Prologue
As I sit contemplating what I really want to do with my life, I cannot come up with a good answer.
I enjoy doing a lot of things. I want to travel. I want to be involved in my church. I want to go on missions trips. I want to coach my kids’ sports team. I want to play sports. I want be an inventor. I want to run my own business. I want to spend a lot of time with my family. I want to travel.
I want to do a lot of things.
My problem is that in order to do some of these things, I cannot do the other things as much as I want to – at least during the time I am focusing on one.
For example, I have met many business owners that do not have the time to coach their kids’ sports team or even spend much time with their kids. I do not want to be that guy.
You have probably met that guy. He’s the one that runs a successful company (or has a high paying j ob). He might even be on his third marriage. His kids love him, but they never really spend much time with him. Professionally, he is very successful, but most of the other areas of his life are lacking.
On the other hand, there are people that have a great family life. They get to spend a lot of time with their family, but they just have an average job
I am definitely not saying there is anything wrong with that.
I am also not saying that there is nobody out there that has a successful company/job and a great family life. There are plenty of people out there that do. However, I truly believe that they are in the minority.
Of course, everybody defines success differently. A job that one person thinks is average, another person may think is amazing. And, what one person thinks is a great relationship with his kids, another cannot figure out why his kids do not want to spend more time with him. I personally know people that have sold their very successful business, moved to sunny Florida, and have all the time (and a lot of money) to do what they want. However, now they are constantly giving their (grown) children money to make up for lost time spent with them. The kids may be happy with the money, but they would probably have preferred to have their parents around more when they were growing up.
It is a balancing act in which many people fail, including me.
I cannot count the number of business ideas that I have had. I honestly believe that most of them could make somebody very wealthy.
Of those that I have actually tried, I have stopped for one reason or another. I have sold some, I have closed some, I still run some, and some are currently set aside. I will also most likely purchase my dad’s painting business when he is ready to retire.
Most of the ones I have just stopped working on have been because of lack of time. My most recent business venture has been put on hold for that reason. I would go to work all day and come home and work a few hours in the evening. I was working so much that I did not feel like I had sufficient time with my family.
Sure, some people would tell me that I should have worked really hard for a few year (and possibly more), get the business to a point where other people could run it, and then sit back and enjoy life while I make a lot of money.
Who is to say that it would actually work out that way? And who is to say that I wouldn’t get so involved in the company that my family life started to suffer significantly?
Nobody can answer those questions. Personally, I would rather live in a shack with my family than a mansion without them.
I may pick that business up again in the future, but no matter what happens with that business, I can guarantee that I will pursue other business ventures.
When I graduated college, I really disliked reading. I read so much in college that I couldn’t stand to read anything for a while.
I finally got turned on to some motivational books, and I haven’t stopped reading since. Now I spend a lot of time reading all sorts of subjects. I read books, blogs, websites, etc. I love to read…and listen to audio books.
I would read about people that started a business from scratch and sold it for a few million dollars. I thought that was what I wanted to do.
Then I would read about somebody that sold everything they owned and traveled the world. I thought that would be cool. Maybe I could try that…or at least a variation of that with my family.
Then I would read about someone that has devoted their life to coaching and/or teaching kids. That sounds like it could be pretty cool. At least I would feel like my life had purpose.
After a lot of reading, business ideas and really deep thinking, I realized that what I really wanted in life was to be free to do whatever I want.
I want to be able to coach my kids’ sports teams, I want to travel, I want to volunteer at my church, and I want to run my current businesses and start new ones. I want to do it all.
When I read about someone doing something cool, I want to try it. My bucket list could be an entire book. Some of the things are really cool and some are boring but would make me feel really good.
When I was reading all the books, I noticed that a lot of them say the same things. They may say it differently, but the result is the same.
Somebody else has already written everything that I put in this book. There are entire books based on one chapter in my book. There are even books based on just a couple paragraphs in my book.
But after all of my reading, I have not found it all in one place. That is why I decided to write (or compile) this book.
I will cite more in this book than you are used to reading in other books. Why?
Because why should I attempt to rewrite something that someone else has said so well. As I said before, I see the same things written differently in multiple books. It seems as though authors are rewriting good material and calling it their own. They just put their own spin on it.
I would rather give credit where credit is due. As you will see, I personally wrote a fair amount of this book. I just do not see the point in rewriting good material, so I can call it mine. Plus, I do not feel as though I am a very good writer.
I would rather compile good information and fill in the gaps. I want you to get as much out of this book as possible.
I did not, however, purchase material and then put it in this book. Everything that I cite can be found for free. Enjoy!