Kimanzi Constable's Blog, page 65

Don’t Forget to Have Fun

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This is a video I shot right after I spoke at WordCamp NYC in New York this past weekend, I wanted to capture how I felt at that moment! Something that I noticed last week and this week really hit me and I think that it’s relevant to anyone chasing their dreams.

Have fun while you’re chasing your dreams! I know it can be frustrating at times when nothing seems to be going right, but remember where you came from and the fact that you’re doing what you’ve dreamed of doing.

Are you having fun as you chase your dreams?

P.S. If you need help or guidance with your dreams, take a look at my new product: The Dream Chasers Playbook

The Things That Used To Be Important

I don’t even have time to list all the things that I used to think were important in my life, it would definitely take more than this post! I guess the biggest thing that I thought was important was me. I thought I was a big super important big shot (not!).

After me I thought my main goal in life was to get rich, so I did everything I could to reach that goal. I thought it was important to be a business owner and start a large thriving business (that went along with my being rich goal) so I expanded my business from Wisconsin to Illinois.

I thought this, I thought that, I thought a lot of things that really weren’t important.

Growing up

I remember the day when the Lord finally got a hold of my heart and I finally started to see what was really important in life. I was over-extended in my finances, I was out of control in my business. I wasn’t faithful to the Lord and had missed so much church I was a stranger.

Everything that I thought was important came crashing down on my head and all I could do was cry out to the Lord for help. It’s funny how quick we are to run to him when we need help, right?

What’s really important

Once the Lord got a hold of my heart it was pretty easy to see what’s important: serving Him, being there and leading my family and serving others.

That’s one of the reasons why I continue to write, I want to help others learn from some of the pitfalls I went through and learn from the excuses I used to make.

Life is short and we only get one life, so what are we going to with our life and the short amount of time we have?

That’s why I’m chasing the dreams and passions the Lord has put in my heart, I want to live the full and abundant life He wants me to live. The Lord has been blessing and I have started to see things coming together in an exciting way:

I signed a book deal
I started coaching clients (coaching three people now)
My website is getting more traffic and subscribers
I’m speaking publicly all over the country (West Virginia, New York, California, New Mexico, Hawaii) and in July internationally (I’m speaking in Sydney, Australia)

I’m still working at my bread business but have been blessed with the flexibility to go to these speaking events, the plan is to do bread through the rest of the year as we pay off the last bit of debt.

As things have been happening I have literally gotten hundreds of emails asking how all this is happening, how can they make it happen, pretty much they are asking about a plan or playbook to live out their dreams.

That’s why I’m happy to announce just that: The Dream Chasers Playbook

This is a product I created to show you exactly how I did it and a step by step plan for you to chase your dreams. This lays things out in a way that anyone can chase their dreams at their own pace and do it in a way that they won’t be over-extended like I was.

At the end of this guide is a special bonus that I hope will be worth the price of the guide. If you want a step by step guide and a plan to chase your dreams without running your life, then this is for you and I know it will help you.

If you don’t like it, there is a 100% money back guarantee, I really want to help you live the abundant life the Lord wants you to lead the money is secondary.

What are some things you used to think are important?

 

 

The Importance of Exercise

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I have a confession to make, I love food, this probably is an understatement. My love for food became pretty obvious a few years ago at my brothers wedding.

He asked me to be the best man and I was super excited until the day of trying on our suits for the wedding. I thought I was a certain size, I had been that size for years, so imagine my shock when I found out I was several sizes bigger. I should have known or maybe I just didn’t want to admit reality.

The clothes fitting wasn’t even the worst moment, that moment came a few weeks later when the wedding pictures came out. When I saw myself in those pictures I was horrified and embarrassed to see how much weight I gain. Those pictures were the stray that broke the camels back, I had to lose weight.

I hit the gym hard (too hard) doing 4 hours a day of cardio, and cut my food intake down to 1,200 calories a day, it was way too extreme. I lost 132 pounds in a six month period but I was always tired and always cranky, I didn’t go about it the right way.

