Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 3

In earlier posts, I wrote about how LegalShield wants to create 1,000 millionaires by 2020, and how I expect to be one of them.

The company's goal of creating 1,000 millionaire fascinates me, for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I know what a millionaire is.

Many people think that a millionaire is someone who has $1,000,000. That's a total misconception, for at least two reasons.

1) A millionaire is someone who has a net worth of $1,000,000. That means that if you add up the value of what they own, then subtract the value of what they owe, the result is at least $1,000,000.

If you have $1,000,000 cash, and owe $2,000,000, you are not a millionaire; you are a person with a serious debt problem.

2) You can be a millionaire without having any cash at all. If the only thing you own is a building worth $1,200,000 and the only thing you owe is a $200,000 mortgage on that building, you are, for that moment, a cashless millionaire.

That leads to a corollary:

2a) Not only do you not have to have $1,000,000 to be a millionaire; you don't have to have $1,000,000 to become one.

For instance, with that building worth $1,200,000, the fact that it is worth that much does not mean you would need $1,200,000 in cash to buy it. You might be able to buy it for $1,000,000. You might be able to buy it for $800,000. Life is unpredictable, and you never know what someone might be willing to sell something for. Heck, if you could buy that building for $150,000, and you got a mortgage for $115.000, you would only need $35,000 in cash to become a millionaire.

Here's another extreme example: You buy $100,000 worth of shares in the XYZ Corporation, and the company then takes off so dramatically that your shares become worth $1,000,000. Assuming you are net positive otherwise, you are now a millionaire.

Then there's the matter of creating assets. Writing a book, for instance, may take a lot of time, but it requires almost no money. If that book becomes a bestseller, it could make you a millionaire. And if you're J.K. Rowling, it could become a series of books that make you a billionaire.

So, while one can become a millionaire by direct earnings, the process can be accelerated by acquiring or creating assets that increase one's net worth.

Back to LegalShield: the second reason that LegalShield's goal to create 1,000 millionaires fascinates me is that, as far as I know, LegalShield gives associates one thing in compensation for our work: cash. Not real estate, not equities. Just cash. So when CEO Jeff Bell talks about creating 1,000 millionaires, he's talking about paying 1,000 individuals $1,000,000 in cash. Each.

I consider that remarkable.

I expect Legalshield to pay me $1,000,000 over time. But on the way towards that mark, I intend to use my growing excess cash both to acquire assets at a discount (there's always a deal somewhere for cash), and to create and market new assets, so that I become a millionaire before I've earned $1,000,000.

That will be fun. But this would be even more fun: helping someone else, or several someone elses, to get there.

I need to get serious about recruiting. For the fun of it.

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RELATED:
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 1
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 2

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 2

In my last post, I asked three questions, to which there are no wrong answers:

1. Do you want to become a millionaire?
2. What is your most compelling reason for wanting to become a millionaire?
3. How might you make it happen?

I promised to share my own answers, so here goes:

1) I don't want to become a millionaire; that is, I don't have that as a goal. My goal remains to establish a passive income of $50,000 a year. But I expect to become a millionaire.

Why? Because I have begun doing what 190+ other LegalShield associates have done to become millionaires, so I expect a similar result (barring death or total disability).

In recent months, two things have happened that have made that possibility more real for me.

• I have met, and dined with, a couple of men who have earned millions with LegalShield. In so doing, I have experienced enough of their humanity to de-iconify them, to realize...they're men. They're guys. They put their pants on the same way I do. I can do what they did. I've begun doing what they did.
• The second thing is something that I don't feel free to tell. Consider this line a placeholder for the fact that there is a second thing.

Now, my stated goal is so far from $1,000,000 that you might think that I'm afraid of becoming a millionaire. In the past, that has sometimes been true. I was afraid of having more money than I would know what to do with. But now that I expect to become a millionaire, I find the fear of wealth melting away. I now expect that as my income continues to grow, so will my knowledge of what to do with it. No sudden wealth syndrome for me, thank you.

2) To reward my wife, the lovely Janet. She deserves so much more than I've ever given her that I can never give her too much.

3) By marketing LegalShield and helping others to do so. Which leads to this:

LegalShield wants to create 1,000 millionaires by 2020, and I already had the goal of helping 50 people to establish annual incomes of $100,000 by Dec. 31, 2020. I figure that by the time I get to the 50th person, at least a couple of the first 49 will have earned $1,000,000. Ergo, I'll just tweak my goal to help the company out:

I want to help 50 people (anywhere in the U.S. or the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba or Ontario) to establish annual incomes of $100,000, with as many of them as choose to earning $1,000,000.

