The Boss Giveth & The Boss Taketh Away

Reason #178 to NOT work for someone else:

“The Boss Giveth & The Boss Taketh Away”

When I first started working for this company about 4 years ago, everything that was assigned to me to work with was standard issue and novel to me as a newly-hired employee. I was assigned to a cubical with partitions that were about 5.5 feet high, a built-in desk with 3 surfaces that made a “c” shape, and a fairly standard office chair. None of it felt like an up or downgrade, as it was all new to me. At first, I remember feeling a little bit alienated during the workday because I had so much privacy. It was almost as if I had been placed in a carpeted box with half of one wall missing for an entry way, and no lid. I quickly grew to really like that cubical, though, as well as the solitude it afforded me. The back of my bulky computer monitor butted up against the same partition in which I entered my workspace, so when I sat facing it, I was also generally facing the cubical opening and could see who was walking past my little matchbox room. This came in handy for those times when I was working on the occasional personal project or checking my email. Don’t judge, everyone does it even if they don’t admit it – I know, because I catch them at it constantly. We all just hyper-minimize the window and pretend that we we’ve been working faithfully all along. Heck, I’m even typing THIS at work right now.

After working in this environment for over a year, news began to spread that a move was on the horizon. Eventually the rumors became substantiated when a floor plan was circulated for the express purpose of allowing each of us to envision the new workspace and to voice our preferences about where we would be sitting in relation to everyone else. It turned out that the company was preparing for some remodeling of the building we were in, and needed us all to move out to allow them full access in order to modify the area we were occupying.

When we were shown diagrams and dimensions of the new cubicals, most of us cringed conspicuously and incredulously. Not only were they smaller than our current workspaces, but they were also less private – MUCH less. The partitions would be about 5 feet high, and made mostly of clear glass - in order to allow more sunlight to saturate the entire office. Partitions shared between cubicals however, would only be about 4 feet high, making each work area feel VERY exposed on all sides. The term “fishbowl” immediately came to mind.

Once we’d moved into the 14th floor the new office building (which, of course, was actually the 13th floor, that had been customarily renamed the “14th” floor for stupid superstitious people – as though renaming it something else would somehow made it NOT truly the 13th floor), we all found our pre-determined places and did our best to settle in. It was really hard to get used to for a long time. No one could so much as fart without everyone else knowing about it immediately, let alone have a private personal phone call. Suddenly everything was visible. What you ate for lunch, what you were working (or NOT working) on, what you were scratching, as well as everything else became everyone’s business. Not cool. The bosses, however, all still had their closed-door offices with totally regal privacy, of course… you know, because they’re better than we “where-the-rubber-meets-the-road” folks are.

Fast forward a few years to the present. By now we’ve all grown quite used to our work spaces. We’ve adapted. We’ve learned the typical flow of traffic and know who comes in and out when, who walks behind us, who lurks to check to see what we’re working on, etc. Monitors have been situated for maximum privacy. Large bundles of rolled up paper, file folders and other things have been strategically placed to create perfect blind spots for would-be snooping bosses who have nothing better to do than to check to see who is and isn’t on task at every paid second of that work clock. Every surface of the carpeted, and in some cases - wherever they could get away with it - glass partitions are all covered in pictures of loved ones and drawings & other keepsakes created by their kids. Friendships and callused tolerances have been formed by wall-sharing cube mates. The variable-weathered view from the “14th” floor which overlooks the world-famous Las Vegas Strip is has become as much a part of our office scenery as the printers & filing cabinets. And now, the rumor is we’re moving….BACK.

Now this SHOULD be good news. It should be good that we’re going back to what we had – because we LIKED what we had. Well, here’s the catch… we’re not going back to what we had. We’ll be in cubicals with even LESS privacy, if you can believe it. Different cube mates, different foot traffic, and no windows. Hhhh….Prison. Once again, The Boss has given me more reasons to NOT want to work for him any longer than I must.

Been Busy...

It's been a long time. However, I'm back. I've been hard at work for the youth of my church on a big project called the Book of Mormon Experience. I created a video for them called "The Conversion of Alma the Younger" and I'm pretty proud of it. It took about 3 month total to create. I'll be spreading it around on YouTube and Facebook under the brand of LittleLDS. I'm hoping it'll generate some significant traffic for me that way.

So anyway... back to business. Next up... Learning about how to create an "APP." There's big money in apps, and I want in. I've got a few ideas, and it's just a matter of time. :) I'm also eager to get back to the project I started a long time ago with my good friend Mark Smith. He and I were (and now "are") working on a childrens "flip book" called "The Spider And The Fly" and it's flipside, "The Lion And The Lamb." Giddy up...

