Category Archives: Success

Going on Your Own

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3081123 d3e9e4e041 m Going on Your Own
Image by Jake Sutton via Flickr

How do you decide that you have to get out of a dead end job situation?  When do make the decision to learn about other opportunities, other business situations and begin to consider creating your own business?  When do you realize that the commitments and promises of employment sector- security, stability and a comfortable  retirement - are not realistic any longer?  And when you do decide, what do you do?  Where do you find the information you need to identify the opportunities and knowledge you need?  I have been around this block.  I retired twice without achieving the financial security to do what I want.  It is a tough world today but there are also opportunities for people who decide.

The realities of today’s economy affect people differently.  Younger people never expected a retirement system or lifetime employment but baby boomers were lulled into a false security.  They believed in secure jobs and comfortable retirements up until the system collapsed leaving them with reduced or lost retirement income and a stressed life stlye.  Boomers have lost the most and and find themselves strapped.  Many want more income but don’t know what to do or where to turn.  I understand.  I have been there.  I have chronicled some of my decision points and insight on this blog.

Dealing with change to begin with. Change is always difficult and threatening but there are ways to keep your head and make sure that you find the opportunities. Then, of course, there is the problem of deciding when things are bad enough that you just have to get out.

Assessing the situation in your job is difficult as well.  Looking at the five levels of organizations can give you a better idea if there is a reason to stay or leave.

And finally some wise counseling from Seth Godin helped me make the right decision for me- I Quit.

If you are a boomer moving along the same decision path that I followed, you begin to understand that multiple streams of income is the best insurance in the unpredictable future we face.  Maybe you know some vehicles and just need the nudge.  But maybe you need more information – both about how to create a business of your own and what some of the vehicles to use as well as background on the mindset you need and some good reading to get you ready.  For that reason, I created a resource to get you started, a compilation of the information I am using .  There are books that have helped me and background to help you identify what opportunities are available.  If you want to quit your job, supplement your retirement or find something fulfilling to do with the monotony of retirement, it is there for you.

Going on Your Own

Originally posted 2010-03-31 08:21:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Revisiting Obstacles

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A year ago I wrote about the proper way to think about obstacles.  They aren’t reasons to change course.  They may be lessons we need to learn or tests for our convictions.  If you are committed to reaching your goals then  you need to be  overcoming  obstacles instead of avoiding them.

If you would like to add your own experience with obstacles in life, please leave a comment.  And if you like the video then subscribe to get access to more.

Originally posted 2011-01-14 10:22:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Stirring Things Up

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crowd Stirring Things UpNiccolo Machiavelli: Make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul.

I attended a leadership conference last weekend.  The key element I get from these weekends is vision.  In normal life, most of the people with whom I interact have modest goals and dreams.  Put in 30 or so years at their job and then retire.  Most are oblivious to the forces that are making those goals more and more difficult to achieve.  With a long-term vision of what is possible and some soul-stirring you can move forward in spite of the obstacles and criticism.  Last weekend, I was surrounded by people who don’t make small plans.  It is a big difference.  The audience was energized with big plans for financial independence, personal freedom and a mission to restore our country to the principles of the founders.  Souls were definitely stirred.

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Originally posted 2009-10-16 09:44:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Funny in Savannah

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savannah Funny in Savannah

Last summer I confessed that I can’t tell jokes.  Exploration of humor to research a blog post persuaded me that this was just one more the self-limiting lies I believe about myself.  Humor and the simple ability to tell a joke can be learned.  This was clearly the lesson of my research and so when I committed to speak at an industry conference I told myself that I would tell a joke.

Tuesday was the day.  I gave my presentation.  I opened the talk with a joke and people laughed.  I know that Jay Leno is not worried but I am excited by my accomplishment.  It wasn’t a buffo, belly-laughing joke but it opened my remarks with something funny that tied to my topic and established a relationship with my audience which I have never accomplished before.  I’m a facts guy with the right answers and I usually berate people about what they are doing wrong.  Amazingly they don’t relate to my lectures.  On Tuesday I was still the same guy telling them what they ought to do but I was able to refocus on helping them with a problem. I used a new technique that I won’t go into here for the content and organization but a good part of the success has to go to the simple joke that started it all off.

After my commitment to tell a joke no matter what the consequences because after all, it couldn’t make me any worse as a speaker, I searched the web for energy humor because that is the industry where I work.  I hit pay dirt.  The joke I found was simple, energy-related and poked a little fun at environmentalist.  I thought it would work but the real question was…could I tell it?

I personalized by telling a white lie.  I claimed that the story was from my sister-in-law in Pennsylvania where the joke is based. My story was that I like to keep aware of things in the rest of the country because sometimes California goes its own way. So it helps me when I talk to my wife’s family in Pennsylvania.  Then I told the joke and amazingly, people laughed.  It was more than the polite, humor the speaker laugh that I expected and it was all I could do to keep from giving myself a high five.  But I still had the talk to give so I just smiled and moved on.

I don’t share this to pat myself on the back.  I do it because there are probably many others who have told themselves that they can’t tell a joke and so they go through life proving that they are right instead of taking it as a challenge to grow and become a joke teller.  Believe me, if I can tell a joke, anyone can.  Stop defining yourself down. And don’t just stop at jokes.  What else is there that you believe you can’t do?  GO DO IT!

Originally posted 2009-09-18 08:40:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter