Book Review – Platform: Get Noticed In A Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

Posted on: May 21st, 2012 by Kimanzi No Comments

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest review by Joseph Lalonde,  who was born and raised in the great state of Michigan. Joseph has been married to his wonderful wife, Pamela, for the past seven years. He is passionate about helping others become the leader that they were born to be. He also enjoys helping people live richer and fuller lives by increasing their faith and giving them tools to improve their relationships. He does this through sharing the insights he gains from his experience as a youth leader, avid outdoorsman, and the adventures he takes every day. You can find Joseph at his blog or connect with him on Twitter

I was invited to be on Michael Hyatt’s launch team because I am a community leader at his blog. This allowed me to receive a copy of the book for review and discussion.

The value that is packed into this book is amazing. Your price of admission will be well worth the knowledge you’ll gain. Let me tell you about it.

Michael Hyatt

Who is Michael Hyatt?

Michael is the former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing. Currently he is one of the world’s top bloggers and Chairman of Thomas Nelson.

He’s also the author of three best-selling books, two eBooks on getting published as an author, speaker, and encourager.

Having built his blog from 110 unique visits a month to over 302,000 unique visitors a month, he knows something about building a platform. (more…)

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Creating Retirement Income

Posted on: May 18th, 2012 by Kimanzi 8 Comments

I had a post a few weeks ago about my past and the lack of sleep I got, I talked about the morning I almost crashed as a result of dozing off. I wish I could say that was the only time I’ve had a close call but there were several others.

A few years ago I purchased a motorcycle from a friend, it was a Yamaha R1 with a special racing motor. I didn’t realize how much power that bike had and how dangerous it was, I just really enjoyed to ride. The day I got it I was driving on a major Highway in our hometown, I decided I wanted to see how fast the bike could really go, so I punched it.

Before I even looked down at the speedometer I was going 115 mph (I’m dead serious) and it felt like I was flying. As I was driving along I was focused on watching out for cops, that would have been a huge ticket but as I was driving the wind really started to kick me all over the place. I started to get scared and had to slow down, as I was driving back home I had all kinds of thoughts rolling through my head.

First and foremost I thought of what would have happened if I hit something or dumped the bike: probably death. Then once I was thinking about death, I was thinking about my family and how they would survive, that thought was scarier then death. It really got me thinking about how stupid I was with some of the things I was doing and about what legacy I would leave behind.

The old ways don’t work anymore

Back before our economy got so messed up you could work for a company for forty years and retire with a nice pension and a nest egg, life was good back then. These days most people won’t last more than ten years at a company and pensions have become extinct, so we have to think about retirement in a different way, we have to find our own options. (more…)

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Book Review: The $100 Start Up by Chris Guillebeau (and your chance to win a copy)

Posted on: May 16th, 2012 by Kimanzi 12 Comments

I’m honored to be on the launch team for Chris Guillebeau and his new book. I received an advance copy and did a small review last week, here is the full review and your chance to win a copy of the book:

About Chris Guillebeau: http://chrisguillebeau.com/

Chris has been where a lot of us have started, working at a job that’s not our passion or calling. He worked third shift in a Fed Ex warehouse and realized he wanted more from life and his work. At this time was when eBay first started becoming known so he took some stuff he had and sold it there.

He saw how well it went but knew he would quickly run out of stuff so he looked into what he could buy and sell, the answer was Jamaican coffee. He sold that and was completely supported by it but knew he wanted more value from what he was doing. He read a story about a doctor who worked on a hospital ship in worn-torn countries and felt a calling, he signed up for a two-year stint but stayed for four years.

In Chris’ own words: “The best time to leave the best job in the world is right before you get cynical about the best job in the world”. He went on to write The Art of Non Conformity, a NY times best seller and has helped people everywhere find their own path.

 What the book is about: http://100startup.com/

The book is about finding value from your work and having the freedom from your work to do all the things that are important in your life. It takes stories from people literally all around the world, that maybe never thought about being entrepreneurs but through layoff’s and hard times were pushed into that role.

The stories are great because it’s people who started businesses with little to no money but with planning, hard work and hustle, found a way to make it work. They’re an inspiration to the average person because they are average people doing it in a way that we can follow. (more…)

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The Honeymoon Stage of Your Dreams

Posted on: May 14th, 2012 by Kimanzi 22 Comments

I remember the first moment I saw my wife, my heart literally skipped a beat. I was 17 years old and she was 19, we met while both of us were working at Burger King.

