Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Project Update #4: AnthemVirtual.com
Okay, I can succeed with just those two items: A weekly plan and daily plans. I'm balanced because my plans include my body, mind, heart, and spirit. There's one more concept I came up with to help me keep my sanity. As this is a project launch that is essentially a new business launch, there are a lot of LITTLE THINGS that need to get done; and right now I'm the only one responsible for doing them. My motto has become "Get Going NOW, Tweak Along the Way". This means that the website won't be perfect; the process may not be totally smooth at first. That's okay. Keep moving. Otherwise, I'll get lost in the details, fall behind schedule, and find plenty of excuses to stall my progress. I created in my Wave, beneath my two weekly objectives, a TweakBox. In here I put anything and everything that needs to get done, but isn't priority. If I was budgeted for it, many of these tasks would likely be outsourced. This box allows me to, at a glance, see what needs to get tweaked and when I have a moment between peanut-butter sandwiches and playing tag (again, stacking: Family time with exercise), I can get some tweak time in. Now, there's an even more important role this TweakBox plays: It allows me to DUMP my thoughts as they arrive in my head regarding things that need to get done. Now, these thoughts don't cloud my productive time; they don't cheat me out of sleep or strive to raise my levels of anxiety. Writing things down puts you in control of the tasks. Having my TweakBox gives me permission to "do them when I can". After creating the TweakBox, I added a DailyBox, a WeeklyBox, and a ReadingBox. In these, I place the tasks that need to be done every day, or once or twice each week; as well as what books I want to read that apply to my work (right now it's "How Did That Happen?"). Again, I don't have to THINK, instead I FOCUS on the priorities, and I SNEAK in the Box-stuffs when I can. I'm about 5 to 7 days behind where I want to be in my 90-day plan... which feels like three months behind. This is good, only because I use the "pressure" to stick to the tasks before me. Make promises and keep them. It's a pretty simple plan. Kawasaki's book with some tactics from Ferriss, and the foundation of Covey, these help me format those promises in a way that keeps me in control of me, so I can move effectively forward in creating value. If you want a copy of my GoogleWave outline, email me at Dave@SelfEnterpriser.com. I'm happy to send you a copy, but don't want to make this post any longer than it already is. What's next? The value's been created, this week a system is being put in place to ensure consistency in that value; and marketing that value will begin (marketing, meaning making it easy for others to exchange dollars for that value). Tools: Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C. Photo [...]
Project Update #3: AnthemVirtual.com
Let's see... I'm on day 29 of the AnthemVirtual.com launch. Many reasons for delay keep cropping up and begging me to call them excuses. However, this little drummer-boy is marching forward. I've been feeling overwhelmed with my acting-role of SuperDad. At the end of every day I found myself with feelings of great dissatisfaction, that I didn't get near enough completed. I finally found myself saying (okay, I was screaming), if I only had 3 hours of actual productivity every day, oh what I could do. Going back and forth with my wife, trying to figure out her work schedule with mine (hers is making money), along with the kids' schedules and the kids getting sick (seems each of them had something unique). On top of these "normal" abnormalities, there's an issue of chronic fatigue that comes into play in my frustration, too. Okay, enough of the Real-world (I only share to shout out to you and myself that there are no excuses good enough to stop me). Here's what I ended up doing. First, I realized that my 'night-owl' tendencies could serve me well. I have 3 hours from 10PM to 1AM every day. Viola! An instant 3 hours. Just what I was looking for, right in a time-slot that my fatigue rarely kicks my butt and the children are sleeping. Okay, next I needed to ensure that these three hours were PRO-DUC-TIVE! This meant I needed to have an absolute plan for things that were my absolute priority. Get this plan written down (long before the production period was to start; like the end of the previous work-day). Once things were written down, all I had to do was keep the promises I made (borrowed from Stephen Covey's '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'). As long as I'm making promises based on my priority objectives - to myself and others - then I do all I that is humanly possible to keep those promises, prosperity naturally follows (of course, tweaking priority objectives when needed). Create A WEEKLY PLAN using Google Wave (no other collaborators, just me). a. Plan should cover four areas: Heart, Mind, Spirit & Body (the PC in Covey's PC/P concept) b. Plan should cover top TWO major accomplishments for the business for that particular week (based loosely on Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek. If these are the ONLY 2 things accomplished this week, it will be a fantastic week for the business). Create a DAILY PLAN within the same Wave a. What are the TOP TWO accomplishments for the next business day. b. Any sub-tasks that need to go with this? I don't want to use anything more complicated than Wave, tho there are many project management programs out there; and I'll be using a project management program within AnthemVirtual. However, I want my Weekly Plan / Daily Plan to be very simple. As well, I chose Wave instead of a simple Google Doc only because I wanted to familiarize myself with Wave a bit more as I'll soon be using it to track communications between the company and our Clients [...]
