Saturday, February 17, 2007

Thursday, February 15, 2007

A Millionaire....Hard Work


Now that Valentine's Day is over we, can get back to money making, thinking of money, smelling money, holding it and flipping it.

The new job is shaping up exactly to be what it is. A job! I feel like Fred Flintstone bustin' boulders at the quarrey. If I had to come to this place and do this job everyday....Just kill me now. The sad part is, that this job is 100% better then my last, and my boss is crazy cool.



It gets a little overwhelming when you are a pop culture enthusiast and reality TV fan like myself. You hear about Beyonce getting the cover of Sports Illustrated or Roca-wear (Jay-Z's clothing line) designing the new Cherry Coke bottle. Funkmaster Flex is working with Ford on a top secret special edition production vehicle. These people are no different then you and me, and they keep getting richer. To top things off, you have dumbos like Anna Nicole Smith who are already rich and find new creative ways to blow it.


Am I doing enough?....I think so but enough is never enough until you are there. I read in Forbes this month about the website www.minniepauz.com This lady lives about 15 miles from my job (Oxford, MI), and makes $30,000.00 per year off her website at home.
She gets 1200 hits per day and gets paid from advertisers. I get like 350 per week and have a bigger target audience. No disrespect, but the website is not all that. I think you just have to find something to do and make up your mind to kill it. Trump says find something you like doing. I disagree. I say, find something that you can tolerate doing

I recently had "Senn Delaney" leadership training. One of the only new things I took out of there was the question: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW YOU COULDN'T FAIL. No they didn't teach this, it was a quote found in the blurbs of our workbook.

That is a profound statement, but you should ask yourself that. You would probably do many things different; you would definitely take more risks and live life on the edge. When you see people who run huge service industry businesses, entertainers, sports stars or multi million dollar entrepreneurs, you often ask yourself, “How did this dumb ass get this rich”. Simple, he was dumb enough to overlook the risks that would have prevented YOU from taking the chance.

Ok, I know this is a scattered post with no direction, but I needed a pep talk. When I'm not feeling the fire, I come to this sight and read my own ramblings. I click on the links I have on the right: The Jay Z HP commercial, the Tiger Woods American Express commercial, The Forbes link to millionaires. That’s why those links are there. Use Them! These things get me pumped, ready to take it to the next level.

I have been TIVO'ing the KING OF CARS on A&E. It's a great reality show about a car dealership. The main character is this big brawny Latino dude. He hustles, and motivates his sales team to hustle. This is a good way to start each day. Whatchin CHOP CHOP (that's his name because he Chops prices) "Do what it Does". That's his moniker.

I try to push myself to the limit everyday and often wake up disappointed with my progress from the previous day. I write down what I didn't do, or could've done better and keep that list in my pocket so I can get better the next day. Little things like this help. Will it make me rich....It better. Am I being to hard on myself, should I just sit back and enjoy life. Hmmmmm…..NO. This is life and I’m living it.


DO I HAVE TO REMIND YOU OF THE THEME? - Rich or Nothing

-MJL

P.S.

I'm trying something new. Other blogs have polls, and I'm starting to like that, so of course I will start running my own weekly poll. You figure I'm at about 350 of you guys per week, so we can have some fun with it. If you want me to poll anything just send me an email livinglikemike@yahoo.com (P.S. Since you guys like emailing instead of posting comments, I'm gonna start posting emails).

Friday, February 09, 2007

Tony D - A Class Act


Recently Tony Dungy has been catchin’ a lot of flak about downplaying his role as a black coach. He is not a black coach, he is “An NFL Coach”. Period!

As a black man, during black history month, I am getting tired of people counting our accomplishments:
1st black coach
1st black Oscar winner
1st black person to slap somebody at his new job (just kidding).

But seriously, it’s not the white media doing this, it’s the black media or should I say, the black influenced media. It’s the urban radio stations, hip hop magazines and sport shows. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always happy to see people of color doing well, there is always that inner sense of pride that you enjoy; but I find more enjoyment by good things happening to good people. Tony Dungy is a class act. He is a good person, who handles himself with dignity and respect. That’s why I’m happy he won.

Here is a post written to Illseed from www.allhiphop.com (his rumors site is off the chain…and he posts everyday!).

“Matt from Belmont Abbey College wrote this to (illseed)
I thought the coach (Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts) handled the issue with total class and dignity. Its apparent that he does acknowledge the significance of being the first black coach to win the super bowl, he doesn’t want it to define him. Some in the media have labeled him as the first black coach to win the Superbowl and in my mind it diminishes his stature as a great coach. If you say that he is a great black coach, then its like saying that he isn't in the same league as the Bill Walsh's or Bill Cower's or Parcells, etc... Also, i think that by downplaying his color, then black coaches in the futu
re may not be defined by their color, and the media and the public will see them as great coaches, not great black coaches. When people finally can view black coaches in that way, it only means that society has become more accepting of blacks and more importantly blacks in a position of power.

Look at Tiger Woods, they don't put "1st black" in front of any of his accomplishments anymore because they would diminish the importance.


As a nation, if we can’t get over having a black coach win the Superbowl, how will we ever be ready for a black coach to win the Presidency!

Nuff Said

-MJL

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

New Job: Bad for all the Right Reasons


Well day 2 at the new job, and it is definitely a big deal. Starting a new position in a new company just feels a lot different. I thought eating lunch in the cafeteria was bad; well eating frozen “Budget Gourmets” in a little lunch room isn’t that fabulous either. Let’s face it, this is not a good look for me. I feel like a black ass Dilbert. Like my sister told me, I should be wearing a short sleeved shirt with my tie.

I knew this job would suck too, but it serves it’s purpose. I am making more money and working less hours. That’s what I’m supposed to do.

There are about 6 Program Managers here. The old school rule of thumb: “last one hired, first one fired” doesn’t hold true these days. It’s comes down to who is worth more to the company. Who is giving the company the most bang for the buck. As long as that’s me, my job is safe. Once that position is secured, I should do no more or no less. I am setting up the standard for arrival and leaving. The first Program Manager gets in at 7: 45 and that’s me; A big difference from 6:00 - 6:30 AM.

It appears I’m off to Shanghai for this company on Saturday. Chocolate Thunder makes round two of his Asian tour. Hopefully I will get the most out of this trip, now that I know what to expect.

The female boss thing, definitely works for me. So far it’s been my experience that the female boss is not hung up on insecurities about someone taking over her job. They just want good people working for them, so they can do their jobs more effectively and get home. That's how it should be. Shout out to all my independent working women!

Quick Summary:

New Job – Sucks, we all knew it would
Money – Good, more of it but never enough
New Boss – Good (So far)
Time – More of it, so I need to use it wisely

Now I need to concentrate on my other get rich schemes. Am I all talk and no action?? Of course not, you know me by now. Rich or Nothing.
P.S. That's not me, but I definitley look that dumb at work!

Holla!
MJL