Last Friday I had a phone screening with a local company. Based on the job description, it seemed like not too much engineering would be involved, but it was related to acoustics and multimedia, so I applied. During the phone screening, the job description was much different. Basically this company has a $100 Million dollar (no typo) learning center, over 65 Audio-Video rooms, and a brand new huge auditorium that holds over 4,500.
They're looking for someone to oversee the management of these rooms, make sure things run smoothly, and are open to suggestions to upgrade and improve. This sounds more like an IT/Management position but with the potential to play with a lot of fun audio hardware and software, RFID, etc. The truth usually lies somewhere in between, so we'll see what the role looks like at the actual interview.
I guess the phone screening went pretty good as they contacted me this past Tuesday to set up an interview, which will take place next week. It would definitely be a good opportunity to put my acoustic and multimedia knowledge to use, as well as learn quite a bit a well.
As a result, I've been reading lots of acoustic and multimedia books which has been really helpful as I work on my consulting business as well. From what I've read, only about 1% of people that apply land a job at this company, so I'm not holding my breath. But at least it's given me extra motivation to brush up on a lot of acoustic reading.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Past Week Recap
Things have been real busy this past week, so here's a quick recap. Last Friday Debbie, Elliana, and I went up to Madison in the evening. Debbie needed some new running shoes so she went to get fitted. They didn't have what she was looking for unfortunately. Then we went to Whole Food's where we picked up some olive oil that Debbie really likes, Willie Street Coop which is another organic type food store where we picked up some sushi quality salmon, and Trader Joe's grocery store where we picked up some real good indian dinners, avacado, cucumber, and real crab for the sushi, and a few other things. Then we headed home and watched Night at the Museum 2.
Let me just say that we really enjoyed Night at the Musuem 2. The writing was good (as far as a slapstick comedy goes), Ben Stiller and Owen Wilsom were good (although better in the first movie), and the guy who played the Blue Raja in Mystery Men played a similar role this time as a pharoah . It also had one of the funnies dialogs I've seen in a long time between Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill you can see here
Saturday night Rene and Shane came over, and I made Sushi. I'd prepared the rice ahead of time because it takes awhile to rinse the rice thoroughly, cook it, prepare the rice vinegar and sugar, mix, and let it cool. I made california roll with real crab that Debbie really liked. Also made Salmon roll, Philly Roll, and Salmon Nigiri . Rene wasn't a fan, Shane thought the Salmon was decent. Me, I was in Salmon Nirvana.
Sunday morning we drove down to Chicago with Rene, Shane, Don, and Judy where we picked up Laura and Aaron who were returning from Ethiopia with their son Yedidiah. It was really great to be there when they arrived, and Yedidiah was very happy and smiling, and not really fussy at all, considering all the new faces, the long trip, and jetlag.
When we got back to Brodhead, Doug and Jenny and their family as well as Aaron's family were their waiting for us to meet Yedidiah. It was a great time and lots of pictures were taken. Then we watched football, and later that night I headed to Stoughton while Debbie stayed in Brodhead. I had a big week and needed to get up early Monday to get a jump on the week.
Let me just say that we really enjoyed Night at the Musuem 2. The writing was good (as far as a slapstick comedy goes), Ben Stiller and Owen Wilsom were good (although better in the first movie), and the guy who played the Blue Raja in Mystery Men played a similar role this time as a pharoah . It also had one of the funnies dialogs I've seen in a long time between Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill you can see here
Saturday night Rene and Shane came over, and I made Sushi. I'd prepared the rice ahead of time because it takes awhile to rinse the rice thoroughly, cook it, prepare the rice vinegar and sugar, mix, and let it cool. I made california roll with real crab that Debbie really liked. Also made Salmon roll, Philly Roll, and Salmon Nigiri . Rene wasn't a fan, Shane thought the Salmon was decent. Me, I was in Salmon Nirvana.
Sunday morning we drove down to Chicago with Rene, Shane, Don, and Judy where we picked up Laura and Aaron who were returning from Ethiopia with their son Yedidiah. It was really great to be there when they arrived, and Yedidiah was very happy and smiling, and not really fussy at all, considering all the new faces, the long trip, and jetlag.
When we got back to Brodhead, Doug and Jenny and their family as well as Aaron's family were their waiting for us to meet Yedidiah. It was a great time and lots of pictures were taken. Then we watched football, and later that night I headed to Stoughton while Debbie stayed in Brodhead. I had a big week and needed to get up early Monday to get a jump on the week.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Busy Thursday
This morning I went for a 5 mile run outside. It seemed rather brisk, and after I found out it was only 5 degrees with 13 mph winds which translates to about -13 below, that explained a lot. I didn't really notice the cold so much as the fact that the previously powdery snow on the trail I ran was now frozen with lots of mini-craters from people walking, which made for a bumpy run where I had to focus on not turning my ankle.
Today I'm reading through some acoustic books on architectural acoustics and also one by Dr. Floyd Toole who used to work at Harman and I had the privilege of chatting about acoustics over supper at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas a number of years ago. He's done a lot of research on acoustics and psycoacoustics of speakers and home theater design. I've been meaning to read his book for some time, and now I have a good excuse and some time to do so.
Things left to do today and tomorrow: Work on bills and budget, work on a marketing strategy and put together a software demo for a potential client, follow up with a local acoustic company I sent some info to a few weeks ago, and probably about 5 other things that don't come to mind right now.
Today I'm reading through some acoustic books on architectural acoustics and also one by Dr. Floyd Toole who used to work at Harman and I had the privilege of chatting about acoustics over supper at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas a number of years ago. He's done a lot of research on acoustics and psycoacoustics of speakers and home theater design. I've been meaning to read his book for some time, and now I have a good excuse and some time to do so.
Things left to do today and tomorrow: Work on bills and budget, work on a marketing strategy and put together a software demo for a potential client, follow up with a local acoustic company I sent some info to a few weeks ago, and probably about 5 other things that don't come to mind right now.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Background 2000-2006
Really busy today, so now time for a post right now. But, here's a background blog I wrote a few weeks back...
Here's a very brief snapshot of my life since college - Back in 2000 I was blessed with a job working for an audio company in a division that developed surround sound systems for cars. It was a dream job. My first week I was watching the matrix in an SUV trying to track if the bullets were properly appearing to fly past my head.
