Success Road: Inspiration For Your Journey

We’ve all read different self-help or productivity books, and there are many that talk about a narrow section of a particular topic. I mentioned this as I started this season, and I’m interested in exploring what it could look like to take several of these books and start to put the concepts together to get a more broad view of the topic. Now, there are many reviews and summaries available that cover the topics, but I’d like to start exploring how these different books intersect - how they fit together, like a puzzle. I haven’t really started delving into this yet, but I’d like to share how I hope to approach this, and then probably start rolling through this over the upcoming months. Here are some of the books I have in mind (and a little about each one): The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan What is the one thing I can do such that doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Le

We all operate at lot based on our habits - those things we do with little-to-no thinking. The problem is that we have many habits that don't support good health. Formerly a software executive, life and weight-loss coach Elizabeth Sherman joins us on the podcast to share how to build healthy habits into your life. Elizabeth traveled a lot. Her mother’s breast cancer really took a toll on Elizabeth. Her death spurred her to research how to live her healthiest life. Ultimately, she wanted to find out how to prevent breast cancer. In her research, she found that being overweight contributed in a significant way, not just for cancer, but for a variety of serious health problems.                                                                         Going through something of a midlife crisis, she was laid off. Her therapist recommended becoming a life coach. She developed a plan for understanding habit forming. First, it was knowledge. Know what you need to do. Second, habits. Create habits that

As we explore many areas relating to self-development and self-care, the topics I’m trying to focus most on relate to building habits, productivity, and health. While there is some strategy involved, these are things that can be more related to tactics - specific things to do or not do. There are other things that are more like glue, holding everything together. One of those things is music. A lot of people listen to and enjoy music, but the truth is that most people don’t really think about how the music is affecting them. So, today, I have Bill Protzman here today to talk about music, specifically in relation to self-care and self-development. Bill opens by saying that going without music is like going without food. He speaks about feeling suicidal, and how listening to music uncovered wells of emotion. Bill talks about how many music therapists are formally trained in the nature of the therapeutic relationship. In “vocal psychotherapy,” a therapist helps you unlock things through playing musical instrum

2 weeks ago, we looked at what intermittent fasting is and how it can benefit. I also mentioned that it pairs well with the keto diet, which is what we are going to look at today. As a reminder, I am not a doctor or nutritionist - I’m just a guy trying to figure out how to lose weight safely.   What is Keto? Keto is short for Ketogenic diet. It is a low-carb, high-fat diet that allows ketones to be produced. From WebMD: “Ketones are chemicals your liver makes. You produce them when you don't have enough insulin in your body to turn sugar (or glucose) into energy. You need another source, so your body uses fat instead. Your liver turns this fat into ketones, a type of acid, and sends them into your bloodstream.” So, you are basically drastically reducing the amount of carbs that to take in, neglecting your body the direct sugar it’s looking for. When you do this, your body doesn’t create insulin to process the food, so the body creates ketones from your fat cells to produce the energy it needs. Hence, th

Perhaps you have heard the terms: ”Inner Critics” “negative self-talk” “Impostor Syndrome” For many years, our guest today, Michelle Kuei, allowed negative beliefs to rule her life and keep her down. Her story is one of courage, determination, and vulnerability. But more importantly, it is about having the confidence to face fear in everyday life. Facing our own worst enemy, facing our own judgments and harsh criticism. Today, she works with negative self-talkers as a life coach to discover inner strength and beauty by overcoming the fear of judgments. Michelle and I discuss how she overcame negative self-talk and her own inner critic and how you can do the same. Michelle begins by telling listeners her story, which began at age 11 when she was hit by a car. She had complications during the long years of recovery and, in the midst of it all, her family immigrated to New York. In addition to overcoming the physical challenges that her body presented her, she also confronted the challenge of adjusting

Today, I want to start looking at some aspects of health. I’m going to be sharing some things that I’m specifically working on implementing into my life and how it could be a solution for you. Now before I get into anything else, I do want to say that I am not a doctor or nutritionist - I am just a guy on a journey to get control of my weight and my health. I’m sharing information that I have found and the results that I’m seeing for myself. The main focus of this episode will be about intermittent fasting - what it is and how it can benefit. But first, I want to give you a quick history of my personal relationship with my health: Growing up, I could eat whatever I wanted, and as much as I wanted, with no visible consequences. In my 20’s, my weight would fluctuate between 180 and 195. When I got the upper end, I could fairly easily lose the 10 pounds. Around age 26, it seems like my metabolism switched off. Between 2008 and 2010, I went from 195 to 235 pounds. Since that time, I have periodically trie