First Impressions: Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich
It's been a long time since I've delved into a Kiyosaki book; tho I still would be quick to recommend Rich Dad / Poor Dad to anyone looking for a philosophical foundation for money. I've not read the entire book (um... that's why I entitled this "First Impressions"). My first impression (see, there's the title in action) is that it should be a pretty good read. While it's clear in calling today's financial disasters the result of conspiring men and women, it doesn't seem to be a book that's overly focused on the "Oh my gosh, how can men be so evil" downer side of things. Sure, mean people suck; but let's focus on what good people with good intentions can do to improve their own circumstances. That's the direction I feel this book is heading. Most people leave school not knowing even the basic differences between a stock and a bond, betweent debt and equity. Few know why preferred stocks are labeled preferred and why mutual funds are mutual... Many people think debt is bad, yet debt can make you rich. Debt can increase your return on investment, but only if you know what you're doing. Only a few know the difference between capital gains and cash flow and which is less risky. Most people blindly accept the idea of going to school to get a good job and never know why employees pay higher tax rates than the entrepreneur who owns the business. Many people are in trouble today because they believed their home was an asset, when it was really a liability. These are basic and simple financial concepts. Yet for some reason, our schools conveniently omit a subject required for a successful life-the subject of money. +++ Okay, so there we have one of the problems. Again, I feel the problems are introduced only as a stage to introduce solutions. He later states: +++ Smart investors understand that owning a business that adjusts to the ups and downs of the economy or investing in cash-flowing assets is much better than owning a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds- investments that crash when the market crashes. +++ This is how I see the book might appeal to Self-Enterprisers. We want our business to reflect who we are as a person; but we also want to be smart and not end up broke because we're, well... to put it in Kiyosaki's words, *playing by the wrong set of rules*. Do I recommend the book? I'm still undecided. I mean, if you just need to read something, and you've already read and understand the books on my Good-Enuff-To-Get-Going list, sure. Or, if you're finding yourself in paralasis by the bad news that's being presented daily (hint, turn off the news), then perhaps the book could be a booster shot of Vitamin B (B, meaning *Business*, of course). I believe it's a great time to start and build up a business. Perhaps better than any other time in history. To be able to take the things you care about the most and use these to create value for others makes for a great life, in my opinion. And the [...]
Speed Reading
BTW: In the recording studio tomorrow: Self-Enterpriser, Kris Madden to discuss his Speed Reading start-up. --Dave C. Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysphotos/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 Disclaimers & Such
Know What You Do, and Do It
As any bruised and battered Self-Enterpriser will tell you: Know what you do and don't divert. As you're following along your road map, whether it's Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It! or Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start, or Mike Michalowicz'sess's The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, folks will want to do stuff with you. Heck, they may even want to do stuff TO you. And you may want them to. It may sound exciting. But check the Opportunity Costs: What will it prevent you from doing instead? Weigh your options first, and only then move forward. (I've heard it said: Say YES now; you can always say NO later. This is a good way to burn a lot of relationships fast if you start allowing people to count on you but end up leaving them hanging. Also true about how much time you take to 'decide' whether or not you'll participate with someone). Define what it is you do, the meaning you want from it, and the meaning you want others to experience. Then, stick to that. Take on additional opportunities only when it will compliment what you're already doing. In all of this opportunity weighing, ensure you remain self-sufficient. In other words, don't jump on board with things that "could MAKE you"; cuz those opportunities have a tendency to pull you away from your core, and any reputation your new partner earns, you may end up with as well. All this said, people will want to partner with you, and this is a great thing. The best types of partnerships are with those who are already making money without you, you're making money without them, and the relationship won't change that. Also, talking from my own experience, the value that both you and your partner will gain should result in dollars (or gold, or something of exchangeable value). Okay, I'll add to that, eyeballs (preferably attached to people, and - unless you're in the mortuary biz, they should also be at least somewhat living). There are plenty of individuals who will absolutely LOVE what you're doing, and just want to be a part of it for the joy of it all. If you cave and decide to work with these people (and they're very nice people), ensure the tasks they're providing are only sprinkles on your cake; this way if they don't come through for the project, the project will still advance without missing them. Keep on Rockin' Your World, you Self-Enterpriser, you. --Dave C. Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sally_12/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Self-Enterprisers Stand for Freedom (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from yesterday... DeMille continues: Imagine the impact on everything in our lives if each family could provide all, or even many, of its needs for itself—and do it better than kings or politicians ruling over working peasants or even corporations employing workers to produce goods and services. Such is the world of the mini-factory. I felt that I connected with all three of DeMille's proposals (no, I'm not going to give them away, here. First, it's not on topic; second, I don't wanna spoil your reading time); but I felt I was in the position to best serve myself, my family, you, and everyone else by focusing in on this idea of Mini-Factories. Really, I had already been promoting Mini-Factories for the past several years, just without my being aware of how the trend might directly relate to freedom on a larger scale. So, I created an online home/hang-out for people who were like me; a place for Self-Enterprisers. A Self Enterpriser is really a Mini-Factory founder who learns to create value from the core of who they are. What are your passions? What can you spend all day talking to others about and have more energy at the end of those conversations than when you started? When you find this passion of yours and then decide to find a way to create value for others using this passion, you, my friend, are a Self-Enterpriser. Once you know what your passion is, the trick to turning it into cash-money is going to become quite easy. It'll be easy because you'll use the road-maps that others willingly provide for you, AND because in both the ups and downs of your adventure you'll be doing what you most enjoy (okay, maybe what's SECOND on your list of most enjoyable things to do). In addition, the S.E. Projects and Interns-2-Owners™ areas of this site will soon feature real-life examples of individuals living their dreams out loud. I hope to see you featured here on the site, soon. Send me an email at Dave@SelfEnterpriser.com. Let me know what you've done, what you're doing, or what you'd like to do. --Dave CLICK HERE to learn more about Oliver DeMille's book and to download a couple of suh-weet freebies. (Site, book, and freebies not affiliated w/SelfEnterpriser.com) Photo Credits: Today's panel includes a photograph from Alex E. Proimos. Permissions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/ / CC BY 2.0
