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Crippled CEO Blog #061:

Why aren’t you only selling to the customers who want to pay you more?

Seth Godin has been a hero of mine for two decades. I recently heard him articulate something that I had always known intuitively, but he explained perfectly, as he always does.

Some customers like to pay less for things. That is how they identify themselves. They are bargain hunters, looking for the cheapest price. My friend Jen was like this. She once made us drive to another liquor store to save roughly 1 dollar on a bottle of rum. Jen would also always pick the generic brand over the “real” one. Jen was (and maybe still is) all about paying as little as possible. 

Some customers like to pay more. It’s true. I know, because I am one of them. When I redid my kitchen, I gravitated toward the better, more expensive appliances, because I wanted to be certain I wouldn’t have to worry about them. When the new iPhones came out, I got the better, more expensive one with the most space, because I didn’t want to have to worry about ever running out. And I’m currently upset that I can’t find better, more expensive lawn care. I used to be upset that I couldn’t find a better, more expensive doctor, but I now have a private concierge doc (you should, too), and I’m much happier. Part of this is because I can currently afford better stuff, but even when I couldn’t, I was always willing to trade dollars for time or convenience or quality or reassurance as much as I could, whenever possible. I was pretty broke when I moved out of my parents’ house and into my first home at the age of 18, but even still, instead of getting a cheaper bedroom set from IKEA or Rooms To Go, I found this amazing dark wood set from a local store. It was more, but I knew it’d last forever and I’d save in the long run. Two decades later, it’s still in my bedroom and looks great. Long story longer, just like Jen HAS to find a deal, this is programmed into my identity (and I might even make a case that it is one reason why I’ve been able to find some modicum of business success, but that’s a different article). 

So, some customers want to pay less. Some customers want to pay more. It takes the same effort to the sell to both groups, each has their own set of challenges, so why do so many businesses pick the customers who want to pay less? The answer: because it’s easy to hide there, to use it as an excuse for remaining average. Picking customers who prefer to pay more means you have to be worthy of the extra expense.

But if you’re charging more, you can afford to be better. And there is nothing wrong with being the more expensive option. If someone walks into a Rolex dealer and says they want to buy a $100 watch, they will politely suggest going to look at the Citizens a couple doors down because Rolex doesn’t sell $100 watches. Rolex made the choice to sell to customers who want to pay more, and then built their business (and watches) accordingly. 

I have a massage therapist friend who charges $200 for a 60 minute massage. I believe you can get a massage at a place like Massage Envy for around $50. And depending who you get, it might be just as good. But also… maybe not. And because of what she charges, my friend only has wealthier clientele. When they take their yacht to the Bahamas, they invite her to come along to be their on board massage therapist. She made a conscious decision to be the more expensive therapist, and the result is she gets clients who want to pay more.

Sometimes, though, a customer comes along who you want to serve, but who you can’t charge the proper price, and you don’t want to lower your price, thus signaling that you are a business for people who want to negotiate on price. 

Funny enough, Seth suggests something we’ve been doing for years. 

You give it away for free. 

Life Saver Pool Fence is the most expensive pool fence. It’s also the best pool fence. It’s worth more than what we charge, but it costs more than all the others. 

The first time a family called me whose child had just had a non-fatal drowning and wanted to buy a pool fence, I knew I couldn’t charge them the full price, but I didn’t want to turn them away, either. I gave it to them for free, and thus the Save a Life Program was born. 

If you want a Life Saver Pool Fence, you either pay a premium price, or if your family has experienced a fatal or non-fatal drowning, or if you were given free ISR lessons through Live Like Jake, we give it to you for free, but there’s no in between. If you’re the kind of customer who wants to pay less, we politely suggest Pool Corral, our competitor grade, or if you’re handy, Pool Fence DIY, which you can install yourself. 

Spodak Dental is a higher end dental campus in Delray Beach. They have all of the most up to date equipment, every service you could want, all in this super cool high tech building. Their prices are set. They don’t give discounts. But a few times a year they have a day where they give away free dental care to underprivileged children. Full price or free. 

If you’re doing it right, not everyone is your customer. This is good, because it means that you get to pick. You get to choose the kind of customer you get. If you choose the customers who prefer to pay more, then you can afford to be worth the expense. This seems like a win-win for everybody to me.

(Was this worth what you paid for it? You should share it with your friends. And if you want to make sure that you never miss a post, send a text message to 484848 with the word CRIP. That will allow me to send you one message per week with the link to the latest blog as soon as it’s up. It’s a pretty swell deal.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #060:

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog, #58, detailing why I 💙❤️ Superman. 

