The Jon Olson Project

Here’s a brand new video blog post. It’s another personal one, kinda going back in time, exposing one of my biggest fears that I still hold onto to this day…

Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed my new post.

Late breaking news: Everyone wants to make a million bucks. (I know that’s a shocking revelation!)

In my industry, people are always striving for that magic number, the million dollar a year goal. Apparently that is what makes or breaks an entrepreneur, to me that’s the obvious goal of any capitalist or for profit business. To make money. However for me, there is another reason ‘why’ I do this.

Sure I want to make a million bucks, I want to take care of my family and make sure they are set for life but after a certain level of success, I truly think you have to give more to the human race than just your tax return. For me, it’s giving all I can to charities and trying, in my own little way, to make a difference.

The problem with this though, when you hear the word charity, it evokes different emotions for everyone. Some charities are scammy to say the least. Some charities have huge operating costs with little going to the actual need. Some people’s reason for giving might be sinister. And of course there is always religious and / or political overtones. It’s a different for every charity and every person that gives to them.

So when I start talking about giving to charities, I understand the reservations people may have. However two charities have really made an impact in my life and I fully support them;

Charity Water – It’s pretty simple really. Debate anything you want, but you cannot argue the importance of clean drinking water and it’s need for human survival. A few years ago, I got together with other program owners and surfers in my industry and created TrafficExchangesCare.com which raised awareness for clean drinking water by using arguably the single best water charity on the planet, CharityWater.org. Since it’s creation, our little campaigns have raised almost $8000 for water initiatives around the globe. To say we’ve made an impact is such a cool thing, so far we’ve helped to bring clean drinking water to two villages in Ethiopia and we’re on our way to bringing more clean water to others. The traffic exchange industry rocks!

Kiva – I’m an entrepreneur! I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe in the importance of self-reliance and self-improvement. I embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and think humanity is at it’s best, when it’s trying to make itself…Better. When you build your own business, I believe you do make yourself better, by taking chances, taking ownership of your own life and not relying on a pay check. The problem is, banks don’t always loan the funds needed for folks around the world to start their businesses. Along came micro-financiang. Kiva allows you to ‘loan’ 25 bucks to business people around the world, looking to start their own business. Banks wouldn’t give them the cash, so in developing nations, micro-financing is a solution. An entrepreneur helping other entrepreneurs. I love it.

I may not be able to make the big changes guys like Bill Gates and Richard Branson do, but you know what’s funny…That’s kinda my goal. To be able to help as many folks as I can after all is said and done. I admire capitalism when it’s rooted in a ‘bigger meaning’. Yeah we all want money, sure we want our family to be taken care of for life…But once you hit a certain level, another ‘million bucks’ won’t matter to you…but it’ll mean a lot to the rest of the world.

And that’s my reason why…

I host a daily show called Traffic Exchange Live and have been since 2010. It’s our biggest platform and something I truly believe in. For the past year we’ve been using a service called Spreecast to host our daily seminars. It’s been awesome to say the least.

Not only is the service exactly what we need to do our show properly, their staff has been extremely supportive and a pleasure to work with since day one.

Spreecast recently brought their mobile application online and since then a lot of ‘random young people’ have had access to Traffic Exchange Live. One one hand, I should embrace this but the problem with an online application is it brings out the worst in people…Every day I’m dealing with swear words, trolling and constant attention draining comments. I seem to spend more time banning the random keyboard warriors than hosting my show.

This is my fault!

I am sitting here preaching about energy vampires and how to focus on what you do every day to improve yourself and here I am letting a 13 year old kid ruin my daily show. Wow. I really need to find my ignore button.

I completely salute Spreecast and think their staff and service are the best on the net. Their need to grow is very important and their mobile app is awesome. They will have a very bright future.

This truly comes down to me and my need to learn to ignore energy vampires and keep on, keeping on.

This has been a huge battle for me and something I need to work on.

So today is my birthday.

The second half of my 30′s is well on it’s way…

The past year of Jonathan Gerald Riggs Olson’s existence was filled with a lot…

The loss of family. Loss of friends. Shoulda-Coulda’s. Failures.

But also…A lot of personal growth. Joy. Self-discovery. Successes.

I have never spent so much time alone in all my life, I’m used to having people around me all the time. I’m a social creature by nature so this was something I was not used to. I work from my home so for 5 days of the week, I essentially interact with no one in person. There is nothing scarier (and freeing) as looking in the mirror every single day. And that’s what I’ve had to do. And it’s been AWESOME!

