Time Blocking: Schedule Success

I find the concept of “time blocking” to be entirely riveting, as I had never considered the fact that doing so would almost force me to do my ONE Thing (the thing I'm dedicating myself to for a given period of time, whether it be a business or a project of some sort).

Time blocking is the process of setting aside an hour or so a day to work on something. It is a static window of time that MUST go uninterrupted by friends, family and such. During this time, you focus on nothing but your ONE Thing. And it helps to plan out the day's activities beforehand, so the time can flow as smoothly as possible. 

 With this system, you would have not any excuses. The problem comes in when you realize that you have a ONE Thing in various aspects of your life, being a human, amongst other things. So, this whole time blocking idea is rather appealing, as it can be applied to the many “ONE Things” in your life (as many as 7), each Thing- its own day and its own time slot. It’s perfect!

Some may go as far as to say that there is the essential “four hour minimum” for each time block. It seems hardcore, but the rationale behind this is explained later on with the “10, 000 hours rule”, which I have heard is arguably hogwash. Basically, when you hit 10, 000 hours of doing something, you magically transform into a "master"! Sarcasm. Nonetheless, the ideology behind the rule is sound: practice and you’ll get good at what you do. Common sense. It’s amazing how people overlook the truth in simplicity simply because it’s simple. Complexity hardly ever equates to “right”.

Anywho, set aside some time each day to work on what's important to you and you'll find that results are easier to acheive than you formerly conceived!

#RBT: Keep Your Head In The Game

·        Business calamities and failures can be predicted when the operations are being closely supervised. 

#RBT: Listen To Everyone

·        Excellent ideas and input do not always have to come from the executives. All of the employees of any given organization have a unique voice and a valuable opinion, most of which can be a beam of enlightenment in dark, recessive times. It would behoove leaders to listen to their employees and heed their words. This is an act which can pay off in more ways than one, including a dodging of a bullet and increased productivity, as people respect and look forward to interacting with people who care enough to care about what they have to say and make them feel important. 

#RBT: Lose The Ego

·        Not everybody is willing to admit when disaster is about to strike, because it will put them in the crosshairs for ridicule, as the damage could have been prevented, had they done a more thorough job. IT IS NOT WISE TO MIX EMOTIONS AND BUSINESS. THAT ALWAYS LEADS TO CHAOS. The group at large will take a hit for something that could have been remedied, had you not been too emotionally involved to suck it up and do what’s best. 

#RBT: Company Focus

RBT: Random Business Tip (#1)

Organizations spend too much time considering the irrelevant details of business operations and overlook the humongous premonitions of disaster. There is no use in having full-on debates about something as menial as the official coffee flavor for the office if your customers are being sent to voicemail or being put on hold. The customer experience should be so extraordinary and intuitive that the customer cannot find any fault with your work.

The One Thing

A lot of people, in the mainstream corporate world, scoff at the mere thought of reaching out to others, for fear of giving them a leg up over (themselves). We become so self-indulged in gaining and earning that we forget that business is not just about the profits - it's also about providing a product or service to people that will enhance their lives. The same is also true of ourselves. We do not simply exist to please ourselves; our lives are to be used for the benefit of others as well. This thought has led me to construct the following piece, which I call: "The One Thing".

The one thing I cherish the most is the same thing I choose to give away freely: time. It only takes a little bit to change a mind, a little bit to change a life, a little bit to change fate and a little bit to ease someone’s strife because in truth, we all love the idea of having that one somebody who will put down everything they’re doing to focus their attention on us- that one somebody who knows us and believes that we are capable of having everything we dream of- that one somebody who won’t let us waste away in a world of “what if’s”. 

I’d like to think that I’m that person.

I’m a visionary by nature. More large-scale creative ideas are produced in my mind in a day than I could execute in a week. And though I do gain satisfaction from accomplishing something of my own, I’m more passionate about helping other people pursue their passions. When I see people operating out a negative mindset or well below their aptitude, it honestly disturbs me. I want for everybody to have the joy of doing something that they truly identify with—that one thing they get giddy just thinking about- that one thing they couldn’t imagine their life without- that one thing they know they were created to do.