I didn’t like it. 

I’m usually pretty happy with my posts each week, but I was certain this one was garbage. Meandering, lacking in salient points, not clearly useful. Not good. 

But I posted it anyways, because I write a blog every Sunday, that’s my commitment to myself and y’all, and this was the one I had written. 

That post is one of the best received, most liked blogs I’ve written so far. 

People seem to love it. 

I was surprised. I still am. 

It reminded me of an important lesson that’s easy to lose sight of when we create things, or oversee the creation of things. 

Even when assessing my own work, I’m just one opinion, just one data point. Now, I value my one opinion pretty highly, because I’m awesome and have great taste, but it’s still just one opinion, and there’s a possibility my opinion might be in the minority. I might be wrong. 

This is especially critical to keep in mind when we are making things for commercial consumption — a logo, a website, a brochure, and so on. You might hate it, but you are just one person. Despite your opinion, it just might be wildly successful. 

When Chamber Media pitched me the idea of having an Amish family with 50 kids as the focal point of our Pool Fence DIY video, I thought it was dumb. It seemed silly and juvenile. I just didn’t understand how it would work to sell a pool safety product. And the video was a LOT of money — far more than we had ever spent on any other ad or content, by a factor of ten at least. 

But I reminded myself that I was just one opinion, and I also wasn’t the target market. I left the decision up to the group, and we decided to move forward with it. That video has been seen tens of millions of times and has assisted in millions of dollars in revenue. The vast majority of the comments it receives are nothing short of comparing it to sliced bread. It’s been praised by many as the best Facebook ad of all time. It’s been a huge success. 

Thankfully, I didn’t decide my opinion should have more weight just because I was the one signing the check and making the call. That is an easy thing to think, especially since it means you’re the one taking the risk. But at the end of the day, even if you’re paying for it, or even if you created it, you are still just one opinion, and everyone else might just disagree. 

(I bet you can think of somebody that can use this right now. Why don’t you be a pal and send it to them? Also, take 27 seconds and guarantee you never miss a post by sending a text message with the word CRIP to the number 484848. That will allow me to send you a message each week alerting you of the latest post. You will be happy you did it.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #059:

Having been born with, grown up with, and lived with cerebral palsy for my entire life, I have frequently had to do challenging, painful, and difficult things. Normal, every day tasks are all a bit tougher, but then there are the things that truly sucked. When my hip finally got bad enough, I had a surgery that chopped off the ball part of the hip bone, the part that goes into the socket. The recovery was incredibly painful, as all hip stuff is, and the process required for me to be able to straighten my leg out again (it had been stuck at a 90-degree angle for months) included grueling, torturous physical therapy. 

It sucks. You know it’s going to suck. As the time gets closer, you start thinking more and more about how it’s going to suck.

I came up with a trick to get through this easier, to overcome this mental hurdle, that I apply to everything hard and difficult that I have to do.

You show up. You put your head down. And you start effing working. 

Because some things are just going to suck. There’s no way around it. The faster you can accept it, get over it, and get to the task at hand, the better you will be. There’s no trick to make it easier. No technique to make it hurt less, to make it less tedious, to make it less terrible. You just have to bear down and get to work. Get it done.

And the ironic part is, that owning and accepting the idea that some thing is going to suck, and just going ahead and doing it anyways, acknowledging there is no easy way around it — that actually does make it better. You feel better when you’re not complaining. Eventually, you get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

So, there is no trick. But that’s the trick. Tricky.

(Did you like this one? Maybe your friend will, also. Share it with her. If you want to make sure that you never miss a single post, send a text message with the word CRIP to the phone number 484848 and I will send you a link to the latest post every Sunday afternoon.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #58:

When you walk into my house, the first thing you see is a framed comic book cover with Superman and Muhammad Ali squared off in a boxing ring. The cover is signed by Christopher Reeve and Ali. Beneath that, also in a frame, is a copy of the film script for the movie Superman. It is also signed, this time by the entire cast.

The next thing you notice, as you continue to enter, is that the house is filled with rather large statues of various superheroes and other beloved characters. Like… a lot of them. And even though everything from Marvel to DC to Star Wars to the Witcher is represented, you notice one particular hero is OVER represented: Superman. If you counted, you would find 13 statues wearing the famous red cape.

I love Superman.

