Free Agent Underground

What justifies waiting?

So...if you feel 'called' to do or achieve something in and for your life, what justifies putting it off? Examples:

• You feel you aren't giving adequate time to your family/kids, OR
• You don't see much opportunity for increasing your income in your current vocation and fear finances as you get older, OR
• Your mind is often consumed with a mission/ministry/service you know you could/should provide, OR
• You know that in your current life you are slowly becoming more numb and discouraged and despairing (depressed?) due to negative circumstances or purposelessness, OR
• You have no time to have balance and health in your life, etc…
• Your personal confidence and belief is just...shot.

If the word 'called' doesn't resonate, then replace it with whatever word works for you, such as 'burdened' or 'impassioned.' The point being that every morning and all day, there is a cloud over your life that the present circumstances are not OK. They can't go on forever. You're not content.

And let me make the point that there are MANY, MANY people leading inconsequential lives who do NOT feel much pain as a result. They haven't, and maybe never will be, awakened to more. They'll never serve others or impact another person. They'll just exist, like packing peanuts (filler) in a gift box. You aren't them, for better or worse.

If you aren't actively doing something to change things however, why? Seriously. What is honestly a reasonable justification to put things off? What goes through your head? I'll do it when…
- Kids are older,
- Job is more secure,
- I have enough money set aside or get out of debt,
- Just till things calm down some,

What else, or what do you think about putting off and delaying important things?

Read more further down below:

---

I posted this discussion on Facebook and talked over the comments in the Free Agent Underground Show. You can read some really inciteful comments here:

• Facebook discussion page comments
• More Facebook replies

And listen to the show here:

Right-click to download

Leave a review in iTunes

Free Agent Underground Show - "What justifies waiting?"

 

More Free Agent Underground podcasts

 

---

In the show I shared about how Dave Ramsey built his business while still working out of debt. Dan Miller did the same with 48 Days. If those guys had waited till they had all their ducks in a row, we wouldn't have all benefited from what they felt convicted to do.

My story is very much the same. I'm just nearing the end of the hole I dug for myself with past business and financial failures. I'm grateful I didn't wait, as my kids are getting older fast and the lifestyle that I felt convicted to provide for them...is now or never.

Is this a call to throw caution to the wind, not count the costs, risk everything and go after your dreams?

NO.

Have caution. Count the costs. Seek counsel. Repeat.

But going after what you you truly believe is best WILL have risks. It WILL be overwhelming. It WILL take much sacrifice. You WILL work harder than every before. The only way to avoid those realities is to do...nothing. Try to stay safe and under the radar.

Do you really think life will subside and the time will ever be right?

Discussing "What if God told you to be self-employed"

Today I discussed the blog that got so many great comments, "What if God told you to be self-employed?" I gave the primary concept of the post, read some of the comments, and answered questions and comments from the live audience. Some bullet points:

• Your responsibility is to discover what your calling is and go after it, not just give full focus to maintaining or increasing your current status of living,
• Do you discount your decisions if there is hardship?
• The best way to discern the validity of your decisions is to have wise counsel,
• Do you have full confirmation and assurance that being where you are now…staying where you are now…is God's will?

Enjoy,
Kevin

Right-click to download

Leave a review in iTunes

Free Agent Underground Show - "What if God told you to be self-employed"

 

More Free Agent Underground podcasts

What if God told you to be self-employed?

Imagine if you would, a knock on your door one day. As you approach, the light shines from outside. You open, and behold…Jesus Christ in the flesh is on your doorstep.

And He says, "My dear child, I have a path for you, and it's free from the shackles of a job that demands it must be your priority. I have a calling for you that you must take on and build and lead. So yes, the desire I've been building in your heart for something more, and the distaste and pain you have for your current circumstances…are my doing. Now go forth."

The point here is having certainty and dealing with the faith or lack thereof that we have in our own desires and decisions. Most of us pursue what we understand and what is expected of us:

• Children of doctors and lawyers often become doctors and lawyers
• Children of parents who worked 30 years at a factory generally end up working in a similar type of job
• Children of athletes or celebrities generally pursue that
• Children of entrepreneurs often pursue self-employment (this is me)

Do you see that? It's not an issue of IQ or brilliance or luck or odds, but of mere exposure.

