Misc
Remembering Trey Pennington – A Kimberly Kelly Tribute
“There are three basic human needs we ALL have…
Everyone wants to be heard
Everyone wants to be understood
Everyone wants to know his or her life matters.”
-Trey Pennington
When Business Doesn’t Matter
I want to share from my heart today, please indulged me. I know you can’t imagine a time when business just doesn’t matter, but today, it just doesn’t. On March 4th, 2001 business didn’t matter, and it really hasn’t since, on that date, I suffered a heart attack and today I live to tell the story. Today, my wife & I are dealing with…well, we don’t know what we’re dealing with. You see, my wife’s Father is in the hospital, and he believes he is going to die! He will, but just not yet. There is a possibility he has cancer, and is also having problems with his heart, the diagnoses is still unclear.
Now obviously living is important to business, but a business living, is only important if the one who owns and is responsible for it is alive and healthy. I know what you are thinking, well OK I don’t, but, I know we all get wrapped up in our work, our projects, and we’ll do anything, we will kill ourselves trying to get a business off the ground. But for what? Why?
I can tell you this, if you have ever had a brush with death, the things you chased and worked for, just don’t matter. No one has ever said on their death bed, geez, I wish I had a faster car, or a bigger house. Almost 100% of the time, they say, I wish I had spent more time with my spouse, my kids, and or my immediate family. We are messed up as a people, are priorities most of the time are dictated by things we think are important.
Hell, in some of our businesses we won’t do FREE, we won’t give anything away, but we are the first one’s in line when some other business is giving away something for free. We won’t even help someone in desperate need, most of the time we walk right by. That was random, but it shows the hypocrisy of mankind.
Life is far too short, and when you don’t have your health, not only does business not matter, nothing else matters too! So a pre-requisit to the Future Of Business should be this, take care of your health, your personal health, and it will be much easier to take care of your businesses health.
We need a healthy heart for everything we do, without it, your health and the world you live in, will die with you, and that’s when business doesn’t matter. We have things in the wrong order don’t we, look after personal health first, then, everything else that follows.
Live long & prosper, but only if you have a healthy heart.
Be sure to give to the Heart & Stroke Foundation while you are at it.
Blog Post #300 Is To All Commentors Here At Owengreaves.com – I Thank You!
This past week I was wondering what the topic should be for the 300th Blog Post of Owengreaves.com, yes, 300! I was kind of surprised myself, but that’s what a Blog is for, submitting Blog posts. I threw out your way on Twitter, FaceBook, Buzz, MySpace, Google+, a question, what should #300 be about, what problem should I solve, what topic should I cover. I got a number of reposonses, but one jumped out at me, and I shouldn’t be shocked and or surprised at the answer considering who it was from.
You should know I don’t always agree with, but I have huge respect for this man for hundreds of reasons, but I won’t list them now. The person in question suggested I write about you, the commentors of this blog, afterall, it is all about you. You are the reason I even exist as a business, in fact, I learn more from you than you probably ever will from me!
I would love to list every person that left a comment here on owengreaves.com, but that would be the longest blog post in the history of blog posting. I wonder what the world record for blog post length is? I would also love to tell you I thought of this, but I didn’t, Chris Brogan suggested I say thank you to all who commented on this blog. Humbled yet again. And that my friends is called transparency, honesty, and openness. It’s what I write about here, it’s foundational to the Open & Free Business Model, it is the very core of what the Future Of Business needs to be.
Without you, this blog is just another newspaper lying in the trash, just another person standing in the forest screaming at the topic of his/her lungs, and no one hears them. Without you, there is no conversation, no dialogue, no reasoning, no creativity. How could we ever get to know one another’s interests and passions? How would we ever discover the right path to take? I am forever gratefiul you even think of coming to this blog, I would like to believe you are here looking for some nugget or perspective that will help you take another step forward in your business. No matter how big or small your business is, you make a difference, regardless of size or how much money it makes.
Remember back when you used to hangout under the street lamp with your friends, gossiping, chatting, and just hanging out? That’s what we do here, it’s a safe place to hangout, to ask questions, share perspectives, and have meaningful conversations, but mostly, build relationships. This doesn’t happen without you, you are the most important part of why I write!
I won’t lie, there have been many, many times where I almost shut this blog down. At times, it feels like no one cared or was interested in what is found here, or considered the content valuable. And maybe it isn’t on a grand scale, but there are those who are in need of learning, and a new way of thinking, it may be a very small audience, but the Future Of Business matters and it is a new way of thinking. Remember, Mind Set Trumps Skill Set Everytime.
