Motivaitonal Monday - February 13th

Welcome to yet another installment of Motivational Mondays.  I apologize for not providing your Wednesday installation of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits, last Wednesday was more than a little crazy...actually, when you come to think about it, all of last week was absolutely nuts.  Well, before we get too distracted and I wander off into a discourse of how crazy a week can get, lets work on our Motivational Monday topic.

Last week we talked about reviewing your past successes, learning from those successes but not reliving those same successes.  Today we are going to talk about dreaming.  Dreaming can be good for you and it can be bad.  We are going to cover both aspects of dreaming tonight...

Remember when we were much younger (only a few days ago for me...) and we had all these big dreams about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to be when we grew up?  Well, hopefully you all have not yet grown up.  You should continue to dream and to dream big.  If you dream about relatively simple achievements, you will never get motivated to go out and achieve those dreams.  If you dream big, you stand a much better chance of becoming motivated to start working toward that dream.

There is a practical aspect to dreaming big though.  Dreaming big is one thing, but you can't dream of becoming a runway model if you are 5' 1" and more than a little overweight.  There has to be a bit of a practicality to your dreams.  You know what dreams you have that you can achieve with a lot of work.  Some people may just talk about their dreams, but never put any effort into working toward them.

If your dreams are real enough to you, there is no reason in the world why you wouldn't be motivated to start working towards them.  Start a "dream board" where you begin putting pictures of what you want up on a cork-board or wall.  As you collect these pictures of your dreams, you should start becoming more motivated to obtain those same dreams.  Then, on the days, weeks or sometimes months where you feel you are lacking the motivation to do anything, you can look to that wall and remind yourself of why you are working so hard.

No doubt you have also dealt with those who are "dreamers".  These people may talk about all the great dreams they have, but they never, ever, seem to get anything done.  They only dream about what they could do or have, but they never make the effort to work towards that dream.  That type of behavior can be very de-motivational (is that really a word?).  Those are the types of people that you want to avoid because they could suck you into their dream, and keep you from doing what needs to get done to achieve your dreams. 

Your dreams should be your source of inspiration, something that drives you to get up every morning, and the same something that keeps you up late into the night.  They should get you excited about the future, they should drive you to plan and work to achieve those goals.  Powerful dreams can move you to heights you may never even believed you could achieve.  These dreams are what create greatness in man.

So, focus on your big dreams, develop your own "dream board" and start working on moving closer to achieving that huge dream you have always had.  Even creating a dream board is a lot of fun.  You may find that the more you build your dream board or wall, the more you want to continue to build it.  That board can become an awesome inspiration to you and your family to keep working towards your dreams.

Until Wednesday (really...I mean it...THIS Wednesday...)...

Motivational Monday - February 6

Happy Monday one and all!!!  Welcome to our second February installment of Motivational Monday.  Hopefully your Monday wasn't as bad as you may have imagined it would be over the weekend.  For those of you who watched the Superbowl yesterday, it was a fun game...  No matter who you may have rooted for, both teams played hard and well.  I don't have any fingernails left after the game yesterday, but I am happy I got to watch it. 

Watching these two awesome football teams battle it out for that ultimate prize, you have to wonder how they stayed motivated.   Both teams had huge motivation to win, yet we all know there was to be only one winner. (In my book, both teams were winners, they both played to the absolute best of their abilities).   I read in the news today that Tom Brady was utterly dejected after the loss to the Giants.  It has to hurt, to be so close to winning the Superbowl for the fourth time in his career.  Heck, the Patriots were leading until the last 4 minutes.

From this loss, you have to wonder, how does the team get motivated to play again?  The most obvious is that you know they have to look at their past successes.  They know they can win, they know they have the talent to win.  Now, to stay motivated, they will have to remember the successes, but they must also look at what they did wrong and learn from those mistakes or missed opportunities. 

What the New England Patriots are going through after yesterday's Superbowl is nothing different than what we all go through on a daily basis.  The only real difference is that a lot more people saw them fail, whereas we may only have a handful of people watching us fail.  In this economy, many people are looking for work and having one heck of a time landing a job.  They may be interviewing like mad, but never getting that job offer they hoped for.  It is difficult to continue day after day to remain motivated, when you feel like you are continuously failing and not landing that job.

You need to stay motivated, remember that you did land jobs in the past.  Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses, remember why you were so good at your job.   Focus on your successes to help keep you motivated.  As we discussed last Monday, you do not want to dwell on those successes, but if you feel that your resolve may be slipping, remember your prior success and strive to remember how good you felt when you did get that job, or win that big contract. 

Use your successes to motivate you to move forward.  Even though Tom Brady was very depressed and despondent yesterday, you know that in a day or so, he will start focusing on what they need to do to win the next Superbowl...  He brought his team 3 prior wins, he will build on that and motivate not only himself, but his team to focus on winning so they can take the Superbowl podium next year.

Until Wednesday....

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits for February 2012

Welcome one and all to Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits for February 2012.  Since today is the first day of the second month of the year 2012, I thought it would be fun to review trivial facts about the month of February.  February 2012 is special, not only is it the shortest month of the year, but for this year in particular, it is a leap year.  So, I feel sorry for anyone born on February 29th, they only celebrate their birthdays once every four years.

Did you know that February starts on the same day of the week as March and November (in non-leap years) and starts on the same day of the week as August this year (leap year).  In leap years, it is the only month that ends on the same weekday that it begins.

February was named after the Latin term februurm, which means purification (based on the purification ritual [Februa] held on February 15th in the old lunar Roman calendar).

The Anglo-Saxon's called February Solmonath, meaning mud month.

The Finnish people called February helmikuu, meaning month of the pearl (from the snow dripping off the trees).

February is the only month of the year that can occur without having a full moon (not this year, the full moon is scheduled for February 7th, 2012.

The second day of February is often referred to as Ground Hog's Day.  The superstition that surrounds Ground Hog's Day is that the ground hog comes out of it's burrow on February 2nd to look around.  If there is sunshine and he sees his shadow, then he goes back to sleep and there will be an additional 6 weeks of winter.  If there is cloud cover and the ground hog does not see his shadow, spring is right around the bend.

 The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania where there is a celebration to see if Punxsutawney Phil (the ground hog) will see his shadow.

The Roman Catholic Church does not celebrate Ground Hog's day, but celebrates February 2nd as Candlemas Day (the festival of lights).  The candles used in the church during the rest of the year are blessed on this day.

The whole month of February is a celebration of Black History month in the USA and Canada.

Did you know that February is also National Condom Month???

Shrove (also known as Fat Tuesday) Tuesday is in February and it begins the 40 days before Easter (for this year, that would be February 21st).

