Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it

SO many people I see and talk to lately have NO PASSION left in life… nothing to guide them, motivate them or drive them forward.

I heard this expression 15 plus years ago… and… it’s solid as a rock.  “find something you love…. and then find a way to make money with it.”

What are your passions?  Do you even remember?  When did you forget to dream?

I am passionate about life, business and helping people….. and the helping people part is a big piece of who I am… it is fulfilling like nothing I have ever experienced before… COMBINE that with making money and you have a dream job or life ahead of you... OF course there will be struggles… trials…. tribulations…. and road blocks…. but they are only there so YOU KNOW you are on the right path…. if you don’t encounter any hardships along the path to your passions….. YOU might not be on the right road…

Everyone I talk to lately is all caught up in the maze of life.  Which way do I turn? Which way do I go?  Can I find my way back to the start?  Should I go halfway down the left only to turn around and go right?  INDECISION is a business killer... THINK differently and GO OVER THE MAZE…

I always remind my friends, family, and business partners about the realities of getting into a business – any business…  All businesses go through ups and downs – all of them… People will let you down as well – partly because that’s what people do… and you know what I say to that?  Get over it….. fast!…  I have a challenge for you – Pick a business out of the phone book and ask them if they ever have problems?  If they don’t… we will be over there to buy it!!! Hahhahaha… the fact of the matter is… frustrations and problems are part of owning any business… It’s not what happens to you… It’s how you handle it….

Just remember – There are several stages of understanding and processing… .
People may not get it the first, second or third time.  Follow up &
attending events is key and it makes absolute business sense.
Did you buy your business the first time you heard about our company or would you buy any business the first time you heard about it? You might if you make decisions quickly – but a lot of people aren’t like that…

Frustrations….. ???  THE BEST PART IS – it’s worth it…. They are not kidding when they say … you are one away… what if it took you a year… 2 years… 5 years… to find that person and become financially free – financially independent?  Is that too long? Wouldn’t you like to JUST GO FOR IT?  Stop making excuses and just GO FOR IT – give it everything you got…. Then you would know… really know if you could do it… don’t let this be another thing you just tried … went half way… and… just tried….

Wouldn’t you like to be temporarily inconvenienced to become permanently free and lazy if you choose to be? Hahahaha… WOULND’T You though? I mean isn’t your job inconvenient? Aren’t you tired of all the garbage?  All the false promises?  Tired of taking orders? Wouldn’t it be great to do something else and create other income streams while helping other people?  Do what you love and make money at the same time? Maybe you aren’t tired enough….. maybe your WHY isn’t big enough??? THINK about it hard tonight…. really make a decision and go for it…

I TRULY believe you have to scrape your knees, bump your head… fall off the horse… get rejected…etc…. and… then…. You will appreciate your life and your business more…you will get and find your passion… Passion is key… Your WHY is key…. you will get stronger … those “no’s” in life and business are like lifting weights….. learn from your mistakes… do better… fail better… that’s right … fail better…. You can fail and learn how to do a better job…  IN CLOSING – Those frustrations are the calm before the financial storm!!! Go through them… wait them out….. you will find your pot of gold on the other side of the maze….. you are always 1-3 people away from your dreams!!!  IF YOU WANT TO DO MORE in LIFE – these are the things you must go through and you will enjoy the fruits of your labor!!! IT’S WORTH IT…

Great lesson—- A lady once hired a plumber to come and fix her sink. He walked right up to it, inspected it for a minute, tapped the pipe, turned a knob and the clog was fixed. He promptly handed the lady a bill after about 2 minutes of work. “$105! Why??? All you did was bang the pipe and turn a knob! I want a breakdown of why this is so expensive.” The lady exclaimed angrily. The plumber simply said, “It’s $5 for tapping the pipe and turning the knob. It’s $100 for knowing where to tap.”

