October 2011 Archives

Earlier this year, God spoke to me and said that this would be "the year of transition." That may seem a little abstract for some of you, especially the God speaking part. This is actually almost a daily occurrence for me. There are times when God speaks, and then there are times when God speaks. The particular time I'm referring to is one of the latter.

At the time, I wasn't sure what that meant. It had been prophesied over me that my dreams were coming true sooner than expected at my baptism last November. I fully believed that God could do that. Meanwhile, my circumstances weren't exactly reflective of this newfound hope. I was broke. There were multiple unexpected expenses, debt, and bills that my income just wasn't covering.

I remember one Sunday in particular where I pleaded to God that if He didn't do something, I was going to give up, and, most likely, lose my home. Not that that would be the worst thing in the world; I'm sure I would have sorted that out. But at the time it still felt devastating. On that Sunday, God did provide an answer. It wasn't entirely what I might have expected, but it was an offer to do janitorial work at my church.

I decided I would take on this duty, even if just for a season. I continued teaching guitar, and I was just starting to work at a laptop outlet retailer as well. This cemented my multiple job status (5 jobs if you count the music lesson agencies I was working with). Realistically, I was pretty certain I wouldn't be able to sustain that kind of pace for long, but I figured that if I could at least catch up with my bills, it would be worthwhile.

In the midst of that, I had an unreasonable cell phone bill to fight as well. I'm not going to go into too much depth with that, as I've talked about it at length on the podcast and the blog. Needless to say, I wasn't terribly impressed with my cell phone provider (or my car dealership, at one point). As I look back, however, both circumstances worked out in my favor.

Sure enough, the work started to take its toll. Surprisingly, not on me so much as my friends who were helping out. I think God was testing my heart. He wanted to know that I would follow his leading, even if it meant working at something that was neither my passion nor my future. And I had the assurance that it would only be for a season, even if I didn't know exactly how long that season would be.

In June, things started to happen. God gave me some new business ideas. I started transitioning out of jobs that were no longer my role to fill. I still worked 2 jobs over the summer, but I also started a couple of new businesses that got me excited.

I didn't find that my financial situation was improving, however. Then another opportunity came along. It hadn't occurred to me before, but I started talking to my bank about refinancing my home. I didn't realize I could do anything in that regard, but it sounded like a good thing to do while I worked at getting my businesses off the ground. Ultimately, it allowed me to pay down my credit debt, much of my personal debt, and even go on vacation for a week.

My ongoing training in business (mostly audio and books), caused me to realize that being an employee or self-employed just wasn't for me. You can exchange dollars for hours, and while that is perfectly respectable and I'm not mocking it, I was starting to realize that my heart was in becoming a business owner.

In September, I officially transitioned out of a teaching job and my retail job, both of which proved to be lacking in terms of hours and reward for effort. Currently I am still teaching guitar, but there's a solid chance I will be transitioning into other ventures very soon. God has lined up some divine connections for me, and it is likely that I will be going into business with some of my new acquaintances.

While this may seem like an overnight process, it took time and it took perseverance. I believe that today I am on solid footing with my finances, and my walk with God. I wasn't sure what to expect but overall, transition has been a welcome process, one that has brought hope, joy, and newfound faith.

In fact, if anything the last couple of months have been amazing. There is so much to tell... But it's going to have to wait. It has been a very long day of teaching, running around, and performing at a local Halloween event. I am quite tired out, to put it bluntly. If I were you, however, I would keep an eye on upcoming updates to the podcast.

You've probably heard the expression, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" before. In business this usually means you should diversify, because if you put all your efforts into one thing, you will be devastated when that thing tanks. You don't have a backup plan.

I find this philosophy to be pessimistic, because it makes the assumption that the thing you're putting your efforts into is going to fail. What you expect to happen generally happens. That isn't to say that you should be naive, or think in unrealistic terms, but it's not productive to premeditate failure either.

