Recently a mentor asked me “why don’t you feature this as a centerpiece on your blog.” Hmmm….that is a fantastic question, one that I should have asked myself long ago.

My story

I wasn’t always financially wise. In fact, I was pretty much a moron when it came to my finances. Floating checks to make it until payday was a regular practice. Pay my bills on time…come on, I’d rather spend my money on toys.

And so I bought a car I couldn’t afford. No, it wasn’t extravagant, but since I was about to be deployed to Hawaii (and wouldn’t be taking it with me), it was a massive mistake.

Unfortunately for me a solution appeared. It just so happened that my sister needed a car, and I needed to sell my car. She had bad credit and couldn’t get a loan, but since my parents agreed to back the loan, we made an agreement. I would keep the loan. She paid me (and I paid the bank) every month. At the end of the loan she would have owned the car.

What could go wrong?

Oh, those famous last words!

It went well for a few months. Payments came in on time. My sister had a good job so money wasn’t an issue.

Then it all came apart

After about 9 months the checks stopped coming. Why? Because my sister was in a minor car crash and couldn’t work any longer. Oh, she wasn’t hurt that badly, she just wanted the settlement and it looked more serious if she couldn’t work.

Hey, my parents are backing the loan, no worries….

One of the reasons I agreed to sell my car was that my parents backed the loan. The only problem was that they never paid. Seriously, over two years we received three payments, and a whole lot of excuses.

Let’s flesh out the story

What made matters worse was that we were broke. Seriously broke. I was a junior sailor in the navy and recently married. We made so little that we were almost eligible for food stamps. On top of this we were burdened with two car loans for cars we didn’t possess (long story).

In other words, we couldn’t afford to pay two car loans and still pay for the basic necessities.

On the other hand, my parents could. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t rich, but my dad had a great job and made a lot of money. I knew he was packing away 25% + of his income.

While the $150 per month was a major issue for my wife and I, it was chump change to my parents.

Then the problems began

Month after month we called asking to be paid. Every month we got the same story: I sent you the check.

The calls got more and more contentious. Our relationship eroded. The end result was that we had to repossess the car. Talk about uncomfortable!

The experience permanently damaged my relationship with my family. Even after two decades it is broken, and it has come between myself and every member of my family.

On the flip side, it has given me a unique perspective and a world class education. It has pushed my wife and I to be truly independent.

The lesson

First, I learned to never loan money to family. Why? The downside was too great. Seriously, it tore apart our family. My kids never got to know their grandparents.

It cost us way too much.

There was minimal upside. It may have been a pain in the butt to ship my car, but it would have cost me nothing. I also would have had a car which would have made my life easier in Hawaii.

And it wasn’t a loan I could afford. Sure, as long as my sister was paying on time things were ok. The problem was that I couldn’t cover the downside. Put another way, it put a $5k strain on our marriage at a time we could not afford it.

I have.

I’m tired of it taking a week to open a brokerage account because they need to make sure I’m not a security risk. Really? You have my money transferred from an account under my name to be traded in an account under my name. How is this a security risk?

I’m tired of the TSA. I have a choice: either get sexually assaulted or have them take naked pictures of me. Never mind the invasion of my privacy or violation of my constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure.

I’m tired of the attempts to infringe on my 2nd amendment rights (right to bear arms). All the regulations in the world won’t keep the guns away from criminals. The laws don’t prevent domestic violence. They just make it harder for law abiding citizens to defend themselves.

How about all the regulations that they put in our way when trying to do business? Are you tired of hundreds (or thousands) of rules and laws that you need to follow? How can you make sure you are compliant unless you have a “compliance department?” How much time and cost does this add, all without adding any value to your customers?

In the end, none of these things add to our security. Criminals and terrorists know how to easily circumvent the security measures. They only make our lives harder, and bit by bit we give away our rights and freedoms.

