The industrial age is over.

Bloated organizations created by industrial economies of scale will implode, deflate, or evaporate.

The place to be today is where you are - owning your own business.

Technology empowers individuals.

If individuals have a choice between you and a depressed worker at a bloated bureaucracy, you will win.

Do not expect to survive however based on your history if you are an inefficient old line business.

Discover new ways of using technology to satisfy individuals rather than crowds.

This future may not happen tomorrow -- inevitable is not the same as immediate.

Today is the day to start thinking about your future.

Plan for success in the information age.

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A New Companion In Small Business

Small business or large, Entrepreneurial Business E-Learning is ready to answer questions from business owners.

This new site will be an Internet business journal, or "blog," aimed at assisting business owners find the self-directed education they want and need.

One of the best business educations is found in starting your own business - and then learning how to run it better.

Entrepreneurial Business E-Learning is dedicated to those that want to direct their educational experience for themselves. Self-directed distance e-learning -- needed knowledge that fits a crowded schedule.

The new site is a bit of a mess now, what with construction and all. Please drop by and leave a comment or a question.

Entrepreneurial Business E-Learning - go back to school - do it for yourself this time.

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I've Been Tagged

The tag caught me at the Prayer Chapel, but I thought I would answer it here.

My Perfect Partner.

1) Female

2) Born again, Spirit filled, eager to follow Jesus

3) Intelligent or wise or both

4) Able to laugh at anything - me, herself, even my constant bad jokes.

5) Adaptable - skid row to the up and outers, Alaska to Costa Rica, professors to kindergarten dropouts

6) Prefer a good book, or The Good Book to the latest movie

7) At least understand entrepreneurship, and maybe even want to start her own business

8) A woman to walk beside me, not behind or ahead of me

I'll tag eight with this 8 point meme and we'll see if they respond. I'll tag some of the better blogs I read - and also tag some fine perceptive people that have commented on one of my blogs - "That'll learn em."

Thanks to the following for being part of my universe.

In no particular order: The Malaysian Teen, Ninja Poodles, View Italy, Don Bell, Kisses and Roses, Dee, Lost in Wisconsin, Tam's World

The real person to blame is the one who tagged me - It Ain't Over Cuz I Didn't Sing.

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Warm Fuzzies - The Hot Button - And Closing The Sale

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Almost all purchases are made for emotional reasons - the Warm Fuzzies.

I talked with a realtor that understood this very well - he found his clients hot button. His clients wanted to live in his town because of all the beautiful old trees. He had shown them several properties that had what they wanted, but they always found fault. The carpet was the wrong color, the kitchen needed new cupboards, the garage didn't have a window.

The realtor thought he knew the problem. He took them to a house with 12 walnut trees in the back yard, and several beautiful trees in the front yard. If they said "the drapes need cleaned," he pulled back the drapes and said "yes but look at those walnut trees, one, two , three, four.... " If the said "the driveway is too narrow" he said "think of having a barbecue next to those beautiful shade trees - there is one, two, three. ....."

They bought the house.

Know the hot button of your clients, find what gives them the warm fuzzies.

I can't remember when I first heard about this. Warm fuzzies is just my term for a concept that has been around a long time.

I probably heard this next phrase for pushing the hot button over forty years ago. One of you blog surfers may be able to tell me who said this first:


"Sell the sizzle, not the steak."


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Pursue Your Passion - Do What Turns You On

"Do what turns you on" is a quote from Warren Buffett.

Buffett was talking to college students as written up in Globe and Mail.

I'd listen to Warren Buffett. Buffett said students will have to decide personally whether a master's in business administration (funny) will benefit their careers or if they'd be better off plunging into the real world.

"The one piece of advice I can give you is, do what turns you on," he said. "Do something that if you had all the money in the world, you'd still be doing it. You've got to have a reason to jump out of bed in the morning."

That is very good advice - from a very credible source. He has done fairly well pursuing his passion.

Technology gives you one route to empower yourself.

Technology also gives you a low risk way to start your business.

You know what you are passionate about - pursue it.

If you start a brick and mortar business it may take a couple of years to make it start working - it will be expensive - and you will have to deal with stacks of regulations.

You can start an Internet business today. it will probably take a couple of years to make it work - being an Internet entrepreneur does not have to be expensive - there will be comparatively few regulations.

One benefit of the Internet business, if it fails it will probably be easy and inexpensive to stop. And start again. Stop. And start again. until you feel you have gotten it right.