Some not so well known dates in February:
February 4th is Independence Day in Sri Lanka,
February 6th is Waitangi Day in New Zealand,
February 12th is Paul Bunyan Day,
February 15th is Flag Day in Canada,
February 24th is Flag Day in Mexico, and
February 28th is National Tooth Fairy Day in the USA...

Now that you know too much about the month of February, have a wonderful rest of your week.

We will chat with you later this week, (I have some thoughts that I will post in a few days...)

Until then....

Motivational Monday - January 30

Happy Monday one and all!  Welcome to another edition of Motivational Monday.  I am willing to bet that not all of you are feeling too "chipper" today.  No surprise, today is Monday, and traditionally, Mondays are not all that much fun.  Granted, some of you do enjoy Mondays, but for the person who has a great weekend, going back to work on Monday is not always enjoyable.  Today we are going to review some more points on how to get through Mondays and how to not just survive the work-week.

One tip to remaining motivated is to let go of your past.  Before you all get angry, please let me explain.  There are a few ways you can let go of the past, but I am not suggesting that you let go and FORGET the past.  The key here is to not DWELL on the past.

History (the "past") provides many great lessons for us, but if continued to dwell on what happened in the past, you will never be able to more forward.  It is very important that we learn from both our past mistakes and our past failures.  How many people have you encountered that seem to live in the past?  They tell you how great things USED to be, and how much better their life was.  Or they may tell you about the time they made that mistake and nothing has ever gone right for them since?  It is that kind of thought processes that you need to get rid of.

If you continue to re-live the past, you will never find the motivation to make changes and improve your present.  I learned one very important piece of advice many, many years ago that has stuck with me...you cannot change the past, you can only change YOUR ATTITUDE towards the past.  This is extremely important if you want to keep your motivation for the future.

You need to acknowledge that the past occurred.  If you made mistakes, you need to accept that you made those mistakes and learn from what you did wrong.  By making mistakes, you are forcing yourself to learn.  If you didn't make any mistakes, you probably would not be where you are now.  Heck, the sticky note (that little yellow post-it note that 3M makes?) was actually a mistake by one of 3M's developers. They were trying to make a type of glue, only to make a glue that didn't stick very well.  You all now probably know how successful the 'sticky note' is for many of us, especially those of us in an office.

Making mistakes opens up new avenues for us to try new things.  Now that you know this doesn't work, you can try a different path.  But, if you constantly lived that same mistake, you will never have the desire or motivation to try anything new.

How many people have you talked to that constantly relived their greatest successes?  This is almost as bad, if not worse than reliving your mistakes.  Constantly reliving your success could prevent you from going out and becoming even more successful.  Like the mistakes of the past, if you learn from your successes, then you can become even more successful in the future.  Also, realistically, how many of you want to hear for the 100th time how Joe made that one awesome sale and brought home a six-digit paycheck the next month?   Wouldn't you rather hear about how Joe made that sale, and then has continued to make better sales up through today?  Then, you can learn from Joe's successes and possibly apply his techniques to your business.

So, in a nutshell, if you want to build a successful future and maintain your motivation, let go of the past, both the pain and the successes.  Use the past as a building block and a tool to motivate you to do even better in the future.

Have a wonderful Motivational Monday.  Until this Wednesday...

Finding your Passion in Business

Last week we discussed reviewing where we were in business and setting goals for where we want to be by the end of this year.  While we were discussing goal-setting, I mentioned that it was not only important to set obtainable goals, but to set goals that you were passionate about. 

This week we are going to explore a some possible ways that you can find your passion in business.  Let's first define Passion:  "Passion is a term that is often applied to a very strong feeling about a person or a thing.  It is an intense emotion, compelling feeling, enthusiasm or a desire for something." - Wikipedia definition

If you are in a home-based business, or are managing a small business. it is highly likely that you were extremely passionate about the business you got involved in.  The problem is that running a business, especially a home-based business, can be very time consuming and tiring.  After a while, you may start to wonder why you ever thought you wanted to be in business for yourself in the first place. 

If you are still working your business, you may need to rediscover the passion in your business.  It could be helpful to sit down and write down all the reasons WHY you got involved in that business originally.  Sometimes, when you go back to the beginning, you can rediscover the passion that inspired you to start your own business.  As you rediscover your passion, write down the points that you feel very strongly about.  You want to remember those aspects of your business when times start getting difficult again.  Do not focus on the negative aspect of your business, everyone has tough times, and focusing on the negative will not allow you to capture the passion (positive passion) that you were hoping to discover. 

Once you are able to rekindle the passion you had at the outset, now would be the time to start setting goals for the future.  If you had focused on the negatives of your business, odds are that your goals would not be all that they should be and you could very well start a downward spiral of your business.  As you start defining your goals, always be sure to verify that you are passionate about the goals you are setting.  You should be very passionate about all of your big, long-term goals because if you are not, there is a very high likelihood that you will not achieve those goals. 

Make sure your goals are realistic, but that they are also designed to push you and your business to greater heights.  If you can set long-term goals that you feel very strongly about, then it will be so much easier to remain motivated and passionate  as you work towards those goals.  After your "big" goals are set, then you can start designing those smaller, stepping-stone goals, that will help you to attain your "big" goal.  Again, if you are passionate about the end result, you will find a much stronger motivation to continue working towards that goal, despite any road-blocks that will appear.

Sometimes you may discover that you cannot recapture the passion you once had.  If you feel you are in that position, before you do anything rash, talk to some other small business owners.  Ask them how they managed to work through their challenges.  As we discussed last week, talk to successful people.  Do not waste your precious time and energy talking to people who feel your passion is misplaced or misguided. 

Continue to strive to be passionate in your business, and strive to provide the best services to your customers.  By providing the best for everyone, in the long run, your business will prosper.    One critical key to success in business is finding your passion in business. 

If you are looking for some business opportunity to get involved with, perhaps we can be of assistance.  If you do not see anything that triggers your passion, perhaps you can use some of the ideas from the website to discover what you are truly passionate about.  As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Until next week...keep the passion...

Motivational Monday - January 23rd

Welcome to the first Motivational Monday of 2012.  It has been quite some time since we had a Motivational Monday, so let's get started.

Since this is still the first month of the new year, I'd like to let you in on my New Year's resolution.  I don't usually believe in resolutions, but this one is not really a "normal" resolution.  No, I am not going to resolve to lose weight (I should and am working on losing weight, it is a promise, not a resolution), nor am I going to resolve to quit smoking (because I have NEVER smoked in my life).  My resolution this year is to NOT be MOTIVATED by negative people or negative situations.

Granted, that may sound a tad odd, but if you really think about it, the concept makes sense.  If you want to lose motivation fast, start hanging around people who believe nothing good can ever come of anything.  If you start feeling sick, you don't hang around sick people, right?  This is the same concept.  I am making a resolution to only associate with positive, up-beat people. 

