Have you ever had a desire to assist other people in their Entrepreneurial ideas but never really knew how to do it? While surfing the net for Entrepreneurship communities, I stumbled across a site call Kiva.org. It is a social site that allows anyone to sign up and ask for or give loans of any size to specific individuals from all around the world.

The slogan for this website is “Kiva – Loans that change lives!”

Starting at the top left, you can click on “Lend” and are able to surf through thousands of people from around the globe who are looking for funding for their Entrepreneurial ideas. It tells you the amount they are attempting to raise and how much of it they have raised so far. Very cool! People are raising funds for call centers, cattle businesses, motorcycle transportation, retail, grocery stores and all kinds of things.

So if you have always wanted to contribute to the spirit of the Entrepreneur globally, this is a way to give. It doesn’t matter how much you give. Give what you want  and give to those who you specifically choose. That’s the beauty of it.

Check it out sometime! Kiva.org

It has been amazing to see the effect that our decision over four years ago to become entrepreneurs has had on our children. It has always been known that children are sponges! They soak up everything they hear, see and at times, touch. They are, with all of their individuality, a splitting image of who their parents are being. If Dad raises his voice at someone, they will in turn raise their voice at someone. If Mom and Dad fight, they will fight. On the flip side, if Mom and Dad are very loving and give lots of hugs, that will reflect in their children and if Mom and Dad are Entrepreneurs, guess what the kids want to be.

So yesterday, my daughter comes up to me just thrilled. She had been exploring in the back yard and had found some tadpoles floating around in a pool of water. So, being the kid she is, she scooped them all out and kept them as pets, until today. Today she has decided to sell her precious little swimmers for profit and has conned her sister into her scheme of making money! I love this!

Now, we don’t live on a very busy street at all, so my initial reaction was to tell her all that she did NOT have going for her and her little business. Before I spoke out my negativity, I caught myself. I was about to destroy my little girls enthusiasm about her idea. Shame on me and anyone else who does not encourage their children when they want to sell lemonade, cookies or tadpoles. This is the spirit of the entrepreneur and the back bone of the world. Encourage away and ASSIST in the process by giving suggestions. Never destroy! I think that if we as adults would sometimes act a little bit more like children, the world would be a very fun and prosperous place.

So far we are about 30 minutes into it and their profit margin is growing. They have sold a total of two tadpoles for a profit of $2, a bag of M&M’s and some chips from Grandma!

So if you would like to purchase yourself some tadpoles and are in Payson Arizona, swing by. The big ones are going fast!!

I just finished reading a book by Andy Andrews, one of my favorite authors called “Mastering the Seven Decisions.” If you have read his best seller “The Travelers Gift” then this one would be a great read for you. I don’t think I would read it before you have read “The Travelers Gift” as it does make references to it often.

Very good book. Both of them are! I can tell you what, “The Travelers Gift” changed my life. It completely served me. The Seven Decisions are powerful! Apply these seven principles into your life and try not to have success in all you do. It would be impossible. The Seven Decisions are:

1. The Responsible Decision
2. The Guided Decision
3. The Active Decision
4. The Certain Decision
5. The Joyful Decision
6. The Compassionate Decision
7. The Persistent Decision

I don’t want to spill the meat of either of these books to you if you are someone who has not yet read them, but I will tell you this: If you are someone who is sick of the mediocrity you have settled for in life, you deserve to read these books! Here’s a link for each of them in Amazon!

We have all heard of the people that say their biggest desire in life is to live “The Simple Life.” Not much responsibility, worry or care, just simply them and what they love the most. Out of all they have experienced in life, their truest desire is to live simple, to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world.  That’s the simple life!

Living the Simple Life

I think that living “the simple life” has different meanings for different people. I have personally had conversations with people that say their idea of a simple life is living like a hermit in the mountains without clocks, a schedule or even a wife. Just them, nature, maybe a dog and no where to be. The more common idea of living the simple life is to own a home in a suburb somewhere, have a few kids, a mortgage, a dog and a white picket fence.

I just asked my wife what her idea of a simple life would be and she said, “My idea of a simple life would be to live on the beach, in a hut with clothes made out of hemp, bathe in the ocean and just lay out all day!” I think her idea of the simple life wins the golden nugget for today! I wouldn’t think that hemp clothes would be that comfortable but obviously she is a beach bum at heart!

The word simple means, easy or not complicated. So the simple life is plainly a life that is easy, or not complicated. It is a life without much worry or stress, a life of simplicity. Although life can be complicated by nature, it is our choices that make it that way. We create our lifestyle. We either are the cause of our simple life or the cause of our miserable and complicated life.

My idea of the simple life involves a few key words. It involves financial freedom, so that the worries of bills, mortgages, rent, basic necessities of life, gas for my car or anything else that requires money will not be in my simple life. It involves complete time freedom. I mean the ability to choose for myself the schedule of the day, which is never set in stone and always subject to change. It involves service, the ability to give, teach and inspire those in need. It involves pursuing my hobbies and passions. It involves my family right along side me every step of the way.

That’s the simple life and in order to ensure that I have all those key elements in place, I have got to make key decisions right now that lead me closer to the simple life and the more I think about it, I am mostly there!

Know this, 9 out of 10 people who read this post will statistically NEVER reach their ideal lifestyle. They will never live their version of the simple life. Believe it or not but it’s true! Most people grow old wishing they had done things differently. They wish that had purchased that land or they wish they would have started that business. Your life can and will be just as you plan it to be if you choose to do so starting today. So tell me, are you hanging out with the nine……or are you the one?

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.