Immature Entrepreneur

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are familiar with the concept of passive income or residual income. Essentially you do something one time and have the opportunity to be paid for it over and over again multiple times. There is much more opportunity with residual income because it is not restricted by time, as an hourly wage job is.

One of my favorite ways to earn extra money on the side is a fun little website called Squidoo which was created by entrepreneur Seth Godin. The concept is this: write articles on any topic you wish and spread the word. The more traffic you generate to the site, the more money you make (as a result of built-in advertising revenues). That’s it.

Sign up to write on Squidoo here and begin building that second stream of income. It’s free, it’s fun and it will get you one step closer to financial independence.

Traditionally, we have always been referred to as consumers. People consume things–hairspray, breath mints, crayons, fingernail polish, duct tape, etc.

Do we still want to be consumers? Or today, should we reset our focus on becoming “sustainers”?

Perhaps the cycle of consuming is in the process of transforming into a cycle of sustainability.

This morning I called a credit card company who shall remain nameless (let’s just say it rhymes with Citicard) to ask to be removed from their mailing list. Fairly simple request. I heard the rep on the phone begin typing on his keyboard and then after a few seconds he proceeded to read a script to me in a robotic monotone. 

The kicker here was that the script did not address my situation. He was reading information on his screen that pertained to emailing a customer information, rather than postal mail.

The concern is that he did not recognize the fact that he was not addressing my question. He was merely reading what was in front of him.

Think for yourself. Undo your programming. That perceived safety inside your box is an illusion.

In life, everyone has a bucket.

There tend to be 2 types of people in the world: those that fill our bucket, and those that drain our bucket.

Which type of person are you?

Bounce your ideas off several people and listen to what they have to say. You don’t have to agree with them–the goal is to gain a balanced understanding of the issue/idea/opinion via multiple viewpoints.

Other people have the one thing you do not–a different perspective.
(~Quote by Alan Reeves, ImmatureEntrepreneur.com)

Perhaps we’re not in a recession. Suppose for a moment we’re seeing a return to the baseline that should have been all along, had we all been living within our means. What if living on bought time (as individuals, as companies, and as a nation) has finally caught up to us?

Perhaps we have achieved the new “normal”.

Somebody decided at some point that once you “grow up”, you’re supposed to be very serious and very stuffy all the time. To behave differently surely means you aren’t working hard. After all, life isn’t a joke.

Remember the awe and wonder you experienced as a child? Remember what it felt like to go to the zoo for the first time and see all of the different animals? How about the fun times when a friend would spend the night? Saturday morning cartoons? The joy of reading a comic book? Playing with dolls/action figures? Video games?

Have fun today. Go ahead. It’s okay.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

The recession is a good thing.

Living on credit/borrowed time is a recipe for disaster. Is it realistic to think that companies (or a nation for that matter) will always be in a perpetual state of growth, year after year, decade after decade?

People have learned from this experience. More people now will save up money until they can afford to buy something, rather than relying on the perceived convenience of “payments” (i.e. paying much more for an item than if you had paid cash). More people will begin to put money in the bank rather than giving it to the bank via credit card interest. More people will stop being “consumers” and start being “sustainers”. More people will live within their means.

The recession is a good thing.

Every day, tons of unhealthy, processed foods are shipped to schools across the nation to feed our children. Not only is there an unnecessary carbon footprint associated with this practice, but the food has also been sprayed with cancer-causing pesticides.

Here’s a thought: why not utilize the schoolgrounds to grow healthy, organic produce? Why not create a small urban farm (and jobs) at every school? Why not involve the interested students in the process?

Imagine a course (or even a movement) called “From Garden to Plate,” teaching truly useful lifeskills–how to grow one’s own (healthy) food and become self-sufficient.