And as important as they are, they are of

ten the things we avoid. Sometimes it’s because we overlook the details. Sometimes it’s because they just aren’t fun. Other times it’s because we are too focused on major tasks and loose sight anything else. Often it because of a lack of motivation. (If it takes a kick in the butt to get us moving, little things get missed. I may be able to motivate myself enough to get going once, but if I need to kick start things every hour, a lot of things will get dropped.)

Small changes are critical

While life shifting changes are critical, it’s the continuous (day to day) improvements that have the biggest impact. A paradigm shift may change your life, but it’s continuous (small) improvements that create success.

While I’ve seen it first hand with personal development, I’m also noticing it in other areas of my life as well. For example, the difference between a good sales man and a world class salesman is often minor. The top salesman will research his customers before a sales call. He will refine his presentation and modify it for each customer. He develops a system to maintain information about his customers – the name of his wife and kids, his hobbies, etc.… – so that he can connect deeply with his customer. He uses a system to track opportunities as they work their way through the sales process, through manufacturing, and through delivery.

Each of these things is small and simple. It only takes a bit more time each week to do them, but only 5% of your salesmen do. And it isn’t a coincidence that they are consistently your best performers, and often outsell their coworkers by 200% or more.

I also see it as an energy consultant

Today I wrote an article small changes have a major impact on industrial energy efficiency. In my consulting business, most of the recommendations I make cost little to implement but have a high impact on slashing my customers’ energy bills. 70% of the recommendations pay for them selves in under a year (many immediately). In fact, only 5% of my recommendations take longer than 3 years to pay for themselves.

Finance and Accounting Open Courseware

Typically new start-up business owners cannot afford to pay a professional accountant to handle the book keeping and thus are forced to care of the financial sectors themselves. But an entrepreneur/ business owner who has no basic foundational knowledge in accounting and finance is putting their business at great risk. Instead of jeopardizing the success of your business due to miscalculations and over budgeting, consider taking these online classes that will teach you everything from cash flows, how to acquire money to start your business, and how to assess your company’s financial needs:

· Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning [UC Irvine]

· Financial Markets [Yale]

· Introduction to Economics [Utah State]

· Business Skills for Success [Kutztown University of Pennsylvania]

Marketing Open Courseware

The trouble with budding entrepreneurs is that they struggle finding ways to draw-in a clients to buy their products or services. These online courses will teach you not only how to identify your target audience, how to give your audience what they want and how to use traditional marketing techniques to lure them in, but they will also educate you on how to utilize modern marketing tools such as social media to solidify a strong audience:

· Entrepreneruial Marketing [MIT]

· E-Marketing [UC Irvine]

· Social Marketing [Open University]

· Listening to the Costumer [MIT]

Management/Leadership Open Courseware

As an entrepreneur you will be your own boss and will need to know how to monitor and speak to your staff and subordinates. These following online courses will teach you how to perfect your strong leadership skills in order to encourage productivity within the workplace, including for nonprofit entrepreneurship endeavors, as well as give you some insight of what is expected of an entrepreneur.

· Introduction to Project Management [UC Irvine]

· Managing and Volunteering in the Non-Profit Sector [MIT]

· Garage Technology Ventures: Passion vs. Money in Entrepreneurship [Stanford]

· The Entrepreneurial Strategies [Kutztown University of Pennsylvania]

Green Business Open Courseware

If you aspire to become a green entrepreneur and want establish a business that simultaneously makes revenue but also aid in the stability of the environment, then consider looking into these following courses that will teach you all about eco-building and design and will explain the importance of establishing a green business.

· Design for Sustainability [MIT]

· Laboratory for Sustainable Business [MIT]

By-line:

This guest contribution was submitted by Jamie Davis, who specializes in writing about masters degree. Questions and comments can be sent to: davis.jamie17@gmail.com.

This is something that we all have experienced. I know that I personally look back with pride on the times I’ve persevered, and that the rewards usually come to those who are the most determined to win.