We all face failure in our lives. Sometimes the failure shows up in small doses on a daily basis. Sometimes the failure is bigger and throws our lives into a tailspin. Stephen Somers joins us to talk about failure and how to apply it to our own lives. He shares his personal story about how he started his career focused on money and material possessions, but as time has passed, he has redefined success by helping people solve problems- problems for which he is not responsible. Stephen discusses success through the lens of the coronavirus and encourage listeners that if they are finding themselves without work, this is the perfect time to examine and look at other outlets to sharpen skills and branch outside of your comfort zone. He shares some practical questions to ask yourself and expounds on what the answers mean in today’s economy. In conclusion, Stephen highlights that keys to success are to develop partnerships in order to learn. Also, in order to truly succeed, he emphasizes the importance of helpin

When it comes to facing the uncertainty in our world today, there are a lot of people that have given into fear. At the time of this recording, the whole world has been in upheaval because of the Coronavirus. But even before this, and I’m sure after this is over, there is always something going on somewhere that is causing uncertainty. But we can’t allow ourselves to give into the fear. I want to take just a couple minutes to share some thoughts about this.   You are not in control If you’re listening to this, then chances are that you like to plan your life and have a certain level of control. But the truth is, that none of us really has control. God is the only One that control in this world. Yes, we have free-will and the ability to decide what we want to do, but we don’t get to control the outcomes from those decisions. We don’t have control over other people. We don’t have control over natural forces like storms or diseases. So, while we like to have control in our lives, we need to learn to trust

This podcast is finally coming back! This was my first podcast and I started it back in February 2013 as Quality Living Made Simple. I have taken some time off and made some changes (including the name of the podcast). In 2018, I shared a short 10-part series called Side Biz Start, documenting a little of my journey having a side business as well as bringing some tips for people wanting to get started with their own side business. Well, since that time, I left my full-time job and took my side-business full time. There are several lessons that I learned as I made that transition, and maybe I’ll share some of that in the future. Over the last year, I have wanted to come back to this podcast, but between the learning curve of self-employment, trying to grow the business, and navigate homeschooling and activities with the kids, I just haven’t had the proper time to invest in this podcast. So it sat. But, we have an odd schedule for homeschooling, so we are now at a break between school years. I have gotten

Let’s face it. You’re not Superman. Maybe you can do everything in your side biz by yourself right now, but there will come a time when you won’t be able to handle it all. You’ll come across something that is outside your skill level or beyond your current knowledge base. Or maybe you’ll run out of time to actually do the work. Whatever it is, something will stop you from being able to do it all. And maybe this is all you’re looking for – do what you can and then coast. That’s fine. But if you want to scale the business, you’ll need to look for some help. When you get help and unload some of your workload, it allows you to have more time. You can fill that new time with rest, family time, learning something new, or growing the business more. Depending on your situation, there could be a number of things you can do to enlist help with: Bookkeeping Sales Marketing Production Customer service Writing Website To start out, you can just get someone to help part time – maybe just an hour a week.

Fear is a realistic things that everyone faces. As an entrepreneur, those fears can sometimes be multiplied. There are numerous things that can bring fear in relation to your side biz: Finances Marketing Selling Rejection Competition Resources Time Support Whatever it is that can cause you fear, it can hinder the work that you do. It could slow your growth, lower the quality of your work, add stress to yourself and/or family, or a number of different issues. You can learn to overcome these fears, whether you realize that that fear is not as bad it seems, you take steps to counteract the fear, or you simple get the courage to move forward despite the fear. Understand the fear Worst case scenario Best case scenario Assess the risk Commit to an action

Do you need help creating a timeline for your side biz and keeping to a schedule? This episode should help you with some tips to simplify the process for you. Begin with the end in mind If you don’t know where your heading, it’ll be difficult (or impossible) to get there Breakdown into logical stepping stones Start from the end and work your way backwards Put realistic timeframes for each step – plus add a buffer The time you set will vary depending on your personal situation and schedule Narrow down to the very next action The only way you can really move forward is if you identify what the next thing is that you can actually do Use the principle of The ONE Thing to help with this to not only choose the logical step, but also the best and most effective step Schedule time to work on the next action This is called “time-blocking” – treat it like you would treat any other appointment Resources: http://amzn.to/2Cw2Oft (The ONE Thing) https://amzn.to/2G

There are many obstacles that can hinder your ability to work on and grow your side biz, and I talk about two of those in this episode. These two are your full-time job and family events. Both of these have affected me in the past, so I thought I’d share this with you.   Note: I recorded this episode while I still had a full-time job outside my business. Now I am working on my business full-time, so I'll likely share an additional episode later about the obstacles to working full-time from home.

