Good day all. We spent most of the day today preparing for the upcoming Tucson Hogtoberfest XXI that starts tomorrow afternoon. Granted this is not a week long event, but we do want to be as prepared as possible for all shows.
The weather should be great, mid-to upper 80's, sunny with some high clouds. If you are near Tucson, please come on by, we will be located at the Tucson Harley Davidson, just northwest of I-10 and Ina Road. (www.hogtoberfestaz.net) The kick off party starts at 5 pm tomorrow night.
Yeah, I know that sounds like an unabashed plug for Hogtoberfest, but hey, what the heck. It should be a lot of fun...we will be there... The really cool part about this event is that it is free to attend. If you want to participate in the poker run, then you have to pay a small fee.
The people from Tucson Harley are also really great. They have always been kind and welcoming to vendors and participants alike. They are always striving to improve this annual event. They have to be doing something right for this to be the 21st year...
Anyway, it has been busy for us today, we need to hit the road early tomorrow, so I am keeping this blog short. With luck, I will be able to post from Hogtoberfest tomorrow night. If you don't hear from me, then you can probably safely assume that we are having so much fun, I won't have time to update until after the event ends on Sunday (don't forget about the free pancake breakfast at 6 am Sunday..). The event wraps up around 5pm on Sunday.
Hopefully we will see some of you this weekend. If not, be safe whatever you do. I will keep you posted on the fun tomorrow... Until then...
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Adventures with Super Glue
Good day all. Today is not a day to be serious. How can I be serious when I receive an urgent request if I had any nail polish remover?
For those of you that know me, the last time I had nail polish on my finger nails was at least 10 years ago. I do keep a bottle of polish remover around here somewhere, but haven't had to use it in YEARS. The polish remover was purchased years ago because I had played a joke on a friend who kept falling asleep when we were all sitting around talking. So, one day, I got out an old bottle of nail polish and painted all his nails. At the time I forgot that I didn't have remover. Boy, was he pissed when he woke up and found both his fingers and toes painted...he was even madder when I didn't have the supplies to remove the paint.
So, fast forward to now. I am happily catching up on e-mails, and get this frantic yell down the hall...did I have any nail polish remover? Immediately I get up to see what is going on...
Apparently Steve had been trying to glue together a broken license plate light cover and ended up getting super glue all over both of his hands. He subsequently glued all of his fingers together, so both hands looked like cups, with the fingers all glued together. Unfortunately for him I started laughing. Then he started laughing. As he was laughing, he was trying to separate his fingers (to no avail) and then told me he had to go to the bathroom. He couldn't even unzip, let alone take care of business. That got me laughing even harder which made him laugh harder.
He then started begging me for the nail polish remover so he could separate his fingers. He said that the glue was getting harder and he couldn't even bend his fingers together anymore. That didn't help matters for me because I was laughing so hard I was crying. I can't see squat when I am laughing that hard, and I still had absolutely no idea where the nail polish remover was.
Here I am, laughing so hard I am crying, trying to look in cabinets, under sinks, in boxes for that elusive nail polish remover, all the while Steve is complaining that he has to go to the bathroom and was getting desperate. That didn't help me, I ended up laughing all the harder...poor Steve... I ended up dumping boxes upside down, trying to locate the nail polish remover.
I never did find the acetone (nail polish remover). What I ended up doing was spraying Simple Green (since it was in the bathroom already) all over his hands and then running water over the whole mess. Steve then started trying to pry his fingers apart while I kept spraying Simple Green and water on his hands. Eventually, the glue gave way and he could separate his fingers. It took time, and you can see the spots where the glue pulled a layer of skin off (not much, just really pulled dirt and a little bit of callous off). Steve is spending the rest of the day picking the glue off of his fingers.
Note to self, always keep a bottle of acetone in the medicine cabinet. You never know when you might need it and even though it is not medicine, it belongs where it can be found quickly.
