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Investing in Multiple Areas of Life

October 21, 2011 in Friday Free Form, Priorities with 8 Comments

It’s FREE FORM FRIDAY!!!

In an earlier post, “Where are you investing?” I wrote about The Wheel of My Life by Dan Miller. The center of the wheel is comprised of seven areas for a well rounded life. They are: Career, Financial, Social, Family, Physical, Personal Development, and Spiritual.

We all make deposits or withdraws from each of those seven areas on a regular basis.We’re either working on improving our family by spending time with them and letting them know we love them, or we’re making a withdraw by ignoring them and taking for granted the fact that they “know” we love them, even when we don’t tell them.

We spend time exercising to maintain or improve our physical health, or we spend time lounging on the coach, eating junk food while our bodies go to pot.

You get the picture.

Dan goes on to suggest that we really should picture these seven areas of our life as a honest to goodness wheel. Why? Because if a wheel is lumpy or out of balance, here it would be comprised of investing unevenly or making too many withdraws from one area, the wheel won’t roll right. It will be bouncy and wobbly and be all over the place!

To get the wheel to roll right we need to invest in the various areas somewhat evenly.

This brings you to my point for the day.

As a full time self employed individual running my own business I am already seeing the tendency to ignore pretty much every area of life except for the two that are directly (at least as I see it from a number’s guy standpoint) related to my business, career and financial. The other areas will suffer unless I’m intentional about investing in them!

That’s why today I want to talk to you about investing in multiple areas Are you investing in more than just those areas directly related to your business or are you ignoring everything that isn’t directly impacting your business in the here and now???

I know that I am not investing in many areas at present. As Skye pointed out to me last week, “I knew you were going to spend a lot of time working on your business, but I didn’t realize you were going to spend every, waking, moment working on your business.”

Right now, I”m almost 100% focused on investing in my “career” (aka “my business”) and my financial health (increasing financial health by increasing business conducted through A Better Way of Business). At the expense of everything else!

And this has got to stop!

That’s why I’ve instituted a new morning regime of 30 minutes of quite time with God and 30 minutes of exercise. I’m going to be very intentional with starting my day on a firm footing by devoting time to my God and my health.

I’m also going to be more intentional in investing time with Skye and and Alexander. I want them to know they are loved, not just through my words, but through my actions as well, by spending quality time with them where I will purposefully not talk about business.

But I ask you, are you investing in all areas of your life, or are you neglecting certain areas in an attempt to improve others?

Just know that an out of balanced wheel will not roll as desired!

Make the effort now to correct any imbalances before there’s serious damage!

And let me know if I can help!

~Ivan

Double Video Post Extravaganza (and my last day at work!)!!!

October 7, 2011 in Friday Free Form, Getting Started with 29 Comments

That’s right! Today you get not one, but TWO SEPARATE VIDEO POSTS BY ME!!!

I know, you MUST be living right!

So here’s the deal, TODAY is my LAST day as an employee!

That’s right! After today I will be full time at A Better Way of Business!

I’m so excited I can barely stand it!

I’m so scared I frequently want to PUKE!

So check this out, a video I’ve recorded especially for this morning (I actually got up at 5AM to make sure I could record and post this the morning of!):

YouTube Preview Image

NOW! For the official announcement of the second best idea I’ve had (according to me) this year (A Better Way of Business being the first!):

I’m going to chronicle the first 90 days of this self employment journey in a daily video blog series I’ve titled:

90 Days to a SMASHING Success!

Check out this video:

YouTube Preview Image

That’s right. So each day, for the next 90 days, I’m going to record a video blog covering some of the things I intend on accomplishing that day. Whether I go over a list of 36 things I want to do, describe new tactics I’m planning on taking, or simply tell you I’m taking the day off to spend with my family (ALL entrepreneurs need time off from time to time), I’ll be making a video each and every day for the next 90 days.

