10 1/2 Reasons To Start A (New) Part-Time Business in 2015 (And 3 Reasons Why You SHOULDN'T)

10 1/2 Reasons To Start A (New) Part-Time Business in 2015

10. You can't sell your job no matter how much you love it.  You can either exchange time for dollars at a job and never seem to have enough of either, or do work once and get paid over and over again for it.  Think about it: Will Smith is still collecting checks from "Fresh Prince of Bel Air". What will you get paid when you quit your job?

9. Find a creative outlet to do what you do best. Everyone was created to do something extraordinary for the world to see. More than likely, that something extraordinary isn't going to be during the hours of clocking in and clocking out of work.  Building a business gives you TIME freedom--the time to do something meaningful for others that only you can offer.

8. Face your fears. If you don't have a business at least part-time yet, it's probably because you've asked yourself "what if it fails?".  First off, yeah it might.  But that's okay, because life will move on, you can dust yourself off, get up, and start a new one because you now have all the experience from that failure.  Second off, what if it doesn't?  What if your business is a massive success and you can quit your job and build a massive organization that runs on its own?  Don't just face your fear of failure.  Face your fear of massive success too.  You deserve to be an immense success.

7. Invest in the highest return thing possible: yourself.  Your business only grows to the size of you.  Become a factor for constant growth and failure isn't an option.

6. Take responsibility for your future instead of expecting handouts.  When you have a job, you have 1 client: your boss.  And they have the power to fire you at will.  When you have a business, you have many clients.  Even if one fires you, you'll have plenty more to keep you in business.  Plus, I don't think the magical imaginary thing we call social security and 401ks need to be mentioned here.

5. Passive/residual income.  The wealthiest people in the world build assets that give them a source of income on autopilot.  That way they can work when they choose, where they choose, how they choose, and not worry about not getting paid.

4. It takes 5-10 hours/week.  As soon as you start a business, the race is on.  It's a matter of how fast can you generate the income needed to make it worth your time.  If your aiming to replace your working income, then you'll need to learn how to produce as much in 5-10 hours/week as you do in 40 hours/week.  Which of course means that by then you'll have doubled your income and could leave your job whenever you want.

3. Learn sales and marketing.  Sales and marketing is nothing more than answering "how can as many people as possible understand that what I have is of value to them?"  Sales and marketing is nothing more than communicating.  The more people you talk to and the better you learn to communicate to them, the more business you'll have.

2. You can get started for as little as $300.  Even if you have a dream of opening up your own restaurant and need $100,000 to get it started, you could start a part-time home-based business and take the profits from there to store up so you can invest in your restaurant idea.  The wealthiest people in the world build businesses and use those profits to build more businesses.

1. Opportunity is everywhere.  When you look past the whole politics, economy, media mumbo jumbo, you'll see that opportunity is everywhere.  All you have to do is take what you're passionate about, find a niche group of people in need of a solution, and the courage to learn the skills needed to serve them.

1/2. Give more.  Who wouldn't love to feed all the starving kids in the world or find a cure for cancer or build a shelter for abused women?  Money has two purposes: pay for the stuff you need, and pay for the stuff you want.  Nothing is stopping you from making more money than you need so you can give it all away to the causes that touch your heart.

3 Reasons Why You SHOULDN'T Start a Business

3. You're already juggling one or more businesses and need to focus more on those.  In that case, keep it up!  2015 is your year!

2. You'd rather try see a return on investment for your Netflix and cable bill. Um...

1. You'd rather listen to the excuses your fears are telling you and fold to the opinions of others.  In that case, definitely do not start a business.

E-mail me at thatninjamark@yahoo.com if you'd like to discuss how you can launch a new part-time business in just 90 days!!

How To Make 2015 The Most Exciting Year Ever

2014 was a GREAT year for me personally.

There was love.  There was loss.  There was pain.  There was pleasure.

Exhaustion and excitement. Failure and fulfillment.

I learned peace and patience is a choice.

I learned poverty and riches are two sides of the same coin.

I learned that there are only 2 possible outcomes: success, or quitting.  Failure is impossible if you don't give up.

The best part about 2014...is that I'm just getting warmed up.

Here's my personal blueprint for making 2015 the best and most exciting year ever...

1. Ask the big questions.  What excites you?  Really.  What gets you fired up and makes you feel alive? I've learned to correlate the words "excitement" with "purpose".  Meaning, if it excites you, you were meant to do it.  This past year, I followed a simple formula: only do what excites me.  Doing so got me on a network television show, working for myself from home, writing and publishing 2 best selling books,  building homes for a family in Mexico, and growing tremendously in my faith.  I plan to do the same thing next year, and the year after that.  Just keep asking myself "what excites me?" and see where that answer takes me.

2. See the big picture.  I always try to keep the year ahead in perspective with my BIG goals.  My lifetime goals.  My vision for myself and the kind of legacy I want to leave.  You might not look at life the same way I do, but at the very least, look at where you want to be 10 years from now and work backwards.  2015 is just a stepping stone to who and what you'll be in 2025 and beyond.  What you do this coming year will greatly effect what 10 years from now looks like.

