Top 16 things I have learned about life and entrepreneurship

Lessons learned after 32 years in business and living for 64 years

1. Faith (My faith in God must be true and from the heart. What I put into the universe must be love, positive energy and actions)

2. Focus (I have always been focused only on construction and learning how to run a construction business. I know I can’t run multiple businesses. I stay focus on construction)

3. Competition (I never worry about my competition. There is plenty to go around if our company is doing excellent work. Worrying about my competition will be time wasted, that I could have spent making our business better)

4. Learning (I keep learning by reading, asking questions and just observing people and situations. Amazing what you can learn just quietly watching other people)

5. Reflection (I must spend quality time praying, reflecting and debriefing during and after a project is completed. Being an entrepreneur is draining. The responsibilities can become overwhelming.)

6. Patience (business success is slow and hard to maintain. Being patient is critical or we could quit to soon)

7. Commitment (I must be all in, Karla is all in. We know the risk being all in. If you are married and thinking about entrepreneurship, your spouse must be all in and fully committed to the vision.)

8. Money (Money will come and go, don’t focus on how much you have or want, focus on being smart with what amount of money you have in your life. Whenever I lose money on a project or investment, I remind myself, that Steve Jobs one of the riches men in the world, couldn’t buy one more day on this earth. I rather be happy and give love and receive love than focus on money. I will miss living if I focus only on money)

9. Success (I don’t measure success by money. I measure it by never missing a payroll, providing jobs, health insurance, employee benefits, opportunities, giving back to help others, happiness, longevity in business, friendships and my family, that is how I measure success in my life)

10. Fear/Self Doubt (I live with anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks from being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Therefore my self doubt is high because deep down my self esteem was greatly damaged. This created an abundance of imaginary fear. My personal motto is Fight Through The Fear! It is better on the other side of fear) We are so much stronger than we realize.

11. Quiet time (I have learned to enjoy being alone to just be still. For years I was afraid to be alone or quiet because my mind would go back to my childhood trauma. I know the healing benefits of quiet time. I am a survivor.)

12. Taking care of yourself emotionally/don’t beat yourself up (I learned the importance of therapy, being in nature, exercise, giving of myself to help others, having a strong supportive wife and kids. This allows me emotional balance. I am still working on not beating myself up to long when I make a mistake or things don’t go as Planned. I have to remind myself, I am not in control anyway. Just do my best and let God take it)

13. Family (for me my family is my all, the reason I breath. They carried me when I was broken)

14. Friends (The Fellas, we are aging together, we laugh, we cry, we support, we hold each other accountable. We listen, we push, we pray and we party. It is real love. Key part to my success. My motto: to have great friends, you have to be a great friend) stay away from people that are draining. They take your energy and give nothing back

15. Give Back (Give back to help others from your heart. Expect nothing in return. Your heart will rejoice and your spirit will grow.)

16. Laugh and have fun (I do my best to laugh everyday and I mean a deep belly laugh. It is refreshing. Have fun, life is to short to be upset all the time) I am making beats now on garage band. Keep doing and trying new things.