I ended up gaining back all the weight I lost plus a few pounds (ouch) now I’m on the journey again to lose the weight, this time I’m going about it a lot smarter. I am dieting but not as extreme as before and I am going to the gym, just not 4 hours a day.

This experience has taught me how important exercise is in our lives and how it can help you in your work. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way that I hope can be a help to you:

Exercise gives you more energy. For a long time I worked out before I went to work, when I first started doing this people would tell me how tired I would be at work, they were wrong. When I used to exercise before work I would have to say I had twice the energy. The blood would be pumping and I felt like I was superman at work. When you first start out it might not feel this way but after a while you will build up endurance and you’ll use that to fly through things that used to be exhausting to you.
Exercise keeps you healthy. As I got larger and larger I ran the risks of getting things like diabetes, how is that relevant to your work? Can you say health insurance! As you gain weight the more you weigh means the more you pay. I have a several friends that are in HR and one of them told me how much someone weighs is a factor in their hiring decisions. It shouldn’t be that way but with employers having so many options they can be picky, they think about how it will affect their bottom line and how the weight will affect production. Exercise can help you avoid these issues by getting you and keeping you healthy.
Exercise leads to discipline in other areas. When you develop a certain routine, 2 days a week, 4 days a week, or whatever it is that works for you, that discipline will bleed over into other areas of your life. When you are committed and stick to that routine it will teach you to be committed to stick to other plans in your life and your work. What if you have a big project that you need to work on a little bit everyday? That discipline and drive will be engrained in you.

You may not be over-weight but don’t be fooled, exercise can still help you in these areas. If you have been slacking or just not motivated, then start small this week. Go to the gym for 30 minutes this week, take a long walk outside or in a park. Go for a short run with a friend, the point is to take action today!

How has exercise helped you?

A Super Big, Gigantic, Enormous, Large Thank You!

If you are new to Tales of Work stay up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

You know my story so I won’t bore you with it again but it has been a crazy journey to get to this point, God is good!! To get to this point required help from this awesome people and this post is dedicated to thanking them for their amazing work!

The Book Team:

I want to say THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART to these amazing people and ask that if you are ever going to release a book, you use the services of these true professionals. So here are the best in the business.

François Ricchetti- He designed all three of my book covers and designed this website, as you can see from the design, he has some amazing skills and is a true artist. If you need graphic work his prices are great and he won’t stop until you’re satisfied.

Rob and Amy Sliders- When you need your book formatted as an eBook, Rob and Amy are the best in the business. They formatted all three of my books and their work is second to none!

Erica Orloff- If you talk to most self-published authors, they say their one regret was that they didn’t get their book edited. Erica and John are the best editors in the business. They took my bad spelling and grammar and made the book something you could actually read

New Friends and awesome people:

When I wanted to get the word out about my manifesto and my books, there were some great friends that I met through blogging that really helped me:

Dan Black- Most of you know Dan and what an amazing and generous guy he is, he posted my links on his blog and his social media pages. He also wrote the foreword to my manifesto, I’ll forever be indebted to him! Dan’s blog was also the first blog I ever guest posted on.

Joe Lalonde - Like Dan, Joe also wrote a foreword to my manifesto (thank you Joe and Dan). He also has been awesome with sharing my work. I’m getting him some BBQ when he visits Milwaukee this summer

TC Avey - TC is such an encouragement to me and many others. She has been very amazing in helping me spread the word!

Lincoln Parks – When I need a little motivation, I go to Lincoln. He has also helped spread the word!

Guest posting and interviews:

If you go to my about page, you can see all the places I’ve guest posted and interviewed. I have to thank: Michael Hyatt, Dan Miller, Jeff Goins, and TC Avey, Dan Black, Joe Lalonde for graciously letting me guest post on their amazing blogs!!

I also have to thanks Joel Boggess, Justin Lukasaivge, Jesse Lahey, Paul Alves for interviewing me on their amazing podcast.

