Blowin It Up in 2011

2010 was a year of excesses. I lost my job of 15 years the end of 2009 and fully went independent all of 2010. That means that I purposefully didn't try and find a J.O.B. Well, most folks would have screamed at such a notion but I really felt like God was saying to me, "Go for it". So I did. All of 2010 I worked as an independent contractor. I carried an insurance license and started a networking group that has taken on a life of its own this year. The whole thing was a real step of faith but that wasn't the end, it was just the beginning.

In 2011, I really felt like this year would be an accelerated time of pressing in not only in my spiritual life but in my business life as well. So Linda, my wife and I decided to move forward with her business incorporation and if that wasn't enough we were going to take a major step of faith and coordinate a major Mixer/Expo. We call it the Shoot for Success 2011 Mixer and Expo.

This will be by far the biggest thing that we've ever attempted in the business field. Most people would think that we were crazy for even attempting such a thing but let me let you in on a little secret. We've been used before to accomplish tasks that were 10 times larger than this.

Back in 2006 or so Linda and I were asked to help our a ministry in the Las Vegas area. We thought that it was only going to be a momentary bandage type thing but it turned into a 3 year long work. During that time we started 3 major ministries and even coordinated the renovation of a major part of the church. Though we weren't  responsible for the budget in that project we were responsible for making the whole thing happen.

God prepares you for events in your life that at the time you think you couldn't possibly ever do. Most people would look and agree with you, in the natural, that there is no way for you to get the job done but those past experiences that you've had prepared you for this current circumstance. All we have to do is trust God that we are able to at least begin the work, He'll walk us through it and complete it.

This is why I am so excited about where we are at in our lives now. We are literally walking in the fruit of the labor that we put in months and years ago in preparation for. Even the people that I've contacted recently, politicians, newspeople and movers and shakers, are all fruit from past preparation.

So don't worry that you feel inadequate for the task before you. Step out in faith and believe that God HAS prepared you adequately for the task. The best part of it all is that all the heavy lifting isn't burdened by you and you alone. You have a partner in all that you do.

God Got PO'd

So I'm reading this book lately. It's written by T Harv Eker and the title to it is "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" The whole premise behind the book is facinating. Harv gets into the psychi of the rich mindset and is able to get you to begin thinking that way too. I've just had a ball reading chapter after chapter and wondering in amazement on how close I am to having the real working mind of a rich guy without have the trappings of all that money. No really. I really do think like a rich guy. I love the thought of having plenty, even an over-abundance of money. I believe that I am supposed to be rich. I even bless those people around me who are filthy rich themselves. Oh yes, I lament for those poor folks out there who don't believe that they too should be living in the lap of luxury.

Harv talks about how there are those people out there that even hate the rich. I know a few of them myself. They are the kind of people who blame everything on the rich. They believe that if only those nasty rich people weren't so rich there would be plenty enough for all of us other poor slobs. They don't have to have 6 cars. They only need 1 or maybe they could just take the bus like the rest of us surfs.
The who thing is pretty heady stuff. One of the things that I truly enjoy about the book is the biblical reasoning behind all of Harv's teachings. Now he may sprinkle in a few shaman and Hawaiian elder beliefs but based upon my extensive knowledge of Old and New Testament Theology ( I graduated Suma Cuma Laud in divinity college) every precept that Harv expouses is found in the bible.

Now before you go turning the page or get clouded eyes, I'm not gonna go Super-Christian on you but I am gonna take the opportunity to tell you that this is what man was meant for.
In the beginning of the bible God told Adam to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. In my book that means for Adam and his offspring to go out and do it up for God. Even Eker in his book says that it is mans greatest thing to do. We are supposed to be creative beings that go out and Jam for the Lamb. OK, I'm trying not to go there but I can't help it.

In short, we are built for greatness. It is the world that is doing everything that it can to tell us NOT to achieve. There is this thing going on in society that tells us not to go out and do extraordinary exploits. The status quo is the order of the day. The person who does go out and blaze a trail is looked at with disdain and ridiculed for being a rebel. Well, that would be me and the people I choose to associate with.

No where in scripture does God tell his people to settle on the meager existence that someone else predestines for them. As a matter of fact, as I read scripture, it says that God got pretty PO'd at the servant that took his money and hid it under a rock. He took that money (talent) gave it to another who would multiply it (use it, make it produce,) and told the servant to get out of his sight.
Now that is how important it is that we all get off of our sweet petunia's and get back in the game of life. I can't tell you how awful it feels to see someone with such great talents not using them. It is wickedness, even a sin,(I feeling kinda funny preaching to myself like this but I need it more than most).

