BOOTSTRAPS: Resourcefulness-Finale

“A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: “Water, water. We die of thirst.” The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second time, the signal, “Water, send us water!” went up from the distressed vessel. And was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A third and fourth signal for water was answered: “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.” -Booker T. Washington (1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech given within Piedmont Park at the marker directly in front of the Active Oval)

As a kid, I remember watching the Disney film, “The Swiss Family Robinson” about a family finding themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island and having to use whatever was available to them to create some sort of living situation until they could be rescued. They built for themselves a tree house complete with running water, and then an effective fort to defend themselves against an invasion of pirates. Though this was Disney fantasy for the most part, there are countless stories of individuals surviving and sustaining themselves in remote and seemingly inhospitable parts of the world with seemingly nothing except for the will to survive and raw nature as a resource. Yes, that does take skill and it is a skill that anyone can learn. It also takes creativity and thinking outside of the box. If you live in a city with a connection to the internet, there is not plausible excuse for you believing that you do not have the resources necessary to launch a business. Apple Computers was launched in a garage. Madame C.J. Walker launched her hair care enterprise out of her kitchen. There’s a long list of major corporations with humble beginnings like these. I endeavor you to research them to inspire you. In all of these scenarios, people simply used what they had to get started to move on to the next level. In order to get started, you will need to develop this same skill of resourcefulness.

Perhaps you have heard, “Use your resources.” during high school and college exams, reminding you that all the answers you will need are right before you, you’ve just got to know where to look. Doesn’t Google know everything? Well now, that is always a great start, but go deeper than that by asking friends and relatives to refine your search. Visit the library. Find the courage to talk to authorities in the industry. Do you have any friendship favors you can call in? What kind of bartering arrangements or deals can you set up to get what you want? If it were a survival situation, you’d figure it out and you had better have faith in yourself that you can. You may need to use that same resourcefulness to get your business off the ground. You better ask somebody.

Your most primary challenges you will need to figure out is money, the help of other people and operating space. If you’ve done your business plan, by now you should know how much money it will take to get started. How much of that do you have on your own? How much of this can you qualify for a grant? How much can you fundraise for? How much loan or credit can you qualify for or should you take? How much of it can you raise with a second part-time job if it would take you forever to save? How about a side-hustle like Uber, baby-sitting for friends, house sitting, pet-sitting, cleaning houses, washing cars, cutting lawns, etc. This doesn’t mean starting a business to start a business. Look at it as fundraising, something you can get into quickly and easily, get the money you need and then get out. Can you clear out the garage and host a yard sale? Can you bake cakes, cookies and pies for sale? At one time, people hosted rent parties to pay their rent. Can you host a cocktail party? Get inspired by the days of thrift when ancestors like Percy Julian and others paid their way through college, working odd jobs and bussing tables in order to get to their dreams. If you stay focused, you won’t need to engage in this for long. Every dollar you earn will put you that much closer to the green light on your business. Not only this, those considering on investing in your venture will be impressed by your resourcefulness of making a way out of no way. That’s the kind of person they can bank on who can snatch business victories out of the jaws of defeat. So have fun putting your mind to work and figuring it out.


KNOWLEDGE:

You don’t need to be an expert in whatever industry you’re going to be engaging in. You only need to know 4 things:

1. You need to know what you know, which might be more than you think at first. 
2. You need to know what you don’t know. What questions do you have? You should always have questions. 
3. You need to know who knows what you don’t know or where to get the answers.
4. That’s all you need to know. 

As you move forward, pick up knowledge with books, internet research and youtube videos. You can become a pro as you go. But for now, good sense will do you just fine as you proceed from step to step.


PEOPLE:

Those people who know what you don’t know, who have have some of the necessary skills, connections, resources, prestige and influence you’ll need to launch your business, you will likely not be able to hire them for pay at first. So instead, attempt to interest them in partnering with you. These will actually be your first investors, as they will be investing their time, their intellectual services, their contacts, their reputation, their labor and maybe even their money as you round out your board with just the necessary part of your team to make the dream work. Your business plan will answer who these people should be. Next, get about the business of networking and asking around to find these people. Always begin by seeking answers from them. As you question them, they will naturally become interested in your need for their answers and if they see viability in the direction in which you’re going, they are likely to invest themselves in your vision more and more to the point of asking them to partner would be the next logical step. Meanwhile, do as much as you can on your own to pull your business together. The more together it is, the more you will impress them.


OPERATING SPACE:

If you need room to host your board meetings, your local library has them available to patrons for free. Depending on the environment, a restaurant, coffee house or hotel lobby might suit your needs just fine. Do you or any member of your board have a dining room table to use for meetings? Can you carve out a small designated space in your home to use as an office and use the library on any of the options listed above when meeting with clients? If you are ready to begin paying for space many hotels have them for rent. Regus.com is also a great start to borrow space as you may need it. Can the new technologies of google hangout and group chat functions suffice your needs to meet with your team under time and location constraints? Explore them, research, get creative, work your networks and start where you can.

LET'S COOK

“Where there is a will, there is a way” has always been the mantra of resourceful people. Resourcefulness is the skill of solving puzzles with the faith that all of the necessary pieces of the puzzle are right before you. Starting with your vision, what parts of this jigsaw puzzle will you be starting with? How can you use the pieces you do have to attain the next piece? Once you get that piece, what’s the next piece you can get? Step-by-step you build your business and manifest your vision with the skill of resourcefulness.

You can hone your skill of resourcefulness by simply playing with puzzles: jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, crossword puzzles, word problems or any mathematical game which requires thought with the use of clues that are given to gain the next clue and eventually solve the puzzle. When you think you do not have enough money, that is a puzzle that can be solved with resourcefulness. Don’t call it a problem. When you think that you don’t know the right people, that is a puzzle that can be solved with resourcefulness. When you think you do not have the space to host the functions of your business, that is a puzzle that can be solved with resourcefulness.


STOCKING YOUR TOOL CHEST:

Money:

Before you know you’ll have a use for them, begin at once, stockpiling and organizing your resources. Do not delay saving money. Your wealth is the difference between the money you can bring home and the money you need. You need housing, electricity, water, food, and transportation to work. Unless you are naked now, you already have clothes. You just need to launder and care for them. If you honestly have no professional clothes with which to at least be presentable in performing the functions of whatever your business is, you can suffice between Goodwill, Walmart, Target, Marshall’s, T.J. Max, K&G’s and a good tailor. No one will know that you haven’t shopped at Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Sears, Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse. The money you have left over after satisfying your bare, basic necessities for as little as possible, you can begin saving up for an emergency fund of up to 10 years of bare, basic necessary living expenses as your target. Once you have reached that number, you are free to go after your business full force, and it won’t matter what happens or how you may fail, you have the time in money to recover and go after it again and again and eventually you will make it. You can fully emancipate yourself to your vision. Couple saving along with ways to boost your income to reach this goal quicker through investing in money producing assets like viable side ventures, temporary part time gigs, and seeking promotions through your current place of employment. 

Many businesses are wrecked by personal economic disasters and not through some impotence on the part of the business. A ship can be perfectly made, but what happens if its captain becomes incapable of steering it? The Titanic can answer that question for you. An emergency fund will keep your personal life from negatively impacting your business before it is able to take care of you as life happens as it will. Right after your 10 years worth of necessary expenses are covered, you will need insurances to cover you in major disasters which can wipe out your savings and assets and reset you by years. These include: health insurance, life insurance, adequate car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, renter’s insurance, legal shield especially if going into business. To keep your premiums as low as possible, you should at least be able to cover whatever the deductibles might be through your savings or through a portion, up to 10% of your savings. As your emergency fund grows, you can raise your deductible and lower your premiums so that you can put more into your emergency fund. If you come upon a point where your business needs money, you have the option of borrowing the money from yourself, but make sure that you can and do pay yourself back with at least 3% interest as if you were borrowing from the bank. You will save yourself on debt and higher interest rates.

