You can actually help people with this problem and other legal needs and earn a good living:
We have set a table for men and women with the entrepreneurial "URGE" where we can encourage and equip each other to change the world.
Proverbs 14:23 - "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."
In today's readings of Proverbs, one stands out to be as instructive in the matter of work and wealth.
It has to do with the value of hard work and it suggests that there is always profit in hard work.
It does not define that profit as always being a commission at the end of the day. in fact, the profit for today may be that step of character development that leads to the next level of skill that leads to eventual income.
The harvest, the sale, the royalty, or the commission may be off in the distance, but today's hard work is contributing to that pay off.
On the other hand, the fruit of mere talk is clearly defined as poverty - no money, no profit, no advance toward one's goals. Talk is good, but mere talk is fruitless. More than that, it is a thief, robbing us of precious time and draining our energy and enthusiasm.
Your assignment for today is to do something to advance toward your goals. Do something purposeful and intelligent. Don't wait for it to be the perfect something. Don't wait for a guaranteed and immediate payoff. Make an effort, the best you can with what you have and what you know right now. Be willing to make some mistakes and move forward.
There will be profit in it.
It pays well.
Some suggestions for doing SOMETHING today are:
1. S - Serve . if you can't thing of anything else to do, serve someone in some way. if you are in business, do something to serve your clients or customers. If you are in ministry, serve the people God has called you to shepherd. Do something unexpected and unprompted.
2. O - Out-perform yesterday's effort. Take it to the next step or level. Compete only with yourself and out-perform yourself.
3. M - Mean it. If you do something, do it with your heart. Guy Williams is a master. I sit in the back of a Starbucks - HIS Starbucks - and watch him talk to everyone within any proximity of him. He represents an extremely credible company with a dynamic product and a powerful business opportunity and he never sells. He just talks to people. as he says, "When it goes from your head to your heart, the rest is a slam dunk." He means it.
4. E - Expect something. Our proverb doesn't exactly tell us what to express in terms of profit, but it tells us to expect SOME SORT OF PROFIT. That is because it is a timeless law of God's universe. The universe did not create that law. God did and God enforces it. He rewards honest, purposeful effort and the positive attitude that believes His word on the matter to be true.
5 - T - Talk, but Temper Talk with Traction. Traction happens when we dig in and move our wheels across the surface. It requires some inner propulsion and intentionality, but there is no advantage to our endlessly gunning our engines to gear up for activity. Act and move.
6 - H - Hang out and Hang in. Your work will most likely involve "being there" where people are. Sometimes the first thing you need to do is put yourself in the right location. From that point, be open, available, and consistent. for much of what you want to accomplish, you will need to make friends over the long haul. Hang in there with your hanging out - but get out today and start hanging.
7 - Insist on your own activity, you are your own supervisor. No one else is going to make you do what needs to be done. accountability partners are helpful and running buddies are necessary encouragement, but there is no substitute for self-motivation. Take care of it. read what you need to read. Listen to enough of what pumps you up and then, when you still don't feel like doing something, do it any way. insist on it.
8 - N - Need what you are working for. Need it deeply. Find that place inside of you that longs for the fruit of your labors. Cultivate the need. Visualize the payoff. Keep it before you. Need it.
9 - GO for it! At some point you have read all the points and it is time to take action. go out and do so.
Do SOMETHING!
Read the entire article HERE and more encouragement at The Dream Factory. Also posted on my MySpace blog and at The Entrepreneur's Table .
(Fortune Magazine) -- In 1982, Chris Gardner was just another go-getter in the training program at Dean Witter's San Francisco office, making $1,000 a month. He was also homeless. Gardner couldn't afford both day care for his 20-month-old son, whom he was raising alone, and a place to live.
So for a year he and Chris Jr. slept where they could - cheap hotel rooms in West Oakland, a shelter at a church in the Tenderloin, under his office desk, even, on occasion, the bathroom at the Bay Area Rapid Transit MacArthur station. He remembered the words of his mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, another single parent, who grew up during the Depression outside Rayville, La., where slavery was still a living memory: "You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain't coming."
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So Gardner worked, making 200 calls a day to snag clients for Dean Witter. "Every time I picked up the phone," he recalls, "I knew I was getting closer to digging myself out of the hole." Within five years he had opened his own institutional brokerage firm in Chicago called Gardner Rich, which is still thriving today.
