Happy New Year!

December 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
View On Black View of Gothenburg from the dock...

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2012 begins tomorrow! The successes that the new year will bring all lie ahead of us (as well as all the struggles). Here at The Doulos Group we are very excited about what is coming.

This site represents the relaunch of what for our first year of existence has been called Doulos Marketing Group. The reason for the relaunch is that our company has evolved over the course of this first year from a pure marketing company to a entrepreneurial training company. Our sole purpose is to work with entrepreneurs and guide them in the design of their success.

We will start from the very beginning stage of business development and guide our clients through the entire process of design, launch, testing, and innovation. Our goal for every client is to help them define success and then build a business that fulfills their definition.

As the new year is upon us, consider your current life situation. If the entrepreneurial bug is biting, then maybe 2012 is the year!

Have a great new years eve. Stay safe and may your 2012 be the best year of your life!

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One Week to Go – Then 2012!

December 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sweet Sunday

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I have been able to enjoy this Christmas Eve watching football and spending time with my family. As the end of the Detroit Lions game is upon me and dinner being prepared, I am reminded again about the coming of the end of the year and the beginning of the new.

I believe that 2012 is going to be the most important year in my life and I am so excited about it that I wish it could start on Monday instead of a week from Sunday. What is going to make this year so important is that I am going to stop being what everyone tells me that I am supposed to be and become the person I was born to be.

The reason I am posting this on my business site is, that in order to be this person I am supposed to be I must become a friend and guide to people who want to live their lives and create businesses with passion and commitment. There is so much mediocrity in our world today and so many people who think that life owes them everything that passion and commitment are sorely lacking.

2012 is going to be a year of personal revolution for me as well as those who join me! I am so excited about what is going to take place that I am just about to jump out of my skin in anticipation! My question for you is, “Wanna play?”

Leave a comment, ask a question, join the conversation!!!!!

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Merry Christmas to All!

December 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Merry Christmas

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As the vast majority of the world stops this week to recognize the Christmas holiday, I wanted to take time to say Merry Christmas to all who have graced this blog this year either by stopping by to read or by taking time to leave a comment. I consider you all a true blessing in my life.

This has been an amazing, eventful year for Doulos Marketing. As the end of the year comes upon us and we take a short break from the work to spend time with family and friends, I want you to know how important you are and how excited I am to bring you new things in the coming year.

Have a great holiday season, and enjoy what for most will ba a slower pace. Let’s all come back next week to finish out the year strong and be set for the beginning of the best year of our lives!

Merry Christmas to All!

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So we gotta say goodbye

December 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Coffee on the beach (BBE) [46/365]

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I am writing this post with a sense of sadness and reluctance. As of this post, BabyBoomEntrepreneurs.com is signing off. Now don’t loose hope, what is happening is that I am going to move all of the information from BBE to my primary business site (Doulos Marketing).

My concern for the plight of Boomers in this crazy world economy is as fervent as ever, I am just having a difficult time making everything fit into my life these days and with so much of what I post here really duplicated at Doulos Marketing, I have made the decision to combine the two.

So, we gotta say good-bye for now, but check in over at Doulos Marketing and let’s get reacquainted there! You can also follow me on Twitter @doulosmarketing (Business) or @davewellman (Personal) and check out my personal perspective on the pursuit of the quiet and peaceable life at DaveWellman.net.

The run is not over, its just changing locations! Come join in and “let’s rock!”

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Splashing Around in the Deep End!

December 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Are you just splashing around in the deep end?

 

English: A Private Swimming Pool

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One of the most interesting things that I have learned this year is that the majority of the entrepreneurs that I know who have started businesses in the past year or so did so without a real plan in place. They began with a dream (or were living in a nightmare), they jumped into the deep end of the pool and splashed around trying to both get noticed and to not drown at the same time!

 

While this makes for a lot of excitement, it rarely ends with a strong and successful business enterprise. For those considering a new start-up in 2012, a few thoughts about splashing around in the deep end!