Update

I've just updated ListQuest too. :)

Facebook

What an awesome resource Facebook is!! I discovered it as a social site just a few months ago, but didn’t recognize it as a brilliant marketing tool until weeks later! As an individual, I’ve got a few hundred “friends.” These are people I love, like, know or just have known. They’re folks who I care about and visa versa. They are the people who, when shown something that I’ve done entrepreneurially, always respond cordially, positively, or constructively. Their opinions of what I do, always tend to be good. While appreciated, this type of feedback doesn’t necessarily help me. As Steven Pressfield of ‘The War of Art’ puts it, their reviews of my work are not “legal tender in the real world.” It’s nice, but not ultimately what I need. Their opinions (which, admittedly I still seek regularly) while comforting and ego-stroking, are just that. They are the comforting and ego-stroking opinions of the people who would never consider telling me if I had a totally bone-headed idea. They wouldn’t dream of crushing my dreams and aspirations with real, uncensored, and potentially devastatingly critical comments. Why would they? They’re my family & friends.

This is why I’ve taken next step. I’ve created an independent profile for both my Tyed Art Graphic Design business and my LittleLDS brand. This company and brand both have their own respective Facebook “fan-base” and they are invaluable to me! Neither of them have nearly as many “friends” (or “fans” in their case) as my personal Facebook profile does, but for the purposes they serve, they’ve got plenty. In fact, their meager numbers are what make them highly valuable and suggestive!

Although many of the fans are people that I know, the majority of them are people that I do NOT know. These are the fans that are most valuable to me. Why? Because these are the people that are truly interested in the content of my business and brand! They wouldn’t be fans otherwise. They don’t know ME, and they don’t care about ME! Hence, their REAL value! They are my legal tender, my real-world indicators and my compass. I can use these people (collectively and individually) to gauge how I’m doing as a business and brand. The more fans I get, the better I’m obviously doing. When people unsubscribe to my fan pages, I know that I’m not working hard enough. This motivates me to work harder! The bigger my Facebook fan-base grows the more exposure I get to my business & brand… and exposure means possible income!

I’ve been posting regularly themed posts on both pages since their inception. These posts are kind of like the “bits” that late night talk shows do to keep their shows entertaining and unpredictable. They’re meant to change it up and keep things fresh and from getting boring. My posts are carefully planned out and time-released. All of them are designed to stimulate interest in the business or brand respectively and/or to establish an intended reputation.

For example, on my Tyed Art Graphic Design page, I rotate the TYPE of posts. Some days I post a “Did you know?” post. In these, I provide a researched and little-known fact about a famous logo design. Aside from being interesting, providing this information actually portrays Tyed Art, Inc. as a purveyor of logo wisdom and information… a specialist and an expert, if you will. Other days I post about logos that I’ve done in the past to showcase my work (bringing the portfolio to them, one at a time). Some days I’ll just give a quick snippet about what I’m currently working on as a Designer. Some days I show off my other non-logo artwork. The fan base is slowly growing, and almost completely with people I don’t know.

For one of my rotating LittleLDS page post-types, I post comics from the Latter-Day Side that I’ve been developing over the years. These comic posts do several different things.

First, they’re humorous, so they get a quick chuckle. But this chuckle can be viral. Anytime someone reposts that comic (because they thought it was cute, can relate to it, or because they know someone else in their Facebook network who would appreciate it) I get instant and free exposure to their entire friend list. The comics all have the LittleLDS.com signature in the corner which leads them to either the fan page or the official website. Either way is good for me.

Second, the Latter-Day Side comic, which I know full well gets viewed by non-LDS Facebook users, can give some insight into our culture. It says that we can have a sense of humor about ourselves as a people. On other days, with LittleLDS, I post contests or giveaways. Sometimes I just post relevant LDS news topics or ask thought-provoking questions. On Mondays I post simple FHE activity suggestions having to do with the LittleLDS coloring pages themselves.

Marketing this way on Facebook has been extremely insightful. It’s given me a really great education on what does and doesn’t work out there. The idea here is to engage the audience, to get conversations going and to cast my net wide.

I’ve done a lot of research regarding Facebook marketing. I’ve discovered whole manuals on how to engage Facebookers and how to use the program to cross promote. There’s still a lot to learn, and Facebook is really just one tool of many that can be used to market.

Who are you... really?

It’s been said that J.O.B. stands for "Just Over Broke." It’s also been said that employees work just hard enough to not get fired, while their bosses pay just enough so they won’t quit. I can totally relate to these two observations.

Whenever I’m asked what I do, I usually say that I’m a CAD (Computer-Aid Drafting) Technician by day and an artistic entrepreneur by night. Am I really either of those things though? I mean, in the daytime, sure, I’m at work… but while I’m there I spend most of my time working just hard enough to look like I’m engaged and productive – I get by – while I’m really thinking about my entrepreneurial aspirations. Yes, my numbers look good. Yes, my employer can’t complain about my performance because I "make the grade." When I’m at home with time to spend on those aspirations I’ve dreamt of all day, I’m usually more interested in spending time with my family, catching up on missed TV shows, and eating or sleeping.

So, what am I really? In the brilliant, yet paraphrased words of Steven Pressfield’s 'The War of Art,' am I a writer that doesn’t write? A painter that doesn’t paint? An entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Well, no… I’m not quite that either. I do, after all, START projects. I start them all the time. No, what I am is a non-finisher. I’m a self-motivating starter. I can START all day long. I’ve got a million projects in the R&D and conceptual phases. If I’m really being honest with myself, I’m not truly a Sr. CAD Technician… I just play one at work. If I’m being honest, I’m not truly an entrepreneur at home; I’m just hoping to be one.