Hopefully this brightened your day. Until next time...
For those of you that know me, the last time I had nail polish on my finger nails was at least 10 years ago. I do keep a bottle of polish remover around here somewhere, but haven't had to use it in YEARS. The polish remover was purchased years ago because I had played a joke on a friend who kept falling asleep when we were all sitting around talking. So, one day, I got out an old bottle of nail polish and painted all his nails. At the time I forgot that I didn't have remover. Boy, was he pissed when he woke up and found both his fingers and toes painted...he was even madder when I didn't have the supplies to remove the paint.
So, fast forward to now. I am happily catching up on e-mails, and get this frantic yell down the hall...did I have any nail polish remover? Immediately I get up to see what is going on...
Apparently Steve had been trying to glue together a broken license plate light cover and ended up getting super glue all over both of his hands. He subsequently glued all of his fingers together, so both hands looked like cups, with the fingers all glued together. Unfortunately for him I started laughing. Then he started laughing. As he was laughing, he was trying to separate his fingers (to no avail) and then told me he had to go to the bathroom. He couldn't even unzip, let alone take care of business. That got me laughing even harder which made him laugh harder.
He then started begging me for the nail polish remover so he could separate his fingers. He said that the glue was getting harder and he couldn't even bend his fingers together anymore. That didn't help matters for me because I was laughing so hard I was crying. I can't see squat when I am laughing that hard, and I still had absolutely no idea where the nail polish remover was.
Here I am, laughing so hard I am crying, trying to look in cabinets, under sinks, in boxes for that elusive nail polish remover, all the while Steve is complaining that he has to go to the bathroom and was getting desperate. That didn't help me, I ended up laughing all the harder...poor Steve... I ended up dumping boxes upside down, trying to locate the nail polish remover.
I never did find the acetone (nail polish remover). What I ended up doing was spraying Simple Green (since it was in the bathroom already) all over his hands and then running water over the whole mess. Steve then started trying to pry his fingers apart while I kept spraying Simple Green and water on his hands. Eventually, the glue gave way and he could separate his fingers. It took time, and you can see the spots where the glue pulled a layer of skin off (not much, just really pulled dirt and a little bit of callous off). Steve is spending the rest of the day picking the glue off of his fingers.
Note to self, always keep a bottle of acetone in the medicine cabinet. You never know when you might need it and even though it is not medicine, it belongs where it can be found quickly.
Hopefully this brightened your day. Until next time...
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The cost of bottled water and the water crisis
I have not been writing for the last two days because I have had a horrible cold. When I get a cold, I make an effort to drink large quantities of water to flush out the sickness and impurities in my body. I have a reverse osmosis system installed in my home, so all I have to do when I want water is go to the kitchen sink, place my cup under the special faucet and put water essentially from the tap into my cup. I do not like drinking bottled water, I think it tastes funny.
I realized that over the last weekend, I did not drink too much water (again) because once we finished what we brought from the motor home, we had to purchase bottles of water from a local vendor or the store. Walking over to a local vendor, we could purchase a 7 oz bottle of water for $3.00 per bottle. And here we were complaining about the cost of gas... We complain if we spend $3.00 for a gallon of gas to make our vehicles run. Here is someone charging $3.00 for 7 oz of water that is probably not any purer than that from the water tap. That cost made me curious.
I went online to find out what I could about costs of bottled water. On average (an not purchasing the top of the line water [is there such a thing?]) a 16 oz bottle of water could cost around $1.50 (when not at a motorcycle rally...). If a person drinks one 16 oz bottle of water every day for a year, they will have spent $547.50 in a year. If they just filled up a 16 oz thermos or container of water from the tap, it would have cost them approximately $0.02 per 16 oz, they would have spent approximately $7.30 for the same amount of water over the period of a year.
