It doesn’t happen all the time, maybe once every few months.  But when it does – it is quite a feeling. It’s the feeling that all is right in the world, that a day or a specific moment was created just for me. Three weeks ago, I had one of those moment in the form of a fantastic opportunity.

Back in April, I wrote a post about the momentum I could feel building in my life.  And though I didn’t know how or why my efforts would pay off, I just knew they would.  Sure enough, six weeks later a job opportunity landed in my lap, and the rest is hostory…

For the past three weeks, I have been transitioning into my new role as the Home Renovations & Product Expert for a Columbus web start-up called BULX.com.

The main reason I’m so excited about BULX is that I’m able to put all of my training and past experiences (graphics and product design, social media, real estate, rehab and renovations) to use to help spread the word about my passion – high-quality products at prices that everyone can afford.

If you have been hustling lately but your opportunity hasn’t come yet, don’t give up yet.  Your moment will come.

Below is the post I recently wrote for the BULX blog.  If you like it, I hope you’ll follow what I have to say over there too.

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Want to learn how I turned this…

into this?

It’s sort of a long story but one you’ll want to hear…

Education

I went to school at the University of Cincinnati for a degree in Industrial Design through their college of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.  UC has one of the strongest design schools in the nation thanks in large part to their internship program.  While earning my degree, I spent six quarters gaining real-world design experience working for companies in Columbus, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Boston.  I learned how to design everything from cars to shoes to toys to medical devices to housewares.

I also took the opportunity to travel through 13 countries over a 10-week period with two classmates to observe and compare various forms of art, design and architecture in an effort to expand my international design sense.

But as graduation neared, I could sense that I would not be happy in that profession for the rest of my life.  I felt like I was designing things that people didn’t need and couldn’t afford.  The high-end design that I was good at and that I loved rarely made it out to the masses (mainly because it was too expensive), and the cheaper products that did end up on the shelves would most likely end up in a landfill within a year.

Facing this difficult ethical dilemma, I took the next year to explore a more permanent expression of what I had learned in school…

Real Estate

Architecture and urban planning had always interested me in school, but it wasn’t until I learned more about the business side of real estate that I decided to take it more seriously. Over the next few years, I purchased, rehabbed, and sold a handful of properties across central Ohio – learning how to do most of the work myself.

I also put some of my design skills to use when I was contracted to help conceptualize and implement a number of large-scale entertainment environments.

It seemed the more experience I gained, the more anxious I became to bring all of my skills together and create something that I could call my own.

My Home

My house sits in a traditional neighborhood within the city limits of Columbus, Ohio and was built in 1919.  I learned about the property through a friend, and it was exactly what I was looking for:

• affordable,
• cozy,
• historical,
• and located in a great neighborhood.

I knew it was going to take a lot of work, but once I saw it in person, I knew I had to have it.

Because the previous owner had lived there for nearly 40 years, many of the rooms were covered in three layers of vintage wallpaper (and two layers on the ceilings!).  Structurally, the home was solid but most of the systems and all of the decor needed some serious updating.

Enter “a little elbow grease”…

As I moved from room to room, I was faced with the same question many do-it-yourselfers face: “Do I want to do it cheap, or do I want to do it right?”

It was the same dilemma I experienced when I was in school. Many of the sinks and faucets that I liked were so far out of my price range that I had to look for cheaper alternatives, which often meant sacrificing quality.

The other option (which I took) was to wait, save up a bit more money, and buy exactly what I wanted.

The result is a home that I absolutely love.  It is a place to entertain and to relax.  And while the style may not suit everyone’s taste, it is something that I will come home to and enjoy for years to come.

BULX.com

Today, as the Home Renovations & Product Expert for BULX.com, it is my mission to bring good design and high-quality products to homes across the country at incredible prices.  I’m here to show people that with the right tools and a little will-power, anyone can create a home they truly love – without sacrificing quality or taste.

Here’s to loving your home,

P.S. – Need some home-improvement advice or have a random question about a product?
Connect with me and the rest of the BULX team.

P.P.S. – Still haven’t signed up for a BULX account?  (Here’s your last chance!)

Last week, I offered some perspective on a new way to spend your free time.  I suggested that instead of “consuming,” we should all move toward “producing.”  But after reading through the comments and discussing my concept with a few colleagues, I realized there was a problem with my advice.

The content was sound, but the context had not been established.

The two main arguments that came up were:

1. “What good is ‘producing’ if I don’t know what to produce?,” and
2. “I’m working all the time as it is.  I don’t have time to produce any more!”

Both are extremely valid, and the answer to both can be summarized by a story I heard a while ago.