 

  1. Get your “dry land” work done first. When a person begins to learn to swim, an instructor will give them some instruction and safety advice before they enter the water for the first time. In learning ahead of time about things to know/do once you get in the water, you are more prepared in the event of trouble than if you simply “jump in” head first.
  2. Start out in the shallow end of the pool. The benefit here is that in the event of a problem or that you panic for any reason all you have to do is put your feet on the bottom of the pool and stand up. There is always a greater chance of survival in the shallow end that splashing around in the deep water!
  3. Challenge yourself to move into the deep end of the pool when your confidence and skills warrant the risk! Be careful (but not too careful) because success in the deeper water requires that you take the next step. With every step into the deeper water their comes increased risk, but with growth in confidence and skills you will soon be swimming like a fish!

Learning the dangers of splashing around in the deep end will provide you with the ability to be survive the difficulties and be successful for the long term. While others are just splashing around making noise and hoping to survive, you will be enjoying all the opportunities that confidence and skill brings.

 

So, as you consider your business start-up you must decide three things: where you are now; where you need to be to gain both confidence and skills; and how long will it take to gain it so that your business will be both safe and successful in 2012!

 

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When its time to talk not text!

December 6, 2011 by 4 Comments

I remember an old American Airlines commercial in which the owner of a company called his sales team into a conference room to tell them

English: "Wilshire Room," company in...

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that things were not going so well. As a matter of fact the owner had just gotten off the phone with an old friend who had just fired his company.

In the commercial the owner was handing out plane tickets to all the cities where the company had clients so that each sales manager could go and visit with them in person. After tucking the last ticket in his own pocket someone asked him where is was going. His answer, “I am going to see an old friend.”

In the fast paced world of the internet, sometimes we need to understand that what makes businesses grow and continue to do so is not to “like” thousands, or “follow” the gurus, but to spend time with some well chosen friends.

Just a thought. What do you think?

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What is the Next Step After Breaking All the Rules

December 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

OK – now that we have the whole “breaking all the rules” thing out of the way,

Income tax

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the question becomes: “What is the next step after breaking all the rules?”

Well, to be honest with you, this is where it gets a little tricky. To begin with, what one person might think is a crazy idea, another would think to be perfectly reasonable, tame, and just the right thing to do. One person might move to Central America and enjoy his new life as a photographic artist working to relieve suffering in the third world, while someone else might create a “safe” accounting practice in their basement while helping young people set up and run their own businesses right here at home.

The path is not important. The passion is! Let me challenge you with three thoughts that will help answer the question:

1. Who are you really and what do you want to do with your life? After a life-time of work to make things happen at home and at the office/job, you just might have a more difficult time answering this question than you think. Take the time, find yourself (your core, your essence, or whatever you would like to call it) and in finding you, find your passion. This is the real starting point for the next step!

2. How can you live your passion? Some can develop a business that directly compensates them in their passion, while others have to find a business model that allows for an income that can be created around their passion. Consider carefully which way will work for you. Then do your due diligence. There is nothing worse that starting and then stopping to drain one’s passion!

3. Put the blinders on and get at it, now, even before you “retire.” Too many people wait till they are in a situation that if income can’t be produced immediately, they have to fold up shop and go back to work. This happens most often because you didn’t start while you still had work income. I would plan for 1 to 3 years before your income will carry you. So, don’t quit the job too soon and do plan to do some double duty before you retire!

Deciding to break the rules is simple, but learning the next step is where the victory is won! Don’t forget to follow through with the next step.

 

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Life in a Crazy World

December 3, 2011 by 2 Comments

I started a blog in April called “An Old Hippie.” With all the busyness that often controls my life, I never really got it off the ground. I did,

Old Hippie Ln

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however write an article that I would like to re-publish here. With all the craziness that we see around us these days,  I hope that you will find this post of value to you!

I just finished reading several news articles today from crazy storms, to domestic violence, to the upheaval in Syria, high gas prices, and the beat goes on!

It seems to me that this old world is getting crazier and crazier. And we think, in our day, that we are way more sophisticated, so much more advanced, so much more intelligent than those who have proceeded us. That sounds even more crazy to me. After all what is it that we have (besides some pretty cool technology) that make us “better” than previous generations?