For starters, the price of bottled water is driven by access, if you are at a rally, you don't find many water fountains. Also, sometimes the tap water tastes funny due to chemicals added or to the hardness or softness of the water in the area. The United States has strict guidelines on how clean the drinking water is, and as a general rule, you will not get sick drinking water from the tap in the U.S. But, as our water tables continue to lower, even our tap water is going to get expensive due to scarcity and pollution.
If you believe that you are saving water by purchasing bottled water, think again. Going back to the example of drinking 16 oz of tap water for 365 days, you would have consumed 57 gallons of water. If you drank that same amount of bottled water, you would have also caused about 114 gallons of extra water to be used for production and purification of the bottled water. I am not even going to discuss what happens to all the thin plastic bottles that are left after you drink the water... This is not a way to save water or even save the environment.
Granted there are places in the world who have such a polluted water source that they have to use bottled water. Our goal is to become aware of the global water crisis and begin taking steps to preserve our drinking water before we have to rely on bottled water.
One way to reduce wasted drinking water is to not wash your car or other vehicle with water, but to utilize some of the waterless cleaning products on the market. The advantage of using a waterless wash on your vehicle is two-fold: first, you do not waste drinking water by pouring water all over your car to first get it wet and then rinse off the soap; secondly, you do not mix additional chemicals (soaps, cleansers, etc.) with the water run-off and then possibly pollute the local water table.
A waterless cleaning product that I think very highly of is UltraLuster Waterless Wash. When you use it, you are not using any more than would go on the car, there is no run-off onto the ground. You can stop when you want in the cleaning process, you are not obligated to complete the whole car before calling it quits. And lastly, in less time than it would take you to rinse, soap, rinse, dry and then wax your car, you have cleaned, polished and protected your paint.
With the current economic times, you want your car to look good for longer, it is critical that you take care of the paint on your car. UltraLuster Waterless Wash does an excellent job in maintaining your paint and not wasting water in the process. You car paint will look great much longer than if you used traditional soap, water and wax and you will have also helped to save water.
If you have questions about our Waterless Wash products, please feel free to contact me at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. Until next time...
I realized that over the last weekend, I did not drink too much water (again) because once we finished what we brought from the motor home, we had to purchase bottles of water from a local vendor or the store. Walking over to a local vendor, we could purchase a 7 oz bottle of water for $3.00 per bottle. And here we were complaining about the cost of gas... We complain if we spend $3.00 for a gallon of gas to make our vehicles run. Here is someone charging $3.00 for 7 oz of water that is probably not any purer than that from the water tap. That cost made me curious.
I went online to find out what I could about costs of bottled water. On average (an not purchasing the top of the line water [is there such a thing?]) a 16 oz bottle of water could cost around $1.50 (when not at a motorcycle rally...). If a person drinks one 16 oz bottle of water every day for a year, they will have spent $547.50 in a year. If they just filled up a 16 oz thermos or container of water from the tap, it would have cost them approximately $0.02 per 16 oz, they would have spent approximately $7.30 for the same amount of water over the period of a year.
For starters, the price of bottled water is driven by access, if you are at a rally, you don't find many water fountains. Also, sometimes the tap water tastes funny due to chemicals added or to the hardness or softness of the water in the area. The United States has strict guidelines on how clean the drinking water is, and as a general rule, you will not get sick drinking water from the tap in the U.S. But, as our water tables continue to lower, even our tap water is going to get expensive due to scarcity and pollution.
If you believe that you are saving water by purchasing bottled water, think again. Going back to the example of drinking 16 oz of tap water for 365 days, you would have consumed 57 gallons of water. If you drank that same amount of bottled water, you would have also caused about 114 gallons of extra water to be used for production and purification of the bottled water. I am not even going to discuss what happens to all the thin plastic bottles that are left after you drink the water... This is not a way to save water or even save the environment.
Granted there are places in the world who have such a polluted water source that they have to use bottled water. Our goal is to become aware of the global water crisis and begin taking steps to preserve our drinking water before we have to rely on bottled water.
