Today I received a phone call from a friend telling me that my kids school was in Lock Down. There had been reports of a man wearing a trench coat, carrying a gun, walking around the school grounds. Needless to say, I dropped what I was doing and headed to the school. I live about two blocks away and was there in no time.

My intent was to check my two girls out of school and bring them home. So I pulled into the parking lot, got out of my car and started walking towards the front doors of the school. About half way there I was approached by a police officer decked out in his tactical gear asking me what I was doing. I told him that I had heard about the guy with the gun and wanted to check my kids out of school. He informed me that they were not letting anyone in or out of the school until they could verify that the area was secure. My immediate reaction was to get angry and throw a fit. They were my kids and I wanted to check them out of school right then. Instead of putting on a scene, I knew that there were about 20 to 30 police officers surrounding the school, my kids were safe.

I simply asked, “Well how long will it take for you to verify that the area is secure?” He told me that it would take about 30 minutes to an hour. So I said, “Okay! I’ll be back in 30 minutes!”

I went home, just furious at the possibility that this could happen here, at my childrens school. If you are a parent you can imagine the thoughts that would be going through your head if this had happened to you. 30 minutes later I showed up at the school, I asked the same police officer if everything was secure and within a few minutes they made the decision to allow students to leave.

The principle was almost in tears. I was the first and only parent there to pick up my children. The second person there was a reporter from the local newspaper. The office wasn’t even getting flooded with phone calls yet. I checked my kids out of school and they are home with me now. That is the safest place for them to be, right here with me!

I can tell you this much, I am glad that I have chosen to work from home. Whether it’s a school play, swim lessons in the summer or a potential disaster at school, I am always there!

I am a stay at home Dad, and I am glad I am! Don’t ever get so caught up in your own life that you forget what is most important in the lives of those you love. It’s you!

Life is pretty simple really. When you break things down, it’s the simple things in life that truly make people happy. Time is a very simple thing, it exists all around us, yet hardly anybody has it. Those who do are hopefully grateful for it. Money is very simple as well. It is only worth the value given to it and is a tool used for leverage. You can’t build a house out of it, you can’t wear it or eat it. It is used for a greater purpose, to show value. The level of happiness in ones life directly depends on the simplicity of it, or the simple things in it.

It’s not only what you do but also how you do it that determines your level of happiness. And the thing that determines your level of happiness is your lifestyle. If you work more than you want, you’re unhappy. If you don’t make enough money, you’re unhappy. If you make a ton of money, yet have no time, you’re unhappy. You see, it’s what you do and how you do it that determines your level of happiness.

My role as a husband and a father is very black and white.

It’s the three P’s of fatherhood:

1. Provide
2. Preside
3. Protect

If I’m not fulfilling one of those three P’s, I am not happy because my family isn’t happy. There are fathers all around the world that barely see their families because of the way they decide to fulfill the three P’s. Fathers in the Military are shipped out for 6 months or more at a time. They do it to provide for their families. Fathers in corporate sales are shipped all over the country for their company being gone days and weeks at a time. They do this to provide for their families. Fathers and mothers leave their children in daycare to provide. All of these people are noble and responsible and are doing the best they know how. Leaving the home for long periods of time is the way they know, so they continue to choose that way.

Most people just don’t know how to provide for their families, without being absent all the time. There are ways, tons of ways for you, the working father and mother, to stay at home and make a great living. However it involves a choice to do it in a different way instead of the traditional way of leaving the home. Times have changed. Take advantage of what the world has to offer. The world has made it so easy for you to still fulfill the first of the three P’s, provide, while at home. I choose to work from home and by doing so, I am able to better fulfill the other two P’s by being completely present in the lives of those I care for most.

So you see, it’s just a choice really. Everyday you leave the home to provide for your family, you are choosing to do so. One day, when you are sick and tired of being gone, you will start to choose differently. You will choose to open your eyes to that “different” way of doing things. Once that happens, look forward to seeing your life through a brand new pair of eyes because it will be nothing like the life you know right now. That is, if you are still choosing to provide by being absent.