All of the cool kids (and by kids I include my contemporaries) these days prefer Batman. He’s dark. He’s edgy. He’s flawed. He’s a bad ass. He is awesome without superpowers. He’s what every guy wishes he could be. He’s just… cooler. Definitely cooler than the hokey Superman — Mr. Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

This is why there’s been so many massively successful Batman movies, with more on the way, while Superman struggles to get a hit.

But I still love Superman. 

While Batman is “cool,” Superman represents everything that should be cool, but isn’t. While every young boy wants to BE Batman, if you had to pick one to be your best friend, you pick Superman. Batman is a jerk. But Supes is unrelenting positively. The bearer of the most recognized symbol on Earth besides the Christian cross knows unequivocally that doing the right thing is always the right thing. 

How many of us, imbued with Godlike powers, would treat the people around us perfectly, kindly, and humbly? Nobody. Literally nobody. How many times have you heard people say what they would do if they won the lottery, and that included telling certain people what’s what? And that’s just getting a bit of money. Even when emboldened just by cash in the bank, people get meaner. But Superman provides a better example of how to be. He shows us that the real strength is in restraint, that there is power in letting people think they are walking over you… when you hold all the cards. He shows us that true character is being kind, gracious, and generous even when you don’t have to be. 

When Batman takes off the suit, he’s… himself. He’s Bruce Wayne — billionaire and CEO. ALSO cool. 

Superman‘s disguise isn’t the famous red and blue suit. That’s not his costume. Those are his actual clothes. That is what an alien from Krypton would wear. His costume, his disguise, is Clark Kent — the suit, the tie… the glasses. But most importantly, the personality. 

The man of steel could have made his alter ego anything. He could have been a rockstar, a powerful lawyer, or a successful surgeon. Literally whatever he wanted. 

But instead he pretends to be human by portraying us as he sees us. Clumsy, awkward, lacking confidence, uncoordinated, a bit skittish, but still pure, still nice, still polite, and still filled with potential and possibilities. He shows there’s nothing wrong with being kind of goofy, and lets other people tease him without taking offense. Because he has no ego, and because deep down he knows who he really is, he’s not bothered by the opinions of others.

It is hard for people in the modern world to connect with Superman. He seems cheesy and unrealistic. Nothing about him seems “cool.” But maybe he should be. Maybe he’s the kind of person we should be striving toward, who isn’t corny, but instead an ideal. Maybe, one day, kindness, compassion, and always doing the right thing will be the coolest things a person can be. 

(Did you like this one? Maybe consider sharing it. If you would like to make sure that you never miss one, send a text message with the word CRIP to the number 484848.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #057:

There are certain ideas that are ingrained deeply into us. 

Certain truths that are irrefutable.

Freedom is good.

Moms are awesome.

Nazis are bad. 

Cancer sucks.

Old couples who have been married for a super long time are adorable.

More choices are better than less choices. 

Grilled chicken is the worst chicken.

Marvel can’t make a bad movie.

Shakira doesn’t age.

Kids do better in a stable, loving home.

Boobs are amazing. 

Abraham Lincoln was a good President. 

And so on. 

Things that we all pretty much agree on and can’t be argued. (If you have another one that I should have included, please put it in the comments.)

Another one of these is that businesses should grow. When we think of the most successful entrepreneurs, people like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk spring to mind — people who have started businesses that have grown into massive enterprises.

Because if you’re starting a business, that’s the ultimate dream goal, right? In a perfect world, it takes off and grows dramatically in revenue, employees, and profit. You become ridiculously wealthy as you continue to run this huge, sprawling company (Warren Buffett), or you retire and step out of the way, living off of the dividends and selling shares as needed (Bill Gates). And the organization you started impacts tens of thousands (or millions) of lives around the world, outliving you and becoming part of the fabric of society.

But I don’t think growth has to be the goal. It can be a necessary step toward a goal, but growth for its own sake doesn’t always make sense. 

When someone starts a business, typically their goal is to leverage that business toward a happier life for themselves and/or their family. Happiness is the goal.

And often, the goal is to create some kind of positive change in society, to improve something or solve a problem.

And many times, the goal is a combination of those two above. They are not mutually exclusive, and overlap is very common.

Depending upon what you’re doing, neither of those goals necessarily require explosive growth. The first one, being happy, definitely doesn’t. And a one person business is more than capable of having a positive impact on her environment.

