Have Faith

The Apostle Paul writes in Hebrews that without faith it is impossible to please God. Dani Johnson writes that it is the lack of faith in one’s self that causes failure. Faith is more than just a religious expression, it is how we live our lives.

For the Entrepreneur, faith is an all important component. It is what let’s one know that success will be had. It is more than just leaping blindly from the ledge, it is in knowing that there is a place to land and it will be reached. Faith is that knowing.

Having constant failure in your business venture? Working very hard, but not seeing any results? Take a good step back and examine yourself. Do you believe you will have success or are you just wishing? Having the latter means you do not have faith. Success in business is not about winning the lottery. It is not dumb luck that a business grows and brings rewards to those who start. It is about faith.

Faith is the underlying support. Someone’s why is what drives them, what keeps them going. It is their faith that allows them to see success before it happens. It is their faith that cuts through all the murkiness. They have faith in their abilities. They know they have what it takes. They know they will be successful and realize their dreams. They have faith.

Work on your faith this week. Examine and meditate on how you truly see your abilities. Where you find lack, seek training and guidance. Build on small successes and increase your faith in yourself. After all, you are an Entrepreneur. You did start a business. You much have at least a mustard seed of faith in yourself to get that far. Grow it.

Be Potentially Kinetic

In Physics, there are two basic types of energy: potential and kinetic. Potential is energy not in use. It just sits there. Waiting for an opportunity, but really doing nothing. It is all there to be used. It has great possibilities. It could lead to something, but alas, it does not. Imagine a battery, full-charged and ready, but never used; an object held aloft, waiting to be let go, but never released. That is potential energy.

Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is energy in use. It is the roller coaster car moving about the track. It is the battery powering the radio. It is the fuel in the tank being pumped into the engine to make the vehicle move. It is taking full advantage of an opportunity. It is movement. It is useful.

Everyone possesses some level of each. Everyone has potential to be far more than they are. When there is no action, no attempt at movement, there is only potential. Opportunity knocks, but it is not answered. The potential energy never becomes kinetic.

Which are you? Are you all potential and far too scared to try to become kinetic? What is your fear? Will you let it win? Turn that fear into your own source of kinetic energy and succeed.

Not the Tea Party

The bloggisphere is all alight blaming the Tea Party for the downturn in the market. They pull out all manner of “facts” to support their suppositions, but they are not truthful with their information.

It’s Reagan’s mess

While it is correct Reagan promised balanced budgets in his campaigns, he was not able to fulfill it. His tax cuts sparked growth in the economy and when he left office 8 years later, revenues to the treasury were twice what they were when Carter left office. Detractors will quickly point out that Reagan raised taxes twice in those 8 years, but they are slow to recall that $2 in spending were to be cut from every $1 raised. The cuts never took place in a Democrat controlled Congress. Reagan also caused two government shutdowns to try to get a balanced budget. The such budgets ever left Congress for Reagan to sign.

Clinton Balanced the Budget

Candidate Clinton’s budget proposal was lauded by all manner of Keynesian economics in 1992. These are the same economics who are complaining about the S&P downgrade and the Tea Party.

Clinton gave the middle-class the largest tax increase in American history and budget deficits of $220 billion a year. This plus his wife’s attempted take over of 1/6 of the American economy lead to an electorate revolt that gave the Republicans control of Congress for the first time in decades. The Conservatives cut taxes and spending and balanced the budget. No longer invited to the elite parties in Washington, RINOs thanked Newt by throwing him under the bus and slowly losing power. These same RINOs now yell at the Tea Party.

Bush Spent the Surplus

Bush was chosen the Republican candidate over the objection of the Conservatives. A Social Democrat at heart, Bush was the embodiment of tax cut and spend life crazy. The growth during his Presidency was more a left-over of Reagan era policies than his own. The spending really ramped up the last two years of his Presidency when he finally had a Congress that would not oppose him. That is when the Democrats took full control back again.

Listen to tapes of the various talk radio shows during the Bush era and you will hear people pissed off. They were holding their collective noses voting for RINOs all around the country because the thought of total Marxism running unchecked was too great. The support for Fascism’s track of the Progressive ideals was nearly too much to swallow. This culminated in the Tea Party spawning after the 2008 election. No longer bound by some allegiance to a party, they found one another and grew.

The Real Blame

Lost in all the shatter is how much S&P agreed with the Tea Party. The cuts have to be real, not just some reduction in the rate of growth. No Democrat has proposed real cuts, his Holiness Obama included. Only the Tea Party backed bill sought to cut real spending and it died in the Senate at Harry Reid’s hands. America would not have defaulted, but the crowing from the Progressives was great and they had the People well scared. Yes, the Progressive share much of the blame, but they are not the root cause. They are but a symptom of the disease.

The late comedian George Carlin was heading in the right direction with his rant on the voters. Yes, the start of this whole mess is the public. Once Politicians realized that many voters’ had their votes for sale and the Supreme Court reversed 150 years of Constitutional precedent, the race over the cliff was on. Money was borrowed and borrowed to ensure the end was not reached while they were in office. This last bunch were caught out when the music stopped. The Progressive gravy train is over. It is up to the People of America to get out of this mess; not the Politicians, not the Government, but the People. The People have the power. Hopefully they will seek Freedom and Liberty and not shared misery through Tyranny.

“Two if by Tea” is good for America

Recently, Rush Limbaugh started his own line of tea. The brand is call “Two if by Tea” and is run by his with Kathryn. He says the tea is the best and the formula is well researched. Despite being only available on-line, it is selling well.

The broke 98% crowd hears this news and reacts in the most typical of fashion. Phrases such as “Doesn’t he have enough money?” and “More money for him” come out of their mouths. They are too broke and down on their own lives to see the bigger picture. Rush’s expansion into tea excellence is good for America.

The venture shows the entrepreneurial spirit. It is giving new jobs to some Americans. Rush has gone out of his way to make sure as much of the product comes from America and not overseas from some Chinese sweat shop. The ingredients, bottling and labeling are all high quality. The patriotic theme is more than a marketing stance. Think of it as all-American tea for all Americans.

Seeing the entrepreneurial spirit in action should be applauded, mattering not if you like Limbaugh or tea. Forget the taking head haters and look beyond his politics. Look at the employment of Americans without help from the government. It is in the entrepreneurial spirit where America will find release from the current economic malaise. It is the entrepreneurial spirit that help create, shape and drive America. It is the entrepreneurial spirit that made America great, not government spending and enslavement.

Celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit. Buy tea.

Focus on the solution

Bam! Failure! Bam! Failure! Plunk!

Failure comes to all. Failure is a part of growth. Failure happens. It is what you do with failure that is important. Failure only wins if you do not get back up and move forward again.

It is good to take ownership of the failure (the “buck stops here” principle), but do not dwell on it. Analysis what went wrong and then seek solutions. No, hunt down solutions like your life depends on it.

Finding solutions to failures and problems separates the 2% from the rest. They do not see failure as a negative. It is simply a way to eliminate a pathway, find a dead-end and an opportunity to start again. It shows them what does not work and points toward what does.

Solutions are what allow one to overcome obstacles. Concentrating on the problem and failure leads nowhere. Over analyzing the situation also leads nowhere. Knowing the cause of the problem is only helpful if it leads to a solution. Otherwise, it is a wasteful exercise or self-loathing.

Own the failure. Understand what went wrong. Own the all out creation of the solution and overcome.