Surroundings

November 14, 2009 at 2:05 AM (12 Steps To Success, Productivity)
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When a client calls me to get my help the first thing I do is review the company’s balance sheet, then the profit and loss and statement of cash flows. For the non-accounting person what that means is I am going to comb through every transaction on the books to some degree. I am going to get a deep understanding of the transactions of that company.

Believe it or not this gives me some great insight into what a company is doing. In fact behind every company – especially smaller ones (which is what I am used to dealing with), is an owner – a human being! By the time I have reviewed the books I know where you like to eat, where you travel, how often, and what airline you like. I can also see things like the fact that many people will repeatedly go to the same place and order the same thing. I know this because I see receipts or charges for the exact same amount. So I don’t just look at the numbers, I look at the whole picture. From this I get a very good sense of the operations – what the company does and how it functions. I can see if the company spends money on amenities to make the employees more comfortable – this gives me insight into what the owner’s priorities are.

Eventually our conversation evolves from the micro-financial to the big picture. What are your goals? Where do you want to go with this? More Free time and higher profits is a pretty good guess for most. Who wouldn’t want that? What’s important to understand is that people do not go into business to make money. Everybody wants to make more money, not everybody wants to own a business. Why do we take that risk? It’s the experience. It’s the freedom – the desire to create the kind of life that we want for ourselves.

When I was in my 3rd and final rehab I found myself surrounded by a very wide mix of people. Some were there to get better and build a new life. Some were there because they were trying to satisfy someone else – a wife, parent, or the courts. The ones who are doing it for anyone other than themselves almost invariably fail. I once made the point that while in rehab we were forced to be in the company of people we had no choice about being surrounded with. One of the responses I got was that I was going to have to deal with that “outside”. That I was going to get a job and I would have no control over who they hired. I didn’t respond, but I did think hard about that. Ultimately the answer was that if I really wanted true freedom – the freedom to choose at all times exactly who I was going to be surrounded by I would have to start my own business. This was my primary motive – not money. It’s in my mission statement – the money comes second to positive experiences and good relationships. If those two things aren’t there then I don’t want the money. I’ve stood by this and let clients go.

I started my company because I wanted to create the environment that I wanted. My surroundings are more important to me than anything else and yes I really do enjoy the freedom that I can take off when I want and do what I want. The funny thing about that is I take less time off now than I did when I was employed and there is a VERY GOOD REASON for that.

Since I have created the life and surroundings that I want for myself, my life has become such a miracle that what I do for “work” is not “work” to me. I LOVE it. I can’t wait to do it every day and I don’t want to take off. Imagine going to work every single day and having that feeling that you can’t wait to get there. EVERY SINGLE DAY! That’s what I have.

So when people tell me that I work too much, my reaction is something like – “what do you mean, I don’t work at all?”

I don’t believe that I am that special. I believe that EVERY SINGLE PERSON OUT THERE IS CAPABLE of creating the life that they want. YOU are capable of creating the life that you want. The first step is believing in that. Believing that you can accomplish anything you want to and that your potential is unlimited.

If you are not living absolutely every day filled with gratitude (and I know I’m not) all the time then it means that you can improve your life and situation. I see it all the time with my cilents. We set goals and when we reach them it’s a miracle! People tell me that having me around – just talking to me gives them peace of mind. It’s not that I am so GREAT – it’s that I have a strong belief that I can really help people and they feel that.

I want to invite you to join me in two places. You’re a miracle.com is a blog I’ve set up dedicated to productivity and motivation – I believe the two go hand in hand. You can sign up to receive FREE 3 minute daily motivators. These are MP3 files delivered right to your inbox. An e-mail comes early in the morning with an envelope you can click on to download and listen. They are only 3 minutes. We’ve already got about 30 subscribers and I’ve been doing this for less than 2 months. You can catch up – I made the entire month of October’s recordings available in the learning center of our main site. You can download the whole month and some extra’s for $30. this is a way that you can help support me in delivering these positive upbeat reminders about little things you can do to make your day better, but it is by no means required. You can sign up to receive them daily for FREE.

The second place I want to invite you to is my online community for Nerd Enterprises, Inc. The idea behind this is to bring together a community of like-minded people. People who want to help others, refer business, or just get together for coffee with good people. You can join the community, set up your page, post blog entries, create and join groups, set up events.