The job started in Indiana for a year, and then they moved to Detroit. I didn't want to move to Detroit, so I planned to go to India for 6 months to do mission work. I had taken a trip to India my freshman year of college, and had a heart for missions as well. My company surprisingly agreed to give me a 6 month leave of absence, but then India and Pakistan seemed on the brink of nuclear war, 9/11 happened, and I got engaged to Debbie, so plans changed. Ended up taking a 2 month honeymoon/mission trip to India in 2001, and it was totally awesome. Debbie and I knew we wanted to do more mission work in the future.
Fast forward 4 years to 2006 and the job was still great, but one big downside was we were far away from family. We'd been taking many trips on the weekend each year to Debbie’s folks in WI as it was a 6 hour drive. We'd leave 5:30 Friday and get back at 2-3am Sunday night. Plus, my folks were 12 hours away so we just couldn't swing the weekend trip there so we hardly made it back to Missouri.
Anyway, even though I still had a totally awesome job and a great bunch of friends, I really felt like ultimately family should be a higher priority than even an awesome job, so we decided leave Detroit. Lots of people thought we were crazy (even some of our family! ;-) ) Looking back, there was a bit of entrepreneurial sprit in the decision too, because deep down I resented the cushy life I'd become complacent with, and wanted to challenge myself so I could grow and wouldn't regret spending the better part of my life just drifting along.
Anyway, so we left Detroit, took another mission trip to India, this time with Debbie, her Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brother-in-Law. When we got back, I was looking for a job in WI, but I was looking for another job like Harman, which didn't seem to materialize.
I did get a job offer doing a job that paid great, but I really, really, would have been unhappy with. With both of us working, we probably could have stashed away 75k after two years, enough to pay off our school debts and have a good down payment for a house. Seeking guidance from God, I felt like I was getting zero guidance when all other times the answer had always been clear. It seemed as if God was wanting me to make my choice, and see the consequences work themselves out. It felt like I was being given the responsibility, and couldn't fall back on "well, things might not have worked out as expected, but it was clearly God's will".
In the end I just couldn't bear to take the job, it went against everything I believed in when it comes to following your dreams. I realize many people would have chosen differently, especially when your decision impacts your wife as well, and I can understand that. My gut told me that if I settled for a job just for the money instead of finding what I loved doing, in the long run it just wouldn't pay off.
We ended up heading out east to PA for a year. Debbie found a dream job working with horses and also one of my best friends’ wife. They are both vets, and both love horses. Instead of taking a typical electrical engineering position, I ended up taking a job at an acoustic test lab, and even though it was more of a technician position than an engineering position, I learned a ton about acoustics, and realized that this was something I really enjoyed doing. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Matt too, playing basketball, and dominating at Age of Empires. Sometimes I'd feel bad and let him win though.
Just as an aside, it was also during our time out in PA, I started running, and eventually trained and ran a marathon starting from barely being about to run 2 miles in the winter, to a full on 26.2 by the fall. What precipitated it was when Debbie's sister Laura kicked my butt on a short run after I foolishly assumed my man determination could overcome her years of serious exercise. She must have more man determination than I.
Probably one of the most beneficial things I did out east was train for the marathon. It taught me mental determination and toughness, and showed me that often times 90% of what stood between me and my goal was my mental attitude. This has helped me in many other areas of life as well.
Here's a very brief snapshot of my life since college - Back in 2000 I was blessed with a job working for an audio company in a division that developed surround sound systems for cars. It was a dream job. My first week I was watching the matrix in an SUV trying to track if the bullets were properly appearing to fly past my head.
The job started in Indiana for a year, and then they moved to Detroit. I didn't want to move to Detroit, so I planned to go to India for 6 months to do mission work. I had taken a trip to India my freshman year of college, and had a heart for missions as well. My company surprisingly agreed to give me a 6 month leave of absence, but then India and Pakistan seemed on the brink of nuclear war, 9/11 happened, and I got engaged to Debbie, so plans changed. Ended up taking a 2 month honeymoon/mission trip to India in 2001, and it was totally awesome. Debbie and I knew we wanted to do more mission work in the future.
Fast forward 4 years to 2006 and the job was still great, but one big downside was we were far away from family. We'd been taking many trips on the weekend each year to Debbie’s folks in WI as it was a 6 hour drive. We'd leave 5:30 Friday and get back at 2-3am Sunday night. Plus, my folks were 12 hours away so we just couldn't swing the weekend trip there so we hardly made it back to Missouri.
Anyway, even though I still had a totally awesome job and a great bunch of friends, I really felt like ultimately family should be a higher priority than even an awesome job, so we decided leave Detroit. Lots of people thought we were crazy (even some of our family! ;-) ) Looking back, there was a bit of entrepreneurial sprit in the decision too, because deep down I resented the cushy life I'd become complacent with, and wanted to challenge myself so I could grow and wouldn't regret spending the better part of my life just drifting along.
Anyway, so we left Detroit, took another mission trip to India, this time with Debbie, her Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brother-in-Law. When we got back, I was looking for a job in WI, but I was looking for another job like Harman, which didn't seem to materialize.
I did get a job offer doing a job that paid great, but I really, really, would have been unhappy with. With both of us working, we probably could have stashed away 75k after two years, enough to pay off our school debts and have a good down payment for a house. Seeking guidance from God, I felt like I was getting zero guidance when all other times the answer had always been clear. It seemed as if God was wanting me to make my choice, and see the consequences work themselves out. It felt like I was being given the responsibility, and couldn't fall back on "well, things might not have worked out as expected, but it was clearly God's will".
In the end I just couldn't bear to take the job, it went against everything I believed in when it comes to following your dreams. I realize many people would have chosen differently, especially when your decision impacts your wife as well, and I can understand that. My gut told me that if I settled for a job just for the money instead of finding what I loved doing, in the long run it just wouldn't pay off.
We ended up heading out east to PA for a year. Debbie found a dream job working with horses and also one of my best friends’ wife. They are both vets, and both love horses. Instead of taking a typical electrical engineering position, I ended up taking a job at an acoustic test lab, and even though it was more of a technician position than an engineering position, I learned a ton about acoustics, and realized that this was something I really enjoyed doing. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Matt too, playing basketball, and dominating at Age of Empires. Sometimes I'd feel bad and let him win though.
