We’re the April Fools

We're fools! Through greed, complacency and comfort we created a huge mess. Now there are experts, pundits, philosophers and bandits telling us that the American Dream is over.

BULLSHIT! (You probably knew I was going to say that!)

Who the hell do they think they're talking to? These guys are ignoring the most powerful and effective group in America. In fact, despite flapping lip-service to the contrary they don't even know we exist!

The American Dream is alive and well and its booming beating heart is in the chest of the American Entrepreneur: YOU! Do you run a corner convenience store? Do you own a gas station, a hair salon or repair shop? Are you fixing the lawnmowers that Big Box sells but can't service? Are you a plumber, a small-town doctor, lawyer or dentist? Are you landscaping, building, paving or painting? Do you teach karate, Pilates, yoga or aerobics?

Uncle Sam doesn't just want YOU, he needs YOU!

American small business did not create this mess. We may have helped it along because we did sometimes borrow more than we should have, even if it was to keep our businesses going. We did invest in stocks that looked really great without spending too much time learning about the executives running the companies in our mutual funds. Some of us may have bought houses a little too big; after all the economy was strong, Freddie and Fannie were in great shape, right? We did have a few too many credit cards at times and maybe should have waited a little longer for that boat or summer home.

So what? We're still alive and kickin'! We don't get bailouts; we pick up a bucket and start bailing! We downsize, go without pay, lean our operation, cut expenses, cancel vacations, sell property and work extra hours.

The American Dream cannot be taken from us. We can surrender it, but it cannot be taken against our will. Will you allow your Dream to be taken from you? I won't; and most of the entrepreneurs I know won't either.

Rats always run from a sinking ship. Let them run. Our ship may be taking on water, but the American Entrepreneur is the guy in the bilge patching the holes. We're the damage control team. We'll get the pumps going again and when we bring this ship back to safe harbor we're going to be the people who enjoy the greatest rewards.

We'll know we can survive and prosper on our own terms. The confidence that you can face any adversity and succeed is the most valuable asset you can ever acquire. Confidence is not a line-item on your balance sheet, but you don't have a balance sheet without it.

The entrepreneur is truly a free human being. It doesn't matter if you're an employer, an employee, mom & pop or solopreneur; when you accept full responsibility for your own success and happiness you are an entrepreneur and you're free.

Fools made this mess and other fools let them. These fools confused power with control. Power is your ability to act effectively. That can never be taken from you; it can only be surrendered. Don't surrender! Work together, find partners for Coopertition ™, re-dedicate yourself to constant improvement in creativity, efficiency and productivity. Look for opportunity in this disaster.

We may have foolishly let the fools take control for a while; they will never take our Power!

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt Powervator; speaker, coach & author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER! Jim will be appearing at several major events open to entrepreneurs in New England in April & May, click here for details!

Generosity: The Perspective of a Bailout Skeptic…

Admittedly I’m not currently a top-bracket tax contributor; but I work very hard for the money I contribute annually to the general fund. I’m a small business owner who has paid taxes on paper profits several times over the years and has gone without health insurance to keep staff on the payroll and make ends meet. Like many of you I have a hard time spelling the word vacation in lean years and I sometimes laugh at words “week-end.” I don’t think the failure of any of my businesses would cause a ripple on even the local economic pond; so I doubt I will be eligible for any government bailouts any time soon.

I’m a little tired of people talking about “government” money spent on these bailouts. That’s my money, and it’s your money. We the people contribute to the general funds that support national, state and local government. We the people are getting hosed.

Have you ever had a friend in need who begged you for a loan, only to find out that friend used your hard-earned on some frivolity like a weekend bender or a new car stereo for a his junker? That’s what’s happening to us right now, but the tab is in the billions:

Days after receiving their bailout, execs from AIG Insurance splurged on a $440,000 corporate retreat including golf, spa treatments and banquets. Nice; did anyone invite you along?

Here are some more presents you just gave your friends and neighbors, allegedly to stave off the next Great Depression:

I hope some of you are NASCAR fans; you just gave $100,000,000 in tax breaks to race track owners. Maybe they’ll send you a thank you card with tickets to the next race.

Drink rum? You just paid for $192 million to rum distillers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Lord yes, we had to keep that precious stream of rum flowing; you’re going to need it as you read on!

Don’t worry about the high cost of heating fuel this winter, you also just paid about $150 million to wool producers; now you can buy cheaper sweaters to keep you warm!

Remember the Exxon Valdez disaster? Exxon will soon be sending you a thank you note. It’s the least they can do; you just picked up $49 million dollars of the tab for that one. This money is going to fishermen and other plaintiffs who were suing over lost fishing grounds and revenue. Maybe Exxon will give you a discount next time you fill up as a small token of gratitude!

