Raw Opportunity Surrounds Us!

“You hit what you aim at, and if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.” 

― Zig Ziglar (RIP)

Our eyes observe all sorts of activity daily in our surroundings. Choices are constantly marketed to us as we drive, walk, or journey through media channels. We are so busy ingesting the messages, we often don’t think to use our own imagination or envision a possibility towards the future. Visionaries like Zig Ziglar, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs are few and far between.

We often witness entire industries morph into something different without recognizing the opportunity to get involved. Culture captivates us to the point of being a participant player, instead of an instigator of change. Like it or not, Las Vegas is one city that re-invents itself every decade or so. It truly doesn’t sleep or stay content with current themes, barriers or extravaganza.

There’s no better time to start your own future than now!

What are you an expert in? What idea have you toyed with for years?

 Opportunity exists everywhere if we focus on what’s missing or needed. We don’t need another pharmacy on every corner, that replaced the old gas stations on every corner; but there is always a developing trend quietly sleeping waiting to become the “I wished I had thought of that, idea!”

Twenty years ago, sports card memorabilia became a rage until the market was purposely over saturated. Precious Moments, Betsy Clark, Cherished Teddies David Winter’s Cottages and TY Beanie Babies had a long run. Lots of income was generated off of the collectible industries. Those able to get in at the ground level could sustain a long-term business by becoming the leader in current trends.

Discovering your niche is half the battle. Finding your niche isn’t rocket science. What are you an expert in or follow passionately? What insight or value is currently missing in those businesses now?

Opportunity is only a problem away. Find some system needing improving and retool it. Spend time assessing a needed service or improving an existing service.

 Attempt to become the Ray Kroc of health food service. Improve the image and taste of a healthy diet food distinctly superior to other brands.  Become the best Biblical health website and forum for a coaching business. Do the work, build the clientele and watch your business grow!

Painting, woodworking, plumbing, and electrical businesses could expand into “how to seminars.” Help home owners cut costs by offering consulting services, evening hours, video services and classes live and expand online.

Being the first to offer expanded resources may seem risky but it is the added value the general public would be thankful for and keep you busy during traditional slow periods.

Your idea doesn’t have to be original. It only needs to enhance existing parameters. Envision the present status of an industry, object or business as version 1.0, not as a completed idea or finished product.

Start looking at everything as raw opportunity!

Life is an amusement park, waiting for the next trend, change or big idea.

This is the new frontier for those brave enough to dare, dream and care!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Larry Siegfried - Beyond a World Champion!

In the Industrial Age- gatekeepers and permission controlled the scene. If we thought of a new idea, the first question always asked of anyone- what channels we needed to jump through to make it happen. Often we were given a brief explanation of “you can’t" or “it’s too costly” or discovered the idea was governed by a third party and if you had no association; the idea, thought or desire was dead in the water.

We were programmed to believe it wasn’t worth the time to attempt something new, unique or remarkable. Those parameters are slipping away and those businesses are dying- a slow death.

Today, it’s about trust, honesty and caring for the customer. The realization that the heart of the business is the customer/employee relationship is the new approach to successfully running a business. The top-down management theory is dying a painful death across America.

Successful Business Strategy

Former Ohio State/ Boston Celtic basketball player, Larry Siegfried, taught this principle for success 25 years ago after retiring from basketball and offering consulting services to businesses and State Prison inmates. Larry was decades ahead of the times, his total reversal of management style brought back something missing in corporate management and how people are treated. His bottom-up management philosophy produced some very interesting results.  

Inmates who followed his teachings of respect, dignity, and honesty not only remained out of the prison system, many prospered by becoming entrepreneurs. The motivational speeches I had the pleasure of witnessing were stunning, refreshing and contagious. 

Mr. Siegfried’s analogy turned some businesses off, they couldn't accept change. The drastic approach broke down the foundation of the top-down management theory. It basically operated on “The Golden Rule” and Christian based-principles. A simple, effective approach with a solid motive for everyone involved. Control, dictate and fabrication are nowhere to be found in this approach.

The role of management is to accentuate the experience, massage the outcome and empower the employees to do the right procedure based on the principles taught.

This unique and remarkable customer service experience provided is the idea that spreads.