Don’t worry, the videos for 90 Days to a SMASHING Success are going to be IN ADDITION TO the Monday through Friday blogs I’m currently doing. They’ll be placed on their own page (after the above video) on the site so if you want to see what’s going on you’ll have one place to go, if you don’t then feel free to not go to that page.

Buckle up folks! It’s going to be a FANTASTIC ride!

~Ivan

001 – Do Something

September 9, 2011 in Action, Friday Free Form, Video Blog with 17 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! PEOPLE OF ALL AGES!

Today you’re about to experience the first video blog for both A Better Way of Business and myself!

And I’m EXCITED!

Enjoy!

YouTube Preview Image

There it is! What did you think??? I’d LOVE TO KNOW!

Special thanks go out to all the people who have encouraged me to try this out! You guys rock!

~Ivan

Are you reading just for fun?

September 2, 2011 in Books, Friday Free Form with 8 Comments

I like to read.

A LOT!

Typically, if I’m not at work or not on here doing something for A Better Way of Business I’m reading.

I tend to stick to two genres, fantasy / science fiction and business books. Feel free to ask me about the fantasy books I like, but they’re not the point of this post.

I actually thought of this topic several days ago, but since it doesn’t exactly fit the direction I want to take A Better Way of Business right now I decided to wait to talk about it until today in the Friday Free Form.

I saw a discussion the other day in a forum where someone listed all the books he had read so far in 2011 (it’s the end of August as I type this). There were more than 50 books on the list! Most of the responders were amazed at the volume of books being consumed. Lots of questions were posted such as: “Which is the best?” “Which book do you recommend for topic xxx?” and “Could you recommend 1 or 2 for me since I don’t have as much time as you?”

My first thought was, “Holy crap! Is this guy gaining any useful knowledge from these books or just reading for fun???”

And I think this is a perfectly legitimate question. Especially since I used to do the exact same thing. In the past I was more concerned with the number of books I read then I was with what I had actually learned from the books. I would get excited because I had read four books in a month, but when it was all said and done I hadn’t really learned anything.

Sure, I could carry on a conversation about the books I’d read. At least for a month or two after I read them. But that was about it. I couldn’t point to any tangible action I had taken BECAUSE of the books I had read.

It’s not been until the last three months that I’ve decided the number of books I read is not really that important. NOW, what’s important is what I am APPLYING in my life from the books.

I’ve come to realize, if I pick a book up and it doesn’t VERY QUICKLY strike me as having anything I’m going to be applying in my life in the immediate future I put it down for another day.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m looking to take ACTION in my present state. I want to pick up a book and know that I’ll be able to apply what I’m learning today, if not today, by the end of the week.

So I’d like to share with you three books that I’ve recently read and that I’ve found are packed full of actionable items that I can apply IMMEDIATELY in my life (none of the links are affiliate links, they just take you to these AWESOME books!):

Become a Coach: Discover what it Takes to Turn Your Passions into Profits by Justin Lukasavige

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

25 answers to questions that if you apply you WILL be successful at coaching!

YOU are responsible for writing the story of your life!

The BEST book in people skills I’ve ever come across!

What do I want to help you accomplish?

August 19, 2011 in Friday Free Form, Purpose with 0 Comments

So I’ll be the first to tell you that A Better Way of Business IS and WILL BE a work in progress. I do NOT have everything figured out. I do not believe that ANYTHING about the business is static (unless you want to consider me to be static, b/c I physically intent on being here for the duration).

And I was thinking today, “What is it that I want to accomplish with this?” I thought this while I was replying to my first client. I was checking in on her progress to see how she’s carrying out the action steps we came up with after our first meeting (A TON of great ideas were generated, enough so she said she’d be busy for SIX MONTHS if she did everything we talked about!).

And as I was wrapping up the email I was thinking to myself, “What is it I’m trying to accomplish by sending this email?” “What do I want to get her to do?” “Am I pushing too hard?”