On the flip side, I'm not suggesting that one should put their entire focus on one thing either. Focus is definitely important, and determining your individual focus is immensely powerful. However, I think it is more realistic to assume that you have multiple areas of focus.

I feel like I've finally arrived at a happy medium with this motto: take the eggs in your basket and run with them.

I will be perfectly honest with you: I've had a hard time deciding on a focus for myself, despite knowing the importance of that action. Every time I thought I had left something behind never to look back, I would often come back to it. And every time I thought I had my priorities in order, I would have new brainwaves and new ideas that would distract me. I finally came to the realization that I could move forward with everything I was doing, even if it was only baby steps.

You may have heard it said that it takes roughly 10 years (or 10,000 hours) to master a particular instrument, craft, skill, trade, or profession. Mastery is not an overnight process or instant gratification. It takes time, effort, and perseverance.

Robert Kiyosaki says that one should put at least 5 years of effort forward in any business venture you undertake. A lot of people think that you would be rich if you struck oil. Kiyosaki thinks in terms of a business owner, so he raises funds to hire more people to do the work. He sometimes doesn't see any personal return on the business until 5 to 10 years down the line. Sometimes he doesn't see any return, and the business venture doesn't work out.

In my life, I've decided to give my major projects at least 5 years. I'm going to spend less time trying to assess my progress day-to-day or month-to-month, and see where I am in 5 years. Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. At that 5 year mark, I will take a look at what I'm doing and decide whether or not to continue, revise, or purge completely.

This philosophy is exceptionally freeing to me. Commitment is the beginning of freedom.

I looked at the instructions for my brand new WD Elements external hard drive, and I laughed. I had to take a picture to share this with you.

As you can see:

Step 1: connect the USB cable.
Step 2: connect the power cable.
Step 3: you're done.

It's hard for me to imagine a cooler pairing than Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) and Marty Friedman (Megadeth). Check out a video of them jamming and playing together below.

Marty Friedman is easily one of my all-time favorite guitarists, and he has been an active celebrity and musician in Japan in the last few years. He loves the freedom of combining his fluid guitar playing with every style of music. I love that about Japanese music too.

In a previous post I talked about a T-shirt you can purchase to help support Japan. I thought you might be interested to know that there are a bunch of other T-shirts out there besides the aforementioned one available at Engrish.com, so if you do a Google search you can pull up a bunch of other options that may be more your style.

Additionally, MTV has got a list of other ways that you can help support Japan: How You Can Help Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami Relief Efforts.

In case you missed it, here's a video of the band performing "Wonderfully Dysfunctional". The video was filmed by Tyler Perryman and crew at The House Coffee & Sanctuary, on July 3, 2011.

In part 2 of this video, I talk about more free downloads that I didn't touch on in part 1, including a 14 track compilation entitled "Rarities, Oddities, Demos, and Rabbit Trails." I also highlight the interviews I did with the likes of Derek Sivers and Tommy Tallarico. Finally, I touch on the store and podcast.

You might remember that I hosted a concert at Calgary Life Church earlier this year, benefiting the Japanese Red Cross Society. We raised roughly $53 on that occasion, which may not be a lot, but it's nothing to sneeze at either. With that in mind, my personal goal is higher than that. MUCH higher.

I think I'm finally coming to the realization that there are other ways to raise money besides hosting concerts (like this blog post, for example). As a matter of fact, I came across something interesting just the other day. You can get a "Don't Give Up, Japan!" T-shirt over at Engrish.com. I did! All profits go to Red Cross Japan. It would be great to know if you purchased a T-shirt as result of this blog post, but I'm not going to make that a rule. It's just good to know that we can all make a difference.

Here's a video from Goemon047 talking about the T-shirt in question. Skip to 4:08 to hear him talk about it.

In this video, I show you some of things you may have missed on the website. I begin by talking about the various subscription options and social media links. Then I discuss the banners on my website, which lead to some of the main features. Finally, I talk about the discography section and where you can find a few free downloads!