World Champion On or Off the Court

I wish Larry Siegfried had published a book on the principles he stood for, lived by and gave to us. I somehow believe the accumulation of those ideas originated through his Mother, Sunday school teachings,his coach at Ohio State(Fred Taylor), the Boston Celtics organization, family and his life adventures of success. Although he is not properly credited for advancing this philosophy of change, I can’t help but think his idea slowly spread prior to the days of the Internet.

 And Larry is warmly smiling down on us- right now!

Thank you Larry!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Raising the Bar of Leadership!

 

“Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.”
― John C. Maxwell

Hold On

The quest to push “the powers in charge” is simply a call for integrity and accountability. One of the main reasons for the lack of those morals is fear. Management plays the fear card and employees respond. Government practices the same measures. Although those in hallowed offices and chambers view it as a form of strategic marketing management- it's not!

A plan designed to hold people in fear, keeping them from recognizing truth and limiting their resources. In truth, it’s a deployment of walls within a calculated plan to harness your mind and productivity. Business and Government have manipulated the public successfully for years. The plan worked extremely well until it contributed to the fall of the Industrial Age.

Blinded By the Light

Greed, power and corruption led to a blinded future. The outcome few cared about. The end-game played out and the deck was stacked. Those who bought into the cycle of fear lost. Only a few walked away unscathed.

The gatekeepers under those at the helm are actually fueled by a higher degree of fear and caution. The ability to placate both ends of the spectrum, while maintaining position or elective status is a stressful job. Selling out their souls for a title to serve the employees or voters in mass requires the skill to not recognize “the man in the glass.”

Come Together

We need people to become involved in politics and business for honest reasons. The heck with party lines- let’s fix something broke. Recognize the playing field and develop a sound strategic plan based on principals to bring integrity and accountability back to our purpose in life.

Stop the whining and babble. We want honesty, truth and something worth standing up for. We want to feel alive and live a purposeful life.

Last Train to Clarksville

 I believe we have forgotten our strengths and our ability of courage to create change. We’ve become numb from listening too much, believing everyone else’s agenda or just plain given up.

Enough’s- enough, let’s reclaim our spirit, our freedom and our rights.

What can you do to create positive change today?

“We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are.”
― John C. Maxwell

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Should We Follow the Leader?

One of the common problems here in the Rust Belt is the lack of leadership. Perhaps it’s due to living in a “small town” mentality or because so few good paying jobs exist. Ducking the obvious questions and failing to recognize problems seems to be fashionable. When a leader allows position, money, or status to interfere with “doing the right thing” we have a bigger problem.

News Media

Years ago, news reporters built their reputation by asking the hard questions, un-covering stories and following leads. Now it’s about the advertisement revenue and in most cases- nothing else matters. Reporters used to take risks, a voice of reason and hold society accountable. Locally, all we are left with is a liberal newspaper seeking social media approval, being ever so careful not to hurt advertiser’s feelings.  

This lowers the bar for everyone.

Corporate Management

Corporate management is so concerned to move up the ladder or protect their positions, problems don’t exist. The only real problem is when they are able to avoid the leak. So, generally the problem is the person who reports the bad news. The plan to shutdown the point of question invariably becomes the point of attack.

Whatever happened to- Don’t shoot the messenger?

--Again, the bar is lowered and the outcome is a message of everything’s roses.

Hardly!

Stay in Line-Follow the Sheep

The saddest fact is young people witness these acts of poor leadership techniques and believe it is acceptable or the norm. The public believes everything is fine. Monkey see, Monkey do.

Eventually, a large part of society has been so blinded, so mislead that it fails to recognize right from wrong. The message sent is nothing matters except money, greed and position. Everything is fine, just sit back and let us run the ship.

That little ice-burg we just hit was nothing. Keep dancing. After all, we are the Titanic!

Just the Facts

Far better to question authority, use a fact checker or follow-up the situation yourself. Push the powers to be to ask the right questions and hold those responsible for answers. Never settle for- “No” or “I’ll get back with you.”

Settling for the norm ensures mediocrity or worse. Relying on someone else to have your best interests at heart is a mistake. It’s only their own agenda that matters to them.

