The Entrepreneurial Spirit Starts Young

I was in the car with my youngest son today and as we were coming home from picking up some food he told me, "Every time you take a breath of air, you owe me a quarter." I asked him why I would owe him any money and he told me that he invented oxygen. When I told him that he didn't invent oxygen he said to me, "Well, I have to find a way to earn money and this is how I am doing it, so pay up." I could not help but give out a good hearty laugh. Every time I took a breath he would tally up the amount of quarters I owed him.

It made me think about when I was younger and what I would do to earn money. In the summers I would set up a snow cone stand. I had a table I would set up at the bottom of the driveway with a big sign attached to it announcing "Snow Cones For Sale" and the price. I had my Snoopy Snow Cone Machine, cups, and little spoons set up along with my cash box. When I would see people I would call out, "Come and get your snow cone." The lady across the street was having some work done on her house one summer and the workers were my biggest customers.

I also was the neighborhood pooper scooper. I always charged extra for bigger dogs that had bigger bathroom issues. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it and I needed money to buy goodies. In addition I was the neighborhood bakery. My mom has passed along her favorite recipe for Pumpkin Cookies with brown sugar icing to me. We would, as a family, bake them during the fall months and then I would place the packages of cookies in our wagon, different amounts of cookies for different prices, and go up and down the blocks in my neighborhood selling the cookies. My other job I had was a paper route. A lot of work for a little bit of money, but it was still cold, hard cash.

In junior high I was looking for extra money so I could buy food at the snack shack. I would go to the local liquor store before school and take my change and buy those little packages of cinnamon sticks for $ .10 each. I would then take them to school and sell them for a quarter each. I made a profit to get my egg sandwich or candy bar and have enough left over to go buy more cinnamon sticks the next day.

My own kids have picked up the entrepreneurial spirit themselves from watching me run my own business. My oldest son set up his own mobile auto detailing business in my mother's neighborhood a couple of summers ago. When they first started selling the Mr. Clean car washing kit, he saved his chore money in order to purchase it, with a coupon of course. He started with my mom's car and then my two sisters' cars. He added a neighbor's car here and there and earned clothing money that summer.

All of my kids help me out on their spring and summer breaks. They perform the pet sits and dog walking and my daughter goes shopping with me. I didn't have money when I was younger so I had to be creative about earning it. Although I have the ability to hand money over to my kids when they need it, I want them to learn about earning money in order to get the things they want, not the things they need. I always tell them, "Your boss isn't going to just hand you a check because you need the money. You have to work for that money." They will do extra chores outside of their regular ones, help me with my business, or go around the neighborhood to find work or ways to earn extra money, including hunting down rats for the neighbor.

Regardless of what my children grow up to be in their adult professions, at least they have the entrepreneurial spirit and know what it is like to work hard for themselves for each dollar they earn. For those of you who have started your own business, regardless of what it is, I am sure your entrepreneurial spirit started young.

Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.

The above quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I thought it was very apropos considering some of the people I have run into this week. I have to be honest here. My mom ingrained manners into my head so much that I automatically say "Please" and "Thank you" without batting an eye, just as I easily take a breath without thinking about it. Even when I have fits of silent road rage or I am upset about something and tend to go off on little tirades, at the end of the day my manners are still there. If I am out in public and use my manners, people have looks of surprise in their eyes as if I had just uttered the magic words that no one else knows.

I have opened many a door to see the person glide through, not say a word, and act as if they are the King or Queen and as their lowly peasant it's my job. Sorry, but it's not my job. I am just trying to be courteous. Just this week I had a salesperson taking on the phone and look at me, as I came to the register, as if I was interrupting something important. I thought that as a paying customer that maybe I should come first, as I am paying for them to stand there and talk with their friends. Just a wild thought on my part I guess.