You have to decide what you’re doing this for. There are so many stories of people who loved what they did when the business was small, but hated it when it got big. No matter what business you’re in, once it gets to a certain size, running that business becomes managing other people. For lots of people, that is the last thing they would like to do.

A business doesn’t have to be huge to give you a lifestyle that you enjoy, that takes care of your family, and allows you to have a happier life. You don’t HAVE to grow, despite the prevailing wisdom to the contrary. Momentum is powerful, though. Making a conscious choice to stay a certain size requires really understanding yourself and what you want. But if you can figure that out, and make the subsequent choices based on that, everything else becomes really easy.

(I know that you know someone who can use this. You should send it to them. And why not send a text message to the phone number 484848 with the word CRIP as the body of the message? It will sign you up to get a link to the latest blog as soon as it’s up every Sunday. Who doesn’t want that?)

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Crippled CEO Blog #056:

There are lots of ways that companies measure success. Revenue, gross profit, net profit, growth, number of employees, working capital, brand awareness, positive reviews, and so on. And those are all valid. I certainly track them all.

But there’s another metric of success that you can’t find on a financial statement. One that I would rank higher than a lot of the items on that list.

Employee laughter; the number of times per day that I hear people laughing.

Now, if you are an actual business person, this likely seems at best silly, but more likely, it seems counterintuitive. Most managers would tell you that laughter means people are screwing around, that work isn’t being done, that they are having too much fun — especially in a workplace like mine, where the majority of the staff is in a warehouse doing manufacturing and shipping. 

There’s some truth to that. People laughing aren’t being optimally productive at that moment. They’re not pumping out widgets at maximum efficiency whilst laughter ensues. 

But that’s generally true all day long for a million reasons. And happy employees do better work. Happy employees will stay late when the chips are down and things need to get done. Happy employees are better, more creative problem solvers. Happy employees are nicer to their coworkers, which creates a domino effect of happiness. Happy employees create a happier environment, and since I spend a third of my life there, too, this is pretty important to me. And you have to be pretty damn happy to be able to laugh often. So, if happy employees are a goal, and they are, then laughter is an excellent metric to track that by. 

So, the next question is, how do I go about improving this metric? Fortunately for me, I am hilarious, so right off the bat, I just joke with people. Besides creating laughter at that time, it also sets the example that this behavior is not only acceptable but encouraged. Showing my sense of humor encourages other people to do the same. Also, we do our best to hire kind people. We are in the process of creating new employee training systems, and being nice is at the top of the list — our #1 core value, way ahead of competency or expertise or literally anything else. 

I haven’t found a way to systematize tracking the number of laughs per day, but I have thought about it. And if I could find an easy way to do it, I would. I have the Chinese character for laugh tattooed on my left thigh (probably not the best idea to tell people to laugh when they take my pants off, but so far no one who speaks Mandarin has seen it in person). More laughter makes the world a better place. I think it is our responsibility to create more of it where we can. And if you own a business, that is a culture you have control over. You have the opportunity to make more laughs happen in your small universe. So you should. It is good for your business. It is good for you as a person. But it’s also good for the world. 

(Do you know somebody that runs a business or a department that would appreciate this? You should forward it to them. Maybe share it on your Facebook page and tag them. Maybe print it out, put it in an envelope, and mail it to their house. There are infinite possibilities. But all of them make you look like a better person. If you want to make sure that you never, ever miss a post, text the word CRIP to the number 484848. I will send you one message per week with a link to the latest blog. You’re welcome.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #55:

When I was younger, both as a kid and in early adulthood, I wasn’t nearly as cool as I am now. I know. It’s hard to believe. 

I was in a wheelchair. I was nerdy. I had terrible hair and awful acne. I also somehow had a huge superiority complex. Hardly the best recipe for social success.

But I figured something out that tipped the scales in my favor. 

I gave myself the host advantage.

The host gets immediate authority, credibility, and cool points. The host has clout. People want to befriend the host. 

When I was very young, my friends came over to my house to play. 

In early adulthood, my house was the party house. I bought my first house at age 18, and for the next few years, almost every night was a get together featuring all manners of indiscretions. 

By being the host, I was popular, well liked, respected, and even in charge, despite being rather uncool. 

This works as a teenager, but it also works in business.

You might not be very well-known in your field, but if you start a podcast and start inviting guests, you now have instant credibility, and the contacts you so desperately want to make are hitting YOU up to be on your show. 