Do you feel good yet? You should, after all helping your neighbor is what it’s all about. If you pay state income tax to help fund your school systems, you just helped your neighbors in states without income tax by subsidizing their educational costs with a federal tax deduction. That one zapped you for about $3.3 billion. I’m going to think about this one every time I pay my “use tax” in Maine for stuff I bought in states with no sales tax.

And folks, this is just the Quickbooks version of your generosity! You’re also funding a study of arctic squirrel hibernation, tax breaks for bicycle riders and a subsidy for manufacturers of wooden arrows for children. I suppose they may be preparing for the next generation’s version of the Boston Tea Party.

By now you be feeling as if you’ve done your part to prevent a repeat of the bread lines and Hooverville shanty towns that still remind of us of the perils of economic disaster.

I may have overlooked all of the above, but there was one pill too bitter for me to swallow. I suppose it’s obvious to everyone but me that America would be reduced to a third-world wasteland without the enormous contributions of our great Hollywood film and entertainment industries. This is not just a matter of keeping P Diddy in Cristal, Sheryl Crow in toilet paper and Matt Damon in private jets; no, this is a matter of national security. Where will our next generation of America’s defenders find inspiration without the next great recruiting film from the Rock? How will we know the truth without Michael Moore? How will we keep our population strong without the stimulus provided by Salma Hayek?

I suppose I’ll just have to concede this one. After all, along with you I just contributed $478 million to Hollywood in hopes that they’ll keep me from losing my home and living in a tin shack. Oh well, maybe just to say thanks they’ll send us all one of those $5.00 movie coupons or give us a dollar off our next $12 bucket of popcorn.

Movies, arrows, bikes, squirrels, rum and race cars; all important to someone I’m sure. I just don’t see how this stuff got tagged onto the “most important piece of legislation in our generation.” I don’t see how any of this pork does anything pull us back from the “brink of economic disaster.”

If you’ve got it figured out; please let me know. In the meantime, I’m going to barbecue a squirrel I’ll shoot with a wooden arrow, drink some rum, watch a movie and wonder what the hell just happened to my money.

Are You Sick of it Now?

Here’s how today’s headlines should read: “Congress Devolves into Name-Calling, Hair-Pulling Clutch of Petulant Children.” Of course, that might not be too far off the mark on any day in Congress.

I’m not picking sides; they’re all making me completely sick. We’ve got to try to figure out what the impact of the banking meltdown is going to have on our own businesses and on our neighbors. As someone who prides myself on being a student of politics and current events I have to admit painfully that I throw up my arms in frustration and disgust.

Hourly I’ve listened to partisan pundits blame the other side for current conditions, or brag about the heroic efforts their side is making to bring this wildfire under control. For the record, I’m a registered Independent and this is why. I’m absolutely sick to death of the constant petty partisan bickering, name-calling and accusation that is in fact the root cause of this entire debacle.

I’m sorry to shatter any illusions, but in legislative bodies legislation is not created in a spirit of bi-partisan interest in the American public. Articulate arguments and well-crafted oratory are not what seduces members of one side of the isle to the other. The fact is that on a national and state level, our laws and regulations are the result of a vestigial and wasteful quagmire of constant deal brokering, vote exchanges, earmarking and pork trading. Let’s throw in a healthy dose of nepotism and insider favoritism and we’ve got the system that has devolved to our current state of affairs.

The greater fact is that nearly everyone we’ve elected to office is complicit in this criminal abuse of our trust. There are some who claim they didn’t create the regulation or de-regulation that led to this crisis or those who did or didn’t carve out personal deals on loans, under the table compensation and favors and campaign contributions. Shame on you for not keeping your eyes on the ball; shame on you for keeping quiet when you smelled the leaking gas and didn’t warn those of us who put you in office and most of all, shame on you for not trusting us to understand this problem. Stop your selfish squabbling, stop your foolish CYA maneuvering and tell us what the hell happened, in plain English with names and addresses attached.

I have one more finger to point: To everyone of you who has said at one time or another that your vote doesn’t count, that the government is going to do whatever it wants anyway, that you don’t have time to get involved, that you don’t read the papers or watch the news; shame on every single one of you.

A single vote is not statistically significant when dealing with the vast numbers associated with a national election. When you do not exercise this responsibility the lack of your single vote resonates across the country. Your single vote may not decide an election; however by refusing to participate you surrender the one power guaranteed to you that makes you different than the citizens of most of the world. You surrender your voice; the voice that gave birth to our nation.

America is facing pressing problems. There are many issues on your state and local ballots that can make the difference between prosperity or bust in your communities; and in these elections a single vote just might be the difference. Vote your conscious; I don’t care if you agree or disagree with me. If you responsibly vote your conscious and your position is different than mine so be it; I respect your point of view and we have a basis for discussion. If you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear it!

I have faith that we will persevere and we will prosper, but only if you participate. It’s your responsibility to vote. It’s your obligation to learn as much as you can so you can vote responsibly. I know that’s difficult, but let’s do the best we can.

This November if nothing else let’s take back what’s rightfully ours: government by the people.