It didn’t start out too well though, she was transferred to the restaurant I worked at and had been working at for years, she came as a manager and I wasn’t. I had been working there for a little while so the store manager gave me some freedom and a little authority, both of which she didn’t think I deserved. It didn’t take long for us to butt heads and she tried to fire me, luckily for me the store manager really liked and respected my work ethic, so I kept my job!

It was crazy how we started out and ended up together, after she tried to fire me we were married 8 months later! If you’re married or even if you have dated, you know all about the honeymoon phase, it didn’t matter what happened, your love would get you through. We had a few rocky times at the beginning of our marriage but our love got us through.

Remembering that joy

Even though I didn’t sell very many books when my first book came out, I would tell anyone who listened that I was an author. I walked around on cloud nine and when I had my business cards made, I couldn’t sleep I was so excited. People would tell me I had a pipe dream but I didn’t listen, my love for my dream got me through. (more…)

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Maybe You Weren’t Ready

Posted on: May 11th, 2012 by Kimanzi 10 Comments

A few years ago I thought I was ready to move on from doing bread to do work that I love, kind of. A friend of mine owned a bread route and was looking to scale back his work load. We had it all worked out where he would drop the bread off and all I would do is drive to the stores in my car and put the bread up.

This was kind of moving on because I could wake up at more normal hours (6 a.m.) and wouldn’t have to deal with the delivering of the bread. It would cut my hours from 10 a day to 4 hours a day with only a small reduction in salary, it would have been a great arraignment. I was excited and thought I could use all that excess time to work on making my dreams a reality.

There’s a long story as to what happened but the short version is my friend ended up being forced out of the company and my opportunity went down the drain. For a long time after that I would use this as an excuse to not take action on my dreams and I would tell my story to anyone who would listen. Here is the truth of why it took so long to finally take actions on my dreams: I wasn’t ready!

 

Realizing the truth

Looking back at things now there was no way I could have transitioned, here’s why: (more…)

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The Power of Being Focused

Posted on: May 9th, 2012 by Kimanzi 14 Comments

I’ve had my CDL for the last twelve years, I got it when I worked for Pepsi Cola. During my time at Pepsi I would have to say I was an OK driver, there were a few minor incidents:

This is the kind of truck I drove

We had pumps for diesel in the yard, one morning I was filling the truck up and listening to music. I got a little too wrapped up in the music because I pulled away from the pumps but forget to take the pump out of the diesel tank of the truck, let’s just say there was a little mess.

One afternoon after delivering to a grocery store I drove away and decided to multi-task by also texting. I was reading a message when I pulled out right in front of someone, they slammed right into the side of the truck. It was a side bay truck, so there were parts of car bumper and cans of Mountain Dew everywhere.

One afternoon I had some time to kill before I was allowed back into the warehouse, luckily for me my parents lived five minutes from the warehouse. So I drove the truck to their house, I had to back the truck close to the curb. As I was backing up I heard someone down the street yell (not at me) but I looked, before I knew it I was backing the truck into their car. I think my parents were wondering if 18 was too old to spank.

You’re smart so I’m sure you notice a theme in all these stories: even when it was just a few seconds, the accidents happened when I lost focus. Whether you’re chasing your dreams, working at a job or operating a business, you can’t afford to lose focus.

You have to be honest about your focus

Sometimes we tell ourselves we’re completely focused on a goal or task when the truth is we’re not truly committed. For example: you want to open your dream business this year, that’s you’re main focus this year. However, you’re always going out to eat, you spend money buying the newest iPhone instead of saving or investing that money into your dream business. Are you really focused on your goal? (more…)

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A Must Read Book: The $100 Start Up By Chris Guillebeau

Posted on: May 8th, 2012 by Kimanzi 10 Comments

Note from Kimanzi: I am not an affiliate for this book or Chris Guillebeau, I don’t make a single dollar if you buy the book. I truly believe in the message and truly believe the book can help better your work and life.

Today is the release for the new book by Chris Guillebeau and I was honored to receive an advance copy. I can honestly tell you the book is good and more than that, it has a great and needed message. I will be doing a full review of the book next Wednesday but for now I wanted to tell you about Chris Guillebeau, why you should consider buying the book, and how it’s relevant to this blog.