If you have burning desire, are coachable, and are willing to work, and want to be considered to become one of the 50, check out the opportunity, then drop a line to elwin15208 at gmail dot com, and let's talk!

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RELATED:
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 1
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 3

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 1

Last Saturday (June 27), I attended a LegalShield training event in Louisville at which James B. Rosseau Sr., Business Solutions Vice President, laid out some of the company's vision and goals for the year 2020. Two of the goals struck me immediately and deeply; I find them highly energizing.

The first one is to increase the customer base tenfold, from 1.4 million households to 14 million. When I saw the big "10X" on the screen, I immediately thought of Jack Welch, the legendary CEO whose vision of tenfold growth transformed General Electric into a stewpot of innovation. I find it exciting that our CEO, Jeff Bell, is thinking at that scale.

The second goal is to create 1,000 millionaires.

Think about that for a moment. Here is a company saying, publicly and out loud, that it wants 1,000 of its associates to become millionaires.

LegalShield knows how to make millionaires: more than 190 of our associates have already gained that status. Now the leadership wants to pick up the pace, a natural corollary to the goal of increasing the customer base tenfold.

So, the title of this post is not just quoting the game-show title. It's a real question: who, reading this, wants to become a millionaire? If you do, you might consider affiliating with a company that wants to create 1,000 millionaires.

In fact, I'd like to ask three real questions (there are no wrong answers):

1. Do you want to become a millionaire?
2. What is your most compelling reason for wanting to become a millionaire?
3. How might you make it happen?

NOTES:
1) Some people absolutely do not want to become millionaires; the idea of having that much money repels them (we will with the misconception that being a millionaire means having $1,000,000 in a later post). Indeed, it frightens some people. And some people even believe that not wanting to have that much money makes them better than people who do want to have that much money, or who actually have that much money.

Then there are those who want to become millionaires, but are afraid to say so. Which is a shame, because people should be able to say what they want - that's kinda the first step towards getting it.

2) Some people want to become millionaires, but their reasons for doing so are not nearly strong enough to keep them doing the work that's needed long enough for them to get there. Simply liking the idea of having a million dollars won't do it.

3) Some who say "Yes" to the first two questions, have no idea of how to get there. Which, it seems to me, could drive a person nuts.

I'm eager to hear your answers...

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RELATED:
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 2
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Pt. 3

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 18 - A worthwhile lunch, an excuse destroyed.

Hm. It looks like I have never written here about Legal Shield - or about its predecessor, Pre-Paid Legal.

That ends today, if only because I need to say that I did some activity today as a Legal Shield associate (for those who don't know, LegalShield provides access to quality legal services for as little as $17 a month. For more info on how it works, take a look here.)

I had lunch with Phil Berger and a fellow I'll call Chuck. Chuck is VP, Human Resource and Labor Relations at a company with 10 subsidiary companies in six states.

Phil Berger is a long-time Legal Shield associate who leads the "Group Troop," a group of associates who do group sales of Legal Shield.

Group sales refers to having employers agree to let us offer Legal Shield membership to their employees as an employee benefit, with discounted rates for group participation and payment being automatically deducted from their paycheck (at no cost to the employer).

The lunch with Chuck was to open the door toward doing an enrollment at his company. Phil did the presentation. I mostly watched and learned. Mostly I learned how easy it can be to do such a presentation, once you've done the work to make it so.

I believe it went well. Chuck seemed genuinely interested, and he left Phil with a couple of questions to get back to him on.

If the company agrees to let us come in, we'll be doing an enrollment for about 750 people. Since Phil likes to do enrollments in groups of 15 - 20 people, that would mean 30 or more sessions, stretched out over a week or more.

As someone who enjoys public speaking to begin with, I find that possibility exciting, because it would allow me to gain a lot of skill in doing enrollments, really quickly. In normal circumstances, it could take a couple of years to get the amount of experience as a presenter that this scenario might give me in two weeks.

And depending on how Phil and I split things up, an enrollment for 750 people could wind up providing Capital Synergies with enough to cover not only CSI's bills, but those of Luminaria Productions as well - and to fund a 401k.

Wow, I'm really tired. Just sitting here staring at the screen; nodding off; waking enough to stare some more. But just want to say that I am glad that this day I did something with the distinct purpose of making money; something less speculative than a Cafe Press shop on Homewood Nation.

