenge my audiences to turn their response to the ideas and information they receive into results. According to the Biblical story, the first couple, Adam and Eve, was instructed to be fruitful—to produce some results.  Fruitful is kind of an interesting word; it denotes abundance.  Here's what I think fruitful, abundance and productivity mean—to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself.  I think we fulfill that command given to us so long ago to be productive, to produce far more than we need for ourselves, by blessing others, blessing our nation and blessing our enterprise. Challenge yourself to produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. Produce more in terms of substance, money, treasure and all things valuable to human beings, far more than you need for yourself. I am reminded of R.G. LeTourneau's story, the man who built the big earth moving machines. It was his goal to som...

The only difference between people who want to be entrepreneurs and the ones who actually are is the work and the risk of getting started. If you feel like you want to be an entrepreneur but aren’t certain if you’re ready yet, here are five questions to help you determine your capabilities. 1. How comfortable are you with being uncomfortable?  Entrepreneurship will mean a lot of uncertainty. If you’re the kind of person who needs a lot of control and a strictly scheduled life, you may not be able to handle the ambiguity that surrounds entrepreneurism. That being said, don’t think just because uncertainty makes you nervous you can’t be an entrepreneur. If you find you have a need for a controlled schedule, that trait could actually work in your favor. Entrepreneurship requires long hours, hard work and dedication when you start out. Being able to manage your schedule and control your environment could help you with the organization of your business. However, you might want to p...

This is something we should all read at least once a week!!!!! Make sure you read to the end!!!!!!  Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio . "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more: 1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short – enjoy it. 4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. 5. Pay off your credit cards every month. 6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself. 7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone. 8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it. 9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck. 10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. 11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up th...

The law of the garbage truck One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'. He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take t...

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world; it corresponds with your dominant patterns of thinking. This is an extraordinary principle. It explains most happiness and unhappiness, most success and failure, most greatness and meaninglessness in life. After years of study in this area, I still stand in awe before this powerful law, like standing and looking out over the vastness of the Grand Canyon. Just think!  Your outer world reflects your inner world in every way. Nothing can happen to or for you in the long term until and unless it corresponds to something inside of you. If you want to change or improve anything in your life, you must begin by changing the inner aspects of your mind. Sometimes this is called the "mental equivalent." Your greatest responsibility in life is to create within yourself the mental equivalent of what you want to experience on the outside. The fact is that you cannot achieve it on the outside until you have first created it on the inside...

What do you do when you get knocked down? And you will. This is LIFE we are talking about. It is not always blue skies, sunshine and smiling people waving to you from either side of the street. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it even storms and sometimes it even comes with the added drama (and potential pain) of lightning and thunder. What do you do then, Mr. Sunshine? Let me first share with you the story of a young girl who got knocked down in life early. Born to an unwed teenage mother, this young girl spent her first years on her grandmother’s farm in Mississippi while her mother looked for work in the North. Life on the farm was primitive, and despite the hardships of her physical environment, she enjoyed the loving support of her grandmother and the community. But at the age of 6 the girl’s world took a turn for the worse. She was sent to Milwaukee to live with her mother, who had found work as a housemaid. In the long days when her mother was working and absent from their inner-ci...

What would you do with an extra 30 days a year? That’s a whole month! Wow, I know what I’d do, and it would be very valuable to my clients! All you need to do is grab one extra hour every day and you’ve achieved that goal. Here are some things you can do that will easily achieve this: * Plan your day the night before, and set your alarm one hour earlier. Take that time for reflection, planning, assessing what will make this day great * Make a will-do list and stick to it. You simply can’t do everything that you want to do in a day, so make a ‘will-do’ list, things that will actually save you time in the long run * Watch out for others who waste your time. Cutting down on wasted emails, phone calls, interruptions and meetings can easily buy back some valuable time * Tackle those ‘elephant’ jobs first. You know how to eat an elephant…one bite at a time. So approach a big job in segmented parts and plan to achieve a specific goal in the shortest time. Planning effectively will concentrate...