The next resource is credit, which then makes improving your personal credit score the next necessary goal. What you can not borrow from yourself or fundraise, it might make sense to seek funding from a bank, and in the beginning it will be very difficult for your business to qualify for credit on its own. Until there is some proven viability, it might not be wise do so, should it fail leaving in you in massive debt. Borrow only as much as you can pay back with your savings, your assets or through your income within 3 years. You will need to use the health of your personal credit to vouch for your business loans in the beginning. The point here is that you know that you are going to be needing money, and you are likely never to find yourself in a position where there is too much of it, expanding your resources in this area through saving and credit will begin providing resources and options you can work with when you come upon a point at which you will need it in order to get to the next level.

People:
The same as with money, you are going to be needing people. Sorry, independent people. Before you know what you will be needing them for, begin at once stockpiling your database of individuals in various industries and social circles. Organize them in a database detailing their industry, their affiliations, where and how you met them and who you know mutually. This is very much the way a politician begins building their campaign, and you will be launching one of a sort. Go to various networking events in your community and try to meet everyone. When you get home, log the information from the business cards you’ve collected in an Excel spreadsheet and connect with them on social media if you can: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and try to regularly interact with them to create a relationship that is both personal and professional. Like and comment on their posts which interest you and never forget their birthdays. When you begin creating social events for your market, make sure they are cordially invited. If you build a relationship with them, invite them directly and personally. Doing something random and fun like going to the movies, roller skating, running, white water rafting or off to the amusement park? Invite a few of your new friends. If you get invited to an event, make your best effort to attend. Say “Yes” unless you really have to say, “No”. Put them on a list of your 90 favorite people and call one of them once a day just to catch up. Make this a routine habit. After 90 days, you will have at least attempted to touch basis with everyone. If they stop reaching back after three attempts, replace them. Once a rapport is established, taking the time and a few dollars to send a greeting card for birthdays, anniversaries, marriages, child births, family deaths, graduations or any various life events, or random encouragements or letters of genuine appreciations for the unique individuals that they are will pay off when you need it, if you are genuine about sharing your life and sharing your light with others and filling your heart with the lives of others. It will make your life fill full. The experience for your spiritual and psychological well-being goes far beyond the needs of business. You can learn so much from the lives of others as much as you can learn from your own life. You’ll also a pick up a very crucial skill and that is people skills. 

Make reading, “How To Win Friends and Influence People” your bible until your social skills become second nature. Relating and building genuine relationships with people before you see that you might have a need for whatever they can offer, makes it so much easier when it comes time to ask and they will be more likely to help. This also goes both ways. If you are sought for help, never leave anyone empty handed. Either help them directly if you can or drop them some knowledge that they can use to help themselves or refer them to someone or a resource which can help them. Help for you or for them can simply be an answer to a question that makes all the difference. As a need shows up, you can go to your database, do a search and you will know who to turn to. Your network is indeed your net worth. Plant and tend to your crop. It will come in handy. When you come upon a moment when you need people’s help, don’t have a case of not have anyone you can turn to. Build your human resources now! My mother who was a master at resourcefulness taught me, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, who they know and who knows you.” Write that down. Study that for all that it means. Begin now to affiliate with some professional affiliations in your industry, or fraternities, sororities or even church groups and get to those networking events. At each event, make it your goal to engage with at least 5 individuals you have not met previously. Make it a fun adventure getting to know these characters and when you are called on for help, do your best with the resources you have. It will pay off later, if it only puts you into contact with more individuals.

Intelligence:
Our government has a Central Intelligence Agency, surveilling and archiving information of value and of danger to the nation within and abroad. It is suggested you develop the same for your corporation. Growing your knowledge resources can not be easier these days with the advent of the internet. There are industry websites you can follow, magazines you can read and books you can study. You should set aside regular time to feed your knowledge resources. Youtube seems to have tutorials on just about everything these days. As far as higher learning, the degree is only to confirm what you know with a piece of paper. If your industry requires a degree, growing your knowledge base of library of books you can turn to will make getting that degree a cinch later. Further on, if you feel it is necessary to establish yourself as an authority, then it might make sense to go get those degrees you might not necessarily need in order to do your job and then write a book putting into print the useful knowledge resources you have gained to help someone in a novice state that you were once in. Knowledge is indeed power and you will never really appreciate it until after gaining it and acknowledging how much of a handicap you were in before you knew what you do know. You will have many moments of screaming, “How come no one ever told me this?!” Yes, ignorance is that scary and perhaps embarrassing. Ignorance is the cause of worry and suffering and struggling for reasons you do not understand. Knowledge is the antidote to all of these experiences. Get you some!

Skill:
Once you have some raw resources of money, people and knowledge, you can then begin using the creative aspects of your resourcefulness skills to begin preparing your masterpiece, just like a chef in the kitchen. While your business plan is your recipe, there is nothing like knowing how to cook with resources in the raw, or from scratch is the term. While your business plan figures out a lot for you, learn to improvise, which is to think on your feet and pull resources together as quickly as situations can change on you. This is why it is important to train at thinking games like puzzles, chess and monopoly. Military commanders get this training in the military arts, where victory on the battlefield means knowing how to marshal the resources of men, artillery, food, terrain and weather conditions to their advantage to outmaneuver the enemy. Some of these skills can be picked up by reading Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” Improvising also means having the creativity to substitute what you don’t have with what you do have. Don’t let not having a particular item like a flathead screwdriver stop you from getting the job done when there is a butter knife lying around. I am one who is fascinated with life hacks for the sheer creativity of people using random, ordinary items lying around the house to come up with solutions to many common problems. This skill is what you must develop as an entrepreneur, for when things do not go as planned, you can take over and get the train back on track. Just like an actor who knows the story, if there should be a disruption, they can improvise and get the show back on the script without anyone ever noticing that there had been a disruption. Those who do not develop this skill of resourcefulness often get stuck even if they have a plan and they stay stuck and often end up in defeat right there. It is a skill that is worth developing within yourself at once as you begin to pool resources.

This has been another preparatory lesson for those who want to get ready to tackle their business vision head on with The Baldwin Business Institute thebaldwinbusinessinstitute.eventbrite.com and want to get entrepreneurially fit to maximize their results, for these lessons will not be covered in class. Fall Class starts, Saturday, October 7th. Registration deadline is September 23rd. There is a 10 student limit. Don't procrastinate.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

WHEN YOU BELIEVE: Faith Part II

Continued from Part I

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 11:24-25)

When you trust GOD, you don’t need to know how it all is going to work out, only that it will and you will watch with faith for the signs that will direct you on your path toward your goals and not miss out on these golden opportunities due to a lack of faith.

“And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than his jugular vein.” -Surah Qaf (50:16) The Holy Quran

“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you.” -Jeremiah 1:5

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 7:7-8)

When you trust GOD, after you have asked, you already begin preparing to receive. There is no question that it or something better is on the way and you want to be prepared when the opportunity shows up. You will be glad to pay every dime that will be asked of you and trust that you will not come up short. Your Daddy is rich and has sent you to the store with enough money to get what you want. If you ask to go to Hawaii, you can begin to pack your bags now. This preparation in faith is what puts you in order to receive. When you have faith, you are exact with your requests just like when going to a restaurant your waiter wants to know more than that you would like something to eat. People who are not used to practicing faith are also not used to naming exactly what it is that they want and so they usually end up with whatever if anything at all and sit unsatisfied while everyone else who knows what they want and how they like it get their orders taken first and served first. "Give that girl a peanut butter jelly sandwich."

If you do not trust GOD, it is because you do not know or understand the laws which means the same thing. So here, I will go over some practices to help remedy this.