Just as an aside, it was also during our time out in PA, I started running, and eventually trained and ran a marathon starting from barely being about to run 2 miles in the winter, to a full on 26.2 by the fall. What precipitated it was when Debbie's sister Laura kicked my butt on a short run after I foolishly assumed my man determination could overcome her years of serious exercise. She must have more man determination than I.
Probably one of the most beneficial things I did out east was train for the marathon. It taught me mental determination and toughness, and showed me that often times 90% of what stood between me and my goal was my mental attitude. This has helped me in many other areas of life as well.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thomas Edison had a novel idea for creative inspiration. He’d sit in his chair in his office with a ball bearing in each hand. On the floor under each arm he had tin pans. He’d then slip into a semi-conscious state where the creative solutions would start to flow. Once he dozed off, he’d drop the ball bearings, they’d hit the pans, and the clanging would wake him up. Then he’d write down whatever ideas he had.
I thought I’d give that method a try this afternoon while Elliana slept. Only problem was I didn’t have any ball bearings or tin pans. Not surprisingly, I woke up an hour later after an unexpected nap.
I did manage to get a lot of organizing done this afternoon and night after my afternoon siesta. Overall, it was a really productive day, especially given the fact I was home taking care of Elliana all day. I’ve got a lot of things planned for tomorrow too, so I’ll be ready to hit the ground running, and hopefully get to the coffee shop early tomorrow morning to get a jump on the day.
I thought I’d give that method a try this afternoon while Elliana slept. Only problem was I didn’t have any ball bearings or tin pans. Not surprisingly, I woke up an hour later after an unexpected nap.
I did manage to get a lot of organizing done this afternoon and night after my afternoon siesta. Overall, it was a really productive day, especially given the fact I was home taking care of Elliana all day. I’ve got a lot of things planned for tomorrow too, so I’ll be ready to hit the ground running, and hopefully get to the coffee shop early tomorrow morning to get a jump on the day.
Busy Day
I’ve got a lot on my plate for the rest of the week, and today has been quite busy, but so far, things are going well today. This is the first day Debbie’s going to work for a full day. I’m home watching Elliana, and trying to get my work done too.
So far, I knocked out P90X Plyometrics from 7-8am, did an online pre-interview test from 8:30-9:30, played with Elliana from 9:45-10:45, and in the past half hour I’ve joined an acoustical society and applied to join their linkedIn group to meet some people in the acoustical field, set up a phone interview, and am now going to try and identify some prospective clients for my business.
Debbie should be home around noon to feed Elliana, and we’ll see how the rest of the day goes!
So far, I knocked out P90X Plyometrics from 7-8am, did an online pre-interview test from 8:30-9:30, played with Elliana from 9:45-10:45, and in the past half hour I’ve joined an acoustical society and applied to join their linkedIn group to meet some people in the acoustical field, set up a phone interview, and am now going to try and identify some prospective clients for my business.
Debbie should be home around noon to feed Elliana, and we’ll see how the rest of the day goes!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Background Part III: Forming a Plan
After Dan Miller had inspired me to keep dreaming big, my next step was to form a plan to make that dream a reality, not letting it get extinguished by fear, or the opinions of friends, family, or coworkers. I immersed myself in all sorts of motivation/goal setting stuff by people like Napolean Hill, Zig Zigglar, etc. I probably listened to literally 200 hours worth of podcasts, books on tape, sermons, etc. Slowly a vision began to take shape, and I began to form a plan of action.
It's at this point that I'd like to interject that when you enter the realm of positive thinking, self motivation, etc. there's a lot of junk out there. Books like “The Secret” or most any of the fluff on Oprah, most anything by a guy who calls himself a “guru”, the bald guy on PBS fundraisers (you know who I’m talking about), anyone talking about energy, metaphysics, ancient wisdom, or invisible horsemen that point the way.
Or the people claiming to be Christian who preach the idea that God's a divine santa clause wanting to give you anything your heart could desire if you simply "name it and claim it". Or those that teach God is bound by His word and is forced to bless you if you only follow a few simple life principles.
Napoleon Hill is a good example of an inspiring speaker who offers lots of motivational advice, but when he gets around to discussing the nature of this power, he relegates God to some sort of infinite intelligence out there to do your bidding. I go back and forth between chucking his advice wholesale, or just the parts that are out in left field. It reminds me a bit of how often times a good theologian doesn’t make a good scientist, or an excellent scientist who has a messed up theology. In those cases, I’d say people should stick to their area of expertise, but now I’m starting to drift off into another topic entirely…
It's at this point that I'd like to interject that when you enter the realm of positive thinking, self motivation, etc. there's a lot of junk out there. Books like “The Secret” or most any of the fluff on Oprah, most anything by a guy who calls himself a “guru”, the bald guy on PBS fundraisers (you know who I’m talking about), anyone talking about energy, metaphysics, ancient wisdom, or invisible horsemen that point the way.
Or the people claiming to be Christian who preach the idea that God's a divine santa clause wanting to give you anything your heart could desire if you simply "name it and claim it". Or those that teach God is bound by His word and is forced to bless you if you only follow a few simple life principles.
Napoleon Hill is a good example of an inspiring speaker who offers lots of motivational advice, but when he gets around to discussing the nature of this power, he relegates God to some sort of infinite intelligence out there to do your bidding. I go back and forth between chucking his advice wholesale, or just the parts that are out in left field. It reminds me a bit of how often times a good theologian doesn’t make a good scientist, or an excellent scientist who has a messed up theology. In those cases, I’d say people should stick to their area of expertise, but now I’m starting to drift off into another topic entirely…
Monday, January 18, 2010
People - a means to and end, or a fellow person
I've noticed something interesting now that I'm working for myself, and that is that I want to be much more efficient, and that's causing me to tend to be less patient with inefficiency, and sometimes with others. I'm a pretty laid back person most of the time, even when I'm on a mission, I'm usually ok with setbacks and changes of direction. However
At present, I don't have life insurance. I assumed that was rolled into COBRA, but I found out the day before my last day at work it wasn't. So I made some calls a few weeks ago to find out how to get life insurance. I've been playing phone tag with a lady who wanted to talk about my benefits. I went ahead and scheduled a meeting up in Madison to discuss my benefits. I was assuming this was something to do with my whole heath insurance, etc. But then I started thinking about it, and realized it was probably just about getting a life insurance policy extended now that I'm no longer with my former employer.