But there is also power in quitting. I’m not talking about giving up at the first sign of difficulty. I’m talking about stopping tasks or activities that will not move you forward.

Think back to the last horrible movie you watched or the last stinker of a book you read. Did it contribute to your life? Did you enjoy the experience?

Sticking with it did nothing to move you forward, make your life better, or give you any pleasure. While a well executed ‘”b” movie makes you laugh, a bad movie is just a waste of time.

I know, I know, all of the “gurus” tell you that you need to start inside. I know they say improve your attitude. Work on your confidence. Examine and develop your values.

But that all is vague, fuzzy, and takes time. It’s easy to learn to read body language. I see instant results by changing the words I use. Goal setting has easily defined results as I get to check off my completed activities and goals.

But that only takes you so far. And to really move to the highest levels you need to become a better person.

Hindsight is 20/20

Don’t get me wrong, the external skills took me pretty far. This is especially true with my career and with my personal finances. And along the way my internal side improved as well, but it started to lag behind.

The problem is that I’d reached my limits unless I became a better person. To make matters worse, I wasn’t happy. Since I hadn’t clearly defined what I stood for and believed in, I found that I was often acting in ways that didn’t make me feel good. Since I hadn’t explored my purpose in life, my goals often took me away from what I really wanted.

That is where the internal comes in

I now understand why you need to explore and develop your beliefs and who you are. It’s why becoming more confident and exercising the demons from you past is critical.

Positive thinking (or positive mental attitude) is a perfect example. Until I looked closely at my life, I though I was pretty positive. I smile a lot. I’m generally a nice guy. I tend to be optimistic.

But when I looked closely I noticed things that weren’t so positive. I tend to look for problems because I defined myself as a problem solver. I tend to have a “shortage” mentality and looked at the glass as half empty. I didn’t have a fully developed belief system so I shot down conflicting views before they could disrupt my life view.

You get the picture.

With age comes wisdom

No, I’m not old and decrepit. But I have gone to great lengths to learn from my experiences, and I’d like to think I’m becoming wiser. One of the major things I’ve figured out is that it all starts inside me. Knowing who I am and what I believe in makes it easier to make the right decision and have open discussions with opposing viewpoints. By knowing my purpose in life, my life is more focused and I can spend time on activities that fulfill me. My improved confidence has me willing to take on life changing stretch goals and challenges.

And the strange part is that I’ve suddenly become much better at all of the external skills. Since I’m no longer “faking it until I make it” it’s easier to communicate. Since I know my purpose in life and have aligned my goals with my purpose, I find it easier to be motivated and to get it done. Since I know my values and beliefs, it’s easier to “think win-win.”

This is mainly because of three things:

1. If you are not grateful for what you already have, why would anyone God give you more?

   Think about it….Who are you more likely to help, someone who appreciates your assistance, or someone who takes your help and spits in your face?

2. Being grateful focuses you on the positives in your life, on what you want. It is a known fact that you get what you focus on, and if you are grateful you bring more good things into your life. Conversely, if you are dissatisfied, you bring more dissatisfaction in your life.This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want more, it just means you need to appreciate what you already have!
3. When you focus intently on what you want in life-setting goals, visualizing, and using positive affirmation-you create a gap between where you are and where you want to be. While this can drive you to make changes and accomplish things, it also creates a lot of distress in your life. Gratitude is like a salve applied to this discomfort, and allows you to be driven without tearing yourself apart or going bonkers.

Oh, they think they know how to think, but in reality most people are just repackaging existing ideas that other people created. This isn’t always bad, but if the source isn’t good, then your thoughts aren’t good. In programming terms this is called “garbage in, garbage out!”

Some people tend to rely only on logic: “if a=b, and b=c, and c=d, then a=d.” This is an important skill, but is only half the equation.

Other people are good at creative, or non-linear, thinking. Again, this is but half the equation.

Yin and Yang

The Chinese use yin yang to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent. You can’t have light without dark. You can’t have good without evil. Without up there is not down. You get the picture.

