This was emailed to me this morning on the Australian Cattle Dog rescue group, and it’s pretty good. Just one of those reminders that, as humans, we make our lives complicated. All that complication is 100% artificial, and after all, “…life’s what you make it, let’s make it rock” (Miley Cyrus). Booyah.
-Jassen
If A Dog Were Your Teacher
These are some of the lessons you might learn…
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy
When it’s in your best interest… Practice obedience
Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory
Take naps and stretch before rising
Run, romp and play daily
Thrive on attention and let people touch you
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do
On warm days stop to lie on your back on the grass
On hot days drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree
When you’re happy dance around and wag your entire body
No matter how often you’re scolded… Don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout,
run right back and make friends
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm
Stop when you have had enough
Be loyal
Never pretend to be something you’re not
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it
When someone is having a bad day, be silent…
Sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
~~unknown
Tim Ferriss has an interesting blog post you might like to read. It’s a what NOT to do list for every day:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/08/16/the-not-to-do-list-9-habits-to-stop-now/
Numbers 6 and 9 spoke to me quite largely, as does his quip in number 2 about finishing at least one critical to do item on your list every morning before checking email. In reality, I should combine this little group of tips (some of which I already do) with Dan Kennedy’s “write for an hour first thing in the morning” habit, since I *know* that an hour of writing every morning, day in day out, will do more to generate future revenue than just about anything else I can do in a day.
If you are a business owner, a job seeker, building a sideline income, a professional salesperson, or are in any way responsible for generating income, then I highly encourage you to take the time to figure out the several critical items you absolutely must do every day in order to grow that revenue stream.
Seriously, even if you’re a pan handler and sleep in a cardboard box, you should still do this. Not only that, but you should test and track the results of those critical action items. For example, if you’re that pan handler, it’s a good idea to figure out what your best times of the day are for being in certain locations, and it becomes a critical to-do item for you to MOVE to that location to take advantage of the traffic.
I’m sitting here in the lobby/lounge area of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, WA. This is absolutely the fanciest outfit I’ve ever sat down and had a drink in. It’s the headquarters/host hotel for the 2010 AT&T US Figure Skating Championships. It’s quiet at 10pm, and I hear classical musical and…a Zuca rolling across the tile.
It’s been a fascinating 48+ hours. My IJS knowledge has blossomed into comprehension and application, and I have developed a sincere appreciation for pairs skating that I previously lacked.
Above all else, I finally have proof that what I want to do with my life is, in fact…THIS. I think I actually worked a half day today, about 4 hours, in spurts, dealing with this and that, doing some code, working on lead generation, product ideas, etc. I spent two hours at the rink doing the judge thing and almost 6 hours in the judge’s school.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been open to some other ideas in my life, too, but much of my evening has been spent in contemplation thereof. And there it is. In all it’s awkwardly wonderful simplicity. 
For me, 2008 was all about starting over, in a multitude of ways – physically, spiritually, financially, career, and relationships. It was a rough year, but in retrospect, a necessary step back.
In contrast, 2009 was about rebuilding, branching out, and trying new things. On the business front, it was a year for testing ideas that are commonplace in my old professional field (real estate) and trying out what might work and what won’t work in my new profession (tax representation). For the most part, things cross over quite nicely. As such, it became a time for testing marketing ideas, creating procedures, and setting up systems. The programming of a web-based practice management system to streamline our operations and improve communication amongst the various business functions (marketing, sales, production, management, payroll, account receivable, etc.) was a crowning achievement for me for the year. While it still has some work to be done, it’s in full production use by our staff and has eliminated several other expensive software programs that didn’t talk to each very well. In addition, it allows most of our staff members to continue providing client service remotely, which before was not possible.
This year, 2010, will have a very different flavor. While the core systems component, the web-based practice management system, will continue being a major factor in my, it will go from being a majority of my day to being perhaps a quarter of my working hours. That will free up substantial time for me to work on full scale implementation of marketing ideas that have accumulated throughout the past two years, as well as enable us to expand the practice into other areas.
We have already started the wheels turning on two major business expansions for us: Offering professional continuing education to other tax professionals, and expanding into the world of business tax return preparation. Last Thursday, I mailed off the application to the IRS to allow us to offer continuing education programs, and will tackle the various state Boards of Accountancy this week. We have also started reviewing tax preparation software options, since we currently prepare tax returns by hand using PDF forms, since we do very, very limited scope tax return preparation for our existing client (most of whom owe back taxes and also have unfiled returns, which their CPA normally prepares). One of my tasks for today is to prepare a postcard mailer for tax preparation and assemble an appropriate mailing list to send out to THIS WEEK.
Back in 1999, Dan Kennedy published a tiny red paperback book that was included in some of his other programs as a bonus item. It was a self-published book, and is not available in bookstores, which is a travesty, because I think it’s the single greatest piece he’s ever written. It’s called “The Ultimate Success Secret. The book is about one thing: action. In a nutshell, goals without action are just words on paper. On top of that, it’s not about just doing SOME actions, it’s about MASSIVE action. That means if you can think of ten ways to grow your business, don’t just do one at a time, DO THEM ALL!
In a nutshell, that’s what 2010 is for me. If I fail to take massive action on all the things I have planned, I will have nobody to blame but myself. And it’s not just in business, either. If I have any real chance of making the U.S. Olympic team, it will take nothing short of massive action. Everybody else has a tremendous head start on me, so I have no choice but to dive in massively.
Speaking of implementation, the past three weeks have been a period of massive action in another business venture. I am happy to say that after many late nights, burning the candle at both ends as the saying goes, the new business is open and productive. The revenue goal for the enterprise is such that it comprises fully 1/3 of my goal income for the year. There is a huge fear factor to me, since I’ve never been involved in a retail operation, as I have always operated service type businesses. It’s also strange for me to be involved in an outright partnership, as I have a difficult time accepting having to rely on other people. However, the partners need this to work out significantly more than I do, as it is their primary livelihood, so there is incentive all around for it to work out.
Now, I have some implementation to go do. ~||~
Make it a great day!
Jassen Bowman
Back in January when I was getting serious about making the trip to Australia, I started looking for ways to keep the costs down. I made some notes about things to look further into, which I never really did. I was cleaning up some old emails and found an email to myself with the following notes in it, so I just thought I’d share. I do specifically remember one of the biggest things I found, which goes right in line with something I’ve been saying for years: Never pay a fee to get free travel — such programs are usually just scams or ripoffs.
Here are the notes:
Check with cruise lines for free cruises in exchange for offering services to other passengers that you do already, such as teaching aerobics, organizing ballroom dancing, doing catering, or, for me in particular, preparing tax returns or hosting marketing seminars
Carry packages and documents – Check out courier.org or call them at 308-632-3273 – clearinghouse for courier services
FreeTravelCenter.com
Participate in archaelogical digs — these often require tons of labor, and they are under- or un-funded digs, so usually need volunteers – PassPortInTime.com
They had some travel savings stuff at the time — CoolSavings.com
Happy New Year to everybody!
Sincerely,
Jassen Bowman