New House...New Business..New LifeToday, as I was listening to a motivational speaker that I really appreciate, he continued to drive home the point that we must continue to grow, continue to drive forward, continue to produce. He delivered a "message" that resonated loudly and firmly to me. I even posted a couple of his comments here on this blog, and on my Facebook page. They were so appropriate for me at this time in my life, and I can't help but to believe that perhaps someone reading this might be at the same place in their own lives.
O.K....here goes....let me throw back some of what John Jackson threw at me this morning.
1. The greatest enemy of tomorrow's success is today's success. Don't rest on our laurels. Wins, just like losses are only temporary.
2. Certain things will get you to the top, but other things will keep you there. Refuse to plateau. Climb again.
3. The road to anything good is always uphill. Once a year, a lobster is forced to shed his shell and start again.
4. Once stretched by a new idea, a person's mind never goes back to its original dimensions.
5. What counts is what you learn after you know it all......John Wooden
6. There never has been a person who lived a life of ease, whose name is worth remembering....Theodore Roosevelt.
So...I said to myself...How can I grip all of these things and apply them to my life. Everyone of us have had to face something (or some things) that are too hard for us...or too big for us....or too painful for us. But, for the success of our lives and our influences in other people's lives, we need to grasp the hard things, make a plan, and move forward.
I have been in the building material business for all of my life. I recently started a new phase in my business life. Many of the things that caused me to start this new phase were out of my control. Also, some of those things were due to mistakes and failures on my part. But, as I wrote in this blog a while back, I decided to move forward and make the best decisions that I could concerning the financial well being of myself, my wife and my family .
So, just this week, I started a new project. I am making videos of some brand new houses that I am furnishing materials on. I am trying to compare the similarities of building a new house, to trying to build a new business, to trying to build a new life.
The phase that both of these houses are in now is the "Site Preparation" phase. Sometimes, preparing the site for our new venture(s) is difficult. In the case of these houses, the ground had to be cleared of things that may have been there for years. Maybe trees had to be cut down, or an old building had to be destroyed, or the ground had to be bulldozed over to make a good site for the new house. Well, in my life, and in the lives of many others, we have had to go through this "Site Preparation" phase. It may be painful, it may bring back unpleasant memories, but, it is very necessary for future successes.
I am going to proceed in this blog, to go through some of the stages of these houses. I am also going to attempt to chronicle the stages of creating a new and exciting business venture that I am beginning. I have decided to use the power and the global reach of the internet to help me market myself and the products that I have to offer others. These products will be building materials.....BUT....not just brick, block, lumber, windows and doors. Some of these products will be building materials that help people build and protect their assets, their credit, their identities, and their faith .
The next phase, (and the next blog) has to do with the next phase of construction. We need to dig a footing down to solid ground and pour that footing full of concrete to build a house. If we are building a new business or building a new life, we also need to dig a footing down to solid ground. We need to make sure that our base is ROCK SOLID. If we do that, then the structure we build on top will last for a lifetime.
Remember....My theme is...
Building up houses
Building up businesses
Building up others
During a career than spans nearly forty years, I have owned and operated businesses that were involved in construction, building material supply and transportation. At this point in my life, I have made a decision to re-tool, re-train, and re-brand myself to better prepare for the future global economy. I value highly the truth of scripture, the worth of people, and the necessity of high moral and ethical conduct in my life.