I’m not getting down on myself for this. I’m not expecting to be perfect or anything. I’m just stating the obvious here. I am who I am. That’s not to say I’m satisfied though. I’m not yet who I intend to be, nor will I stop trying to become that which I know I have in me to be. But in order to get where I want to go, it’s important that I own up to what or who I truly am first. I’m a writer who usually can’t get further than a blog entry. I’m a poet who has yet to publish his finished work. I’m an illustrator with too many other ideas to sit down and hammer out some good illustrations. I’m an employee only because my employment provides my family with affordable health insurance. I’m just enduring my "J.O.B." until I can develop the gonads to step out into the world…until I can get one of my great ideas to take flight. I’m an inventor with no money to fund a few really great ideas. In short, I’m pretty much just potentially great right now. Potential is good, but until it is realized it’s like equity that is never cashed out. It sounds impressive, but is really worth nothing.

Do you know who or what are you are… really?

Boulder Man (Client Project)

I just recently finished a project for a client down in Boulder City, Nevada. Although I'm not sure what the purpose was for this project (to the client), it was still a fun one to work on. This character is Boulder Man, no doubt named after the city where my client lives. After receiving my instructions on how the client wanted this character to look, it dawned on me that he had asked me to put the letters "BM" where the "S" would be on Superman. Now, "S" obviously refers to the word "Superman"... that's just a gimme. However, after obediently sketching the "BM" onto the character's chest, all I could think of was... well, poop. Did I really just draw "Bowel Movement" Man?? Concerned that perhaps this hadn't occurred - somehow - to my client, I gently proceeded to inform him of my concern; to make sure this hadn't accidentally gone unnoticed to him. To my great relief, but slight disconcertion, the man had not only already considered both implications, but had actually intended this to be some sort of paralleling inside joke to accompany the title of "Boulder Man." Ooooookie dokie. Whatever. It’s his money and his illustration. I love being an artist.

Secrets to My Organization (3 of 3)

And finally, the last (but not least) 5 of my 15 tips to organization...

Tip#11: Project into the future & plan ahead – Ask yourself where you’ll be this time tomorrow. What can you do NOW to be prepared for THEN? What about a week from now? A month from now? A year? 5 years? What about at retirement? Plan ahead and make preparations for your future and for the future of your family. (This could be a segment focus each weekly family council)

• Create your own family's Virtual Vault (Let me know if you want a copy of mine)
  Work on your food storage with your spouse
• Keep some extra cash on-hand at home
• Start with your distant goals, then break them down into small pieces by working your way back to the present

Tip#12: Define your purpose – Without a distinct purpose for being organized, it is easy to become frustrated by gradual disorder, interruption, or clutter. Give yourself a reason to be organized. It could be to emulate highly successful individuals, to de-stress your life, or just to appearance of being on top of things. The purpose is up to you, but just make sure you HAVE a purpose for being organized.

Tip#13: Don't procrastinate – The more time you have to do something, the more prepared and organized you can be for it. Resolve to do things early.

Tip#14: Learn skills of visual organization – Learn how to visually organize thoughts and ideas (similar to the way this list is outlined) and USE it often. A good example of this type of organization is the folder system that Microsoft Explorer uses. It's simple, easy to manage and to read. Making neat stacks, piles, groups and color coordination are important too. Note taking is simplified and more useful when using a system of organization using bullet points, numbers, capital & lower case letters, roman numerals, symbols, etc…

Tip#15: Make yourself more aware of time – Being organized isn't only about physical place-setting, stacking, and grouping. It also has a lot to do with time management. It's difficult to be organized if you're constantly rushing around or late. Here are some ideas to help you manage time better:

• Give yourself time limits for your own tasks and projects, and then be careful to OBSERVE those limits
• If you tell someone you'll be somewhere at a certain time, do ALL you can to BE there at that time, if not earlier.
• Strive to be EARLY at appointments, meetings, or other arranged functions.
• Set an alarm for yourself (use your cell phone… it's always with you anyway)
• Get up and go to bed at a reasonable hour (it's harder to be organized when you're exhausted)
• Make it a habit to look at a clock at regular intervals (or invest in a watch that beeps on the hour) to help time from getting away from you
• Play music that allows you to think (music helps time to be subconsciously measured)

Secrets to My Organization (2 of 3)

Here are the next 5 tips...

Tip#6: Create an environment of meditation and/or concentration – This might be a place of worship, a jogging route, or your drive to/from work… but you NEED a place to think that is quiet. Wherever and whenever it is, it shouldn't be filled with any music or outside distractions of any kind. Being organized can be greatly facilitated by quiet and uninterrupted thought.

Tip#7: Choose your company deliberately – Not to be confused with surrounding yourself with people like YOU are... instead, try to make friends with the type of people you want to be LIKE. The more you do, the more like them you'll become. If you want to be a punctual person, hang out with people who deem that important. If you want to be more spiritual, hang out with spiritual people. If you want to be more organized, hang out with organized people. You get the idea. The opposite is also true though. If you want to be highly productive, motivated and positive, it won't help you to hang out with people who are lazy or pessimistic. This REALLY works, and it's the reason many people are the way they are... for better or for worse.

