From any angle, Alaska’s scenery is breathtaking; its wildlife, amazing. Take in views from the deck of a ship, and see even more on a land tour.
If you’re ready to be astounded by the sheer power and beauty of nature, don’t miss this corner of the globe. There’s nowhere else quite like it.
The true spirit of entrepreneurship is finding a need and filling it. Helping people; being a servant. No matter what the economy, it’s always a good time for that.
Creativity and innovation are at their best when there's a problem to solve. There’s always a demand to fill, and sometimes you can be the first to see it. You have to think like a consumer. Get inside their minds, then give them what they want before they ask for it. When people say, "What will they think of next?" what they're really saying is, "I had no idea I needed that."
Just look, for example, at how far cell phones have come in the last decade. Calling is now just one among seemingly endless features. And that came about because a handful of people took “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” to its full potential. Innovation isn’t stopping.
But you don’t have to be a science wiz to take your entrepreneurship to its full potential. Be willing to listen to your customers and let your intuition kick in. Do something you may not normally do. Try to get behind your clients’ eyes. Anticipate what they need. Care about what they need. Then give it to them.
We all have fears—you know, those thoughts that can stop you in your tracks (make you at least hesitate), make your heart race, make you turn away. Yours might be heights or speaking in front of people. Maybe you don’t like to take risks, get germs on you, show too much emotion, or plunge into the deep end of the pool. Maybe it’s spiders.
It can be easy to look at someone else’s fear and say, “Oh, don’t be afraid of that.” From the outside looking in, it’s easy to see that the word “fear” is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real.
But what about your own fears? Different story. Those ones are real. But you can conquer them.
For starters, realize just what it means to conquer a fear. A great quote from Nelson Mandela: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
So how do you triumph over it? Here’s one way: write it down. Write down everything about it that scares you. What misgivings do you have? Then go back and write the answers to every obstacle—write down what you know is true. Read back over that paper every day. Modify it. Add to it. Let it sink in, and let the truths take over. Before you know it, you’ll win.
After all, playing it “safe” never brought anyone to greatness.
Abby Sunderland , a 16-year-old, California blonde, does her high school homework in an unlikely location – the cabin of a 40-ft. sailboat named Wild Eyes. And it will be a few months before Abby can turn in that homework. That’s how long it will take her to sail around the world – alone.
That’s right, alone. Abby set out from California in January determined to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop solo. She and Wild Eyes will make the entire voyage without stopping at any port along the way. The next time she sets foot on land she’ll be home.
At first glance, this adventure seems impossible. After all, a 16-year-old is still just a kid. But look a little deeper. Abby has been sailing literally all of her life, and sailing alone since she became a teen. By the time Abby set sail in January, she had accumulated thousands of miles of coastal cruising through a number of hazardous weather conditions.
The trip began as a dream, but she prepared for it by learning all she could about her boat and everything aboard. It carries state-of-the-art navigational equipment, a water desalinization system, safety features and more. She also has a support team, and sponsors to help defray the costs. When the big day finally came Abby was ready to live her dream.
You can follow Abby’s journey at www.abbysunderland.com. There you’ll find an upbeat, positive young woman happily facing challenges most of us can only imagine. She’s confident, she’s prepared and she’s following her dream.
If a 16-year-old can sail alone around the world, what excuse can any of us have for not setting lofty goals and achieving them? Go, Abby, and thank you for your example.
I love his common-sense approach, and want to share one of his tips that he repeats on nearly every one of his radio programs and throughout his publications: Spend every dollar on paper before the month begins.
If you’re not on that specific of a budget right now, get onto one. Be patient; it may take a few months before you’re totally comfortable with it. Here’s how Ramsey says to start:
“Every dollar of your money should fit in a category, even if you need to make up new ones. The basic categories include saving, housing, utilities, food, transportation, medical, personal, recreation and debt. Don’t forget to include saving for things that aren’t monthly, such as Christmas, birthdays, taxes and insurance premiums…. Prioritize your bills, savings and debts in order of importance, not urgency. Ask yourself, ‘If I only have enough money to pay one thing, what would that be?’ Move this way through the list.”
When you know exactly how much you need to cover your expenses, and when you plan before the month begins (giving every dollar a name), you can start making your money behave. And you might just be amazed at the stress that will just get up and leave your life, and the feeling of empowerment that replaces it.
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