Sometimes you may be motivated by negativity, more along the lines of "I won't be THAT way", but if you are exposed to negative situations continuously, then you stand a very strong likelihood of also displaying that same type of behavior. 

Keep in mind, positive, up-beat people are not always happy, but they do not bring you down or tell you how horrible the world is on a regular basis.  Positive people will also have bad days, depressed days, but on the whole, they look at any set-backs in their progress as not insurmountable situations, but as a learning lesson.  They will look at the positives of a negative issue and then work to overcome the current setback. 

These are the type of people who are successful.  They are the ones that many may envy because it seems that no matter what happens, they always end up on top.  The reason they end up on top is because they maintain a positive attitude and most likely surround themselves with other positive people.  

If you want to stay depressed, hang around with people who are always complaining.  Even if you started the day in a good mood, how many times do you wonder where your good mood vanished if you constantly hear people complaining about everything from how horrible the weather is, to how bad their kids are?   Sometimes you may discover that negative people surround you because they are trying to capture your positive attitude.  These people are like sponges, sucking your good attitude out of your body.  The key is to not let this happen to you.  If someone is in need of positive reinforcement, definitely provide it, but do not continue to support someone who refuses to stand on their own and work on their own positive attitude.

Life is tough.  There is no denying it.  The important thing to remember though is that you may not be able to change the circumstances, but you are able to change your attitude about the circumstances.  You cannot change your past, but you can change your attitude about what happened in the past and turn it into a learning experience.  Learn from your mistakes, use the problems as a spring-board to a better future. 

We would not have the light bulb if Thomas Edison quit after the first few attempts.  Many of your self-made millionaires did hit rock bottom more than once in their careers.  The failures just motivated them to do better and work harder for the next effort. 

I will leave you with this thought for tonight from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded."

Until Wednesday...

If you are looking for second income opportunities, check out www.hawgwash.net.  There may be something there that could work for you.  If you don't see anything, but would like to discuss ideas, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits - 2012

Welcome to the first installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits for 2012.  It has been quite a while since this mid-week entertainment has been posted, so without further adeu, let's get started.  Since we have begun a new year, perhaps it would be good to see what happened to us 100 years ago: 

For you runners out there, did you know that January 1st, 1912 was the first running of San Francisco's "Bay to Breakers" race?

On January 6th, 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state admitted to the United States.
On February 14th, 1912 Arizona became the 48th state to join the United States.
May 11, 1912 Alaska is organized as a US Territory.  By August 24th the Territory of Alaska organizes

 It looks like our US Marines were very busy in 1912:
On January 9th, 1912 the US Marines invaded Honduras
May 30, 1912 the US Marines are sent to Nicaragua, on August 14th of this year 2,500 more Marines were added and they stayed until 1925.
June 5, 1912 the US Marines invade Cuba

In January 18th, British Naval Captain and explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition arrive at the South Pole only to discover hat the Norwegian explorer Roland Amundsen had preceded them by just over a month.  By March 30th while storm-bound in a tent near the South Pole, he makes the last entry in his diary, "the end cannot be far".  Captain Robert F. Scott and 4 others in his expedition died in Antartica.  Captian Scott's body and diary are finally located by November 12th of this year. 

April 2nd, 1912 the Titanic undergoes sea trial under it's own power.  After successful trials, the Titanic leaves Queesntown, Irland with final passengers and mail, headed for New York.  On April 14th, on route from Southampton to New York, "Unsinkable" Titanic strikes an iceberg 453 miles southeast of Newfoundland.  Six of the 15 watertight compartments are breached by a 300-foot gash.  Just after midnight on April 15th Captain Smith of the Titanic orders lifeboats to be uncovered and for passengers to be assembled in preparation to abandon the ship.  By approximately 2:30 AM the RMS Titanic sinks into the North Atlantic, an estimated 1,522 people of the 2,200 passengers and crew aboard perish.

On a lighter note, on August 27th, 1912 Edgar Rice Burrough's publishes the book, "Tarzan of the Apes".

March 1, 1912 Captain Albert Berry made the first successful parachute jump from an aeroplane over Saint Louis, MO.

Mrs. William Howard Taft plants the first cherry tree in Washington, D.C. on March 16th, 1912

On March 23rd, the Dixie Cup was invented.

In 1912, Casimir Funk, a Polish biochemist, then 28, published his discovery of substances in the body which he classified as "vitamines" (vitamins).  He proved that some diseases are caused by vitamin deficiency.

Did you know that 1912 was a leap year and a U.S election, as 2012 is also a leap year and election year?
November 5th, 1912 Woodrow Wilson (D) defeated Theodore (Teddy) Roosewvelt (Prog) and President Taft (R).  Who will win in the 2012 election...?  Only time will tell...

Hopefully you enjoyed the initial 2012 mid-week installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits.

Until Monday...

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits - Wednesday Edition

Welcome to the Wednesday Edition of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits.  As mentioned on the Monday blog, we are mixing things up a bit to see if we can add more spark to your work week.  Mondays are usually blue, and we had been striving to make them less so.  But Wednesdays have been so very tough lately, so for "Hump-Day" we are going to have some fun so you can get an early jump anticipating the weekend.

Do any of you remember when the earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet at 9:30 PM GMT February 9, 1986?  Did you know that on April 19, 1910 Halley's Comet made it's first  appearance since 1759.  Many people stayed home with their families expecting Doomsday the moment the earth passed through Halley's Comet's tail.   Glad to know we are still doing  OK (really???).  The next expected appearance of Halley's Comet should be July 28, 2061...some of us may still be hanging around...

In 1910, auto racer Barney Oldfield, 32, set a new speed record at Daytona Beach, FL, traveling a whopping 131.724 mph.  I can do that now on my bike on the freeway...(but I didn't....really...don't you believe me???)

Do you know what a spoonerism is?  It is switching letters in a sentence... for instance, saying "jag of Flapan" instead of "flag of Japan".

Here are some fun facts regarding the English language - there are only three words in the English language that contain two 'U's' back to back.  They are vacuum, residuum and continuum.

The only word in the English language that contains 3 back to back  double letter combinations is Bookkeeper....

A novel with 50,000 words, none of which contained the letter 'E' was written by Ernest Wright.  I wonder what the title of that tome was?

The letter 'Q' is the only letter in the English alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.

For you scientists out there - Do you know what the science of Anthroppmetry is?  It is the measurement of the human body.  This science allowed factory-made ready-to-wear clothing to be bought by people for the first time in the mid-1800's due to the need to mass-produce soldiers uniforms in different sizes for the Civil War in the United States.

 How much do you fly?  Are you concerned about the safety of flying in an aeroplane?  Did you know that Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes?  So, if you are afraid to fly for fear of being in a plane crash, go ride a donkey.  If you survive that, odds are that you will survive a plane flight.  (we won't discuss the groping involved with flying now though..)