Like much of the information I retain these days, I can’t remember if I read the following example in a book, saw it on TV, heard it on a podcast, read it on a website, etc.  But even though I may mess up some of the details, the moral of the story is key:

An American janitor is at work one day and spots a puddle in the middle of a long hallway.  Armed with a bucket and his mop, the janitor wipes up the mess, rinses his mop, and moves on to his next task.  The next day, the janitor walks down the same stretch of hallway and finds another similar-sized puddle in the same exact spot.  With a few quick motions, the puddle is wiped clean and the janitor continues down the hall.  This same exercise goes on for a week until the janitor brings up the issue to his manager.

“Hey boss, every day when I come in there’s a big puddle in the middle of that hallway.  What should I do about it?”

“Well, what’s causing the puddle?”

“There’s a wet spot in the ceiling that’s dripping onto the floor.” says the janitor,

“Well, I’ll have the ceiling fixed, but in the meantime clean up the floor,” says the boss.  ”We can’t have people falling and hurting themselves!”

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A Japanese janitor is working at a corporate headquarters in Tokyo and comes across an unusual puddle in the middle of a long hallway.  The janitor takes out his mop, wipes up the mess, and rinses his mop.  Then (using a technique developed by a man named Sakichi Toyoda), the janitor asks the simple question: WHY.

“Why is there a puddle in the middle of this hallway?” he mumbles to himself.  He looks around and notices a small wet spot on the ceiling above the puddle.  Again, he asks the question: WHY?

“Why is there a wet spot on the ceiling?”  The janitor decides to access the crawl space above the hallway and finds there is a small leak in the roof of the building that is dripping directly onto the ceiling above the puddle.

“Why is there a leak in the roof?” he asks himself.  The janitor takes the stairwell to the roof to see what is going on.  Once outside, the janitor realizes one of the gutters is blocked and is causing all of the rain to flow to the exact spot of the leak in the roof.

“But why is the gutter blocked?” the janitor wonders.  He follows the gutter along the edge of the roof to find that a group of birds have decided to build their nests in the middle of the gutter, which is causing all of the rain to overflow and stream down the roof, inside the building, onto the ceiling, and eventually onto the floor of the hallway.

As a result, the janitor removes the bird nest, fixes the gutter, patches the hole in the roof, patches the hole in the ceiling, and doesn’t have to mop the floor day after day.

No – Japanese janitors aren’t smarter than American janitors.  The moral of the story is that asking “why” (at least) five times can help identify the core issue behind any problem.

Why Produce Content?

I’m a big believer that busying yourself creates new opportunities.  It takes a serious commitment to take consistent action, but the payoff is always worth it.  The act of consistently “producing” also improves your strengths and weaknesses.  But there’s a difference between just being busy and achieving results, and that difference depends on your “BIG WHY.”

Your BIG WHY is the main reason you do what you do. It’s your ultimate goal, your end game.

Everything I do focuses on leaving the world a better place than I found it. Pretty simple.  While that may seem enormous and vague to some, it motivates everything I do (and don’t do).  If I can’t prove that a task will improve my life, my community, or the lives of those around me – I turn it down.

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, and Neither Was My “Big Why”

If you don’t have your Big Why figured out yet, you still have time.  I didn’t wake up one morning and know that I wanted to make the world a better place.  There were many events that have shaped who I am and who I want to become.  But none of them were as important as looking inside and asking myself “why?”  Once I had my Big Why, breaking my life down into smaller actionable goals became much easier to visualize and achieve.

My internal dialog went something like this:

• I want to be financially independent. (Why? What does “financially independent” mean?)
• It means all of my bills are taken care of and I don’t have to work to generate income. (Why? What will you do if you don’t have to work?)
• I can spend my time on things I like to do, or jobs I think are important. (What kind of important jobs would you work on?)
• Things that make the world beautiful (art and music), businesses that improve the lives of others, helping people less fortunate than myself, spending time with family and friends, etc. (What will completing these items achieve?)
• Make people smile and inspire them to live a better life. (Why do you want people to smile and live better lives?)

If you aren’t spending time on things that excite you and/or move you closer to your Big Why, then why are you doing them?  Life is too short to do things you don’t love.  You are the only one who can determine what makes you happy and what you want to accomplish during your lifetime.  So start here…

1. What do you want to do?
2. Why do you want to do it?
3. Keep asking yourself “why?” until you get to your Big Why.
4. Make the commitment to only doing things that bring you closer to the life you want.

I’d love to know where this exercise leads you.   So take a minute, jot down some notes, post your results as a comment, and let me know where you end up.

If I’m not utilizing all of the resources and opportunities that are available to me, then what is the point?

This Memorial Day, commit to make your life memorable.