THE LAWS

We have already addressed some:

1. The Law of Unity- Everything is connected and from the same source.
2. The Law of Love- Acknowledging, feeling, and acting in accordance with The Law of Unity brings about harmony, health and increased life. The Universe therefore loves you.
3. The Law of Attraction- All forces within the realm of form occur in pairs (duality) of negative and positive forces and are equal in strength. 
• Positive is the outward force, and negative is the inward force and they are reciprocals of one another. 
• The friction that is created when they clash is what creates our material world.
• When you radiate a desire outward, it is positive. It’s material or energy match with which it resonates in kind begins a negative draw inward toward you. The same occurs with fears, worry or any feeling. 
• What starts this motion is either a vision of Faith + Love or a vision of Doubt + Fear, with Faith or Doubt in the subconscious mind being the dominant determining factor. Faith and Doubt are mutually exclusive attitudes. You can not have both. 
• Faith affirms the force of desire or love. Doubt cancels the force of desire or love and replaces it with fear which attracts its confirming match. 
4. The Law of Motion- Everything within the realm of form is in a state of motion. Nothing is ever at rest. 
• The direction of that motion is always either positive (outward, upward, forward, toward, advance) which gives it the quality of expansion, or negative (inward, downward, backward, retreat, recede, decline) which gives it the quality of contraction. 
• Every life cycle has in it a season of expansion and a season of contraction just like breathing. 
• There is no such thing as good or evil with which to judge yourself or others. There are only causes which yields the effect of expansion, harmony and life and causes which yields the effect of contraction, disintegration and death. Depending on the stage of the life cycle, either may be appropriate. 
• Life is an eternal energy force. When it is time to change from one form into another, there will be a contraction or decay of the current form and an expansion and progress into the succeeding form. 
1. Just like seconds are made up of a thousand milliseconds, 60 seconds make up one minute, 60 minutes make up one hour, 24 hours make up one day and so on, each segment is a clock on its own. Within each clock, there will be a period of expansion and then contraction bringing the balance of energy to zero at the end in accordance with the Law of Justice. Each life is a clock of its own, and there are even much longer astral and cosmic clocks in which we are in the midst of its ticking. There is a 30 day Lunar cycle which affects the rise and recession of tides. One cosmic clock which we are most familiar with is Earth’s 365 day orbit around the Sun, called a year, within which we witness the expansion of Spring and Summer when temperatures can reach a peak of over 100* F, followed by the decline of Autumn and Winter when temperatures can drop to a low of below 0* F. When the clock starts over, it is a new life cycle, a New Year. 
2. During the expansion period of a clock, you may have those who have been giving and giving and giving and others who have been taking and taking and taking. When the decline or contraction towards 0 begins, to balance out the energies, those who have been giving, will get and get and get, they will harvest. Those who have been taking more than they give, will be exacted for payment on their debt with interest. Some call this process, Karma. There are clocks that run thousands and tens of thousands of years. Right now, the entire universe is in a mode of expansion and has been since The Big Bang, but there will come a time when its current form will contract in a process called The Big Crunch. Nothing stays the same, because the Universe is alive.
• Taking faith in The Law of Motion allows one to take responsibility for one’s thoughts and actions by considering the yield of an effect of expansion or contraction or which side one would wish to be on at the closing of a clock, being rewarded or paying. If progress becomes stagnant, it is a signal that a contraction has begun. What then can be done to reverse course if the contraction is unwanted, or can a new form be expanded upon its place? 
• An object in motion remains in motion in an undeterred direction until acted upon by an external force. Therefore, if an unwanted contraction has begun, what new and positive element can be introduced to reverse course? 
• Taking faith in the Law of Motion also relieves worry as forms change from one to another. When one form has reached its maximum value and served its purpose, it is time for the contraction to take place to make room for an expansion of the next form building upon the value of the previous one. Consider what happens right after a rose has reached its peak bloom and perfume, it soon begins to wilt and it must. This allows for evolution and things that are alive must evolve. Also, in moments of challenge, those who take faith in the Law of Motion know that this too shall pass. Those who do not understand or respect the Law of Motion resist change and end up including themselves in being swept away with the contraction and not surviving into a necessary evolutionary leap. They mourn the contraction more than they celebrate the expansion of the next form, and so they are doomed to suffer for these things must happen. If a contraction is occurring prematurely, they do not know how to effectively reverse course and often act too late. Lastly, they waste time in a false belief that the current form will remain intact, and so there is complacency with time and the current form never reaches full maturity of value which is what brings on a premature decline. Think of what happens when driving uphill and before you reach the peak, you let up off the gas. You immediately begin rolling backwards, cancelling out on all the rewards of the positive force input which have taken you thus far and never tasting the reward in the decline after the peak. This is what a premature decline is. Think of those who remain in dead-end jobs until death, or waste time quarreling with loved ones and then they soon pass away. These are all examples of premature declines never reaching full maturity or maximum value.
• Appreciate the NOW and make the most of it, because NEXT is coming and the quality of it will depend upon what you do with NOW. 
• Until you have reached that peak to where you can not figure out how to go higher, keep going, keep growing! When you reach that peak, be on the look out for the next mountain. Go down the mountain you’re on and be ready to climb the next one. If you have gone as far as you know that you can go, have the purpose of raising up a successor who can carry your torch forward beyond you and keep it going. Life goes on, always. That is another law, The Law of Life which is subject to The Law of Motion. Like The Law of Love is what happens when The Law of Unity is acknowledged and felt, The Law of Life is what happens when The Law of Motion is acknowledged and felt and the result is eternity, but never stagnation. It will continue to leap from vine to vine through evolution and never cease to exist. 
• When you understand and respect the Law of Motion, you can hear the rhythm of the living universe and dance with life as it moves and you will beautifully and richly. But just a like a dancer must trust their partner, you must allow GOD to take the lead, trust and then follow in step. 
5. The Law of Justice- The Law of Justice is akin to The Law of Attraction which combines the principles of Justice and Motion. The Law of Justice is what keeps everything in balance. In accordance with the Great Law of Motion, like walking, there are periods within a cycle of imbalance, but the full motion forward is always brought to completion with a balancing act, like when the next foot swings forward to advance the whole body in one pace. Think of a mathematical equation. At the equal sign (=), whatever is on the left side must weigh evenly with what is on the right. At the end of each life cycle, everything will be brought to a 0 balance. Every action will paid its equivalent. There is no getting out of this. The Hindu faith call this law Karma. Expansive or positive motions which have created a debt on the part of the universe will be paid with growth, progress, a harvest and evolution. Contractive or negative motions, creating debt on the part of the actor will be exacted for payment usually in terms of life energy, which means death and termination. That confiscated life energy will then be used for more creative purposes. “The wages of sin is death” -Romans 6:23. Sin meaning, ignorance of The Law of Love and resulting in contrary behavior to The Law of Unity. Love is the fuel of Life. 
• When you have faith in the Law of Justice, you have no doubt that your hard work is going to pay off eventually and you go about if following a rule of fair practices no matter what. You do not try to get something for nothing and rack up unnecessary debt. 
• When you do not understand or respect the Law of Justice, you suffer for reasons you do not understand. By not understanding, you resist the Justice being served with further contractive motions digging yourself in a deeper hole. You are always seeking to get something for nothing. Not only this, you do somethings that are negative in quality and not expect it to be repaid with its equivalent. Conversely, there is also no such thing as nothing for something. 
6. The Law of Abundance- In reality, there is no such thing as lack, limitations and poverty even in seasons of imbalance. The Law of Justice ensures that for every need there is adequate sufficiency. They always match. One can not exist without the other. Lack, limitation and poverty are imbalances created when individuals disrespect the Law of Justice, trying to get something for nothing, when individuals believe one man’s fulfillment comes at another man’s expense, and there is disharmony due to ignorance of the Great Law of Love. Competition instead of cooperation under this paradigm is what leads to poverty, motivating individuals to take more than they really require for their fulfillment and when they do, the unnecessary excess becomes poison for violating the Law of Justice and The Law of Love, just as well as too much food can lead to morbid obesity and constipation when you do not give away what has satisfied your needs. Individuals are poor both because they do not understand or have faith in the Law of Abundance and because others have confiscated their portion. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 6:36). Those who have experienced more lack than they ever have abundance or generosity are likely to hoard what little they have because they do not believe in abundance or that more is coming. So they never get to participate in The Great Law of Abundance. Just like the distrustful son in The Parable of Talents, they do nothing with the little that they do have and so they lose it and it is turned over to those who are using their gifts to serve others. No one is sent into this world empty handed. The value of every person born if maxed out on potential, each person would be worth at least a million dollars and the maximum would not have a limit that which we can conceive of. If they but stand up and claim their birthright to riches, no one would be able to keep them in poverty. There is enough wealth on the face of the earth for every breathing human being to live as a millionaire and much more is yet to be discovered. The human population continues to grow with each individual being endowed with more value than anyone can ever conceive of. If the water on this planet could be made drinkable, and it can, no one should go thirsty. There is enough land and homes to go around and many are vacant while others live homeless. And if we over populated the land, ocean islands can now be manufactured considering the vast expanse of ocean space. Consider what would happen if the rich who collect more private homes than they can live in at one time, decided to build shelters instead. We just happen to waste and misuse a lot of what we have, and so there are those who go without the basic necessities that they need. There is enough food to go around. Again, that is another resource that is grossly wasted, misused and mis-distributed so that there are those who go hungry in this rich nation. In fact, we have more of an obesity problem than a hunger problem. Consider the food that restaurants and grocery stores throw away every day after they are left with a surplus that they could not sell. So, if you haven’t gotten your inheritance, why aren’t you at least a millionaire? You better go get your money. It’s yours! Start giving generously what you do have and expect and trust that you will be paid back in multifold. Not only is there enough to go around for everyone, but the universe is still expanding. We have been in a bull market since The Big Bang. 