The links you need are provided in the description of this video / audio file depending on what format you are getting this message in. I am creating several.

www.youre-a-miracle.com

http://tinyurl.com/nerd-community

 

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5 Money Saving Tips Anyone Can Follow

November 5, 2009 at 7:06 AM (Family, Productivity)
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  1. Take $20/week and stick it somewhere in an envelope or safe or even an actual piggy bank. I know very few people who can’t seriously take $20/week and set it aside. Every once in a while when you have some extra cash, give it a boost. My wife and I did this and within about 6 months we had actually saved about $1,500 – it came in real handy too when we needed it.
  2. Stop eating out! I have seen many people’s finances and the #1 most expensive thing people do is eat out. Go out once/week to a nice restaurant. Aside from that go grocery shopping – my wife gets real creative about this and I go with her and we actually have fun together going grocery shopping. We go every 2-3 weeks and buy for 2 weeks. Then she texts me the occasional pop-in list with a handful if items we’re running low on and the money for this comes out of the cash in my pocket. Get a lunch box and some freezer packs and bring your lunch to work. Go for a walk after lunch.
  3. Use what you have:
    • There are probably a lot of things around the house that you can use in terms of activities that will not cost you very much if anything.
    • I read one tip that said cancel your membership at the gym and work out at home. I am going to say the opposite. Keep your membership and start using it. This will represent an activity that doesn’t cost any more out of pocket money. It will also represent an activity that takes up time and consumes energy. This will leave less energy over for activities that would cost you money AND it’s healthy!!
    • Find things to do around the house – video games are a low cost option and there are plenty that appeal to adults and kids. Movie rentals is another good one.
    • Spend more time as a family at home. This doesn’t cost anything and will also instill great values in the kids. Any time I see kids that are clearly “really good kids” the one thing I notice in common is that they are close with their families. I am not a father yet, but this is what I will want to instill in my kids. Family life has a MAJOR impact on how we develop.
  4. Set limits on what you spend without discussing it as a couple (assuming you are married). If you are single then make it a limit that you wait one week from deciding to make the purchase until actually making the purchase. This way you find out if you really WANT/NEED the item. For me and my wife our limit is $200 on any one purchase. So if I want to get something that costs more than $200 we’re agreed I will discuss it with her first and vice versa. Not only does this force you to stop and think about what you really need to spend money on before spending it, it will prevent a lot of arguments- and this is good. This is VERY GOOD!
  5. Take Inventory of your finances. This means drafting a budget. It doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to be something that you do to lay out what income you have coming in and what your monthly expenses are. By laying this out and looking at it you can begin to see where you can cut back. You can also think in terms of ways to bring in additional income – this is where the process becomes a more creative one and along these lines it gets exciting. By looking at the numbers in black and white you can get an idea of whether or not you are living within your means.

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Important Security Tip

October 22, 2009 at 5:01 PM (Internet Security)
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I received an e-mail just now that looked VERY legit. It even came from noreply@microsoft.com

It told me that there were important updates to Microsoft Outlook that were “Critical” in nature.

Ever suspicious instead of clicking the link I went into my MS Outlook app, clicked ‘help’ then clicked ‘check for updates’. The “real” Microsoft site informed me that there were no critical updates available, just some “optional” ones. So then I took a closer look at the e-mail because usually I can tell right away. The link provided on the surface looks like it is legit. The key on any link is whatever appears after the LAST dot “.” before the “.com”. So www.fraud.nerdenterprises.com would be a location in “nerdenterprises.com”. Well looking at the link in this e-mail on the surface it looks legit because “Microsoft.com” is the last part of the link before any forward slashes “/”. So I was still puzzled until I hovered my mouse over the link (WITHOUT CLICKING ON IT). Then the “real” link appears and you will notice it is different:

Click the image for a larger version:

Notice the link in the e-mail has http://update.microsoft.com/…

But when I hover over the link the box pops up and the ACTUAL URL is very different:

http://update.microsoft.com.modestftp.eu/microsoftupdate…

The actual domain here is “modestftp.eu” this is clearly NOT microsoft’s website.

