eAction

I want to thank all of you for not beating me on the head with wet noodles for forgetting to send out an issue last week, and also yesterday.

My business start up is still eating up a lot of time, and the tension of trying to keep up with previous commitments, as well as spend time getting computers set up for the courses I plan to offer is wearing some days.

Just like a baby learning to walk, we have to allow time to get stable feet under us. We have patience with a toddler - guess we need to show that kind of grace to one another too, don’t we?

You have very likely heard of, and probably even own, these new books and videos with ‘THE Secret’ to success in life and in business. I just learned about another one this week, called the Jackrabbit Principle. It was promoted by a Christian so I thought it might be worth checking out.

It was a disappointment. The analogy in the video was not even clear, but they implied that it was all about goal-setting. Well, I appreciate the value of goal-setting and try to practice it, but I don’t think that’s the ultimate secret to success.

So I’ve done a little thinking.

As a Christian we are not to have other gods (this can be anything we think has power to help us) besides God Himself. The true success He promises us lies in trusting Him, and living by His principles. It has been when I’m in utter submission to God’s will and ways, that I’ve had my greatest successes.

So then, there is no point in chasing these ’secrets’ that others purport to offer for a price. All the success advice we need is accessible to us for free in the Bible. You probably have one already too.

To build our faith muscles we just need to spend time reading it and discovering promises to inspire faith and forward-thinking.

As Jesus said to His disciples, these gem-truths are hidden in little parables and stories, so that those who should not defame them cannot find them. With humility and a teachable heart willing to obey however, we can mine these great truths and enjoy successes that will last forever.

Some of the best spiritual truths that lead to success are found in the parables Jesus told. Study them and see if you can spot the truth that you can apply to your life.

Secondly, we all should be taking daily vitamins. The pity short proverbs in the book of Proverbs can be spiritual vitamins for us. Try reading one chapter a day for a month. Match the chapter number to the date. Next month, start over with the first chapter. You need to take these proverb-vitamins for a few months to notice the effect they will have on you.

Are you out of the January Blues yet? I have come out of mine. The secret? I went back to the Lord Jesus, and said, “I’ve drifted away from You with all my busyness. I want to get back to trusting You for everything.” This week a number of good things have come.

On Sunday I got a lovely white cat given to me (meant to be a mouser), who is becoming quite the loving and entertaining companion. I’ve got two mice in my traps! Yesterday I was invited out to lunch and got a good support check and a bit of extra, and learned that more has come in for my missionary support from a new source - I’ll get that money today, and a check that seemed to be lost on it’s way to me arrived in the mail this morning!

It’s like suddenly the sun has come up on my life.

A lesson I’m learning from my cat, Snowflake, is to be more direct and bold when asking my superior for love and food. I think I’ve been too shy to ask sometimes.

We may not all be great animal lovers, but there are lessons we can apply from the common traits that we observe in them. It is as though God wants to plant visual object lessons all around us in such a way that even the most illiterate person can by observing and thinking apply key principles to their life and work.

Since I have just become a pet owner, I’m picking up some of those principles in a fresh way. However, others have done quite intricate and scientific studies comparing instinctive animal habits with character traits that would be good for us to adopt as well.

Would you like to follow me as I mull over some examples? Let’s try to focus our thoughts on those that show how to succeed with our business, since that’s our slant here already.

Ah, the humble but industrious little ant comes to mind quickly. Starting and running a business means work, and more work. You have to commit to keeping at it over the long haul, but in the end you can accomplish a lot.

There are many others, of course. Now you can draw up your own list and see how long it grows.

If you create a really long and exceptional list, I’d be glad to see it.

Pick one trait that you know you are weak in and set aside a month to develop it. Look for articles on that skill or trait, and read them. Plan small learning experiences, and put yourself into situations where you will be required to exercise that trait. Those may be a bit stressful, but at the end of a month you will have grown some in that trait, and gained some advances in it.

Well, I think I need to take this post to explain what’s been keeping me busy before I get back to my lesson-type blogs.

What I’ve been doing has certainly been about Linux too.

I’m setting up a small business to provide virtual assistant services to people who have web businesses, but that’s more like a vehicle by which I can train interns to help me with my own work-load, and also to see to it that I’m not the ONLY one who knows how to access various websites that I’ve set up for missions and ministries. Since I’m starting this business on a shoestring, I’ve had to be careful not to buy more than I can afford at any given time.

I did get a good deal on computer desks on a Boxing Day sale at WalMart, but I’m still scrounging for free computers that others cast off, because I know that for the most part I can get them up and running with a Linux distro.

In fact, this will strike you as good news if you are a keen linuxer; I intend to run my business on Linux operating systems only, and will offer all my training courses on that alone. I hope to convert all my student/interns to favour Linux above all else! I want to train them to troubleshoot their own problems, and hope that out of these people will arise some who will take on the challenge of offering truly excellent technical support in our city of Saskatoon to all those who will start switching to Linux.

It makes me glow to think I may have a part in spreading a good thing!