• “ Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? ’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (The Laws), and all these things will be given to you as well.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 6:25-34) 
• When you have faith in the Law of Abundance, before your bank account confirms it a reality, you claim yourself as rich and not without anything that you need. You begin adopting the habits and mindset of the rich and start applying it to whatever you have, however little. You are always on the lookout for opportunity, and jump on favorable ones when they presents themselves without delay. You will be generous and by the Law of Attraction and Justice you draw more riches to yourself. You take as much as you need for the fulfillment of your soul, which if millions of dollars, that is fine, but every dollar under your control is used with harmonic and creative purposes and you do not try to hoard more than you can use, and your life in all areas; joy, health, and love are enriched and not poisoned with excess which is like dead weight which weighs the richness of your life down. Whatever is excess, you give it away and you will never be without. Your primary goal as far as money is concerned is to be used to discover what fulfills your soul and not to impress others. Whenever you get into the bad habit of concerns of aiming to impress or compare yourself with others, you have gotten lost and off track from this quest. Finding YOUR heart and fulfilling your soul may involve extensive travel, building a homeplace that creates heaven on earth for you as close as possible, engaging in philanthropy, building a company that leaves a legacy for your life, bestowing benefits upon those you love. In this, always remember that wealth devoid of love is without value and still poverty only of a spiritual kind. Without value, it is that dead weight weighing your life down. You are fully entitled to this quest to find what fulfills your soul, and don’t ever worry about making mistakes so long as you learn from them, this may be how you will learn. While I would caution against recklessness in your search racking up spiritual debt which you will need to pay back later, go after your heart’s desires. This may be one of the primary jobs of your life. Even the preamble to The United States Constitution puts into writing an acknowledgement of your unalienable right to “the pursuit of happiness.” The more money you have, the more resources and options you can use to help you find out whatever that is, and once you’ve found it, give it to the world, and riches on levels that you can not imagine will be poured back on you. It’s that simple, find your heart and give it away. 
• Not understanding or respecting the Law of Abundance is the definition of a scarcity, needy mindset and that is one of the primary causes of poverty for being out of alignment with this natural law. Trusting the Law of Abundance for many is one of the hardest aspects of GOD to trust, when you have needs and desires and you do not trust that the Universe can and is willing to satisfy each and every one of them, if you are willing to cooperate with all of its other laws which will bring them to you. 

These 6 blocks I have given you are always true no matter what. Get some experience walking on them and your trust in GOD will grow. You will trust GOD more than anything else you see happening around you.

PRAYER IS ALSO KEY:

It is not enough to familiarize yourself with the laws and watch them in action. As aforementioned, these laws are alive and intelligent as we are. To further your trust in GOD, you will need to develop a conscious relationship with this intelligence so as to become one with them in conscious alignment. You do this by nurturing this relationship with constant communication. This is all that prayer is. It helps me to see GOD working within my life and responding to my prayers by keeping a paper trail. I write love letters to GOD in the evening before retiring to bed. I always begin my prayers with praise, gratitude, and reverence and then if I have any insecurities of questions concerning what my next right move should be, this is where I write them. Often, the answers begin to come during my dreams. If I get an inspired idea, I write them in a different journal when I wake up and begin acting on them at once. In the morning, before meditation, I read my letters from one year previous to see how GOD has responded to my prayers. Many times, I’ve gotten goosebumbs and lost for an explanation for how all the serendipitous configurations that had to happen to answer that prayer happened far beyond my powers as an individual. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in preparation meeting the moment of opportunity and divine intervention. Opportunities are always out there, they only need to synch with your preparation and Divine Order. Without Faith, there will be no preparation. Why prepare for something that you are not sure to come? At that point of witnessing how my prayers have been answered, you can not tell me that there is not a living GOD who knows me, loves me and walks with me every step of the way. Everyone must get to know this for themselves and can not rely on someone else’s faith. No, you can not borrow Gramamma’s relationship with GOD. You must get your own and begin with faithful prayer as much a part of your day as eating and bathing.

STUDY:

To wrap this up, it is not necessary to subscribe to any one organized religious faith which professes to have figured GOD out. I believe each of them shine a light on the various aspects of the laws I have outlined here and can also lead to great misunderstanding when attempting to explain GOD, overpersonify and overhumanize this entity and ending up greatly distorting the true nature of GOD, which is beyond form. To seek GOD means to study GOD and increase your understanding, knowing GOD is always there and make study your lifelong passion, for I believe it may take many lifetimes to fully understand what GOD is all about and what it is doing in creation, so that you can live your life accordingly. That’s said, accept that you are likely to never fully understand GOD, but if you trust GOD nonetheless, this should become okay with you over time, the more you begin to know and understand and connect the dots. From this overview, you can preview a bit of the important facets of GOD you will run into during your life (The Laws) and keep what resonates with you in your experiences that back up The Laws. Don’t just look at one faith. Survey as many of them as you can find. Look beyond the metaphors and cross-reference them in order to go deeper. Consider the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and the burgeoning scientific field of Quantum Physics. As you learn and understand while you experience your life, your faith will grow deeper like a tree planting deep roots within the earth it rose from and you will grow tall and be unshakeable.

This is all important for you as an entrepreneur, because you will not accomplish anything of great value without faith. Your building will be on shaky ground. You could endeavor to have faith in yourself which is advised and necessary, yet, if you go no deeper to the forces which created you and empower you, your faith in yourself will never be as powerful as it could be. You will forfeit much power to accomplish the seemingly impossible. It will be limited to your little self in this quick flash of time you will be spending here in this realm and your work will not likely go beyond that. Remember, your wealth is directly tied to the expanse of value you can serve others. While I believe GOD can use non-believers unknowingly and believers alike to accomplish its ultimate agenda, without being conscious of a power greater than your temporal self, your work will be shortchanged of a richness and vibrancy that can connect with people on a spiritual plane.

This has been another preparatory lesson for those who want to get ready to tackle their business vision head on with The Baldwin Business Institute thebaldwinbusinessinstitute.eventbrite.com and want to get entrepreneurially fit to maximize their results, for these lessons will not be covered in class. Fall Class starts, Saturday, October 7th. Registration deadline is September 23rd. There is a 10 student limit. Don't procrastinate.

KNOWING YOUR SOURCE

KEEP THE FAITH

WHEN YOU BELIEVE: FAITH -PART I

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 11:23/Matthew 17:20)

What is this power of faith and why do entrepreneurs need it? The dictionary describes it as complete trust and confidence; trust so strong you could walk on it blindfolded and know it will support every step you take. Faith is belief in the unseen, and yet it is seen with an extrasensor like a third eye. This eye can see beyond the shiftings of the universe into a realization of what it knows will come to pass, which might seem like trouble, destruction and chaos to those unable to see on this level and frequency. This knowing allows one to see a path through the smoke and pandemonium to the glory on the other side and travel it thereby safely. Everyone has this extrasensory third eye and yet most people’s life experiences have conditioned it into blindness, and it is blinded by doubt and fear which are the products of ignorance. The good news is that this blindness is not incurable. It can be reversed.