Keeping along the lines of planes for a moment - a Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than teh Wright brother's first flight.  That makes you sit up and think for a moment...

Lastly, for those of you who do minor home repairs, I bet you all have at least one can of WD-40 in your house to quiet those squeaky hinges, or to otherwise help loosen rusted screws.  Do you know what the "WD" in the name actually stands for?  It is an abbreviation for Water Displacer...

Hopefully you enjoyed your Wednesday Edition of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits.  Monday will bring a return of some motivational ideas, and perhaps we will throw in an additional article next week, just for the fun of it. 

Continue to stay tuned... Until next week...

Motivational Monday

Well, this week we are going to mix it up a bit.  I have been posting the Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits on or around the first of the week for quite some time now.  I thought I would try Motivational Monday, (versus my Motivational Wednesday - rolls off the tongue easier...) for a week or two and see how it goes.  No, Fun Facts is not being preempted, it is just moving to Wednesdays.  Please feel free to let me know which you would ultimately prefer, fun on Mondays or motivation on Mondays....

On to the motivation....

Last week we covered more tips on how to either get motivated to accomplish a task or how to stay motivated to keep working towards a goal.  This week we are going to continue to explore how to remain motivated as you work towards your goals.

Many of you work for a living, you go to a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke), trade your time for their money, come home and just collapse.  Well, doing that day after day, year after year, will seriously wear you out.  Do you remember the first day you landed your first job?  You were MOTIVATED.  You had PLANS.  You were GOING PLACES and TAKING NO PRISONERS.  Now, most likely, you are just grateful to have a job, but it takes so much out of you that you have no more to give once you get home.

This is where the motivational tips I have been offering come into play.  No matter how tired you may be, in order to improve your circumstances or work towards financial freedom, you need to not only define your goals, but really believe in your goals.  Defining goals is relatively simple, the critical point it to not only believe in those defined goals, but to EMBRACE those same goals.  The goals you define should be what you wake up thinking about and should also be what you think about as you are falling asleep at night.

By embracing these goals, you will discover you are as motivated as you were when you got your first job.  But even with clearly defined goals, and you celebrating milestones towards those same goals, you will find over time that your motivation does begin to flag.  This does not mean that your goals are no longer worthy.  All it means is that you may need to find additional methods of motivation.  Every new idea creates excitement, but as you continue to work towards your long-term goals, you will find times where you are still lacking motivation.  This is natural and not a bad thing, all you have to do is to devise some additional motivational methods to keep moving through your 'slow' time.

One thing that will help keep your motivation fresh is to be sure that you ALWAYS make time for yourself.  If you do not take care of yourself, no matter how supportive your friends and family may be, nobody else will take care of you.  Remember to take time out for YOU.  Do not lose yourself in your goal, your goal may be a part of you, but you still need to take some time to rest.  Your mind and body do need this rest, even if you believe that you have to push through and continue to work.  Spend some quiet time each day with yourself.   This does not need to be hours at a time, it could only be 15 minutes to an hour, but remember to take time for yourself and keep in touch with who you are and why you are working for these goals.   You may not feel like you have to do this daily, and if so, at least make an effort once a week to take time out for you.  You don't have to sit in a tub with candles all over, it just means that you should do what YOU want to do for a little period of time.  It is amazing how rejuvenating it is to do something that YOU want instead of constantly working to do stuff for everyone else. 

After you have rejuvenated, do not forget to spend time with your friends and family.  After you have taken care of yourself, you may also find it is easier to help your friends and family with their desires.  It is critical to maintain a balance between work, goals, family and friends.  Without a good balance, you will lose motivation very quickly.   Strive to remember that your friends and family may not always be around for you to spend time with.  Hopefully your friends and family are also motivated and excited about the goals that you have set, and perhaps part of spending time with them includes you all working towards the same goal. 

Time is that commodity that once spent, cannot be taken back, so spend your time wisely.  Avoid those who may 'suck' time away from you, they don't have enough motivation of their own, and would rather use you and your energy to get them motivated.  This is personally draining, and you will find yourself losing that motivational drive again.   Try to align yourself with other motivated people, because their energy will help keep you going.  Then, if they start losing motivation, you are there to help them continue on.

Again, it is always very motivating to see your goals clearly written and posted in a public place.  That way, not only you, but your friends and family can continue to see what you are working towards.  As your motivation periodically lags, all you need to do is to catch a glimpse of your plans, and you will find that your motivation is rekindled.  

These are a few more tips to keep you driving toward your goals.  These tips may help keep you motivated even after a 10 hour work day, with dinner yet to be made and kids that still need help with their homework.  After getting all that done, you may still be able to keep that tiny little spark of motivation alive so that you can do one more thing that will bring you closer to your goals.  You will be amazed about how quickly you can get motivated when you can take tiny little steps toward your goal.  By doing just one little task before you call it a day, you can go to bed enthused because you are now one step closer to your goal.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that no matter how rough your day may have been, you still took one more step toward your dream.  That should always keep your spark of motivation alive.

Hopefully you found some of these tips and suggestions helpful to stay motivated.  Perhaps it will allow you to get through this week a little easier too.  Have a great Motivational Monday.  Wednesday we will pick it up and have some fun with the weekly installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits.

If you are looking for other income opportunities, please feel free to check out our website for ideas.  We are always available for questions and even for bouncing ideas for other ways to find financial freedom.  

Until Wednesday...

Procrastination -

Tonight is more a night for procrastination than for real work. We finally have another break from painful high temperatures, and I would rather be enjoying the cool evening air than sitting in front of the computer finding more obscure facts to entertain. You will get your Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits this week...just not tonight...perhaps...

• Horses
  
  Tonight I should be helping you all laugh by providing my weekly installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. Well, I am not entirely thrilled with that prospect tonight, and have been procrastinating writing this weekly article tonight. Granted, I have loads of silly bits of information to entertain you with, but for some reason, I do not feel that this weekly installment is going to be that much fun, I am not feeling inspiration.
  
  Let's discuss procrastination instead... one of my favorite ways to procrastinate is to decide it is time to organize my desk. My desk periodically looks like a bomb hit it, even though I know exactly (well, almost) where every piece of paper really is. But, when I am not in a very inspired mood to do what I should do, that is the best time for me to straighten my desk.
  
  I guess you could say that my desk usually doesn't look too bad, but if it is consistently neat, then you know I am procrastinating....kind of like tonight...
  
  My next best method of procrastinating is to decide it is time to mend shirts, re-apply buttons, and darn socks...now really, how many people really darn socks anymore...if you are into procrastination...well, count me in...
  