One way to reduce wasted drinking water is to not wash your car or other vehicle with water, but to utilize some of the waterless cleaning products on the market. The advantage of using a waterless wash on your vehicle is two-fold: first, you do not waste drinking water by pouring water all over your car to first get it wet and then rinse off the soap; secondly, you do not mix additional chemicals (soaps, cleansers, etc.) with the water run-off and then possibly pollute the local water table.
A waterless cleaning product that I think very highly of is UltraLuster Waterless Wash. When you use it, you are not using any more than would go on the car, there is no run-off onto the ground. You can stop when you want in the cleaning process, you are not obligated to complete the whole car before calling it quits. And lastly, in less time than it would take you to rinse, soap, rinse, dry and then wax your car, you have cleaned, polished and protected your paint.
With the current economic times, you want your car to look good for longer, it is critical that you take care of the paint on your car. UltraLuster Waterless Wash does an excellent job in maintaining your paint and not wasting water in the process. You car paint will look great much longer than if you used traditional soap, water and wax and you will have also helped to save water.
If you have questions about our Waterless Wash products, please feel free to contact me at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. Until next time...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
My ongoing Weight Loss Project
Well, as promised, even though I don't want to discuss it, today is the day that I talk about my progress on weight loss. To be honest with you, I really don't know if I have lost any more weight in the last week, I have not had the energy or fortitude to get on the scale.
Each morning I have been getting up early and starting to get everything ready for the show. By the time I realize I needed to weigh myself, I was already dressed and out the door. I don't know if part of that is psychological, but since I keep forgetting to put the scale out (in a motor home you have very limited space, so you tend to put stuff away if you are not using it NOW), I don't remember to step on it until I am showered, dressed and out the door. We have been so busy with the booth that I have forgotten several days to take my Accelerate in the morning, and I have been really bad about remembering to take the Flush at night.
By the time I get home from the booth, I have just enough energy to eat at the buffet, then catch up on e-mails and then it is off to bed. I should just take the Flush when I sit down to work on the computer (since I can only spend about an hour before I can't keep my eyes open anymore), but because I am tired, I don't remember the Flush until I am warm, in bed and my body starts relaxing. The good news is that since I have been eating at the buffet, I have greatly increased my fresh fruit and salad intake, so my fiber intake has gone way up. That is probably off-setting my not taking Flush daily for now... I have taken it tonight (because I am thinking about it) and now that the show is over, I should be better able to remember to take both the Accelerate and Flush regularly.
Part of my current issue is that I have been eating full breakfasts in the morning, snacking on junk food during the day (no time for a real lunch at the booth) and eating dinner at the buffet each night. I have been using Cheat on my food for both breakfast and dinner, but not using it when eating the junk food at the booth. I have sprinkled the Cheat on the donuts, but I haven't figured out how to put it on Cheetos...
I can tell you that I am still able to close my belt on the last notch, but the belt does not feel like it is getting any loser...yet. Once I get home again, I will be much better about weighing myself. I have a digital scale in the bathroom and I have always stepped on that scale before getting into the shower. I don't have that luxury here in the motor home.
Also, I believe that because of the Cheat on my food at night, I find I do not make as many trips to the buffet line as I used to. I don't have the cravings for sweets like I used to also. I find I am taking smaller initial servings of food and then am not really inspired to go back for seconds. I have been hitting the salad bar a lot (more by choice than necessity) and have been eating the salad last, in place of desert. So the upshot is that I have not had to let my belt go out a notch, but I probably have not lost any weight yet either. At least I have been maintaining my current weight, which is better than I could have expected.
If you want more information about what I am using (since you are learning what it does for me personally), please check out www.weightrenegade.com. Please e-mail me with any questions at shootershakes@aol.com. For the month of October, the company, CNI, is offering an extra bottle of Cheat with the $149.00 30-day pack of products. If you are considering purchasing the 30-day pack, this is a GREAT time to purchase. It is nice to have more than one bottle of Cheat around, that way you can leave one at home and carry the other around for when you eat out.
