Influences

What influences your thoughts and decisions? Why is that important to think about in business? In the business world, important decisions must be made regarding the direction of your product line and/or company. How would you stand up to negativity? What do you do when you know you have a great plan/idea and other with limited vision disagrees? How do stregthen your mind to keep going?

There are two very important factors that have kept my mind on track. The association of similar minded individuals and the books that I read. I don't write any self help books, but I read several of them. Reading places positive influences to strengthen your thougth process.

Some of the books I've learnt great lessons from are: "Think and Grow Rich"; "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"; "The Magic of Thinking Big".

The power of faith should also not be overlooked. Firm belief within your religion, regardless of what your religion may be, can also be translated into confidence within your business venture. I'll touch more on this subject on a later date.

The power of association can keep your head in the right place. The best advice I can give on this is to get involved with organizations that share your ideals, and share your passions.

Free Enterprise Day

Over the past weekend, September 24-26, I was in Richmond Virginia celebrating Free Enterprise Day. It was an absolutely spectacular event. Over 20,000 entrepreneurs in attendance. With many in attendance travelling great distances to be there. People came from India, Turkey, Trinidad, Canada plus other countries. But what is Free Enterprise Day and why would so many people travel from so far and within the United States to attend?

The United States of America was built with Free Enterprise in mind. That's what made this country great. It is the reason why so many people want to come here from all parts of the world. What I've noticed is that most Americans have forgotten what has made their country so great. The employee mentally has taken hold, which has forced many to live paycheck to paycheck. They often ask themselves how did they get into this position. Was it the life they had dreamed of when they were growing up? I would hope not.

Free Enterprise Day is to celebrate entreperneurs who have not forgotten what has made the United States, the superpower that is is today. This infectious condition has spread to other nations, who are filled with pride for creating a better nation for themselves.

Let's be enterprising again, and keep America great.

If you have thought about business ownership or just want to make more money for your family, visit www.mnrmarketplace.com and view the business options tab.

"I wish I was RICH"

"I wish I was Rich" is a phrase that I've once said, heard from many friends and family members. The real question should be, "what am I willing to do, to become rich?" After all, no one became rich by wishing for it, except Aladdin. The problem isn't because we are lazy, or don't want to work hard. The problem is we have been brainwashed for decades. So much so, it has become part of our culture.

Stop me if you've heard this one: "go to school, get an education, get a good job, and you will be set for life." Once upon a time, back in the 1950's, that logic may have been true. However, it didn't make you rich. It allowed you to get by. Unfortunately today, it no longer allows you to get by.

Let me paint a picture for you. This by the way is based upon both my personal experience as well as many individuals whom I've come in touch with dealing with finance. You begin life, and follow the protocol I stated above. Why? Because your parents told you to. So you go to school, finish college and start looking for work. For most of us, this means college loans must be repaid along with that credit card you decided to get while in college. You start working, and begin repaying these debts. While working, you also decided to start a 401k plan through your employer. A few years later, you get married, start a family and buy a car. The apartment you live in is now too small, so you buy a house. To get the down payment for the house, you dip into the 401k plan you started years back. Life goes on as usual. You and your spouse have been promoted a few times within your field. Making more money, this also tends to equal more debt. Now you are in your 40's. Your children are going to college. To ensure they don't have a large student loan like you did, you once again dip into your 401k plan. This is because the money in your savings account paid for home and car repairs over the years. As well as renovations to the home and those great family vacations.

Now the problem with getting older is that you are also more prone to illness and injury. This creates more medical bills, some of which would be paid through your saving and/or 401k plan as well. You are now age 65. Life was great, and you've been looking forward to your retirement. You review your savings and retirement plans, IRA's etc. If you are lucky, you have a total exceeding $300,000. In case you are wondering, the average amount at age 65 is about $56,000. If you are under age 45 and reading this today, please do not count on Social Security. Hopefully at this time your home has been paid in full, perhaps you can take advantage of a reverse mortgage. Unfortunately, this means less to pass on to the next generation. If this average life is good for you, along with the financial hardships that go with it, then you truly didn't want to be rich. This would give you approximately $15,000 - $30,000 per year to live on for at least 15 years. If you live beyond that...fill in the blanks.

Have you ever noticed, when one of your friends or family approach you with a business opportunity, you don't really care to hear about it, or you don't have any time to pursue it? Or when you yourself think of a great idea for a business, you don't follow through on it? The question and the answer is why. If you do not have a strong enough reason to be rich, it most likely will not become reality. My desire to become wealthy has a very strong "why". It is because of this that I chose to make time to pursue this dream. I've started a company, which has its roots in a business opportunity, but it is my business. Also, in case you are wondering, it works.

Becoming rich is not having millions of dollars. This is why 9 of every 10 people who win the lottery are broke within 20 years. Being rich is about having your money work for you. A great book to read regarding this is "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. Rich people do not work for money; they make money work for them. Once you understand the concept of passive income and implement it, you will be well on your way.

Implementation is very important. Contrary to popular belief, knowledge is not power. Implemented knowledge is power. It's no use to you, if you don't use it. It's the same as those who said they tried a business before and it didn't work. The reason why it didn't work is because you tried instead of simply doing the business. When was the last time you tried to go to work? If you made it there, you didn't try, you did!

If you really want to be rich, here are a few things you need to do. Keep in mind, there could be more. But these are recommended:
1) Read books - reading is fundamental. You need to read to acquire knowledge, to use. I would like to also recommend the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napolean Hill.
2) Get involved and associate - get involved with others who are in your field. This will help you navigate the business world with fewer pitfalls as you learn from the mistakes of others.
3) Get rid of excuses - If you keep creating excuses for why you cannot do something, you will soon find yourself doing nothing.
4) Faith - A strong belief in your faith and yourself will go a long way in your self esteem.
5) Advice - Be cautious of where your advice is coming from. Only take advice from those who have been successful in their endeavors. Remember, misery loves company.