I think in business and in life we sometimes forget the value of our genius, our efforts, our time spent learning and becoming experts in our fields. You obtain knowledge that others lack. You have been to the seminars, bought the books and spent the countless hours honing your skills.  Through trial and error you have figured it all out. That knowledge is years in the making – you spent your time, money and put your heart and soul on the line to obtain it. RIGHT???

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.

You shouldn’t cheapen that knowledge by losing sight of it’s true value. You were the one who spent years learning. You faced the countless trials and hardships to get there. You were the one that put everything on the line for that information.  Your experience is extremely valuable to someone who needs to get where you already are or for someone that wants to know what you know. I think sometimes we allow others to pick and prod our genius out of us. We allow them to take from us what we have spent years learning. LET ME BE CLEAR: I am not saying we shouldn’t help others get where they are trying to go. I am a firm believer that if you help enough people get what they want, then you will eventually get what you want. I believe professionals should exchange ideas and help one another. I just want you to be aware and guard your genius. I just want you to realize the value behind your knowledge when others don’t respect what you went through to obtain it.

Overnight success is usually around 7 years.  Overnight success is a myth… know one knows what it takes to get to where you are or where you want to be… that’s a journey YOU have to create and discover and survive.  Other people can not see the real value in your journey unless you prove to them HOW valuable it really is!

In the movie, “The Prestige” with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, and Scarlett Johansson — Christian Bale is a magician who is explaining the POWER of knowledge and the protection of your secrets. He explains how people will try to get those secrets out of you any way they can.  He explains how you have to hold that secret close to your heart.  “Once you give it away… people don’t need you anymore.  They got what they wanted and they will move on with your hard earned secrets and will treat you like dirt.” WHY? Because!!  Those people didn’t have to work for that wealth of knowledge… People don’t value your time and effort unless you make them…… and you can’t give it away so willingly.

Don’t cheapen your genius! KNOW what you know and know what it’s worth!!!

you decide to quit and curl up in a ball and cry

throw out those lemons and wish for limes to use in your Corona

Everyone out there thought I was going to say the whole lemonade thing… but I’m really not that optimistic.   I’m a reasonable pessimist in disguise.  You have to be these days… it’s the whole if you don’t stand for something… you will fall for anything… right?

I have talked to a lot of people lately whose lives seem to be one giant lemon right now… and it reminds me of something my best friend’s dad used to say – “It’s not what happens to ya that matters….. it’s all about how you handle it.”  That is really huge when you think about it… because life is all about ATTITUDE.

Life has a way of setting up road blocks and brick walls to get in our way and sometimes those obstacles are made of flesh… meaning people… Yes… people around you.  Sometimes… the lemons in your life ARE THE PEOPLE you surround yourself with on a daily basis.

I say… if you want to improve your life… get out there and improve the people you spend all your time with on a day to day basis.  Get around like minded people that want more from life— whether that is religion, money, success, love, etc… whatever you want… hang around with people that want what you want and you life will turn around magically…. it’s all about how you look at the things happening around you….

So, what the hell are ya gonna do with all those lemons?  I don’t know… make some lemonade… hahahaha

Have you ever seen someone so plagued by the past that it haunts their entire being? Where ….. the past has such a firm grip upon their soul that it takes control of their life? It’s like they are dragging this massive weight behind them, holding them back and keeping them from moving forward.

I am a firm believer that if you want to have a present or future, you must let go of the past.

The past is a double edged sword. It can be a great thing and a terrible thing. The past can give you experiences that can keep you from danger in the future and you should learn from them.  However, the past can also keep you from living a great and happy life. Have you ever dealt with someone who has had a terrible unhealthy relationship? The past can take control of their life and hurt all of their future relationships by making people pay for their X’s mistakes. We can be so worried about not letting the things that happened before, happen again —- that we forget to live the life we have right now. Before we know it, we can look up and it’s over. Don’t be the person that one day realizes they have wasted years of their life because the past has reign over them. It can be helpful, but it can also suck the life out of you.