If you are unable to get results going up the chain of command- stop contributing to the product, find a new job or remove yourself from the situation., Writing helps, because in today’s social media rage articles get noticed quickly and most businesses hate bad publicity. Sometimes, it’s the last source to seek change.

Encouraging integrity from our leaders  raises the bar of accountability, reduces the need for transparency and encourages truth.

By seeking purposeful questions we will hold those accountable for meaningful answers!

Anything less is lip service.

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Mansfield, Ohio- Does it Still Burn?

Back in October, I wrote a blog concerning the 42 acts of arson within the city of Mansfield, Ohio. Interestingly, it became my most viewed blog to date. Even more interesting was the fact that the majority of viewers were not from Mansfield, nor has one comment been received. From June to October we averaged an act of arson every 3.2 days.

The City of Mansfield was coincidentally attempting to pass a safety levy which would hire 3 additional firefighters. The suspicion arose as perhaps the acts of arson were somehow an inside job. On Saturday, November 3rd, we had 2 fires with abandoned buildings setting 3 feet apart. The fires diminished near the voting on November 6th, when the safety levy failed to pass.

So we now have 44 acts of arson within 6 months.

In October, I raised several questions:

• Why wasn’t the State of Ohio or Federal assistance summoned to assist in the investigation?

• Why hasn’t our Mayor or Fire Chief sought community meetings seeking information and vigilance?

• Why has no one come forward with information in lieu of a $5,000 reward?

Some citizens believe the acts were inside fires started to instill fear in the levy voters. Some residents feel it is another typical Mansfield, Ohio cover-up. Some believe it was someone seeking a firefighter job by promoting fear.

Late in October, I contacted a news reporter with our local paper. No response. I left messages. No response. Why?

On Thursday November 1^st, the local newspaper ran a story featuring the local Firefighters Union. The Union announced donating $1,000 to the existing $5,000 reward offered by the Ohio Blue Ribbon Arson Committee for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist(s).

The Union also stated it would form a coalition of citizens, service organizations, church groups and neighborhood watch groups to assist in dealing with the acts of arson.

I thought that was interesting since I questioned this back in October.

Within the same interview it was noted the Mansfield Fire Department was awarded a SAFER Grant that would pay for the additional hiring of 15 firefighters for two years. The City of Mansfield so far has waffled at accepting the money. The Mansfield Fire Department has attempted to land this grant money for 3 years. 

Interesting.

Union dues and jobs are (were) at stake. Did the acts of arson have any direct bearing on being awarded the Grant? Is this the reason the fires have quieted? No cards left on the table? The levy failed.

Why is the City of Mansfield reluctant to accept the Grant money? Do they know something?

We do know a few things are certain:

1.     The fires weren’t started by some negligent crack head or drifter. The person(s) know exactly how to start a fire without any evidence.

2.     What better way to scare the poor low-income residents in those fire zones of downtown Mansfield into voting for a levy if you have a wienee roast every 3.2 days!

3.     Somebody somewhere knows who performed those acts of arson.

If anybody has knowledge of who may have started these fires and is afraid to contact the authorities, please contact me. We can work something out.

Meanwhile, the Ohio State Attorney General and the State Fire Marshall have been contacted.

Until We Meet Again,

 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”

Something Meaningful that Matters!

www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Moving from Blogger to WordPress?

Photo courtesy: Search Engine People Blog.

The last couple of days, I've spent considerable time researching WordPress using Genesis Framework's custom themes. Since I am currently using Blogger, the move to WordPress is somewhat intimidating involving the transferring of my old blogs to WordPress platform.

The new web hosting service had me change the name server addresses to theirs and unfortunately the wait time is 2 to 48 hours to propagate. So I am in holding status and can't continue until my domain name appears at HostGator.

I spent the last day or so, researching the web on moving from Blogger to WordPress. During that time, I've considered canning the process entirely- a half-dozen times. Too many questions and it seems I keep coming up with more questions, once each previous question is resolved.

Blogger and WP doesn't cross communicate easily due to different formats so this becomes a large problem. Copying and pasting my blogs from Blogger to WordPress isn't an option I choose. There are many tutorials through YouTube and articles, however; a majority are outdated or assume the end-user is familiar with knowing where to perform the steps.