Be not dismayed about sensing something you can not see, hear, touch, smell or taste. Can you see radio waves or hear them without a proper device? Are they not real? There are waves and colors of light our eyes cannot perceive. There are frequencies of sound our ears cannot pick up, but a dog can hear a dog whistle. There’s a whole world of reality surrounding us at this moment our five senses cannot experience. The space/time matrix of reality is like an onion, there are layers enveloping each one, scientists call the dimensions. We exist and act in all the dimensions simultaneously. That which we can perceive with our five senses are so minimal that it is like vision so poor it could be diagnosed as legally blind or partial blindness. Think of it this way, when you were in your mother's womb, the amniotic fluid which enveloped your being in a sack was your world. You knew nothing more than this. Perhaps you could have heard sounds from the outside world, but you wouldn't have been able to understand it so you may not have been paying attention. If you understood anything, you understood the energies in the sounds where you could discern between an angry voice, a happy voice or a calm, loving and soothing voice. It wasn't until you were born into this outside world, that your worldview and perceptions expanded into the big world that awaited you, though it was there all along. Right now, we are in a sack that limits our perception of reality called a body. We will not be able to fully experience more until we leave this body, though we may faintly perceive information coming the higher dimensions which surround us. This is why I call the death, the second birth.  Do you still discount the expanse and length of ghostly paranormal experiences around the world as the products of insanity because you can not see what is manipulating objects or write it off as a hoax? Do you not sense the love of others even when separated by distance and contact? Faith sees on this spectrum and quiets fears and pushes out doubt like light pushes out darkness. It’s not necessarily a visual kind of sight. It’s a feeling or empathic kind of perception. 

Because of this insight, decisions made in faith happen to always be the game changing decisions. Decisions made in a state of fear and doubt almost always result in disaster and the missing of golden opportunities brought to you by the universe when you first asked in faith. It is scientific proof that fear actually lowers the I.Q. to that of an animalistic survival state. So, who would ever want to make a decision at that point? Your fear and the adrenaline rush it gives you is there only for the purpose of helping you to escape imminent danger and survive. There are cars now being made with alarms that sound if you begin approaching an object at such a fast speed that a crash is imminent if the brakes are not immediately engaged. That’s what fear is for. However, if you had good enough vision and had your eyes on the road, you would hardly ever hear that alarm. If you want to thrive, you goal cannot be survival, just as if you want to complete a successful and safe road trip your #1 goal should not be focused on not crashing into things the whole way. If that is your concern, you should not be driving. You should spend more time in Driver’s Ed or do something about your bad vision. Olympic Swimmers have no concern about keeping their heads above water. They want to win. Learn to swim and you can be the same way. Long term states of fear are corrosive to your health, mentally and physically. Those who misuse fear are also seeing what is not directly before their eyes, yet instead of seeing a way through no way, they see all of the things that could go wrong with no evidence and create for themselves an emotional response to this imagined monster. This is why it is often acronymed, F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real). If there is indeed a monster and one calmly took the time to study its nature, often he would find out that the beast is simply a little field mouse more scared of him than he is of it, and that it had only exaggerated its size on the wall with the use of shadows. This is what scientific discovery has done for the superstitions and paranoias of the ignorant. It put things in perspective and expands our vision and understanding.

Faith, on the contrary is on the level of genius, communion with Universal Intelligence. To hear on this wavelength, you have got to become calm.
“Be still and know that I am GOD, above nations, above everything.” -Psalm 48:50
When faith advises your actions you will not hear a loud, thundering voice like James Earl Jones in the movies, but instead a still, small voice of an ethereal quality that you only hear psychically and empathically. The language is not even that which we use with our mouths. It can be translated into audible language, but that is not how it’s heard and the translation is always crude, for there is much that cannot be put into words. Music is actually a better interpretation for how it speaks to our emotions. However, faith when acted upon translates it best. This is why it is always so difficult to share a direct communication from Universal Intelligence with others who have not received that personal direction. It was not for them. It is up to you to manifest it so that they can see and believe. Others must be shown, they can rarely be told. When GOD spoke to Moses, he was forewarned that people would not listen to him and would need to see signs and wonders connected with his prophecies before they would take heed. If you don’t act in faith, you will never be able to show others the signs to confirm it. “Faith without works is dead.” It speaks to that part of you where you would normally feel fear, but now is replaced with an unwavering confidence. It is peaceful and resolute. Anything could happen and you are worried about nothing. This is what you want.

I am not writing on this subject to indoctrinate anyone into one form of theology or another. What I am saying should fit any faith and speak to the logic of anyone without any spiritual theology who is open-minded enough to accept that there is much more unknown to them than what is known. When I reference GOD, I use it as a placeholder, a reference to these ethereal and absolute laws of the universe no one can defy. One of the most supreme of them is The Law of Attraction. The Law of Gravity comes under this law and works because of The Law of Attraction. No nation can break these laws, they can only break themselves against the laws. Second, these laws are not dead laws that are written down in a book. They are alive as much as we are and aware of everything that is happening. Nothing can come out of something having qualities that are not present in the thing from which it came. Also, nothing can have qualities of a greater degree than the thing it came from. Go pour yourself a glass of lemonade. That glass of lemonade has lemon juice because lemon juice was in the jug. That glass can not have more lemon juice in it than in the jug from which it was poured. If we have an intellect that is aware of ourselves and our surroundings, can think, create and remember and we were constructed directly from the resources of the earth, just as the earth was produced from the universe, trust that this same intellectual faculty or mind is in the universe of an unimaginable greater degree than ours. So indeed, the universe is intelligent. It is unintelligent to think otherwise. It is watching, thinking and creating. The laws are watching, thinking and creating within its own framework. Anything alive, so far as I am aware, is conscious to varying degrees, dogs, cats, birds, fish, worms and even trees.


THE LAW OF UNITY

So there are immutable laws governing the universe which are alive, aware and thinking. To me, that is GOD. I don’t need to go so far as to give it a name and assign it human and gender characteristics. That is as far as I believe in GOD, and I do believe with reverence and great respect. GOD does not have a location, for it stands beyond space and time and yet is ever present all around us and in everything, in me, in you and in everyone. The disconnect is that most people are not aware of this connection, but there is a unity. There is a law of the conservation of energy and matter which states that, “Energy and matter can not be created or destroyed. It can only change form.” Meaning the particles of your body down to its smallest units are eternal, though in its present form is only as old as you know your age to be. It has always been here in different forms. The collective of these parts come from one source. At some point, you and I have a common ancestor. While alive, we depend upon the same resources of food, water and air. When we die, our bodies will disintegrate back to the energy and matter bank of the universe to be made into future forms. Therefore, there is a unity to GOD of which we are a part. We are connected to GOD and with each other. “I am you. You are me, and we are GOD.” The Great Law of Love is only being aware of and feeling this connection. When I feel myself in you, I love you. When you see and feel a part of yourself in me, you love me, and it dramatically changes how we interact with one another. What hurts you would hurt me and vice-versa. When you are well, I am made well. To believe otherwise is ignorance.

You can talk all the day long about how much faith you have, though it is not real until you are ready to walk on it and securely. Your actions tell much more about what you believe than you can ever preach about. It affects how you walk and the resident and quiet power behind your voice when you talk. Therefore, what I am doing here is laying out planks for you begin to walk on if you don’t yet have faith, and I dare you to catch me where I lie:

• There are immutable laws governing the universe.
• These laws are one and the same with the universe itself, and is alive and aware to a greater degree than we are. 
• GOD, as a reference for this intelligent essence and power source that stands behind space and time and infuses it with life is unified with all there is including all of us.
• Respecting the Law of Love is only being able to see and feel this unification. 

Now when you recite:
“Be still and know that I am GOD, above nations, above everything.” -Psalm 48:50 it should have an entirely new and relevant ring to it.

After achieving an awareness of GOD without falling into the obscuring rabbit hole maze of theology and religiosity, which is only man’s poor attempts at explaining that which can only be experienced and can not be adequately put into words or metaphors, the next step is beginning to trust GOD. I am telling you that you can indeed trust GOD more than anything else in your experience with the world. Here, I will lay some more planks for you to walk on to see that this is true.