And probably another 20 questions similar to those ran through my head. And so I typed something. I think it subconsciously came out, because I’m not bright enough to come up with such a cool line.  I typed in the email: “I’m super excited about helping you and your business grow into your dreams.”

And that’s it. THAT is what I want to accomplish with A Better Way of Business! I want to do EVERYTHING I CAN to help you and your business grow into your dreams. I want you to see you can OBTAIN your dreams with your own business. And that business doesn’t have to be done “the same old way”, you can do it a better way.

Thinking about it, it makes so much sense to me. “You” because if you’re running your business YOU are EXTREMELY important to it. And you may need to personally grow in order to fulfill your dreams. Maybe you need to learn a new set of skills. Maybe you need to learn to delegate or outsource some other skills. Maybe you need to realize that your BUSINESS is not the only thing in your life and you need balance in all areas of life.

“Your business” because “business” is what I know. Particularly, I know accounting. I’ve got TONS of education and experience in it. And accounting has exposed me to ALL areas of business, from manufacturing to HR to marketing I’ve dealt with it all. I also have management skills, forecasting and budgeting skills, problem solving skills, trend spotting abilities, and others.

I CAN’T and WON’T tell you how to do the task that you so love and are skilled at that you started a business around it, but I CAN tell you how to take that skill and turn it into a viable BUSINESS that makes you money.

We all have dreams. And if you’re in business for yourself I hope it’s because it’s part of the LIFE you’ve been dreaming about.

I’m here to help you and your business grow into your dreams.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started. I want to see you accomplish your dreams!

Friday Free Form?

August 12, 2011 in Friday Free Form with 1 Comment

So I’m planning on making some changes here at A Better Way of Business’s blog in the immediate future and want you to be aware of what I’m thinking. I’m hoping the changes will improve this platform, from which I’m launching this business.

First, as the title suggests, I’m planning on having a Friday Free Form day each week. So what does this mean exactly? I’m not certain.

But here’s what I think it means. On Friday’s I’m going to be free to do whatever I want on the blog. Some days it might be personal. So I might tell you what I’m planning on doing over the weekend, or something that’s impacted Skye and I, or something Alexander did that’s gotten me really excited.

Some days I might review a book I’ve read that I want to tell you about, regardless of the topic.

It might be a day where I highlight a friends blog or business or efforts to make the world a better place.

It also means that I’m going to leave the form open as well. Maybe it will be just a regularly typed post, such as this one. Maybe I’ll link up an audio post so you can hear my angelic voice. Maybe I’ll link over to my YouTube account so you’ll hear my angelic voice and be able to watch me get excited, twitch in my seat, and use my hands too much while I talk (all of which I’m VERY prone to do while talking face to face).

Another big improvement I’ll be making is increasing my number of posts. For the past four weeks I have posted every Tuesday and Thursday, with the occasional weekend post. But I’ve found I have more to say than just two posts a week. I already have seven written posts that are waiting to be published. As well as NUMEROUS blog topics I’ve emailed myself (I’m averaging around five new topic ideas a day for the past several weeks).

That being said, I’m going to increase the number of weekly posts to five, Monday through Friday, four topics strictly geared towards showing you A Better Way of Business and a Friday Free Form post that may or may not talk about business.

Right now I’ll commit to five posts a week for the next four weeks. I want to give this new approach a decent length of time to make sure it’s going to work for me. I want to make sure I’m putting out quality content with the increased number of posts and not just fluff. I also want to make sure that I’m going to enjoy writing that much (writing is not a passion of mine, but I promise to give you the best I can).

And as a heads up, I don’t know HOW to do this yet, I will also be incorporating audio and video posts in the near future. HA! I guess I already covered that when I mentioned these “forms” above. Oh well. I have the tendency to repeat myself and say the same story over and over. It’s a quirk, but one I’m comfortable with.

So I hope you like the changes that are coming this way. And I hope my excitement is catching. BECAUSE I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE!!!