Feel free to comment on more ideas to pursue success in your life.

September 11 - Patriot Day

My blogs were intended to be entirely about my experience with owning and operating a business. I want to educate my readers on the lessons that I have learned, so if you start your own business, many of the troubles that I encountered, would be avoided.

However, today is 9/11. It's a day that evokes deep and troubling feelings within. I was in New York City that day. I lost a family member when the first plane hit the building. I also lost a classmate. I heard stories from friends, who inexplicably didn't make it to work that day or was running late. All I thought of when I heard those stories were, "it simply wasn't your time."

I remember on that day, after my brother dropped me off at my office, which was in mid-town Manhattan, he called me before he went to work and told me that the radio station reported a plane flying into the World Trade Center. Not know the full scale of the events that would unfold that day, I thought it must have been a small plane and the pilot may have passed out behind the wheel. After all it was a clear and beautiful day in NYC.

By the time my brother got to his office, the second plane hit. That's when I knew something was wrong. From where I was, I could only see smoke. I tried to get online to see what the news organizations were carrying, but the sites were overloaded. A group of us got into the conference room and watched in horror as the events unfold on the television in front of us. Another friend of mine had called me to say he was going up to the top of the building to see what was taking place, I declined, partly due to fear, partly because I needed a buffer, which the television supplied.

No work was done in NYC that day, except for the brave first responders that attempted to get people out of the building. I remember the story my aunt told me, regarding her first hand account of the day. She was at work in the towers that day. After the first plane hit, the fire alarm sounded, and the voice on the intercom requested people evacuate the building. The managers came out and said it was a false alarm, please return to your desk. My aunt decided she was going to leave the building for a while regardless of what the managers were saying. She walked only a few blocks before the second plane hit the building she was in. None of her co-workers who remained behind are alive today.

Once the bridges re-opened to outbound traffic, my brother drove back to my building and picked me up along with my friend, who watched the towers fall from the top of our building. It was a long journey out, but I felt a sense of relief after making it home. My wife and children were waiting. Interestingly enough, if my wife had worked that day, I would have been downtown Manhattan, when the first plane struck. It flew directly over her building. My story would have been very different.

I remember feeling a sense of helplessness, anger and uncertainty. I looked at my children and knew that the world they would grow up in was not as safe as how my childhood was. I wanted to protect them from all dangers. I knew I couldn't, of course, but I intend to give it my best. I made very bad decisions in an attempt to protect my children, such as moving out of New York as quickly as I could. This created dire financial consequences for my family. I hired a bad nanny to watch my children while my wife and I was away at work. This also turned out to be a very bad decision.

I've learned to be more practical with my decisions. I've learned that running away is not the answer. You must face your fears to move on with your life. After 9/11/2001, it took me 3 years before I would go to downtown Manhattan and 5 years before I went near to ground zero, as it is called. While I no longer live in NY, it's because my life with my family has been much better in Jacksonville, FL.

I didn't want to complete my thoughts without touching on the two most controversial topics today surrounding 9/11. First, building a mosque close to where the towers fell is a non issue. Every religion has extremist. That doesn't make the religion a bad one. Building it there seems a way of offering an olive branch, an outreach to the community. Would anyone accuse Protestants of being racist because a few members were involved with the KKK?

The second issue is the burning of the Quran. This is preaching hate from the pulpit. It is very hurtful, when a so-called man of God preaches hate. The Bible teaches love and tolerance and that God will judge the living and the dead. From a practical standpoint, would it make sense to increase the enemies of the USA? The extremist of Islam are few, if you burn the Quran, you would anger all of Islam, which is over a billion people. Please do the math.

I dedicate this blog to my cousin Glenroy. May you Rest In Peace. The worst part of losing him was the lack of closure. His body was never recovered, as were most people on the floors that had a direct impact.

MNR Enterprises - the evolution of a company

MNR Enterprises started in concept back in 2003. My wife and I knew from back then that we wanted to be in business for ourselves. However, at that time, like most Americans looking to start a business, we weren't sure what direction to take.

We started originally on Real Estate. After buying our first property in 2002, we wanted to capitalize on that experience and buy property to rent. We acquired financing and set out with a great realtor at Coldwell Banker. After viewing several homes, we found one that was acceptable and placed an offer. Unfortunately, all attempts at a successful negotiation failed. Some of the other homes we viewed were either just not what we were looking for.

The idea had to be placed on the backburner when we fell to financial difficulties. This was a hard lesson to learn. However, an important one. We learn from our failures, not our successes.

In 2005, MNR Enterprises went online as an Ebay company, selling home decor products. After 12 months and one sale, this venture also came to an end. During this time on Ebay, we incorporated the business and purchased the website name, www.mnrenterprises.com. A move that would prove favorable much later.

Between 2006 and November 2008, MNR Enterprises, LLC existed in name only. No business was conducted. The time was spent investigating new business ideas that would work for us.

In 2008, by divine coincidence, I bumped into a former co-worker of mine from New York City at a dentist office in Jacksonville, FL. I used the word divine, since her husband introduced us to the concept currently utilized by our company today.

This journey of business ownership has taught us many lessons. Most of which will be discussed in our upcoming blogs. However, the lesson I want to part upon you today is to get back up after you fall. In the past I would have described my business experience as a lesson in failure, until I was enlightened to the fact that it was a success. I have gotten back up. Success or failure is determined by what you do after you get knocked down.