Most of you reading here, are children of parents who worked at jobs. And we're in a society where this is the cultural norm. Familiarity and expectation rule!

But now back to the opening analogy here. Wouldn't you love to have that bold faced confirmation of the desires in your heart or the pain in your soul? A stone tablet of ten commandments from the sky?

You're probably NOT going to get that. But if you did, what else can we assume will still happen:

• You'd still have hardship and trial
• You'd probably have an overwhelming, seemingly fatal reality to deter you (think Moses and the Red Sea and no food and no water)
• You'd encounter risk
• You would make bad decisions and choices along the way
• You'd be persecuted for what you believed you should do

We instinctively and inherently expect that if God (or anyone we esteem) confirms a decision we are contemplating, that things should just 'work out.'

They don't. For you believers, go read your Bible and find anyone that God called who just had easy sailing. In truth, if we pay attention to those who DID answer God's call, it scares us. Easier to stay put and accept what the world says...work all day, pay your bills, stay safe, stay under the radar and...exist.

The fact that you have pain in your circumstances, and desires in your heart…demand that you pay attention to them.

Most of your fears and concerns about addressing the pains and/or desires you feel are based around how it may affect your comfort and security. Be honest.

Letting that rule is letting our culture be your God. Jesus Christ (or any leader of historical worth if you believe otherwise) said be responsible about your duties here on earth. I don't want anyone quitting their job, defaulting on their bills and harming their family. God has specific callings for His people that has little to do with avoiding risk, and everything to do with fulfilling His purpose.

Which just leaves the question to you. Do you believe you are right where you're supposed to be, living purposefully and intentionally and paying attention to the stirrings within you? If not, quit finding reasons to stay put. That...will never end. Nothing and no one will show up on your doorstep and give you all the confirmation and confidence and certainty you'd like to have.

And if you are quick to question those 'stirrings', the way to filter their merit is through other people. Not people with agendas and biases toward you either. Think 'mentors' and not 'family.' Wise counsel is Biblical wisdom, and even cultural wisdom. No man is an island unto himself.

I should know. I tried and drowned. Thank goodness for resurrection.

Your thoughts?

You'll have to sacrifice good for great

Your life has been going along and you've made it as GOOD as you've been able to, up to this point. Though if you were satisfied to just maintain status quo and coast till you die, you wouldn't be here.

You're reading this, because you desire better than just GOOD:

• If given the choice, do you want to see a GOOD movie, or a GREAT! movie?
• At Thanksgiving, was your goal to simply have a GOOD meal and a GOOD time, or did you cook and prepare (drive a long way) with the intent to have a GREAT! meal and a GREAT! visit with loved ones?
• When you hire someone to work on your house or car or teeth, are you hoping they do a GOOD job, or a GREAT! job?
• When you die are you hoping a few people will be at the funeral because you were a pretty GOOD person, or do you want the place full of people there who will sorely miss you because you were a GREAT! impact on their lives?

I have 7 children that will all grow up and probably become parents themselves, and when they realize the immense role that being a parent is, they'll fully be hit with who and what I was as a parent. If they deem I was just "pretty GOOD," I'll be devastated. I want to be GREAT! Not for me, it's what I owe them!

Thus I'm assuming you desire to do truly GREAT! things. To have work and a lifestyle and an impact on your friends, family and world that would be deemed in as GREAT! on many levels.

So your life. If you have a fairly GOOD pattern now, the only way to get to GREAT! is to give up some of the GOOD. Examples:

• Taking my kids to soccer and baseball and dance and every extracurricular activity thrust at them or that they are interested would entail some GOOD things for them. But giving up those GOOD things gives time for us to be together and build relationship and have experiences, teaching and training and loving that are GREAT!
• Same for me; volunteering with the church to feed the homeless, going to the couples dinner gathering, serving on the board of a non-profit…would all be GOOD things. But giving those up to create something from my heart that will inspire me, inspire others and serve humanity, is GREAT!
• Doing house maintenance, catching up on emails, de stressing with a movie, partaking in a hobby are all GOOD. Giving them up to consistently exercise and increase my vitality, energy and good health that will add on years to my life and increase my overall quality of life is GREAT!