If you don’t know what you’re aiming at… You will wander aimlessly and feel like a hamster running on a wheel Define what success means for you Each person and business has a different idea of what success actually means Profit vs non-profit businesses Side biz only vs full time Size of business Slow and steady vs quick growth Personal vs business What does success mean for you? Financial Number of clients Time investment SMART Goals You have probably heard about SMART goals. In case you haven’t, it stands for goals that are: Specific Measureable Achievable Relevant Time-bound This acronym can help you as you set your goals, but the basic idea is to have a specific destination to target and set specific actions that you can track to hit that goal in a certain timeframe. In the process, you want to make sure that the goals are a stretch, but still in the realm of possibility. Don’t get too many While going through this process, it can be easy to come up with a huge list of

Everyone has personal limitations Last episode, we talked about our skills and strengths, but everybody also has weaknesses and limitations As entrepreneurs, we tend to have what I’ve heard called “Superhero Syndrome” – feeling like we can do and handle everything Believing this, however, is our greatest weakness Acknowledging and admitting your limitations is the first step in being able to overcome them Understanding your limitations After going through the exercise in episode 4, you should have a good idea of what your strengths are. At the same time, you should have revealed many weaknesses. The first thing you need to understand is that it is okay to have weaknesses. In fact, it is good to have weaknesses. Without weaknesses, you would never need help Without help, your growth will be limited, at least by time and energy Having weaknesses (and addressing them) leads you to seek help With additional help to cover where you are weak allows each of you to focus on your strengths When you eac

Why you need to identify your skills and strengths Everyone, especially someone trying to start a business, should know what they can and cannot do. Equally, you should know what you enjoy doing and what you don’t. How to identify these and take action Start by making a simple list: Make a list of what you can and cannot do. After you’re done with that, mark the ones in both lists that you enjoy doing. This will leave you with with four categories of skills: Skills you have and enjoy Skills you don’t have but enjoy Skills you have but don’t enjoy Skills you don’t have and don’t enjoy You could also create this in a matrix similar to the Time Management Matrix promoted by Stephen Covey. After identifying your skills and pinpointing the target quadrant (skills you have and enjoy), these will become the target you work toward working with as much as possible. Working in your strengths is where you’ll be able to grow the best. Try to find ways to eliminate (if possible) or delegate (if nee

Why is saying “no” so hard? Some of us are people-pleasers, so we like saying “yes” to people. It makes us feel better when we help others (dopamine). We feel like we need a “small distraction.” We want to have some fun in our lives. Saying “yes” When you say “yes” to something, you are automatically saying “no” to something else. Conversely, when you say “no” to something, it allows you to say “yes” to something else – hopefully to the right thing. Saying “no” takes discipline – as we already talked about, it’s not easy. What to say “no” to Social media Email Amazon Overtime Friends and family Education What to say “yes” to Be purposeful, not entrepreneurial. Ask yourself, “What is the One Thing I can do that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?” Don’t burn yourself out – take time for personal care Helpful resources http://amzn.to/2Cw2Oft (The One Thing) (book and podcast) http://amzn.to/2HvQHCL (Essentialism) http://amzn.to/2FgILEW (Procrastinate on Purpose) Do

What is mindset and why is it important? Your mindset is your attitude about what you’re doing. If you have the wrong mindset, it can derail the work you’re trying to do. Money-first – this mindset puts you in a place of desperation or greed. All-or-nothing – this mindset puts unreal expectations on yourself and you’ll be more likely to quit. Service-only – this is great, but can lead to over-working and not enough money to sustain your needs. Scarcity – this mindset makes you believe there are only a limited number of resources or customers. If you win, someone must lose. There is some truth to this, but not as a guiding principle. If you have the right mindset, it will help propel you forward. How to create the right mindset Acknowledge your limiting beliefs (wrong mindsets) – don’t accept them though. Face your fears. Take small steps (think incredibly big, but act incredibly small – The One Thing). Choose to keep company with people that will help lift you up. Encouraging family and fri

Welcome to the first episode of Side Biz Start What is this podcast? Main topic – why start a side biz? Who am I? What is this podcast? Help you start a side biz Help you grow your side biz Help your personal growth Give you support, encouragement, and inspiration Why start a side biz? You just want a little extra income You want to replace your current job, but don’t want to leave your job right away You Can Test Your Product Before Taking the Leap You Won’t Incur as Much Risk You Can Use Your Salary to Help Fund the Business You Can Build Your Business Slowly You Can Keep Your Job Benefits You Can Do What You Love Financial freedom Time freedom Be your own boss Who am I? Personal history Didn’t grow up as an entrepreneur – I shied away from everything to do with selling In high school, I started doing some “side work” by getting a part-time job…and then a second part time job After graduating high school, I often had either college with a job or (at least) two jobs Around

This is a short update announcing a series talking about starting and growing a side business.