My Close group of friends:

William Haeflinger, Chaka Dillon El, David Constable this is my close circle and the guys I go to immediately for wisdom and advice. They have been with me through thick and thin and have always called me out when I’ve made excuses. The Lord puts people in your life that you need and I have definitely needed them!

Last but not least:

I have to send a super, big thank you to my wife Tanya and my three children for putting up with me as I’ve had to take some time away to write and now with traveling all over the country to speak. Thank you for your understanding and love, I LOVE YOU!

There are many more who have helped along the way and please don’t be offended if I for got to mention you. Thank you to all who read this blog and share my posts on all your social media pages and help spread the message, please continue.

Let’s spread the message that you don’t have to settle in life, that you can live the full and abundant life the Lord wants us to lead!

ARE YOU WITH ME???

Help Dealing With A Difficult Boss

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When I was seventeen years old I worked for Burger King. I started on the bottom of the latter and in a year I had worked my way up to crew leader. I worked hard, I didn’t gossip like the other teens my age (the adult workers gossiped more than the teens) and always did what I was told.

I must have been a really good worker because at seventeen the store manager was training me (unofficially) to be a manager some day. I would regularly run the lunch shift, which was a super busy and stressful time.  All was well with my Burger King career until a new assistant manager was brought in….

Let’s just say that this new manager and I weren’t going to be best friends. She was nineteen years old and thought she knew it all, the only problem was that she was coming into MY store. Quickly she wanted to establish her position as a manager, so there were a lot of random things and rules she would pull out.

She didn’t like the freedom that the store manager gave me so when the store manager was gone, she would do everything she could to remind me who was in charge. It wasn’t easy at first, especially as a hot-headed teen, but I found out how to deal with a difficult boss without quitting my job (believe me, I thought about it). Here are a few tips that helped me:

Don’t talk back: It’s only natural to want to talk back when your boss is talking down to you, don’t do it! This will fuel their fire and it won’t accomplish anything, it’s also not the right thing to do. When you’re in a situation where your boss is just getting your blood boiling, say a prayer in your head, sing a song to yourself, count to ten. Just don’t lose your cool and make a bad situation worse.
Kill them with kindness: When you’re dealing with a stressful boss you’re usually quite or a little hostile, try a different approach, be kind. Maybe that boss is only used to dealing with hostile people so they’re hostile, maybe showing them kindness will bring out their kindness. As a Christian I believe it’s my job to always be kind with everybody, my boss is no exception. You’ll be surprised at the results of always being kind. Even if they are still difficult, at least you’ve done everything you could.
Always do your best work: Nothing speaks louder than good work. That difficult boss that I had, saw my work ethic and the quality of my work. She started coming around, she started calling me whenever someone would call in, I was her go to guy. Your good work will stand out and maybe even stand out to your bosses boss.
Clear the air: If you don’t talk back, are always a kind and good worker and your boss still treats you horrible, you will have to have a sit down meeting with them. I know this seems scary and you’re probably worried about losing your job but what’s the alternative? Continue in a bad situation? If things keep escalating, you’re going to have to call a meeting, explain your situation and ask them to back off. If they don’t listen or things get worse, you will have to go above their head, you have rights!

First and foremost, make sure that you’re not blowing things out of proportion in your mind. If there is a legitimate issue, then use these tips to help. You have the right to not be miserable at work because someone else has a miserable life. Do the best you can to do what you have to do but don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.

You never know how things will turn out when you clear the air, I had to do that with my difficult boss and she has been my wife for the last thirteen years. We clashed at Burger King, resolved our issues and fell in love, crazy right?

How would you deal with a difficult boss?

 

Taking Steps Towards Your Dreams

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The Speech: (Part 1)

Part 2:

I don’t expect you to watch the whole speech, I’m not that entertaining This truly has been a blessing and a dreams come true, I hope you’re chasing your dreams and have the same experience!