We have cooler stuff – but we also have people who will kill us to take it away.
We have better equipment for producing food and staples – but we have more people without than ever before.
We have more oil than ever before – but the gas prices are headed for new highs.
We have more global wealth than every before – but nearly every country on the planet is suffering from current or near financial collapse.
We have more free education available – but we have fewer truly educated people.

I could go on and on about the great things we have and how they are not making our lives better, safer, or less fearful. But these examples ought to make us understand that we live in a crazy world! And the prospects for the future are more of the same. Crazier and crazier!

So, what’s the answer? In one sentence it is, “We must choose to live a quiet and peaceable life, honoring God and loving God’s creation.” I remember the old hippie song that said, “All we are saying is give peace a chance ….” I’m in, how about you?

Peace comes when I live without fear, but also when I live in a state of satisfaction and rest. Knowing that as I work to care for myself and my family that what I produce will meet our needs and wants. Then, as a proponent of peace, if I am granted an abundance, I should look for ways to make that available to those who cannot care for themselves (I did say cannot, not would not).

You see, this is how it used to be! People working hard and benefiting from their efforts. It used to be that we did not think that someone else “owed” us something. We worked for ourselves and ended the days satisfied that our labor had produced positive results. Then, when we heard of others in need, we would give of our bounty for their benefit as well.

Yep. the world is crazy. Crazy because we have turned truth inside out and made ourselves to be slaves of the system rather than free men and women able to do and be what we choose through hard work and satisfaction.

What do you think?

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Break all the Rules!

December 2, 2011 by 8 Comments

Have you ever been tired of just about everything in life? I mean so tired of the way things are that you thought about how wonderful it would feel to just break all the rules? Just to strike out on your own and end up where you want to be rather than were you are expected to be!

Boomers across the world seem to be collectively struggling with these very thoughts. Our sense of freedom from the ordinary that carried us through our youth has given way to our sense of responsibility to a system that more and more makes little sense.

Most of us have worked hard, been responsible, and followed the rules, only to be the first to be laid off and the last to be rehired. Our years of efforts have been overlooked and the value we bring to our society has been minimized. It seems that the greatest worry society has today is that we are getting old and who is going to pay for our old age.

So here we sit, getting older fast and being minimized by the society that we spend our lives building for ourselves and the generations to come. Did we make mistakes? Yes!! Are we to blame for some of the failures in our society? Yes!! Could we have done better? Who couldn’t using hindsight as a measuring stick?

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to break all the rules and strike out again to reinvent my life and reshape my future! Wanna come along?

If you do, I think that there are five things that you are going to have to consider:

1. To reinvent your life and reshape your future you are going to have to set aside the notion that everything in life that is bad is someone else’s fault. Personal responsibility has to trump everything else in life. I can wake up on a given day and make life great or make it unlivable no matter the circumstances. The choice to react or to respond is entirely up to me! So it is with you as well.

2. To reinvent your life and reshape your future you are going to have to decide what it is that your life is supposed to be and then commit yourself to that end! Do you believe that your life really has purpose? Have you ever considered what that purpose is? Are you moving in the direction of that purpose everyday? If your life purpose is not clear to you, you will never really move with confidence or inner strength. The desires of others for you will always take precedence to that nagging urge inside that tells you that something isn’t right.

3. To reinvent your life and reshape your future you are going to have to seek guidance from those ahead of you on this journey. Now I don’t mean follow them like zombies or lemmings, but watch them as they journey and pattern your journey according to the principles you find in them. Ask questions, listen closely to their answers, think carefully (pray if that is what your life is about) and then move in the direction of your life purpose.

4. To reinvent your life and reshape your future you are going to have to stay focused through all the storms that lie ahead. No one that chooses to break all the rules will be able to do so without creating some waves. These waves will often increase in size and magnitude until they become full-fledged storms. It is these days of what appear to be darkness and despair that the greatest victories can be found. Stay focused, keep your eye on the prize and let your dream dispel every wave!

5. To reinvent your life and reshape your future you must start! This is where the rubber really meets the road! It is not enough to be tired of what you see in front of you. It is not enough to wish you could develop the courage to strike out. It will only happen when you make the first move. You are the catalyst! You must make the first move and then commit to the next and the next and the next.

I am not going to let a broken world system determine whether I live a fulfilled life. Are you?

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