Normally at this point I would have just shrugged and said "sure, let's meet" and then I would have driven up to Madison, taken probably 2-2.5 hours between driving up there, meeting, having lunch, and driving back. However, as I thought about this, I realized that all I was going to accomplish was they were going to give me a price for continued life insurance.
I asked if we could do this over the phone, and she said that since it was confidential, we couldn't do that. I then told the lady that if they already have all my info, and all I needed was the amount life insurance was going to cost, then we could do that over the phone without discussing anything confidential.
Turns outs that they'd actually be writing a new policy from scratch, and they don't have any of my info, nor would I be getting any sort of price break I don't think. It's at this point that I started to get irritated - here I was rushing around to leave for a meeting up in Madison, when I could just go online and get a quote from 10 other places in a matter of minutes.
So I called back and explained the situation, that it didn't really make sense for me to drive all the way up there just for a quote I could get online, and cancelled our meeting. I realize the lady was just doing her job, so there's no sense in getting irritated with her, and I think I was pretty polite although a bit short.
I think part of the deal looking back was that I feel a bit stressed today with a lot of things I feel I need to get done today, on top of the potential disruption of my schedule. The only other time I can recall feeling similar is at Christmas time when I'm trying to return something, or get in the store and get out, and the cashier is having a problem.
Times like this I have to remind myself that the person I'm dealing with is a person with their own problems, and not to get wrapped up in my own world. I think this is also an example of trying to do things on your one strength instead of trusting in God. Having my own plan puts the pressure on me, and the focus on me. Making plans but focusing on God throughout the day allows me to see people as human and not a means to get what I want. I think I'll have to try and keep that in mind.
Friday, January 15, 2010
I'm just a sucker with no business plan
Heard Offspring's "Self Esteem" on the way home for lunch today - that will get you pumped up and ready to launch a killer business.
Anyway, just a real quick posting here, nothing too special. Just taking a 5 minute break to cool down my brain.
So one of my main goals in the next week or so is to try and get someone to actually pay me money to do something for them. I think if I sat down with someone face to face, I could make a good case and come up with an idea to help their business out, but the problem is most of the businesses I've identified that I think I could help out are not local.
This means what I lack in personal interaction I'm going to have to make up for with professionalism to help legitimize the business. So I'm trying to balance getting setup as a formal business i.e. a good sales pitch, marketing material, official website, demo software to give the customer etc. etc. with just going out and contacting someone.
I actually have a pretty good business plan to start from that I worked on for a couple of months when I approached a large business about a possible joint venture, but it needs to be modified for a stand along business.
I contacted the Wisconsin business answerline today about getting someone to review my revamped business plan (and also motivate me to quickly get it done) and they alreaday sent me a bunch of useful information and questions used to evaluate a business plan.
So now I just have to hammer out a new version of the business plan which will force me to think through a lot of the details I haven't totally hashed out yet. I'm guessing it'll take about 20 hours of work, but I've got the rest of today and the weekend to get a good start.
Anyway, just a real quick posting here, nothing too special. Just taking a 5 minute break to cool down my brain.
So one of my main goals in the next week or so is to try and get someone to actually pay me money to do something for them. I think if I sat down with someone face to face, I could make a good case and come up with an idea to help their business out, but the problem is most of the businesses I've identified that I think I could help out are not local.
This means what I lack in personal interaction I'm going to have to make up for with professionalism to help legitimize the business. So I'm trying to balance getting setup as a formal business i.e. a good sales pitch, marketing material, official website, demo software to give the customer etc. etc. with just going out and contacting someone.
I actually have a pretty good business plan to start from that I worked on for a couple of months when I approached a large business about a possible joint venture, but it needs to be modified for a stand along business.
I contacted the Wisconsin business answerline today about getting someone to review my revamped business plan (and also motivate me to quickly get it done) and they alreaday sent me a bunch of useful information and questions used to evaluate a business plan.
So now I just have to hammer out a new version of the business plan which will force me to think through a lot of the details I haven't totally hashed out yet. I'm guessing it'll take about 20 hours of work, but I've got the rest of today and the weekend to get a good start.
Background Part II: The Quest Begins
Over this past year, I've been devoting quite a good bit of time to trying to determine God’s purpose for my life, and how specifically this would pertain to a job. Some people seem perfectly happy to do a wide variety of jobs. Some people seem not to care, or simply seem resigned that wherever they are, that must be their lot in life. Some people are too afraid to dream because they think they will ultimately fail and be ridiculed and embarrassed.
Personally, I’ve always seemed to have had a strong opinion about where I worked. I either loved it or hated it. I’ve never really been afraid of failure, but I’ve never been equipped with the tools or skill set to take like by the horns, and make my lofty dreams become a reality.
Last march, my employer announced they were closing our office and plant in Wisconsin, and relocating to Detroit. It was then that I knew my days were numbered, and so I began to seriously explore the next stage in my life and career.
I started this quest by reading a workbook my dad gave me called 48 Days to the Job You Love which was later publishes as a book. The author is Dan Miller. I discovered he has a website and a podcast online with archives that go back for years, so I started poking around and listening to many of his podcasts. I’ve added a link to his site on my blog. He’s a real entrepreneur who's been highly successful by developing solid business practices; he has a good heart, and is quite generous with his knowledge and information.
Dan subscribes to the philosophy that the opportunities in life aren't analogous to a pie of fixed size. Many people believe if you take a slice, there's less pie for them, or if they help you too much, it's going to take opportunities away from me. He sees opportunities and relationships as organic, with the ability to grow and improve. So he freely gives lots of information beleiving the more successful you are, the more opportunites he will ultimatley have to success as well. He offers books and coaching you can purchase if you like, but you can learn plety from all the free stuff he provides.
After listening to many of his podcasts, and reading another one of his books "No More Mondays", my mindset started to shift. I began entertaining the possibility that I might actually be able to achieve my dreams. I have always been a dreamer and have been moderately successful at achieving my dreams, but when it comes to a full life transformation, that seemed a bit of a reach, even for me.