They ALMOST got me on this one – but you can’t put one past a REAL nerd!

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Today’s Recap

October 14, 2009 at 9:25 PM (Personal Notes)
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Change has become an interesting phenomenon for me. I used to fear it. Now I embrace it for the most part. I get excited about the idea that when change happens, and I mean significant change, it means I am going to face new and exciting things. I don’t know how many people feel that way about it. It’s especially strange when you are so used to doing something and all of a sudden you just don’t do it anymore. Like leaving a job that you’ve gone to every day for a few years, then you leave it and it’s weird not to go. You almost want to go because you’re so used to going, but you can’t because you no longer work there. I recently made a decision like that – not work related. I have stopped doing something I have been doing with some regularity for a while. I’ve replaced it with something else in a sense, but it still feels weird. It’s too personal to go into details here, but you can get the point. The whole experience just confirmed for me that I was right in being hesitant about getting too close to a few people. Strangely at the same time I feel like it has landed me right back in the laps of the people I was originally akin to. In other words, it’s like I left home for 3 years and now I’m back and it feels good to be back but it feels weird to have left where I just came from.

Speaking of weird I had a somewhat unusual experience tonight. I came home expecting to jump into some work and struck up conversation with my wife. I LOVE my wife!! This was unusual because normally by this time she would be in bed and I would eat something light and get some work done here in the office. Next thing I know I am in the middle of this great, intense conversation with my wife and I’m thinking to myself, this is so cool. We were just standing in the kitchen and having this great conversation about life, raising kids (even though we don’t have any we are of course experts on the subject J), and all kinds of other “life” stuff. The kind of stuff we used to talk about when we first dated. Anyway it was fun and I felt like writing about it.

So my life has taken a recently strange twist and I feel good about it 90% of the time, lost about it 5% of the time and apathetic the other 5%. Perfectly normal I’m sure.

Anyway that’s my little diary like entry for the day.

Tomorrow I spend the day working with my favorite client to work with – Home Front, Inc. – great people, fun to work with and they do amazing work on people’s homes. www.homefrontbuild.com if you want to see more about them! Hopefully if I get home early enough I can record some QuickBooks and an excel tutorial. I have not been getting the time to do that and I really want to.

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A quick update

October 14, 2009 at 8:52 AM (Career, Family, My Computers, Personal Notes)
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I can’t wait for Windows 7 to come out on October 22. I’ve seen it, heard about it and read about it – that it’s better than Vista, MUCH more stable and solves many if not all of the problems that Vista has had. If you’ve bought a new computer recently then there is a good chance you are eligible for a free upgrade from Vista. Check with your manufacturer or wherever you bought your machine. As for other areas of my life – it looks like I am headed to NY for a very brief visit from Sunday to Tuesday. Mostly to see family, but I will be popping in to see a new client who saw one of my videos on QuickBooks. This is exciting because for a while now I have wanted to start getting clients in different parts of the country and I am seeing it happen now. I did a couple of online QuickBooks / Excel trainings with someone in Alabama recently, and I’ve been getting some calls from people in other parts of the country.

The new website www.youre-a-miracle.com is moving along. We have about 21 subscribers now and hopefully that will continue to grow. I really enjoy doing them. This does take some time so I have not had time like I normally have to work on QuickBooks tutorials. I have to think about that.

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What’s going on with me?!

October 4, 2009 at 12:00 PM (Personal Notes)
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I have been very busy in other areas and realized I have not been posting anything here. I just launched “You’re A Miracle” which is my new motivation and productivity blog. I am sending out a daily e-mail with an MP3 to download. These are 3 minute recordings where I talk about what I do to keep motivated, organized, and productive. I have learned to live a life filled with passion for all areas of my life. I love my family, LOVE MY DOGS, love my career, my friends, and there is really very little about my life that I don’t like. Does this mean I never have a bad day? Of course not – in fact I have them all the time. I just keep learning how to deal with them better and better and the number 1 thing I do is always remember that the best thing I can do is keep a positive attitude.