  Lastly my best method of procrastination is to play with all the animals around the house. That includes the two dogs that keep me company, but lately, I have been spending quality time with my neighbor's horses...not for any particular reason except that it has been pretty evenings, and I didn't want to go inside and get any work done...
  
  I know, for those of you who read last week's Motivational blog on Wednesday, I talked about ways to get things done even when you don't want to do it. Well, as you can see, even though I have been procrastinating, I do still get done what needs to be done...just later than usual. Procrastination can be fun, so don't dismiss it out-of-hand.
  
  Think of all the mischief you can get into by procrastinating, especially if others would RATHER you get your chores/tasks done... Procrastination does have it's benefits, heck, my desk does get regularly cleaned, the animals get played with, and over-all, I have fun. After I get the procrastination out of the way, I find I become more motivated to complete the tasks that I had been putting off.
  
  So, the upshot is, some procrastination is good, but too much of it will get you in trouble.  Since I don't feel like getting into too much trouble, I better start working on the weekly Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits segment for either tomorrow or Wednesday. Stay tuned to see which day I end up posting...
  
  Until tomorrow....

Another Motivational Wednesday

Well, here we are again, Hump Day.  Except that today for many of us is only the second day of the work week, not the third.  For many, we only have two more days left of work before the weekend, and we only had to work two days to get here.  Even still, after a 3-day weekend, you may already start feeling a tad less motivated than you did yesterday.  We are going to try to rectify that lagging feeling with another Motivational Wednesday.

Today is one of my less than great motivation days, I am tired, even though it is the second day of a 4-day work week, it has been a loooong 2 days.  Many of you are probably feeling the same way too.  Here are some things that I have done to get motivation back into my day:

Goal setting is very important.  If I hadn't told you all that I would be posting a blog tonight, odds are very high that I would NOT have posted anything tonight.  I set that goal yesterday because I KNEW I would need the motivation to get this weeks blog done.  There are days when writing is easy, the words just flow off my fingertips and onto the page.  Then, there are other days, like today, where it feels like you are fighting to put even one word on the page, let alone a cohesive sentence.  Knowing that I promised to write and especially publishing the goal made it a lot easier to be motivated to achieve the goal.

Keep your goals simple.  This is the next step to remaining motivated to work on your goals.  If you have a goal that is virtually impossible to achieve in a day, week, or month, your initial goal is far to complex.  That is not to say you need to have simple goals, but what is important is to have relatively easy to achieve small goals that will ultimately bring you to your biggest goal.  If you are standing at the bottom of a very large mountain and know that you have to get to the top quickly, it can be very disheartening.  A way to achieve your larger goals is to set many smaller, simple goals that will guide you on your way to achieving your main goal.  A great quote I have heard several times is:  "How do you eat an elephant? ...  One bite at a time". 

Set a date to complete the simple goals.  Set a specific date that you want to achieve these smaller goals.  Do not set dates for all your goals, it could very easily demotivate you again.  Set one or two dates for one or two of your simple goals, and focus on getting those completed.  Once you succeed in completing those goals on time, you could easily become naturally motivated to start completing the other goals.  Be sure not to try to complete all your goals at one time, it will not work, and then once you stop, you will not be motivated to start again.  How many times have you gone to the gym to work out after a long absence, only to end up doing far too much on your first workout?  You may feel OK that first day, but boy, on that second day, you may not want to look at a gym again. 

Lastly, celebrate when you do achieve a goal.  Get excited about your successes, no matter how small you  may think they are.  The fact is that you did succeed, celebrate that.  Don't focus on the fact that you may not have achieved your whole goal, that will come with time and practice.  Start small, celebrate each small step.  You celebrate your child's first step, why not celebrate your own personal first step toward your goals.  Rewarding yourself can be as simple as lighting a scented candle, taking a bubble bath, or even treating yourself to a cookie, but reward yourself for a job well done.  If you don't do it, nobody else will.  Don't let others bring you down, surround yourself with positive people and you will find your own attitude will also improve. 

If you want to find motivation to achieve something it is critical to define your goals, keep your goals simple, set reasonable dates and then to celebrate each accomplishment.  Once you do it, you will be amazed at how easy it is to remain motivated to complete the remainder of your tasks.

The hardest part is getting started.  If you are not sure what your goals are, start writing down everything that you may want to do.  Then from there focus on one item that really gets you excited.  You will find then that setting smaller goals to achieve that one task becomes easier.  Heck, your first motivational task might be to list what goals you would like to achieve.  Set a date to begin that task, and limit how long you will spend writing down goals.  By keeping your time short, you won't be overwhelmed with the task and you may be amazed at how motivated you become after you put just one goal down on a piece of paper.

So, stop reading and start your own motivational practices. 

Until next week...

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits - Late

Sorry guys, I lost track of time, forgot that YESTERDAY was MONDAY, not today. All the same, welcome to your weekly installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits, even though it is a day late...

Let's get right into the fun... tonight we are going to find fun facts about places around the world:

The smallest "country" in the world to have its own top-level domain name is Norfolk Island, off the coast of Australia.

If you love traveling and monkeys, Gibraltar is the only place in Europe where you can find wild monkeys (we are not looking at elementary schools...)

For those of you who believe that we are Always at war, it is interesting to note that the shortest war ever recorded lasted only 38 minutes (Britain versus Zanzibar, in 1896). Don't know why we can't have short wars like that again...heck, I have have known couples to have arguments longer than 38 minutes...

In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for marriage for girls to a whopping 12 years old...wow, old maids...

In light of all the news regarding the latest hurricane, did you know that New York City has 570 miles of shoreline? That is one of the reasons why there was such concern about the hurricane hitting New York City straight on.

If you have ever traveled to the Amazon jungle, there are up to 3,000 species of trees that have been cataloged within on square mile. That is a major amount of diversity...

Do you know what the original purpose of the (now) leaning tower of Pisa? It was originally designed as a bell tower. Guess that got thrown out when the tower started leaning....hard to ring a bell that is almost sideways.

Did you know that more Siberian tigers live in zoos than in the wild?

Brazoria County in Southeast Texas is the only county in the United States and Canada to have every kind of poisonous snake found in those two countries.

And lastly, for those of you who HATE snakes and all those cold-blooded critters, the only continent without any reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.

Have a wonderful week. Hopefully you enjoyed this weekly update of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. Until Thursday (since I am off by a day, might as well continue to be off this week...)

Take care...

Motivational Wednesdays

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!! Bet you thought I wouldn't be here tonight...HA had you fooled didn't I? Since I have been seriously challenged lately, I thought that tonight would provide a great opportunity to talk about some motivational techniques so that you too can possibly get more things done. Welcome to my Motivational Wednesday...