For instance, I managed to get time off of work for a 2 month honeymoon / mission trip when I was first married, something many people (even HR) said was crazy to ask for. The trip was totally amazing. So why not go every year? If money was no object our family would take 3 months out of every year and do mission work, but that's not practical in real life is it? What kind of job lets you take that kind of time off? How would you pay for a trip like that, and make enough money the rest of the year to live off of for those 3 months too? What about retirement, college education, a home, etc. etc?
Dan got me thinking that maybe, just maybe those sort of crazy notions could become a reality... somehow.
Personally, I’ve always seemed to have had a strong opinion about where I worked. I either loved it or hated it. I’ve never really been afraid of failure, but I’ve never been equipped with the tools or skill set to take like by the horns, and make my lofty dreams become a reality.
Last march, my employer announced they were closing our office and plant in Wisconsin, and relocating to Detroit. It was then that I knew my days were numbered, and so I began to seriously explore the next stage in my life and career.
I started this quest by reading a workbook my dad gave me called 48 Days to the Job You Love which was later publishes as a book. The author is Dan Miller. I discovered he has a website and a podcast online with archives that go back for years, so I started poking around and listening to many of his podcasts. I’ve added a link to his site on my blog. He’s a real entrepreneur who's been highly successful by developing solid business practices; he has a good heart, and is quite generous with his knowledge and information.
Dan subscribes to the philosophy that the opportunities in life aren't analogous to a pie of fixed size. Many people believe if you take a slice, there's less pie for them, or if they help you too much, it's going to take opportunities away from me. He sees opportunities and relationships as organic, with the ability to grow and improve. So he freely gives lots of information beleiving the more successful you are, the more opportunites he will ultimatley have to success as well. He offers books and coaching you can purchase if you like, but you can learn plety from all the free stuff he provides.
After listening to many of his podcasts, and reading another one of his books "No More Mondays", my mindset started to shift. I began entertaining the possibility that I might actually be able to achieve my dreams. I have always been a dreamer and have been moderately successful at achieving my dreams, but when it comes to a full life transformation, that seemed a bit of a reach, even for me.
For instance, I managed to get time off of work for a 2 month honeymoon / mission trip when I was first married, something many people (even HR) said was crazy to ask for. The trip was totally amazing. So why not go every year? If money was no object our family would take 3 months out of every year and do mission work, but that's not practical in real life is it? What kind of job lets you take that kind of time off? How would you pay for a trip like that, and make enough money the rest of the year to live off of for those 3 months too? What about retirement, college education, a home, etc. etc?
Dan got me thinking that maybe, just maybe those sort of crazy notions could become a reality... somehow.
Background Part I: The Introduction
Many of you might be familiar with books like Purpose Driven Life where you try and figure out what it is exactly you're supposed to do in life. I find these sorts of books can be thought provoking and quite useful tools. At the same time however, it does seem rather myopic and presumptuous to then claim that they’re the ultimate path to happiness, meaning, and purpose, given the fact that so much of the world is busy trying to simply survive let alone find their dream job.
For this blog, I am going to be operating from the premise that God has called us to find our purpose, and doing so a measure of fulfillment and happiness. At the same time, the fact that we're extremely blessed to live in a country with so many opportunities is something we must always keep in mind. In fact, this compels us all the more to not squander our almost limitless opportunities, but take full advantage of all the tools available to us which will allow us to reach our full potential.
I believe that through the active pursuit of God's purpose in our lives we are acting responsibly, and also able derive legitimate pleasure. In the words of the famous Olympian runner Eric Liddle, featured in the movie Chariots of Fire, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel God's pleasure." Later he said, "To give up running would be to hold Him in contempt."
While trying to strike a proper balance in our life between work, family, pleasure, etc. is something I'm far from mastering, I will be focusing this blog primarily on the work aspect of life. So to the extent that we are fulfilling God's purpose by striving for things which we were made to do, and not using them as an end in themselves, I plunge headlong into my quest to find my purpose in life. This blog is a tool to document my journey and also to help keep me to keep moving forward.
For this blog, I am going to be operating from the premise that God has called us to find our purpose, and doing so a measure of fulfillment and happiness. At the same time, the fact that we're extremely blessed to live in a country with so many opportunities is something we must always keep in mind. In fact, this compels us all the more to not squander our almost limitless opportunities, but take full advantage of all the tools available to us which will allow us to reach our full potential.
I believe that through the active pursuit of God's purpose in our lives we are acting responsibly, and also able derive legitimate pleasure. In the words of the famous Olympian runner Eric Liddle, featured in the movie Chariots of Fire, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel God's pleasure." Later he said, "To give up running would be to hold Him in contempt."
While trying to strike a proper balance in our life between work, family, pleasure, etc. is something I'm far from mastering, I will be focusing this blog primarily on the work aspect of life. So to the extent that we are fulfilling God's purpose by striving for things which we were made to do, and not using them as an end in themselves, I plunge headlong into my quest to find my purpose in life. This blog is a tool to document my journey and also to help keep me to keep moving forward.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Things have been going quite well these past few days and I'm feeling quite upbeat and optimistic as this week goes along. However, as I see and read about the devastation in Haiti, my mood is quickly dampened.
There's just something that seems particularly brutal about the devastation in Haiti that I find really striking. The scale and magnitude of the devastation is bad enough, but realizing that right at this very moment thousands of people are trapped under collapsed concrete buildings and rubble for miles around, and most of them will die before help reaches them - that's hard to digest.
One of the main motivations for the change in the direction of my career from Hardware Design to trying to combine creativity, engineering, and acoustics is because it's what I'm good at and will enjoy. This in turn I believe will allow me to be successful.
But more importantly to me, doing what I'm good at and what I enjoy will ultimately give me the best chance of positioning myself eventually to be able to take 3 months off during this year to be able to take my family on mission trips, and other charitable work.
Some of the most fulfilling time I've had has been helping to vaccinate sheep and goats in India. In India, a goat and a sheep is your retirement account, or your small business. It can be your source of income, or cushion if you get sick or need money. With no welfare or health care system for the poor in India, if you don't have money, you probably won't eat, or get proper care for easily treatable diseases.