It’s made me a stronger person inside and that’s kinda cool to discover. Self-reflection is a double edged sword. It can drive you crazy but here’s what it did for me….

I discovered how truly blessed I was. I’m the luckiest S.O.B. on the planet. I’ve got a great kid, I’ve got my health, I’ve got the best job on planet earth and I’ve got a great future (God willing).

Nothing else I really need…Maybe a trip or two to the Caribbean but hey, one can dream

Thank you for being a part of my life and I appreciate everyone who has read this blog, joined one of my businesses, sent me a note and been a part of my journey.

You are appreciated!

Thank you.

I’ve been nose deep into so many books these past few months. It’s a borderline addiction and as much as I love reading, following through on all the advice given in them has proven to be quite the task.

Lots of great tidbits and nuggets but one thing that is suggested in many self development and personal growth books is to do something you have never done before.

Stepping out of your comfort zone!

I’ve been working at home full time for almost a decade now, which essentially means I don’t get out much when it comes to business. So something I’ve wanted to do for a while now is attend an offline ‘MeetUp’ in Edmonton.

I joined MeetUp over a year ago and yup, you guessed it…Had never been to one. Until tonight…

Well, it was a blast. Even though it was branded as an ‘Online Marketing Meetup‘, it was nothing what I expected. The group was very ‘agency’ oriented, meaning most of the folks there worked for a company or dealt with corporate clients,etc.

I have always been a work at home guy. Boxer shorts and a t-shirt is my dress code and of course, the 25 second commute to my home office everyday.

It was cool though to meet others in the city and of course, exchange business cards with everyone. There is such a huge difference between what I do for a living and what these professionals did. Quite an eye opener.

I guess this is a good step for me. A small step but it was completely out of my comfort zone. I’m a social creature but my ‘work world’ has always been separate from my offline life.

Guess it’s time for them to meet and greet

O.K. I know this is the third time I’ve mentioned reading a John C. Maxwell book on my blog but they seem to keep getting better and better each and every time I read one…

A lot of John’s books have focused on leadership and growing as a person of influence but his latest book focused on growing as a better human being. I really enjoyed this book and I do think it’s become one of my favourite reads of all time. Here’s the main points I got from each ‘Law’;

1. Law of Intentionality – The stars don’t just align, you need make make an effort.
2. Law of Awareness – Being truthful to who you are, allows you to grow.
3. Law of the Mirror – Looking in the mirror can be very scary, but it’s necessary for personal growth.
4. Law of Reflection – Sit back and smell the flowers. Take it slow and reflect on your actions.
5. Law of Consistency – +1, every single day!
6. Law of Environment – Misery loves company, so does prosperity!
7. Law of Design – Plan everything! Your day, week, month and year.
8. Law of Pain – This really hit me! You have to crumble and go through hell, to come out on top!
9. Law of Ladder – Grow yourself, step by step.
10. Law of the Rubber Band – Get as uncomfortable as you can, stretch yourself. Get out of your comfort zone!
11. Law of Trade-Offs – What will you give up, to find success?
12. Law of Curiosity – Question everything! Always ask why?
13. Law of Modeling – Follow leaders that came before you! Read a book, or two while you are at it!
14. Law of Expansion – Addition is cool, but multiplication is powerful.
15. Law of Contribution – Add value to everyone in your circle. What will your legacy be?

All in all, one of my favorite books of all time and a must read for anyone looking for some personal growth advice. Yup, I’m hooked! More John C. Maxwell books for me the next time I go to the bookstore…

Today I did what I usually do every weekend…Took a trip to the bookstore with my kid.

I spend the majority of time in the business section. Self improvement and personal finances are a close second and third. Today though I was poking around and checking out a lot of personal finance books that the ‘experts’ recommend and I found a recurring theme.

They seemed to base your ‘employment’ on it ending around 65 years of age and it was looked at often as the ‘dreadful working years’. Plan for the future because apparently your daily grind sucks.

I had to laugh.

What happens when you love what you do?

Do you retire at 65? Do you keep working? Am I retired now at 35 years of age because what I do is something I love and don’t consider it ‘work’?

Apparently work seems to be some kind of task and awful event in the prime of your life. Well for me and the millions of others that do what they love, it’s not. I dunno, I guess I encourage you to find something of passion. Really love what you do and then it doesn’t become a day to day job. It becomes your life mission. It’s something that pumps you up every day.

