Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
A fellow named Chris Wise recently sent out something about passive income, and it really got me thinking.
See, in his article, Chris Wise feels very strongly that devoting one's resources to the acquisition of passive income is more important than the elimination of debt. He claims that focusing on debt elimination distacts one from making more money.
Now, understand: I don't disgree with that. As Chris says, if we generate enough income - preferably passive income - the debt situation will take care of itself.
The challenge I have with that is this:
An adopted mentor of mine, Robert G. Allen, describes what he calls his "Bathtub Theory of Economics". His theory expresses wealth accumulation in terms of cash inflow versus cash outflow. He uses the paradigm of water flowing into a tub and drains allowing the water to escape from the tub. If the water is escaping faster than it flows in, you have two choices: open more faucets or plug up some drains.
Coming from the IT world, I've seen a lot of situations where corporate management was content to mask issues rather than expend the resources to resolve them. Chris's one-sided suggestion seems to me to reflect a similar paradigm: create a sufficiently massive passive income that the demands of debt service are over-whelmed. That way, massive cash flow not only serves to grow the business (instant gratification) but eliminates debts at a rate faster than if cash flow was only a bit more than the demands of debt service.
My personal belief is that the best way to build LASTING wealth, is to clear up unhealthy debt first. That is, plug some of the drains in your "money tub" so the cash which does flow in doesn't flow out so quickly.
I have the perfect example of this in my life right now. As I write this, I've been out of work for a year and a month. I've been living off of my life savings to keep my bills current and protect what's left of my credit score as long as I can. There's been no - or very little - cash flowing in, while the rate of outflow has remained steady, or actually increased somewhat as I've been buying study materials to increase my knowledge and build my business. I'm coming down to the last two months worth of my life savings. I've been job seeking while I've been building my business, but as yet I've not acquired any new income. So, the money I had, and the little I had coming in - unemployment compensation - have been overcome by the demands of my bills and debt service.
Had I been able to "plug some drains", my money would have lasted much longer. Now the divorce settlement was a serious drain on my resources - it cost me better than half of my life savings. Had that challenge not arisen, I could continue for at least another year on course toward building my business. As it is, I must now make some choices between new sources of income that are, perhaps, potentially a great boon to my plans yet may also present some challenging options from which to choose.
Here's a comparison that may help clear up my point for you:
Suppose you're in a boat on a lake. The boat springs a leak. You have a pump that can keep up with the water coming in as long as no new leaks open up. Now, you could stay out on the lake if no new leaks pop open or someone gave you more pumps, or you could get back to the dock and pull the boat out of the water to fix the leak. What would YOUR choice be?
So, my advice is yes, acquire passive income - as much passive income as you can.
However, when it comes to my cash situation, my preference would be to "plug some drains" in my money tub so the money I do get stays with me longer and allows cash in "the tub" to build up more quickly than if the outflow rate was still the same as it was before I acquired the new income.
We all have money mistakes we'd like to put right, things we could have done better that we'd like to fix. My preference is to "clean house" financially when the opportunity presents itself. With my financial house in order, my pursuits of income will utlimately be more productive, in my opinion.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
SBA Community Express Loan - Update
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Found out something new: some types of businesses are ineligible under SBA Guidelines.
Unfortunately, my LLC is one of them. Because I'm looking at looking at buying income properties and holding them for cash flow, my LLC is not the type of business for which SBA programs can be useful.
* Heavy Sigh *
Well, I had to try, and maybe if you're thinking about a more traditional type of business, this SBA program can still be useful to you.
In the meantime, I just ordered a Vonage account for the LLC. It takes over a week to get that going. So, I won't know if I did it right until early in September, a good three months behind schedule.
I was planning to use the proceeds from the SBA loan to fund the remainder of the startup of the LLC, including the phone and the initial build up of vendor/store credit. I'll have to find another way to fund that.
Stay with me! It's been a bumpy ride, and it's going to get rougher before it gets better! So, grab something and hold on TIGHT!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Found out something new: some types of businesses are ineligible under SBA Guidelines.
Unfortunately, my LLC is one of them. Because I'm looking at looking at buying income properties and holding them for cash flow, my LLC is not the type of business for which SBA programs can be useful.
* Heavy Sigh *
Well, I had to try, and maybe if you're thinking about a more traditional type of business, this SBA program can still be useful to you.