THE LAW OF LOVE

Back to the Law of Love, the dynamic healing, power and life that is unleashed when the Law of Unity is acknowledged, felt and respected, GOD being aware of all things to a greater capacity than any of us will ever be able to attain is deeply aware of your connection to it. Look at your pinky finger. Do you see that is connected to you? Can you wiggle it and feel that it is connected to your body? Maybe its sister fingers can not feel their connection to it, but can you? Do you love your pinky finger? If not, can I cut it off? You actually could live without it, if you had to. You would probably fight me if I tried to come get your pinky finger. GOD feels at least as much love and concern for you. Look up at the stars or the clouds, hear the roar of the ocean, admire the majesty of the mountains. It all knows you are here and loves you at least as much as you love your pinky finger. Not only love by connection, we are the products of its creative imagination, it’s work of art. Have you ever produced a work of art expressing something deep about who you are? Don’t you love it? If you don’t, then why did you create it in the first place? Your work of art is probably your baby and you are perhaps very protective and sensitive about your work. GOD feels the same love for you. Not only are you designed by its creative imagination with intention, you were produced from its nature. Hopefully you know by experience the love of a parent for their child, either from the love of your own parents or the love you have for your children. Again, a love like that could not exist if it is not in greater capacity in the source from which it came. “And there’s more where that came from.” If you know this experience, you have only had a taste of the love GOD has for you. I believe I’ve heard this love best described by a mother watching her toddler son play with a ball in her backyard, “It’s like the first time I can feel my heart outside of myself.” There are true stories of mothers instinctively summoning the strength to lift cars to unpin their trapped children, sacrificing their lives to protect their babies, and their intense and fierce love and protection seems to universal across the animal kingdom. The love GOD has for you is at least as strong and likely stronger to an unimaginable degree so much as we can know. Consciously feel this love the next time you get the opportunity to have sunshine pouring on your face. Feel it when you are eating and consider how good it tastes.


THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?” -Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 7:9-11)

Christian parents know the joy in their hearts they receive when they bestow gifts upon their children on Christmas morning, and the gifts are usually limited by their budget, not their hearts. They would grant every request on that list to Santa Claus if they could afford it. Even if that were possible, there would still be some reservations. If Dad is smart and responsible, little Jill is not getting the baby elephant she asked for if he knows good and well that she is not going to enjoy cleaning up the poop after a year, making sure it has enough water, food and safe space to roam. Little Jill in her juvenile mind only sees a baby elephant as a toy after viewing “Dumbo”, but Dad knows better to say no. Jill will thank Dad when she’s 16 and would rather spend more time hanging out with friends and dating when she isn’t studying rather than cleaning up behind a giant, smelly animal. She can always go look at elephants at the zoo when she’s ready and perhaps even ride one. When GOD denies or delays our requests, it is never because of impossibility or a lack of favor we have with GOD. There is nothing that GOD can not afford. This world, and all the riches and resources therein would shrivel up and die if we did not daily bask under the warm glow of the sun and receive it all freely. Look up at the sun and consider how rich GOD is and you are its progeny. I say this to nail my point that the universe deeply wants to grant you your heart’s desires and can. It will not give you what you are not prepared to handle and what would not benefit your growth, development and actualization, such as reaching for items only for the sake of impressing others, fitting in when you're not meant to, or trying to buy the respect to which you are already due. It will prepare you first before your wishes are granted, if you do not resist the preparation. When GOD decides you are ready to mature beyond the desires of the ego, your egoic demands, which are not authentic desires that yield lasting satisfaction, will be denied and your tastes will be elevated to a higher level. When Mom decides her babe is ready for the menu of solid foods, her babe is not getting anymore Gerber no matter how much they cry for it, but better food awaits.  GOD's response to our prayers are always, Yes, Not now, or I've got something better. Therefore, when I pray now, I only ask once in complete faith and then surrender it to the wise judgement and discernment of GOD to determine what the appropriate answer should be. I make myself ready to be prepared if need be, or I am open to a better idea GOD has in mind and I trust GOD's taste.

 Also, it will not violate its laws in order to grant your wishes, and it doesn’t have to. Just as any ethical and just parent would not go rob Toys-R-Us and steal toys in order to give to their children even if they could get away with it, GOD will not take from one child in order to give to you, violating its LAW OF JUSTICE. Usually that which you want is already in the hands of someone else, and in order to get it, you must trade with them something of equal or greater value to them, so at the end of the transaction both parties are satisfied and getting what they want. Nothing in form is meant to be held on to forever, clothes, cars, homes, toys, money or even our bodies. After it fulfills a need of any sort, it is meant to be passed on to others who would like to use it for a time and can trade with you something else you would like to have to fulfill another need. This trading fulfills the Law of Justice, and understanding this is where material riches are to be found. Should you take what you have not earned, you will rack up debt and GOD has various means of collecting on that debt which will make you regret it and learn that it wasn’t worth it. You will end up paying more for it than it was actually worth. This has nothing to do with punishment and everything to do with the balancing act in the Law of Justice.

However, GOD still loves you just the same and feels remorse when your decisions run contrary to its laws causing you to suffer. Again, you can not break the laws. You can only break yourself against the laws. If you but only ask GOD and trust in faith, GOD will provide you the value you will need to exchange for that which you want and the chances are you have that value already within you. You just have need of becoming conscious of it and organizing it for trade just like anyone would get their house together before placing it on the market for sale. This process is called merchandising. These are your talents and your passions, your skills and your ability and energy to work, your property and your services. GOD has sent no one into this world empty handed. Under the Law of Justice, the inherent value within you and the price of that which you will need to satisfy your soul are equally matched. When you get what you want, in the exchange, you will get it in such a way that many will have more than they have now. This is because, conversely, there are people praying for and desiring the valuable goods you have to offer and are ready to trade with you for it, perhaps with money. A satisfied soul is like a cup that runs over for others to get their cups full. Your life is meant to be enjoyed and it overjoys GOD to assist you in this quest. Therefore, GOD is for you, not against you. If GOD were against you, you would already be dead or never created.

If it seems as though GOD is against you, the question that should then be asked is if you are trying to run against the Laws: The Law of Unity, The Law of Love, The Law of Justice and The Law of Abundance, from which generosity flows. If this has been your experience, it is understandable then why it is that you might not trust GOD. However, when you do not trust GOD, you will hold back on everything you will need to trade for the things that will bring your life joy and satisfaction, just like the son in The Parable of Talents who did not trust the beneficence of his rich father, so he hid his endowment in a safe and did nothing with it so that he could return it in full to his father on the day of accounting. Meanwhile, his brothers when out and invested their allotment and doubled and quadrupled their fortunes. That son who withheld his endowment had his talents (money) taken away from him and was given to his enterprising brothers. If you should decide to pay your dues, and do not trust GOD, you will do so without faith that you will be rewarded for it, and so you will deal with people stingily and with suspicion and people will react in kind in accordance with the Law of Attraction. They will make attempts to cheat and steal from you to confirm your expectations. You won’t be generous and you will live within a self-imposed jail of defensiveness. You may even try to cheat the laws which will only dig yourself a deeper grave and divest you of the powers of GOD. In all these ways, you block your blessings when it is GOD’s will to bless you beyond your wildest dreams because you do not trust. Somehow, if you wish to experience the blessed life, you have got to turn this around.

So let’s add to your planks you can walk on:

• GOD is for you, not against you.
• It is GOD’s will for you to experience your heart’s desires.
• There is nothing too expensive for GOD
• GOD can only grant your wishes in accordance with the laws.
• If you do not trust GOD, you will block your blessings.
• You must ask in perfect faith.
• You must then act in faith, willingly accepting whatever preparation may be necessary.
• You must watch in faith to acknowledge your opportunities when they show up.
• You must then be willing and ready to pay your dues in faith. 

Stay tuned for next week's 2nd Part of this chapter on faith. This has been another preparatory lesson for those who want to get ready to tackle their business vision head on with The Baldwin Business Institute    thebaldwinbusinessinstitute.eventbrite.com and want to get entrepreneurially fit to maximize their results, for these lessons will not be covered in class. Fall Class starts, Saturday, October 7th. Registration deadline is September 23rd. There is a 10 student limit. Don't procrastinate.

TRUST GOD

WHEN YOU BELIEVE...

YOU ARE WEALTHY

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with wealth manager, Emma Foulkes to discuss the commonly misunderstood basics of personal finance while capturing her entrepreneurial story. As always, I love it when my preconceived notions get challenged and I learn something new or go deeper into what I thought I thoroughly knew. I am a smart guy, but it is refreshing to keep learning.