Who is Chris Guillebeau? http://chrisguillebeau.com/

The reason that I believe that I connected with Chris and his writing so much is because he started as an “everyday working man”. He worked third shift in a Fed Ex warehouse and realized he wanted more from life and his work. At this time was when eBay first started becoming known so he took some stuff he had and sold it there.

He saw how well it went but knew he would quickly run out of stuff so he looked into what he could buy and sell, the answer was Jamaican coffee. He sold that and was completely supported by it but knew he wanted more value from what he was doing. He read a story about a doctor who worked on a hospital ship in worn-torn countries and felt a calling, he signed up for a two-year stint but stayed for four years.

In Chris’ own words: “The best time to leave the best job in the world is right before you get cynical about the best job in the world”. So he went on to finish college and started writing. He talks about how much he spent on college and how much he made writing, the writing had a far better result and lead to the value he was looking for. (more…)

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Sometimes It Takes A Death To Understand Life

Posted on: May 7th, 2012 by Kimanzi 18 Comments

“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord” It’s real easy to quote this verse in good times, but what about when you’re going through a loss? Do you really believe it?

On Saturday April 28, 2012 my father died, and it hurts so bad.

He was 54 years old, he died in his sleep from heart disease, none of our family had any idea how sick he really was.

Terence E. Constable born May 10, 1957 passed away April 28, 2012

When friends and family first heard the news they would ask me how I felt and I would give them a standard response: we weren’t close. I thought I knew how I felt and what it would be like at the funeral, but the moment I walked in to the funeral parlour this past Thursday night and saw the pictures of my father…… everything I felt went out the window.

My parents divorced when my brother and I were young and there were some hard things from the past that we had to deal with. It was because of those things that I harboured bitterness in my heart towards him for many years. For the longest time I just didn’t think about him, I went on with my life as though I didn’t have a father, and he went through some things of his own.

A few years ago he started to get his life together and he tried to reach out and mend the relationship, every time he would call I shut him down right away. I had so much bitterness and told myself he was getting what he deserved, after several attempts I started to ease up and give him a few minutes at a time. (more…)

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A Must Have In Chasing Your Dreams: Determination

Posted on: May 4th, 2012 by Kimanzi 14 Comments

You can see my friend

While in New York a few weeks ago, my friend and I wanted to visit Ground Zero and see the memorial, with the conference letting out at 10 p.m. it had to be a late night trip. First, we had to figure out which subway line to take to get there, it really doesn’t take long to get to anywhere in New York once you figure out the right lines.

We got some help and where on our way, by the time we figured things out and got there it was 11 p.m. The thing that everyone we asked failed to mention was that the memorial is only open when the financial districts are open (as you know it’s in the middle of wall Street), from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

I was ready to snap a couple of pictures of what we could and go back to the hotel but my friend was determined, in his words: “we didn’t come all this way to give up now”. We could see the new building they’re putting by the site and the whole area is blocked off for construction, my friend looked and saw a Hilton hotel overlooking the memorial, so he proposed we get in the hotel, take the elevator to a high floor and take pictures from a lobby window.

We took the elevator to the 33rd floor got out and ran into rooms, you had to be inside a room to see a view of the memorial, again I was ready to quit. He found another hidden stairway and we took it a few floors up and found another elevator, we took that to the 55th floor. When we got out we knew we were out-of-place, the whole floor was marble and really nice, when we looked at the rooms they said this on the door: “Mayor’s Suite and Governor’s suite and President’s suite” we quickly realized we were completely out-of-place (it was good we weren’t tackled by security). It was pointless still because the view from the site was still inside the rooms and we weren’t going to knock on any doors. (more…)

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Show Me Your Friends And I Will Show You Your Future

Posted on: May 2nd, 2012 by Kimanzi 26 Comments

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest post (my very first guest post!) by TC Avey, who is a conservative blogger who posts on current events, religion, and politics on her blog here you can also follow her on twitter here. If you would like to guest post on my blog, email a post to Kimanzi@talesofwork.com and I’ll give it a read!

Have you ever heard the saying, “Show me your friends and I will show you your future?”

I have and over the years I have come to realize, that for the most part, it is true.

Who I surround myself with helps define my goals and path.

What about you, do you believe this to be true?

I’m not talking about people you HAVE to be around, like co-workers or family. I’m talking about who you chose to spend your free time with, those you call ‘friends’.

What are their goals? Where are they going in life? Is that where you want to go?

Let’s take this one step farther:

Show me your mentors and I will show you your future. (more…)

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