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt Powervator: speaker, coach and author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER. Learn more about Dynamic Components and Jim at JimBouchard.org!

Ask Not What Anyone Can Do For You…

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address


What the hell has happened? When did we become a culture of spiritual beggars pressing the fence with our hands crying for scraps from the very people who derive their power from us?

This isn’t about politics or religion. I’m talking about the dormancy of the American spirit. This complacency crosses partisan lines and the spiritual power I’m talking about is not the domain of any particular religious group.

It’s likely that in this argument I’ll be accused of a lack of compassion. So be it; but I’ll quote a far greater philosophical mind than mine. Whatever happened to the idea that giving a man a fish only feeds him for a day where teaching him to fish feeds him for a lifetime? Which is more compassionate, throwing fish to the begging masses or making sure everyone has the opportunity to learn how to fish?

I don’t want to be misunderstood. I did not say we need to make sure we teach everyone to fish; I said we need to provide the opportunity to learn how to fish. Ultimately the responsibility for learning is the student’s.

The only person responsible for your success and happiness is the same person who brushes his teeth in your bathroom mirror. It’s not the job of the government, or your company, or your neighbor to provide the essential resources you need to create your personal vision of success & happiness.

Our government is supposed to be the mechanism whereby we can cooperatively assure we each enjoy the basic security we need allowing us the freedom to pursue our dreams as individuals. More enlightened companies know that productivity and profitability of the organization increases when the organization is proactive in providing the opportunity and resources that encourages the success of each individual.

We’re much more powerful as a group when we each accept personal responsibility for becoming powerful individuals.

Times are tough and it is right and generous to help your neighbor. When you’re the recipient of generosity it’s right to respond with appreciation and gratitude. It’s counterproductive at best to respond to generosity with demands for increased charity. It’s destructive to create a system where our cooperative institutions become the primary resource for this continual stream of entitlement.

Part of our current economic state is due to conditions and circumstances well beyond the control of any, if not most of us. That’s no excuse for a lack of participation in the solution. The first part of the solution is for each of us to make ourselves more powerful and effective. Power: your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively is what makes you more valuable to yourself and those around you. Value is what drives commerce; at all levels our system is based on commerce.

Much of our current economic state is due to conditions and circumstances beyond the control of the President, Congress or the Supreme Court. A democratic system of government is by its very nature slow. It takes time to develop a consensus; a dictator can change conditions at will. Which do you prefer? We’re also the first generation to deal with an authentic global economy. Today nearly any service and many goods can be delivered across borders at the speed of an internet connection. Speculation in global markets creates conditions tomorrow that we have to deal with yesterday.

As individuals and as a community we still have to work within the scope of that which we can really do something about. Most of the conditions we face today are not the result of what’s going on today, but a product of what we’ve allowed to happen in the recent past.

The solution is clear: let’s step up and take control of our own lives. At any time you can acquire new skills, knowledge and experience that will position you to take advantage of new opportunities. You can make a direct impact on your life and the lives of others by maintaining a positive outlook; and before I’m accused of naiveté, there are no solutions in negativity. Positivity does not guarantee desired results, negativity assures undesired results.

Negativity is blinding. Positivity opens your eyes, ears, mind and heart to possibility. The more open you are to possibility, the more you increase the probability of success. Simple, not easy.

Not convinced yet? Let’s apply positivity to an immediate real world problem. Many of us have grown accustomed to the freedom of driving solo anywhere we want to go at any time. Take a look at the other cars on your next morning commute and notice how many are still driver, no passengers.

Now you could continue to complain and wait for the government to institute some policy to affect the price of gas; but bear in mind that reactive policy usually results in some deficiency somewhere else. For example, we could drop a state tax on gas; but then don’t complain as you drive through unrepaired potholes. Negative thought and action usually results in substituting one problem for another.

Or, you could car pool: positive and immediate action! Share a ride and you just cut your gas expense in half; that’s reality! If that’s too inconvenient, fine; just stop complaining! Put three people in that car and you’ve lowered gas expenses for your commute to near a dollar a gallon. Notice I said “expenses,” you still haven’t affected the price.

Get a million people to share a ride and your regional gas dealers start to pay attention. Ten million of us and suppliers may start to get nervous. Fifty-million of us sharing a ride and the speculators and the producers start to worry; we just might lower the price of fuel for the entire world. Simple, not easy. Of course, neither was going to the moon!

Times are tough; let’s get tough right back. Let’s fight negativity with the only weapon that works: positivity. Let’s stop wondering when someone is going to save us and start accepting full personal responsibility for our success and happiness. Let’s start sharing solutions instead of commiserating in misery. Let’s start where we can have the most impact; with ourselves and with those in our daily lives and local communities.

Let’s not ask what our neighbors can do for us, but rather what we can do for our neighbors. Let’s offer encouragement in place of discouragement and sweat in place of tears. That’s how we create opportunity from adversity.