 Backing up your code from Blogger is imperative before you begin the process and not having anyone to  rely on for help if something fails doesn't make me breathe easier. It appears you must retain your old Blogger site or risk losing the old blog photos. Another option is to manually reload your old photos into WordPress, but that is too time consuming with nearly 100 old blogs.

Loss of Google page rankings has my concern as well.

It would be far easier to outsource the conversion, but it appears to be expensive and I haven't found many sources.

Then while writing this blog, I stumbled across this link. Problem solved? Pretty cool-eh?

 I realized "the lizard brain" (fear) had invaded my thinking. It's easier to stay on Blogger. It's less challenging to learn how to navigate a new software format.We are not accustomed to having to  wait for results. We want it done now.

 I must look at each step as a slow process. Rome wasn't built in a day and anything worth doing correct- takes time. WordPress, StudioPress and Genesis have some really cool plugins and themes, so it's just a matter of  learning some new techniques and navigational tools.

So for me this will be a side-project. No reason to stop the world until it happens or obsess. Just go with the flow and make the transition smooth.  Do the necessary researching, finding sources to answer questions as needed, forget the fear factor and pull the trigger when the time is right.

Anything less is not an option!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

 

Book Review: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

“The average life represents a life of sleepwalking.”

-         Taken from: The Art of Non-Conformity



Photo:aonc.com.

I recently had the good fortune to read The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. Although the book was originally released in 2010, it’s a dramatic eye-opener towards the way we view life, work and live. The Art of Non-Conformity is easily one of my favorite reads this year. This is a book that will challenge you to literally think “outside the box”  and lead a remarkable life!

Chris Guillebeau's purpose of writing this masterpiece was to transform your thinking in terms of life and work. His minimalistic lifestyle, thoughts and ideas left me wanting to learn more. Chris rocks the boat in so many philosophies- whether through helping others, having a free spirit, becoming an entrepreneur, travelling the world or leaving a legacy; The Art of Non-Conformity is a book you must read.

Discussions include:

-         Money and “stuff” can’t buy happiness.

-         Little risk, offers little reward.

-         Settling for what’s good enough, represents mediocrity.

-         Find ways to successfully live your dream.

-         To always look for someone’s agenda and motivation.

-         Question authority.

-         Living simple.

Adam Baker and his family are mentioned in a side story within the book. Adam recently produced the film: I’m Fine, Thanks! Chris Guillebeau makes a cameo appearance in the film documentary and I can’t help but think this book inspired the film.

You may recall in an earlier blog, Adam and his family sold all their “stuff” to move overseas and live their dream life. Mr. Baker started his own web business Man vs. Debt and has inspired others to live their dream.

The Art of Non-Conformity is divided into three parts:

1.     Remarkable Life- challenging authority and creating a path.

2.     Reclaiming Work- discusses how we think and where we spend our productive hours.

3.     Power of Convergence- furthering details of life, travel and work.

Photo:aonc.com

Chris discusses his journey from quitting a dead-end job at Federal Express at the age of 19, selling his “stuff” on eBay, becoming an entrepreneur(selling coffee online), moving overseas working as a volunteer with non-profit organizations and his dream to visit every country in the world.

 Chris has succeeded in visiting (as of September, 2012) 188 of 193 countries. Quite a remarkable feat considering he is also an author, speaker, blogger, and travel hacking expert. How he finds the time to do all he does is amazing. Sleepwalking through life isn’t part of his equation.

 The Art of Non-Conformity is a breakthrough of revolutionary ideas to live a life of freedom for anyone tired of the same job, rat race or mediocrity. It’s a wakeup call for those waiting to seek permission to be or do what you’ve always wanted! The Art of Non-Conformity not only explains why you must take control of your opportunities; it gives you permission to act.  

In our post-industrial era it is imperative to realize “the old mindset” isn’t going to allow us to live our dreams. The Art of Non-Conformity allows us the choice between dreaming and succeeding. The book supplies the mental tools to reach new horizons and Chris Guillebeau gives us the courage to do something meaningful that matters!

Thank you- Chris Guillebeau for this gift of art! 

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.