It doesn’t have to be a podcast. It can be a monthly industry luncheon. It can be an annual banquet that gives out awards. It can be a Facebook live stream. It can be a blog where you interview key industry figures. It can be a club or Facebook group. 

What better way to connect with that dream client than to invite him on your podcast or give him an award at your banquet?

Being the host makes you a leader. It makes you an authority. You might be thinking that it sounds like a lot of work, but is it more work than slowly building your reputation over years, over calling on prospective clients over and over again the traditional way? 

No way. 

Give yourself the host advantage. It worked for me after I dropped out of high school. It works for me now. And it could definitely work for you as well.

(Was this the third coolest thing you read this week? Is there a specific person that you know you should definitely give herself the host advantage? You should send it to her. Also, if you want to make sure that you never, ever miss my next post, pick up your phone, open your favorite text messaging app, enter the phone number 484848, type just the word CRIP as the message, and hit send. That single text message will permanently make me your humble servant, and I will personally send you a link to the latest blog each and every Sunday at absolutely no charge.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #054:

Everyone, including you, should own a corporation.

I don’t mean this metaphorically, like everybody should be the boss of their lives, and I’m not saying everyone should quit their jobs and become full-time entrepreneurs — that’s a path not suited to most people. 

I’m saying that you and your family should own the legal entity that is an LLC or an S-Corporation. 

Don’t leave yet!

I know.  If you are a regular mom or dad or genius who didn’t have kids with a job you like enough, you think this isn’t for you, and it also sounds kind of boring or complicated. 

But you are the exact person I’m writing this for. 

In 2019, 34 giant companies in the S&P 500 stock index paid ZERO DOLLARS in taxes. 

Did you pay more than zero dollars?

Probably. 

The difference between them and you is that you don’t have a corporation.

This country and its tax code were designed with the idea that most people would work for themselves — farmers, tailors, carpenters, barbers, doctors; in early America, most people worked had a skill and offered it to people directly. That means that if you don’t on a business, you are missing out on lots of benefits available to you.

Does anyone in your family do anything to earn extra money? Do any of your children mow lawns or babysit? Do you ever do any kind of side work? Do your kids do work to earn an allowance?

Chances are, one of these things are true. And if they’re not, they should be. Besides the tax benefits that I’m about to get into, especially if you have children, this process teaches great lessons about money, hard work, and independence. The only difference between mowing lawns on the side for extra cash and owning a lawn care business is a mindset and some paperwork, but that change in perspective for your kid could be huge.

So, if you have any of the income sources I mentioned above, you can form either an LLC or an S-Corporation. I’m not going to get into the differences between those, but essentially you’ll have a company owned by shareholders, and those shareholders will be you and your family. 

Once this is set up, any money that comes in through the lawn mowing, babysitting, cleaning houses, teaching old people how to use an iPhone, or whatever, becomes revenue for your business. 

And any expenses this business incurs are write offs that drive down your taxable income.

People are taxed by how much they make. If I make $50,000 a year at my job, regardless of what I spend, I pay taxes on that $50k. 

Businesses are taxed after expenses. If a business makes $50k a year, but spends $20,000 on things it needs, it’s only taxed on the remaining $30,000. 

If you have a corporation, the cell phone you use to schedule appointments is a business expense. The gas you use is a business expense. Part of your home can be considered a home office and count as a business expense. The Internet at your house can be a business expense. To keep using the lawn mowing analogy, when the company pays your daughter her wage for that lawn she mowed, that is also a company expense, she receives it at a 0% tax rate, and that money can be put into a Roth IRA, where it can grow, also tax free, on her behalf. 

If you own a corporation, you get to pay taxes on how much money you have left, instead of how much money you made total.

Getting it all set up isn’t hard. You can pay a lawyer to help you do it for a few hundred dollars, or you can do it yourself through LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer for a lot less.

You are going to pay for these things anyway, why not make them tax write offs? And this is all totally legal. The government wants people starting small businesses because they contribute to society.

And the benefit of getting your child involved in this starting at an early age, making them part of the process, bringing them along as you set up this business that they own a part of, these are life lessons that are worth much more than the money you save on taxes.

But, y’know, save the money, too. 

(Do you know somebody that can use this? Please share it with them. And maybe also consider guaranteeing that you never miss my next post by sending a text message to the phone number 484848 with the word CRIP as the message.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #053:

Grilled chicken is the worst chicken.

That’s right. I said what I said.

Grilled chicken is terrible.

It’s dry. It’s chewy. It lacks flavor. It is inferior to every other form of chicken.

