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Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

With our daughters not having school or sports, we find ourselves having a lot more family movie nights.

Sometimes we watch something funny, so we can all laugh. My oldest daughter typically campaigns to watch something with Dwayne Johnson, so we’ve seen a lot of his movies.

But every now and then, I try to put a movie on that will challenge them or broaden their perspectives.

Last night, we watched Shawshank Redemption (it’s free on Netflix). And boy did that movie deliver. It’s every bit as good as I remember, and my daughters loved the movie too.

I think the ending is one of the best in movie history. The build-up for it just awesomely done, and the story itself is an epic tale of hardship and perseverance.

There is a great quote expressed near the end of the movie when the main character Andy says, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” And the message is clear, we can either spend our lives going through the motions waiting for something to happen, or we can make something happen for ourselves.

We can make something happen.

I hope that powerful message wasn’t lost on my kids. It certainly resonated with me.

Hope is a beautiful thing, but hope alone isn’t enough. We must make something happen and create our own luck even when we feel like the most unlucky person there is.

That is what Andy Dufrense did throughout this story, and it’s a fantastic lesson we should all remember.

Join The Community!

Join our Facebook GroupJoin the quest for “The Sweet Life.”  Request access to our Facebook Group.  Let’s learn from each other!  GO HERE

Free Audio Book Download

Full Unabridged Audio Book “Vagabonding With Kids” by AK Turner!  GO HERE

Take The SWEET LIFE Assessment

See how you score? Identify your strengths. Discover areas in your life you want to improve. GO HERE.

Giving Back

Amanda and Mike launched an Impact Club in their hometown of Boise, Idaho in 2017, and have had a blast gathering like-minded individuals, families, and organizations to make significant impact in our community, raising over $200,000 locally and over $1.5 million nationally.  

Join Our Next Monthly CHALLENGE

Every month Amanda and Mike pick a month-long challenge that pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can grow, learn, and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes we design our own unique challenge and other times we join pre-established challenges. Email us to find out about our next upcoming challenge. Us@BusinessofUs.com

About Us

Our Story | Mike and Amanda TurnerWe are Mike and Amanda Turner, founders of “The Business of Us.” We are fierce advocates of helping entrepreneurial couples and families improve their lives, livelihoods, and legacies… READ MORE

Dominos Falling

Dominos Falling

That is what the last few days have seemed like.

One thing after another with this Coronavirus.
With each domino, our new reality becomes clearer.

I watched Amanda unravel 6 months of hard work she had put in designing and organizing the Idaho Writers Conference set for the end of April.

My niece, who is a senior in high school, was notified her sport season was over, prom was canceled, and even her graduation ceremony may not happen. Ouch.

Every day there are more dominos.

When you don’t know when they will stop dropping, panic begins to creep up your spine.

On the one hand, I am thrilled our communities are taking such decisive action. I mean, if you are going to shut down some things, might as well shut down most things.

I’m all for nipping this crisis in the bud. One or 2 hard months sounds way better than 12 months of fear.

I will say I’m surprised by the level of cooperation (now) that I see across the political landscape, locally and globally to try to squash this bug.

The fact that they shut down our entire school system locally with only a few confirmed cases in our state means they are trying to be proactive versus reactive, which isn’t what I am accustomed to seeing very often in local government.

I keep wondering how many dominos will keep falling. But it’s clear, we won’t know until we’ve done this social distancing thing for a few weeks to see how it’s working.

The silver lining for some is that they can hit the pause button on their rat race and spend quality time with loved ones. Yesterday we tried to teach our girls how to the play card game gin rummy (total failure but we gave it a shot), we played catch in the yard, and they taught Amanda and me how to play their favorite video game.

Despite all our concerns about the future, it was a good day for my family. We laughed, we bonded, and we ate 3 meals together.

Maybe some of the dominos that are falling are not all bad.

Join The Community!

Join our Facebook GroupJoin the quest for “The Sweet Life.”  Request access to our Facebook Group.  Let’s learn from each other!  GO HERE

Free Audio Book Download

Full Unabridged Audio Book “Vagabonding With Kids” by AK Turner!  GO HERE

Take The SWEET LIFE Assessment

See how you score? Identify your strengths. Discover areas in your life you want to improve. GO HERE.

Giving Back

Amanda and Mike launched an Impact Club in their hometown of Boise, Idaho in 2017, and have had a blast gathering like-minded individuals, families, and organizations to make significant impact in our community, raising over $200,000 locally and over $1.5 million nationally.  