I must confess, you who visits here and shares your thoughts, validates my work. Everything I do here is for you, I only hope it helps you. With that in mind, I hold (not free) workshops locally in my community on the Open & Free Business Model, what it is and what it might look like for your business, and how you might adopt the model. My question to you is this, would this workshop be of interest to you in the form of an online webinar?
So, To All Commentors Of Owengreaves.com – I Thank You, there is no business without you.
The Fastest & Cheapest Way To Detect Radiation In Your Home
You’ve probably already heard of this but I thought it was amusing, with all the fear of radiation fallout from Japan these days, here is a simple, cheap, effective homemade radiation tester you can assemble. It’s easy and it works everytime.
Just follow these simple instructions:
1.) Open a bag of Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn.
2.) Leave it on your kitchen counter.
3.) If starts to pop, you’re screwed : )
Have a great radiation free day!
Donate And Save A Home
I couldn’t sleep tonite because I was burden by the fact that I can’t help everyone, people who have fallen on hard times, and if I was in a position to help them, how would I do that? Every now and then I get an email or someone shares about someone who just lost their car, and or is about to lose their home. There are so many, and it just tears me apart because, I was one of them, but a friend stepped up and provided funds to prevent further damage. That’s not the amazing part, the part that blew me away and had me in tears, I told them I didn’t know when I could pay them back, they said….you don’t have to pay us back, it’s a gift.
Now if you are wired like me, you are going to pay that someone back eventually. But it got me to thinking, and I thought I would share. But first let me ask you, have you every given someone or an organization money, and not ask for anything in return? I mean, not evena tax receipt, you just gave the money to help, period, that’s it. Can you answer yes? My wife tells me I do it everyday, I do it because I was in that spot where I was going to lose my home. It wasn’t that the amount of money was so huge, but when you are up against it, it might as well be a million. This act of kindness, the parting with money most of find difficult to do, and then not expecting anything back, that was hard to take. But ever since that day, I give away my money and my time more than I ever get paid, why, because people need help. I don’t share this with you to brag, in fact, I’m ashamed I haven’t told sooner, it’s a part of my life I don’t talk about much. But I love and care for people more than myself, I’m just grateful to be alive. You see I suffered a Heart Attack 10 years ago, and life took on new meaning for me. And today, I love you enough to not let stay where you are.
Now I know you know of someone that’s fallen on hard times, and you wish you could do something about it, well, more than just saying a prayer. We want to provide support, but in most cases, the support needs to be money. Money is the one tool that gives us options, and it allows us to make the world a better place when we give it to those in need. The problem is, determining who is destitute, who really needs to be helped from losing a home. Billy Graham said that there are three things technology has yet to solve:
1.) Human Evil ( why are we so mean to each other?)
2.) Human Suffering (Hunger, loss of shelter and so on)
3.) Death
I’ve said before, death may be solved with nanotechnology 30 years from now, maybe longer, but human suffering could be solved today if we all pulled together. Human evil could also be solved we valued human life, but a great many in the world do not.
So I’m going to ask you to help save a home, together you & I can help someone who is not as well off as you & I happen to be, I’m challenging you to do something and expect nothing in return. I’m going to ask you to trust me, and go out on a limb, take that leap of faith that you will help someone hold their head up high. That you will change someones life, someone you may not know, or may never meet.
Some things to think about:
– We are all wired to do certain things, what are you wired to do, are you a cheerful giver?
– When you do what you were meant to do, you make the world a better place.
– Living the good life means, giving your time & money away, in serving others.
– The purpose of influence is..to speak up for those who have no influence.
– Your value is not based on your valuables.
– How many people are better off because you lived?
My challenge to you is to donate at least one dollar, just give it away expecting nothing in return, if you feel lead to give more than a dollar, then do it . By giving your donation, you will become a member of the Owen Greaves Save A Home Team, and you will receive the Owen Greaves Save A Home Newsletter. This is one small way you can make the world a better place, and you do that with one Random Act of Kindness, give away a dollar.
If everyone who reads this blog donates at least a dollar, together we can make a difference and that will change lives. Be a part of something greater than yourself, let’s work together to make the world a better place. I’ve already made my donation of $100, I triple dog dare ya to match it : ) Many Blessings my life changing friends.
Donate NOW!