My life is going through a shift. My term with Thought-Life Connection (TLC) appears to have come to an abrupt end, specifically because I launched You’re A Miracle and it was felt that this was a conflict. I don’t agree but I respect the wishes of KC Pierson, owner of TLC. I have learned much from him and as a matter of fact the experience has lead me to spend a good deal of time reflecting on how many people in my life have influenced me, KC being a recent and significant one. He always will be. This is a very long list, starting of course with my parents who have loved me dearly and unconditionally my whole entire life. If I owe a tribute to ANYONE, it has to start with them. With a long list of mentors, coaches, guides, and influences, KC comes in as the most recent one. In the past 3 years I have learned so much from him that I know he has help shape the person I am. Still I am my own person shaped by him and many others that I come across in my daily life. I will continue to be shaped by the experiences I have and the people I have them with. Sometimes it becomes apparent that it is time to move on. I know that the You’re A Miracle launch was the catalyst for this change, but I also feel strongly that it was just a catalyst for the inevitable. It actually feels good – like I am free to do what I want where I want when I want. Not that this wasn’t the case before but this is just the feeling I have behind the change. I’ve embraced it and I know that this is happening because this is exactly what is supposed to happen.

So many changes have taken place in my life that change no longer scares me. In fact I’ve learned to get excited about it. The word inertia is defined as resistance to change. In physics it is used to refer to something whose properties don’t change regardless of the surroundings, but when used to refer to people the context is a little different. It does not carry a positive connotation when it comes to people. When people resist change they stop growing because change is inevitable and resistance to the inevitable will lead to frustration. One of my high school teachers once explained that this is what many of us go through as we get older- adults by and large do not like change. I’ve learned to get passed this by embracing change. By recognizing that the universe or god, or whatever you want to call it has something in store for me that requires this change in order to prepare me for it. Now I can get excited about it!

Life is really, really good!

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You’re A Miracle

September 26, 2009 at 1:42 PM (General, Productivity, Social / Entertainment)

I have been asked enough times now so I have officially launched my motivational / productivity site at www.youre-a-miracle.com. Please visit this site and sign up for my daily 3 minute motivators – an MP3 file delivered to your inbox every day guaranteed to get you excited about today! Try it out. Then if you like it you can sign up for the upgrade J. Details on the website – click now!

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Step 2 – Asking For Help

September 7, 2009 at 11:27 AM (12 Steps To Success)
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If you are with me from Step 1, then you are beginning to understand what it means to feel passionate about what you want to do and whom you want to become. None of this has to be done all at once. It is a work in progress and will take some time to really develop and evolve. In the meantime it is enough just to begin working on these things in order to work at a better life free of the things we do to imprison ourselves from our own unlimited potential.

When we are engaged in the process of developing and growing – especially if we are new at it, or starting over then it is important to recognize that I am in a place where I have much to learn. The truth is I want to stay in this place – I want to remain teachable. As long as that is true I can continue to learn and with learning comes growth. I have had the experience of calling customer service reps on computer issues and feeling certain that I knew more than the person on the other end of the line. Then all I felt was frustration and anger and that blocked me from getting closer to the solution I was looking for. Moreover my reaction I am sure did not feel good to the person on the other end of the line – no matter what his/her first language might be – they still feel the same stuff! Did I build a relationship in those situations or did I destroy one? How many relationships in our collective experiences never get to happen because of these types of blocks? I have found on more than one occasion that when I remained calm and maintained patience in these situations then once they got me through the basic parts (the stuff I “already know”) they were able to help me with the real issue. They first have to satisfy themselves that they understand the issue and as much as I think I know, I don’t know everything. I also begin trusting in the universe that whatever is happening in this moment is exactly what is supposed to happen. So there is a reason why I need to sit through these painstaking moments in which I think I already know what I am being shown. Maybe to teach me patience? Maybe to give me the review that I need to set my mind right so that I am ready to learn the next thing? Maybe at any given moment I am about to find out that there is one key thing I don’t know, the answer to which might open up doors to a whole new and incredible experience. The point is that I never know what next experience my current experience is about to take me to. So it is usually best to wait patiently and see what unfolds always with a mind and an eye towards growth and learning.

