Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hear me on WJBC this afternoon at 4:10 Central. I will be discussing the Federal Reserve and how it creates money–out of thin air. http://wjbc.com/

Jobs come from start ups: http://ow.ly/28EXM

Banking regulations and community banks: http://ow.ly/26v7H

Terrific article on education: http://ow.ly/22jOy

The Tao of the Dow: http://ow.ly/1WLpa

Today most of us will gather with friends and family for food, companionship, and a recognition of all the things for which we are thankful.  Along with thinking about your past blessings, I would like you to try something new this year.  It’s called “futurethank.”

Imagine your life a year from now.  Close your eyes if you need to.  Dream of all the things you will make happen in the next 12 months and how thankful you will be to have achieved them.  Ask everyone around the table to do the same.  Next year, tell me about all the “extra” things you have to be thankful for.

Have a blessed and fruitful day.

Are you sensitive to what others say about you?  We all say we are independent, but are we really?  Have you ever had a unique thought, started to share it, and then decided to keep quiet for fear of others mocking you?  Later, you may have heard that same thought given a warm reception and kicked yourself for not being bolder.

Try this one on.  Have you ever thought you could make a living doing something you really like?  You know, quit that job and start a business?  Write a novel in your spare time?  Invest your savings wisely and eventually live off the returns?

Each of us has a picture of a better life.  It is not that we are necessarily dissatisfied with what we have.  Part of wisdom is being thankful for the present.  Another, often forgotten, part of wisdom is recognizing that we are creatures of progress.  Research into human happiness shows that passive pleasure is not the source of real fulfillment.  Rather it is engagement in a meaningful challenge.

We are also social creatures, and that makes us want to share our dreams with others.  But what happens when we do?  Often, those people we number among our friends are scared to death.  They are so locked into thinking that their jobs are the only way to survive financially that they block out any suggestion to the contrary.  Bad enough that they do that to themselves.  The truly criminal part is dragging others down.  They are crabs.

I was raised in Western Kentucky and so know little about crabs.  However, friends who live closer to the ocean tell me that any number of them may be kept in an open pot after they are caught.  That is, any number except one.  Turns out that if you put only one crab in, he will climb out.  Put one or two others in, and they will drag the potential escapee back down.

Here is another interesting fact from the animal world.  Ants, when the colony needs to cross a small divide, will build an “ant bridge.”  They will interlock limbs, forming a structure that others can use to cross.  When you are ready to live your dream, whatever that may be, remember that some people are crabs and some are ants.  I only share my dreams with the ants.

–Terry likes people who support and encourage others.  He hopes that if you have to admit that deep down you are a crab, you start learning from the ants.

Does business have a spiritual component?

This blog was prompted by one of my regular readers (thanks, Sally!).  I had mentioned that true capitalism allows each of us to pursue those ways of making money that are consistent with our most deeply-held spiritual values.  This is also a theme in my book: Empty Nest Egg: Why You Must Start Your Own Business NOW (amazon.com).

Commerce and spirituality have always had a tense and uneasy relationship.  Most popular religious traditions have some version of the Christian admonition that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for the rich to pass through the gates of heaven.  It is hard to get all fired up about making money if you believe Saint Peter may send you back in favor of the destitute.

I have always found it odd that so many religions advocate helping the poor but so few praise the wealth creators that make charity and benevolence possible.  One explanation may be that before the discovery of capitalism, wealth accumulation was largely divorced from wealth creation.  Political power and military might determined who became wealthy.  Only nobles in good standing with the monarch could own land, for example.  If one wanted to increase a country’s wealth, war, not economic production, was the method of choice.  The farmers and merchants who actually grew, made, and sold things received short shrift.

As political freedom spread across the globe, so did various forms of economic freedom.  Feudalism gave way to capitalism, though in fits and starts.  Holding property was eventually recognized as a right of all citizens, not just rulers.  Taxes have always been with us, but at one time were arguably reasonable.  In short, material values have progressively, if not always comfortably, been integrated into the everyday lives of everyday people.