If you want to begin to see some real change in your life, begin by reading T Harv Eker book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind". Also don't forget to read your bible on a daily basis. It will take you longer but anything else you read by any other author will become very evident and you can say "Say that sounds like Bible to Me"

Simplicity Isn't Always So Simple

Have you ever been given something to do, say, take out the trash,and botched the whole thing up? Seems simple enough. You were told to take the stinky trash from inside of the house, outside of the house. They call that a direct order to do something that doesn't need alot of discussion. But you botched it up anyways. How in the world could you mess up something so simple as that?
This same scenario was played out for the past few months in my business. Before I tell you the exact thing we did wrong let me begin by saying that not all of this is our fault. We are all creatures of habit, circumstance and past experiences. In each of our lives we all do things based on the past experiences and consequences of our past lives. This is what is called as "Survival techniques". In our quest to survive whatever ordeal we had been faced with, we did this thing or that thing. So now in the present we do those same things based upon what we previously did in similar situations. Am I getting too complicated? I'll try and simplify.
We can only react to a given situation based upon what we know to be true. That trueness is all we know. In this case, it is how to build a business.My experience in building a business is go out and advertise, reach out to people, get them to see your product and persuade them to buy whatever widget you are selling. It worked for Carnegie, Morgan and Schwab, so why not work for me too. Heck, I wasn't alone, this same sort of thinking was what all of our team thought was the only thing that made sense. And sure enough, we were all wrong. We were about to learn a strong lesson in business 101 STE.
For the next 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity. (You could cut the tension in the air with a blunt knife)we got panked, or how some people would call it, taken to the woodshed. The beating was brutal yet needed. You see, in order for us to progress as a team we needed to be corporately beaten. There were no exceptions, all were lanced with the hot searing javelin of the master marketeer. He had built a mulitmillion dollar company from the ground up, with over 200,000 people in it. His way was the way of the simplicity. It had been proven to work and all we had to do was get out of our own way and allow the system to work for us. Over and over again the marketeer asked us was there any more questions. It was almost as if he were saying, How many more stupid questions would you like to ask before I slap one of you in the head." I just told you the answer and it only took 10 seconds. But his patience was impeccable. Bravo to you our mentor marketeer.
As he said at least 20 times, it is so simple that you would have to been brain-dead to mess this one up and yet we all had. The proof was in the pudding. The room was empty, our team had not grown and he was preaching to a room full of people already sold on the product.
I left the room with my tail between my legs from the pankin I had just received. Yet I am fully optimistic to show our Master Marketeer that I can do the simple feat that he encouraged us to do. Keep it simple and get out of the way. Let the system do the work for you. All you have to do is be excited about what you have to offer. The product will sell itself.

Why Focus on Business?

Christians are an odd lot. On one hand they say that God has created all things and oh look how wonderful all things are, let us possess the land. On the other hand they are convinced that the corruption of the world has led us to flee all that the world has to offer. We will hide in our holy enclaves and wait for the blessed second coming of our lord.

There must be some middle ground that really expresses what we as humans are to be doing while here on this earth. Are we to be so earthly-minded that we truly are no heavenly good or are we to be so heavenly minded that we do the earth no good? Or are we to be the most heavenly minded individuals that are out to outrageously infect our earthly home!!! Now that sounds much better to me.

As Christian businessmen and women, our goal is to infiltrate whatever profession we are in and totally dominate it for the glory of Christ. What do I mean by totally dominate? I mean that we are to take the OT command given to Adam and Eve which said to subdue the earth and have dominion over it.

Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8.18).

In business, many of us have gotten caught up in the social trappings of money and position, which are all well and good, yet we’ve forgotten the reasoning behind why we are doing what we are doing. In business, this is called our WHY. Many of us have settled on making our WHY da money.

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13).

This is WHY is the thing that will keep us going in the dark hours of denials and objections. It will keep us up late and night and get us up early in the morning. It isn’t the shear love of the money or wanting to buy stuff for our families. It isn’t the vacations or the cars or any of the other trappings of life. It IS the WHY of the OT. God said it; HE ordained IT and we are to DO IT…to and for HIS GLORY. That’s our WHY!!!

The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:9).

Remove It From My Dictionary

One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with

the word “impossible.”- Napolean Hill

These are some of the most inspiring words that I've read this year. Napolean Hill in his book "Think and Grow Rich" sets out to impress on the reader about how many of us have been brainwashed into thinking that we are unable to do anything. When Hill wrote his epic textbook on success and business, it was during a time in the early 20th century when America was coming out of the Great Depression. If any group of people had reason to believe that there was no hope, it was the people of that era.