Tip#8: Know & embrace your limitations – Try not to bite off more that you can chew. Learn to say NO.

Tip#9: Create & enforce a lunch time "Power-Hour" – Deliberately chose something to work on for ONE hour right in the middle of your workday - during your lunch. Use this hour to research something you would have time for otherwise. Use it to move closer towards a particular project, or subject of study. Just one hour every day for 5 days per week equates to 260 hours of intense and deliberate personal project time!! That's 10.83 days!! Use this time well, and you'll have MORE time at home with the family.

Tip#10: Set challenging but reachable goals –

• Write goals down (if they’re not written, they’re just wishes)
• Break down your goals into bite-size pieces
• Revisit your goals often (weekly is best)
• Revise your goals when necessary

Secrets to My Organization (1 of 3)

I often get complimented on how organized I am (or seem to be). While I'm certainly not as organized as most people think I am, and nowhere nearly as organized as would like to be, I guess when compared to many it's relatively true. I am able to organize fairly well. I like order. I like knowing where and when things are. I like feeling, well... in control of my domain. I guess you could say I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about some things. Anyway, for those of you who are more random-abstract personality types, this is for you. Over the next couple of days, I'll be posting my 15 "secret tips" to my own organizational success (psshhhh). Today, the first 5;

Tip#1: EVERYTHING can be compartmentalized – For me, this is the most important step to the organization of anything. Make categories & sub-categories. My wife teases me about this one because I’m a bit obsessive about it. Distinctions and differentiations can be made in every area of your life. Here are some basic category examples with some sub-category ideas. The PURPOSES for compartmentalizing can vary from time management, to document management, and from project completion to portion control:

• Spouse (Date night, shared duties, intimacy, communication, individual time, etc…)
• Children (one-on-one time, outdoor play, reading together, listening, eating together, etc...)
• Extended family (Parents, siblings, cousins, etc…)
• Finances (Day-to-day spending, Bills & Debt, Retirement, Emergency plan, etc...)
• Employment (Running log of past employments / Updating your resume, etc...)
• Spirituality (Duties, Meetings & Service, Study & Prayer, etc...)
• Hobbies & Recreation (Friends, outings, schedules, etc...)
• Business (Book keeping, invoiceing, marketing, accounting, calendaring, etc...)
• Home (chores, groceries, repairs, home & yard, etc...)

Tip#2: Make Lists – Without lists, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I make a new daily list every day, and then get as much done during the day as possible. I usually can't get to everything, so I just roll tasks onto the next day. Lists give me the ability to free up my conscious mind for other important things to remember. Einstein once said that he typically didn't memorize facts that he could easily look up. I like this idea. Writing things down in lists is like having a never-ending supply of virtual RAM on a computer. I can endlessly process more. Lists can be on-growing or finite, and made for ANYTHING:

• Daily “To-Do’s”
• Ideas
• Wants & needs (wish list)
• Movies you want to see (eventually)
• Interesting websites to explore
• Groceries

Tip#3: Prioritize – Once you've got a list made, it is helpful to know in which order things SHOULD be done. There are two strategies to this. One is the Monster strategy which states: "Kill your ugliest monsters FIRST." This gets the tough tasks out of the way first, leaving only simple chores to remain. The second strategy is based on a value system which states: "Decide which of the things on your list are important and which are urgent, and then do the important things FIRST." This method makes sure that you're not just concentrating on putting out fires, but that you are focusing on what really matters. The good news is that YOU are the only one that can correctly prioritize YOUR list. Use the Boulder, then rock, then pebble, then sand, then water method of filling your day with "stuff" to do.

Tip#4: Simplify –

• Stop “re-inventing the wheel” by creating spreadsheets & templates for things you do often (to do lists, EQ agendas, housework, etc…)
• Pre-establish your own protocols for life ("if this happens, I'll react in this way")… in other words decide ONCE.
• If you don't use it regularly, box it up and store it. If you store it for more than a year, consider throwing it a way.
• Learn to appropriately say "NO" to things that just stress you out
• Keep digital copies of things so you don't have papers stacking up on your work surfaces creating a mess.
• Live the "less is more" rule religiously.

Tip#5: Create Routines – It's easier to remember where your keys are when you always put them in the same place. Likewise, it's easier to remember to do anything at the appropriate time if you always to that thing at that same time. Simple habits of consistency can greatly improve your desire and ability to be organized. It also creates a perception of dependability to others.

Most recent logo design

I just got the final approval today on this most recent logo design. This is the type of logo design I really love, and rarely get to design. Simple and clean. More often than not, less really is more.