That is all for now, until next time...
Each morning I have been getting up early and starting to get everything ready for the show. By the time I realize I needed to weigh myself, I was already dressed and out the door. I don't know if part of that is psychological, but since I keep forgetting to put the scale out (in a motor home you have very limited space, so you tend to put stuff away if you are not using it NOW), I don't remember to step on it until I am showered, dressed and out the door. We have been so busy with the booth that I have forgotten several days to take my Accelerate in the morning, and I have been really bad about remembering to take the Flush at night.
By the time I get home from the booth, I have just enough energy to eat at the buffet, then catch up on e-mails and then it is off to bed. I should just take the Flush when I sit down to work on the computer (since I can only spend about an hour before I can't keep my eyes open anymore), but because I am tired, I don't remember the Flush until I am warm, in bed and my body starts relaxing. The good news is that since I have been eating at the buffet, I have greatly increased my fresh fruit and salad intake, so my fiber intake has gone way up. That is probably off-setting my not taking Flush daily for now... I have taken it tonight (because I am thinking about it) and now that the show is over, I should be better able to remember to take both the Accelerate and Flush regularly.
Part of my current issue is that I have been eating full breakfasts in the morning, snacking on junk food during the day (no time for a real lunch at the booth) and eating dinner at the buffet each night. I have been using Cheat on my food for both breakfast and dinner, but not using it when eating the junk food at the booth. I have sprinkled the Cheat on the donuts, but I haven't figured out how to put it on Cheetos...
I can tell you that I am still able to close my belt on the last notch, but the belt does not feel like it is getting any loser...yet. Once I get home again, I will be much better about weighing myself. I have a digital scale in the bathroom and I have always stepped on that scale before getting into the shower. I don't have that luxury here in the motor home.
Also, I believe that because of the Cheat on my food at night, I find I do not make as many trips to the buffet line as I used to. I don't have the cravings for sweets like I used to also. I find I am taking smaller initial servings of food and then am not really inspired to go back for seconds. I have been hitting the salad bar a lot (more by choice than necessity) and have been eating the salad last, in place of desert. So the upshot is that I have not had to let my belt go out a notch, but I probably have not lost any weight yet either. At least I have been maintaining my current weight, which is better than I could have expected.
If you want more information about what I am using (since you are learning what it does for me personally), please check out www.weightrenegade.com. Please e-mail me with any questions at shootershakes@aol.com. For the month of October, the company, CNI, is offering an extra bottle of Cheat with the $149.00 30-day pack of products. If you are considering purchasing the 30-day pack, this is a GREAT time to purchase. It is nice to have more than one bottle of Cheat around, that way you can leave one at home and carry the other around for when you eat out.
That is all for now, until next time...
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Update on Las Vegas Bikefest
As you all probably know, we have been working at Las Vegas Bikefest. This has been a fun event for us throughout the years and it was again fun this year. Tonight is our last night for LV Bikefest and I am already looking forward to next year's event.
This year we were located at the Las Vegas Harley Davidson on Eastern Ave. We had not been there for a year and didn't remember the other events that LV HD had going there. I got to see my first wet t-shirt contest. Of course Steve wanted me to take pictures "for the Marines on the Marine website"...yeah right, who are we fooling, but Steve did not want to get close up to the stage.
That left me (all 5'4") trying to wind my way up close enough to the stage to take pictures. Normally that would not be too difficult, but I felt like I was the only girl in the crowd. I didn't realize how many guys were a LOT taller than me. That became painfully obvious when I kept trying to take pictures of the girls on stage only to have some guy move his head. All I got was a great shot of the back of some guy's head or his camera. If you think about it, my shots were pretty funny, there were more pictures of the backs of guys heads, arms, camera phones, cameras, than there were shots of the girls in wet t-shirts.