Literally whole life's savings had been wiped out as a result of the financial meltdown of those days. Mom and Pop farms as well as giant financial instiutions found themselves in the same predicament. There was a sumani of pessimism in America and the specter of things getting any better was a far off thought. As a country we were poised on a presipce of failure. A vote of no confidence had been cast for our economy so to have someone come out with a book that encouraged men and women to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and invest, take chances, do whatever it takes to get to realize your dreams, this must have been crazy thinking at best. It borderlined on cruel and unusual punishment on the extreme but Hill knew something that many others needed to here. He heard from sitting at the feet of someone who did know secrets to becoming a person of great wealth and success, even in a country that was going through the battle that America was at that time.

Fast-forward to 2011, ironically, we are in the same place historically. America is coming out the greatest time of financial destruction not seen since the Great Depression. The sense of optimism is eclipsed by our own sense of fear and doubt. But the same possibility to attain great financial as well as social wealth are still there. The same principles that were at work during the 20-40's is still at work today. All it takes is a belief and a DESIRE on individuals to get the ball rolling.

The "Lovely Mrs Ray" and I have set out this year with the clear expectation that we are going to do some outrageous crazy things. Do we have the financial resources to accomplish all of our goals currently? Not even close but that isn't going to stop us from starting on the road to the goal. This is what stops many people. They see things a IMPOSSIBLE from the beginning thus they stop the movement toward attaining their goals. We have chosen to take the word IMPOSSIBLE out of our vocabulary and never allow it to even enter our minds. In so doing we have in the natural realm started a physical movement that will manifest itself. The physical realm and our mental realm bow to our will when we decide to get things done.

This year I have decided to lose some weight, so I excersize, eat right and drink plenty of water and not fattening things as I would normally consume. Have I lost th 50 pounds that I want to lose? Not even close but I have lost 5, in the first week. My DESIRE started me on a path that made my physical self bow to that will. Everyday I get up and DESIRE to lose weight and so physically I do what it takes to make that happen.

Today is the day that you too can make things happen. Without DESIRE you are trapped in a world of impossibility but with DESIRE and eliminating the word IMPOSSIBLE from your vocabulary you open up a world of POSSIBILITIES.

60 Days Ablaze

Day Number 2-

In order to be a leader you have to do what everyone else won't do and in some of those cases, the things that are just downright hard. In my case it is losing weight. Before I can ask my team to do something, I have to be able to say that I am also doing it. So this is the cross that I have to bear.

I am currently 5'-7" and 200lbs of lovealbe flesh and bone. My goal is to loose 50lbs. My wife tells me that I'm not fat, I'm just not a kid anymore so I've settled into my adult body! Are you kidding me? When I was a kid, mom used to call me husky. Now as an adult, I'm called an ADULT. I don't know which one is worse. Well anyways, I'm giving up my adult body and working to become a teenager with an adult mentality.

Leaders are called to be out in front on everything. Whether it be goal setting, giving or taking chances. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Rather than spend alot of time writing about all the leadership principles that I've learned over the past 15 years, I'll just give you some snipits here and there.

Your first act as a leader is to be out in front of your team. That means you have to be the first to get up, plan the day and be the visionary for your team. They are waiting on you to be the pointman in this operation. So if you want anything to happen in your team, you have to be the one that sets the tone.

So where does all this 60 days Ablaze stuff come into play. Well, in order for me to be the leader that my team is drawn towards, I have to be physically as well as emotionally fit. I have to be able to have the strength and stamina because I'm doing twice the amount of work now, so I can do half the work tomorrow.

So leaders here is your homework. Starting today, get up an extra hour earlier and start to get your physical house in order. Start putting action to those hopes and desires. If you don't do it, your team is going to feel it.
I'll see you tomorrow with an update on how my physical journey is going. I hope that you will be encouraged and spurred on to do the same.