“You just haven’t had MY grilled chicken, Eric. When I do it, it comes out perfect.”

Yeah. Whatever. Maybe if you are a master of grilling chicken and the stars are aligned and the air temperature is correct and it is the right time of day and the moon is in the correct position and the barometric pressure is right and the DOW Jones index is up by exactly 23 points, then it’s possible you might be capable of grilling chicken and having it be at least somewhat decent. Moderately edible at best.

But that’s rare. 

And also only true for 27 seconds after it is off the grill. Order grilled chicken at a restaurant, or even worse, have it delivered, and expect only sadness and despair.

Even when the temperature of the ocean is correct and it turns out less than terrible, it’s still not as good as all of your other options. Have you ever had a bad rotisserie chicken? Rotisserie chicken is amazing every time.

Baked chicken? Solid. 

And here is the secret one that only a few people know about: boiled chicken. Your instinct is to think that boiled chicken is gross, but it’s not. It’s amazing. Juicy, soft, tender, bursting with flavor. Boiled chicken is the best chicken.

We need to stop pretending that grilling chicken is the best way to cook it. 

Because it’s not. Not even close.

Grilled chicken is the worst chicken.

(We will be back to regular stuff next week. This just had to be said. The people have to know. If you want to make sure that you never miss a post, send a text to the number 484848 with the word CRIP. I will send you one, single text every Sunday with a link to the latest blog.)

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Crippled CEO Blog #052:

My primary business manufactures and sells removable mesh pool safety fencing to dealers who then resell and install it for homeowners. We have about 90 dealers through the US and in 15 additional countries worldwide. Every dealer services the local area that they are located in. So, Life Saver Pool Fence of Atlanta handles — you guessed it — Nebraska. I kid. He does Atlanta. And also the surrounding area. But you get the idea. 

In order for a person to be our customer (or, more accurately, our dealer’s customer), with a few exceptions, they need to have a pool in their backyard. 

The logical conclusion you can make from this, and one I made for a long time, is that dealers in warmer areas with more pools will be more successful. Following this logic, Los Angeles should be #1 and somewhere like North Dakota should be at the bottom, with everyone else ranking logically in between.

Wrong. 

For almost a decade, our best dealer in the country was in Long Island, NY. While not #1 now, they’re still in the top 3. 

Another dealer consistently in the top five takes care of a portion of New Jersey.

Our dealer in Oklahoma does better than San Diego and Tampa combined. COMBINED. 

When I’m setting up somebody new, especially if they are in a location that doesn’t seem ideal, they immediately put limits on themselves. They decide that they can’t be great because of a factor outside their control, in this case their area.

And the logic they are using to come to this conclusion makes sense. It’s just 100% not true. It’s not the area, it’s the person.

If Long Island, New Jersey, and Oklahoma can crush it, then anywhere can. 

Your circumstances don’t dictate your capacity for success. Only you do. But it’s tempting to give away our power to things beyond our control.

“You don’t understand, Eric. My area really is different.” I’ve heard this from people all over the country, all of whom legitimately believe that they face a uniquely challenging set of circumstances that prevent them from being a top performer. 

We should be liberated by the idea that we can succeed regardless of our circumstance, but that’s scary. We don’t want to take away the power from our circumstances and put it in ourselves. That means that if we fail, it was only our fault. If we get rid of the excuses, there’s no one to blame but us. 

But that’s true whether you realize it or not. You are the captain of your ship whether your hand is on the wheel or you are letting the waves push you around and decide your direction. 

You can be scared that there is no one else to blame or you can be emboldened that there’s no reason you can’t succeed.

People in worse situations than you have gone out and made it, and people in better spots have failed.

It’s not the area. It’s the person.

—

Also, real quick, before I finish, this post marks one full year of writing this blog every single week — without missing one — and some of you reading every single one. 

Most of the people I tag each week have been here since the beginning.

Some of you like, comment, or share every single post. A chunk of you have even signed up for the text message reminder. 

Thank you. So much. Seriously. It means the world to me. Even if you just read it and never say anything, thank you.

After a year, clearly this hasn’t exploded into something wildly popular with a huge following, but I am really proud of the people who are here each week, and the impact people have told me they experienced. 

I really appreciate all of you for sticking around, and I’m looking forward to doing this for another year. It seems hard to imagine that a full year has passed, but that’s the key to doing anything important: A little at a time, consistently, for a long time.

Thanks again. You all are the best.

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