Even if we do get the enrollment at Chuck's company, though, it could take months to reach that point. So I need to push myself on offering memberships to individuals. I have always preferred the idea of doing groups to that of doing individual sales. But Phil described a way of doing individual sales that made me say, when I heard it, "Even I can do that."

Phil started out operating under a restriction by his wife that he could devote only five hours a week to Pre-Paid Legal. Being a methodical guy, he worked out a system under which he made phone calls on Thursday evening until he had secured two appointments for the following Saturday morning. By doing those two things - making phone calls Thursday evening and going to appointments Saturday morning, for a total of no more than five hours a week - he made his first sales within his first month, and had sales every month thereafter.

On top of that, at the appointments, pretty much all he did was play a Pre-Paid Legal tape (remember VHS?). That was enough for about one out of three people to sign up. And after they did, he asked them, "Would you be interested in knowing how much money I just made?" And that led to one of three new members also becoming associates. 

I can do that. All of it.

But after saying, "Even I can do that," I found ways to avoid doing it. Most recently, I told myself that in fact I couldn't do it, because I don't have a car. And as long as I told myself that I couldn't do it, I prevented myself from seeing how I could. Excuses are self-blinding - they prevent us from seeing what is possible.

Over the weekend, it struck me that I know a bunch of people in Homewood, all of whom would be within walking distance. I checked my Gmail contacts to see how many of them live in Homewood, and surprised myself with the number: 65.

That's 65 people within walking distance, and with whom I already have some degree of relationship.

I told Phil today to expect a call from me within the next couple of days about how I'm doing with calling my 65 people.

I need to go ahead and make my first personal sale. And my second, and my third. I need to just get past that bump. Having 65 people within walking distance means that

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UPDATE: When I first wrote this entry, I wavered about whether or not to designate it as a BBDE post, and decided against it, titling it merely, "A worthwhile lunch, an excuse destroyed." But with further thought, I 've realized that one of the things that this this day's activity was about is learning to do new things. Or better, learning a new way of doing things: Prepare with the goal of making something simple enough to do that it can easily become a habit.

On a more mundane level, today was about doing what it takes to keep an enterprise going until it becomes self-sustaining. Success with Legal Shield will help to keep Luminaria Productions going. That's about as basic as BBDE gets.

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 13 - Tweaking the prototype

"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."     - Samuel Johnson

Today I am performing corrective surgery on Quick Flicks.

I'm raising the prices on the scripts, effective Feb. 1.

I am doing this for two compelling reasons.

1. In any sane world, the scripts are worth more than their current prices of $4.99 and $9.99. I have always tended to undervalue my work as a writer, as evidenced by the fact that most of the writing I done, I have done for free (Like, um, this blog. Hmmmmm....).

But I have also been involved with the production of three short films, not only practically, but financially. Between the three of them, I have spent thousands of dollars to secure other people's expertise. For any of them, it would have made sense to allocate some money for myself as screenwriter. And not just $9.99.

The current Writers Guild of America contract sets the minimum payment for a feature-length screenplay at $42, 930.

Let's run some numbers.

The length of screenplays is generally about one page per minute of film, so the script for a 2-hour movie would be about 120 pages. Dividing the minimum payment of $42,930 by 120 suggests that any screenplay worth buying is worth $357.75 per page. Minimum.

But I"m not in the WGA, the people using the scripts wouldn't be WGA signatories, etc.

Very true, and that is why I am not charging $400/page. Or $300. Or even $200. But I'm also not valuing my work at less than the price of a fast-food meal anymore.

(That last paragraph was an update. The original version read: "Blah blah. Oz, the Great and Wonderful, has spoken. The discounted fares to ride this train end today." Which now sounds a bit testy.)

2. I am also raising the prices as an exercise in following instructions.

When Tim Ferriss expands on the idea of the Muse in his book, "The 4-Hour Workweek," the second criterion he lists is: "It should cost the customer $50 - $200." He summarizes his reasoning thusly:

"I have found that a price range of $50 - 200 per sale provides the most profit for the least customer service hassle. Price high and then justify."

The fact that I priced my scripts so far below Ferriss' suggested price range now looks like an example of a pattern.

I haven't followed wealthbuilding recipes well.

I tell myself that I want a recipe, a system. I tell myself that I want a list of steps I can follow to achieve a certain result. I have bought books and tapes by the dozens that lay out steps to follow to achieve certain results.