I am not going to post those pictures on this website (this is a "G" rated site - my rules...), I will leave the pictures up to your imagination. I will post a picture of a really neat person we met, his name is "RayRay" and he does custom license plates and frames. What really fascinated me about "RayRay" was that his leathers matched his bike almost exactly. I liked the fact that even though he had a LOT of blue on the bike, it was tastefully done, and not overdone. Even his leathers looked very classy. It is not often you see blue chaps and vest, but "RayRay" pulled it off with panache.
The weather here was awesome, if you don't mind winds. We had very strong winds on opening day, Thursday and they again picked up on Saturday afternoon. The good news is that the 90+ degree weather ended on Thursday and even though we had lots of sun, the temperatures didn't get much past mid-80's the whole event. It was absolutely perfect riding weather and great rally weather.
One of the best things about coming to Las Vegas Bikefest is seeing all of our friends from the Las Vegas area. Even though we worked at the booth, our friends were able to take some time and come to visit. It was almost like going to old home week, we had so many friends stopping by.
Bikefest ends tomorrow, Sunday, so if you are near, come on by, otherwise hopefully some of you will be able to take some time next year to attend Las Vegas Bikefest. It is a fun time, you get to see Las Vegas at it's best and there is some awesome riding in the Las Vegas area. We look forward to seeing some of you next year.
Until tomorrow....
This year we were located at the Las Vegas Harley Davidson on Eastern Ave. We had not been there for a year and didn't remember the other events that LV HD had going there. I got to see my first wet t-shirt contest. Of course Steve wanted me to take pictures "for the Marines on the Marine website"...yeah right, who are we fooling, but Steve did not want to get close up to the stage.
That left me (all 5'4") trying to wind my way up close enough to the stage to take pictures. Normally that would not be too difficult, but I felt like I was the only girl in the crowd. I didn't realize how many guys were a LOT taller than me. That became painfully obvious when I kept trying to take pictures of the girls on stage only to have some guy move his head. All I got was a great shot of the back of some guy's head or his camera. If you think about it, my shots were pretty funny, there were more pictures of the backs of guys heads, arms, camera phones, cameras, than there were shots of the girls in wet t-shirts.
I am not going to post those pictures on this website (this is a "G" rated site - my rules...), I will leave the pictures up to your imagination. I will post a picture of a really neat person we met, his name is "RayRay" and he does custom license plates and frames. What really fascinated me about "RayRay" was that his leathers matched his bike almost exactly. I liked the fact that even though he had a LOT of blue on the bike, it was tastefully done, and not overdone. Even his leathers looked very classy. It is not often you see blue chaps and vest, but "RayRay" pulled it off with panache.
The weather here was awesome, if you don't mind winds. We had very strong winds on opening day, Thursday and they again picked up on Saturday afternoon. The good news is that the 90+ degree weather ended on Thursday and even though we had lots of sun, the temperatures didn't get much past mid-80's the whole event. It was absolutely perfect riding weather and great rally weather.
One of the best things about coming to Las Vegas Bikefest is seeing all of our friends from the Las Vegas area. Even though we worked at the booth, our friends were able to take some time and come to visit. It was almost like going to old home week, we had so many friends stopping by.
Bikefest ends tomorrow, Sunday, so if you are near, come on by, otherwise hopefully some of you will be able to take some time next year to attend Las Vegas Bikefest. It is a fun time, you get to see Las Vegas at it's best and there is some awesome riding in the Las Vegas area. We look forward to seeing some of you next year.
Until tomorrow....
Friday, October 2, 2009
How to decide what opportunities to take
In yesterday's discussion I talked about risk taking and being true to your values. Today I would like to briefly talk about how to measure what opportunities (business opportunities or other types of opportunities) may be best for your to take. Again, I am not going to recommend one opportunity over another, but would like to basically toss ideas out for you to measure against your own personal measuring stick. What may feel right for me may be absolutely wrong for you, but at least I can hopefully get some thoughts going for you.