Thinking is the same way. You can’t truly think without both creativity and logic. Though they appear to be opposites, they are really opposite sides of the same coin.

Creativity Doesn’t Mean Artsy

For years I thought I wasn’t creative. Heck, I bragged about it! I’m and engineer. Painting…not me! Singing…you better hope I don’t! Poetry…not on your life!

As time went by, and as I learned more about myself (and life), I came to realize I was wrong. I may not be artistic, but artistic and creative are two separate concepts. In fact, when it comes to solving problems I’m in a (creative) league by myself.

Artistic meant you are good at art. Creative means you have the ability to create. Poets, musicians, and painters are artists. Some are creative, but most just have a skill that relates to their art.

Logic Isn’t Only Used By Engineers

While logic is technically the study of arguments, in the real world it is nothing more than thinking in a progressive manner. If a=b, and b=c, then a=c is a classic example. This is a skill that engineers are known for. They start at the beginning of a problem or project, and step by step move to a solution. While there are parallel paths, it is pretty much a straight line process.

Logic is also the skill you use when you use basic decision making skills. If I step outside and it is cold, I then go back inside and get a coat.

Why You Need Both

Logic without creativity is what causes so many engineers to be book smart but incompetent at fixing things. It’s what causes so many dreamers to have grand schemes but no ability to create a real action plan. It’s why so some artists can barely function in the real world.

It’s only when you combine both creativity and logic that you are truly thinking:

• Taking unrelated facts and using logic to connect the dots.
• Taking other peoples ideas, looking at them from all sides, and following each possibility to it’s logical conclusion.
• Looking at a symptom, considering possible caused, testing each cause for validity, identifying the actual problem, and solving it.
• Seeing customer problems, creating a solution, and then building a service, product, or business around the solution.

Part of this is because I like doing things myself. Part of this is that I’m pretty good at most things and often do a better job. Often it is because it gets done exactly as I envision it. Usually it is because I love to be in the middle of things and don’t want to miss out.

But mostly I use it as an excuse to undermine my success, and to fill my time with tasks that are not important….

This is actually something I’ve been working on lately

• Having a definite purpose
• Keeping a clear picture of what I want to achieve in mind
• Not loosing myself in how we are going to do it. It is important to do things, but only if they move us towards our goals.

I won’t say I’ve been perfect, but I have improved. A lot of pieces are in place for our multiple revenue streams and we are working on something that could be huge.

But I need to make sure that I stay out of the way. I need to let my business partners participate more and share in the effort (and glory). I need to keep an open mind to other people’s ideas. I need to keep the end in mind and not get lost in the minute (unimportant) details.

Wealth and Wisdom was a different story.

We started Wealth and Wisdom as a site to provide small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs resources. Our plan was to become the place to go if you needed tools, products, or advice. Wanting to stay at the forefront of technology, we investigated RSS feeds and blogs.

And somehow I co-opted the entire enterprise to become my bully pulpit. In the process it became another obligation: I must post every week no matter what. None of this helped us move towards freedom.

So we changed priorities and focused our energy on building our other businesses. We also stopped trying to force Wealth and Wisdom into a cash machine, and kept it dedicated to our journey as entrepreneurs.

And now to the excuses

At the same time, life has gotten complicated. Selling our house, working hard to hit my sales quota (day job), building two side businesses, family, etc….These have all absorbed a ton of time. Things like blogging took a back seat.

Yep, it’s an excuse. These was always an hour each week to post. And now that the pressure is off me to make it profitable, I can write the things I want. I can explore my continuous personal development. I can write about the things I learn while growing our businesses. I can write about my job and not worry that it makes me less of a guru.

Going forward

I still plan on posting regularly. I enjoy writing, and getting it on paper (or the screen) helps me clear my head, organize my thoughts, and work through challenges. I also have enjoyed building my own little corner of cyberspace. I am thankful that you have stuck with me, some of you for over two years!