First of all, SORRY that I’m been away from the site for so long!  I’ve had little to no time at all to blog.  LIFE HAS BEEN CRAZY!!!

Here is what has been going on, in a nut shell:

Our house was hit by lightning about two months ago and caught on fire.  It is currently being rebuilt!

The private equity and capital markets representation firm that I started 14 months ago has absolutly taken off, we are crazy busy!  We now have 6 partners and an office intern.  Business is outstanding!

The two restaurants have been doing extremely well!

My iphone app is 90% finished, and it is a work of art.  I can’t wait to share it…very soon.

The web development/Hyper-local e-commerce/social media company is getting some significant traction.

My wife is about three months away from giving birth to our fourth kid. 

Anyways, lots of other crazy and exciting stuff going on too, but the big ones are truly the new baby and the house fire.  Crazy stuff, but as they say with a house fire…

When life throws you lemons…squeeze them into a cup, add ice and Vodka

“The intelligent man learns from his own experience; the wise man learns from the experience of others.”

I’ve spent the last week rereading this post and rethinking this old adage. It is one that I’ve tried to keep close to my heart as a business guy and entrepreneur. I think that the marginal success that I have enjoyed has been because I have always assumed that I possess intelligence (though my wife may often beg to differ). As I reflect on the good choices that I’ve made, they were most often not attempts to “re-invent” anything. Good stuff for me has happened when I tried hard to follow the wisdom and experience of others. (I don’t seem to be able to do this enough though, God gave me a sense of “do-it-yourselfism” that runs deep and needs to be constantly kept in check).

I guess I continue to look for balance in my life. It seems appropriate for an entrepreneur to have the guts to make things happen, but it also seems important to be able to step back and evaluate opportunities through the lens of wisdom.

The BEST TIME to work hard and lay the foundations for future success is when times are tough.  While everyone else is crying and complaining, I hope we can take the lead from others who have gone before us and seize the opportunity to do great things in life.  Now is the time to charge forward with your passions and take a risk.  DO YOUR HOMEWORK…THEN TRY SOMETHING NEW, DO SOMETHING BIG! 

YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT!

This credit card program must have it all.  Great rates, awesome customer service, and particularly an amazing rewards program.  The current title goes to my Chase Freedom Card…but I’ve recently found out that they are lowering their rewards points for new customers.  (As of now they are not changing the terms of their existing customers.)

Credit Cards have long been a significant tool for me on my personal financial journey and in my business endeavors.  But it seems like a good card is becoming more and more hard to come by.  I remember when Citibank would give you 2.99% fixed for life with NO FEES.  Those were the good old days!

I’LL KEEP YOU POSTED ON MY PROGRESS!

IF YOU HAVE KIDS, YOU WILL APPRECIATE THIS. NOTHING BETTER THAN A LITTLE UNSCRIPTED FUN WHEN YOU HAD THE KIDS THE VIDEO CAMERA!

I took my almost 5 year old daughter to our first “Daddy/Daughter” dance this evening.  The night was magical, beyond words.  If you have kids you are in love with, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  This whole evening, I felt like a billion bucks…but even that is a bad way to describe it, because there is Nothing in the world that I would trade for the love and respect of my girls.

This might sound pie in the sky to you, and that is ok.  I love to think and dream big, and then focus my energies there.  I have finally realized that I’ve already attained a HUGE amount of personal, spiritual, and relational wealth.  With that as my foundation, the work now that I CHOOSE to do is focused on expanding those things. 

I work because I LOVE to do fulfilling work. 

I plan, strategize, and save because I will provide for my family, no matter what…and time enjoying tender moments is worth more than gold.

I want to be able to give GENEROUSLY of myself to endeavors that make the world a better place.  People are struggling all over the world right now.  I can’t solve every problem, and I understand that.  But ANYONE that I can give to in ANY WAY is a step in the right direction…becuase as much as I fight it, I know that life isn’t about just ME, ME, ME. 

ANYWAYS, this probably makes no sense…it’s way to late.  Love your family!  Work Hard for Worthy Endeavors!  Have Faith, and never fear the unknown!  Seek wise counsel in all you do!  Strive every day to leave your corner of the world just a little bit better than you found it!  I think these actions will lead to true wealth, regardless of your bank account!

They completely caught me off guard last night as my birthday is still a couple of days away.  When I got home from the movies with my buddy Steve Gohl and bounded down into my basement ready to play Steve in Wii tennis.  I get hit with about 40 SURPRISES!  It was awesome, but COMPLETELY caught me off guard. 

My first reaction was to be kind of scared and confused, because my birthday had honestly been the last thing on my mind lately.  What the heck are all these halloween looking people doing in my basement yelling at me???  In about 3 seconds though my brain got out of the fog and I realized that Sarah had thrown me an 80’s themed party with all the 80’s fixings.  I threw my arms up in victory and said, “Wow, let’s party!”  

Absolutely great night!  Friends new and old were there, some of them even made 4+ hour drives to surprise me.  Blessings to you all…especially you Sarah!  Thanks for a great night.  Life is good with friends and family like you! 

And a special note to Brian DeMann…Thanks for making sure that SOMETHING was being sung on the Karaoke machine for the ENTIRE night!  You rock brother!

This crazy thing is incredible.  It was extremely easy to set up, and the technology is simply amazing.  I love everything about it…except that the Wii Fit told me that I’m 15 pounds overweight and that my Body Mass Index is at unhealthy levels. 

I quickly told it to shut up, because it is not even real…it then made me promise to lose 1.2 pounds every two weeks for the next 6 months so that I can live an optimal, healthy life. 

I made the promise and stamped my start date (today) on the Wii digital calendar.  I then apologized to my Wii for telling it to shut up.  Wii told me not to worry about it and that most slightly obese people have the same negative reaction as I did.  Wii and I are friends again. 

After we kissed and made up, Wii and I played baseball, tennis, bowling, running, hula-hoop, and we even did some light boxing.  (I held my own, but came away with a puffy left eye and a swollen cheek.)  I’ll get um next time though!

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program.  He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary.

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,

3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,

4.) That the money the participants put into the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the General Operating Fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other government program, and,

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month — and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the federal government to ‘put away’, you may be interested in the following:

Q: Which political party took Social Security from the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the General Fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democrat- controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which political party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A : The Democrat Party.

Q: Which political party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democrat Party, with Al Gore casting the ‘tie -breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.

Q: Which political party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

AND MY FAVORITE:

A: That’s right! Jimmy Carter and the Democrat Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, they began to receive Social Security payments! The Democrat Party gave these payments to them even though they never paid a dime into it!

It’s an exciting election year, just some food for thought…an undecided voter?