Yes boys and girls, moms and dads, brothers and sisters – be warned!

It’s the last day of school (where we are anyway).

As I understand it, the kids can’t take any of the usual necessities like lunchboxes or backpacks today and our lower and middle schoolers will be watching movies, cleaning out their desks, turning in books and such, having recess and generally having fun and doing what they want all day.

Sounds like a great day to me!

Now if we, as responsible parents, adults and contributing members of society (or at least aspiring to contribute) could just master the means of making money while doing the above…

How cool that would be?

You could be on the golf course, at the beach, playing tennis, in the clubhouse, boating, flying, taking exotic vacations, or just enjoying a lazy day relaxing around the house…and making money.

You could be on vacation with the family, at Six Flags with the kids, enjoying a fun filled yet educational day at the aquarium, playing putt-putt, miniature golf, throwing the baseball in the backyard with the boys, racing go-carts, or even shopping with your soon to be teenage daughter (who’s ONLY idea of fun is shopping)…and still making money.

Unfortunately, I have bad news…

Well, I have bad news, but I also have good news.

First, the bad news.  Most of us are programmed all our lives, beginning way back when we looked forward to school being out for summer, that we have to get an education, find gainful employment and spend the next 40 years working that JOB 40+ hours per week for a paycheck and the idea that when we are old and tired we can retire and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

I SAY BS!

As a lifelong entrepreneur who has started and built many companies over the last 20 years, some with nearly 200 employees, I, along with some of the worlds greatest entrepreneurial minds recognize that business ownership is the vehicle that allows people to achieve their dreams – financially and otherwise.  Now, I’m not nearly as smart as a lot of those folks, and I’ve had my share of ups and downs, but small business ownership is where it’s at.

Consider this for a moment.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in history franchised or otherwise replicated their business – they shared their successful systems with others that created more business ownership, more wealth and more success stories!

But get this – it allowed them to leverage themselves, replicate their success through others and create more time and financial freedom for themselves.

I think you have to agree that’s pretty ingenious thinking!

Still other successful entrepreneurs, by today’s standards anyway, have learned to leverage the power of technology and outsourcing, and have built multimillion dollar enterprises that afford them complete and total time and financial freedom.  The best of the best in this category make tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit per month yet spend only a few hours a week “working” on their business.

But what really defines success for you anyway?

Is it fighting traffic an hour and a half each way to get to your  not so secure 9-5 JOB and that regular paycheck (that may or may not be what it was a year ago) taking a week or two vacation each year and embracing the idea of retiring to the “lap of luxury” someday…maybe in your lifetime.

Is it becoming a business owner and operating your own small business that exists solely because of your ambition, determination and desire, that you can’t leave for a minute because when you do the wheels fall off, billing doesn’t get completed, collections cease, the project for your best customer get’s delayed without being rescheduled…and it becomes apparent this business you “own” that was supposed to create financial and time freedom, actually owns you – and the more successful you become, the more you feel the need to work 20-30 hours per week – MORE (You might be an “entrepreneur out of control” when the family starts bringing you lunch and dinner to the office so they can spend a few minutes a week with you).

Neither of those are my idea of fun

I don’t know about you, but to me, neither of those sound all that thrilling.  To me, at 40 something with 4 kids I want freedom and flexibility.

I want to be able to be at all the games…and practices.  I don’t want to miss any recitals or performances “for business.”  I want to be able to take guitar lessons with the kids, watch Emily ride horses each week for an hour and play catch in the backyard with Kyle and Ethan while everyone else is fighting traffic.

I want to be able to pack up the Yukon, round up the family and head to the beach, the mountains or wherever we choose in between…when I want to, for as long as we want to stay – and because we can.

So this brings us back to where we started.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could figure out how to get paid while having fun and doing what we want when we want….?

I think it would.

But I know what your thinking…

“I don’t have a business of my own to start, and I certainly can’t afford to invest hundreds of thousands or even millions to buy a franchise.”

Or if you have a business already…

“Wishful thinking Babcock – are you out of your mind?  My business owns ME!  If I go on vacation so does it!  The only way I keep moving forward is pouring my every waking moment, blood , sweat and tears into this thing!”

But what if there was a way…..

….a way to start a business with little or no capital pursuing something you’re passionate about that can supplemnet or even replace your full time income in just a few hours a week?

….a way to attract a steady flow of customers to your new or existing business who WANT to buy your goods and services – NOW?

….a way to leverage technology, tools and resources that allow you to grow your business on virtual auto-pilot, allocating just a few hours of your time each month to outsource and follow-up? 

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could grow your business to grow your business to fit your schedule and get paid for having fun and doing what we want when we want.

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Dream Big!
Mark