And I have not followed the steps.

Most of the time, I have started to follow the steps. Then I have stopped. I have no idea why.

Maybe it's because I have lacked the confidence to follow instructions, and don't really believe that the steps will work in my case. Maybe it's because I have lacked the humility to follow instructions, and I assume that I can improve the recipe before I've even tried it. Because, you know, I am so much smarter than the person who has done it.

Either way, it no longer matters. What matters is how I change, now.

I think it's time for a new BBDE Mantra: If you want the cake, you've got to follow the recipe.

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The justification for the new pricing, if a customer ever brings it to that, will run something like, "If you want to make quality films, you need to start getting used to paying for quality scripts."

This goes to the reason that I underpriced the scripts in the first place: my definition of my audience included the assumption that they are broke. 

Maybe that was because I have spent so much time being broke, myself (this may surprise people who got to know me during my flush period as a reporter for the Post-Gazette. Let's give a cheer for union contracts that help workers to not be broke.).

In any case, the assumption that aspiring filmmakers are broke is hereby broken: tuition for Master's programs at the top five film schools in the U.S. (according to a ranking by the Hollywood Reporter) averages about $40,000. People who manage that are probably not broke.

What assumptions are you operating with that might be leading you away from, rather than toward, the results you want? How can you break those assumptions, today, and change course? How have you done so in the past? Let's talk!

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 6

Competing means being exceptional, not asking for exceptions.

That came to mind as I was thinking about Homewood - that as a neighborhood, Homewood must learn to compete. And I quickly personalized it: I must learn to compete. Or more precisely, to compete to win.

Winning seems more likely if one follows certain rules. I have thought of five, which I now state as BBDE Mantras, parts of the BBDE Code, each accompanied by a reflection question or two. For the uninitiated, BBDE stands for Building a Billion-Dollar Enterprise, so the Mantras are geared toward business. But if you find them applicable elsewhere, let me know...

1. Be the only. If you're the only one who does what you do, that obviously eliminates the entire problem of competition from the get-go. However, it also intensifies the challenge of determining the value of what you do. Maybe the reason that you're the only one doing what you do is because nobody cares much about it. But if people do care, then you can lock in your audience/customer base by being the only one who satisfies their caring.

What can I do and be the only one doing it? How do I establish the value of doing it?

2. Be the first. If you're the only, you're automatically the first. But when you succeed, you may inspire imitators. Which becomes an obvious selling point, if you are smart about staying out front. However many others enter the field, you can always say "First!" But don't get cocky, kid. Being first may not be enough if someone behind you is following Rule #3.

How can I continue to be first, over and over?

3. If you can't be the only or the first, be the best. That guy at the head of the pack? Talk to his customers and find out what they wish he would do better. Then do those things better, while doing everything else at least as well. Relentlessly improve everything.

What are the category leader's shortcomings, and how can I make them my strengths?

4. If you can't be the best, affiliate with the best. Form a partnership with the best. Allow their quality to enhance your reputation. And then live up to that reputation. At that point, of course, you're not competing with the best, but you're still competing with everyone else. That could be enough for you.

What can I offer the category leader to help them be even better?

5. If you can't affiliate with the best, consider changing direction so that you can go back to number 1.

What can I do and be the only one doing it?

And there they are: my top five most obvious rules for competing to win. What about you? What rules would you add for competing to win?

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 3

Just got back from a trip to Chesapeake, Virginia. On Friday, I joined a bunch of other kinfolk in attending the change of command ceremony in which our nephew, Vernon H. Stanfield, assumed command of his first ship, the USS Whidbey Island.

On Sunday, J. and I celebrated my 60th birthday with dinner and a movie ("The Artist").

Yesterday, while I wasn't looking, Instagram announced that it is being acquired by Facebook.

The price? $1 BILLION.

Again, remember what Instagram is - a company with one product that does one thing, and which has zero revenues (what have co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger lived on til now?).

And now Mark Zuckerberg says, "I want it. Here's $1 billion."

Of course, it's not an all-cash deal: Instagram's owners will get a combo of cash and Facebook stock. Still, the deal is a staggeringly powerful reminder that going public is not the only way to establish a company's value. Another is selling off pieces to private equity. And a third is by selling it to another company.

The tricky thing about the third way is that the price being paid may bear no resemblance to what the company would fetch on the open market. I doubt that if Instagram had done an IPO now, it would have weighed in at $1 billion.