What do you consider most important:

• Making money OR
  
• Spending time with family

What is your answer? It’s pretty obvious right? Most people would say that spending time with family is most important and you know what…they are exactly right! That is more important, but, if you have no money, are you going to enjoy that time you spend with your family? Or are you going to even have that time to spend? Money isn’t everything right, but what is everything without it? What is your life like with money….and without it? Think about it a bit.

I will be straight up honest with all of you right now…I put money making above family time! Yes, you heard me right. I put making money above family time, but I have a good reason. Here it is…If I am not making money, I cannot fully enjoy my family time. If I can’t provide a good living for my family, while I am with them, I will be thinking of what a failure I have been to them. While with them in physical form, my mind will be somewhere else! My mind will be thinking about the money I am short that month or the bills coming up. So in reality, I am not even truly spending that time with them.

Time spent half-heartedly is time wasted! If you aren’t giving something all you’ve got, if you aren’t completely present, it would have been better if you weren’t there at all. If I am to truly enjoy my family, I must know that I have everything else in order. Given I don’t have to have billions of dollars coming in before I am comfortable. I just have to know that my short term future is immediately taken care of. For example, if I know that my rent or mortgage is coming up next week and I don’t have but fifty bucks in my bank account, my wheels are turning. Since I work from home, I have the freedom to choose my schedule right? So, if my kids get home from school and want to go catch bugs, it’s 2:30 in the afternoon, should I pick up and go catch bugs right then? I wouldn’t be able to truly enjoy that time with my kids because my mind is preoccupied with bills, so I would hold off until I feel I have accomplished all that I can with my work day. Then maybe when six o’clock rolls around, I can hang out with my kids. Now this is just an example but how true is it.

In order to be truly present in the lives of my family, I must make money. I must provide. That is my first and foremost responsibility to them. Once that is done, I can then devote all of my energy, authentically, to them. Family is always first in my mind, that’s why I make the choices I do. It’s to ensure that I will always be there. As a father who missed out on 8 month out of the first year of my oldest daughters life, I know what it’s like to have your child look up at you and not recognize who you are. It’s not something every father dreams about.

Money is a lifestyle tool. Make enough of it and you can live your life however you want to. That’s the important principle here. Now let’s make it happen!

Let’s scrap the dictionaries for today and define what Entrepreneurship is. I think it’s more of a concept or an idea rather than a thing or a status. It is an action word and something that does not revolve around everyone. It is a choice, a role and a journey all in one. It is the very concept that the American economy and several economies around the world thrive on and depend on for survival. It is the idea that will propel you, I and the rest of humanity toward a better financial future. It’s the backbone of all commerce. It’s the reason jobs exist.

Wrap your thoughts around this: Entrepreneurship is the process of making YOU better, more profitable and more capable. I love the fact that the word “process” is used here. Entrepreneurship is a process that involves taking risk, failing, succeeding, learning, growing, connecting, changing, consistency and many many more! You can’t just take a college course and say, “BAM, I am now an Entrepreneur. Now where’s my money?!” It doesn’t work that way and never will. A college education cannot teach you how to become a true Entrepreneur. Business ethics, economic education and other skills will only take you so far in the process. More is required.

Now allow me to get a little religious here without getting too religious. We all have heard the phrase, “Entrepreneur spirit!” When someone has the spirit of an Entrepreneur, it’s almost as if they are possessed, controlled and driven by some unseen force or power. They have that extra bounce in their step, their creative wheels are always turning and they live each day with more than average passion. They have a definite purpose.

The Entrepreneur spirit is the additional piece of the pie. It is the thing that an educational institute cannot teach. It’s kind of like a talent. In order to become better at that talent, you must use it and exercise it. Some are born with it, others aren’t.