Then, in 2002, a story on local TV set in motion a series of events that will culminate this December, when a movie based on his life, "The Pursuit of Happyness", hits the theaters, with Will Smith playing the lead role.
For More Go to the Money/CNN article.Have you ever discovered that your zipper is down and wondered how long you had been parading around in this condition and why no one informed you?
They may have been too embarrassed.
The solution is to let you be embarrassed.
How do you navigate these sensitive situations? I had an article up here with a severely misspelled title for at least a week. I spelled "wealth" as "welath."no one said anything - or noticed - OR did they? I was embarrassed - but not much.
I misspell all the time, but usually not in a title.
Should someone have said something or would that have been nit picky?
I just finally saw "The Pursuit of Happiness" last night - at least I thought I did. Then I looked and it was spelled HAPPYness - just like a recurring scene from the movie where Chris Gardner is repeatedly annoyed at the misspelling on a wall in his neighborhood.
It is funny how little things keep us from focusing on the pursuit of the BIG things.
Ultimately, they did not stop Chris Gardner. See the movie and read the book if you are discouraged, thinking of giving up, or devastated by a zipper down after being in public for hours. Few people have had to overcome the challenges he faced on the road to success, but everyone has their own.
No one system of commerce has received as much enthusiasm on one sign and criticism on the other. I am a big supporter of the concept of network marketing for reasons I state below. However, it is important to factor in some questions when choosing to affiliate with one of the many fine network marketing companies available:
1. Is this a company YOU want to be associated with? Do they have the track record, integrity, management, and stability necessary to meet YOUR needs?
2. What organization and team will you be joining within the company? What is its training system like? Do you like and can you relate to the leaders? Are they supportive and helpful? Can they lead you to success?
3. Is the product needed, compelling, credible, and something you can be passionate about?
4. Are you willing to invest the time, effort, and money in my training and in the promotion of my business that it will take to succeed? Am you willing to take ownership of the responsibility for your own success?
5. Are you willing to grow, change, and be challenged? Can you take direction, criticism, and help?
6. Is the compensation system sound and is it something that rewards success and organizational growth?
7. Do you like people or are you willing to learn to like people?
8. Are you willing to put in one full year of effort before assessing success or failure?
* Network marketing is based upon a multiplication of influence model. A person becomes effective by leveraging time and influence and developing leaders.
* Network marketing is a way of helping people develop their fullest potential, to do what others say can't be done.* Network marketing helps people develop character. Unless there is character development, success is unlikely.
* Network marketing thrives is an atmosphere of integrity, honesty, and excellence. Since it utilizes word of mouth as its primary means of advertising, it is absolutely necessary to maintain a high regard for truth and quality.
* Network marketing rewards effort. It thrives on the law of sowing and reaping.
* Network marketing promotes personal growth, reading, education, and acquisition of new skills.
* Network marketing is an arena where people are valued and people skills are taught. Relationships are nurtured and cherished.
* Network marketing provides an opportunity for developing new relationships which are essential in any model of success.
* Network marketing promotes principles of good stewardship, generosity, and delayed gratification.
* Network marketing helps people get out of debt and promotes a healthy view of credit and debt.
* Network marketing teaches punctuality, reliability, and leadership, as well as other skills that are transferable to other areas of life.
* Network marketing provides a platform for successful people to reach vast audiences with their message.
* Network marketing teaches people to dream great dreams, to build faith, and to have hope.
* Network marketing helps people become financially free to support worthwhile causes.
* Network marketing helps people reach the place where they will not become financially dependent upon their children and society in their old age.
* Network marketing teaches respect, good etiquette, and consideration of others.
* Network marketing gives people back their times so that they can do the things with their lives that they were born to do, whether that is more time with family, service, or community work.
Attack of the mini-Googles! - Business 2.0, January 20, 2007 |
Subject-specific search engines are proliferating like mad. But the smartest, like Mobissimo, are following the lead of the master. |
How To Reap The Rewards Of Your Innovation - Forbes.com, January 17, 2007 |
A new book by two Boston Consulting Group gurus addresses the fundamental challenge of chasing new ideas. |
Will My New Business Ever Make Money? - Forbes.com, January 16, 2007 |
Prepare a break-even analysis before laying out on a complete business plan. Here's how. |
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Managing time with a home business | |
by Crown Financial Ministries | |
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Written by Mike Tucker
Vital signs help medical professionals assess the health of patients under their care. Vital signs are a quick and effective way of diagnosing a patient’s health. Assessing leaders in a local church is more difficult. How can church leaders know if they are leading their churches in a healthy way?