Those are just a small sampling of my examples. For you, list out the many, many things that you see as GOOD in your life. Really, good things. Nice things. Fairly worthy things. You will have to let some of them go for the sake of creating and building something truly…GREAT!

I see folks everyday who continually put off the GREAT! things they feel in their heart, as they can't find time amongst all the GOOD. I naturally do it too. Even the GREAT! things I want to do, are hard. And my flesh will look everywhere for distractions and time goes by and…nothing. When I hunker down and discipline myself and shut out all the GOOD things, I create GREAT! things.

If I had to list out the GOOD things I gave up in order to build our dream house before we could afford it in any way, it would be a long list. If I had to list out all the GOOD things that I would have had if I'd taken a healthy 6-figure position with a marketing firm, instead of pursuing my heart into creating a business that is GREAT! in my life, my family's and according to my members and audience…to them, I'd be writing a long time.

It's hard, I understand. It was, and continues to be for me. As a husband, parent, business owner, speaker, leader, servant…

The GOOD things are easier. The GOOD view from my house takes me 2.5 minutes to walk to. The GREAT! view is a 20 minute, arduous run. A GOOD marriage in all honesty, would be so much easier. Striving for a great marriage with my Teri is dadgum hard. Risky, scary, painful. But what's the alternative? To give in to the resistance? Just settle for GOOD? That's not acceptable, even though this world is hell bent on enabling us and convincing us that GOOD…is GOOD enough. Being GREAT! is foolish. "Just stay on your couch and numb and medicate yourself by watching mere stories of greatness, as your soul yearns for GREAT!ness so badly you can't fully deny yourself of tasting it, even as a spectator.

Now the Lord said to Abram:
"I will make you a GREAT! nation; I will bless you and make your name GREAT!; And you shall be a blessing."
Genisis 12:2

Traditional employment will be easier. Paying your bills, building up some savings, buying a house…is GOOD. Discovering your heart, pouring yourself into what inspires you, creating wealth that you can give away and owning your work so you can direct your life will pay off in GREAT!, GREAT! things.

What GOOD things are keeping you from the GREAT! things gnawing at your soul? There will always be a reason to put if off. Are you putting off GREAT! things so you can have a GOOD Christmas? You'll have to start now if you're going to make it in time for Christmas 2011 to be…GREAT!

Don't wait. Let's go.

*I've lined up students for Jan/Feb/Mar in my '90-Day MFA' (Master of Free Agency) program, but still have openings for December. If not even Christmas shopping and stress and expenditures can come between you and starting your quest for GREAT!, you can apply here: 90-Day MFA info page  

 

Pictured above: The GREAT! Pike's Peak view from Manitou Lake during our morning walk at the Oct. 2010 Free Agent Academy Intensive event, taken by FAA Host, Alan Jackson.

Why you don't really feel thankful

Rule number one in writing, don't lead off with negative headlines. Well, if I was a rule follower, you wouldn't be reading this anyway. So here goes…



The Point of This Post: You're not really thankful on this Thanksgiving. But you can be next year. I'll tell you how.

Thanksgiving is in two days, and the truth of the matter is…we don't naturally feel thankful. Sure, if we step back and count our blessings, we'll cite stuff like, "I'm grateful for my spouse, my kids, my health (if you're healthy), my job (even if I hate it, it at least pays me), etc…"

But that's not really feeling 'thankful.' Not in the sense it's intended to be. Think about it, there is an entire day, the 2nd most popular and participated day of the year, set aside because some folks long, long ago felt so dang thankful they just couldn't contain themselves!

So let's put it into that context. What are you so immensely thankful for that you can't contain yourself?

Unlike possibly any Thanksgiving message you've ever read, I'm going to suggest that you DO NOT look at what you have, and manifest exaggerated joy for it. What if the reality is that there isn't much for you to feel that dramatically grateful for?

Go with me a minute…I'll redeem this downer.

Great, authentic thankfulness ultimately comes from knowing great pain and hardship and challenge and lack…and surviving it. Even more, overcoming it.

Life as we know it today, is completely aimed at ridding ourselves of any:

• Pain
• Hardship
• Challenge
• Lack

I'm not dissing the great wealth and amenities we have as 20th century westerners. I own every amenity you have. I'm not about to give them up either!