In the meantime, I just ordered a Vonage account for the LLC. It takes over a week to get that going. So, I won't know if I did it right until early in September, a good three months behind schedule.
I was planning to use the proceeds from the SBA loan to fund the remainder of the startup of the LLC, including the phone and the initial build up of vendor/store credit. I'll have to find another way to fund that.
Stay with me! It's been a bumpy ride, and it's going to get rougher before it gets better! So, grab something and hold on TIGHT!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
SBA Community Express Loan
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
This post is a bit different from most of the others so far. I wanted to pass along some information that I hope can be useful to you, my readers, no matter what business you're pursuing.
Our thrust here has been to establish credit for your business entity. This information represents an oppportunity to actually obtain credit, albeit personally guaranteed by you, the business owner.
My Small Business Development Center (SBDC) rep. at at my local community college recently made me aware of the Community Express loan program from the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Here's the thumb-nail sketch: the Community Express loan program provides $5,000 to $25,000 in unsecured funds at prime+4% amortized over 10 years. The monthly payment is roughly $64 per $5000 borrowed at the current prime rate.
The loan is guaranteed personally by you, and is based on your credit and character, not on your income (startup businesses take note!).
There are some fees deducted from the loan proceeds before you get the money, but that's actually a good thing. By the time you get the money, the fees are already covered and the rest is for your business's use.
Once you are granted a loan, and make payments on-time for six months, you may be able to apply for more funds. This may help you capitalize a startup using only your own good credit rating without putting your personal assets up as collateral or at risk, and even if you have no liquid cash assets.
You should already have a business entity set up and have an EIN, but this might not be required. Check with your local SBDC rep.
Contact your local SBDC rep. for full details.
When you go on-line to apply, make sure you read the directions for filling out the on-line application. Look for the directions link - it's not entirely obvious. This will help you avoid mistakes as some of the questions do not ask exactly what they mean.
Now - don't let the personal guarantee aspect put you off. Even if you can only get the minimum $5000, the monthly payments on that for the first year only come to $768. So, set aside that much - roughly 20% - from the proceeds of the loan to make the first year's monthly payments, and use the rest to help build your business and its profit stream. Do it right, and you'll soon have money coming in to keep up the payments and continue to build your business's profit stream.
Hope this helps!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
This post is a bit different from most of the others so far. I wanted to pass along some information that I hope can be useful to you, my readers, no matter what business you're pursuing.
Our thrust here has been to establish credit for your business entity. This information represents an oppportunity to actually obtain credit, albeit personally guaranteed by you, the business owner.
My Small Business Development Center (SBDC) rep. at at my local community college recently made me aware of the Community Express loan program from the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Here's the thumb-nail sketch: the Community Express loan program provides $5,000 to $25,000 in unsecured funds at prime+4% amortized over 10 years. The monthly payment is roughly $64 per $5000 borrowed at the current prime rate.
The loan is guaranteed personally by you, and is based on your credit and character, not on your income (startup businesses take note!).
There are some fees deducted from the loan proceeds before you get the money, but that's actually a good thing. By the time you get the money, the fees are already covered and the rest is for your business's use.
Once you are granted a loan, and make payments on-time for six months, you may be able to apply for more funds. This may help you capitalize a startup using only your own good credit rating without putting your personal assets up as collateral or at risk, and even if you have no liquid cash assets.
You should already have a business entity set up and have an EIN, but this might not be required. Check with your local SBDC rep.
Contact your local SBDC rep. for full details.
When you go on-line to apply, make sure you read the directions for filling out the on-line application. Look for the directions link - it's not entirely obvious. This will help you avoid mistakes as some of the questions do not ask exactly what they mean.
Now - don't let the personal guarantee aspect put you off. Even if you can only get the minimum $5000, the monthly payments on that for the first year only come to $768. So, set aside that much - roughly 20% - from the proceeds of the loan to make the first year's monthly payments, and use the rest to help build your business and its profit stream. Do it right, and you'll soon have money coming in to keep up the payments and continue to build your business's profit stream.
Hope this helps!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Progress Report July 26, 2010
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Well, it's been a while since last we met. Here's what's been happening this past month...
When last we met, we discussed the initial actions to complete and the order they need to happen.
First, we chose a state and set up our business entity.
Then, we applied for our EIN (Employer Identification Number. Some folks call it a "Tax Id").