General Update

Since late December of last year, I’ve been working on illustrating a children’s book with a friend of mine which has kept me very busy. The book has a total of 26 pages, all of which have been fully conceptualized and sketched now. I had intended on having all of the pencil sketches scanned and digitized for document back-up purposes (and, quite frankly, because I love the look of sketches and always hate to ink over them. I really wanted to have a “snap shot” version of these illustrations in sketch form), but after getting a quote from the reprographics place, the author and I decided it wasn’t a necessity and wasn’t, therefore, worth the extra cost incursion. I’m a little bummed to be honest, but over $100 for nothing but scans just seemed absurd. If my sketches had been smaller, I could have done it myself at home for nothing, for heaven’s sake! Unfortunately for me, though, these sketches are 17”x14”… just a bit too large for your average scanner. So, I’m currently working on getting all of the sketches inked. Once that is finished, I’ll erase all the underlying pencil work (sniff, sniff) and then suck up the fact that they HAVE to be scanned (at least once) in order for me to continue working on them. When they’re scanned (or “digitized”) I can start the tedious task of vectorizing. That’s probably going to be the most time-consuming stage of this project, I think. Just one of these illustrations alone will probably take nearly 4-5 hours to vectorize, and I’ve got 26 of them to do. I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me.

Aside from the children’s book illustrations, I’m also still working with a company on the east coast on an invention that I started developing a few years ago. It’s nothing major, but its fun to mess with. Who knows if anything will come of it, but I’m learning a lot just by going through this process. This will be my second patent-pending project (the first being my LittleLDS software).

My Training Wheels stories have been sitting idly for a while, due to my focus on the children’s book project. Six of them have been fully written, and need to be illustrated. I’ve got ideas for more, but I’ll have to get back to them when I’m finished with my current children’s book illustrations are done. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for ways to market them. My gut feeling right now, is to NOT market them to the general public, but rather to an “Otaku” crowd first, like private schools, wealthy communities, and special-interest groups.

I’ve done a few logo designs this year. I’m currently wrapping up a logo design for one client, and eager to do more. I’ve come to a realization that logo design is where I really enjoy working the most. It pays well, it comes naturally to me, and EVERYONE and their dog is starting their own “business.” I love that the projects don’t last long and that everyone I work with is excited to work with me because my service represents an exciting new venture for their businesses. I love that it enables me to work from home (or anywhere a laptop goes for that matter), and that I have clients from all over the world. I plan on devoting a lot more time and creative effort into this area of my business.

LittleLDS coloring books and BigLDS t-shirts are pretty stagnant. Oddly enough, this isn’t disconcerting to me at all. I think it’s because they are finished products that I really don’t need to DO anything else with. It’s almost like they’re kids of mine that have grown up and left the house… off to make their way in the world and do their own thing. Of course I’m still concerned about them, but I figure a little time out there in the real world without my meddling might do them (and me) some good. Granted, they need a lot more marketing and advertising to become more noticed by the LDS community at large, but, even with NO marketing at all, I get a few sales here and there throughout the year. My interest doesn’t lie here right now, and I tend to skip around to where my interests lie. I’m sure it’ll return. In the meantime, meager sales will have to suffice.

I also haven’t done any Word Tangles in a long time. Similar to LittleLDS, I’m okay with that. The bait and hook are out there idling on an un-manned fishing pole in the pond of commerce. When the pole wiggles, (and always seems to a few times during the year) I’ll give it the attention it needs.

The Fulcrum Group, a think-tank-like resource, motivation and accountability management group that I organized, still meets regularly and is still one of the best things I’ve done for the productivity of my own business. Because of this group, I’ve been able to stay on target with my illustration project and stay motivated entrepreneurially. As the head of the organization, I’m responsible for each meeting – preparing a weekly agenda, motivational discussions, buzz topics, and project accountability – I’m not just helping others stay motivated and moving forward… its working for me too! I’m on target with my weekly goals, which will turn into success with my yearly goals. In a very direct, and yet unplanned way, running this group has started preparing and positioning me to be a type of Idea Cultivation Coach of sorts. There may be something in that for me in the future.

Finally, my latest effort has been the development of my new blog, ListQuest. This has been an exciting new way for me to push myself just a little further into the multifaceted world of investing and income-generation. ListQuest is a place where I can write all the things I’m researching about multiple streams of income. As its name implies, it’s my own personal quest to acquire as many streams of income as I have on my list. Things like precious metals, tax-lien certificates, intellectual properties, etc… I’m hoping that as I write what I learn, I’ll be able to give new insight to those who might not otherwise discover some of these ways to generate passive income. The idea is to help others shorten their learning curve in these areas while I do the leg work. What’s in it for me? Well, I love to write, I love to learn, I love to teach, and I love the subject of economics. It’s a good fit.

ListQuest

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to organize things. After reading a book called Multiple Streams of Income, by Robert Allen, which identifies many of the different ways one can generate residual income, I had an idea.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I'm already working toward financial freedom through the artistic projects I've started. These projects already cover several of the assets mentioned by this book. Products, Services (logo design), Intellectual Properties, and Inventions to name a few. Since I'm already doing this anyway, it made sense to widen my scope to include other types of assets that I'm interested in learning about.