Since Wednesdays are typically the middle of a "standard" work week, many people have also called Wednesday's "hump-days". Wednesdays are a bit tough because you have struggled for two days to get here, but then the good news is that you only have 2 more days to the weekend. Since I personally do have trouble with motivation on Wednesdays (in particular...) I have started once again to pick up some motivational techniques so that I can get through the day and accomplish all the tasks I do have on my list, that I REALLY didn't want to finish. You all know THOSE tasks, the ones that NEED to be done, but you don't want to do them? (that is not to say I don't enjoy writing this Blog, I just noticed that I am seriously lacking in motivation all day on Wednesdays...)

One way to stay motivated is to reduce boredom and to understand what it is you do that may make you particularly bored. Being bored is a great way to lose motivation.... Being bored makes the day appear to go slower, being bored can easily lead to over-eating and being bored can make you grumpy. Identify what makes you bored and strive to eliminate that boredom. The real challenge comes when there is a task or core that you MUST do but it is supremely boring. The key here is to identify that task, and get it done as quickly as possible, because the more you put it off (because it is soooo darned boring) the more you will not get anything else done either. Boredom can really kill any motivation. If you know what your triggers are for boring tasks, find ways to avoid those triggers, even while completing that task. This is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but once you master it, you can make those boring chores a lot easier to deal with. They may still be boring, but you have learned to cope with that. Personally, I strive to get the really boring tasks done as fast as possible...sort of like taking nasty medicine. Get it done fast and then reward yourself for a job well done....works for me.

Another trick to keep motivation up is to switch tasks so you don't get too bored doing one task. Strive to work on a few small, easy tasks and use them to break up what could be a long, drawn-out and possibly boring task. Pick up those small tasks when you are almost at your wits end when working on that big project. The little tasks completed will provide you a great sense of accomplishment and will help to keep you motivated to finish that large project you were working on. Also, buy taking a break from one project, and completing another, when you return to the original project at hand, you may find solutions that you didn't realized existed. Taking a break provides you with the opportunity to take a fresh look at an old task.

Lastly, to stay motivated and on task, remember to reward yourself for a job well done. You don't need to go to extremes, but if there is something small that you really like doing, reward yourself with whatever that is after you complete a task, even a boring task. By rewarding yourself for a job well done, you create a positive habit that will assist you in staying motivated and completing other projects. You could even look forward to completing tasks so that you can gather your own personal reward. This small reward could be as simple as a small cup of ice cream, or playing a quick game, or even taking a relaxing shower or swim. You can then be motivated to quickly complete your project so that you can reap your reward.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you to stay on task, remain motivated and finish those projects that have been dogging you for the longest time.

If I don't talk to you on Friday, have a great weekend and we will chat again on Monday.

Until then...

More Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits

HA!!! Bet you thought that I wouldn't be posting again...HA, HA. Well I even surprised myself with this post. I made a promise to all of you and myself, and I am working very, very hard to maintain that promise. Granted, I have been physically unable to post daily since last week, but at least I am getting Mondays down. I will post again this Wednesday, since I really believe I will not have time to post tomorrow....

Anyway, tonight is the weekly update for Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. As you are aware, I started tracking these silly little items over a year ago to help resolve some of the Monday doldrums. Hopefully these little known factoids are fun to share with friends and family, or better yet, you can use them to torment others who HATE trivia!! Oh what fun!!!

Especially on Mondays, do you find that you have a terrible time waking up or staying awake? How many cups of coffee did you drink to even start to get those heavy eye-lids up and that sluggish brain to start plodding along? Did you know that apples are better at waking a person up than even caffeine? Something to think about when you don't want your stomach torn up with all that acid from the coffee...

Now that we are starting to consider autumn in some parts of the country (not here, but somewhere...) did you know that oak trees do not produce acorns until they are 50 years old or older? And you thought waiting until you were 21 to drink took a long time...

For those of you who are still celebrating summer and the requisite mosquitoes.... did you know that mosquito repellent really doesn't "repel" mosquitoes? The repellents actually hid you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you are there (that is until you find one and squish it...)

Do you know the origins of the name of the soda drink, 7-Up? When this citrus soda was created in 1929, the original containers were on 7 ounces. The word 'UP' indicated the direction the bubbles went....

Do you ever wonder why the radio operators were called Ham radio operators? It is not because they "hammed" it up on the radio. The term "ham" was derived from the "ham-fisted" operators", which described the early radio users who sent Morse code (they pounded their fists when hitting all those dots and dashes...)

Here is something to bother your friends with - only one-third of the people that can twitch their ears, can twitch only one at a time.

Did you know that the term "the Boogey Man will get you" comes from the Boogey people, who still inhabit an area of Indonesia? These people still act as pirates today and attack ships that pass. Therefore, the phrase spread, "if you don't watch out, the Boogey man will get you."

Lastly, for those of you still wishing for the weekend, and really wanting a beer - in medieval England, beer was often served with breakfast. Now that could really put a good spin on your day... ;-)

Hopefully you have enjoyed yet another installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. I will be posting again this Wednesday, so in the meantime, have a wonderful Tuesday and don't forget to torment your friends and family with some of these useless tidbits of useless trivia.

Until Wednesday...

Waking Dreams

The other day we talked about why do we dream. In that post we were discussing dreams while we sleep. Today we are going to briefly cover our "waking dreams". I am not sure how others define "waking dreams" but my interpretation of a waking dream is basically day dreaming...

As children you may have done a whole bunch of day dreaming. As we got older, our day dreaming may have either taken on a more practical aspect, or we may have stopped day dreaming entirely. As children, our day dreams may have been about us being super heroes, or astronauts or firemen or policemen or ballerinas. As we became adults, those dreams were put aside and probably replaced with dreams of finishing school, getting a good job, settling down, or traveling the world.

It is important to hold on to the ability to day dream. I do not mean to say that we should spend all of our waking time dreaming about what we want, but we do need to dedicate some time on a regular basis to day dreaming. If we don't dream now about what we want, then how are we going to develop and grow as people? Our "waking dreams" should be what pushes us to be better, or do more than what we currently are. Our waking dreams could be the fuel that fires our desire to achieve bigger goals. The really neat thing about day dreaming is that we can dream about absolutely outlandish ideas or situations, but as we continue to dream, perhaps that outlandish dream may have a kernel of something that we would really want to pursue.

From that kernel of an idea, a dream to achieve something new and innovative may be born. Many of your successful entrepreneurs probably started their business idea based on a waking dream. New ideas, new products, and new approaches to current issues may have also come from someone day dreaming. It may not be a bad idea to have a "dream book" where you record your dreams, aspirations, and even wild ideas. It is a lot of fun to go back through your ideas and see what you have done and what you have discarded. It is even more fun to read some of the wild thoughts you had.

So, do not discard waking dreams or day dreams as a childish idea. Everyone should hold onto their dreams and strive for what they truly believe in. Perhaps one of your waking dreams will be the next biggest invention or will solve a world problem.