I know it's a very small contribution, and a rather inefficient use of my resources to fly halfway across the world to treat a few sheep - but this is only a small part of the bigger picture of supporting effective missions work in India, including financially and the development of long-term programs and initiatives.
But if treating a few sheep motivates me to make the most of my talents and abilities, and not settle for a ho-hum job I'll regret later in life, then I'm going to keep focusing on the sheep.
And as I work on forming my business or am learning a new programming language, I see myself as getting one step closer to my goal.
I might not be able to fly over to Haiti tomorrow and save a life, but I can support those who are, pray for those whose lives are now in chaos, help out at my local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, and look forward to the next time my family and I can show God's love personally to someone halfway across the world.
So I think my goal for today is to make the most of my time and opportunities, and after I get home, I'll be sure to hug Debbie and Elliana a little bit tighter.
There's just something that seems particularly brutal about the devastation in Haiti that I find really striking. The scale and magnitude of the devastation is bad enough, but realizing that right at this very moment thousands of people are trapped under collapsed concrete buildings and rubble for miles around, and most of them will die before help reaches them - that's hard to digest.
One of the main motivations for the change in the direction of my career from Hardware Design to trying to combine creativity, engineering, and acoustics is because it's what I'm good at and will enjoy. This in turn I believe will allow me to be successful.
But more importantly to me, doing what I'm good at and what I enjoy will ultimately give me the best chance of positioning myself eventually to be able to take 3 months off during this year to be able to take my family on mission trips, and other charitable work.
Some of the most fulfilling time I've had has been helping to vaccinate sheep and goats in India. In India, a goat and a sheep is your retirement account, or your small business. It can be your source of income, or cushion if you get sick or need money. With no welfare or health care system for the poor in India, if you don't have money, you probably won't eat, or get proper care for easily treatable diseases.
I know it's a very small contribution, and a rather inefficient use of my resources to fly halfway across the world to treat a few sheep - but this is only a small part of the bigger picture of supporting effective missions work in India, including financially and the development of long-term programs and initiatives.
But if treating a few sheep motivates me to make the most of my talents and abilities, and not settle for a ho-hum job I'll regret later in life, then I'm going to keep focusing on the sheep.
And as I work on forming my business or am learning a new programming language, I see myself as getting one step closer to my goal.
I might not be able to fly over to Haiti tomorrow and save a life, but I can support those who are, pray for those whose lives are now in chaos, help out at my local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, and look forward to the next time my family and I can show God's love personally to someone halfway across the world.
So I think my goal for today is to make the most of my time and opportunities, and after I get home, I'll be sure to hug Debbie and Elliana a little bit tighter.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pray for the People of Haiti
Many times when tragedy strikes, it helps put our lives in perspective. I'd like to encourage everyone to take some time and pray for the people of Haiti today.
If you want to help financially, here's a link with more information.
Help the people of Haiti
If you want to help financially, here's a link with more information.
Help the people of Haiti
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Well it's a bit after 9pm, and I've actually got a bit of down time. Debbié's downstairs on the treadmill knocking off a 3 mile run. She's training for a half marathon in 12 weeks and she's excited about it. the farthest she's ever run is 8 miles I think (a half marathon is 13.1 miles). Since I got up early a did P90X, that gives me some chill time.
I think I'll probably read a bit of the book I got by Jean Vanier. He's basically like a modern day Gandhi/philosopher who believes we can learn a lot from the sick and the poor among us. It's a nice change a pace from all the intellectual and stuff I've been reading lately. I've added a link relating to him on my blog as I think he brings important balance and perspective.
Today I finished up some paperwork to send of to a company I am applying to, I sent off a sample of some software I've done to another company I plan on contacting later on this week, and did some market research.
Tomorrow in my typical obsessive-compulsive fashion I have 3 books on marketing coming from Amazon. I need to figure out how to structure my pricing for projects I propose, and how best to approach prospective clients, as I have almost no experience in this.
I have listened to almost 40 hours of zig ziglar on closing the sale, but that's more face to face stuff, and until you actually have experience selling yourself, it's all theory anyway. I'll probably blow through all 3 books by the weekend, and like Neo, I'll wake up next monday and say "I know marketing-fu" and be a marketing guru ready to face the world. Or something like that.
Here's a recap of today:
Today was a bit chaotic. To start off with, I got up and did some P90X Kenbo (sweatin' to the oldies meets Chuck Norris), and resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to be seeing my running shoes until I make it down to Debbie's parents maybe this weekend. That means tomorrow's going to be weight lifting day, where I combine two of my least favorite things (weights and the AM).
After my morning workout it was time to get Elliana to the doctor. She had a suspected ear infection and hasn't been sleeping well at night or during the day for that matter. Turns out it's just a cold, and it could drag on for weeks, so we'll just monitor her for feaver.
After that it was already 10am, and I had about an hour and a half at the library. Then it was back home with Elliana as Debbie had a doctor's appointment in Janesville, half an hour away. I got more work done than I thought I would, but I spent a good bit of time helping Elliana "walk" around the room, trying to get her to take a bottle (after 5 minutes of weaping and gnashing of teeth, she actually took half of it... she teared up a bit too), doing laundry, etc.
Debbie finally got home around 3, so it was off to the library to get some studying done on programming.
So my schedule was a bit off today, but I learned to roll with it, and the whole day didn't lose it's productivity, but in fact I got quite a bit of things done. One thing I'm noticing is I still feel like I'm at work (as opposed to feeling like every day is Saturday, and I can sit on the couch and watch TV all day) because I've got a number of goals I've set that I know need to get done. This is a good thing for me, as keeping things structured keeps me rolling along.
I think I'll probably read a bit of the book I got by Jean Vanier. He's basically like a modern day Gandhi/philosopher who believes we can learn a lot from the sick and the poor among us. It's a nice change a pace from all the intellectual and stuff I've been reading lately. I've added a link relating to him on my blog as I think he brings important balance and perspective.
Today I finished up some paperwork to send of to a company I am applying to, I sent off a sample of some software I've done to another company I plan on contacting later on this week, and did some market research.
Tomorrow in my typical obsessive-compulsive fashion I have 3 books on marketing coming from Amazon. I need to figure out how to structure my pricing for projects I propose, and how best to approach prospective clients, as I have almost no experience in this.
