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Have you lost that lovin’ feeling…

March 15, 2012 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Lost that lovin' feeling for your businessfor your business? Have the long nights, hard work, and lost hours taken their toll? They have for me.

About 4 months ago, I started my business, Book Worm Laser & Design. I was excited. It was the culmination of over 9 months worth of work, planning, blood, sweat, and tears. I had been posting consistently twice a week (and sometimes, 3+ times per week) on my personal blog, BlueCapra.com, since the end of August 2011. I woke up early, stayed up late, all in the name of business, marketing, content, and consistently. Then… poof.

It didn’t happen all at once, just a day or so here or there. The consistent 5 hours of sleep I was getting was getting to me. I was tired often, did not want to wake up an hour early to create before my day job. My creativity had began to falter.  I had lost that lovin’ feeling toward my business. I had burned out. I wondered to myself, was this the end my business and of all my progress, of all my hard work?

I doubt there has ever been an entrepreneur that did not get burnt out on the work they do. We put our lives into the businesses we build and sometimes, we push too far. We have lost sight of what we love about the business.  A break is needed, a time to step back and reevaluate things. We need to reboot. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: Book Worm Laser & Design, business, consistent, lost, work

The importance of hobbies

December 5, 2011 by Alan R 2 Comments

Hobbies are great. I tend to collect them.  I will often have an idea that I want to accomplish or a item I want to make that will steer me toward a new hobby or skill.  I have tried a variety of handcrafts including leatherworking, bladesmithing, woodturning, carving (wood, soap….. laser…..) and the ones I stuck with for more than a few minutes usually resulted in an end result I had been thinking about for months if not years.  So, what’s so important about a hobby?

You can’t work all the time. I know, I know…… everyone understands that they can’t work all the time but how many of you actually work all the time?  Not only that, how many of you do little else besides work, watch TV, and Facebook?  Now, I am not knocking work, TV, or Facebook, but if that is pretty much all you do, you need a life.  We all need a life filled with accomplishment (doing something, anything) rather than idle consumption (watching TV, mindlessly wandering the web, etc).  To me, that sense of accomplishment is found in either a hobby or work.

I want to work all the time. No wait, did I just say that?  What I meant to say is that I want to generate income as much of the time as I can.  I want to help people with my work.  I want to earn so much money I have trouble giving enough of it away.  But….. I want to enjoy my work.  In fact, I want to enjoy my job SO much that you not be able to tell if I am working or having fun.  I wan to wake up in the morning saying to myself “They pay me to do this?”  I want my hobby (or one of my hobbies….) to be at the center of my work.  How do I get started?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: business, hobby, passion, work

Turkey day and thanks giving

November 24, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Today is Thanksgiving.  Some are out shopping, some are working, some are spending time with loved ones.  It is a holiday for everyone to reflect on the good (and the bad) in our lives and be thankful.  After reading today’s blog post by Seth Godin, A great way to give thanks, I have a new perspective.

I believe everyone on Earth is hear for a reason.  It is important you figure out what that is.  Life is much more fulfilling when you are operating within your purpose.  I know my purpose in life, at least, I think I do.  I’m not sure if I will ever be 100% confident, but I feel I am headed in the right direction.  But for my life to have meaning, I have to apply my life purpose.  I have to use that purpose to do important things.  I need to take advantage of the privilages I have been given.

So today is Thanksgiving and we should all be “thanks giving” for what we have.  There is no better way to show your appreciation than to work within your purpose, to really take advantage of all those privileges, and to do important things.  If you are not doing that, what are you waiting for?  What is the world missing out on by you not fulfilling your purpose?  What could you accomplish if you were…

Filed Under: General Tagged With: purpose, Seth Godin, Thanksgiving, work

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Books I've Read

48 Days to the Work You Love
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error
How Doctors Think
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely
Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy
Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing: A Simple Battle Plan For Boosting Profits
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin To Munger
Multiple Streams of Internet Income: How Ordinary People Make Extraordinary Money Online
Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Build Your Own Wicked Wordpress Themes


Alan Reeves's favorite books »

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