So, I've decided that I would begin a quest, or sorts. The quest would be to create a "master list" of all the different types of residual income that I could learn about through research and then prioritize them in order of acheivability (for me, anyway). Next, as I learn about each, I could start creating a lay-man's guide, or a "how-to" manual on aquiring them... How I learn about them, the challenges I encounter during their aquisition, and how I overcome those challenges to obtain my goal assets, etc. The idea is in the quest itself. I call it my LIST QUEST. The quest to aquire at least ONE of each asset on the list, beginning with the easiest. Finally, I would document my checklist publically on a blog of the same name. I'm excited about this because it'll push me to learn about new and challenging ways to become financially free, and allow me to help others do the same.

FEAR

“Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do. More often than not it shows you exactly what you should do.”

~ Timothy Ferriss

Overcoming Parkinson's Law

Parkinson’s Law states that the perceived complexity of a task will expand to fill the time you allot to it. In other words, if you give yourself a week to complete a two-hour task, then (psychologically speaking) the task will increase in complexity and become more daunting so as to fill that week. It may not even fill the extra time with more work, but just stress and tension about having to get it done. By assigning the right amount of time to a task, we gain back more time and the task will reduce in complexity to its natural state.

The law works because people give tasks longer than they really need, sometimes because they want some ‘leg room’ or buffer, but usually because they have an inflated idea of how long the task takes to complete. People don’t become fully aware of how quickly some tasks can be completed until they test this principle.

Want to really challenge yourself? Try making a list of your tasks, and then divide them up by the amount of time it takes to complete them. Then give yourself half that time to complete each task. They key here is to set the time limit, in you mind, as crucial. Treat it like any other deadline. Part of reversing what we’ve been indoctrinated with is to see the deadlines you set for yourself as unbreakable - just like the deadlines your boss or clients set.

Use that human, instinctual longing for competition that fuels such industries as sports and gaming to make this work for you. You have to win against the clock; strive to beat it as if it were your opponent, without taking shortcuts and producing low-quality output. This is particularly helpful if you’re having trouble taking your own deadlines seriously.

At first, this will be partially an exercise in determining how accurate your time projections for tasks are. Some may be spot on to begin with, and some may be inflated. Those that are spot on may be the ones that you are unable to beat the clock with when you halve the time allotment, so experiment with longer times. Don’t jump straight back to the original time allotment because there may be an optimum period in between.

You can experiment with Parkinson’s Law and squashing your deadlines down to the bare minimum in many areas of your life. Just be conscious of the line between ‘bare minimum’ and ‘not enough time’ - what you’re aiming for is a job well done in less time, not a disaster that’s going to lose you employment or clients.

The most important teachers

The following is an excerpt from the book Rich Kid Smart Kid, by Robert Kiyosaki. It continues on with the theme of education reform.

“Almost every parent I’ve met is certain that his or her child is smart and a genius. When that child reaches school, however, the child’s natural genius is often shoved aside or takes a subordinate roll to the single genius and single learning style emphasized by the educational system as the ‘right way’ to learn.”

“My smart dad and many other educators realize that the current school system does not cater to the various different geniuses that children are born with. It’s unfortunate that our current educational system is mired in controversy and old ideas. While our current system may be aware of many of these educational breakthroughs, the politics and red tape surrounding the profession of education prevent many of these new innovative ways of assessing your child’s genius from becoming part of the system.”

I like this quote because it reminds me that the most important teachers my kids will ever have will be (or, at least OUGHT to be) my wife and me. However, in order to be a better teacher to my own kids, I need to continue on with my own education and studies, as Mr. Kiyosaki suggests, and DO what I teach. I need to ‘walk my talk.’ Like most kids, mine “…learn more by watching than they do by listening. Children are tuned into watching for discrepancies between words and actions. Children love to catch parents saying one thing and doing something else.”

Currently, little to nothing is taught about money in school. As always, their focus is to teach them skills they’ll need in life to EARN money, but those skills needed to help them manage their earned money after that. If I want my kids to learn the basic principles of wise spending, saving, and investing, I’ve got to teach them those skills myself. And if I want to do that, I’ve go to learn those skills myself first.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

I recently discovered an online venue that has positively captivated my attention. Positively, because what I've gleaned from it has been VERY positive in deed. Although the venue itself is truely remarkable, and highly recommended for it's interesting topics, curious presentations, educational speakers, entertaining qualities, and fascinating explanations... it is not what this post is about.

The following video contains a point view about education that I cannot agree with more. It's compelling, sensible, logical, intreguing, honest, and even entertaining. I'm posting this video in support of my efforts to sculpt my own corner of education reform... My Training Wheels series of books. If ever there were a good explaination of why this type of out-of-the-box thinking is necessary and relavant for the modified education of children of today, this is it:

Do Schools Kill Creativity? (19:24)
(by Sir Ken Robinson)

Levelers & Untouchables

As always, I’ve been listening to an audio book to keep my mind sharp while I trudge along at work. The book is called “The World Is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman. It’s a brief history of the 21st century, and has a lot of really good snippets between a lot of really dry information. Not riveting, by any means, but interesting and educational. I love the library!