But the reality is that our basic day to day existence dwells on affording what we have or getting more. And we pretty much all have everything that the ultra rich have. We lack for nothing. They may have a big house, but we have a house too. They may have a Ferrari, but we have a car. They may have 15 bathrooms, but we have two. They may have a $10,000 watch, but we have one that tells the correct time for years on end.

Consumerism is built on making sure there is no single, solitary item that we cannot afford and possess. We may have a bit cheaper model, but we have one. Makes me think of dishwashers. I know folks with a $1,000 Bosch that can clean concrete off your dishes and do it without a sound. I have two cheap dishwashers that sound like a 747 taking off, and if you haven't nearly cleaned the dishes to perfection, there will be food on them afterwards. But geez, we have two. Literally, dual dishwashers.

I digress…

So, we as a society don't lack for much. We have little to fear or desire or struggle with. We have clothe's, homes, cars, running water, medicines, safety from danger. We appreciate it if we have to, but heck, everybody has all those things. Big whoop. It's expected and we feel entitled to it.

Here is the kicker. A few days ago I posted a blog about the legacy of my free agent Grandpa - A true free agent legacy, Ray Miller 1913-2010.  I got about as many comments as I've ever received on that post. If you didn't read the blog, you should at least read the comments, as they contain great wisdom and insight.

One of them was from Jason Garey, someone I've never communicated with before, he's a subscriber I assume. He referenced his two Grandfathers, who also lived into their 90s. He said, and I quote, "Both men took little for granted and, in the end, wisely understood that faith, family and freedom were, above all, the most important things in life."

I'm not going to focus on taking things for granted. Instead, let's look at faith, family and freedom. If in this next year you made those three things your priority focus, literally, instead of maintaining what you have or working to afford more, you WILL encounter:

• Pain
• Hardship
• Challenge
• Lack

- If you live out and speak and endeavor to share your faith,
- If you in truth make the priority of your time and attention your family,
- If you place the highest premium and value the reality of owning your life and having true and real freedom...

...you will no doubt, realize:

• Pain
• Hardship
• Challenge
• Lack

And as a result, as you cope and strive and overcome in your own, true ADVENTURE - you will feel, possibly for the first time, genuine, heartfelt, uncontainable THANKFULNESS.

I'll end with a question:

Do you believe that in the workplace today (traditional employment), companies and stockholders and employers…have in their mission statements, to ensure that YOUR personal faith, family and freedoms come first? Or second, or fifteenth?

Want to have an unprecedented Thanksgiving in 2011? Make the pursuit of faith, family and freedom as your top priorities a resolute commitment. And start by endeavoring to own your life. To own your time. To own your work. To be free to place your faith and family first. You'll start living a true adventure, and you'll find true…thankfulness.

I raise my eggnog and spiced rum to you this Thanksgiving!

Cheers, and a blessed Thanksgiving to you,
The Free Agent Family of Kevin, Teri, Caleb, Autumn, Eliza, Ian, Canyon, Serene & Nekoda Miller

You're missing half the self-employment equation

If I could give one, overall message to would-be free agents…those that want to accept the call and responsibility of self-employment... If I could tell you why relatively few people actually do it… this would be the core message:

Your success won't come as a result of a great idea or opportunity or 'secret' business strategy or revolutionary marketing technique, social media, a great business plan or…one all-knowing expert. It won't come from anything like what you see in 99.9% of the sea of media on self-employment.

All the nuts and bolts of self-employment are mere ingredients. The bowl you mix them in, and the pan you bake them in…is YOU. And the spatula and spoon and mixer and ancillary utensils are…other people to help and guide you.

That's it. YOU are the key. The hope and the problem. So here is a new statistic that I'm authoring:

Successful self-employment is 50% idea development, business strategy and know-how...and 50% personal development.

That's not very profound, but the world is missing it. Everyone wants to be a free agent, but they are missing half the equation.

I'll stand behind that statistic and statement; debate it, argue it and fight for it. I've walked with more free agents than nearly anyone I've known. Read that again…I've 'walked with.' That is very different than I've spoken to or written to. Walking side by side with someone is to come alongside and deal with business and personal. It's understanding the real threat to self-employment which is society, personal circumstances and the biggie…personal image/faith/belief.

