Kindle Release of One Hour To Wealth

The Amazon Kindle is one of the best e-readers on the market. However a lot of people don't realize that you don't need a Kindle to actually purchase books. There is an app that is made for your PC, your Smart Phone, the iPad, let me just give you the link. The great thing about the Kindle App is that it is free.

This means that you don't have to worry about paying money for an app and then paying for the book. You can simply download the App to your device of choice and in a few minutes you can download my new book One Hour To Wealth and begin reading. Shameless plug? Yeah Buddy!

One Hour To Wealth is the first book that actually gives you a definition of wealth and then takes it a step further than simply restating mantras and facts.  The book gives you a plan of action to either copy or develop your own plan.

Grab a copy, read it and let me know what you think, or ask me questions. Of course you could wait for me to continue posting the Key Points here on the site, but why not use the five that you were going to grab some momentary Mickey D's with to improve your life?

Here is the link. One Hour To Wealth

25 Key Points: Key Point 4 - You Need A Business Plan

Key Point 4: You Need a Business Plan – While I have failed to cover business plans, I am adamant about the importance of organization. The reason I made the mistakes I made with my first business is because I failed to analyze my market and understand terminology and create projections that would enable me to generate a better path through the wilderness of small business. When I began developing my sneaker business, the second time around I took one year to develop contacts and the ideas to establish ARCH. I included in that plan the fact that I would have to grow slowly because I did not want to create debt. I also added an expanded plan which included creating a sneakershop that carried more than just my brand. My business plan is over 40 pages in length and it includes, Purchase Forecast, Sales Forecast, Marketing Strategies, and of course Mission Statements and my personal story (developed after reading Primal Branding). If you are talking to someone about business and you ask them if they have a business plan, and they don’t…Get the hell away from them as quickly and nicely as you can. Oh, run away also if the person tells you that they don’t revise and add to their plan every now and then. I would like to add that spending too much time on a biz plan can prevent you from ever actually starting your biz.

Key Point 1: Be Creative
Key Point 2: Capitalize on Opportunities
Key Point 3: Stay In Your Lane 

25 Key Points: Key Point 3 - Stay In Your Lane

Introduction: 25 Key Points to Stay Motivated in Small Business

Key Point 1: Be Creative

Key Point 2: Capitalize on Opportunities

 

Key Point 3: Stay In Your Lane – Once you’ve decided to try one of your ideas, it will be tempting to try other things that look like they are working for others. You may see a friend or associate selling flowers and making pretty good money, so you start thinking that you can do that as well. The thing about doing this is taking this kind of action leads you off of the path. Your business may be mobile detailing for vehicles which is a good business. You could add selling air fresheners to your job but deciding to sell tamales and do mobile detailing would be way out of your lane. Stay focused on the idea that you believe in and learn as much as you can about it. Then place the time and effort into that idea. Don’t weave in traffic unless you want the idea cops to pull you over for drunk thinking.

25 Key Points: Key Point 2 - Capitalize On Opportunities

Introduction: 25 Key Points to Stay Motivated in Small Business

Key Point 1: Be Creative

Key Point 2: Capitalize on Opportunities – Sometimes people approach you with ideas, but you are so consumed with work that you pretty much blow them off. Someone can be interested in giving you the tools to launch your own business, but these are the general comments made,

“Man, I don’t have time for that.”

“When I get home all I want to do is relax.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Easier said than done-”

“I have to pay these bills.”

I can list a host of other words used to explain why people fail to take action. The thing is though none of those are as serious as not capitalizing on opportunities. When a person makes any statement of negativity, the mind produces the reaction, so in a sense your reality is what you have made it. There are often workshops or events that promote entrepreneurship. Sitting at home and pretending to be busy is a lot easier than getting up and acting on those opportunities that are presented. Honestly, are you really that busy? Probably not.

25 Key Points: Key Point 1

25 Key Points-Introduction

Over the next 25 days I will post a Key Point. Collect them, share them with friends and other people thinking about starting a small business, leave feedback and make sure you give credit. I appreciate you reading. If you'd like to read some of my fiction, look to the right and download a Kindle version of three of my works of fiction. Enjoy Point 1.

Christopher D. Burns, MFA

Key Point 1: Be Creative – There isn’t any such a thing as a stupid idea. If somebody tells you to create a fart catcher, sit down and think about if you can be passionate about it. I’m not kidding. Creativity is the realm of childhood and the dreams that you have when you are young, become the memories that dissipate due to inactivity. People forget how to be creative. Watch your child play with some LEGO Blocks. Children have the knack for creativity and they can sit for hours building bridges and playing in imaginary worlds. When we get older people tell us to stop playing games and get serious. The only thing getting serious does for us is make us overweight, tired, stressed and angry. I challenge you to keep a journal for a month and in that journal write down every odd idea you can think of that you can be passionate about. Write down the ones that you can’t get excited about as well. The goal though is to be creative.

