WOW, Jer, that was awesome, I am glad to see you are trying to get back where you want and need to be in life and the lives of others. Stu thank you for sharing this with us.

My comments and insights–right before I opened this email my wife walked in and said Bernie Mac passed away, what???
he was only 50. I had a friend that ended his life last week at 59. Now to Stu, Russell, Matt and others this seems a lifetime away but you will wake up one day and be here.

Ilike Jer have been questioning some of my lifes mysteries as of late, I took a little different path.

I worked for a large company for 13 years and before that for several other companies but always felt the call of the independent.
It is a big tradeoff in a way, you can spend all your time working and have no time to enjoy it or you can spend all your time enjoying as much life as you can with very little money.

The trick is to either find a happy medium or really make it big in a shorter period of time, which in my opinion for what its worth means leaving the JOB as soon as you can and free flying or falling, whichever from there.

Sounds kinda nuts huh! Well thats what everybody said when I announced I was leaving my JOB. I did take 6 months to transition out and train my replacement, that was Oct. 2004.

Now wait a second- what I’m going to tell you is all true so read all of if you read any of it, please. Don’t read just the great parts and skim over the pain and misery, OK.

Don’t quit your day JOB just yet.

The last 4 years have been utterly awesome!
I would not trade them for anything, yes I might have made a bunch of better choices like most everybody else probably.

Nearly everything I had saved in my life in the stock market in 2000, is a biggie, that caused me to stay at the JOB four more years than my plan.

Having everything and more in the real estate market sine 2003 was my next major mistake.

Not listening to Stu and Matt whom I have known since 2005 and getting the internet working for me yet.

So what is so awesome about that you ask???

Things that I have seen and learned:
Spend all the time you can with your kids, they grow up so fast. My oldest daughter was in middle school when I “retired :)” , I have spent so much great time with my daughters that I never would have had if I had kept the JOB.
Yes, we may have missed $$$, yes they may have had fancier clothes and more electronics but they have done alright with out them. My oldest will be a senoir this year and my youngest a freshman and I personally would not trade the last 4 years I have spent with them for anything.

The choices you make are yours, look at them closely, look for them, they are always there. Just look for them.

Financially it has had its ups and downs, mostly down.
Ok, lets just say its been a disaster. That said, you have to ask yourself if you could stand it. You have to get creative.

Thats where the rubber meets the road, will I go back to a JOB? Not if I can help it. When you hear people talk about being at the bottom, thats’s where you can really get a reality check and see what your life is really worth.

Your life-not your bank account- how many other human beings on this planet are better off today because of you and your efforts???

The money I made at the JOB never be worth in my opinion, the time and energy I have put in my kids and other peoples kids. I love Jer’s original business plan and have always been a fan of Newman’s Own. Well I have probably spent way to much of this blogs space.

I will leave with something I wrote years ago.

“The Future Belongs To Those Who Can Turn Their Dreams Into Reality” Gary W. Turner

Stu, something about this grabbed me as I was blasting through my e-mail trying to catch up from a short vacation with my wife … Wow. You have an amazing friend. It takes courage to step back, look at what you really value and commit to make changes to be consistent with those values. It also takes insight to see the value in what has happened in your life and make that a lesson for moving forward. Seems your friend has learned a lot.

I take away a reminder from this to live a life of passion and meaning (but don’t ever regret where you have been- each of us has lessons to learn and life has a way of giving those to us … respect the lesson, respect and honor yourself and others, and keep on growing).

At any rate Stu, thanks to you and Jer for the gift of sharing.

Preston

Wow! In the words of Jennifer Hudson “look at what God can do”
I just came home from my cousins’ wedding whom I had not seen in years. Many other cousins were there also and our kids who are now adults (20’s - 30’s) themselves who had never met or hadn’t seen one another since earlier childhood.
Clearly my family has not been close - some of us usually see each other at funerals, but this time I was determined to go to a happy occasion event - and it was good. -FAMILY-

Then like the other writer said I decided to see “what’s Stu selling today” and as we say amongst my friends - You came with “a Word” woven in this letter just for me - a rhema word. Thank you very much!

I too could never go back to the corporate job of yesteryear - and it hasn’t been easy but the peace far outways the wages that I walked away from in 1999.

The choices that I made have played a role in the progress but even with this slow walk, I thank God for the lives I’ve touched thru mentoring, sharing ideas and being a GOOD friend and effective listener to others.
On this road I made a pit stop at a university working part-time and that job ends next Friday. Do I look for another part-time job or do I concentrate totally on getting all my product/projects to market? - DECISIONS-

Your friend said “choose with no regret” I like that. He gave lots of food for thought. However:
I’m wondering why he’s doubting God’s Word- The Holy Bible. Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by me.
I hope he will return to total truth.
Best to you both.

I’m leaving a lot out -slow typist : )
but know that this was no coincidence in timing for many of your readers, I’m sure.

Thank you for sharing.

Abundant Blessings,

Beverly

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts.

@ Bev - Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I can’t speak for Jer and his feelings towards God but I do know that God plays an enormous role in his life and that will always be the case. As his close friend, I’ve seen his religious views change over the years but his relationship with God has always remained very strong. It’s at the core of who he is and what he stands for.

@ Gary - Great to hear from you buddy. Keep plugging away my friend. You’re a wonderful man and your persistence will be the key factor that will get you to where you want to go.

@ Kevin - Make sure you share that interview with your Dad. I’d love to know how to get to that stage in my life and still be young at heart and ready to tackle the world

@ Ray - Thanks for taking the time to leave your comments. I knew you would dig this letter

When I read it for the second time I found it had a more profound impact on me. I think the first time I read it, I was thinking a lot about Jer and as a friend, how I could best help him.

The second time around, the message hit my heart and that’s when I began reading the letter and thinking about how it applied to me - that’s what I was hoping for everyone else.

Getting those priorities aligned and then staying true to them is what will get us all to where we want to go.

Here’s an interesting story…

I’ve been getting back into running and training for a marathon but it hasn’t been easy. Normally I like to run in the afternoon or at night but lately it’s been a challenge with summer schedules.

So I decided to try and run in the morning (which are not always “my thing”).

But here’s what happened after I read the letter the second time…

My alarm went off and my initial instinct was to hit “snooze”.

But then… all I could hear in my head was “Small Choices Lead To Big Decisions”.

Next thing I know, I was up and out of bed and finished a 12km run in my best time yet

It’s amazing how 6 words can have such a dramatic impact when they are linked to powerful emotions. It just goes to show how powerful copy can be!

All the best.

Stu

Stu, when I read Jer’s letter my first thought was that he should connect with Leo Babauta (Zen Habits) He recently did a post on how he’d love to see social sites used for promoting good, much like what Jer described as Robin Hood Technology. More so, though, I think he’d relate to Leo’s simple, clean philosophy - he tries to keep that 1000 ft view in front of us in his posts, which I love reading.

I have to admit, my small choices haven’t been backing up my big goals either. I used to have a printout stuck up on the wall beside me at work, one day when I got that ‘descending plane view’ myself and I wrote it up: “Efficiency without Effectiveness is like driving a really fast Sportscar - without a steering wheel” I moved offices and haven’t had it in front of me for a while, so thanks for the timely reminder!

Crystal