by Casey Lewis | Oct 11, 2016 | Career, Dreaming, Small Business
I’ve been tired.
I went from high school, to college, to dating my future spouse, to working 3 part time jobs, to working a full time job, to getting married, to building a home, and facing over $300,000 in debt by the time I was 21 years old.
We had a baby, lost our jobs, went through an epic financial meltdown, fought off bankruptcy and foreclosure, dug our way out of a huge hole financially, had another baby, built a business doing work we love, sold a house and bought a new one, and this week it’s our 10 year anniversary. It’s been a busy decade.
Your life maybe hasn’t been quite as extreme, but we’ve all definitely been busy.
And busy leads to tired, tired leads to stress, and stress leads to burnout…. and y’all I love the work that I get to do. I don’t want to burnout.
So about 6 months ago I realized that I could press pause, take care of me and my family, and come back to press play when the time felt right. I could come back to writing and creating new content. I could come back to the big business plans and scaling a company and hiring employees and creating products and changing my little corner of the world.
But I can’t do that stuff if I’m burnt out. I can’t do that stuff if my family isn’t with me. I can’t do that stuff and not have friends.
There are definitely seasons of life that require extra hustle and working multiple jobs and sacrifice and those seasons are important. Those seasons allow you greater seasons of rest and opportunity in the near future. So if you’re in one of those hustle seasons, then hustle. Go kill it. I promise it’s worth it.
But if you’re on the edge of burnout… if you’ve missed your kids recital or play or baseball game on multiple occasions… if you haven’t had a date with your spouse recently… if you haven’t had a guys night in months…. if you’re just tired of working so darn hard…
…pressing pause doesn’t make you a failure. It positions you for greater adventure.
by Casey Lewis | Mar 23, 2016 | Dreaming, Faith, Family
In this online universe, where we all are constantly consuming content that is educational, informational, entertaining, or this video of a pig dancing to Rihanna’s song Work, our appetite for content is never satiated.
And in the demand for a constant stream of unlimited content, as a content creator it can be overwhelming to deliver consistently.
So I’m pressing pause. I’m asking a question that I wish so many other content creators would ask.
“What’s the end game here?”
There’s so much advice about how to “build a successful online business” and a lot of it comes down to consistency over time. Which is certainly true. I’ve written on this site and numerous others for over 7 years now. Hundreds of thousands of people have read my words. For 10 months I consistently put out a new podcast episode and had an average of 2,000 listeners each week. Consistency builds and creates trust with an audience over time and fosters a community.
So why is this the first blog post I’ve written in just over 60 days and only the 5th in the past 6 months? Why have my last 5 podcast episodes released sporadically and weeks apart?
It wasn’t intentional. To be honest I’ve even felt a little guilty about not publishing a new article or podcast episode (even when I’ve promised to be more consistent about it).
But, what’s the end game here? Why do I write? Why do I podcast? Why do I create content?
I want to help people get better with money so they can chase after their own dreams and passions. I’ve seen the power of getting out of debt and building some wealth in my own life. I was able to quit a steady job to become a full time entrepreneur. We paid cash for 2 cars. We took our family on an epic Disney World vacation. I get to work when I want to work, where I want to work, and earn however much money I choose to make. And all of that is from getting out of debt and saving a little money.
If I could encourage and equip one person, or 20 people, or 1,000 people to do that same thing then what type of change would we see in the world?
So I write and podcast to help other people get better with money. But the end game ultimately is to just help people.
And I’ve been able to do tons of that through my local community, through Facebook posts, through people emailing and asking questions, through various online groups. If I were a good blogger I’d take the advice I’ve given in other places and post them here on my website, my “home base.” But honestly it’s just been nice to stop focusing on building a business and just help people that need help.
I could record 5 new podcast episodes a week and create 5 new blog posts a week and record 5 new videos a week. I have plenty of content available in my brain that I could deliver that content. I’m self-employed and work from home, so I could find the time to make all of that happen. But I don’t know if putting that kind of pressure and consistency in place reaches the end goal of just helping more people pay off a credit card or student loan.