EVERYTHING RISES AND FALLS ON LEADERSHIP- Maxwell

Don't Let Them Give Up

I signed up the guy a few weeks ago. Everything was going just great. He seemed to really be excited about the prospect of being a part of my team. All of the sudden nothing. I mean nothing. Not a call, not a returned call, nothing.So what did I do wrong? Was I not available enough. Didn't I give him enough value or information to keep him involved in the business? WHAT DID I DO WRONG?
Well the truth was, that I didn't do anything wrong. But I want to let you know what most leaders do at this point that can be devestating to their organization. Whenever each of us feels put off or someone in or organization leaves or doesn't seemed connected is that we allow that person to go. We just stop paying attention to them and turn or attention to the people in the organization who are doing great jobs. Most ladership boks tell you to this and to tell you the truth it is probably the best use or your time. It's called the 80/20 principle.
The 80/20 priniciple says that 20% of the people in any organization will do 80% of the work. Or they will do 80% of the production in your company. So naturally the inclination is to focus on those 20% who are going to do the bulk of the work.Makes sense doesn't it. Here's the thing that I want to remind you of though when it comes to business and relationships.
Business is all about relationships. What I mean is that if we just boil down our business to dollars and sense then we miss the relationship component that really makes business and pleasure and joy to conduct. I don't know about you but I don't want to be a business, no matter how much money I am able to make, and not know or care about the people in it. I want to genuinely like the people I am in relationship with. That's the difference between having a business that you choose to be in and a JOB that you have a forced relationship in. A forced relationship means that you are working with people you have no choice than but to be with.
Let's get back to my friend. I decided to continue to reach out to this person. Each week would pass and the likelihood of them coming back to the fold started to dim but something inside told me to continue to reach out to them. Literally a month passed and I really believed that I was spinning my wheels on this one. There is always a likelihood that one or even a group of the people in your organization will leave. It's happened to me before and I'm sure it will happen again. I am the kind of person who really takes it hard when a family member leaves. So I wasn't going to let this one go either.
2011 promises to be a year of new beginnngs and second chances. I really believe that. Not only will it be a new beginning but second chances for the mistakes I've made in 2010. Last year I didn't invest in people like I should have. I just wanted to get bodies involved in my business. Now I don't want you to ever believe that I don't care about people but I allowed my zeal to build a business to overshadow my committment to helping people get to the next level.
It had been weeks since last I spoke to my padwan learner. We had scheduled a meeting for that week. All of the sudden the phone rang and to my surprise it was that lost valueable coin. I was overjoyed. Have you ever been just happy that someone whom you had thought was gone out of your life was back? Well, I was there. I may have emotionally given up but in the physical I wasn't ready to. That physical diligence was all that was needed to bring about change.
I just want to let you know that whether or not this person becomes that superstar in our organization or not isn't the point. The point is that as a leader we are not to give up on our team. We may emotionally feel that we are beaten but never, ever give up on them. They may quit but as a leader don't you quit being there for them.

Living the Abundant Life

Many days I wake up and wonder if I am doing something right or am I just wonderfully blessed. What do I mean by this? Physically, I am having more problems than I've ever had in all of my life. From the tip of my head to the tip of my toes I am racked with constant pain and all that stuff. At night I am just glad to be able to sleep at night. So if physically I am having problems then how could I really believe that I am blessed?

Financially, I have had the worst year in my entire life. I was laid off of a position that I have held for the past 15 years. I went from making nearly 6 figures to making luckily 4. Never before has my faith so been tested in the area of finances. Nothing I have put my hands to has prospered in the way that it had in the past. I live in the worst hit economic city in the United States. Recently, I had a tenant move out on me in the middle of the night, leaving over 3k worth of bills and repairs, not to mention a mortgage payment due in 2 days. Still I am blessed.

My children are acting worse than at any time in history. Not one of them is serving in church. Not one of them is living a deeply spiritual life. Without going into detail, my kids are living way below their potential. Each of them is such a diamond in the rough.

Yet through it all, I still believe that I am truly one of the most blessed people on the earth.

Job, one of the heroes of the Old Testament had a similar story to tell. He had everything financially. Job served his God and prayed for his children even if he thought that there was a chance of them falling short of God's purpose and pleasure, yet one day he began to suffer loss on an epic scale. His faith, finances, body and emotions were pushed to the edge of human endurance.

Satan tried to do all he could to push Job over the edge. Boils, death, destruction every imaginable calamity was thrown at Job and yet he stuck to his guns and said, "Naked I came into this world and naked I will return..."Though He slay me, ever shall I trust HIM."

Job never once denied that he was wholely dependent on God for his ultimate being. He may have lost everything, short of his life, but he wasn't going to loose his faith in his God.
I too have been tested and to tell you the truth it hasn't been easy. As a matter of fact it has been down right terrible but one thing I will never do is deny my God. He was the source of all that I had before the meltdown and He is the source of all that I will receive in the future.

I am truly blessed because I know that in the end He loves me and will never forsake me, eventhough the storm clouds are raging all around me.
Today, as 2011 is beginning to unfold, renew your confidence in your Maker. Count your blessings, especially if the only one you have is HIM because with HIM you have more than enough to overcome the battles that try to knock you off of your game.