25 Keys: Points to Stay Motivated in Small Business-Intro

I have been working on a book for 4 years and I recently finished the book. I was in the process of sending it to the printer and I had to stop because things changed in my business again. In other words, my small business is constantly changing and I have to adapt. I finally realized that I can't sit down and make things so cut and dry. I also can't sit back and not pass on information that has enabled me to keep moving forward. I have decided to share part of that book here on the blog. If you use any of this, please share my web address and give credit where it is due. I hope these 25 Keys can help you with something you are considering. Enjoy.

25 Keys:

Get Your Janitor On

I have lectured on building businesses and websites at the University of Memphis, Southwest TN. College, the YWCA and the Memphis Housing Authority. In each lecture I discuss the importance of entrepreneurship. I would like to leave you with these key points which are really for diving into your own business, but are for you since you are your own business. While the length of this book does not determine its power and potential, I do hope that you are beginning to think about how to build your own One Hour To Wealth program. Next are my 25 Key Points. A key is used to gain access and these 25 points will allow you to begin creating ideas. There isn’t a thing in the world that I can write that will make you rich. You will have to generate your own idea. Everyone has something they are good at, something they are passionate about, and something that occupies their mind. What I want is for you to actually do something about those dreams instead of letting others, or yourself, kill them. With that said I truly appreciate you reading this short book and I hope it has inspired you to do something. If it has, take a few minutes to visit any of my sites and drop me a note. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Christopher D. Burns, MFA

http://www.cbpublish.com/

http://www.centercourtbasketball.com/

http://www.arch-usa.com/  

That's Not What It's For: Another Facebook Article



Like John Coffey, I couldn't hep it



Common mistakes that come with the comment "That's not what that's for," are all over the place. When you decide to work on a car and grab a flathead instead of a phillips you hear, "That's not what that's for." When you're getting ready to brush your teeth, if you were raised in a house that didn't have much money, and you grab the Arm & Hammer because you're out of toothpaste, and your kid looks at you like, "WTF?" You hear it then. When you're in the bed and you slip up and hit the wrong.... okay nevermind, you get the point. That's Not What It's For is so common that often no one realizes when this is really the case.

Yesterday an interesting thing happened on Facebook. A conversation was started that generated a ton of likes on seperate Facebook walls. The conversation began with this quote: Clean out your Facebook closet. There are people doing incredible work, but you can't see it because there is too much garbage on your wall. Also, if someone is doing something that looks like it took time to do, is artistic, is positive, or is thinking out of the box... make a comment. Honestly, you never know how that might help a person throughout that day. Big shout out to all the people pursuing various dreams. 

Rework by Jason Fried and David Hansson

What is Rework? Rework is a book on rethinking what it is to be a small business person. The book was written by the founders of 37signals. Real quick, what I just did by inserting their link into this blog post has helped to increase their SEO. Why is this important in a book review? Well not really a book review... but a thank you to the writers of Rework. SEO is the search engine optimization. In the world of the internet in order for your business to be found in the search results of Google people have to share your link. This is placed in some funky program in Google's search engine and the more links to your site, the higher your site is listed when someone searches for certain information. This is important to me because I have found that through research and all kinds of stuff, my site ranks very low. Damn you people who don't understand this!

Lecture on Entrepreneurship at GEAR UP



Christopher D. Burns speaking to GEAR UP students
 at Southwest TN College

I have had the pleasure of speaking to a number of groups about entrepreneurship in the last year and a half. The series of lectures that I've done have implemented my six years of small business experience, my instruction of Business Writing at Park University, and the recreation of my own ventures since going through a major failure in 2008. I had the experience this month (June 2011) of speaking with a group of high school students enrolled in the GEAR UP program at Southwest Tennessee College. I was invited by Dr. Young. This is a write up of the lecture. Take a few minutes to check this out and to visit a lecture from the University of Memphis on entrepreneurship.

Because I'm PREGNANT

Congratulations! It's a....dream?

One of my guilty pleasures is watching MTV's 16 & Pregnant. You've seen it right? It always start with the girl giving background details of her life. She talks about where she's from, her family, and then she talks about how things have changed with the panning of the camera to a huge stomach with her saying the ending tagline..."because, I'm pregnant."