The fresh concept to me was her definition of what “wealth” is and that we all have it. To become “wealthy” as our society understands it; financial freedom, when work becomes a choice, not a necessity, when money works harder for us than we do for it, when we can donate substantial sums of money to causes we care about and make an impact, when we have an estate large enough to cover another generation, when we can invest in any business venture which interests us, when we can truly own our lives and treat ourselves to our heart’s desires so much as money can buy, to have this experience depends in large part upon what we do with the wealth that we do have, however small. Wealth as Foulkes defines it, is the money we have left over after the bills are paid. If that is ZERO. How much of those bills are necessary (food, housing, communication, clothes, transportation to work, healthcare)? And are those bills as low as they can possibly be? No one should have an excuse of not having money left over after the bills are paid.

When you have found your wealth, are you saving it? What are your saving goals, (3 months of basic necessary living expenses covered, to 6 months, to 1 year, to 3 years, to 5 years, to 7 years, to 10 years) what are these numbers for you? Inchworm your way into wealth by alternating between achieving your emergency fund goals and savings to purchase assets (things that make you money) like buy-in to side hustles and other business ventures, like perhaps purchasing a car if you don't have to drive for Uber or Lyft, any necessary certifications or equipment to get into personal training, massage or barbering or hair-styling, dog-sitting, dog walking or baby sitting, mechanic, real-estate house-flipping, selling Herbalife, Mary Kay or Avon or other decent network marketing ventures so that you when you return to your next emergency saving goal, you can save quicker and accelerate your pace. Your saving goals for these ventures should cover up to one year of startup overhead expenses to begin. Or, you could temporarily commit several months at a time to a part time job to reach your goals in the beginning for either your emergency saving goals or asset acquisition goals. How bad do you want to be rich? Once you have reached 10 years of necessary living expenses saved, you are then ready to dive headlong into any serious entrepreneurial venture which captures your passions that you are ready to commit a career to. At this point when you passion becomes your work, you'll never work another day in your life. That is your prize and keep your eyes on it.

Next, are you adequately insured against any financial emergency which may befall you? Are you out of bad debt (debt related to liabilities--things that aren’t making you money)? After these bases are covered, your next goal is to begin investing. At this point, you need to come see Emma Foulkes, once you have at least saved 10% of your annual income on top of your emergency savings and are then ready to explore your options.

http://www.greenwoodwealthmanagement.com/team/emma-i-foulkes-cfp-crpc

A HERO LIES IN YOU: Personal/Character Development

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation, where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“I Have A Dream” speech at The March on Washington, August 28th, 1963)

What is character and why is it a principal of entrepreneurial fitness? It is because your reputation in the marketplace and in your community is dependent upon it. There is a lengthy list of examples of how a reputation of poor character and golden character has made and broken high profiled individuals. When someone makes an attempt at character assassination, what is it that is being assailed? You could say the reputation, but it is what is in the reputation that is at stake. It is that thing that commands respect from your fellowmen and women. That is character. It is good to be liked, favored and popular. However, it is something altogether different to be respected. Your goal should be to earn trust and respect. There is a common level of respect to which we are all due by virtue of being born human and having life in us. Then there is another level of respect which is synonymous with “honor”.

My grandfather once told me that the two most important gifts he could give his son is his life and then his name, and it was his goal to never get his name dirty and be a burdensome shame to his son who would have to apologize for it later in life. He wanted his son to be proud to be a “Perkins” and a Jr. and have that name open up doors for him, not close them and it did. It is character that builds stock in your name. People will name drop you and quote you to add meaning, weight and authority to whatever it is that they are saying that they can not carry on their own. It really does have tremendous value in the marketplace. Think of what happens whenever Oprah slaps her signature name on anything. Everything she stands for gets attached to it. It is part of your brand, and you should want to protect it all costs. Your character symbolizes the values you stand for that we all hold as worthy ideals. Your brand should be respected and trusted.

The funny thing about character is that you can’t fake it. You can’t buy it. You can’t rent it. You can not adopt it. It must come from within at the deepest core of your truth as authentically yours. What do you stand for? What would you die for? What’s worth fighting for? If you have never asked yourself these questions and decided on an answer, chances are you have not done the work of developing your character; who you will BE in this world. If you don’t decide that, you leave it up to the world to tell you who you are, who you're going to be and give you a name and a place, usually an obscure designation among the general population; a nobody, just background to the happenings of the world and never a center stage actor. Entrepreneurs must have enough ego to be at least dissatisfied with this, for to succeed, you must introduce to the marketplace some product which stands out and changes things for the better. It will require that you think differently and BE differently than what surrounds you. It will also require that you act upon your environment more than it acts upon you. If you don’t have the will for this, the world of entrepreneurship may not be the place for you and the world needs those content with life as employees operating in the background. Character in an employee is a plus. Character in an entrepreneur is a must.

I list aspects of character. It is:

• Courage
• Integrity
• Authenticity
• Humility
• Honor
• Trustworthiness
• Transparency
• Willingness to work hard/Work Ethic
• Altruism
• Patience
• Compassion
• Kindness
• Brotherhood/Sisterhood
• Being a team player
• Responsibility
• Never making excuses
• Perseverance 
• Passion
• Loyalty
• Gratefulness
• Grace and Mercy
• Respect
• Generosity
• Sacrifice
• Commitment
• Dependability 
• Fairness
• Optimism

When considering those you wish you to work with, do business with, vote for, be associated with, befriend or even marry, how many of these listed characteristics are important to you? The list could go on, but hopefully by now you have a picture of what character looks like. To gain character naturally, which is the only way, you will need to develop yourself, and it is a process. That process is called Personal Development. In Personal Development, you are reaching for your highest self and peak potential. The challenge in this is what brings about character, like weight training is what brings about muscles. This is the difference between men and adult boys, girls and those our community to look to as Mothers (with a capital 'M'). Many have gotten older, but not everyone has grown up. Personal Development is the decision to grow up.

Wikipedia describes Personal Development as:

“Personal Development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develops talents and potential, builds human capital and facilitates employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations.”

It is sometimes called self-help, which is slightly different than therapy which is pain resolution and healing focused, because at this level only you can really help yourself. Just like a fitness trainer can encourage and guide you, but he or she can not and will not lift those weights for you and expect you to build muscles. There are many professionals in the field of personal development to assist you in the same manner, such as mentors and life coaches, but it is you taking the reigns and initiative on your own development to reach your highest self and peak potential. No one can make that decision for you, but you. You must arrive at the impasse where mediocrity and merely surviving and existing will no longer do. You must arrive at the place where not being the man or woman that your family, your community, and your lover needs and deserves is no longer acceptable.

If you have reached this crucible in your life, then you are ready for personal development and all the benefits that character can avail. You will not be able to be an effective leader without character. If you are going to be a leader, you can not afford to be average. While you do not need to engage in self-righteous and patronizing behavior, those who ascend to leadership get there because their character stature is a little taller than the general population. They stand out, and people look up to them and place their hopes on the shoulders of those willing and able to rise up as leaders. When they stand up, they lift the hopes of the entire community with them. In these rare individuals, people see a living example of the best that we are able to be and maybe should be. While not perfect, for no one is perfect, those with character are a living ideal that most people have of what a good man or good woman should be that most people do not live up to. Because of this, more will be expected of you than the average person because you are a leader. Those who accept this call to greatness are rewarded with riches and power. Politicians running for office will seek your endorsement when often your character stature will be taller than theirs. They only want to borrow your credibility, but they can never borrow your character.

This process of personal development is not some New-Age, motivational seminar fad, it is the core of the ancient art of “alchemy” which is one of the core disciplines of The Freemasons, from which Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and 13 other U.S. presidents, nearly one-third of the 45 presidents rose to greatness through. Prior to The Freemasons, practitioners of Alchemy who called themselves the “Alchemists” included Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. Alchemy is the ritual art of turning lead into gold through chemical reactions. Whether or not they were able to produce “Fool's Gold” or real gold, I am not sure. However, the process is symbolic to the practice of personal development, taking the lead of a common man, which we all have within us, and transmuting it into men of golden character worth their weight in gold. The art goes even far back to its origins in ancient Egypt which was then known as “Kemet” from which “Alchemy” gets its name, “Al-Kemet” meaning “Art of The Black Lands”. The word, “Chemistry” is derived from the word, “Alchemy”. There is indeed gold in you. Before you go mining for gold anywhere else, be sure that you begin mining the gold that is within you. Make it your commitment to not let that gold go buried with you in the grave before you unbury it in this life and give it to the world.