I just spent *three days face to face with 35 folks who are full and part-time free agents. What I claim, is truth.

You can learn how to do business. But to go after that without equally focusing on YOU is like making dinner with only the food. No bowls, no pans, no cutting board, no spoon, etc…

And most people fail. They gain the biz knowledge and can't apply it.

So…paradigm shift for you = Reading all the info you can find on how to be self-employed, how to understand and use all the latest and greatest business strategies…is good. But fully half the equation is knowing and dealing with you, and finding people to help guide you.

The great truth though…is that if you adequately focus on YOU…it can happen. I witness it daily.

"Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge."
Isaiah 5:13

Now you know. Go forth and get out of exile. Be abundant. Multiply.

*Pictured are two pics from this past weekends Free Agent Academy 'Intensive' event in Woodland Park, CO. The top pic...classroom and biz strategy. The bottom pic...bonfire and personal. You gotta hit both.

Commitment with consequences

We all have things we'd like to achieve or solve or aspire to. And to get there, hard work and often risk and sacrifice are required.

At the heart of it...we'd rather have the magic pill or the silver bullet. 

If there was a magic pill for successful self-employment...or in reality...success with any goal, dream, desire or solution you have, I believe it to be this:

Commitment with consequences

When there is a very painful or incredibly desirable and tangible consequence on the line, things happen and happen fast. It shortcuts all the issues that normally deter us...like procrastination, fear, lack of discipline and faith...everything. A fear of water is instantaneously overcome when your child is drowning.

When it's not dire, we generally quit before we realize the desired goal. That's human nature and reality.

So if you truly have something you'd like to achieve...create a consequence. If you don't, you'll likely quit.

Examples?

First, I'll tell you that this is not just some random strategy...it's the primary strategy I use on myself. I live and die by it. My mantra is "Aim, Fire...Ready?!" I constantly commit to things where there is no plan B and quitting will hurt me or others to a degree that I can't live with. Without this strategy I would still be the penniless dreamer that my wife married almost 17 years ago (and God bless her for having faith and sticking with me till I finally delivered).

Would you like a body that looks good in a bathing suit? Then plan a trip to the beach with friends who are in good shape...who you'd be morbidly embarrassed to have see you in a bathing suit of any type looking like you do now. Do it for late fall, 2010. Now. Go buy airline tickets and book the hotel. Everything else will fall in to place...the gym membership, personal trainer, putting down that godforsaken twinkie...

Want to get out of debt? Get with an accountability partner and together go through every expenditure you make per month and list out all the non necessities like eating out, cable TV, clothing purchases, movies, Starbucks, etc... Take that amount, let's say it's $300, and go to your pastor or a person in need or a humanitarian organization and commit that amount to them for the next 3 months. Make sure some expenditure or new investment on their part is made and contingent upon your $300. Now you can't back out. After 3 months you'll realize you don't need all those non necessities and you can now put that $300 per month towards debt till it's gone.

Want to be successfully self-employed or if you are self-employed, want to increase your business?

For the former (not yet self-employed) I wish I could say "Quit your job." But that won't work, as being in survival mode is not a good recipe success. But commit to a step. Make an investment that costs you something. We have 15 people traveling out here to Colorado this week to attend our "Idea Discovery Camp." They paid $1,200 for registration, plus lodging, plus airfare. Probably close to $2k a piece. With such a big investment, most can't afford not to see this thing through. And before you think it is just folks who can easily afford this...they include TWO single mothers.

For those of you who are self-employed and want/need to grow, you need to commit to some events that will hold your feet to the fire. Announce a live show or event to your audience that you will then have to fulfill. Host a networking event. Start an ad campaign.

The point, commit to something so that the consequence of quitting is too painful.

What is a way you can create a consequence that will ensure you become self-employed?

P.S. Membership with us in FreeAgentAcademy is one of the best options I know of. A small investment (only $10 to see what we are about) that gives you immediate attention, wise counsel and accountability. You can view membership options and benefits on the JOIN page here. We've graciously welcomed in 21 new members in the last 13 days alone.