How are you taking steps towards your dreams?

If You Don’t Believe It, Why Would Anybody Else?

Last August was when I finally took action on my dream and self-published my first eBook. I thought all I had to do was write it and put it out to the world and people would buy it, whoops!

As the days went on without a single sale I got more and more crushed, I felt like a totally failure. During this time I would go to my day job and people would ask about the book and I would just put my head down.

As I would go to new places and talk to people they would ask me what I did, I wanted to say I was an author but I had no sales, right? So I would tell them about my bread business, I was accepting defeat.

It wasn’t until I went to the Brendon Burchard conference and I had an experience on the subway in New York that it finally became clear. I had heard Jeff Goins say it several times but I guess I didn’t believe it:

When are you a writer? When you say you’re a writer.

I did start to eventually see a few sales but the sales didn’t determine if I was a writer or not, I had to believe it!

Do you believe it?

I don’t know what your dreams are and I don’t know where you are in the process but if you’re going to successful in chasing your dreams, then you have to believe it. Even your family and friends won’t believe in you the way they should, you have to believe it first.

When you don’t believe it you’ll have a lack of self-confidence and it will show in everything you do, that moment you hit that first hurdle, you’ll be done and start making excuses as to why it can never work.

I’ve talked about my friend Will and his BBQ business, he had researched it and talked about it but a couple of months ago was when he really started to believe it. You could hear the difference in how he talked and how he tell’s everyone who will listen about his BBQ business. He believe’s it and now nothing will stop him.

Have you believed in your dreams?

Maybe you haven’t even started because you just don’t believe it’s possible, I have to call you out and tell you that you’re wrong. I was crushed when no one bought my book and I lost hope but now I’m sitting here eight months later with a publishing contract.

It wasn’t easy and I fell and will fall many times but what separates those that are successful from everyone else is that they get back up, I want to be one of those people who always gets back up. I pray that you’ll also be one of those people who always gets back up!

Do you believe your dreams?

 

Some Habits That Create Success

Dave Ramsey always says that if you want to be successful, find other people who are successful and adapt their habits, this advice is spot on.

I have a confession to make, at the beginning of last year I was a TV addict, I literally mean an addict. I had a DVR and at anytime there were at least thirty shows saved.

Now you might be saying to yourself there’s no way he watched all those shows, the sad truth is I was watching at least five hours a day of TV, ouch!

I would always wonder why I couldn’t get ahead, why I couldn’t get anything accomplished, I usually thought this as I was watching a show.

Note from Kimanzi: As a practical matter, watching that much TV is not only a waste of time but it will fry your brain and drag you down spiritually.

From my own experience of not creating good habits, I want to share with you a few habits that can help you make this a productive year and help you as you chase your dreams:

Don’t waste time: with how busy life is for all of us, this should be obvious but yet we continue to waste time. Someone once asked Seth Godin how he got everything done (and you better believe he’s a very busy man), he said this: “I get everything done because I don’t watch TV and I don’t go to meetings”. What things are you wasting time on in your life right now? Come on, be honest! Figure out where the time-wasters are and get rid of them this week!
Read, Read, Read: do you realize that very successful people like Dan Miller or Brendon Burchard read at least one book a week, that crazy! Yet how much wisdom do you think they get from reading one book a week? When was the last time you read a book? If you can’t remember then that’s a problem. We have a wealth of knowledge and information right at our finger tips, now with iPads and Kindles we can have thousands of books on subjects that can further our life. Start      reading a book today!
Learn a new skill: for all of my website work I use a friend and awesome designer, he has designed this site and all my book covers, I couldn’t have done it without him. Even with his skill I’ve taken on the challenge of learning basic coding and some design work, so that I can start working on the little things on my own. It has been very frustrating but I’m focusing on the “why” and how it will benefit me and my business. What new skill could you learn that would benefit you and help you as you move forward? Figure out one skill you could learn and start it this week.
Help others whenever you can: with the state of our economy and all the things going on in the world, people have lost hope. Can you help give someone hope today? The funny thing is we think that we have to pay someone’s mortgage off to give them hope when we fail to realize how much a compliment will impact someone. If you’re a blogger, what post could you write that could really benefit someone’s life? Do you have a profitable business that could give back to the      community?