I notice on 16 & Pregnant that up until the birth of their child, the mothers are generally living a carefree and easy life. They are preparing for their child to be born. They buy the crib, take breathing classes, beg their parents to understand, try to get their finances in order, and they genuinely believe that on or around that due date, a baby is popping out of their vagina.

The same approach should be taken when we pursue our dreams. If it takes nine months for a baby to be nursed and planned, what makes us think we can birth a dream overnight. Also, it is important that we set a time limit as to when our plan should be attained and achieved. If we can predict when a baby, a precious life, a human being, will enter the world, who are we to say our dreams can come and go whenever they want. We have to give them a due date.

Another thing I notice on the show, is that once that baby is born, it's a wrap! The mother is entirely consumed with every single detail concerning that baby. She rises with the baby, the goes to sleep with the baby, stays up long nights with the baby, feeds the baby, smiles at the baby, spoil the baby, bathe the baby, and so on. I have yet to see an episode where a mother gives birth to the baby and either leaves it at the hospital or takes it home only to collect dust on the shelf. That's simply negligent. For the ones that do ignore the needs of their baby, are generally the ones that live a life of regret, confusion, conflict, and emotional distress. They simply weren't ready for the baby. Then there are the mothers that decide to give their baby away because there is always someone else who will take a neglected dream, I mean baby, and care for it and nurture it as though it were their own because they failed to produce a baby of their own.

A lot of us are unfit mothers when it comes to the dreams and ideas placed in us. Some of us are 86 weeks pregnant, overdue, or we have neglected a baby we gave birth to four years ago. We can't find our baby.

And just like that Cosby episode, men can get pregnant too.

For you nosey people, I AM pregnant but there is no human being growing inside of me. Instead there are a myriad of ideas, poems, songs, events, websites, businesses, and dreams that I am preparing to birth and when they are born I will give them my full attention and parent them with the responsibility that God has entrusted to me.

How do you know if you're pregnant?

Unfortunately, a traditional pregnancy test won't help detect this kind of pregnancy. But here's a test: Answer yes or no to the following questions.

1. Do you see something and immediately think of ways that it can be done better?

2. Do you get ideas of a business or service that you or someone you know can provide?

3. Have you caught yourself daydreaming of being in the spotlight doing a hobby you love?

4. Do you ever say, "If I had ______, I would do______."?

5. Do you think of unconventional ideas that could benefit others around you?

6. Ever get frustrated with an issue effecting a large group of people to the point where you want to do something about it?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, well, congratulations, you're pregnant!

Just with a actual pregnancy there are side effects and risks involved with sharing your body with another human being.

1. You must watch what you eat and maintain a healthy lifestyle if you are going to produce a dream. You must have enough energy to complete the task.

2. Just as your outer appearance will change and be obvious to those around you, your inner man will change too if you get pregnant with a dream. If your outer man got pregnant, your stomach and body will change. If your inner man got pregnant, your attitude will change.

3. Those same friends you had before you got pregnant, may not be around as much after you give birth. They will not understand why you give so much attention to the bundle of joy that you are now responsible for.

4. The only people who truly understand what you are going through, are those who have pushed out dreams. They will know what is like and the pain they had to endure throughout and during the birthing process. They will understand the sacrifice. Surround yourself with people who have successfully carried and birthed a dream.

So, you're pregnant and the first question the baby daddy asks, though he is partially responsible, is, "Soooo, what are YOU gonna do?"

Imagine, God is your baby daddy and he allows the seed of a dream to be carried in you. Believe or not, he still gives you the option as to how you want to handle the responsibility. You can either:

1. Get an abortion. Kill the dream and forever wonder what life would have been like had the dream had been born. Who will the dream have affected, touched, saved, healed. What contribution could that dream had of made to the world.

2. Adoption. Give the dream to someone else and allow them to nurture and provide for that dream even though you created it.

3. Keep It. You may not know how in the world are you going provide and take care of this life altering dream, but the decision to keep the dream, care for it, and watch it grow before your eyes, will be the biggest joy and rewarding experience ever.

I'm keeping my babies! If anybody wants to ever babysit or buy my babies pampers and food, I am also looking for volunteers and investors. :-)

"Most ideas are stillborn and need the breath of life injected into them through definite plans of immediate action. The time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth. Every minute it lives gives it a better chance of surviving." -Napoleon Hill, Author or Think and Grow rich

Lisa B.

www.liftedsoul.com

www.speakintothemic.com

www.youtube.com/lisabpoetry