It reminds me of that Liberty Mutual commercial they currently have playing where the gentleman at the beginning picks up a doll that the little girl in the stroller drops and hands it to her. Someone sees him doing it, they in turn help someone out, someone sees them helping, and the cycle goes on and on until the end of the commercial where someone helps by picking up the stuffed toy the beginning guy's child drops and gives it to the child.

I know this is a dog eat dog world now and that manners, along with great customer service, have pretty much flown out the window, but if we could all take the time, about 5 seconds or less, to say "Please", "Thank you", "No thank you", "Excuse me", and so on, maybe the world will catch on to this wild haired idea and start to do the same thing.

Thank you for reading this.

Don't Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow

Ok, ok. I know what you are going to say. It is supposed to be the other way around. Well, I have to admit that there are times when you do need to put things off. Trying to burn both ends of the candle will not only make you exhausted, but will make you begin to have feelings of resentment towards yourself and others.

I have those days where I have gone, gone, gone and just want to take a break. I am not talking about always taking a week vacation every time you need a break, but build in mini vacations. An hour here, a weekend there, a day here, or a couple of hours there. When you feel rejuvenated, you become more focused on the task at hand.

In America we run ourselves ragged and end up with physical as well as mental issues because we don't take care of ourselves like we should. I am jealous of France. They close up for 5-8 weeks per year, sometimes longer. I wouldn't take all of that time off at once, but just knowing it is there for the taking would help me feel more relaxed.

This morning I woke up feeling refreshed and focused after sleeping in a little. I started on a list of chores that needed to be done and am getting ready for my big business weekend. I have also played a little bit of hooky and watched some shows I had TiVo'd earlier in the week. Do I feel unproductive because I am watching TV and not working? To be honest, no. I put in many hours during the week between school, my business, my family, and my other volunteer work I take part in. I feel I deserve some "me" time.

Take a catnap, watch a show you didn't get to see earlier in the week, take the kids to McDonald's for some ice cream, or whatever would make you happy. Get some "you" time in. There is always another day.

It Goes On

My sister and I were talking and I had asked her if she had any words of wisdom. She said that one of her favorite quotes is "There are three words that sum up my life: It Goes On." I thought to myself how true that is. Regardless of whether you are happy, sad, in the slumps, stressed, a death has occurred, you have gotten married, had children, and the list could go on and on, life still goes on and time keeps ticking away.

When I am feeling stressed out trying to meet my many deadlines, both personal and business, I let things go and come back to them. There are many times when I am writing my newsletter and I draw a blank. I walk away from the computer knowing the issue will go out, just not at that moment. I focus on other things and come back to my computer when my mind is ready. At first I would stress out wanting everything to go out on time. Now, I just tell myself that life goes on and no one is going to black ball me because they didn't receive an issue at 7:00 a.m. on the dot.

Every year during the football season we host college football parties each weekend. I love to put together parties, so I would run myself ragged doing it. This year my oldest son is in his high school marching band and has many weekend events. My youngest son is playing flag football and his games are on Saturdays. I have relied on party trays, crockpot meals, and plenty of potluck help to put these parties together. Everyone has still enjoyed themselves regardless of what is put out for the spread.

My husband has a tendency to get sick when he is really stressed out. He always asks me how I can remain so calm. I tell him, "Does stressing out make the problem go away?" with which he replies, "No" so I tell him, "I am not going to make myself physically ill over a situation I cannot control at this moment."

As I have been in the car with my husband, there is always at least one jerk on the road. You know the person. They think the world revolves around them and they should be allowed to cut you off or speed because where they have to go is much more important than where you have to go. I get mad and will tell them off, obviously with the windows up and out loud to myself in the car. My husband will tell me that I will probably never see them again, so don't sweat it. I have learned to say, "Oh well." and keep driving. I keep the radio on to distract me from life's worries on the road.

When we have great things happen to us, we always remember them. When bad things happen, we sometimes tend to dwell on them. Instead of doing that, think of the quote and know that if you dwell on the bad things, life will still go on and it will pass you by.