Interesting bit of EIN info: the IRS form for that is the SS-4 form. The IRS replies with a document containing your EIN. That's the document you keep with your book of records to show your EIN and that it was officially issued by the IRS.
Where I ran into a delay was that my service provider - who helped me set up my entity - managed to scramble my e-mail address in their records. So, I was waiting for a document they couldn't get to me by e-mail, and they weren't sending it by snail mail, for some reason. So, that cost me almost the whole month of June.
The next step after that was registering the LLC in my home state. No big deal, but without the IRS document containing the EIN it, too, was delayed.
I now have the IRS Form in softcopy showing the EIN. This is saved in hard copy in the book of records for the LLC, also. Hard copies were sent to the state as part of registering the "foreign" entity doing business in my home state.
An important item: you may need to check with your local municipality to see if your entity will require a business license. According to my current location, my LLC does not require a business license given the business I intend to do with it, "General Real Estate Related Activities".
As we go forward attempting to build a credit history for the LLC, a key item is getting the LLC its own checking account.
Naturally, I thought this would be a simple situation, now that I have the EIN. I even went on-line to my chosen bank and filled out the information thinking, "O.k., type all this in, a few more clicks and I should be done."
Needless to say, it didn't work out that way. Oh, sure, I did all the on-line entries. Then, the last screen says, "You will receive ... in the mail in approximately two business days." Well, the packet from the bank arrived three days later. There was a whole checklist of items to be copied and included in the packet to be returned to the bank. Items such as the LLC's Articles of Organization and the Operating Agreement, among others.
So, I made all the copies, wrote out a check to cover the initial deposit, went to the Post Office and dispatched the return packet. That was on a Friday, two weeks ago. This past Friday, I noticed that my initial deposit check had cleared.
Now, I'll be watching the mail for the next package from the bank. I'm thinking it will include my initial checks and deposit slips and some form of "checkbook" including a ledger similar to a check register for a personal account. It may even look just like a personal checkbook. I won't know until it arrives.
Once I have the LLC's account number and routing number, I can go to Vonage and set up a company phone number.
My service provider for building business credit initially said that VoIP services weren't suitable for the purpose of obtaining commercial credit. The important item is to be listed with Directory Assistance where someone researching your entity can find it.
I'm now told that Vonage does provide Directory Assistance listing and so is suitable. This is good news because a "hard", land-line phone line would introduce additional complications.
If you've been following my saga since last August, you know that I'm coming up on a year of being out of the workforce. I'm now faced with a situation where it will very probably be necessary to rent this house out to avoid foreclosure. So, having the LLC physically tied to this location would complicate the situation even further. Just doing an address change for a fledgling entity is going to be complicated enough.
So, here are the steps which lie ahead in the days this week and the next two weeks or so:
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Well, it's been a while since last we met. Here's what's been happening this past month...
When last we met, we discussed the initial actions to complete and the order they need to happen.
First, we chose a state and set up our business entity.
Then, we applied for our EIN (Employer Identification Number. Some folks call it a "Tax Id").
Interesting bit of EIN info: the IRS form for that is the SS-4 form. The IRS replies with a document containing your EIN. That's the document you keep with your book of records to show your EIN and that it was officially issued by the IRS.
Where I ran into a delay was that my service provider - who helped me set up my entity - managed to scramble my e-mail address in their records. So, I was waiting for a document they couldn't get to me by e-mail, and they weren't sending it by snail mail, for some reason. So, that cost me almost the whole month of June.
The next step after that was registering the LLC in my home state. No big deal, but without the IRS document containing the EIN it, too, was delayed.
I now have the IRS Form in softcopy showing the EIN. This is saved in hard copy in the book of records for the LLC, also. Hard copies were sent to the state as part of registering the "foreign" entity doing business in my home state.
An important item: you may need to check with your local municipality to see if your entity will require a business license. According to my current location, my LLC does not require a business license given the business I intend to do with it, "General Real Estate Related Activities".
As we go forward attempting to build a credit history for the LLC, a key item is getting the LLC its own checking account.
Naturally, I thought this would be a simple situation, now that I have the EIN. I even went on-line to my chosen bank and filled out the information thinking, "O.k., type all this in, a few more clicks and I should be done."
Needless to say, it didn't work out that way. Oh, sure, I did all the on-line entries. Then, the last screen says, "You will receive ... in the mail in approximately two business days." Well, the packet from the bank arrived three days later. There was a whole checklist of items to be copied and included in the packet to be returned to the bank. Items such as the LLC's Articles of Organization and the Operating Agreement, among others.