Vital Sign #1: Healthy Leaders Demonstrate Spiritual Vitality
Paul was a healthy leader because he was spiritually vibrant and alive. In Philippians 1:21 Paul stated: “For me, living in Christ and dying is gain.” Paul shared the secret to spiritual vitality: We must move from a self-directed life to a God-directed life. Ministry leadership in the church is not about us. It’s not about buildings, budgets, or baptisms – healthy leadership is all about God’s presence in our lives.
Paul’s’ leadership was rooted in healthy theology. His leadership was spiritually vibrant and alive because he had a healthy perspective. Because Paul surrendered all he had to Jesus he didn’t fear death. He was able to demonstrate courage regardless of circumstances. Paul’s example reminds us that spiritual vitality begins with surrender, gains a proper perspective, and is lived out in courage.
Vital Sign #2: Healthy Leaders Are Motivated by a Compelling Vision
Paul was consumed by a compelling vision. He understood his mission to share the gospel and nothing could stop him. Even being under house arrest couldn’t stop him. In Philippians 1:12 he shared: “How I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advancement of the gospel.” He shared the gospel with prison guards.
Healthy leaders are passionate and motivated by a compelling vision. Healthy leaders know who they are and what God wants them to do. Vision propels them forward. It’s always about tomorrow, never yesterday. Healthy leaders are “tomorrow people” – reaching, serving, and leading to grasp and obey the vision God has for them.
A compelling vision simplifies matters. It cuts through the fog of activity and takes hold of us. Healthy leaders with a compelling God-sized vision have no trouble getting up in the morning. They look forward to the ministry God has in store for them. Ministry isn’t a chore – it’s a calling.
Vital Sign #3: Healthy Leaders Commit to Ongoing Learning
In Philippians 3:10,12 Paul prayed, “ My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings…Not that I have already reached the goal…but I make every effort.” In this passage Paul stated that he wanted to know Jesus. He knew he has more to learn.
Healthy leaders look for regular opportunities to “sharpen the saw.” They are lifetime learners who continue to study and grow. Healthy leaders give time to learning new skills that enhance their ability to lead.
Vital Sign #4: Health Leaders Are Relationally Connected
Paul cherished his relationship with the believers at Philippi. In Philippians 1:3 he said, “I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you.” As a healthy leader Paul has established a partnership with this church. It was based on their common experience together. There are times when leaders must face loneliness, but leadership does not happen in isolation. Healthy leaders resist the temptation to push or pull. Healthy leaders are connected to those they lead.
Unhealthy leaders distance themselves from people. This leads to a lack of fellowship and accountability that can be fatal for a leader’s ministry. Unhealthy leaders let relational problems fester by refusing to deal with them. Repairing relationships is hard and exhausting work but absolutely essential for a healthy leader.
When leaders are vitally connected to others, there is accountability. Healthy leaders surround themselves with people who are willing to hold them accountable. Everyone in leadership needs those who love him or her enough to tell him or her when he or she has blown it. Without accountability, pride erodes our ability to lead.
Vital Sign # 5: Healthy Leaders Serve with a Sense of Divine Empowerment
In Philippians 4:13,19 Paul declared: “ I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me…And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Paul knew that the epicenter of his leadership was Jesus Christ. Paul knew that only when we are totally dependent on God and empowered by His Spirit are we genuinely sufficient.
Healthy leaders know that when their lives are linked with God’s purposes, we share in His resources. Healthy leaders give up their small ambitions because they know God will supply all they need to do His will. They look beyond themselves to see His grand purpose in their lives. And they stimulate others to join them in the greatest adventure of life – serving God and seeing His will unfold before them.
Consider your present ministry. How do you ministry vital signs compare with these of healthy leaders? Are there areas of your life and ministry in which you want to improve? Determine today how you can become a healthier ministry leader.
Use A Healthy Leadership Self-Examination Checklist to evaluate the evidence of healthy leadership in your life and ministry.
Mike Tucker serves as a LifeWay Church Consultant in Flower Mound, Texas.
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