If you are interested in getting into a business opportunity, or want to earn a second income, be sure it is in an area that you are personally passionate about. You may already be working in a position that earns an income, but you may not be that crazy about what you are doing. In second income opportunities, you want to enjoy what you do and look forward to working the business.
Before you start any new project, it is a good idea to talk to people you trust. They may not have the opinion you want to hear, they may even think you are crazy to start something new, but listen to them anyway. You do not have to take their advice, but it is important that you gather as much information as possible from all angles. Keep in mind that some of your trusted people may not like what you are proposing because it scares them, not because you may fail. Be prepared to hear negative comments about your ideas, but again, remember what is important to you, do not let anyone sway you away from an idea just because they don't like it. I like to remember the phrase from William Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true". Even if you fail at a project that your friends thought was crazy, at least you gave it a whirl. You will always find that you learned something from the project, either what not to do in the future, or what was a great idea...
I read a really good article by Joyce Shafer about being "true to you". In this article she brings up some really great questions that you should ask yourself before starting on a new endeavor, such as:
If you are interested in getting into a business opportunity, or want to earn a second income, be sure it is in an area that you are personally passionate about. You may already be working in a position that earns an income, but you may not be that crazy about what you are doing. In second income opportunities, you want to enjoy what you do and look forward to working the business.
Before you start any new project, it is a good idea to talk to people you trust. They may not have the opinion you want to hear, they may even think you are crazy to start something new, but listen to them anyway. You do not have to take their advice, but it is important that you gather as much information as possible from all angles. Keep in mind that some of your trusted people may not like what you are proposing because it scares them, not because you may fail. Be prepared to hear negative comments about your ideas, but again, remember what is important to you, do not let anyone sway you away from an idea just because they don't like it. I like to remember the phrase from William Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true". Even if you fail at a project that your friends thought was crazy, at least you gave it a whirl. You will always find that you learned something from the project, either what not to do in the future, or what was a great idea...
I read a really good article by Joyce Shafer about being "true to you". In this article she brings up some really great questions that you should ask yourself before starting on a new endeavor, such as:
- "Who would you really like to interact with?
- Why them?
- What about them or their lives will be different as a result of engaging with you? and
- What are the ways you might do this with or for them?"
These are some really good thought-provoking questions. Another one I personally believe in is: Who do you want to associate with and who do you want to associate with you? You are usually only as successful as the people you interact with. If you hang around a bunch of nay-sayers, then odds are that you won't progress very far past what they have done.
I am reminded of the story of the frogs who tried to climb a building. (I am paraphrasing) Some of the little frogs tried to climb the building, but all their friends kept telling them that they could not climb the building so as a result the frogs did not get to the top of the building, except for this one little frog. The reason this frog succeeded where the others failed is because this frog was deaf and did not hear all the comments about the task being impossible.
I believe in listening to others, researching, and looking at all angles, but in the end, you have to follow what you believe in, not what others believe you can or can't do. Be like that little frog and listen to your heart. You will be amazed by what you can accomplish.
If you are interested in looking at second income opportunities or other business opportunities, please visit www.hawgwash.net or feel free to e-mail us with questions. We may not have what you are looking for, but there is a chance that we may be able to help point you in a direction you are looking to go...
Until next time...
Thursday, October 1, 2009
What do you want out of life?
I am not about to tell you what to do with your life, or what you should do with your life. This article is a brief discussion about making sure that whatever you want to do with your life, that you remain true to your personal values and goals.
In this economy everyone gets very edgy with good reason. You don't know from one day to the next if you are going to have a job, if you are able to get a job, or if you can pay all your bills and make ends meet. These times are extremely stressful, even for the successful business person. Many of the businesses I have talked to have seen a decrease in their profits this year and we don't see any particular end in the near future.
