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...

Being in Balance, or am I?

As much as I would like to "cheat" and provide you a blog on Motivational Monday, or Trivial Tips and Tidbits, I believe I owe you all some version of an explanation for why I disappeared for a few months.  As you know, I had been working on my Motivational Monday blogs along with my Trivial Tips and Tidbits blog on Wednesdays...and then...poof, I stopped posting.  Well, just because I thought I had everything balanced... I didn't.

How many times have you thought that you had your life under control only to discover that you have been juggling one too many balls?  Once you drop one of those balls, all the others just come tumbling down.  I write these blogs in part to keep everyone looking at the positive side of life.  My mother always taught me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  That is in part why I stopped writing.  You all don't need to hear any more of the woes of the world, nor do you need to hear someone else jabber on about how tough life is. 

My life got just a tad out of balance and I had a very difficult time getting that balance back.  The way I chose to maintain balance, was to take a break from writing.  I felt very guilty about not updating you all, but on the other hand, I discovered that I cannot juggle a dozen balls at the same time.  I discovered that I had bitten off more tasks than I could chew and was getting so buried in all the things that "needed" to be done, I started burning out. 

Along with work, weekend shows, I decided it would be good to get involved and become a foster parent in dog rescues.  I had absolutely no idea how much of an emotional toll that took.  For those of you who may not really know me, I am always open to helping hurt and abandoned animals.  It doesn't really matter which ones, but I always end up getting involved in some kind of animal rescue, be it a baby bird that couldn't fly, a duck that got hurt, a dog that was found wandering along the side of a road, a cat that got hurt.  I have always been there to help when I can.   So, fostering dogs until they got adopted out seemed a great way for me to help. 

Theoretically, the idea was great.  In actuality, fostering took a major bite out of my spare time and made a huge dent in my emotional resources.  I will go into my adventures with fostering on a future blog, but suffice it to say, that by the time I finished working, doing chores and then taking care of frightened dogs (yes, plural...heaven forbid if I do ANYTHING in small amounts..) and cleaning up after dogs that don't understand the term "housebroken".  Well, let's just say that my life got more than a little out of balance.

Things have somewhat calmed down now, and with luck, I will be back in the blogosphere keeping you entertained, perhaps educated, or just curious.  I still plan on blogging Mondays and Wednesdays with additional blogs when I have extra stuff to offer you.

Take care and we shall be talking once again, shortly.

Until Wednesday (i.e. tomorrow...)

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...

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits - Midweek

Happy Hump-Day one and all!  Tonight we are going to hopefully brighten your week up with some fun facts and trivial tidbits.  The focus here is to provide some fun, silly and sometimes useful trivia information to amaze or torment your friends and co-workers.  Wednesdays are typically difficult, it is the middle of the week, you may have managed to struggle through the first two days of the work week, and you are now looking at two more days to work through before you can relax (supposedly) and enjoy the weekend.

Last week we mentioned that September 9th is National Teddy Bear Day.  Initially it was a U.S. specific holiday, but is becoming more celebrated by bear lovers around the world.  That being said, how many of you know the origins of the name "Teddy Bear"? 

The name "Teddy" bear was based on U.S. President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.  More interestingly, do you know the story of WHY the bear ended up being named "Teddy"?  The name came about after a 1902 hunting expedition.  At the time, no game was found, so by the end of the day, someone brought out a baby bear and suggested that Theodore Roosevelt might like to shoot at it instead.  Roosevelt (understandably) felt that this was not sporting and refused the offer.  This was illustrated in a newspaper cartoon entitled "Drawing the Line".  A New York toymaker saw an opportunity and brought out a cute stuffed bear named "Teddy's Bear" and the rest became history.

Now on to some fun statistics - did you know that 81% of people say a "harmless lie" every day?
- Most people lie 3 time in 10 minutes of conversation (makes you really think about what you are talking about...)
- 2% of people think that lying is sometimes necessary (I can see that...)
- 65% of people think that it is often or sometimes OK to lie so as to not hurt someone else's feelings.
- 44% of people think that it is often possible to exaggerate the events of the story to make it more interesting (I know a LOT of people who do that....)

Along the lines of lying, did you know that 35% of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married?  YUCH!!!

Did you know that Walt Disney was afraid of mice?  Kinda funny, guess he worked this phobia out...

Do you know how they made the sound of E.T. (from the movie E.T. the Extra Terrestrial) walking?  It was made by a woman squishing her hands in jelly - makes you want to go out and try that....yeah, right...

Lastly, do you know who the voice of E.T. was?  Debra Winger.  Never would have guessed that... Now I have to go rent the movie again and take a good hard look and listen...

Hopefully this weekly edition of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits was as much for you as it was for me.  Have a wonderful rest of the week, and we will chat more on Monday (or perhaps this Friday if I am feeling chatty...

Until later...