Faith vs Works - one comes first and you might not have it, yet

I was reading James in my bible this morning. And in reality, for someone to do the best and right 'works' I do believe faith must come first. I really wanted this to be a short post...but it's a gigantic topic if you've truly realized being an employee might not be best for life wholeness.

This isn't a spiritual debate, I'm talking directly about free agency. I naturally tend to focus on 'works' when it comes to becoming successfully self-employed:

1. What are you called to do?
2. Where can we find a vocational application for it?
3. How do we draw people to you?

I love doing that with and for people. That...is a primary part of my personal calling and what I devote my vocational time to.

However I realize that the process can and probably will derail for you...if we don't address faith.

Faith that we are called to, and allowed...better.

I wrote that carefully. I didn't say we deserve better, or it's our right.

When you pay good money to see a movie, are you OK if the actors and actresses give a mediocre performance? And if you found out they'd never studied acting...would you be OK with having spent your money on them?

How about your fave sports figure or team. You have given them your fan-ship. Are you OK if they skip practice and put in a sub-par performance and lose the game?

How about your preacher? The president? Your country's soldiers? The company that built your car that you rely on for transportation or safety?

I hear a resounding "NO!" And of course not.

Let's look at you? Do you matter? Should you matter? Where you birthed here on planet earth to be filler? To get what you can to pad your existence till you die in anonymity?

Again..."NO." You have a purpose. And don't cop out and say your purpose is to:

• Provide for my family - work
• Be a spouse
• Be a parent
• Be a friend

As Gary Barkelow of The Noble Heart states...those are merely roles. Ten people can have 10 different callings and still all fulfill those same roles listed above.

Your calling, your purpose...is to understand what my good friend and Free Agent Academy professor Jonathan Pool cites as what you are innately good at. Combined with what you are truly passionate about. We understand you may not know and need to wake up that part of yourself.  Visit another professor Deb Ingino's My Wired Style and not only find out about your personality, but your spouse and kids if you have them.

Look, if you are not fully engaged in your purpose, then you are robbing your spouse, your kids, your church members, your friends, your community and humanity at large. Just as you would agree the actors or sports figures or people in power I listed above are robbing you if they aren't at their peak.

SERVING: Your calling is to serve people in some capacity. I can't serve you well as an accountant because I suck at it. I can't serve you well as advertising executive because though I'm good at it, I don't care about selling random products for other folks and ultimately my lack of care would taint my work and my soul. I can only serve you well doing what I'm best and most passionate about. Which for me is this...waking people up to their callings and helping them provide for themselves financially through it.

FULLY ENGAGED: To be fully engaged in your purpose and calling, which you must...and you must believe you must...you have got to be spending the majority of your time doing it. You can NOT spend 50+ hours per week (plus commuting and all the other extras) working at something that has no meaning other than a paycheck and recover enough during the off-time to do the world any good. There is too much life maintenance to do outside of work. Celine Dion was made to sing. How would she have fared if she put in her nine to five at an accounting desk, then a commute, then caring for a family and all the branches of life? She would never have afforded the time to cultivate the singing talent and skills necessary to bring us her music which inspires us and herself and all that know her (If you don't like her, replace her with U2 or Pavarotti or whoever, you get the idea. I'm not a gigantic Celine fan, but recognize her profound gift).

OWNING IT: People are not able to be fully and successfully engaged in their calling...as employees. Even if they are employed in the correct area of their calling, it doesn't work. Why? There is a natural law at work against you. I call it the "Law of Mastership." In essence it comes from Matthew 6:24 in the bible:

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

To paraphrase regarding Free Agency, when you own your work you can serve the correct master, your clients and customers. You can serve them sacrificially, abundantly, authentically, honestly and fully. Your allegiance is to them and in using your God-given, unique abilities and passion directly for them. Not to mention owning and being responsible for your life agenda, which on a given day may mean devoting yourself to your family or friends or folks in need instead of 'clocking in to work.'

The second you take your ability and place it under an employer, your allegiance shifts to them and away from what's truly best for the customer, yourself and your family. That is purely the nature of the beast...to coin a scary phrase. The reality of this statement is proven true by merely witnessing the despair, hopelessless, stress, poor quality and bad service that we've all become accustomed and numbed to in our world. I could delve into that more, and will in another writing, but this article is long enough as it is. If that perspective doesn't rest well with you, make a comment below. It may be what someone else is grappling with as well.