But I know that not everybody is confident enough to step out and take a chance on themselves. That’s where I come in. You might get sick of me always telling you that you can do it, but know that I don’t say it to be nice. I say it because I believe it. Faith and work are all you need to achieve. And until you get some of your own, you can have mine. In conjunction, you can have my time and gladly so. I’m only as successful as my fellow man. And WHEN you make it, I don’t need a “thank you”. I just need for you to do for somebody what I did for you. 

--

If we all help one person, the world would be tremendously better.

The Importance of Purpose

Purpose - in business and in life is crucial.

There is a particular Bible Verse I hold in high esteem when considering this principle. Proverbs 29:18 reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV). Keller (Gary, author of The One Thing) discusses the snowballing desire that humans have when there exists not an end goal.

                                                    

Bringing this point closer to home, I, myself had a recent experience with this paradigm. For the past couple of weeks, since the Korean Children’s Choir came to Chapel, I have had a desire to start a Christ-centered, passion-fueled music group, which would bring together all sorts of audible and spoken art forms, including but not limited to: melodic vocalizing/harmonizing, beatboxing, rapping, spoken word, digital production and composition and live instrumentation. It would be a whole new sort of “band”. So, I posted on various social media outlets, seeking to find fellow Baylor students with passionate musical talent, a love for God and for serving His people. One fellow replied, with whom I met shortly after.

All seemed to be well with him, in that he seemed to have some sort of manifested talent and a desire to DO something, but when I asked him things along the lines of where he saw the band going, what he saw the band becoming and what he sought to get out of his music, he came up short. He didn’t know. He was just lollygagging around in music. At that, I counted him out. I know the importance of vision. If you don’t know where you want to go or what you want to get, how can you ever be satisfied? I, personally am hardly even content with reaching my goals. I want to surpass them by a long shot.

That being said, I find Keller’s approach of breaking down the long-term, overarching goal into smaller, everyday goals to be apt. In case you were wondering, my vision for the music group includes defining an entire new genre of music, becoming musical legends to be remembered down the ages (think Michael Jackson, Beatles) and so effectively being transparent, humble and passionate that we literally cause people to come to Christ – first at home and then across the world. That may sound far-fetched, but I don’t doubt it can be done.

The Return of the Future Millionaire

It has been forever and a day since I've posted and I know that it isn't right to leave you guys hanging like this - that is, all 185 of you who have viewed my site since its conception.

I began this blog back in the ninth grade and now, I am in the 13th grade or rather, I was. I was accepted into Baylor University as a part of their Entrepreneurship program, their LLC included. While I have dropped out, for reasons to be discussed down the line, I am back with a fresh perspective on life and entrepreneurship.

Instead of continuing with the 7 phases of business as per the likes of now-convicted and imprisoned businessman (Ephren Taylor), I will share that which I learned from my semester in Waco - both on a personal and academic level. Brace yourself for a whole lot of irrefutable truth, bound to lead you to your own pot of gold!

-Niquey Millionss

A Pitch for Progress

The premise of the Entrepreneurship cohort class I took was that I and a team would be engaging in the formation of a business, from idea to product launch. We each had to think of a need in the market and present a pitch to class, which had about 50 or so students in it. Here was my pitch:

"Everybody SAYS they want to be different until they actually are. At some point or another, we’ve all fallen to the temptation of “fixing ourselves” to fit in. And that’s not right. The one thing you’ll never catch other businesses doing is telling you that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made”- that God doesn’t make trash and that your natural beauty, quirks and all, is more than sufficient.

However, I feel that self-acceptance and self-love can be implemented in a profitable business model. I would like to start an all-original urban, unisex clothing line that promotes positive values such as these featuring the designs of the team. The line will be nothing short of full-fledged, consisting of practically everything, including sneakers, but will begin with t-shirts.