Take a few moments to decide how you want to be remembered, and what legacy you want to leave behind?  Then use this small list of ideas to motivate you to action:

• When in doubt, choose action.
• Make things happen.  Don’t just sit there waiting for life to fall into your lap.  Create it yourself.
• Be proactive, not reactive.  Anticipate, don’t hesitate.
• Apply focused intensity to all of your passions.  Your focus will enable you to achieve anything you wish.
• Someone may be doing it bigger/better/faster/fancier than you, but everything you create has the possibility to inspire someone else – so do it anyways.
• Work diligently on the things you love.  Your persistence will lead to success.
• Don’t get good at what you hate.
• Given the choice, choose to create instead of consume.
• You are what you think.  Focus on the positives and grow; focus on the negatives and wither.
• Expand your horizons; try new things and visit places you have never been.  (In college, I was part of an intensive internship program and often joke that those experiences helped me decide what I didn’t want to do for the rest of my life.)
• Be fascinated with everyone you meet.  Aim to discover their passions before looking for their faults.
• Be open and share your dreams with those around you.  You will realize others feel the same way.
• Act on those dreams.  No matter how slowly or in what capacity.
• The opposite of happiness is boredom.  Do things that excite you; life is too short to be unhappy.
• Fear is “false evidence appearing real”.  When you see fear, run toward it and knock it over.  Doing the things that we fear the most often yield the greatest results.
• Don’t stop.  Ever.

This goes for pretty much anything: information, content, expertise, goods, resources, time, energy, food, media, entertainment, hobbies, food, etc.

People who consistently produce more than they consume always wind up in a better place than they started.  As an added bonus, the more you produce, the easier it becomes and the quality increases with every iteration.  It’s a choice that can quickly be turned into a habit.

The funny thing is that it’s just as easy to develop the bad habit of consuming instead.  And it’s much more difficult to break that habit.

What about you?  Are you consuming more than you’re producing?  Or are you providing more value to the marketplace than you are expending?

(The irony is that I believe our ability to produce so efficiently is our tragic flaw, but that requires a much longer post to explain…)

Imagine this scenario:

You have been looking for work for the past 7 months, but there is nothing out there.  You have been told that you are under-qualified for some positions and over-qualified for the rest.  Seven months of networking and interviews and hustling, and still no dice.

Then one day, you wake up and you are suddenly the most popular, personable, funny, charismatic person on the face of the Earth.

You don’t know how it happened, but you can inexplicably tell jokes like a seasoned stand-up comedian, and you have a clever comeback for every conversation.  As your reputation spreads, you are asked to attend parties and meetings and business functions and get-togethers.  You are invited to weddings and conferences to give speeches.  You’re a publicity phenomenon.

At first, you love the attention and you accept every invitation you are offered.  And why wouldn’t you?  You’ve got nothing else going on.  You get to meet new people every day (some famous, some not), and you are wined and dined every night.  Sure, some of your new acquaintances aren’t people you would normally hang out with, but that’s the price you are willing to pay to see and do things that most others only dream of.  ”Carpe diem!”… “To infinity and beyond!”

But there’s a problem.

Soon, your schedule becomes impossible to manage.  Opportunities of all types keep coming through the door but you physically can’t keep up.  Anything short of cloning yourself means you have to turn people away; you will have to say “no”.

The bigger issue is that you have cultivated relationships with people along the way, and now they expect you to attend everything they invite you to.  You’ve developed a reputation of always saying “yes,” and you’re afraid of what might happen otherwise.

The Real World

This same scenario happens to businesses every day.  The economy takes a nose dive or a key client goes away.  The easy reaction? “Say yes to any opportunity that comes our way!”

In a way, it’s completely understandable.  You can’t just sit around while the ship is sinking beneath you.  Entrepreneurs have to do something (anything!) to stay afloat and ensure your business lives to see another day.  So you take on clients and work that you may have turned away a year or a month prior.

But what happens when you are one of the “lucky” ones who makes it through the storm with a portfolio full of difficult clients or customers?  When times were tough, they were the ones who helped keep the lights on.  But now that things are picking up, you have new, bigger, more interesting opportunities.

So what do you do?  How do you choose?

The answer depends on your values.

It always surprises me how few companies can answer the following question: “What is your primary goal?  What do you want to achieve in the long run?”

The most common answer I hear (“Well… to do more business, I guess.”)  reminds me of a passage from Alice in Wonderland:

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Chesire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

Without an end goal in mind, it is impossible to be anything but reactionary to the business opportunities that cross your radar each day.  And when that is the case, it really doesn’t matter how or why you choose your clients/projects, because there is no way to decipher the good from the bad.

Question(s) of the Day:
How do you decide what new business opportunities to pursue, or are you just saying “yes” to everything?  And is your decision-making process based around your company’s end goal?