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General

Side Hustles Are Not Just For Desk Jockeys

Person hard at work with computer and coffee

So I’m starting up a side hustle. It’s in stealth-mode right now, so I’m not going to reveal anything here right now. But in doing this side hustle, I realized something… side hustles are not just for desk jockeys who have 9 to 5 jobs. Even if you’re an entrepreneur, having a side hustle is a good thing.

Side hustles are great. Exploring other opportunities is healthy and keeps you on your toes. It allows you to iterate and improve your bottom line.

If you’ve ever started a side hustle, you know that you have to figure out the balance between the main hustle and the side hustle. This is the same for when you own your main hustle. In fact it’s even more important.

Do you have a side hustle?

Image Credit: Pexels

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General

Waking Up

Hand on alarm clock waking up

Waking up from bed is something we should all hope for every day. Because there are people who don’t. I know that was really profound (sarcasm).

But have you ever laid in bed not wanting to rise? It happens to me all the time. It’s probably because my bed is so comfortable.

Though once I rise I realize what a blessing it is that I’m up for another day.

I’m thankful for my son, though he drives me up a wall quite a bit. I’m thankful for my wife who puts up with both of us.

That alone makes waking up in the morning worth it.

The more I dive in to what’s worth waking up from slumber for, the more I realize how lucky I am. I own my own business, I have great colleagues and friends that surround me daily at Stacks, the co-working space where I hang my shingle.

What gets you up in the morning?

Photo Credit: Pexels

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General

Staying Sane As Life Picks Up

Meditating at Grand Canyon

It’s the new year. We’re all out of the holidays and ramping back up to regular life.

With this ramp up comes the shock to our system of first quarter busyness.

It’s during these busy times that we need to take a step back and breathe. Read a few pages in a good book or meditate.

If we don’t take care of ourselves we can help others who depend on us for various reasons.

How are you doing self care this year?

Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash

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General

New Year… Reflections… Already

Person looking at wall covered in paper and charts thinking

We’re just barely into the new year, about a week, and I feel like I need to reflect already on how the year is going.

In today’s hyper-connected world life moves fast… really fast. With this in mind, I’m feeling like I need to reflect on the the first days of the new year.

  • Politically, we’re in a tinderbox. I’ll leave it there.
  • Australia is in a literal tinderbox because of climate change (I feel so bad for all those people and animals).
  • Getting work started up after a holiday seems harder than usual. It seems as though lots of people are treading water these first few days. Hopefully the first FULL week of 2020 will invigorate people to start getting down to business.
  • My goals are starting off well. Still need to implement the gym, but over all I’m doing what I need to do to be present.

I’m beginning to think I’m nuts for trying to evaluate the year so soon. But I thought I’d give it a crack.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

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General

Glass Half Full?

plants in earth pots

The new decade is off to quite a start. If you’re not following the news you should be and I’ll leave it at that.

With all the craziness that is going on right now, you have a choice. You can choose to crawl into a hole and act like the sky is falling, which at times it certainly feels that way. You can think of the glass half empty and we’re all doomed.

Or

You can look at the craziness and see possibility. Even in the most depressing situations. Because if you’re reading this you’re still above ground and breathing air.

It’s not worth worrying and sweating stuff you have no control over. Get out there and do something and make a difference. Make an impact on something you can change.

Photo by Daniel Hjalmarsson on Unsplash

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General

New Year… New Decade… What’s Different

Happy New Year Sparkler

It’s now 2020. Happy New Year, Happy New Decade.

Now that we’re done with the holidays, hooray, how are we going to make this new year, new decade different?

The typical resolutions are probably made. And you might already be breaking them. But setting up goals for the year to meet are different. These goals can be really attainable or pie-in-the-sky goals. Regardless they are goals that you want to aim for.

Ultimately you don’t want to stay on the hamster wheel and just start a new year/decade doing the same stuff without some self-evaluation.

What are you doing to make things different this year/decade? I’d love to hear them.

Photo by Crazy nana on Unsplash

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General

Focus On The Things You Can Do

Sparkly 2020 on black

I started reading, a day early, the January 1st meditation in Ryan Holiday’s book The Daily Stoic. In the meditation he talks about focusing on things you can fix rather than things that are out of your control.

With the holidays, FINALLY, coming to an end, this is a good time to take stock in what things we can change going into not only a new year, but a new decade.

I’m not saying forget the past, absolutely not. But don’t harp on it and try and fix it, because you can’t.

Focus on the present and the future and make changes that will positively impact the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

Happy New Years Everyone! Let’s make 2020 and this new decade something we can be proud of.

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

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Parenthood

Being A Good Dad

Father and Son on hill silhouette

Being a good dad is tough. I’m only in control of myself. Which means that I need to influence a youngster to do what’s right without any control.

Being a dad is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but also the most challenging. Especially with my anxiety and ADHD. I worry a lot and stress about the small stuff quite a bit. Ultimately I need to remember that everything will workout okay and to roll with what life gives me.

My 7 year-old has a mind of his own, as he should. He is very headstrong and wants to be independent, but he also wants to know that I’m here if he needs me to help.

The trick is to give him just enough freedom to feel like he has some control over his life, but not too much where I and/or my wife can’t keep him safe.

When he was young (baby and toddler age) he needed me all the time. Then I was looking forward to these independent years. But now that we’re here, I miss him needing me.

Now I have to walk a tightrope of when to help him and when to leave him alone to do his own thing. I’m not going to lie, it’s tough — really tough.

All I can do is be here for him and help him on his journey. Try not to drive him crazy by being over bearing, but being present enough for him to know that I care and love him. Because I do, with all my heart.

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

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General

How To Nurture Your Network

two people networking collaborating

I’ve learned something. If you build your network right, your network is EVERYTHING in business.

They are a support group when things in business have you down, they are your cheerleaders when things are going well. They are a source of referrals and recommendations.

Cultivating a good rapport with your network is key to keeping it healthy. Nurture your relationships and show them you care. Share their posts. Comment on what they share. Think of them when you need services they provide. Start up a sharing pod in LinkedIn messages and invite them to join and share their posts.

Because in business, you’re nothing without your network.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Podcast

Episode 24 – Tomas Keenan – Unf*ck Your Business Interview

Tomas Keenan author of Unfuck Your Business

Monday, my co-host Shawn Swaim and I released Episode 24 of the Digital Marketing Dive podcast. On the show we had successful entrepreneur and author Tomas Keenan to talk about his new book Unf*ck Your Business.

It was more than 40 minutes of amazing business tips, knowledge into running a business and how to not make the same mistakes Tomas made when he started out as an entrepreneur.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.