I think it just puts significant pressure on me, a one man show, to produce great content, consistently, even when I’m coaching my sons baseball team, or going to my daughters dance class, or leading worship in my church, or helping a family find an awesome realtor in their part of the country, or helping a family locally buy or sell a house, or taking my wife on a date, or watching Tarek and Christina screw something up on Flip or Flop….
So I’ll figure this internet thing out. Consistency is important, I get it. But so is being an available husband and dad. So is helping people out when they need some help. So is taking a vacation and lots of naps.
I write this message to myself but also to you. If you’re discouraged in yourself because you’re behind on something you really want to do, just know that being a human is hard enough work. God’s given you grace. Give yourself some too.
-Casey
by Casey Lewis | Dec 2, 2015 | Dreaming, Faith, Family, Money
If Black Friday has taught us anything about the human race it’s that we’ll fight to the death over that last $9.99 toaster oven at Walmart.
Okay, so you probably avoid the chaos that surrounds the Friday after a day of giving thanks for the blessings you already have. But the days between Thanksgiving and December 24 are still likely filled with shopping for the perfect gift for everyone on your Christmas list.
I’m a generous guy. I love giving gifts. I love receiving gifts. There’s something about a living room filled with stacks on stacks on stacks of wrapping paper that just screams CHRISTMAS!
But in my 3 decades on this earth I can’t really recall any of the gifts I received at Christmas time growing up.
You know what I do remember?
I remember my dad putting boot prints in the ashes of the fireplace on the year I had stopped believing in Santa Claus so that the next morning I woke up to believe for one more year.
I remember my first Christmas Eve service in “Big Church.” I was handed a candle and the stupid little paper guard didn’t work, so hot wax spilled on my hand and I cried while my mother held and comforted me.
I remember driving through the neighborhoods in the rich part of town looking at all of the Christmas lights on houses.
I remember the string quartet playing music before Christmas Eve service and what seemed like a 300 member choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus.
I remember having family and friends over to our house on Christmas Eve and eating a dinner made up of queso, sausage balls, little smokies, and the silly veggie tray mom always insisted on serving even though no one ever ate off of it.
I remember pull-apart cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas Morning and Ham for Christmas Dinner.
I remember sneaking out of bed in the early Christmas Morning hours to see if Santa had come yet, and then running into my sisters room to see if she was awake too.
I remember the first time dad let me help put the Christmas lights on the roof. I remember the home-made light up star we put up each year that could be seen from over a mile away on the highway.
I remember helping set-up our massive Dicken’s Village Collection. I remember picking out a Christmas Tree and needing to give our real Christmas tree water before we finally got a fake tree.
I remember shaking presents weeks before Christmas day. I remember sorting presents under the tree by whose name was on them. I remember counting presents to make sure my little sister never got more than me. I remember putting in place the rule that we open presents one at a time, in order from youngest to oldest and each time we came back around my grandma would forget it was her turn.
I remember all of this, but I have a difficult time recalling any gift I’ve received at Christmas.
The experiences, the events, the time with family, the annual traditions… that’s what makes this the most wonderful time of the year. It’s these things that get put on our annual Christmas List.
As you go through the next few weeks in a panic about buying that perfect Christmas gift for each person on your Christmas list, know that 5 years from now they won’t remember what they received but they’ll absolutely remember the experiences you share.
by Casey Lewis | Jul 14, 2015 | Career, Dreaming, Small Business
I really wanted it to be my company’s fault that I was miserable in my corporate job.
And the company before that, it was their fault too. And the one before that, they were to blame for why I wasn’t enjoying my work.
It has to be something these corporations are doing wrong that’s making me feel stuck in a dead-end job.