This is a business I’m serious about pursuing and I intend to incorporate. I’ve done months of work on it as of now. I’ve contacted overseas manufacturers for quotes, looked into retail space, made a list of the funds needed for the various expenses and have begun drafting the business operations manual in order to create an effortless flow within the company.

The name of the clothing line is (REDACTED) because frankly, “who else could I be?”"

Don't you think we need more companies that lift people up, as opposed to tear them down? Haven't we heard enough about what we aren't? When will they tell us what we ARE? We are valuable. We are HUMAN BEINGS. And we're prone to imperfections. But that doesn't make us unattrative. 

I'm ready to see more businesses take the lead and do something good for a change. And because I can't wait, I plan to pave the way. 

(1) Superior Startup

Startups aren't superior because they look good. They're superior because they ARE good. The Superior Startup is a principal idea around which everything else is built. A Superior Startup recognizes money is always limited, and that money needs to go to the people and the products/services first. Know going in how you're going to get out. Build an exit strategy now.

Challenge 1: Money- Find a mentor, and get an accountant.

Challenge 2: Forming the right team.

Challenge 3: Personal and Brand Identity. Remember, if you have to fail, you might as well fail well.

Step 1: Define what the business will be.

Step 2: Create a one-sheet that includes company name, company leaders, company financiers, company structure, company start date, company exit plan, and the company mission formed in step one.

Step 3: Research your competitors and your industry.

Step 4: Match the players with the team.

Step 5: Legalize it.

Step 6: Form a mentor advisory board.

Step 7: Develop your launch plan. This doesn't just include the plans for the day of launch, but a week after the launch, a month after the launch, even a year after the launch.

Step 8: Never stop raising money.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

The 7 Phases of Business

The 7 phases of business are essential to the exceeding of your company and your ticket to becoming an elite entrepreneur. The 7 phases will be explained in detail in the 7 days to come. I have learned this method and am giving all credit to Ephren W. Taylor. I would suggest picking up his book, The Elite Entrepreneur. Here are his 7 steps to success:

Phase One: Superior Startup

Phase Two: Blockbuster Branding

Phase Three: Sizzling Sales

Phase Four: Heroic Hiring

Phase Five: Generating Growth

Phase Six: Cornering Cash

Phase Seven: Championing Charity 

                                                                                      -Niquey Millionss

From Fish Tycoon to Modern Mogul.

All my life I have been wishy-washy with my decisions on the career I would hold, beginning as young as the age of nine. I wanted to be a scientist and an inventor mainly.  Everything I came up with had an innocently crappy concept. Every once in a while I'd come up with something as amazing as a robotic lawn mower that could double as a waterer. The only problem was I hadn't a clue how to build such a device. I crossed over to a much easier playing field. My two (of three) best friends and I designed a series of comic books loosely based on the myth of the BoogeyMan. We originated our own stories, placed them onto paper and sold copies. Well, A copy. I haven't any idea how much the boy paid for it, but he enjoyed it thoroughly I recall. In the 5th grade I sold snacks at school, and in 6th grade I sold Game Boy Advance video games. I'm always looking for ways to earn money. Now I'm fourteen, and have decided once and for all what my career would be. I chose entrepreneur as the default career. I will work in my other hobbies (animal breeding and writing). Currently I am mastering the child's game, Fish Tycoon created by Last Day of Work. I have discovered several fish worth over $20. I mass-produce the fish worth the most as my strategy. Originally, I created tons of Golden Goldbubs worth $45. Now, I make Wasp Groupers, worth $85. In total, I have earned $27,025 Isola bucks. Every entrepreneur needs a debut, something to grasp onto, something worth fighting for, something that they're passionate about. Here, today, I am announcing my debut. Follow me from 9th grade into college and beyond, until my dreams are fulfilled. I am a young entrepreneur, and so are you.
                                                                                       -Niquey Millionss