GOALS

So where does one start to begin the process of personal development? Establishing goals are a necessary first step. They should be feasible and yet challenge you and stretch the limits of what you believe your capacities to be. Always set S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific- Translate your goal into a number and/or vivid picture, something definite that will confirm to to you when you have achieved.

Measurable- Be able to track your progress and monitor it regularly. In a journey, it helps with focus and motivation to know how far you have to go and how far you have come.

Attainable- If you believe in its possibility, then it is already halfway attained. The other half is researching and mapping out a step-by-step strategy between where you are now and your goal. If you can do this, understand it, visualize it and believe it, it is attainable. Don't let anyone convince you that you can't have it or that you don't deserve it. Claim it as already yours. You just need to go pick it up.

“You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” -Deuteronomy 1:6-8

Revisable- Have backup plans. Never change your destination, but if need be, be open to changing your route and maybe even your vehicle if you find one that works better.

Timely- Your goal should have a deadline and stay focused on it.

For the cause of personal development, it doesn’t really matter what the goal is, only that it gets you into the habit of achieving, stretching your abilities, and most importantly honoring the commitments you make to yourself. This is like weight lifting for your willpower and confidence, and you want to build that muscle to the point that you feel that you can will anything, because in truth, you really can. However, if you can not start off bench pressing 300 lbs, then don’t start there. What do you know you can lift? Then reach for 10% more, and keep reaching goal after goal until you are bench pressing 300 lbs. or more. Never set a limit upon yourself. Allow GOD (the universe) to do that with the time you are allotted upon this earth plane and make it your goal to then max out in whatever that is.


COMPASS

You didn’t birth yourself into this world did you? Nor should you expect yourself to go through this life and tackle personal development without the help of others. However, be careful of the types of people you bring to this process. You will need four roles like the four points on a compass.

NORTH- The Mentor or Life Coach: This should be someone who has achieved something similar to what you wish to or is at least further along in the process than you are, who can guide you, encourage you, challenge you and hold you accountable. This person is your Northpoint.

SOUTH- The Precautionary Tale: If you do not choose to grow, what will become of you given the current trajectory you are on? Surely you know a person who represents this. As the saying goes, “You can learn a lot from a dummy.” Observe them more than you listen to them and do the exact opposite. Never let them on to fact that they are your precautionary tale unless they voluntarily wish to serve as this role for you. There are some who have failed so terribly that they gain meaning and purpose from it by warning others not to follow their path and how to avoid it. They may believe they have no chance, but perhaps they see that you do if you make the decision to do differently. Take them as a harsh reality you will need whenever the lure toward comfort and complacency becomes too strong. They are your Southpoint.

WEST- The Road Partner: Find someone who is about at your same level of development who is also choosing to grow and form a pact with them. When you see them backsliding, encourage them with your perseverance and positive energy, and allow them do the same for you when you need it most. Your mantra with them should be, “If he/she can, then certainly I can.” Don’t ever let them leave you behind and don’t leave them behind either, unless they make the decision to stop growing, at which point, disconnect from them and find another road partner. Be accountable to them as well. Check in with them daily to report what you each accomplished for the day. They are your Westpoint.

EAST- The Motivator: This person or people must be an object of love for you who need and deserve you at your best. This could be you children, or a spouse, a parent or a love interest, someone with whom it would break your heart if you ever let them down. Keep a picture of them on you at all times if you ever need to reflect on why you are doing this. Allow them to also hold you accountable and give you peps talks when you need it. It helps a lot if they believe in you. This is your Eastpoint.


ENVIRONMENT

Once you have your goals and your compass, it helps a lot to immerse yourself into a community of winners and achievers and others who are doing the hard work on themselves. Their stories will inspire you. You should disengage from any toxic and dying environment of those who are going nowhere fast with their lives other than that one precautionary tale you’ll need every now and then to scare you straight. You can find these communities in the military, weight loss groups, fraternities and sororities, church groups, AA groups and sports leagues. I happen to belong to The Mankind Project, a fraternity which provides men with both therapy and personal development assistance in a brotherly support network. In Atlanta, GA, husbands Juan and Gee Smalls have formed the The Gentlemen’s Foundation as an outlet for this purpose for Black Gay/Bi/SGL men of Atlanta. If you are able to join the Freemasons, that is also a great environment for personal development.


PURPOSE

Many will never stand up to be big until there is some compelling cause to be or there is no alternative. If it is your intention then to build character, you will need a good reason to do so and it must go far beyond the span of your life and your selfish, personal desires and aspirations. You will not become big until you decide to live for something big, bigger than you. This is what BEing the change you want to see in the world is all about. Instead of complaining about the world as it is, those who are building character get to work at creating a change so those who follow behind them will have an even better opportunity at life. By doing so, they participate in the evolutionary thrust of life. Our lives today are many times easier than life was 100 years ago or more because people now long dead thought about a better, easier world for generations at that time yet unborn. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman fought with all the life energy they could muster against the institution of slavery not just for their own freedom, and not just for the 3 million men, women and children living as slaves at that time, but for all future generations of African Americans. By rising for this purpose, they lived as gods and goddesses on earth. For most of them, the credit of leaving their world a little better than they found it and had to experience it was the greatest payment their souls could ever be granted. It made known to them that they had lived for something. Their existence had purpose and worth. It is this that really gets men and women up in the morning to fight another day and nothing can conquer them. Make it your business to find this for yourself.


HARDSHIPS

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. -Langston Hughes “Mother To Son”

Life is not all about “The Struggle” but name any character giant and you will find someone who is duly familiar with it and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It is what made them who they are. It was their crucible. When life handed them lemons, they made lemonade and it was the best that anyone had ever tasted. Want to know their secret sauce? It’s in “The Struggle”. The Struggle takes many variations and is not always poverty. Sometimes it is illness, a handicap, heartbreak, loneliness, a streak of failure, a demeaning job, or domestic abuse as in the case of Tina Turner, or child molestation as in the case of Oprah Winfrey. Whatever the case, these moments are rich with lessons and character building manure. If character is such a prize, and it is, you must be willing to pay a price for it. Everyone wants to go down in the history books but few really want to pay admission. Now, you don’t need to go looking for hardships. Life will hand them to you when you need them. But when it does, it is then your job to embrace it and look for the lesson. Learn “through” it and move on. The only thing to do here is to change your attitude about it. Say, “This is my bootcamp and I am ready.” and trust that it is not forever for trouble don’t last always. While it is good if it humbles you, you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about it either. Anyone who would ridicule you for it is someone who is small and can’t help you. They can only help you to feel as small as they really are. You are not your struggle. You are not poor, though you may be experiencing poverty. You are not a victim, though you may be learning very painfully how you ought to be treated through the experience of abuse. Had you already internalized that lesson, no one could ever abuse you in any way shape or form to begin with. Your hardships arrive to strengthen you where you are weak. In this case, you will never have any hardship that you don’t need. Let it chisel a masterpiece out of you. One day your scars will be beauty marks.


MIND

As always, I give great resources of information to sow into you mind while on your journey. The self-help or self-actualization lit genre is vast with greats. However, I have list of favs worth spending time with:

1. Proverbs
2. The Alchemist
3. The Science of Being Great
4. The Seat of The Soul
5. The Four Agreements
6. The Science of Getting Rich (Money)
7. Body For Life (Fitness)
8. The Power of Now
9. Awaken The Giant Within
10. A New Earth
11. Think and Grow Rich (Money)
12. Think and Grow Rich, A Black Choice (Money)
13. The Measure Of A Man by Sydney Portier
14. The Measure Of A Man by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
15. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Goal-Setting, Achieving and Discipline)
16. How To Win Friends and Influence People (Social and Relationships)

This has been another preparatory lesson for those who want to get ready to tackle their business vision head on with The Baldwin Business Institute    thebaldwinbusinessinstitute.eventbrite.com and want to get entrepreneurially fit to maximize their results, for these lessons will not be covered in class. Fall Class starts, Saturday, October 7th. Registration deadline is September 23rd. There is a 10 student limit. Don't procrastinate.

Don't live your life in vain. Make it count!