FAITH: So where is your faith in your life regarding what you should be spending your days doing? Are you using your short time here on earth wisely and for everyone's best benefit? If you are a passionate green thumb, I want your flowers or food, not the grocery's. If your burden is to help folks get out of debt, then you are the one I want helping me with my finances. If you don't just see a house in a pile of lumber, but you see a home where life and love and memories happen, I want you building my home. If in a broken down car you don't just see a faulty carburetor, but you see a person who relies on their car to keep them safe and transport them to the necessities of life, and you honestly love to fix broken machinery...I want you working on my car and will refer you to everyone I know (this is my buddy Mac with Bad Rock Automotive!)

I don't want to place my life and well-being in employees who are not allegiance to serving me with all their heart.

So...ready to take your faith in serving the world and put works to it? Check out this blog I wrote on the 8th and never released...it has three book referrals and some instruction on how NOT to read them: "Just reading these 3 books is not enough"
 

Here is your calling

Wendy Staas...one of our members at FreeAgentAcademy.com, posted a discussion in our member's community, titled "Not all who wander are lost." She followed it with, "This is very true. All of us at one point or another wonder who we are and where we came from. what is our purpose? So many of us question this."

This is viewed as a huge question. We document people on quests of a lifetime...glorifying them for seeking out their true purpose. I won't minimize it...or dare to simplify it. Actually, who am I kidding...yes I will.

Who are you serving?

I honestly think that's it. And it's not a religious answer. Spiritual...but not religious. If you want to make a million bucks and drive a Ferrari...figure out who you are serving...and serve them.

My kids own the movie 'ROBOTS.' In it, the wise, old guy in the movie recites the key to success as, "See a need...fill a need!"

Who do you desire...or are equipped...to serve? Figure out who they are...and stop at nothing to fill their needs!

If you have family, they come first. No grand 'work' surpasses your responsibility to first serve them. If you are a stay at home parent, they alone are sufficient to serve. If you are working for sustaining revenue, then first, you are merely supporting what's happening at home. Don't aggrandize your work above that.

Your secondary purpose then...is to additionally serve others in your work. But don't cop out and believe you can work a miserable, meaningless job just in the name of getting a paycheck to pay for home life. The world is too needy, and needs your 40-60 hours per week serving in the capacity you were uniquely gifted in. And back to their family, you can't serve them sufficiently if you are miserable.

And therein resides the truthfully big question regarding your work. There are many jobs that in all reality, serve no one. Not really. Not with anything truly life-giving.

Then there are jobs that may serve people to some extent, but you weren't created and gifted to be the one in that job. You are being dishonest to yourself and those people. You are filling someone else's role. You were created with special skills, abilities and cares that people are waiting to receive. Again, might be 5 people, might be 5 million. Probably in between...

My favorite quote to pick on is "Build it and they will come." Nope. Wrong.

Try..."Serve them and they will come." And they'll come again and again and bring their friends and family and everyone they can find.

Who were you made to serve?

My brother Jared (http://www.keza.com) was created to serve the defenseless...the walked upon. He's doing it. It's his calling. Those he serves are blessed. His friends and family are blessed because he is a whole man. He is blessed cause he's doing what he's head over heals passionate about. He trains and supports Rwandan women in creating jewelry and selling it at a premium price. KEZA was featured on QVC and sold over 1,000 necklaces in 4 minutes.

My dear friend Scott Stearman (http://www.scottstearman.com) was created to serve humanity with enduring monuments of faith...via life size bronze sculptures. He wasn't even exposed to it till age 30 and didn't create his first sculpture till he was 32. Today at 56, he is sought out nationally to produce sculptures of military and faith-based figures at near 6-figure prices.

Jay Peroni (http://www.jayperoni.com) was created to serve people in their financial stewardship...specifically investing. He helps people serve their faith and provision with wisdom and morality in their investments. He gets paid very, very well to provide this value.

These guys have a craft, but the burning passion is for who they are serving. That's what drives them.

Find who you are to serve. It will clarify and drive everything else.