The key is to remain true to your personal values despite what the outside world throws at you. If you remain true to yourself (I know that sounds so cliche, but it is very true) you will end up being less stressed and ultimately a happier person. It is times like these that actually help create new ideas and ways of doing things. People start looking for alternative ways to earn income, and look for innovative ways to sell products and services. This is actually a really good time to get into a new business because if you can get the business to survive in these tough economic times, then you are poised to do very well when the economy turns around (and it will turn around).
If you are wondering what to do and ask friends or family for suggestions, be open about what they have to say, but also weigh what they suggest against what you personally believe. Sometimes their ideas may trigger a great idea for you, sometimes their ideas may just be a reflection of what they would rather be doing, not what is best for you to do. Remember that some ideas may sound scary, but that may just be due to the fact that you don't know enough, or that it is risky. Risk is not something to be avoided at all costs, it is something to be measured and used with care. If you didn't take risks, there is a chance that you may never cross the road to see what is on the other side. The Wright brothers took a risk in flying aeroplanes, most entrepreneurs also take risks in starting new businesses.
Risk taking is necessary in business, but again, you have to take the risks that seem right to you, not your friends or family. If you feel passionately about something, it just may well be worth the risk in trying it (as long as it is not illegal or immoral..) despite what some friends or family may say. Be reasonable about what you want to do, but do not be risk averse. Without risk we would not have become the greatest country in the world.
If you take the risk and fail, at least you know you tried. If you don't take the risk, then you may always wonder what would have happened if you had taken the leap of faith. You do not want to finish your life wondering what happened, you should be happy you finished your life by going for that golden ring. It is not the end that is important, it really is the journey to get there. Be true to yourself and your values. By doing so you will find that good things should happen and if your are honest with yourself, you will discover that the risks you took were well worth the end result.
I will continue this discussion tomorrow...
In this economy everyone gets very edgy with good reason. You don't know from one day to the next if you are going to have a job, if you are able to get a job, or if you can pay all your bills and make ends meet. These times are extremely stressful, even for the successful business person. Many of the businesses I have talked to have seen a decrease in their profits this year and we don't see any particular end in the near future.
The key is to remain true to your personal values despite what the outside world throws at you. If you remain true to yourself (I know that sounds so cliche, but it is very true) you will end up being less stressed and ultimately a happier person. It is times like these that actually help create new ideas and ways of doing things. People start looking for alternative ways to earn income, and look for innovative ways to sell products and services. This is actually a really good time to get into a new business because if you can get the business to survive in these tough economic times, then you are poised to do very well when the economy turns around (and it will turn around).
If you are wondering what to do and ask friends or family for suggestions, be open about what they have to say, but also weigh what they suggest against what you personally believe. Sometimes their ideas may trigger a great idea for you, sometimes their ideas may just be a reflection of what they would rather be doing, not what is best for you to do. Remember that some ideas may sound scary, but that may just be due to the fact that you don't know enough, or that it is risky. Risk is not something to be avoided at all costs, it is something to be measured and used with care. If you didn't take risks, there is a chance that you may never cross the road to see what is on the other side. The Wright brothers took a risk in flying aeroplanes, most entrepreneurs also take risks in starting new businesses.
Risk taking is necessary in business, but again, you have to take the risks that seem right to you, not your friends or family. If you feel passionately about something, it just may well be worth the risk in trying it (as long as it is not illegal or immoral..) despite what some friends or family may say. Be reasonable about what you want to do, but do not be risk averse. Without risk we would not have become the greatest country in the world.
If you take the risk and fail, at least you know you tried. If you don't take the risk, then you may always wonder what would have happened if you had taken the leap of faith. You do not want to finish your life wondering what happened, you should be happy you finished your life by going for that golden ring. It is not the end that is important, it really is the journey to get there. Be true to yourself and your values. By doing so you will find that good things should happen and if your are honest with yourself, you will discover that the risks you took were well worth the end result.
I will continue this discussion tomorrow...
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