The key that opens the door to all learning is the humility and willingness to ask for help. This is the opposite of what most of us have been taught in society. Society will have us believe that to ask for help is a sign of weakness. That it means I am not a “Man” or “Woman”. The irony of this is that in reality it is asking for help that separates the children from the adults. The child says “I don’t need any help”. The adult says “If I can get some help I can learn and grow”. That’s the whole difference and the basis for any progress. Why do we attend schools at all levels? When we go to register for a class we are in effect asking for help. My primary source and inspiration for these steps is a book called “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions”, and in there I find a phrase that perfectly describes the learning process: search and research again and again always with an open mind.

In asking for help we are going to begin surrounding us with the people who are in a position to help us. It is a given of course then that they have to be willing to help us. If someone is not willing to help then they are not the sort of people I want to be around. This of course means that I have to be of the mindset where I am willing to help. We get what we give, so if I am not willing to help others, what can I expect to get in return? This is an important principle for living. There are givers and takers. The givers are the ones who really receive. The takers get what they take and then are left with little else and they will likely lose what they’ve taken. Not to mention the takers are almost guaranteed a life of loneliness – nobody likes them and when they become recognizable (and they do) people will run from them. The givers are a source of light for many people. We are attracted to light – we want to be around this kind of person. This is who I want to become, how about you?

How does this apply in business? The answer is everywhere. Most people will be flattered when you ask them for help and based on that, they will be happy to do it. Depending on the circumstances some will require a fee for their help. This is ok (if we can afford to pay) we should want to pay. This is an acknowledgement that the help we are being given is meaningful and valuable to us. I have a client whom I’ve noticed is constantly negotiated better rates with people. Above and beyond the normal shopping around you and I might do. What I notice in the process is that he diminishes the value of the relationship as he diminishes the cost he has to pay. If someone keeps working me for a better rate, it gets beyond the point where I see he just wants the best value and moves into a realm where it seems clear he does not value what I provide. I do not enjoy working with him. On the other side when someone comes to me and insists on paying top dollar because they so value what I can offer it feels good. It feels really good in fact and there is nothing I won’t do for that person – including voluntarily discounting my rate. So then I have to ask myself, which of these people do I want to be when I am asking for help? When I am no that side of the equation. Well for starters, one sounds much more like a demand, while the other comes across as a genuine and grateful request for help.

Asking for help is a sign of strength. It suggests that we are adult enough to recognize that we need help. Then we can be sure that in getting the help we ask for we will learn and grow from it. This process will cause is to become better, happier, stronger, more usefully whole people.

Step 2 is also a point, right in the beginning of the process where we come together. In asking for help we establish and or deepen our relationships with others. When someone helps me I appreciate this. I don’t forget and then when the time comes I am prepared to offer help right back to that person or group who helped me. Or I pay it forward so that the next time someone asks me for help I am there without thinking twice about it because I truly appreciate the help people have given me along the way. And there has been much of that.

I hope everyone had a great and safe Labor Day weekend!

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Amazing

September 6, 2009 at 1:25 AM (Personal Notes)

I actually got away from the computer for a few hours today, played with my Playstation3 and then watched some TV!

Watching more Knight Rider before I go to bed! I love Labor Day Weekend.

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I have no idea

September 5, 2009 at 2:24 AM (Personal Notes)
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It’s about 2:15 am and I have no idea what I am doing, but I just feel like writing. I just finished watching episodes of Knight Rider. I used to love the original show as a kid. I actually like this show – but I think I saw that it was cancelled. Oh well! I just think it’s so cool that you can watch TV on your computer. Who knew this was heading this direction. I remember getting a computer as a kid. Monochrome monitor, DOS operating system. Running basic computer programming language and getting the computer to print my name repeatedly on the screen was exciting. My first amber colored monochrome monitor was exciting. When you think about it the stuff we have now is incredible. And it just keeps getting better. It’s hard to imagine what it will be like even in 10 years from now. People watching TV on their phones. Personally I would much rather watch TV on my flat screen mounted on the wall, but if you travel a lot, then I can see where this is ideal.

I should be sleeping, but I can’t. Too many ideas flowing and yet there are deadlines to meet. Tax extensions are due on September 15 and I have 3 clients to complete all by the end of today. Really by 2pm since I have to meet someone at 3. I’m amazed my wife hasn’t come out and dragged me into bed. Maybe she’s given up on doing that. Why do I insist on staying up? What am I avoiding? OK I think I am actually going to go to bed now..

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