A Successful January and a Long Week Come to an End

Happy Friday to all! This week has dragged on and on for me with lots of work accomplished and more to come. I’ll probably take it easy today and rest a little. Come tomorrow it’s back to work.

I started out this year with a strong resolve to make money off my businesses, to bring stability to my financial situation, to be more creative, and to enjoy life a bit more. I am happy to report that I am on track! I have been executing almost every day and January was very successful. Productivity for me is at an all-time high.

This year I intend to work diligently for the first nine months and take the last three months to pursue personal interests, like vacations, hobbies, charity, and rest and relaxation. I plan to get work done during the three-month period, but it won’t be as intense as the prior nine-month period. As I mentioned before, I want to be more creative and enjoy life a bit more. One of these days I’m going to die and I want to look back and be able to say I enjoyed my life, I am happy, I am at peace and extremely grateful to God for being amazing in my life and in the lives of those around me.

While these goals are just the tip of the iceberg for me, they mean a lot to me this year. I’m learning tons about working smarter and living a disciplined life. I’m also bouncing back from a great depression that has invaded my life from 2003 until present. Moving to Florida has made it worst. Nevertheless, I am noticing that I am happier today and have a better outlook on life than yesterday. Perhaps I’m on the road to recovery.

The post today includes an image from Italy. I want to go to Italy this year or next year. Please help me get there by purchasing an item related to Italy. I would be extremely grateful.

Even more important than Italy, today is a dear friend’s birthday and I want to wish her my best. Happy Birthday Michele!

People, don’t forget to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. May the best team win. God bless you all and make it a wonderful, restful weekend!

(more…)

Wait a Minute! What is Going On With Me?

This week has been amazing! Work is going well - lot of good things on the map. As far as my business work goes, I have enough projects to keep me busy for five more years. Thank God my family is doing well, and people were nice to me around my birthday.

Despite all this, what I think made this week even more amazing was all the growing up I’ve had to do in the last 72 hours. God has been showing me some of my nastiest weaknesses in the craziest of ways. Despite the blows and the apparent humiliation and pain that comes immediately afterwards, I decided to learn from my errors and lean on God and not on my own understanding. God likes a humble spirit because he has room to mold it into his likeness. I ask him this day to help me with this: I want to be humble.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 NIV

This week I’ve realized how tough I’ve been on other people. When I was younger a teacher in Puerto Rico once told me that I needed to recognize that not everyone was like me. I can’t be so judgmental and expect people to be perfect and meet my unrealistic standards. After all, God looks inside - the very exact place where I can’t look.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16: 6-7, NIV

I don’t know if it is idolatry, pride, or just mere stupidity but thank God for his grace and patience toward me. Ay, ay, ay!

This weekend I’m on-call for my day job. I got the mowing, trimming and the cleaning, but I will try to enjoy it. My biggest desire is to spend time conversing with God and to find out what he’s up to in my life, the lives of those I love so dearly, and what amazing things he’s doing in the area where I reside.

Take ease, if you got to work, get it done. Above all, take a time out at some point this weekend and examine your life, full 360 degrees, and ask God what he’s up to. What is he trying to teach you?

Stay teachable buddy! God bless you friend. Make it a great weekend!

(more…)

Creative Planning, Trimming, Customer Service, and More

Ladies and gentlemen it is Friday once again! Work was challenging and my personal life - well that remains a lonely scene . Nevertheless, the weekend’s here and there are a few things in the drawing board!

To start it off I have been creatively planning the layout and content changes coming up for the JCruz Presents: Blog. I can’t wait to get rid of this layout and make this site match my style. Right now it feels like the layout is a small, little box without personality. I hope the upcoming layout not only breaks out of the box, but that it complements my voice - as heard in every blog post.

So almost every weekend I have this little routine of mowing the lawn. It’s not that tough because I do it in the morning and the machine moves without having to apply much force. I think people call it a self-propelled lawn mower. Too bad it doesn’t know how to cut the entire lawn by itself! The bad part about this weekend is that I will have to trim bushes and trim the edges around the lawn. I would like to take some pictures so you can all see them featured on the JCruz Presents: Foto Album.

I’m also looking forward getting rid of my messy desk by taking care of these papers and bills. On the subject of bills, Wachovia decided to change my account and charge me a $20 monthly fee. Yup, that was my bank. I already have new bank accounts and stopped all deposits to the Wachovia account. The funny thing is that they claim to have superior customer service. From what I have seen and heard, both Bank of America and Wachovia suck. I should have taken the hint when all my relatives closed their accounts with these banks and when Wachovia decided to charge me (without first asking) for Quicken transfers. The funny thing is that I never transferred anything. Wow, it is obvious that, to these two banks, money is more important than providing excellent customer service!

I hope to close out this weekend by going to church and chilling out afterwards. Perhaps I can get to relax by the pool and read a book. It has been raining so much the past couple of days though. I’ll try to stay positive despite the odds.

How about you, what are you up to? I hope you have a terrific weekend and God bless.

Document Review & Restructuring

Ladies and gentlemen it is Friday once again! Over the past two weeks I have been busy at work and in the matters of my business. I am a full-time employee and an entrepreneur. Why both? Until I can manage a system where I can derive all my income from my business, I have to keep a day job to pay the bills. Through the day job I get to broaden my experience and learn many new things. Once in a while I get a good, challenging task at work but those are not as easy to come by unless I look for them specifically. As an entrepreneur, every day is filled with challenging tasks, and the excitement level is mostly high.

My passion is my business so in this blog I will talk about it more than I will talk about my day job. For two weeks I have been busy reviewing business documents and restructuring plans. Over the years I authored many documents filled with ideas and strategies. The problem is that they are all over the place in different forms. Some are written, some are drawn, some are typed up under different file formats. The objective has been to bring all this information under one repository and merge the information to form active business plans.

I hope you have a terrific weekend. God bless.

About Finally Friday: Right before the weekend we review the highlights of my week. Then I share with you my perspective heading into the weekend.