Fall has finally arrived. As someone living in near Dallas, it was a very welcome change. This summer we broke our record of the number of triple digit temperature days in a year. We even had a last gasp of summer on the 29^th of September with 102.

With the change in seasons comes a change in thinking. Instead of trying to avoid the heat, people around here are looking forward to the State Fair, crisp mornings and Halloween with Thanksgiving around the corner.

This could be a season to change how you think about your life. Many people look towards others for the major requirements in their life. A job, either having one or looking for one, to pay for the things you want gives your power to other people. This is especially acute when you are looking for a job in these times. Like Blanche DuBois, you are dependent on the kindness of strangers.

This dependency shrinks your dreams. You shrink them to fit your income. You take a “staycation” instead of a memory making vacation with loved ones.  You drive a car that fit your budget, not your fancy. Your living accommodations are “cozy” instead of breath taking. All the while, you rationalize to yourself that it will get better “someday”.

I challenge you to change your thinking. Expanding your income to fit your dreams is not only possible but so much more rewarding. You can be your own boss. You can have a carpet commute. You take back your power and control. If you want a raise, you can give it to yourself.

Look at starting a profitable home based business. You can do so for relatively little. Even in down times, people can be successful in business. In fact, down times often force people to come up with ways to be successful because of the lack of alternatives.

Some of the things it has brought me are the two most important things to people at the end of their lives – memories and relationships. Many parents feel they are sending a stranger off to college because they don’t know who their child has become. I have been involved with my sons’ lives especially during their critical teen years. Before that, I was working much too long hours. My youngest still remembers when I would come home when they were finishing dinner.

I have chaperoned a choir trip to Walt Disney World. I have chaperoned band trips. I am often the only dad that’s chaperoning. I have been there dropping them off at school and more importantly, picking them up afterwards. I have confidence in my son’s driving because I had the time to teach him and log the required 20 hours before he got his license.

I have built relationships with my sons and provided foundations for having great relationships with them as they mature into adulthood because I had control of my time and my life. That’s often called time freedom and lifestyle freedom.

I am urging you with the change of seasons to change your thinking. Interrupt the “get a good job” mantra and take control of you life.

Technorati Tags: be your own boss, carpet commute, change in thinking, dreams, expand your income, give yourself a raise, home based business, job, lifestyle freedom, make money from home, memories, relationships, staycation, take control, time freedom, vacation, walt disney world

Since the time that man has harnessed the wind to move boats, sailors have been able to go where they want no matter which way the wind is blowing. It’s all in the set of the sails and the techniques they use. They can even move into the wind by using a technique called tacking.

What does this mean for us? It’s an illustration that no matter which way the economic or political winds are blowing, we can get where we want to go. Even in the Great Depression where many old fortunes were lost, many new fortunes were created. The creators of the new fortunes used the appropriate techniques with an appropriate set of their sails for the changed economic environment.

In life, the sailboat can be many things depending on what you are talking about. In your economic life, it’s the vehicle in which you create income whether it’s a job, investments or a business. If your sailboat is no longer taking you where you want to go, some changes may be in order. Maybe, even a new destination.

If you would like to see about a change, go to DiscoverYourOwnFreedom.com to get free information about what I’m doing to be the Captain of my fate.

Technorati Tags: economic environment, economic life, job

It’s school time again and I am resuming my job as Mr. Taxi.  I have a son that is starting middle school and a senior in high school. My senior also has an internship every school day at a vet clinic. I’m driving all over the place every school day. The up side of this is that I have a captive audience at least twice a day each. During this time, we have gotten into the routine of sharing our lives.

I get to find out what’s going on in their lives. I know if something is bothering them and can help them out. They can’t brush me off and run away to their room.

What makes this possible? I get to do this because I have lifestyle freedom. To me this time with my sons is irreplaceable. They will grow up only once.

Technorati Tags: Captive Audience, freedom, Internship, job, lifestyle, Mr Taxi, quality time, School Time, Vet Clinic

My youngest son’s 5th grade class wrapped up a poetry unit in school and held a ‘poetry cafe’ event where they stood up and read poems. The parents were invited. I noticed that I was the only father there that did not have an access card dangling on my person. On other words, I was the only father who did not have to rush back to a job.

This is not an isolated incident. At his Winter Party in December, I was the only father there.

With my oldest son, I will be 1 of only 2 dads that will be chaperoning his choir to Walt Disney World in March.

Being my own boss allows me the flexibility to control my schedule. I get to spend more time doing what I want to do which to me means spending more time with my family. At the end of your life, the main things that matter are you memories and your relationships, not how many hows you spent at the office.

Another important fact in this economy is that I am in control of my income. I can’t be laid off.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those that sacrifice freedom for security will receive neither.”

Technorati Tags: access card, job, memories, poetry cafe, relationships, things that matter, walt disney world, winter party

My sons received the movie, WALL-E, for Christmas. There is a spaceship in that movie named Axiom. To me, that was a strange thing to name a ship so I looked up the definition of axiom. If you remember back to your math, an axiom was something that was accepted and didn’t need to be proven, but, there are other definitions. Two of them are, ‘taken for granted’ and ‘not questioned’. Those are the definitions that seemed to fit.

These definitions also got me to thinking about the axioms we have in our life. These are our “that’s just the way it is,” assumptions. Axioms are what keep people doing the same ol’ even if they don’t like to do it. In the movie, two people’s lives receive interruptions which cause them to see their world with different eyes. They have lived aboard the spaceship all of their lives but they only discover the ship has a pool after their familiar world is disrupted.

I would challenge you to interrupt your world. Start questioning the things in your life that you take for granted. Ask, “what if” questions to open your mind to new possibilities. Step out of the familiar. See the world from a fresh viewpoint.

Most people do not start a home based business because it is “unfamiliar” and “not normal”. They also live lives that gives their power to things outside themselves such as their job or their boss or even their friends. Take a fresh look at this. Take control of your life. Change your axioms.

Technorati Tags: axiom, fresh look, home based business, job, possibilities