Join Our Next Monthly CHALLENGE

Every month Amanda and Mike pick a month-long challenge that pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can grow, learn, and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes we design our own unique challenge and other times we join pre-established challenges. Email us to find out about our next upcoming challenge. Us@BusinessofUs.com

About Us

Our Story | Mike and Amanda TurnerWe are Mike and Amanda Turner, founders of “The Business of Us.” We are fierce advocates of helping entrepreneurial couples and families improve their lives, livelihoods, and legacies… READ MORE

Fear and Perseverance

Fear and Perseverance

The ripple effects happening across the globe now are unprecedented. Today many parents are figuring out what to do with their kids; business owners are wondering how to navigate this severe and sudden change, jobs that once seemed secure are questionable.

This virus is attacking more than just our health, as many don’t know when their next paycheck will come in and are watching their reserves get depleted.

I keep seeing ripple effects from this crisis, and they are just beginning. I know many people are still processing what is happening, but I can’t help to view it with an analytical perspective and the more I do, the more concerns I have.

Fear has a tendency to make us want to put our head in the sand and hope what threat is out there will pass soon. But by not addressing your fears, they will likely grow and get worse.

This morning I worked on a daily agenda for my kids who found out last night they have no school for the rest of the month.

Amanda and I work from home, so having kids here puts a significant strain on our business. This was my biggest fear initially when I heard they were closing the schools.

My fears and concerns are not about these next few weeks, it’s more if these few weeks turn into many months.

This daily agenda will keep them busier and give Amanda and me periods we can work with fewer interruptions.

I also fear the potential financial impacts this virus crisis will have on our business ventures. The impacts can already be seen and felt. But this weekend, I brainstormed different things I could do during this time to help protect and shield us from getting hurt financially by these recent events. This exercise had an immediate impact on calming my nerves.

It’s going to take a lot of work to minimize and avoid the challenges coming towards us, but that work is what will help keep fear from getting the better of us.

I suggest addressing your fears. Write them down. What are you worried about?

Then take actions to minimize or protect yourself from those threats.

In these times of uncertainty, being proactive in addressing our concerns and fears is our best recourse.

Stay safe, control what you can control, and stay proactive.

Join The Community!

Join our Facebook GroupJoin the quest for “The Sweet Life.”  Request access to our Facebook Group.  Let’s learn from each other!  GO HERE

Free Audio Book Download

Full Unabridged Audio Book “Vagabonding With Kids” by AK Turner!  GO HERE

Take The SWEET LIFE Assessment

See how you score? Identify your strengths. Discover areas in your life you want to improve. GO HERE.

Giving Back

Amanda and Mike launched an Impact Club in their hometown of Boise, Idaho in 2017, and have had a blast gathering like-minded individuals, families, and organizations to make significant impact in our community, raising over $200,000 locally and over $1.5 million nationally.  

Join Our Next Monthly CHALLENGE

Every month Amanda and Mike pick a month-long challenge that pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can grow, learn, and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes we design our own unique challenge and other times we join pre-established challenges. Email us to find out about our next upcoming challenge. Us@BusinessofUs.com

About Us

Our Story | Mike and Amanda TurnerWe are Mike and Amanda Turner, founders of “The Business of Us.” We are fierce advocates of helping entrepreneurial couples and families improve their lives, livelihoods, and legacies… READ MORE

Response to Change

Response to Change

We all have people in our life that are notorious for being victims, blaming others for their hardships. “I didn’t get this; therefore, this why I’m…” “They didn’t do this, therefore, this why I’m…”

They may be the extreme, but anyone can quickly become a victim when change comes fast and forcefully.

Sudden change is scary, confusing, and because of this, are normal defensive actions may become passive.

Extreme change can easily become an excuse. An excuse to give up, to stop trying and chances are, nobody will fault you for it because you have a darn good reason. “The current was strong, so I had to go down the river.”

This is Passive Change, a victim’s response to change.

We can also fight the current, we may not be able to stop it or swim upstream, but we can strategize a way across the river that is now impacting us. It may take us multiple attempts. But with each attempt, we can learn something new until we figure out something that works.

This is Active Change, a deliberate and sustained response to change.

Change is inevitable in our lives.
We can let it take us downstream, or we can find a way across the river.