So, I made all the copies, wrote out a check to cover the initial deposit, went to the Post Office and dispatched the return packet. That was on a Friday, two weeks ago. This past Friday, I noticed that my initial deposit check had cleared.
Now, I'll be watching the mail for the next package from the bank. I'm thinking it will include my initial checks and deposit slips and some form of "checkbook" including a ledger similar to a check register for a personal account. It may even look just like a personal checkbook. I won't know until it arrives.
Once I have the LLC's account number and routing number, I can go to Vonage and set up a company phone number.
My service provider for building business credit initially said that VoIP services weren't suitable for the purpose of obtaining commercial credit. The important item is to be listed with Directory Assistance where someone researching your entity can find it.
I'm now told that Vonage does provide Directory Assistance listing and so is suitable. This is good news because a "hard", land-line phone line would introduce additional complications.
If you've been following my saga since last August, you know that I'm coming up on a year of being out of the workforce. I'm now faced with a situation where it will very probably be necessary to rent this house out to avoid foreclosure. So, having the LLC physically tied to this location would complicate the situation even further. Just doing an address change for a fledgling entity is going to be complicated enough.
So, here are the steps which lie ahead in the days this week and the next two weeks or so:
- Set up a company phone line with Vonage, including automated attendant and voice mail.
- Begin setting up store ("vendor") credit with those businesses who report to Equifax and Experian business credit.
- Acquire some small items such as office supplies from my credit sources to the tune of $60 or so a month, payable Net-30.
- Track the LLC's business credit rating with Equifax and Experian. Prepare to work with my service provider to establish a Dun and Bradstreet account for the LLC.
- Set up a new entity - or use the existing LLC - to hold this property so it does not show up as an asset in my name and to limit my exposure to liability related to the rental property.
- Sign on with a property manager to provide services to my eventual tenant.
- Check with the HOA (yeah, I know...) to see what additional steps are necessary to put a tenant in here instead of me.
- Contact my insurance agent and let his office know of the change.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sequence of Events
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Again, tasks have taken top priority, and now I have "news from the front" to share with you.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
In working with the company helping me build business credit for my LLC, what is taking the most time is simply completing the establishment of the LLC as a recognizable entity: getting the Employer Identification Number, the EIN.
Your personal Social Security Number is your personal key to getting everything from a job to a bank account or a credit card.
Likewise, your entity's EIN is the key to getting everything from a bank account or a business credit card to vendor credit or cash credit, as well as registering your entity in your home state, applying for a business license if required where you live, and so on. You really need the EIN to get everything moving.
If you read the earlier post, The First Thing, you know that the approach I'm taking is to set up a business entity - an LLC - and build business credit for that entirely separate from my personal credit. The reason why is outlined in the earlier post.
The first two most important steps in your entity set up process are:
1. Establish Your Chosen Entity
2. Get an EIN for the Entity
Let's look at this more closely.
Establish Your Chosen Entity
There are free and low-cost sites where you can establish your entity.
LegalZoom.com is one such website. Select the "LLC (Limited Liability Co.)" link under "Business Formations" on the left-hand side of their home page.
The Company Corporation is another website. Follow their navigation hints on their home page.
Both LegalZoom.com and The Company Corporation are low-cost options. Note that I am not affiliated with either one and make no repesentations regarding them. Other sites exist also but were not included in my research preparing this post.
You will need to be aware of certain things which MUST be done to make sure that your entity is 100% compliant with the criteria used by the grantors of credit.
For example, your entity must have a REAL street address, not a Post Office Box or a mail drop box at a place like the UPS Store or similar. Further, the street address for your entity may not have multiple entities associated with it. The credit grantors will be checking to see that your entity looks like a credible business. So, it needs to have a real street address of its own.
Also, get with your tax and/or legal professional to discuss any advantages of an out-of-state entity. Certain states have laws which are especially friendly to business, most notably Delaware for public entities and Nevada for private entities. Your professional consultants can explain the advantages.