Don’t let the past keep you from having a future. It’s your choice if you give the past power over you. Yours and yours alone. You have the choice to build yourself up again and move on, or let it drown you.  You can let the circumstances shape you or you can do the shaping.

It’s NOT what happens to you… but how you HANDLE it.

The University of Kentucky soars to all time highs today after frying up some Arkansas hog at a final score with Kentucky on top 101-70.  That’s 19-0 for the UK Wildcats and they are showing no sign of stopping !!

John Calipari is moving Kentucky up the ranks like bullet shot up into the air.  It’s amazing what he has done for this program in such a short period of time after Billy Gillespie – I like to say… after BG.  hahahaha.

After BG means good things ahead for this young and killer team of UK champions.  The SEC is on top as they often are and the conference couldn’t be any stronger.  March madness is a month away and Kentucky fans will be bleeding blue all over the country.

Very soon we will be launching a website that will be dedicated to all things UK basketball, complete with blogs, highlight reels, local sports and celebs, ESPN coverage, articles from newspapers and famous columnists, magazine spreads, endorsements, fan cam videos, major contests and prizes, happy hour specials for games, online stores etc —- stay tuned.  This town wont’ be the same again!

Here is an excerpt from ncaa.com about John Wall and I loved it… Stay tuned for more and thanks for reading.

John Wall – Kentucky
What can I say about John Wall that hasn’t already been said? The freshman point guard has garnered more attention than any other player in the nation, and rightfully so. He is averaging 17.1 points per game and dishes out 6.9 assists per night – which is third in the nation. He has been erratic at times, averaging over four turnovers a game, but lets remember, he is still a freshman.

His stats are impressive, but how he does it is even more impressive. A regular sight on SportsCenter, Wall is one of the nation’s top playmakers. He also shows more poise than any freshman should. In his first collegiate game, Wall hit a jumper in the final seconds to defeat Miami (Ohio). Against Connecticut on Dec. 9, he scored 12 of Kentucky’s last 15 points to earn a three-point victory. His free throws also iced victories over North Carolina and Auburn. Wall is a major reason Kentucky is the nation’s last unbeaten. FROM WWW.NCAA.COM

I hate saying it, but there are a lot of people that out there living a life to simply…… exist.  They just live to get by and get through the next day… while their dreams and lives remain unfulfilled.  For some reason that is enough for them. I truly believe that we should exist for a much bigger reason. We should have a great purpose deep down inside that MUST be filled. Our own individual thing to master, move and stake our claim. Not to just get to next week’s paycheck and “to get by.” I think life should mean more than that.  When we were kids… we didn’t want to just get by…. we wanted to RULE the world.  FIND YOUR “WHY” again!!!

I’m not saying that everyone should go out and build a massive company or do some incredible feat. Greatness can be defined in many ways. I don’t necessarily mean money either. Everyone should however have more of a purpose than to get to the next day. We shouldn’t be living for the weekend. We should work to find our why in life. Our purpose for what we are supposed to do on this planet. Have you ever asked yourself what your “why” is?

When you were little you had such grandiose dreams of great aspirations. We all wanted to be astronauts and were told to shoot for the stars. We thought we could do or become anything. Somehow along the way, many of us settled for mediocrity. We lost our why and haven’t acknowledged it since. We lost our passion and we settled when we could have soared.

What happened to those dreams of greatness? What happened to our “why”?  What’s your life about? What impact do you want to have on our world? How will your life be remembered by those around you? What would they say about your life after you are gone?

Find your “why” again. Don’t live your life asleep. Don’t be a walking zombie.  You don’t want to wake up one day and realize you lost “it” entirely.

You have a masterpiece inside you. One unlike anything that has ever been created, or ever will be. And remember: If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you. – Gordon Mackenzie

Look at the great innovations, revolutionary ideas or talent from our history and you will find one commonality: they were all discouraged or ridiculed in some form or another before they became a success. Not one had the red carpet rolled out for them with a parade of fans encouraging them to go on. They all faced opposition and were often attacked. (Ask any entrepreneur, they all have their “you’ll never be able to” story.) Why do people do this? Fear. Fear of uncertainty. Fear of change. Fear of the unknown. Fear of a shift in power or relationships with insecurities.  Fear.

