You Better Do That Before.......

I have often mentioned to friends and acquaintances of a mini-retirement plans of sailing around the world. Their response is always, “You better do that before you have kids!!” Of coarse at this point I ask my favorite question which is, “That an interesting perspective, what made you come to that conclusion?” I am sure you can only imagine the responses I get from people who are stuck in the Rat Race of life. Here are a few that make me laugh…..

Responses like:
1) You can’t just take your kids out of school!!
Haha – I think they will learn more w/ me on a boat sailing the world
2) Your kids will rebel because U R taking them away from their friends
Haha – They will make new friends & learn new languages & customs
3) You can’t just up and leave, they are playing _______
Haha – Oh yes I can watch me & send me an email on what I missed… oh yeah they will be playing __________ in Italy.

Who knows, you may find that you don’t need to be face to face as much as you think for you business to grow. It might just so happen that you meet clients or future partners who need your services on your vacations or mini-retirements. Interesting para-dime to try to escape work for work sake and end up getting more business through your global living lifestyle. The more you control where, when, and what you do for monetary compensation the more freedom you will find.

We all can’t wait to hear how the first one goes for you, but I do have a bit of a challenge for you and that is attempt to do one in the summer and one in the winter as well for the same period of time. This will force you to push your comfort zone a little more & it will force the family to become independent of the “school schedule” families are forced on. Look at it this way a month or two of home study where you as a successful business consultant in a foreign land are educating your own children & educating each other through experience, is much better then your kids learning below average lessons from below average achievers in their local schools (side note to any “haters” both my parents are retired teaches & they support this aforementioned comment).
We should be teaching our kids these automation systems from the beginning, so they can be free from the Rat Race Lifestyle.  All of the schooling systems around the world are teaching them to become worker bees in the collective. Think of the lessons you could pass on to them that you have learned that will be paramount in their development as a free thinker. Think of how different their lives will be because you took the time to teach them what traditional school won’t. That is how to be & live FREE!!

When Mentor's Appear

I was working 12-14 hours a day when my muse fell in my lap. The funny thing is that it took me over a year to see it and listen to someone who could help me make it happen. I had just read The 4 Hour Work Week back in 2008, and knew that my current path of work was too dependent on me. Actually after starting it took me 8 months to listen to someone who was part of the "New Rich" for me to break my old business thought processes and accept his mentor-ship. My suggestion is find someone that has done what you want to do and copy them. You don’t necessarily need to “Find Yoda” but you do need a mentor.

Dear Old Way of Thinking

Dear Brand X,

I’m sorry to have to write this in a letter.  I’ve tried to talk to you, but my please have gone unanswered.

There is no easy way to say this.

It’s over.

Please understand, it’s not you… it’s me.

Okay, maybe it is you.

I just don’t feel appreciated.  It seems our relationship is just all about YOU.  There was a time when I was fine with that, even embraced it.  We had some great times talking about you – like when we would laugh at that funny commercial you were in, or the time we were driving down the highway and saw your billboard.  That was hot!  My friends and I used to talk about that one a lot!

But I’ve changed.

I need more, and I want to pay less.......

And, well, you are stuck in the past.  We never really “talk”, you know?  My schedule is crazy and I just don’t have as much time as I once did to do the things you enjoy – like working, paying bills, watching TV and reading newspapers.  That’s okay once in a while, but I have new interests, too.  I know you don’t like how much time I spend on the web and in social networks, but it’s not just about you anymore.

I hate to hurt you, but I’ve met someone else…your archrival.

I didn’t plan for it to happen.  We met online in a social network and, at first, just chatted occasionally.  But then something happened…

We connected!  They told me about themselves and shared interesting information.  And they wanted to get to know ME!  It wasn’t all about them.  They listened; they cared; and they made me feel valued.  I’d be lying if I said it meant nothing.  They had me at “Hello. How can I help?”

With you I feel our relationship has always been one-sided and you only care about one thing…

What I can do for you.

What about me?  What about what I want?  What about being involved in the things I enjoy?

I defended you to all of my friends.  When they were talking trash about you, I tried to be loyal.  You weren’t even there to defend yourself, and I just felt used.

So this is goodbye.  I hope you understand.  I needed more from you than you were willing to give.

I hope we can still be friends.

Well, maybe not.

Xoxo,

Your former customer (or employee/partner whatever you feel is appropriate)

P.S.  This has nothing to do with your silence when I asked you if I looked fat in my new shirt.

Women VS Men Who is BETTER?

What I have found is that men are like a square on a waffle and women are like the syrup.   My perspective comes from the side of working in partnership with people not as a boss or an employee.  I am completely unemployable, for many reasons, and I have never had a "JOB."  If you want to know the toughest boss to work for all you have to do is look in the mirror and you will see them.  You, of coarse are your own worse boss simply because you are, for the most part, too easy on yourself and allow yourself to get away with things you would never allow an employee to get away with at all.

Ok now that we have got that out of the way lets digress back to men are like a waffle squares and women are like syrup.  I think that makes gay co-workers the butter but that's a whole different very slippery topic and we need to say focused.   Ok, you are going to love this and it is going to make so much sense  after you read it you are going to want to jump through the screen into cyber space and find me to give me a big hug and kiss (or a pat on the butt depending on your gender or weather or not you like butter or not).  This is going to be enlightening insight, so pay attention.