Be aware, however, that if, for example, you live in Illinois and organize an LLC in Nevada, you will need what's known as a "registered" agent in Nevada in order to have the required local presence in that state. You will, then, need to register your entity in your own home state. Again, your professional consultant can help fill in the blanks. Remember that I am not an accountant or an attorney and cannot give advice or counsel on such matters, I can only tell you what I know which may or may not be applicable to your specific situation. In the end, you and you alone are responsible for your own entity. The registered agent represents an additional expense, but is required.
Get an EIN for the Entity
This can be done directly on the IRS website. Select the link which says, "Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online".
In my case, I went with the company helping me build business credit for my LLC. In the packet of papers they sent me for my LLC was the IRS Form SS-4 for applying for an EIN.
As of this writing, it's been about six weeks since I began this process. I submitted my SS-4 to my coach a little over two weeks ago. I'm waiting to get notification back from them that the SS-4 was filed and the IRS responded with an EIN for my LLC.
The EIN Is The Key!
As I was looking to begin setting up bank and store credit accounts for my LLC, I quickly discovered that without the EIN I was going no where. Having submitted my SS-4 to my coach, I am now waiting for their response containing the EIN so I can start taking the next steps.
Since I'm waiting for the EIN, I'm holding off on store credit and so holding off on certain purchases such as office equipment and supplies. I'll be using those purchases during the time when I'm building credit history for my LLC. Then, I can look at completing the steps toward getting ready to apply for larger lines of cash credit.
The process continues ...
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Again, tasks have taken top priority, and now I have "news from the front" to share with you.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
In working with the company helping me build business credit for my LLC, what is taking the most time is simply completing the establishment of the LLC as a recognizable entity: getting the Employer Identification Number, the EIN.
Your personal Social Security Number is your personal key to getting everything from a job to a bank account or a credit card.
Likewise, your entity's EIN is the key to getting everything from a bank account or a business credit card to vendor credit or cash credit, as well as registering your entity in your home state, applying for a business license if required where you live, and so on. You really need the EIN to get everything moving.
If you read the earlier post, The First Thing, you know that the approach I'm taking is to set up a business entity - an LLC - and build business credit for that entirely separate from my personal credit. The reason why is outlined in the earlier post.
The first two most important steps in your entity set up process are:
1. Establish Your Chosen Entity
2. Get an EIN for the Entity
Let's look at this more closely.
Establish Your Chosen Entity
There are free and low-cost sites where you can establish your entity.
LegalZoom.com is one such website. Select the "LLC (Limited Liability Co.)" link under "Business Formations" on the left-hand side of their home page.
The Company Corporation is another website. Follow their navigation hints on their home page.
Both LegalZoom.com and The Company Corporation are low-cost options. Note that I am not affiliated with either one and make no repesentations regarding them. Other sites exist also but were not included in my research preparing this post.
You will need to be aware of certain things which MUST be done to make sure that your entity is 100% compliant with the criteria used by the grantors of credit.
For example, your entity must have a REAL street address, not a Post Office Box or a mail drop box at a place like the UPS Store or similar. Further, the street address for your entity may not have multiple entities associated with it. The credit grantors will be checking to see that your entity looks like a credible business. So, it needs to have a real street address of its own.
Also, get with your tax and/or legal professional to discuss any advantages of an out-of-state entity. Certain states have laws which are especially friendly to business, most notably Delaware for public entities and Nevada for private entities. Your professional consultants can explain the advantages.
Be aware, however, that if, for example, you live in Illinois and organize an LLC in Nevada, you will need what's known as a "registered" agent in Nevada in order to have the required local presence in that state. You will, then, need to register your entity in your own home state. Again, your professional consultant can help fill in the blanks. Remember that I am not an accountant or an attorney and cannot give advice or counsel on such matters, I can only tell you what I know which may or may not be applicable to your specific situation. In the end, you and you alone are responsible for your own entity. The registered agent represents an additional expense, but is required.
Get an EIN for the Entity
This can be done directly on the IRS website. Select the link which says, "Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online".
In my case, I went with the company helping me build business credit for my LLC. In the packet of papers they sent me for my LLC was the IRS Form SS-4 for applying for an EIN.
As of this writing, it's been about six weeks since I began this process. I submitted my SS-4 to my coach a little over two weeks ago. I'm waiting to get notification back from them that the SS-4 was filed and the IRS responded with an EIN for my LLC.
The EIN Is The Key!
As I was looking to begin setting up bank and store credit accounts for my LLC, I quickly discovered that without the EIN I was going no where. Having submitted my SS-4 to my coach, I am now waiting for their response containing the EIN so I can start taking the next steps.