However, this stage of fixing, and borrowing parts from one old computer to make another one operational, and the hours it takes to install operating systems like OpenSuse 10.3 (especially if there’s a glitch and I have to do it all over again)… whew, it does call for extra doses of patience!

Friends are becoming aware of my need and are offering me their old boxes from the basement, and that’s okay because when I get a system all set up, I’ll be happy to give it away to a needy person, once I have a good set of training computers set up.

Really, I’m only asking God for four right now. I think I can train best if I have small classes for now.

Once this business is roaring along, you may find that I’m giving more updates here, and will have more detailed reports to give on how to do various things. For now I’m begging more time to get it all set up. Please?

Thanks!

So how is your business doing this January? Got the winter blues, or is this your most productive time because the winter weather eliminates other distracting things you could be doing?

I hope the latter is true for you. But if you know me at all, you know that I urge self-discipline and dogged perserance. So if you need someone to put a kindly arm around you today and remind you of that again, here I am to do that.

((((A hug for you))))! And I’m whispering in your ear, “Hang in there! Work hard now, and it will be easier to give yourself some time off when the lovely weather comes, and your loved ones beg for some of your time. It will be worth it in the end.”

I know - because I need this kind of talk from a friend myself these days. Setting up my Azaleas Virtual Assistants business is taking longer than I’d thought it would, and I am having to hang in there, and keep at it - for the sake of my long-term goals. Hey, when this gets off the ground, I’ll be getting a steady income, and I’ll be teaching others what I know. They will rejoice in their new skills and will be grateful to me.

I’m still setting up old computers in my office and haven’t had time for good publicity yet. So I’m running at least a month behind, but good things have happened too, and my brother made a suggestion last week, that gives me fresh home. More another time.

You may be running a wee home business and apologizing for it, thinking that you can only call yourself a true business person when you have a commercial location, and you go in for regular business hours, and you deal with the public every day. I’m here to explain that thinking away.

For the last ten years I’ve been calling myself (mostly privately) a business woman, and running it from my computer at home. I’ve tried hard to be orderly and systematic about how I run it, thinking that some day it will be easier to adjust to a real business in some office location. Well, since the beginning of December 2007, I’ve been preparing such a business where I plan to offer training in those basic office skills you need when you run a home business. When I find some exceptionally good workers I plain to hire them so I can delegate more of my work to them, and take on more commercial clients. However, this process over the last six weeks has proved something to me. There are wonderful advantages to running a business from home. Wistfully, I think how I’d like to go back to that comfortable lifestyle.

For your home business you don’t;
- need to pay for all kinds of licenses and government documents
- have to re-decorate and make your office ready for strangers
- have to buy up desks and computers and set things up for others
- have to go out in bitterly cold weather to walk or drive to the office
- go home and worry about unfinished work at the office
- nor do you need a presentable wardrobe to wear at the office.

All that is not to say that you run a home business lackadasically, and make do with a pitiful income. You can apply high personal and ethical standards, and do very well from home. You must weigh the advantages and justify your choices accordingly.

You might be asking what kind of business can you run from home that just calls for quality time in front of the computer? Good. I should clarify that I’m talking here mostly about a web business. One that you run from a web site which generates your income. One where, once you have built the core of the site, you can maintain it by adding a page or so a day, and checking for contacts from visitors to your site via your contact form, and those responding to your blogs, or whatever. If you are making digital sales you need to send emails to make sure they got their download okay, and build relationships with your customers by email or chat, or whatever. (See work from home for more).

It is quite possible now to run a straight information site about a topic you know well, and can write easily about to add to your site on that passion or favourite subject. If you add Google adSense ads to your web pages (no cost to you), it can bring you a quiet stream of income that is deposited regularly every month in to your bank account. Such a web business is perhaps the easiest to run. You can add affiliate links too, for more income that requires nothing of you, but to write good informational pages on your site’s topic. Or, you can write e-books with your knowledge set up in a helpful manner - and sell these.

Maybe you’ve heard me say it before, the Internet is a writer’s paradise. Almost everywhere you turn you will see that writing skills are needed to make an income on the web. Those who can’t write want to make money too, so they have to hire a writer. If you can write well, you save yourself that expense and can charge to do it for others. Another stream of income for you that you can earn from your home business.

It is good to register your home business name if it is other than your own name, and to do careful bookkeeping for all your expenses and profits. You should have a desk and computer dedicated to your home business, and guard that area so when you sit down there, you are really “in your office.”

But oh, the advantages of working from home;
- no office lease or rent to pay, or parking
- you can use the furniture you already have or scrounge at second-hand shops
- no signs to paint or pay for
- flexible hours (dash into the kitchen to start lunch or supper, and be right back)
- flexible days (take time off for a funeral, or shopping when necessary)
- wear extra socks and your old housecoat if you feel chilly

Let me be sensible and say that there are some things to overcome in starting a home business too. One of the main ones is disciplining yourself to stick to the schedule you set for yourself, and to persuade family and friends that you really are NOT available to socialize during the blocks of time you are working. (Living alone is an advantage here too, if you can keep from curling up to nap or watch TV or get distracted by other fun activities).