If we are going to make this a successful year, we need to have and learn good habits in our life. It’s never easy to give up an entertaining show or some other things that you enjoy but you have to ask yourself if it’s what best for your life.

What are some great habits you have or want to have in your life?

An Everyday Working Man Chasing His Dreams: William Haeflinger

Note from Kimanzi: If you have taken action on your dreams and would like to share your story with the world, email me at kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Will and Chaka

When I met William Haeflinger about seven years ago he was a busy man. In addition to having a wife and two kids, he was working three jobs to pay the bills! We met through a mutual friend shortly after I started my bread service. I needed to hire someone and my friend couldn’t say anything but good things about Will, so I gave him a call.

He was hesitant about being self-employed but eventually decided to come on board. During my ten years of having this bread business I’ve gone through a few people, Will has been there and done a good job from day one! When it came time for me to move onto working for one guy, he took over the business and made it his own.

 

As I’ve written about before, our group has always talked about getting out

Will's ribs

of this work, the problem was all we did is talk. Last year was when my friend Chaka and I decided to take action, for Will he still had to figure out what his passion was. Being a single dad he does all the cooking and he’s really good at it, this in part lead to him discovering his passion for BBQ.

He has been doing research and in the last few months is when he has taken tremendous steps towards his passion. As we’ve all talked about our dreams, we all have had doubt as to whether we really could chase our dreams. The beauty of having a group like this is that we inspire, encourage and motivates each other.

I think it took Will a while before he could really see the possibilities but now that he has, its full steam ahead! This picture is from sample packs that he was making for customers. He has a mass taste-testing at the end of this month, moving one more step closer to his dream.

Will’s plan is to keep his day job while doing his passion on the weekends, transitioning slowly until his passion can fully support him. Hearing him as he made the sample packs and talk about his taste-testing was what inspired me to write about the honeymoon stage of your dreams, he’s there right now.

It’s never going to be easy but it will be worth it

As you start to chase your dreams it is a honeymoon, you have nothing but joy and excitement. Then you hit that first bump and your confidence is shaken but you still have that joy so you keep going. As you move forward things start to get a little more difficult, and you start losing a little bit of that joy.

Then a big bump, you can’t get a permit for your restaurant, you lose a major customer, this is where most people give up or start making excuses as to why they can’t push forward. I was there, Chaka was there, Will was there. It doesn’t even have to be something negative, it can be positive and still hold you back.

Right now at my day job I’m in the ideal position, I’m down to about thirty-two hours a week, working four days a week. This has been the best it has been in ten years, at this point it’s very tempting to just stick around here but I know it’s not my calling.

Good or bad, some things will happen that will fill you with doubt, you have to keep your eyes on the prize and remember “why” you’re on this path. It’s never going to be easy but it will be worth it when you can get up in the morning and realize that your day will be spent living out your passion.

Don’t lose focus of why you’re chasing your dreams!

P.S. Even if you don’t live in Wisconsin, make sure you go and “like” Will’s Facebook page, you get weekly tips about BBQ and you can keep up to date on his progress, you can find the page here

P.S.S. This is an interview I shot with Will at his taste-testing, the first step in chasing his dreams:

 

Keep On The Path No Matter What!

As I said in the video, I didn’t think coaching was a real option for me but as I’ve been coaching three clients I’ve realized I can help. So if you need a little direction, my first session is free, email me at kmanzi@talesofwork.com.

Will you keep pushing for with your dreams?

The winner is:

For those of you who entered the $100 Start Up giveaway, thank you for all the amazing answers. After careful consideration the winner is: Henry Matlock !!! Henry, email me at Kimanzi@talesofwork.com to collect your prize!