Lessons from the Eagle’s Nest: Lesson #1 – Make Mistakes

Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to work for a great boss. I have learned many lessons from him about business and how to manage people, over the coming weeks I will be writing about some of those lessons.

One of the first lessons I learned revolved around how to look at mistakes in the workplace. It was within my first couple months at the job, and I had just made a mistake. I cannot recall if he pointed it out or if I caught it myself, but either way I messed up. I remember working through the issue with him, and at the end he said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you aren’t doing anything.” He went onto explain that because I made a mistake he knew I was working and trying new things.

New Business Incubator for Cobb County

Here’s some exciting news for Cobb County. Kennesaw State University and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce have partnered to create a business incubator. According to the University and the Marietta Daily Journal, the incubator will be named the Georgia Business Success Center and will be directed by Nancy Wright Whatley, who most recently has been the Metro Atlanta Chamber Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development. This incubator will be a place for startups to work out their business plans, seek advice, network, and get support. Not many details have been released yet, but my initial feeling is that it will be great for the county and great for the university.

Enter the Arena

One of my favorite quotes is from President Teddy Roosevelt’s Citizen in a Republic speech that he delivered to the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The speech focuses on his view that a republic depended on the quality of its people for its future and success. In this speech he says:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

To me there are so many points to take away from this, but I want to focus in on one aspect: failing is part of succeeding.

It Will Pay Off

According to the 2014 Wells Fargo Millennial Study, only 55% of millennials are saving for retirement. That means that roughly half of my generation has started saving for retirement. Which is a good thing. The bad thing is that means that half of my generation has not even started saving for retirement in the form of an IRA, 401(k), TSP or any sort of retirement account. You would think after seeing what a lot of our parents went through in 2008 that we would be eager to start saving for retirement. That unfortunately is not the case. We also have not learned our lesson about personal debt that we should have learned a few years ago, but that’s a post for a different day.

The Big Lie

My generation was told a big lie. In a hundred different ways we were told that in order to be somebody you had to go to college. This lie lurked the halls of school and into the psyche of a generation. I’m not quite sure where it started, but it sure needs to end. I think we’re seeing the ramifications of it in piles of student debt and numerous underemployed/ unemployed college graduates.

Spending Like There’s No Tomorrow

As a recent college graduate I know many college graduates, and as I observe them I see an alarming trend. As a group we seem to be terribly financially illiterate and make unwise decisions with our new paychecks. They spend like there’s no tomorrow. For most, budgeting is simply checking the bank account before the card is swiped for the next coffee, meal, movie, etc. I see too many of my peers living paycheck to paycheck, not because they make too little, but because they spend too much. There is the new car they just had to get when they got that first job, then it’s Starbucks on the way into work, eating lunch out every day, buying new everything, and running up some credit card debt. On top of this most have no emergency fund, no savings, and don’t even think about opening up a retirement account. I hope this doesn’t describe you, and if it does I hope you’re wise enough to change your financial ways. The good news is that it won’t take all that much to change for a lot of us. Below I’ve listed out some steps you can take to make some wiser financial decisions.

Welcome to Worth the While

I had an English teacher in 6^thgrade named Mrs. Noffsinger. She told me once ,”Daniel, never stop writing.” I’m not exactly sure why she told me this, but it is something I have always remembered. It’s been almost a year since I have graduated college, and the only thing I’ve written since are grad school essays. With this thought in mind and the desire to keep the writing skills sharp for grad school, I’m starting a blog. I’m not sure what I’m going to write about. I have a lot of interests and narrowing this down to one of them just does not seem fun. If you have any suggestions please send them my way.

Whatever I write I hope that you will find it worth your time to read!