I have listened to almost 40 hours of zig ziglar on closing the sale, but that's more face to face stuff, and until you actually have experience selling yourself, it's all theory anyway. I'll probably blow through all 3 books by the weekend, and like Neo, I'll wake up next monday and say "I know marketing-fu" and be a marketing guru ready to face the world. Or something like that.
Here's a recap of today:
Today was a bit chaotic. To start off with, I got up and did some P90X Kenbo (sweatin' to the oldies meets Chuck Norris), and resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to be seeing my running shoes until I make it down to Debbie's parents maybe this weekend. That means tomorrow's going to be weight lifting day, where I combine two of my least favorite things (weights and the AM).
After my morning workout it was time to get Elliana to the doctor. She had a suspected ear infection and hasn't been sleeping well at night or during the day for that matter. Turns out it's just a cold, and it could drag on for weeks, so we'll just monitor her for feaver.
After that it was already 10am, and I had about an hour and a half at the library. Then it was back home with Elliana as Debbie had a doctor's appointment in Janesville, half an hour away. I got more work done than I thought I would, but I spent a good bit of time helping Elliana "walk" around the room, trying to get her to take a bottle (after 5 minutes of weaping and gnashing of teeth, she actually took half of it... she teared up a bit too), doing laundry, etc.
Debbie finally got home around 3, so it was off to the library to get some studying done on programming.
So my schedule was a bit off today, but I learned to roll with it, and the whole day didn't lose it's productivity, but in fact I got quite a bit of things done. One thing I'm noticing is I still feel like I'm at work (as opposed to feeling like every day is Saturday, and I can sit on the couch and watch TV all day) because I've got a number of goals I've set that I know need to get done. This is a good thing for me, as keeping things structured keeps me rolling along.
7 Part Series Heading your way!
I've been trying to summarize the last few years of my life, the past year of setting and refining goals, and the steps I've taken thus far to try and transform my career and outlook. Unfortunately, the summary is pretty long, so I'm breaking it up into 7(+) parts. I'll post the first installment tomorrow, and I'm not quite sure how quickly Í'll finalize and post the other parts, after all most of my time is focused on the doing, not the talking about it, but we'll see. You'll just have to keep checking back or follow the blog with e-mail updates to find out more!
Monday, January 11, 2010
My first day of self? employment
Waking up before the crack of dawn (ok, closer to 7 than 6, but it
was still dark out, ok?) I was all pumped for my early morning run.
Nothing like starting the day off with some good exercise. Never mind
that it was 15 out and dark, and I'm definitely not a morning person,
but I was ready to do this thing. I'd even laid out all my running
clothes the night before. Unfortunately, I soon discovered my plan
had one fatal flaw - I had no running shoes! I had left them at
Debbie's parents. I briefly considering running barefoot as I've
always wanted to try that, but I'd read that you need to break into
that scene slowly - perhaps I'd run a mile outside - I'd run 5k on a
treadmill barefoot once, but 5 miles through 6 inches of snow probably
wouldn't be best idea.
Ok, on to plan B - I busted out my P90X exercise video library, and
selected the Plyometrics workout. 5 months ago I decided I'd start weight
lifting, and I'd heard a lot of good things about P90X. Each day you
do something different, legs, back, abs, lots of pull ups and push
ups, cardio, etc. I'd even taken my "before" picture, planning on
taking my after picture 3 months later, to document the
transformation. This of course, came to a stretching halt when
Elliana was born 3 weeks early back at the end of August. I could
have picked up P90X again, but the bottom line was that P90X required
constant workouts 6 days a week 1-1.5 hours a day, and I wanted to
enjoy my time with Elliana, not see her as an impediment to my goal,
so I shelved the program. In fact, if I took an "after" picture right
now, it would make my before picture look pretty good! ;-P
So back to the Plyometrics - they were a lot of fun. Lots of jumping and
leg work, no upper body (I wasn't mentally prepared or awake enough
for weights this morning). After knocking out Pilatis after about an
hour, and an hour of getting some paperwork e-mailed, I was off to
the library until noon.
At lunch, I came home, and Debbie had made a great salad and meal,
and I got to spend time with Elliana. Plus, I took out a massive
killer icicle that could have taken out an unfortunately mailman.
It was nice spending time with Debbie and Elliana over lunch - much
better than hitting subway and then scurrying back to my desk to
fritter away my time on the computer.
After lunch I had to run up to Madison to pick up my leather jacket I
left at the church office a few months back when I played keyboard
for worship. The ski jacket's served it's purpose lately, but when
you're sportin' dress pants and a tie, you look like a dork in the
ski jacket. I ran a few errands while I was up there, and then headed
back to Stoughton.
One thing I noticed on the drive up to Madison was that it was nice
being able to listen to my own selection of motivating tunes. In this
case it was a mix of techno and alternative Christian from a radio
station I hadn't heard before. This was in contrast to the daily
drone of 70s and 80s easy listening/light rock/random garbage they
piped in at work. After two years of listening to Gloria Esteve's
"turn this beat around", the BeeGees, and Inagodadavida countless
times, I've actually changed my stance on the definition on just what
constitutes torture, or workplace harassment.
Not to appear too pius however, I should probably add that I suspect
my productivity (or at least happiness quotient) slightly increased
during the times which the airways were graced with the sounds of
Supertramp, Led Zepplin, Michael Jackson, and to a lesser extent,
Z-nuff.
I rounded the day off with an afternoon working at a local coffee
shop, and a few hours back at the library where I started the day. I
have ADD and it's hard for me to sit still too long. I get some of my
best thinking done on the move, either walking or driving, so I found
I was actually really productive despite the fact I wasn't sitting
stationary for more than a few hours at a time. By 6:30pm I was back
home.
All in all, I'd say it was a good day. Up to this point I haven't
really detailed what it is exactly I'm spending my time doing, as Mr.
Burroghs kindly pointed out, so I'll try and throw in a post with a
little more background information for you.
was still dark out, ok?) I was all pumped for my early morning run.