Of course as an internet entrepreneur you may just decide to simply change your business or expand it. This can be done easily, cheaply, and probably with no further regualtion.

Investigate your options.

Do what is best for you.

Pursue Your Passion.

Allan

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Adapting to the name change

When this site was dreampower it was a lot easier to write.

It was a flow of consciousness thing.

I would put up a title word - write some stories or advice - and then change the title to match.

Easy.

I have gobs of business experience and training; I talk about it with anyone that is interested. That and my Christian faith are the major components of any conversation I enter.

Of course I have opinions on all sorts of things, some in which I'm qualified, some not. I'll talk or listen on any of a number of subjects.

I guess I will put into this post the most basic of my advice.

Starting a business is a better education than going to business school. You may fail a few times before you succeed. Starting a business will still be cheaper - faster - better than B-school.

Just keep learning as you go, it does not have to cost much to learn, in fact it can be free.

• Enjoy life.

• Start a new business.

• Do it for yourself.

You can get a business degree latter for marketing purposes.

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Logic, Life, and Hmmm

Ya gotta go hmmm. - (from my sister)

You are driving down the road on a wild, stormy night. You approach a bus stop and see three people waiting:

• An old lady - who looks as if she is about to die.

• An old friend - who once saved your life.

• The perfect partner - you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you offer a ride, knowing there can only be one passenger in your sports car.

This moral/ethical dilemma was actually used as part of a job application.

• You could pick up the old lady, because she may die, and thus you should save her first.

• You could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance for a partial pay back.
  

• However - you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

Think about it before you continue reading.


The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with the perfect answer. He simply said: - (answer will be in comments below)

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Wishweb, dreampower - Small Business

Small business, home business, WAHM, affiliate marketing, Internet marketing - and - all - that - jazz.

Another name change - Small Business - Motivation, Inspiration, & Perspiration.

This time we put in the small business idea.

Everything that has been written in these posts applies to small business entrepreneurs, it is time to acknowledge that fact.

The goal of a small business or a home business is usually one of two things.

• A desire for lots of money to acquire your preferred lifestyle.
• 
  
• A desire to not work for anyone else - freedom is the lifestyle being sought.

These are not mutually exclusive, but your desires will tend to favor one over the other.

We have addressed both issues here and on our other sites; click away.

Freedom is wonderful.

Money to do good or live well is very cool also.

Planning for the future is also important.

Know that it will probably take at least 6 months to decide if your new small business is right for you. It may take another year or two before it really takes off.

Do your homework, apply yourself, and as Zig Ziglar would say:

"Enjoy the price of success."

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Perspiration - make good things happen

"Nothing Happens until something moves." - Albert Einstein

If it is to be - it is up to me.

There are wonderful things you can accomplish with your life.

There are terrible things on which you can waste your life.

Or you can do and be nothing.

The first and most important choice you have is to think for yourself.


"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be." - Voltaire


After your cogitation, the next step is to act.

Action, work, effort, application - just do something.

What is important to you? How can it be improved? How can you start the improvement?

Do it!

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Inspiration

Inspiration is the match that ignites your potential.

Inspiration has to do with direction. Are we climbing toward a goal, or are we sliding toward mediocrity.

Sliding down is easy, just close your eyes and let go.

If you choose to look up and plan your climb to the spire of the summit, you must plan.

Seek inspiration.

Set aside time to think on where you are going, the route you will take, and when you plan to arrive.

Look up.

Go.

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Motivation

Motivation has to do with motion.

The scientific law of inertia states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest.

Apply this to your mind. A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out.

If your life is in a rut, it will take effort to get out of the rut, effort to consider options, and work to get started in your choice of direction.

That is what motivation is about.

Motivation is the fuel your mind may need to work at a higher level.

Opportunity surrouds you. Opportunity you are either qualified for or can learn to handle.

Read, listen, & consider sources that will motivate you.

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Motivation, Inspiration, & Perspiration

Motivation, Inspiration, & Perspiration - all are required for success.

For those of you that have followed the development of this blog under the name dreampower, the time has come for a change.

Dreampower was formed to assist my daughter as she started another business. By the time she had fully investigated and changed her mind dreampower had several dozen posts.

I've kept posting by habit, although I've slowed to about one post a day.

Motivation, Inspiration, & Perspiration - that reflects the last month or so of posts. The name may change again someday, but for now it suits.