Join The Community!

Join our Facebook GroupJoin the quest for “The Sweet Life.”  Request access to our Facebook Group.  Let’s learn from each other!  GO HERE

Free Audio Book Download

Full Unabridged Audio Book “Vagabonding With Kids” by AK Turner!  GO HERE

Take The SWEET LIFE Assessment

See how you score? Identify your strengths. Discover areas in your life you want to improve. GO HERE.

Giving Back

Amanda and Mike launched an Impact Club in their hometown of Boise, Idaho in 2017, and have had a blast gathering like-minded individuals, families, and organizations to make significant impact in our community, raising over $200,000 locally and over $1.5 million nationally.  

Join Our Next Monthly CHALLENGE

Every month Amanda and Mike pick a month-long challenge that pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can grow, learn, and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes we design our own unique challenge and other times we join pre-established challenges. Email us to find out about our next upcoming challenge. Us@BusinessofUs.com

About Us

Our Story | Mike and Amanda TurnerWe are Mike and Amanda Turner, founders of “The Business of Us.” We are fierce advocates of helping entrepreneurial couples and families improve their lives, livelihoods, and legacies… READ MORE

A Gift and A Curse

A Gift and A Curse

An entrepreneur, by nature, see’s opportunity wherever they go. This is me.

When I travel, one of my favorite things to do as I enjoy time outside of the daily grind is to simply open my eyes to opportunity.

Sure enough, every town, every restaurant, every beach my mind will spot an opportunity. Granted, some ideas are better than others. But when you stumble on a good one, it’s fun to walk it out to see if the opportunity has any significant holes in it.

Sometimes Amanda gets into the game too, or maybe I push it on upon her, I’m not sure, but I think she enjoys it because we often stew on these opportunities over a cocktail.

Travel by nature forces you out of your daily habitual norms, and for me, that means taking off some of the daily pressure I putt on myself and, therefore, frees up my mind to think and wonder.

It’s common for me to come back from a long trip with new eyes about the projects I’m working on and businesses I want to create.

One of my biggest challenges as an entrepreneur is deciding which opportunity to pursue.

When I’m not traveling, I often force this part of my brain to be quieter because it distracts me from current initiatives.

When I travel, I know my time there is limited, so the opportunities I spot are just for fun, but when I’m at home, the opportunities I spot force me to make a decision, too sniff it out further or dismiss it. Even this “decision” takes time away from my current projects, so I have to be careful how open I keep my mind, so I don’t lose my way.

The gift of seeing opportunities is a curse and a blessing.

One trick that has helped me in recent years is asking myself when I see an opportunity, “is it a business I actually want to run and see-through long term, or just an income opportunity.” It was a question my friend Ryan originally asked me, and when I thought about it, I saw that it helped me identify which paths I wanted to take and which ones I wanted to ignore.

There is nothing wrong with pursuing an income opportunity, especially if income is uncertain in your life. Still, one must be careful not to develop a business that they grow to hate just because it pays well.

At least, for me, that is important.

I want a business that will make an impact, feed my soul, and make a profit.

That opportunity exists for all entrepreneurs who seek it. It may be hard to find and take years to fine-tune, but it’s out there waiting for you to discover it.

Join The Community!

Join our Facebook GroupJoin the quest for “The Sweet Life.”  Request access to our Facebook Group.  Let’s learn from each other!  GO HERE

Free Audio Book Download

Full Unabridged Audio Book “Vagabonding With Kids” by AK Turner!  GO HERE

Take The SWEET LIFE Assessment

See how you score? Identify your strengths. Discover areas in your life you want to improve. GO HERE.

Giving Back

Amanda and Mike launched an Impact Club in their hometown of Boise, Idaho in 2017, and have had a blast gathering like-minded individuals, families, and organizations to make significant impact in our community, raising over $200,000 locally and over $1.5 million nationally.  

Join Our Next Monthly CHALLENGE

Every month Amanda and Mike pick a month-long challenge that pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can grow, learn, and become better versions of ourselves.  Sometimes we design our own unique challenge and other times we join pre-established challenges. Email us to find out about our next upcoming challenge. Us@BusinessofUs.com

About Us

Our Story | Mike and Amanda TurnerWe are Mike and Amanda Turner, founders of “The Business of Us.” We are fierce advocates of helping entrepreneurial couples and families improve their lives, livelihoods, and legacies… READ MORE

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