Since I'm waiting for the EIN, I'm holding off on store credit and so holding off on certain purchases such as office equipment and supplies. I'll be using those purchases during the time when I'm building credit history for my LLC. Then, I can look at completing the steps toward getting ready to apply for larger lines of cash credit.
The process continues ...
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Self Made People
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
While doing a search on Yahoo! recently, one of the articles on the front page was about "Self-Made" millionaires.
Now, you may have noticed that so far in this blog, I've avoided using such words as "wealth", "riches", "millionaire", and so on. I'm not into hype at all since those words don't move me the way most marketing people wish they would. So, I avoid using such words here since I prefer to take a more practical approach to motivation. I know those words do move some people to take action. They just don't do much for me.
...but, I digress.
I was thinking about the phrase, "self made".
I wonder just how true that is: "self" made?
In previous posts, we've discussed building our team, every one from attorneys, accountants, and real estate agents, to title companies, banks and other lenders, inspectors, and so on.
So, if we find success dealing with real property, can we truthfully say we are "self made"?
It is perhaps more accurate to think about the old saying, "It's not what you know, it's WHO you know", though perhaps not in the sense of important, influential and/or affluent people.
In this case, it is perhaps more accurate to consider that the greatest contributors to our success will be the team we build around ourselves.
In our business endeavors, we need certain services that we are ourselves are not qualified to perform. This includes many services or functions which require special knowledge, certification or licensing.
To facilitate our own success, we need to meet and connect with the best professional people we can find.
Sometimes, that takes an effort not unlike interviewing prospective employees. Just as an employer looks for the most experienced and knowledgeable people, so we must "employ" the best professional and clerical people we can find to help us in our business pursuits.
In an earlier post about Delegating, we spoke about the importance of having people around us to "multiply" ourselves, people who can do what needs to be done while we personally attend to more productive business pursuits. In that way, we leverage their time rather than taking our own to get things done.
The quality of the team, in addition to our own ability to provide leadership and guidance to the team will be the most powerful determinant of the success we achieve.
So, in that sense, at least, we are "self made" as a team leader. We might enlist the services of a coach or a counselor to help us build and improve our leadership abilities. Yet even in that, we are still adding members to our team.
Our success is dependent upon us to make the key decisions that keep our team productive and profitable. The members of our team are the tools we use to build our success.
We are the key that unlocks our success.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
While doing a search on Yahoo! recently, one of the articles on the front page was about "Self-Made" millionaires.
Now, you may have noticed that so far in this blog, I've avoided using such words as "wealth", "riches", "millionaire", and so on. I'm not into hype at all since those words don't move me the way most marketing people wish they would. So, I avoid using such words here since I prefer to take a more practical approach to motivation. I know those words do move some people to take action. They just don't do much for me.
...but, I digress.
I was thinking about the phrase, "self made".
I wonder just how true that is: "self" made?
In previous posts, we've discussed building our team, every one from attorneys, accountants, and real estate agents, to title companies, banks and other lenders, inspectors, and so on.
So, if we find success dealing with real property, can we truthfully say we are "self made"?
It is perhaps more accurate to think about the old saying, "It's not what you know, it's WHO you know", though perhaps not in the sense of important, influential and/or affluent people.
In this case, it is perhaps more accurate to consider that the greatest contributors to our success will be the team we build around ourselves.
In our business endeavors, we need certain services that we are ourselves are not qualified to perform. This includes many services or functions which require special knowledge, certification or licensing.
To facilitate our own success, we need to meet and connect with the best professional people we can find.
Sometimes, that takes an effort not unlike interviewing prospective employees. Just as an employer looks for the most experienced and knowledgeable people, so we must "employ" the best professional and clerical people we can find to help us in our business pursuits.
In an earlier post about Delegating, we spoke about the importance of having people around us to "multiply" ourselves, people who can do what needs to be done while we personally attend to more productive business pursuits. In that way, we leverage their time rather than taking our own to get things done.
The quality of the team, in addition to our own ability to provide leadership and guidance to the team will be the most powerful determinant of the success we achieve.
So, in that sense, at least, we are "self made" as a team leader. We might enlist the services of a coach or a counselor to help us build and improve our leadership abilities. Yet even in that, we are still adding members to our team.
Our success is dependent upon us to make the key decisions that keep our team productive and profitable. The members of our team are the tools we use to build our success.