But that is neither here nor there. When a single buyer makes and offer, however cockeyed, that buyer IS the market.

My #1 takeaway? Not only is it possible to build a billion-dollar enterprise in five years, it is possible to do it IN 18 MONTHS (Systrom and Krieger launched Instagram in October, 2010).

Meanwhile, another news item invites a contrast-and-compare exercise: Tumi Holdings, Inc., which makes high-end travel bags, is planning an IPO to raise up to $319.3 million. At the high end of the proposed price range of $15-17, the company would be valued at $1.15 billion, just a sliver more than Instagram.

Tumi has been in business for 25 years.

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 2 - Creating a corporate culture

I recently came across a blog post by Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup," about The Hacker Way as the heart of Facebook's culture.

The post reminds me of something I began to believe a couple of years ago: that a founding CEO's primary job is to create a corporate culture. Indeed, that is something a founding CEO does whether they intend to or not. So, it behooves a founder to do it with deep intention.

Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg did it with deep intention at Facebook, and he continues to do so. Reis quotes from Zuckerberg's letter accompanying Facebook's filing for an IPO:

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo.

Zuckerberg says that at Facebook, The Hacker Way is expressed in five core values: 

• focus on impact
• move fast
• be bold
• be open
• build social value.

I find all of that gratifying because I was already trying to incorporate the hacker ethos into my life, and I can buy into all of those values. So by living more fully what is already in my head, I may be able to produce results similar to Zuckerberg's.

Do I need to hack Homewood Nation? Do I need to get some people to help me hack Homewood Nation? What would doing that look like, and how might that affect the culture of Luminaria Productions?

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Wow, I wish I had a light bulb icon, because something just came on...I have viewed problems as annoying because I have not learned to regard problem-solving as fun, the way hackers do. One reason (not the only) is that I have not seen people having fun solving problems. I tend to be around people who deal with problems that seem inherently depressing, if not tragic. Not to mention intractable.

But my own response to problems is not entirely a result of what I see in other people. How can I learn to view problems as fun, rather than as merely annoying?

Part of the answer, I think, is to develop greater confidence that I can solve them. Which may best happen by consciously getting better at solving them. There are problem-solving strategies and approaches out there, available for the reading. Read. Think. Do. Learn.

Meanwhile, thinking about corporate cultures revives my fantasy of going to Pixar and saying, "I'd like to work here. I'll do anything. For free. Just let me learn how you guys do things."

I developed that fantasy before Disney gobbled Pixar, but Disney's another case to learn from. Walt Disney's been dead nearly 50 years, but Disney marches on. Without having read Walt Disney's life story, my first guess is that that's because he established a durable culture.

I must create a culture within Luminaria Productions within which people have fun solving problems. Which begins with me learning to have fun solving problems.

Now, THAT - should be....

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 1 - the inauguration of the Code.

I just came across a new and intriguing ad on Facebook.

It's an Infiniti ad, but it's not advertising one of their cars. It's advertising a performance by the Cirque du Soleil, a performance that the ad says is "inspired by" one of their cars, the new Infiniti JX.

I find the ad intriguing for at least a couple of reasons. First, because connecting Infiniti with Cirque du Soleil is, to say the least, non-obvious. But Infiniti has been Cirque du Soleil's "automative partner" for more than a year, giving CdS the opportunity to form the habit of being inspired by Infinitis. So I salute whoever came with the idea for partnering:



The second thing I find intriguing about the Facebook ad is that the performance it advertises will be live-streamed. The ad is an invitation to make an appointment to watch...may I call it an enhanced commercial?

Finally, I find it intriguing that the invitation, presumably to all of Facebook's 800 million members, has an RSVP link. I can only assume that Inifiniti will use that to capture information.

Smart. Very smart. I want to learn to do the kind of thinking that comes up with something like that.

Maybe I should put brainstorming on my calendar as a regularly scheduled event.

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Right now, I am missing an event that could have been hyper-helpful in learning to do the kind of thinking behind the Infiniti-Cirque du Soleil partnership - IEG's annual sponsorship conference. The conference, which began yesterday and runs through Wednesday in Chicago,  is titled, "Leap: How Top Brands Are Transforming Sponsorship."

I know that building a billion-dollar enterprise will require me to to learn a lot about sponsorship, but I didn't know about that conference until - Friday, I think.