Entrepreneurship is a process of taking an idea and changing it into an enterprise that will benefit OTHERS. The trick to making a fortune is to find a solution to a problem. Right!? Is it really that simple? Yes, it is. If someone wants to listen to music all day, the Entrepreneur makes the mp3 player. If someone needs shoes in Africa but can’t afford them, the Entrepreneur starts a business that can provide shoes for the needy. If someone is looking to change their lifestyle from struggling to flourishing, the Entrepreneur provides the income opportunity. Supply and Demand. I would think, for an Entrepreneur, it is reversed. Demand and Supply!

Entrepreneurship is the process of learning to be truly FREE! What does it mean to be “Truly” free? Does it mean to live in a country that allows you the right to do as you please, to come and go as you may? Does it mean the right to practice your choice of religion or exercise your right to freedom of speech? I live right here in the USA, the land of the free. Does that mean I am truly free?

Freedom, true freedom, is Entrepreneurship. No boss to govern you, no time restraints (unless you choose them), no requirements or outside dictators. It’s just simply you, your creativity, your ambition and your ability to choose for yourself the lifestyle you are to live today and tomorrow and the next day. Wake up in the morning because you want to, not because you have to. Entrepreneurship gives you the ability to create solutions, assist and inspire others and in turn, get rewarded for it.

Life in Entrepreneurship is a blank canvas. Most people would be terrified by it as they think of their lack of artistic ability, but the Entrepreneur in spirit is excited about it because that means he can do with it whatever he chooses. No coloring within the lines, no clashing colors and no defined picture. Just pure freedom.

When the sun goes down at the end of each day, I can say that I am living free. As the sun rises in the morning, it rises just for me. It gives me another today to create my day as I see fit! All in all, my worst day as an Entrepreneur is far better than my best day imaginable not as an entrepreneur. I can truly say, “I am Free!” Can you?

For the last several years, my wife Amy and I have been teaching ordinary people how to create success in a home based business. These people range from stay at home Moms to former military officers and all have one or both of these  common goals: Time Freedom or Financial Freedom. It seems that as people realize how much fun they are not having in their current lives, they start to look for alternate ways to provide them with a different kind of lifestyle. Most people, including you, want a change to take place in their financial life or their personal life. Most people have no idea what that change is, but they know they want it. Some people are very clear on what they want to change but have no idea how to do it.

This is where we come into the picture. We were at this same stage several years ago. I was in a job, knowing I didn’t want to be there, yet I didn’t know how to change it all. Hats off to my wife for finding the way to make that change occur. She discovered a simple system designed for people with zero experience in network marketing or internet advertising. It is a system designed to inspire change in people’s lives. It is a system created by visionaries who wanted that change to happen in their own lives and then in the lives of thousands of others as well.

The simple fact is, most people spend their entire lives just living day to day. They fail to plan for their future. They fail to plan for much of anything thinking they have a sense of security. Until one day, that security ends with a layoff or a dip in the economy and then what?

Why live your entire life enjoying the struggle when you have the ability to skip the struggle and just enjoy life. Time Freedom is reserved for those who step out of the ordinary. Financial Freedom is reserved for the ones who are willing to take a risk and stick their neck out on the line. To have both, it requires leverage. Leverage over your time!

That is simply all my wife and I do. We show you Leverage!

What is an Entrepreneur who is everywhere all at once without ever having to set foot outside his home? Wealthy! Wealthy with Time and Wealthy with Money!

I think it’s about time for you to learn how to walk the walk that most of the people you associate with everyday will never walk. It’s time for you to learn how to walk the path of Leverage!

Here’s a quick review of an RSS submission site at http://www.rsshugger.com. Instead of paying to get my site listed in on their site you can opt into posting a simple blog with a link back to their site. It’s a well designed website with an okay Alexa rating. The important thing is the link to your blog and the continually updated content there on their site. I think it will grow into something big in the near future. Check it out!

There are also many other sites out there you can submit your RSS feeds to that will increase your readership and rankings in the listings. I know this blog is mainly entrepreneurship and Personal Development, but look for a post in the near future with a list of sites to submit your RSS feed to.