The degree to which someone has integrated spiritual values into his/her job is all too apparent.  Think of the last time you walked into a retail store.  Was the person who waited on you friendly?  Grumpy?  How were they dressed?  Did they interact like a human being or like an automated voice-mail system?  Grumpiness and canned, impersonal answers reflect a deeper set of values–ones that probably carry over into that person’s non-work life.  One wonders if that person is stuck, unable to grow and prosper.  I often imagine what such folks’ friends must be like–a circle of cynics and ne’er-do-wells complaining constantly about their ill fortune relative to others.

A business, large or small, reflects even more deeply-held values.  From the impeccable service of a Marriott hotel to tips on what fish are hitting rendered by a bait-and-tackle storekeeper, an owner in many ways is the business.  Not only does the owner reflect these values; he/she profoundly influences the employees and the operations of the whole enterprise.

How one handles mundane matters at work indicates not only how one sees the everyday world, but deeper matters as well.  We don’t have to be religious, or even particularly “spiritual” to sense that our lives are unified and that the way we keep our house and do our jobs shares spiritual space with our reflections on life’s deepest meaning.  Acknowledging that fact can help move us from just surviving another day at work or running our business to the realm of the holy.

Next week: Helping others by making money yourself

–Terry writes this blog once a week.  Please comment freely–he loves to hear from readers as he meditates in a hut atop the Himalayas.  He also suggests you visit entrescape.com to learn how to start a business.

If you wanted to become a better tennis player, would you start by challenging Roger Federer?  You might, if you were already a world-class player.  If you can barely get the ball over the net, I doubt a game with Roger would do you much good.  It all has to do with your self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is the term psychologists and social scientists use to describe a person’s belief in his/her ability to perform some specific task.  All else being equal, the more someone believes in his/her ability, the better he/she will perform.  Starting a business is no exception.

Before you get too excited, let’s remember that good performance also requires some minimum level of skill.  No matter how much I believe in myself, Roger Federer is likely to trounce me on the tennis court.  No matter how much I believe in my ability to run a business, I actually have to know how to attract customers and track money.

The good news is that the skills required to run a small or a part-time business can be learned by anyone of reasonable intelligence.  Numerous courses are available at community colleges and bookstores carry some good titles on the subject.  Online sources also exist.  In other words, don’t let lack of knowledge slow you down.  That one is too easy to fix.

Alas, though, some people have enough knowledge to get started, but never do.  Why?  One reason may be that they do not believe they can do it.  Fortunately, that belief is not fixed–it can be changed over time.

There are four ways to increase your self-efficacy.  The first and most powerful way is called enactive mastery.  This is just a fancy way of saying that if you want to increase your self-efficacy, engage in the thing you want to get better at.  Pick challenges that are not too overwhelming.  Boxers, for example, are paired with people they have a chance of beating so that their confidence increase with time.  Were they constantly paired with fighters of a much higher caliber, they would never come to believe they are capable of winning.

Next, there is modeling.  Modeling allows us to observe the behavior of others and apply it to our own lives.  For example, if I see a friend succeed in business, I may say to myself, “Well, if he/she can do it, so can I.”  This is why our choice of role models is so important.

Third, social persuasion may help us come to believe more in our abilities.  Having friends, teachers, and bosses who help us work on ourselves by providing objective feedback along with encouragement makes it easier to succeed.  The lesson?  Don’t hang around pessimistic, negative people.

Last, we all get the “butterflies” sometimes.  People who interpret these kinds of physiological arousal as a good thing tend to be high in self-esteem.  Those who interpret them as an indication of lack of ability tend to be low in self-esteem.  When nervousness in the face of a challenge visits, it is possible to pause and rethink your interpretation in a more positive way.  With practice, the very thing that causes your anxiety can be used to bolster it.

I believe that lack of self-efficacy thwarts more attempts at entrepreneurship than lack of skill.  If you want to improve your life by starting a business, remember that the self-efficacy you lack now can be increased over time.

etjy2sd3zi