And why didn't I know? Better yet, how might I have learned about it intentionally, rather that accidentally through the incidental mention of it by a friend?

I might have known about it much sooner if I had engaged in more forward thinking as I prepared to leave the Post-Gazette. Knowing that conferences can be a powerful way to meet interesting, knowledgeable and useful people, I could have asked, "What conferences should I plan to attend over the next year to develop relationships and gain information that could help me to succeed?"

If I had asked that, I might have gone to SXSW last year, or this. I might have gone to ONA11 in September - right after the Screenwriting Expo.

I know, and have repeatedly said out loud, that everything significant I do for the rest of my life must begin with relationships. So I going to schedule time to answer the above question, along with this one: "What actions can I take, starting now, to cultivate existing relationships for learning and for partnership opportunities?"

Building a billion-dollar enterprise will require focused thinking, every day. It will require running my company - my ephemeral one-person company - every day, with the intent of building a billion-dollar enterprise. It will require rules, principles, ways of doing things...THAT WORK.

I will strive to learn to those rules, those principles, those ways of doing things; as part of that, I will seek to express them in short phrases that can be recalled easily and often as mantras - the BBDE Mantras, which together form the BBDE Code.

Because I like naming things, that's why.

The First Mantra: relationships create everything. Therefore, pursue relationships. Therefore, enhance relationships. Therefore, evaluate everything in light of its anticipated effect on relationships.

I will not build my billion-dollar enterprise by despising people. I will do it by valuing people more highly than ever. I will do it by esteeming them too highly to dismiss them, or to fear them. I will work to recognize every person as a potential teacher, partner or customer, and every relationship as a potential source for creating value.

Building a Billion-Dollar Enterprise, 0

A couple of days ago, something that I was reading sparked the conversion of a vague desire into a clear, coherent thought.

The vague desire has been: to take Luminaria Productions public.

The coherent thought is: I want to take Luminaria Productions public on April 6, 2017, selling at least 20 million of 100 million shares issued, with a price of at least $10 a share after the opening pop.

That would make Luminaria worth $1 billion.

With a p/e ratio of 10, Luminaria would need earnings of $100 million to attain that valuation; with a p/e of 25, $40 million.

As I write this, Lionsgate is selling at a P/E of 52.7857. At that p/e, $19 million in earnings would make a billion-dollar company.

There's no saying what the median p/e ratios for media production companies will be in April of 2017. But if I assume that it's no higher than 50, and the Luminaria's p/e is no higher than the median, Luminaria will need earnings of $20 million (along with other factors) to be worth $1 billion.

More importantly, Luminaria will need both the structure and the plan to give investors confidence in its continued earnings.

I can't make $20 million today. What I can do today - or any day - is work on the structure and plan that can generate $20 million.

UPDATE: I added the "0" at the end of the title to indicate that this is a starting point. I created Luminaria years ago, but the pursuit of a $200 million IPO for a $1 billion company starts with the declaration that that is the goal.

Elwin 3.0, Year One

I am approaching an anniversary, and I don't know how I feel about it.

February 21, 2011, was my last day as a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I had started there in September, 2004, so I was just shy of six and a half years there when I left.

When I took the buyout being offered by the PG, I told myself that I was finally gaining the time I needed to do some things that were crowding my plate. Things like:

• publishing my first book
• publishing my second book
• completing and distributing my first short film
• completing and distributing my second short film
• shooting my third, fourth and fifth short films, and getting them completed and distributed.
• building my website, "Homewood Nation," into THE primary source for all Homewood-related news.
• completing my first feature film script
• completing my second feature film script
• becoming competent enough at day-trading stocks to make a modest living from it
• launching and managing an LLC for investing in Homewood real estate
• selling memberships to Pre-Paid Legal (now Legal Shield)

...and other stuff, but at this point the list becomes kinda embarrassing, becuase I have done none of those things. Not one.

What have I done?

• I have become chair of the Save Race Street Committee
• I have become chair of Block Watch Plus
• I have joined the board of Operation Better Block
• I have joined the Bridging the Busway steering committee

In short, I have accepted pretty much any invitations that came along that I thought would help me to serve my neighborhood.

That hasn't worked well economically (I could also question how well it has worked in other ways. One thing at a time.). Nearly all of the things in the first list would have been done with the expectation of making money. None of the things in the second list have that expectation.

I'm not rich enough yet to spend all of my time not earning money. Or more precisely, not even trying to.