If you are looking for a business opportunity and don't know what you might want to do, check out our website, we may have something that would interest you. If we do not have anything that interests you on the website, please feel free to e-mail us, we have other ideas and opportunities that are not posted. We may be able to help you to refine your waking dreams and turn them into reality.

Until tomorrow...

How are you surviving?

Tonight's topic is on various methods you may take to survive in this economy. Even though it looks like there may be some improvement in the current economy, the job market is not following very well. The million dollar question is, how are you surviving?

Many people are still unemployed, many more are seriously underemployed. Some are employed and earning what they should and most likely the remainder of working people are working at something they don't like, but it pays the bills. How do you stay sane when you are working a job you don't like, but have to work? You know the bills have to be paid, you may have even looked at the prospect of bankruptcy, but don't want or can't go that route. Working just to pay the bills is no way to live your life. Most likely, for those of you who are working because you have to, not because you want to, you come home from work just exhausted and not looking forward to your next day of work.

The key is to find something else you LIKE to do. Even if you come home from a killer day at your J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) and you don't think you could put one foot in front of the other, doesn't mean that there is not something out there that will re-energize you. No, the energizer bunny will not be of assistance here. You need to take a serious look at what you really want out of life. This will help you to start building towards that goal.

Just because you may think you know what you want to do, that will not be your driving force. You need to identify your "why"...why are you working so hard, why do you want to change what you do? Those kinds of "why"s will help you to identify the true goals you want from your personal life. Everyone wants more money, but WHY do you want more money. If it is just to pay the bills, what will you do when all those bills are paid off? Quite honestly, you will not work hard toward a goal if you are not absolutely, positively SURE of why you want to work hard...

Identifying your "why" will be your first step towards building your goals to obtain your dream. What may be helpful is to create a "dream board". This may just be a cork board, or wall in your house where you post pictures of things you really want, places you really want to see. Basically this "dream board" will be the visualization of all the things you talked about WANTING to do, but never got around to doing those things. By posting pictures on your "dream board" and placing your "dream board" in a place that you look at many times a day, you will continue to keep focused on your goal.

When things start getting tough, or you are getting tired, just take a look at your "dream board" to refresh WHY you are driving so hard. Just working will not get you there, you need to make extra effort to get to your real goals. That extra effort is not easy, and it will not be without it's setbacks. Reminding yourself several times a day as to WHY you are doing this will keep you focused enough to work past the obstacles that appear.

Now that you have your "why" identified, and perhaps are building your "dream board", you need to figure out how you are going to earn that extra income that will ultimately provide you the path to your goals...

Tomorrow we will cover ideas on how to earn that extra income and where you can look for ideas.... Hopefully soon you won't be just surviving, but thriving...

Until tomorrow...

What My Home Says About Me

A house can just be a place that protects you from the elements and where you can rest safely for the night. A home should reflect who you are and what you stand for.

Former home of Joaquin Miller (poet), Wash., D.C. (LOC)

My home definitely reflects my personality and some of my habits. What my home says about me is that I have wide and varied interests (i.e. eclectic). Currently my home reflects what I perceive the Arizona atmosphere to be, and no, that is not just HOT. The house reflects the southwest tastes and decor, but there is some modern art thrown in just you you wouldn't get bored.


My home reflects my personality, interests and habits. For those of you that know me personally, you know that I have dabbled in many, many things, and am always a willing learner for new ideas and experiences. The only time I would say "NO" would be if trying or learning something would be unethical, illegal or immoral. Other than that, all bets are off, and I am a willing student.


When I start on a new path, I immerse myself on that path until I have answered the questions I had. That is not to say I would be no longer interested in that line of thought, but that I have answered the original questions I had and that I did not want to pursue any further questions...for now. The house reflects this personality trait too, you see the acceptance of western style art, but then it doesn't go too far. In one room you will find caracatures and fantasy artwork hanging on the wall. In another room there is a definite Aisian influence. In yet another room you will find just an odd mix of art deco, traditional art, and other odd pieces of work.


Each room has it's own feeling and theme, so depending on your mood, you are not overwhelmed by any one particular style or series of thought. The only consstant throughout the house is the plethora of books. Again, the books cover a wide range of interest, ranging from the classics to art history, to novels, to biographies, to fantasy, to westerns, to adventure, to history, reference...you get the picture.


So, coming to my home provides a tiny glimpse into my overcrowded, active and always questing brain. It is a fun place to be..(in my humble opinion). Perhaps if you are ever in the area, you can wander on by and take a look-see for yourself.


Until the weekend (I will NOT be posting tomorrow...)

Hello, Mother Nature

I am not overly fond of spiders, and if they are very large, will actually try to catch and then release them outside. Smaller spiders are asked to leave, and if they do not vacate the bedroom immediately are immediately squished. Yes, I have conversations with critters that do not belong in my bedroom...

big spider 2

I find spiders fascinating, but not in my bedroom. There are different responses to finding a large spider in my bedroom. If I find a large spider in my bedroom, and the spider is too close to my face, my first reaction is to yelp. That is usually not very useful in making the spider go away, so I then take a really hard look at the big spider.

Depending on how large the spider is depends on my next set of reactions. If the spider is large, but not as big as a silver dollar I would usually bounce around the room hoping I might accidentally step on the spider. Usually that doesn't work too well because the spider is more times than not on either the wall or ceiling. The next step I take is the then stop, take stock of what type of footwear I am wearing, and decide if the footwear would be appropriate for squishing the large spider to kingdom come. If I do not have the proper footwear that can be used, then I rush around the bedroom looking for an appropriate squishing device while keeping a wary eye on that blasted spider.

Once an appropriate squishing device has been located, I go into action. I will strive to squish the spider without embedding it into the wall or ceiling. This usually doesn't work well because if I don't hit it hard enough, the spider doesn't die. Then I smack it until it turns into a dark spot on the painted wall.

Again, depending on the type of spider (if it is poisonous or not), I may just be brave enough to grab a glass and a piece of cardboard so that I can catch and release the spider back into the cruel wide world outside of the house. This also the technique I would use for spiders larger than a silver dollar (unless they are larger than a breadbox).

Now if I get a multi-legged creature in my bedroom, or any other room of the house that is bigger than a bread box, what I have done in the past has been to go to bed and hope it goes away. (Yes, I really did that...I had a millipede in the house that was longer than my shoes and easily as thick around as my thumb). I ended up crawling into bed and hoping it wouldn't crawl in with me. Days later I found a dead millipede in another part of the house.

The reason I didn't kill the millipede was that I didn't have anything big enough to kill it with. I don't believe in killing half of a creature, and there really was nothing I had that would kill the whole millipede. I didn't even have a container that would have held that sucker. I am forever grateful for all the residual bug spray along the baseboards of my home, because I suspect that was the ultimate downfall of the millipede.