Get used to it. People will fear our genius. Those who are our world’s creators, that bring forth new ideas and push the envelope with their talents or ideas need to realize that society fears them. Why? In my opinion, because they were too weak or mediocre to pursue their own talents. So they attack others in this messed up sense of justification to make them feel better about themselves.

The sad truth is that many walk away from ideas or talents simply because others have discouraged it. They are not strong enough in their own convictions to see the fear behind the discouragement. They can’t see the underlying envy and jealousy. Why would you walk away because of a silly reason like a little discouragement? If you succeed, that changes things with those around you. They either can change with it or stay the same. The balance of power changes, then in order to justify it in their own minds that they are ok where they are, they attack others. Whether they admit it or not, they downplay other’s talent because of their own selfish reasons.

Don’t sacrifice your talents and dreams simply because someone (who was mediocre in their own pursuits) disagreed with you or discouraged your passion. Do you think our history’s greats were worried about opinions of mediocre minds or efforts? No they were too concerned with what did matter: their creations on their path to greatness. Are you afraid of looking like a fool? What will really make you look foolish is if you become one of the attackers and start justifying yourself for where you are.

If we all waited around to get approval from people in life, nothing would ever get done. Unknown

“Some people are leaders vs. followers, some hunters vs. farmers, some creators vs. users. If you want to be a leader, hunter, creator, you must learn to be an individual. Let the followers, farmers and users join the collective.” MQ

That’s a life lesson within itself…. do what others aren’t willing to do in order to get what others can’t get.

About the movie – Dreamer… This is the story of a young girl and family who have been hit with hard times on a once great horse farm in Kentucky.  It’s about bringing a family together through rough patches in life.  It’s about an injured racehorse named Sonador and how that horse helps a family in every way possible.

I have another connection to this movie because I owned a small horse farm in Georgetown, Ky and was an extra and stand in on this production.  I had the pleasure of meeting Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell, Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Shue, Luis Guzman and Freddy Rodriguez in Lexington a week prior to the main shoot. If you watch the movie 26:45 in — I am Mike the trainer that takes the horse from Freddy on the track with Dakota sitting on the fence.  I am scattered throughout the film in other places but that’s the scene I remember the time.

Is this a big deal?  No… I just think its fun and I was able to meet everyone and actually talk to the actors / actresses.  If you ever have a chance to be a part of a movie… I think you would enjoy it.

If you haven’t seen the movie… rent it. Listen to the message… and go for it.

I received a phone call today from a competitor who pretended to be a prospect.  I of course — being me—– understood this right off the bat.  I played their game for a few minutes and when I didn’t give her what she wanted…. she got very upset and hung up on me…  I didn’t even realize I had been hung up on.  Again — me being me — I called back to a very upset woman who had been lying through out the whole conversation about her true intentions and how dare I call her back after calling me???  WOW….  What they don’t realize is …. I have good relationships with my clients and we take care of them.  We go above and beyond and do things that others won’t do. I highly recommend building quality relationships and becoming friends with clients… and clients becoming friends… it’s in my opinion…. THE only way to go.

It’s amazing what goes on out there.  The economy is bad and some people think they have to do dirty, underhanded things to succeed.  Guess what people??? You don’t.  Whatever happened to “Do unto others…. ” ?

When people don’t know what you are all about… the simplest emotion for them to feel is fear. The simplest thing they can do is talk negatively about you. 2010 – try to let go of the fear and rejoice in the success of others. -FB quote HAC

In the start of this new year…. be happy for others’ successes.  Do your own thing and create your own business.  There is plenty of it to go around if you just look hard enough.  (If you don’t know how — call me — I can help you with that.)