What will matter in the future is integrity, adaptability, knowledge, and action.

As a part of the Netcohort, your value will be enhanced by understanding and implementing personal: Motivation, Inspiration, & Perspiration.

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Friday Story

I subscribe to a no-charge service that sends me a daily inspirational quote.

These inspirational messages are always thought provoking, and at the right time might even be life changing. On Fridays they give an inspirational story instead of just a quote. All I pay is once in a while they offer me a low pressure deal on quality inspirational books or audio tapes.

It took me a month or two to get used to the service; at first I deleted the daily e-mail. I learned if I am busy to skip the short quote and come back when I have time to savor the inspiration. I read all of the daily inspirational quotes now.

It is worth subscribing just to have access to their e-books and tapes. If you prefer MP3s click here.

In its totality, here is this week's motivational story:

My Friday Story

1000 Marbles

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.

He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom." I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your Family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of "a thousand marbles"

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and have thrown it away"

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast.

This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones.

"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments.

I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.

I had planned to do some work that morning, and then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special," I said. "It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY HAPPY YEARS AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES.



Click this link to receive your own daily inspirational quote.

Best to ya,
Allan Wallace

Substitute

If you can't quit, substitute.

I read a story years ago about a professor riding a train. The other commuters knew that he always fussed over his pipe and lit it as the train entered the woods. He then sat looking out the window, contemplating.

Today was different.

The professor still took out his pipe at the appointed time, still reached into his vest pocket for a match - and pulled out an eye-dropper. He fussed a bit as he put a drop of water on a small plant he had added to the bowl of his pipe. He then sat looking out the window, contemplating.

If you can't quit, substitute.

Then quit - if you wish.

Allan

Make It Happen

Sometimes all it takes is another push.

Is there something you thought was important but are now about to give up?

Instead - regroup and retry.

Instead of quitting and walking away - step back and study.

Look at what you have done, read a bit, ask some questions of experts.

Think about the goal itself and decide if it is still important.

Decide if you should continue as you were doing, change a bit, or attack the issue from a totally different position.

Now go back and talk to the experts again.

Make it happen.

Allan

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Enjoy Yourself

Don't take you to seriously, enjoy yourself.

We all get a bit pretentious.

What we don't do enough is laugh at ourselves.

Look at the politicians and their supporters, all wrapped up in self importance; afraid someone will see them as the ridiculous jokes they are. They are like medusa, ugly and funny at the same time, but condemned to attack anyone that looks their way - and laughs.

They are funny, they are just the only ones that don't know it, and don't get the joke.

We all are funny things.

None of us are likely to get out of life alive.

So relax a little.

If you are going to laugh at others, laugh at yourself at least that much.

Heck I'm a middle aged bald guy, who all cleaned up, isn't going to look as good as Tom Cruise or Howard Dean. Never was good looking, but life does compensate.

At least I wasn't born a Senator. The Doctor wouldn't have known which end to slap.

Life is funny, life is enjoyable, life is fun.

It's the only one you will get.

Enjoy yourself - enjoy your life.

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Another Beautiful Day

One beautiful day after another.

Guess I'm ready for change.

January and it feels like the middle of summer.

No real complaints, I know others are snowed in.

I do like change though.

It reminds me of the story about a pregnant woman that had a 30 hour labor before delivery.

"Thirty hours?" her friend exclaimed. "I don't even like to do things I enjoy for thirty hours."


Enjoy life.

But also learn to enjoy change.


(It is late enough I don't have to make sense. - If there is something deep in this, it was an accident)

Allan

Rediscover The Concept of Principle

"I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't" - Mark Twain

Mark Twain's comment reflects the understanding of a different age, an age where absolutes were still respected.


"We cannot but be astonished at the ease with which men resign themselves to ignorance about what is most important for them to know; and we may be certain that they are determined to remain invincibly ignorant if they once come to consider it as axiomatic that there are no absolute principles." - Claude Frederic Bastiat


Perhaps the curious relativistic world of modern western powers is just the result of arrogance born from years of success. - If so this ignorance may soon pass away.

Prepare yourself.

Truth is at a premium for it is scarce.

Value is unknown for price determines all.

Education is lost, for it has become a tool of indoctrination.

Learning is ignored, for the schools exist not for knowledge, but to acquire a job.

Take time to think, and then perhaps reorder you life toward a very different future than most have imagined.

Life is not linear.