MEN are like waffle squares because they are only good at doing one thing at a time and they can get overloaded very quickly.  WOMEN on the other hand are like syrup, because they can definitely sweeten things up but if you pour too much on it can get down right messy.  They can multi-task all over the place while staying on task and organized, getting all the squares to hold the highest amount syrup.  Keep in mind one must always be careful when applying syrup because it is aways easy to get carried away because who doesn't like nice hot warm syrup.    Well I will tell you who doesn't like that much syrup, your stomach and the waffle.  See eventually you will end up putting too much syrup on the plate and it will eventually give you one big soggy cold mess.

See the moral of the story is we all have specific things we are programmed to be good at by nature.  Give MEN one task at a time and don't overwhelm them.  Give women the freedom to multi-task and don't box them in.  Be careful not to pour to much on their plate, because it is never obvious that they are full, like it is with MEN as waffle squares.  You know when dealing with syrup, it is easy to make it even better with a little encouragement.  That's like putting the syrup in the microwave.  CAUTION the syrup needs to be allowed to release some steam here for its own good, and this steam could be misdirected and steam can burn you, but don't worry because the syrup can't control where the steam goes.  Now leaving the cap sealed will cause problems, big problems so don't be scared of getting burned by a little misdirected steam.  You see once it gets too hot the pressure will make it blow up and then you have ruined a perfectly good microwave just because you where scared to get a little steam burn.

Alright so lets remember the best waffles are made from scratch with big deep waffle squares and don't come prepackaged and frozen.  Ley-go-My-Ego?  You can have that cookie cutter, no square depth have-in, cold, stale, made for a toaster, dime a dozen waffle all to yourself, cause I would not be caught dead with one on my plate.  Yes it does take longer to make them from scratch, and hell you might burn a few, but I have got to tell you it is well worth it.  WARNING!!!! DON'T let me ever catch you buying the cheap fake syrup. Only, and I mean only, get the real maple syrup that comes in a nice glass container.  Yes it does cost more but all that other stuff is bad for you, and will end up giving you cancer or maybe some other disease that is even worse.  When looking for syrup size does not matter but Bigger is not always better, see above about dosage amounts.

HAPPY OFFICE SPACING!!
IaN KirK

The Power of Time, & Your Running Out of it Moment by Moment!

There is a great book that was published called Success For Teens.  It is so important that we do what King Solomon says and that is "Guard your Heart for it is the well spring of life."  In addition to that you might want to also keep an eye your kids.  Funny thing is that you may watch out for your  kids more then you watch out for yourself.  Remember to watch who you hang out with because you are always an average of the people you hang out around. You might want to invest in a Bose Head Set for your office!! Learn a different language or something, but block the negativity around you. Trust me I have been in that environment and no matter how strong you think you are eventually their ideals and mindsets will rub off on you and you will pass them on like a disease to the people you have influence over.
Remember internship and mentor-ships usually come free with priceless relationships, connections, and advice. That compared to 100K in debt for a piece of paper and no means to pay it off anytime soon should make it easy to point your kids in the right direction. Always look at ROI (return on investment) it is the best gage of weather you are going the right direction. Example of 4-8 years of time ending up -100K in debt is BAD….. or 4-8 years interning or developing a “muse” & saving or generating 2,500 per month makes you a millionaire which is GOOD. We all have the same amount of time. Time is our most valuable asset, and the one thing that we are all running out of and can’t by anymore of, so use it wisely. You can either choose to spend time, or invest your time, but again the choice is yours. Who you choose to spend your time with and who and what you invest your time in will drastically change the course of your life and the lives of those around you.

Overcoming Negativity & The Secrets of Super Achievers

A interactive talk about how our thoughts create our results in all aspects of our lives.  In this talk we will discuss where negativity comes from and how to overcome the effects.  We will take a look at characteristics of super achievers and analyze how they get the results that they get and why they get them consistently.  We will also go over three steps that you can take in order to take the steps you need to reach your own goals and start to climb the mountain of your dreams.

Don't You Wish It Was Recess

Nothing much has changed since the playground at recess.  If you got to be the captain, you got to pick who you wanted on your team.  You never worried about someone saying they didn't want to play because that would be just ridiculous.  You also didn't pick players based on any other criteria except to have the winning team.  If you did you would lose the game, and no one wants to be a loser.  Well some kids did and tried to pick using friendships or in order not to hurt anyones feelings, I think they all ended up being social workers, or something to that accord, who never help anyone and just keep avoiding the problems by shuffling the problems around.  Guess what, those kids never get elected to be a captain ever again.  Anyways I digress back to the point which is we need to play the game to win.  For those of you that feel bad for the ones who don't get pick till last, just think of the motivation they now have to get better.  The American workforce and business owners have a rude awakening coming there way in the upcoming  years with globalization.  Their current entitlement attitude is going to get them no where in this new economy of the 21st century.  In order for anyone to get more then they already have or attract the right people to their business or organization they must first become more then they want to attract.