Which brings me to PeaceBuilder: Homewood, an online game based on Homewood. It has been in development since July or August, and we're just about to do the public rollout. I am nervous because I've pretty much placed all of my marbles in the PeaceBuilder bag - savings, home equity. If it takes off, I pay off credit cards, replenish savings, pay off the home equity line of credit and then begin to experience genuine profit. If not....

Well, if not, I publish my first book, then my second. I complete and distribute my first short film, then my second. And I keep building "Homewood Nation" into THE primary source for all Homewood-related news. And I day-trade stocks. And I manage an LLC for investing in Homewood real estate. And I sell memberships in Legal Shield. Not necessarily in that order.

In other words, I get back on track to do the same things that I set out to do, and the same things that I would do if PeaceBuilder succeeds. I refuse to go broke again.

So, the anniversary simply means that time has passed. I have not achieved intentions within their desired timeframes. I have allowed myself to get distracted. Sometimes, I have not merely gotten distracted, I have sought out distraction.

The anniversary reminds me that I must work to learn un-distraction. I must keep asking, "How can I create value today?" Asking that question, and living the answer, will lead to making the money I need, and then some. Just like it says in Ephesians.

Becoming the Solution

I'm eagerly/nervously awaiting the phone call that will let me know that PeaceBuilder: Homewood has gone live on Facebook. I was going to say something like, "I expect it to change everything," but it has already changed a lot. Last night I became known among Greens, Grahams and affiliates as the uncle (primarily) who has a game coming out on Facebook. That's a big ol' change.

I began reading a new book last week: "The Coming Jobs War," by Jim Clifton, chairman of Gallup, the polling company. Clifton describes how in 2005, Gallup took their work global, polling people from around the world on a series of issues, and says that all of their results pointed overwhelmingly to one surprising conclusion. He puts it this way:

Six years into our global data collection effort, we may have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful, world-altering fact.

What the whole world wants is a good job.

Defining a good job as "a job with a paycheck from an employer and steady work that averages 30+ hours per week," he goes on to say:

Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, and freedom more than anything else. The last 30 years have changed us. Now people want to have a good job, and they want their children to have a good job.

The assertion that people all over the world want a good job more than they want peace or freedom is startling, especially in light of the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement (if "movement" is the right word). But Clifton says that's what the research shows.

Unfortunately, while there are 3 billion people on the planet who work or want to work, there are only 1.2 billion full-time, formal jobs in the world. That shortfall of 1.8 billion jobs may be the world's biggest problem.

As I continued reading, it suddenly occurred to me that with PeaceBuilder: Homewood, I created work for guys that they didn't have before. I don't know how much time specific people spent on it at specific points, so I don't know if it ever became anyone's full time job, even if only for a week. But creating work has moved me in the direction of creating jobs. I am becoming a jobs creator.

That is hugely satisfying to my ego. For decades, I have wanted to help other people to put food on their tables. Now I've begun doing that. Yay, me!

As the game makes money, I do want to create one full-time job for sure: the position of editor at Homewood Nation. Creating that job and filling it would take Homewood Nation to an entirely new level.

And it would take me to an entirely new level personally.

Reading "The Coming Jobs War" reminds me that, for all of my community involvement, perhaps the best thing I can do for Homewood is to build a company that creates good jobs.

I think I'm on my way toward that. And that feels mighty good.

The writing on the wall.

I am at the KFC at the corner of 19th and Broadway in Louisville. I've been here before, but this is the first time I've noticed the wall:

In case you can't tell, the wall tells the life story of KFC founder Harland Sanders. Anyone who comes here could, by reading it, learn something about how to become a millionaire.

I wonder how many people do.

posted from Bloggeroid

Managing Abundance: postscript

(NOTE: This post was originally titled "Cultivating Abundance: postscript")

I don't know what provoked that last post. Just feeling nervous, I guess. I am working to create value, I just don't have any entities promising me a paycheck. But if I'm diligent with all of my projects, I'll create too much value to not get paid.

My definition of diligence: working on everything every day. Need it be said: working a little bit on everything every day.

I want to work on one thing at a time for 3, 4, 5 hours. Long ago, I observed that focusing on one task for 3 hours or more induced flow.

But I have so many projects, and within those projects, so many small tasks each day - emails, phone calls - that maybe the Pomodoro technique would work well for me.

I'll give it a shot soon. But not tonight. Past time for bed, even if I did have a 1.5 hour nap.

posted from Bloggeroid