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Clear Your Mind

Clear that mind clutter that holds you back.

There are several door stops keeping you from opening a better future.

Those little tasks you keep putting off are not just small irritations, they confuse your mind with mixed messages.

It only takes a small amount of time to clear them out, wash the dishes, pay the bills, post to your blog, polish your shoes, etcetera. Make a list of short term projects and complete them.

Without that simple fix, you try to buckle down to an important task and your mind keeps rotating toward unimportant demands.

A simple task is far more than an annoyance, it is a road block.

Once your mind is free of all those conflicting demands it can work on the big, important, projects.

Get the small jobs done first.

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You Are Important

Your importance is not just an affirmation - it is reality.

There are goals to be accomplished in and by your life that will never happen if you do not do them.

You have thought about what you want to do, but it may seem overwhelming as a project.

Get started.

Do some small thing right now that moves you toward your goal. That first step may be to turn off the computer before you finish reading this.

That is a step, you are closer to your goal.

Make a move, add another move, string several moves together.

If you do that long enough you will achieve what you want to achieve - or by the fact you are in motion you will discover something even more important to achieve.

It is ok to switch goals, it is not productive to stop and think about switching.

The first step is always taking the first step.

Start Moving,

Allan

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Art, Science, or a bit of both

We say "is it an art or science?"

Art or science is usually wrong.

The better answer in almost all cases is art and science.

Look at the conflicting reports on medical breakthroughs, or in studies on health.

There will be twelve studies that prove coffee or meat are bad for you. There will be a dozen other studies proving how beneficial coffee and meat are, and how sick you will become without them.

A recent study showed that there is a 50% reduction in the risk of many cancers with sufficient intake of vitamin D.

This is as everyone wears hats and sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun. Exposure to the sun creates vitamin D.

Other studies warn of the dangers of too much vitamin D from pills.

Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.

The problem is we are not as knowledgeable as we like to think we are.

These studies focus on at most a few aspects of one item.

In life there is a huge array of interacting items, influencing and counter influencing each other.

We are still in the dark ages of science.

We are ahead of where we were two thousand years ago, but only because we "stand on the shoulders of giants" (Newton)

There are even some things we know are bad for us, that are actually good for us. Could it be that sunshine in moderation prevents skin cancer? - Maybe.

It could be decades - or centuries - or millennia before we know.

Although we will pretend to know the whole time - while toggling back and forth between good and bad.

For now I collect studies that support what I enjoy, and ignore the others.

In moderation.

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Narnia and C.S. Lewis win the battle, objection filed, rematch scheduled

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The battle of Narnia seeking to escape the relativistic Disney mindset is over. - Narnia only slightly wounded.

{{Possible spoiler included below.}}

I finally saw Narnia, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Narnia is a beautiful movie.

Don't expect a standard movie review. I am like Susan and Disney - I carry my belief system with me. It is difficult to arbitrarily suspend belief or disbelief.

I have written about the Hollywood mindset before, - Disney is included in that analysis.

That is the first of two reasons I had delayed seeing the movie.

The other reason was Disney's and Hollywood's habit of me-too-ism. Disney had Modified Lord of The Rings (LOTR) when they had a shot at it, made the three books one movie, and then declined. At the time it reminded me of when Disney passed on Star Wars, and then made The Black Hole to show they could do it themselves - and failed.

I didn't want to see Narnia and discover Disney had combined the shallow Hollywood magic of The Black Hole with an entertaining, circle of life style Lion King, as a response to LOTR.

Narnia as a set of books has been read by myself and all of my kids. Narnia, The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe as an animated feature was a favorite of theirs as they were growing up. It was watched frequently by one of my daughters in particular. I did not want to see a trite representation of what we had loved.

It turns out I didn't have to avoid the Narnia movie.

Narnia was well done with excellent special effects. The special effects were of the sort that in ten years we will say "they were really good for back then."

The special effects are really good for today.

There were elements that were changed from the book. I can see how Disney could argue they were for narrative effect. These deviations presented only small problems to the story. In the movie Santa gave the gifts to the kids, not Aslan.

That does lead to a glitch that appeared at the end, that will not be noticed by a TV trained audience, and that seems logical to the relativistic morals of Disney.

Edward is shown to be redeemed not by having grown in moral awareness; but by his using an unnecessary white lie to protect a friend rather than a big lie to benefit himself.