Anyway, the book’s general premise is about the different ways in which the world is “flattening,” or in other words, the different ways in which the world’s economic, technological, informational, and entrepreneurial playing fields are being leveled as time goes on. It discusses 8 “Levelers” that have either transpired or are currently transpiring to level these playing fields to the advantage of the every-man. Each of these levelers has, or is, contributing to what the author has labeled a “flat world” – a world in which everyone has an equal opportunity at success and prosperity. These are the 8 “Levelers;”

1 - The PC and Windows Leveler – enabling, speeding up and the facilitating of personal computation and productivity
2 - The Internet Leveler – The shrinking of the world by connecting every one to everyone else
3 - The Workflow Software Leveler – Applications talking to other applications & standardization of programs and processes
4 - The Open-Source Leveler – challenging proprietary technology and big business with the synergizing of knowledge and talent through shareware
5 - The Out-Source Leveler – Enabling small business to look big without big costs
6 - The Supply Chain Leveler – Making non-local specialties, customs, and opportunities local and more accessible (e.g. UPS)
7 - The In-Source Leveler – The absorption of specialized tasks of other businesses to increase the productivity and efficiency of both parties
8 - The Informing Leveler – The facilitating of constant access to knowledge and information (i.e. Google & Wikipedia)

The book also mentions 5 “steroids” that enhance, magnify and intensify these levelers… These are digitalization, mobility, personalization, virtualization, wirelessness. What a profound realization!

Here’s a really great quote from the book, “…When I was growing up my parents used to say to me, ‘Tom, finish your dinner - people in China and India are starving!’ My advice to you is, ‘finish your homework – people in China and India are starving for your jobs!’”

The author’s plan for safe-guarding one’s self against being eventually out-sourced in a highly competitive world is to become, what he calls, an “Untouchable.” According to him, there are 4 types of untouchables;

1 - Special - Especially talented, skilled or unique (e.g. Michael Jordan)
2 - Specialized – Becoming so specifically trained and capable that your skill are a necessity and therefore non-fungible
3 - Anchored – being tied to a location (doctors, construction worker, waiter, etc…)
4 - Adaptable – constantly acquiring new skills, knowledge and expertise to always create value and relevancy… in short, learn how to learn.

It really is amazing the way everything is becoming so accessible to everyone. This is extremely obvious when you look at the number of self-made millionaires and even more self-made business-owners. Folks nowadays are able to perform their own due-diligence instead of paying a “professional.” They’re starting, managing and legalizing their own businesses without accountants or attorneys. It really is amazing! I’m not sure if all of this leveling is a good thing or a bad thing!

The "Good Idea" Paradox

Although I’ve always known it as common sense, I’ve only recently admitted to myself conscientiously that a “great idea” isn’t always a “good idea.” Allow me to clarify…

For a very long time now, I’ve been morphing increasingly into, what my many of my friends call an “idea man.” I love ideas. I love the excitement they conjure up inside me. I love the energy, innovation, creativity, and development of new ideas. Not only do I love coming up with my own ideas, but I love helping other people develop their ideas too. Intrinsically speaking, of course, I recognize this as a good thing. I mean, who doesn’t want to have good ideas, right? Practically speaking, however, it’s a very inconvenient thing for me. The very prospect of a new idea can derail me from whatever I’m currently working on faster than a pebble can derail a whole train from a set of steel tracks. It doesn’t seem to matter what I’m doing… If a new idea occurs to me internally or is introduced to me externally, the result is the same… DROP EVERYTHING! It’s my natural instinct.

I noticed the beginnings of this phenomenon about 10 years ago. At first, I had some good ideas, and they were manageable as that... just a few individual projects. However, before they were fully explored or developed, more ideas would accumulate. It seemed the muses started gathering in masses and forming lines at my side, each with their own project ideas. Invention ideas, sketch concepts, business ideas, books I could write, ways I could organize the way I did things, ways to be more effective and efficient… Before long, it felt like the muses were actually competing with each other and yelling over the top of one another to be heard rather than quietly and subtly whispering into my ear. Soon, it felt like I was a super-charged idea magnet sucking in every idea that hung floating in the air around me like iron filings.

Okay… sure, I’m being a little dramatic here. It’s not like I’m the John Travolta character from the movie “Phenomenon” or anything, but still… I have had a LOT of ideas over the years.

A few years ago, I started to capture and “pickle” my ideas for later development using a technique that I've coined “BrainVomiting.” It’s really just free-flowing your thoughts into written (or typed) documentation for later sorting and processing. This blog, for instance, is a form of this process, but back then my BrainVomit consisted mostly of a large note book that I used to tote around to record all my ideas, their dates of conception, and a brief (or sometimes lengthy) description of each as they came. The physical book, over time, became a bit cumbersome to heft around everywhere, so I eventually converted my process into a digital method. I created a single Excel file on a flash drive which I now carry with me everywhere I go. This one file is made up of many, MANY tabs. Each tab represents ONE concept or idea. Some are very well developed, while others are simply meant to be book markers to just get the idea documented so as to not be forgotten.

Some of my own ideas have been fleshed out, by not many. Some have made it through the spreadsheet exploration phase, past the drawing board, and even on to production and publication. Ideas of mine with actual real-world development and/or recognition are rare and highly valuable to me. And herein lies my problem.