I mean, I would show up to work everyday with a terrible attitude, mainly because I hate traffic and the office was 90 minutes away. Then I’d spend the next few hours catching up on social media, reading the top articles on Yahoo, setting my fantasy team rosters, all while pretending to work in my fluorescent lit cubicle. Then I spend about an hour doing my job and head off for a long lunch.
Coming back from lunch, I would chat with co-workers some before heading back to my desk to get some work done. When 4:00 rolled around, I’d start winding down for the workday and get ready to head home. Then I’d dread my 90 minute commute home and play over and over in my head how much my job sucks.
Tomorrow, press repeat.
Okay, so I wasn’t that bad of an employee every day. Some days I would give 100% to my corporate job that had the nerve to ask me for a full 8 hours of work doing the job they’d hired me for in exchange for a steady paycheck, health benefits, and 14 days of paid vacation.
But most days, they’d be lucky to get 75% out of me.
Here’s what I know about myself. I hate traffic. When I drove in for the interview and it took 90 minutes, I should have known I’d be miserable.
I don’t enjoy working inside an office building for 50 hours a week. I’m a free spirit baby. Let me spread my wings! When they told me I’d need to be in the office by 9am and go home by 6pm and that I’d be sitting in a cubicle, I should have known that I wasn’t going to enjoy the job.
While I love sales and it’s a very strong skill-set for me, I don’t enjoy high volume new business acquisition sales jobs. (That’s a fancy way of saying telemarketer). So when I read the job description, I should have known that this wasn’t going to be fun.
It wasn’t their fault.
They paid me a very fair wage. They provided me with some great opportunities. I was just a very terrible employee. And when I’d start to blame them for why I hated work, I’d just go find some new company to be a terrible employee for.
When I called a Do Over, I chose to start my own business.
I love my work. I get to help people using my unique skill-set. I have opportunities to hustle on projects I love every day. I get to build some awesome relationships with people online and people here in my local community. I put in 110% of a hard days work and still finish up the day with energy to hang out with my wife and kids.
But now that I work for myself full-time, some days the longest commute of my life is the 32 steps my Fitbit says it takes to get from my bedroom to my home office. There are still opportunities for me to be miserable in my work if I choose to be.
And that’s the lesson I’m learning about dreams and Do Over’s. I get to choose. My work doesn’t have to be miserable.
Entrepreneurship is right for me. Maybe working for a big company or a small business is more your style. I’m not trying to convince you to quit your job and step out into the sea of being self- employed.
I worked for several of the worlds biggest and best companies. I could have made the choice to call a Do Over at my corporate job and been the best employee I could possibly be. I could have made the choice to invest in the relationships with the people around me. I could have chosen to have a better attitude and work hard. I could have looked for ways to use my skills to improve the company and my job. I could have chosen to enjoy my time working for them while getting ready to start my own adventure.
My company was the biggest investor in me chasing after my dream.
It wasn’t their fault I hated my job.
(Check out my friend Jon Acuff’s new book Do Over to find out how you can build a Career Savings Account and call a “Do Over” on your own career.)
by Casey Lewis | Jul 13, 2015 | Career, Debt, Dreaming, Marketing, Money, Small Business
The more I talk about the need to increase your income in order to get out of debt and build wealth I find that the idea hasn’t crossed the mind of very many people.
Sure, we’d all like to earn more money. But have you really taken time to think about what you’d need to do to make it happen.
We’re at the halfway point of 2015.
Did you set an income goal for the year? If so, it’s time to check in and see if you’re on track.
If you didn’t set an income goal for the year, a great place to start right now is to total up how much you’ve made between January-July. Now, can you earn 10% more? What about 30% more? 50%? Double?
Once you set the goal, the next step is to come up with some ways to make it happen.
For many people, the fastest way to earning more money is creating, starting, or increasing your own business. And as a business owner, you need to know how to use some great tools to attract new customers.