Nothing like starting the day off with some good exercise. Never mind
that it was 15 out and dark, and I'm definitely not a morning person,
but I was ready to do this thing. I'd even laid out all my running
clothes the night before. Unfortunately, I soon discovered my plan
had one fatal flaw - I had no running shoes! I had left them at
Debbie's parents. I briefly considering running barefoot as I've
always wanted to try that, but I'd read that you need to break into
that scene slowly - perhaps I'd run a mile outside - I'd run 5k on a
treadmill barefoot once, but 5 miles through 6 inches of snow probably
wouldn't be best idea.
Ok, on to plan B - I busted out my P90X exercise video library, and
selected the Plyometrics workout. 5 months ago I decided I'd start weight
lifting, and I'd heard a lot of good things about P90X. Each day you
do something different, legs, back, abs, lots of pull ups and push
ups, cardio, etc. I'd even taken my "before" picture, planning on
taking my after picture 3 months later, to document the
transformation. This of course, came to a stretching halt when
Elliana was born 3 weeks early back at the end of August. I could
have picked up P90X again, but the bottom line was that P90X required
constant workouts 6 days a week 1-1.5 hours a day, and I wanted to
enjoy my time with Elliana, not see her as an impediment to my goal,
so I shelved the program. In fact, if I took an "after" picture right
now, it would make my before picture look pretty good! ;-P
So back to the Plyometrics - they were a lot of fun. Lots of jumping and
leg work, no upper body (I wasn't mentally prepared or awake enough
for weights this morning). After knocking out Pilatis after about an
hour, and an hour of getting some paperwork e-mailed, I was off to
the library until noon.
At lunch, I came home, and Debbie had made a great salad and meal,
and I got to spend time with Elliana. Plus, I took out a massive
killer icicle that could have taken out an unfortunately mailman.
It was nice spending time with Debbie and Elliana over lunch - much
better than hitting subway and then scurrying back to my desk to
fritter away my time on the computer.
After lunch I had to run up to Madison to pick up my leather jacket I
left at the church office a few months back when I played keyboard
for worship. The ski jacket's served it's purpose lately, but when
you're sportin' dress pants and a tie, you look like a dork in the
ski jacket. I ran a few errands while I was up there, and then headed
back to Stoughton.
One thing I noticed on the drive up to Madison was that it was nice
being able to listen to my own selection of motivating tunes. In this
case it was a mix of techno and alternative Christian from a radio
station I hadn't heard before. This was in contrast to the daily
drone of 70s and 80s easy listening/light rock/random garbage they
piped in at work. After two years of listening to Gloria Esteve's
"turn this beat around", the BeeGees, and Inagodadavida countless
times, I've actually changed my stance on the definition on just what
constitutes torture, or workplace harassment.
Not to appear too pius however, I should probably add that I suspect
my productivity (or at least happiness quotient) slightly increased
during the times which the airways were graced with the sounds of
Supertramp, Led Zepplin, Michael Jackson, and to a lesser extent,
Z-nuff.
I rounded the day off with an afternoon working at a local coffee
shop, and a few hours back at the library where I started the day. I
have ADD and it's hard for me to sit still too long. I get some of my
best thinking done on the move, either walking or driving, so I found
I was actually really productive despite the fact I wasn't sitting
stationary for more than a few hours at a time. By 6:30pm I was back
home.
All in all, I'd say it was a good day. Up to this point I haven't
really detailed what it is exactly I'm spending my time doing, as Mr.
Burroghs kindly pointed out, so I'll try and throw in a post with a
little more background information for you.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Happy Birthday!
Tomorrow is my birthday. Ok, not really, but borrowing a cheezy idea from a scene in the movie Surviving The Game where Gary Busey shows off a scar on his face, explaining that it was a "birthmark" (the details aren't important), the analogy holds.
The reason being, and the reason for this blog as it just so happens, is because tomorrow is the first work day I'm officially unemployed... and I can hardly wait. I've got a plan, and plenty of big ideas, a 4 month old daughter, a worried wife, and in the coming weeks and months I want to document for myself how things take shape. Plus, taking a page from when I was training for a marathon, the more you tell people about a goal you have, and the more you write it down, the easier it is to stick to it and not just give up.
In the coming days I'll go into my master plan for the coming weeks in a bit more detail, but (spoiler alert) it's not exactly a total entrepreneurial throw caution to the wind and bet all your chips on the table type of scenario. For some of you, that's probably a relief since you don't want to see me and my family out on the street in a few months. For others of you who enjoy watching reality TV, that's probably a bit of a disappointment.
Ultimately I'd like to be working for myself completely, but right now I'm looking both into finding another full time job, and also seeing what other part time / contract type jobs are out there, in addition to forming my own business. I know it's much better to transition into your own well established business then to just try and bring all the pieces together with no backup plan or other source of revenue.
I need to spend time with Debbie tonight, so I'll cut my first entry off here. Here's my basic plan for tomorrow - I'm going to get up early, run 5 miles outside, dress in a shirt and tie and then hit the local coffee shop / library for the rest of the day as I divide my time into searching for a job and crafting my own business. We'll see how things go...
The reason being, and the reason for this blog as it just so happens, is because tomorrow is the first work day I'm officially unemployed... and I can hardly wait. I've got a plan, and plenty of big ideas, a 4 month old daughter, a worried wife, and in the coming weeks and months I want to document for myself how things take shape. Plus, taking a page from when I was training for a marathon, the more you tell people about a goal you have, and the more you write it down, the easier it is to stick to it and not just give up.
In the coming days I'll go into my master plan for the coming weeks in a bit more detail, but (spoiler alert) it's not exactly a total entrepreneurial throw caution to the wind and bet all your chips on the table type of scenario. For some of you, that's probably a relief since you don't want to see me and my family out on the street in a few months. For others of you who enjoy watching reality TV, that's probably a bit of a disappointment.
Ultimately I'd like to be working for myself completely, but right now I'm looking both into finding another full time job, and also seeing what other part time / contract type jobs are out there, in addition to forming my own business. I know it's much better to transition into your own well established business then to just try and bring all the pieces together with no backup plan or other source of revenue.
I need to spend time with Debbie tonight, so I'll cut my first entry off here. Here's my basic plan for tomorrow - I'm going to get up early, run 5 miles outside, dress in a shirt and tie and then hit the local coffee shop / library for the rest of the day as I divide my time into searching for a job and crafting my own business. We'll see how things go...
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