Find what you love and here’s the funniest thing, you start getting paid for it and wow. I’m already retired

This social web 2.0 stuff is pretty funny. We’re essentially given a platform to write what we want, when we want, whatever we want however at times I really ask myself if that’s what I should be doing…When should I rant and when should I keep my mouth shut.

For example, two things happened today that really upset me…

First, someone stole my son’s bike from our front yard overnight. This upset me but made me realize that no matter what kind of positive messages we want to put out there, some folks will still ‘steal from a kid’.

The more I thought of it though, the more I said…This person obviously needed this bike for whatever reason, so they took it without any second thought. I’m no longer angry about it, and my son will get a new bike (that I won’t leave in the front yard anymore)…But should I be as ‘relaxed about it’ as I am?

Second, business related. This may not make sense for folks that don’t understand my business but for those that do, we pay money every month for premium features in certain programs. To make our accounts premium the scripts use an IPN (instant payment notifications) from the payment processor that tells the owner’s script that we paid so our account should be upgraded. Fine, dandy.

The problem is, a very popular commercial script that a HUGE chunk of my industry uses constantly seems to downgrade our accounts. Which translates into less commissions, less bonuses and less features. Once I learn about it, I talk to the owner and they fix it but the damage has been done because tracking what we lost is very hard. And this happens constantly. On top of that, our sites seem to be ‘banned and suspended’ more often than not with this script. So do I make a big deal about it? Nope, I shut up and keep plugging along.

When should I raise concerns? When should I bring things up? Is this bringing it up?

That whole age old saying of ‘If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it’ is an ART! I can’t keep my mouth shut when I know I really should. But do I have legit concerns? About my kids bike being stolen and constantly having business issues with what we pay for?

This…Is another reason why I’m struggling so much with this personal development stuff. I know I should just shut up…but I can’t right now.

*frustrated*

It’s a funny thing when you think you know it all and then something unexpected pops up in front of you and not only humbles you greatly, but gets you even more excited to learn…

Case in point, my recent ‘re-discovery’ of John C. Maxwell and his amazing catalogue of published books. Here’s why this has been an ‘ah-ha’ moment in my life. First of all, I knew ‘about’ Dr. Maxwell for years (or at least I thought I did…) His topic and passion was leadership and to be brutally honest, I never considered myself to be any kind of leader at all. So with that…I never dug into his works. I concentrated on the marketing side of things, the sales, the advertising…

Then my business partner Justin Ledvina suggested that I get into his books specifically ‘Winning With People’…That was almost 2 years ago.

This weekend I finally dug in and read the entire book and let’s just say…My mind has been opened. No, that doesn’t do it justice…My mind has been BLOWN AWAY!

Leadership is an intriguing topic and as an owner of TimTech, I think it’s imperative for me to learn how to be the best leader I can be. And like Dr. Maxwell says in his books…This is a lifetime investment in oneself, never ending learning. I’m up for the challenge and so excited to be starting my adventures and self-education in leadership.

I always ‘thought’ I knew about leadership and John C. Maxwell’s lessons. Boy oh boy…Ignorant doesn’t begin to describe it.

Next up – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

A funny thing happened a few days ago. My son and me where driving around and we had just come back from the bookstore. In case you didn’t know, I’m addicted! I love to read and thankfully my son is just as much of a book worm as I am. So returning from our weekly dose of all things ‘book related’, I approached a stop light and put my foot on the brake a little more than I should of…

The bag filled with books spilled from the back seat of my truck onto the floor…While I’m digging through and picking all the books up my hand hit something under the seat and to my surprise I found this!

Here’s the back story of why this is kind of a moment for me to find these self-improvement CD’s. David Martin has been coming to seminars in my industry for a few years now and is a regular guest speaker at Randy Ritter’s Avenues To Success seminar series. David is a very cool guy and when we were first introduced, I purchased these CD’s with the goal of listening to them on my various drives around the country…Thing is, I lost the CD’s. 2 years ago…

I was kinda bummed out about that!

Well I found them and while there isn’t much of a ‘lesson’ or message in this blog post it’s just a funny story to me because dang, I really wanted to listen to these things. They weren’t cheap either lol

Anywho…Self-development David Martin style has begun…Disc Number 1 is called “Shape It In Your Mind, Find It In Your Life’…

I’m addicted to this stuff too! I love growing as a better person even if it’s 2 years late…