In a nutshell, I do not like spiders or scorpions for that matter but really don't like to squish them. Scorpions get squished all the time, but I will try to save most spiders and put them back outside. If I think I have a brown recluse in the house though, that sucker gets squished. Actually, I still have the remains of a squished brown recluse on the wall of my closet as a warning to other spiders to stay away. Since I have seen no other signs of spiders, I hope my warning worked.

Hopefully we will not see any spiders the remainder of this year (yeah, a whole 10 days).

Until tomorrow...

Millionaire Focus on Larry Ellison

Welcome to tonight's Millionaire Focus. Tonight we are going to briefly look at Larry Ellison and perhaps glean some gems on how he became Forbes sixth richest person in the world. As of 2010 Larry Ellison has a personal wealth of about $27 billion.

For those of you who may not have heard of Larry Ellison, he is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation. Oracle is a major enterprise software company that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products, in particular, database management systems. Larry Ellison came from humble beginnings, he was born in New York City, to a 19-year old unwed Jewish mother. He was given (at his mother's request) to his aunt and uncle in Chicago to raise and was adopted by them when he was 9 months old. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood. He left the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the end of his second year, spent a summer in Northern California, then attended the University of Chicago for one term which is where he first encountered computer designing.

He became a computer programmer for Ampex Corporation where his primary project was crafting a large-scale database for the CIA. This database was code-named "Oracle". He then put up $2,000 of his own money to start Software Development Laboratories in 1977, in partnership with Robert Miner, his boss from Ampex. The new company was renamed Relational Software Inc in 1979. It was here that he prepared to release Oracle Version 2, a commercial database system. In an interesting note, he never released a Version 1 because Larry Ellison observed that people did not typically purchase Version 1 of any new software because Version 1's were typcially buggy. So, as a marketing tactic, his first release of Oracle was Version 2, which by the way, was as buggy as any Version 1 would be. This Version 2 sold well and in 1983 the company was again renamed, this time after it's flagship product, Oracle. Oracle Corporation went public in 1986, was on the verge of bankruptcy by 1990 but has since rebounded and has been profitable ever since.

Larry Ellison plays as hard as he works. He co-owns the sixth largest yacht in the world, named Rising Sun. He is also a financier of BMW Oracle Racing which in the 2007 America's Cup was the Challenger of Record. They were eliminated from the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series in the semi-finals. On February 14, 2010, Ellison's yacht, (Ellison was a crew member for this race) USA 17, won the second race of the 33rd America's Cup. Ellison and his BMW Oracle team became the first challengers to win a "deed of gift" match. The Cup returned to American shores for the first time since 1995.

Larry Ellison is also a licensed pilot and has owned several aircraft, including fighter jets. He owns many exotic cars and has styled his home in Woodside, California, after feudal Japanese architecture, complete with a man-made 2.3 acre lake. In 2004 and 2005, Larry Ellison purchased more than 12 properties in Malibu, California. His entertainment system cost $1 million and includes a rock concert-sized video projector at one end of a drained swimming pool.

As a balance, Larry Ellison has also made considerable charitable donations to various organizations. In 2004 Forbes noted that Ellison had donated $151,092,103 in the preceeding year, or about 1% of his estimated personal wealth. In August of this year, it has been reported that Larry Ellison is one of the 40 billionaires who has signed "The Giving Pledge". Ellison wrote: "Many years ago, I put virtually all of my assets into a trust with the intent of giving away at least 95% of my wealth to charitable causes. I have already given hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research and education, and I will give billions more over time. Until now, I have done this giving quietly - because I have long believed that charitable giving is a personal and private matter."

Hopefully, as we all work towards our own personal Millionaire and Billionaire status, we too will remember to be generous with our charitable contributions. We all have the ability to come from humble beginnings and work to become financially free. Hopefully there were some tidbits of information from Larry Ellison's examples that you will be able to use in your business ventures.

If you are searching for a business opportunity to get involved in, please feel free to visit our website for some second income ideas. We would be more than willing to answer your questions regarding starting a home-based business or how to begin to build a second income.

Until tomorrow...

Looking for a Business Opportunity

All right, that question can go either direction. Am I looking for a business opportunity, or are you looking for a business opportunity? For the record, I am ALWAYS looking for business opportunities, if I didn't then I would stagnate (not literally). By always looking for the newest trends, newest products, or just different opportunities, I keep my own ideas fresh. There is also the distinct possibility that I will find an awesome business opportunity to incorporate.

So, the million dollar question that is most likely burning in the back of you head is... what business opportunity should I get involved in, and is it legitimate? Unfortunately, that is a very difficult question. There are so many "business opportunities" out there that really aren't opportunities (at least not for us) and won't turn into a legitimate business. You don't necessarily want to throw your money away, yet you don't want to miss an up-and coming opportunity either.

There are so many new and very good pitch-men (or pitch-people) out there, that you really have to do your homework before putting money into any opportunity. Tonight I am going to suggest a few places you can look for your next opportunity and let you decide if anything looks interesting. Perhaps, with the ideas I throw out there, they will trigger something that will cause you to discover an opportunity that has not been mentioned.

You may also be wondering, why would anyone want to get involved in a new business opportunity in today's depressed economy. The answer is really pretty simple. Costs of buildings/rentals are low, product costs are going down, and people are motivated to sell stuff for relatively low prices in order to drive business. If you are able to get a business up and running in this economy, think of how successful you will be when the economy picks up (and yes, it will get better...eventually). So, now is a great time to start a business, either a home-based business or a brick-and-mortar business.

If you want to get started on a business, but don't know what you want to do, here is some food for thought: do you have the ability to help others live better for less money? Are you able to help others to trim their expenses and still live comfortably? There is a huge demand for people with that talent right now. Do you have ideas for helping cars to increase their fuel mileage? Can you organize car and van pools to help people save on fuel costs? How about helping people collect coupons (perhaps you provide the coupon service for a small fee...) so they can save at the store? Can you help people invest in higher yield investments?

If you are looking for a business opportunity in today's market, you need to look at what people are complaining about and see if you have the particular skill set to resolve their problem. Don't just take one person's problem and strive to correct it, but find a common theme and then see if you can find a solution to the overall problem. That can become a very lucrative business segment for you.

These are just a very few ideas that are out there to generate a business opportunity. The overall key is to find a need and fill that common need. That way your customers win and you win.

If you would like some other business opportunity ideas, please feel free to visit our website. We can help you start your own vehicle detailing service, or we can show you how Pre-Paid Legal could help you, or we can introduce you to our Stem Cell Nutritional line that has the ability to provide you an additional income stream. We would be more than willing to talk with you about your thoughts and ideas and answer any questions you may have. Happy business opportunity hunting...

Until tomorrow...