I rarely get past the BrainVomit part of any idea before another one comes bursting into my brain like a ticked-off S.W.A.T. team! Next thing I know, I’ve completely shelved a perfectly good adolescent idea for another infantile one. There’s little growth.

The other day, my wife approached me with an idea she had heard about on the news. Of course, she knows me well enough to know that I can’t just hear an idea without exploring it, if even just a little. Without going into detail about the idea itself, it's sufficient to say that it had a lot of merit. It wasn’t her idea, and it certainly wasn’t a new one in and of itself, but it was a good solid idea. In fact, it was such a good idea that I, fell right into my typical pavlovian response of promptly dropping every other project I had been working on like lead weights and took it with me to one of my next Fulcrum Group meeting. I was sure that this new exciting idea would get some attention and traction there. I told my friend about it and he lit right up just as expected.

"It's a no-brainer! LET’S do it!!"

Newly refuled with the familiar and intoxicating excitement and zeal that I always feel at the prospect of a new GREAT IDEA, I started to develop it in a new tab in my digital BrainVomit file. However, something different happened this time. The more I worked on developing it, the more I started to rethink it the whole thing. Not the potential of the idea itself – no question there... it’s still a GREAT idea – no, I started to rethink my idea-flowing method. All of a sudden it hit me, as though I hadn’t ever considered it before (although I must have done at some point before) that jumping to a brand new idea now might not be…ironically… a good idea. Not the BEST idea anyway.

I ended up talking to my Fulcrum Group friend about my concerns, and it turned out that he was feeling exactly the same way about this new project, and had anticipated bringing it to my attention. I was really glad that he, in fact, felt the same way. We mutually agreed that, despite the legitimately GREAT opportunity this particular idea had presented us with, it was ultimately not wise to pursue. I’ll be honest… It was unsettling to do this. I wasn’t used to intentionally deciding NOT to chase another great idea.

What I’ve learned; it isn’t always a good idea to chase a GREAT one.

The Analogy of Leverage

Last night the Fulcrum Group met together and had a very productive session. At the beginning of the meeting, and after learning that Archimedes discovered the lever, I heard a quote by Archimedes which began a very thought-provoking discussion. The quote was,

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

The question was then asked of the group at large,

“If this group is, in fact, a fulcrum - which represents motivation, accountability and resource - then what does the lever represent, and what does the object being lifted represent?”

After listening to the opinions of the others, I gave them mine. I told them I thought that the object being lifted represented each individual project that we’ve assigned to ourselves and that the lever represented the talents and/or abilities that we have. Our talents and abilities, alone, may reach and be applied to our projects, but without the motivation, accountability and additional resources of the fulcrum, we are left armed only with our own strength. The Fulcrum Group has provided me with the ability to multiply my own strength and give me the leverage over my own projects that I lack without it.

Stirring the Back-Burners

Well, along with my "front-burner" projects (namely, the illustrating of a children's book with an friend from the Fulcrum Group, writing, editing and illustrating my own Training Wheels series), I'm also trying to keep some of my other already-existing ventures fresh. Among other things, I'm currently designing a logo for a convenience store company in Florida which is always fun for me. Not only do I really enjoy designing logos themselves, but every once in a while, I find it refreshing and even creatively necessary to jump from one project to another. It allows me some much needed change of scenery and the switching of concepts.

Most recently, my LittleLDS brand has been getting some subconscious mental attention. I've discovered that while I work on one project, inspiration and motivation will often build and eventually crescendo into an outright epiphany at some point in favor of the projects that I've had simmering on my mental "back-burners" for a while. I think this is the responsible side of my brain's way of keeping things exciting and fresh for the childishly impatient attention-span’s side.

Anyway, while working on something completely unrelated the other day, I had an idea that would be a lot of fun to do with LittleLDS. Until now, the products that I sell with LittleLDS have been designed specifically for LDS (Latter-Day Saint) children. Of course, logically, the marketing of these products has been geared only towards young LDS parents (mostly mothers) because those children can’t buy for themselves. The other day, however, it finally hit me that I’ve been completely ignoring the parents themselves as direct consumers all along! Here I am, trying to get parents to buy stuff for their kids when I could have been simultaneously marketing different products to the parents themselves! Immediately after making this realization this weekend I went to work to expand the brand to include the new simple, consistent, and logical next step… BigLDS!

LittleLDS is all about using coloring pages to help LDS kids understand their faith better. So, what is BigLDS? Simply put, it’s the vehicle I’ll be using to package all my other LDS-related ideas into. All the ideas I’ve had that just don’t quite fit well into the LittleLDS brand. Things like the Latter-Day Side comic that I created months ago, which hasn’t had a logically place to be displayed. It’s also where I’m featuring the WMC stuff. The WMC was a gag-concept that, oddly enough, is morphing into a real thing right before my eyes (more on that later). Anyway, check it out. Go to the BigLDS store link (in the right column of this blog) to see what I’m building there. I’m still tweaking everything, so explore with the same restrained scrutiny that you would if you were walking around the construction site of a funhouse. Enjoy.