3. Gain clarity.  You can step into 2015 with no direction and wander around in a haze of confusion, or you can walk a clear path towards what it is you want.  When you gain clarity on what exactly you want in life, the universe seems to bend to your will and give you exactly what you want.  The hard part is figuring that out.  After figuring out what excites me and matching that up with my bigger picture, I get into putting my goals down on paper (something 85% of successful people say they do).  I write down yearly goals, break them down into quarterly goals, then monthly goals, and then weekly goals.  From there, I can break it down further into daily habits. 

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit" -Aristotle.

4. Find my roadblocks.  My biggest roadblock this year, and what will probably be my biggest roadblock for the rest of my life, is myself.  And by myself, I mean specifically my beliefs about myself and my potential. When I changed my thoughts from "I can't do that" to "How can I do that?", suddenly anything was possible. How about you?  Are you severely underestimating the greatness you're able to accomplish in life? Are you your own worst enemy?  If so, it's time to let the shackles go and really take the first steps towards doing something amazing.  But first, you have to believe you can.

5. Find the missing pieces. There was a time when I believed there was always something missing that kept me from accomplishing my goals.  These days, I believe we have everything we need to do anything at our disposal, we just have to go out and find it.  Who do you need to meet in 2015 to help you in your goals?  Do you need to find a coach? A mentor? A business partner? An investor? Whatever it is, they exist out there, you just need to do the leg work and reach out to them.

6. Raise the bar.  In order to do big things, I have to become big things.  Meaning, I have to raise the bar on my own personal standards.  In doing so, I also have to raise the bar on the standards of the people I spend my time on.  We are, after all, the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.  This means if we want to become better, we have to be around people who raise us up, not bring us down. Who has to get cut out of your life in order to fit someone in who can help you reach your vision for yourself?

7. 80/20 and 90/10.  80/20 refers to what's known as "Pareto's Law" and basically states that 80% of the outcome comes from 20% of the output.  So what 20% of your time, activity, and resources is giving you 80% of the results?  Cut out the 80% that's only producing 20% and have more time and freedom to do what's most important.  90/10 refers to me going 90% and leaving 10% for slack.  If I do everything 90% and rest 10% of the time, I'll accomplish way more than if I gave 100% all the time and end up burnt out.

Here's to 2015 being your best and most exciting year ever!

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE/COMMENT/SHARE!

Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.

What It Means To Be An Entrepreneur

I was sitting outside this morning doing my daily meditation when it hit me.

I realized why so few people were willing to do the work it takes to be an entrepreneur.

I mean, everyone knows they should be one.

Everyone knows that we can no longer expect a job to take care of us for the rest of our lives.

Everyone knows that their greatest life achievements aren't going to be between the hours they clock in and out.

But what holds us back from taking that leap?

I'll tell you what.

It's standing out.

It's being willing to self promote.

It's standing up and saying "look at me!"

It's also the reason why more people are afraid of public speaking than death itself.

It's because our whole lives, we're told to not stand out from the crowd.

As a kid, when you went out anywhere in public and acted out, you were shamed by your mom with a "stop that, everyone's looking at you. Don't draw attention to yourself."

At school, it was the ones who conformed the most who got straight As and never got in trouble.  The ones who questioned the system ("what will I ever use algebra for anyway?") were the trouble makers. (By the way, I still haven't used algebra since high school).

As adults, differing opinions alienates us from friends.  Deciding to go on a new exercise and diet routine only gains cynicism.  Trying new things breeds criticism.

You see, from childhood, we're conditioned that standing apart from the crowd is a bad thing.

We're told that if we're "different", that something is "wrong" with us and we need to be "fixed".

Yet its usually the ones who are radically different who make the biggest impact in the world and live the most fulfilled lives.

They're the ones who choose to take the path less traveled and follow what's in their hearts.

That's what it means to be an entrepreneur.

It means abandoning the fear of other people's opinions and be willing to stand up, stand apart, and say "this is what I'm doing and I don't care what you have to say about it".

It means abandoning our childhood conditioning that being different is wrong.

It means claiming your stake in the world and being the most authentic self you that you can be.

And it means shedding the layers of doubt and excuses and committing to becoming the grandest version of the greatest vision you hold for yourself.

Because the people around you who seem fearless are only fearless because they face their fears every single day.

They seem bold because they make bold choices every day.

They have high aspirations because their choices reflect their hopes and not their fears.

They only do work that excites them because they know that it's only when they're excited that their best work comes out.

If you're already an entrepreneur, then you live this every day.
If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, then its time to start living this every day.
If you're not an entrepreneur, why not?

(I hope that your answer isn't an excuse based off fear.  If the grandest version of the greatest vision you hold for yourself means working for someone else, then more power to you.  Just don't let fear be the reason you make your life choices.)

TODAY I CHALLENGE YOU:
To STOP listening to the opinions of those who aren't paying your bills.
TO STOP being afraid to stand out from the crowd.
To STOP making excuses for why you're not exactly where you want to be in life.

NO ONE IS STOPPING YOU BUT YOU.

START doing what's unpopular.

START being your true, authentic self.

START picturing what your ideal day, week, month, year, LIFE would look life if you faced your fears.

START creating a plan to get there.

AND DON'T FORGET TO LIKE/COMMENT/SHARE!

Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.