The scene is reminiscent of TV shows where the protagonist gets in trouble because of a lie. After 30 minutes and some complications they then make everything good by telling another lie.

That is pure Hollywood and pure Disney - it is just how they think.

In Hollywood an ignoble lie is normal - therefore at Disney a selfless lie somehow makes you noble.

They are far removed from a life where yea means yea.

The next movie will be the rematch.

C.S. Lewis believed in absolutes, and understood mores.

Disney and Hollywood, like Shakespeare's barbarian, only understand themselves.


I may wait to see the sequel also.


Allan.

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What Will 2006 Bring

Distrust anyone, including me, that claims to know the future.

That said, I made a feeble guess at the next 50 years at A Sovereign Speculator.

If you check those that are making projections, you will find most predictions are quite close to this years activity, and quite close to each others predictions. - It is safer that way.

If a big surprise happens they will have two defenses. There was a big surprise, and nobody else saw it coming.

My prediction for 2006 is therefore quite simple:

There will be big surprises that almost no one foresaw.

And those that by joke or bad taste came close will crow for a year.

A guess is a projection is a prophesy is a prediction is probably a waste of time.

If you are going to guess, make it wild. If it turns out right you will not have to share the spotlight with anyone.

outrageous guesses anyone?

Allan

SEO and New Web Sites

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effects new blogs and standard web sites.

Blog and web site traffic comes from search engines, at least a large amount of it.

The question is with a new site or blog, how do you get your share?

You don't.

There are lots of things that will get you noticed with search engines like MSN, Yahoo, and Google - being new with just a few pages is not one of them.

Do a search of SEO or Search Engine Optimization and you will get a lot of information, some of it free, some of it good.

You have to be found by, or submit yourself to, the search engines. They will then check your site, and wait. They wait to see if you last or die. They wait to see if others value your site and link to you. They wait while you change and update your site to see if it is kept current.

This dreampower site is new. I've done a bit with meta tags, I've linked to good sites about similar subjects and have some links to me from good relevant sites also. There are other actions I can take, but what it will take is time.

I have another new blog I started last month, Speculation Rules, a finance blog. I'll help the search engines find it by this link. I've also picked up the domain Speculationrules.com; finance eventually, maybe, but I'll help it get found also just so time passes in case I do use it for something. It has about five pages right now, it will probably stay there until (if) the blog gets going strong.

Some of you may visit the Speculation Rules sites; don't expect much from the .com. If you are into investments, the Speculation Rules blog is well worth a visit.

This is basic stuff and I am no expert. There are lots of folks that will charge you for SEO that are not experts either.

Do that search for SEO, find how to get more folks to see your web pages or blogs.

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A Quick Preview

Help me on this one.

Look at these three sites and give us an opinion

Many of you have been to our - BFU blog.

Some have gone to the good ol' - Bastiat Free University website.

We now have a new "faster and easier" - Bastiat Free University web presence.

This last one will have an easier to remember - BFuniv.org - address.

There is work to be done on our new presence - your comments will help shape it.

Thanks for your assistance.

Allan

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Review Your Recent Past

We hope we have learned something, so we will ignore the distant past.

there is a good reason for keeping a journal.

We forget how we handled a problem, so we reinvent a solution.

With a journal you have two options. You can redo your solution in the same order and timing; or you can change one element and compare results.

By changing just one element each time we repeat the process we control our observation and learn quickly.

Modify this simple tool to your need.

Review, then adapt as necessary.

Allan

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Goals, Dreams, and Reality

How real are your goals, and when will you reach them?

I was surfing blogs on the site traffic builder Blog Explosion when I encountered a blog about 5 personal things that will happen in 2006. I had written 4 of the 5 into comments when I got distracted and lost the blog.

Specific dates are the common thread my goals share.

1) June 29: Bastiat Free University will be ready for prime time.

2) October 29: I hit 55 and start breaking the speed limit of life. (no, I'm not going faster just because its down hill from there.)

3) November 1: I retire from my day job and dive into the great unknown of creative retirement.

4) I forget which of my goals I put in here, but it had a date also.

5) I was looking up the date my first web site Junior Partner Ministries would be one year old when I inadvertently moved on.

My life is well ordered by choice. By nature I am a lazy son of a gun, if I don't establish those mile posts, I won't keep movin' up the road.

Further up and further in.

We can dream of the future, but for dreams to have power we must throw down specifics; - including a time of completion and a possible, replaceable, method to achieve the goal.

Allan

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