We are the key that unlocks our success.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Crooked Furrows Vs. A Field Unplowed
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
If you've been following this blog from the early posts, you've probably noticed that I'm getting a little better at it. The early posts ramble a bit and the focus often changes from the title subject to something related and back again, sometimes more than once in the same post.
That's really just a manifestation of one of my personal challenges. I'm a bit ADD, and as I'm writing, my focus tends to drift off onto tangents. Sometimes, I end writing multiple posts in one day, but actually publish very few of them.
One of my adopted mentors, Robert G. Allen, once said this about perfectionism and waiting until everything is just right: "I'd rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed".
That's from Robert Allen's "Wealth Training" cassettes, circa. the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Crooked furrows are a specialty with me. I think that drove my ex-wife nuts because I'm not hesitant to try something and have it not work. That's rather a good bit outside her paradigm.
As I'm going through this financial independence experience, I'm finding that I often end up proceeding on actions even though I would like to be better prepared to take those actions. Rather than feeling the confidence of preparedness, I end up falling back on the confidence of my own ability to pull things together, even if the actions taken earlier perhaps weren't done the best way to facilitate success later on.
In my former career - Information Technology - I was often called upon to find creative solutions to difficult situations, sometimes because earlier actions were taken that either could have been done better or perhaps should not have been taken at all.
In my pursuit of financial independence, there are indeed many decision points, and they arise every day, in every set of actions that need to be taken. As I'm going through this, I find myself going less on experience, being new at this, and more on gut feel and what seems to be logical to me.
So, to continue the titular metaphor, I end up cutting many crooked furrows in the effort to plow this field.
Yes, I'd like very much to be better prepared. Still, forward progress brings the new experiences from which I learn.
So, just as the quality of my blog posts improves as I gain experience writing, so the quality of my decision making improves as I gain experience making these decisions.
My dear readers, give yourself permission to learn, permission to make mistakes, and permission to learn from those mistakes and do better as you go along.
The way some of us were raised, that is perhaps a bit challenging. I understand - I live with that, also. Seek advice from some one you trust to help you get through the challenges of the past and break out forward, into your future - a better, brighter future with fewer worries about finances and income.
Let's do it together!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
If you've been following this blog from the early posts, you've probably noticed that I'm getting a little better at it. The early posts ramble a bit and the focus often changes from the title subject to something related and back again, sometimes more than once in the same post.
That's really just a manifestation of one of my personal challenges. I'm a bit ADD, and as I'm writing, my focus tends to drift off onto tangents. Sometimes, I end writing multiple posts in one day, but actually publish very few of them.
One of my adopted mentors, Robert G. Allen, once said this about perfectionism and waiting until everything is just right: "I'd rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed".
That's from Robert Allen's "Wealth Training" cassettes, circa. the late 1980s, early 1990s.
Crooked furrows are a specialty with me. I think that drove my ex-wife nuts because I'm not hesitant to try something and have it not work. That's rather a good bit outside her paradigm.
As I'm going through this financial independence experience, I'm finding that I often end up proceeding on actions even though I would like to be better prepared to take those actions. Rather than feeling the confidence of preparedness, I end up falling back on the confidence of my own ability to pull things together, even if the actions taken earlier perhaps weren't done the best way to facilitate success later on.
In my former career - Information Technology - I was often called upon to find creative solutions to difficult situations, sometimes because earlier actions were taken that either could have been done better or perhaps should not have been taken at all.
In my pursuit of financial independence, there are indeed many decision points, and they arise every day, in every set of actions that need to be taken. As I'm going through this, I find myself going less on experience, being new at this, and more on gut feel and what seems to be logical to me.
So, to continue the titular metaphor, I end up cutting many crooked furrows in the effort to plow this field.
Yes, I'd like very much to be better prepared. Still, forward progress brings the new experiences from which I learn.
So, just as the quality of my blog posts improves as I gain experience writing, so the quality of my decision making improves as I gain experience making these decisions.
My dear readers, give yourself permission to learn, permission to make mistakes, and permission to learn from those mistakes and do better as you go along.
The way some of us were raised, that is perhaps a bit challenging. I understand - I live with that, also. Seek advice from some one you trust to help you get through the challenges of the past and break out forward, into your future - a better, brighter future with fewer worries about finances and income.
Let's do it together!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
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