Tonight, at 7:01pm central I’ll be giving a FREE live screen share presentation of the tools I use to attract readers, listeners, clients, and how my systems make my life easier as a business owner. It’s 100% free. I’m not selling anything. There will be no “pitch” that you’ve come to expect with webinars. It’s just me, hanging out with some friends online and showing you some awesome ways to build a business.
If you’d like to join me, register here. If you’re not available for the live screen share, sign up anyway. The replay will be available.
– Casey
by Casey Lewis | Apr 22, 2015 | Career, Debt, Dreaming, Marketing, Money, Small Business
Besides living life on a budget or getting out of consumer debt, one of the best things you can do financially is to focus on drastically increasing your income.
You already work hard. You trade hours of your life for a paycheck from someone else and maybe they don’t offer over-time opportunities and getting a raise anytime soon is probably not going to happen. If this is you, and you’re wanting to boost your income you really have 2 options.
First, apply for new jobs that pay more than your current job. Who cares if you meet all the qualifications on the job description? Make your resume pretty and just go for it! You may just talk someone into a new position that pays you double what you’re currently making.
That may be a good option, especially if you’re working toward that type of job for your long term career. But maybe you just need a quick boost in income for a short time period to help you reach some other financial goals like getting out of debt, or building a savings account.
Here are the steps I would take if I needed to boost my income quickly. Substitute the business I use as an example for whatever you would like to do.
- Create a simple business card for “Casey’s Lawn Service” and spend $50 to print 500 of them.
- Go to an upscale neighborhood in my area and place my business card on the front door of 500 homes.
Let’s say I got a terrible response rate from this of 1%. That means 5 people call me to come mow their lawn. That would be 5 people paying me about $25 a week, for 6 months. That’s $500/month for the next 6 months! Not too bad for a few hours of work.
Now, if I really wanted to get a better return, I’d step outside of my comfort zone some and here’s what I’d do.
- Create a simple business card for “Casey’s Lawn Service” and spend $50 to print 500 of them.
- Go to an upscale neighborhood in my area and knock on 350 doors.
- When they answer the door, I’d ask them “who maintains your yard and landscaping?”
- I’d then let them know that I mow lawns in their neighborhood and that I’d love the opportunity to take care of their lawn and landscaping for them. I’d tell them that the cost is $25/week. If their lawn needs mowed while I’m there, I’d offer to do it right then for them.
- If they say no, I would ask them “Are you not hiring me because of the price or is it because you prefer to take care of your lawn yourself?”
- If they say that it’s the price, I would ask them “Is there a price per week that you would hire me to mow your lawn?” (There likely is)
- Once they tell me they’d pay me $10 a week I’d say this: “Tell you what Billy, if you’d let me place a small sign in your yard each week when I come mow your lawn, then I’ll mow your lawn for the next month for just $10 a week. After a month if you want me to keep mowing, we’ll raise the price to my normal rates. If not, no hard feelings and we can still be friends. This will help me tell your neighbors that I mow lawns in this neighborhood and it gets you a great deal. Does that work?”
- Billy will likely hire me. If he doesn’t at that point, I’ll shake his hand and move on to his neighbor.
- Notice I saved 150 cards above. Every time I mow a lawn in the area, I will go to the neighbors that are immediately around my customers house, knock on the door, and tell them that I take care of their neighbors yard and ask if I can provide their lawn care service too.
In my sales experience from the past I know that this process is going to bring about a 20% response rate. That’d be 100 homes. At $25 a week. For 6 months. That’s a $60,000 a year business. As a bonus, all of the work is in a small serviceable area, so I don’t have to drive all over.
I probably couldn’t take care of 100 homes all by myself. I especially couldn’t do that many if I had a full time job as well. I’d need to hire some help, but that’s okay because I’m making an extra $5,000/month.
Sometimes businesses get accidentally started this way. So whether you’re looking to boost your income to reach a short term financial goal or you’re looking to start up a new project, it is absolutely possible to create more income with a little bit of effort.
What type of side income are you thinking about trying?
