In about an hour, the hands of the clock will tick and another year will come to pass. The year 2012 is filled with great memories that will forever be etched in my heart. It’s the year that overhauled my personal and professional life.
The Greatest Miracle and Life Being a New Dad
On the personal level, I have witnessed the greatest miracle in the world (for me) in the birth of my first born son, Ethan Gabriel. Nothing prepares you to becoming a new parent. I am very proud of my wife Anna for her sacrifices for the 9 months that Ethan Gabriel was in her womb, and the many months of sleepless nights that followed after he was born. Even though it was a challenging time for both my wife and I and our baby boy, I wouldn’t trade it for the whole world. The experience bonded us together. It gave us a deeper appreciation of how fragile life really is, and at a blink of an eye all the blessings can be taken away from you. If not for God’s grace, everything would lose its meaning.
Being a new dad is really life changing. It has touched my life on a deeper level. Now I feel I have a deeper understanding on how fragile it is to be caring for another life who is your own flesh and blood. There were nights when I rarely got a decent sleep especially in the first few months…but eventually I learned to adjust. Now, my baby boy is 8 months old and he is growing very rapidly. His sweet smile can light up a room! Every day, he seems to be learning a new thing or two. I’m enjoying every moment I spend with him.
First Year in Business
This year was my first year being a full-time entrepreneur. In February, our business hit a milestone of earning $1,000 in a single week. Thanks to our great team who made it happen. We wouldn’t have made it had it not been for the support of each one of our business partners. Thank you.
I’m still a baby in terms of running a business, and I feel very fortunate to have met a lot of great mentors who helped shape me to become a better leader, a better business partner and a better friend to those around me. Thanks to XTRM 1-11 and its team of mentors.
Transitioning from employment to business is not an easy thing to do. There were a lot of challenges, mostly in shifting my core values away from security to embracing the promise of financial and time freedom. There were times when I certainly had doubts in my mind whether I made the right decision or not. But every time I watch my son in my arms, I remember why I ventured into business in the first place. I want to learn to become a better businessman, so that I can give the life without limits to my family. There’s no greater joy than seeing them have all the opportunities and possibilities that life has to offer.
A Taste of Time Freedom
One thing I am very grateful about what I do is that it has allowed me the opportunity to spend some time with my wife and new baby especially during the first months after my wife gave birth…and the great thing was even though I was not working, the money still kept coming in. I wouldn’t have experienced that in my job as an IT consultant where the motto is “no work, no pay.” Every day was like holiday.
I remember a funny thing happened to me on my 2nd week at the hospital. I was asked 3 times on 3 days if I was on leave. Only on the 3rd time did I realize that perhaps it was unusual for a husband to be beside her wife and baby every day, for 24 hours/day because most dad’s only had 1 week of paternity leave and I was already on my 2nd week. I felt really blessed to say the least.
When the greatest miracle happened in our lives, I felt really fortunate to have been able to save up for emergency fund which allowed us to cope up with the hospital expenses. Yes, it was a challenging time, but having something to rely on financially allowed us to focus on the more important stuffs, and that is being there for one another physically, emotionally and spiritually. We prayed together. We cried together. We were physically exhausted together. We were blessed for we had each other.
It is true when they say, money is not the most important thing in life, but it affects the most important things.
Status of Project 100
This year also marked the completion of project 100. As of the time of this writing, there are now 104 people who have earned $40/week – $1,000/week as part of the project. Besides the financial blessings that come with it, what gives me greater joy is in having the chance to elevate the lives of the people who have been part of the project.
It’s not been an easy journey trying to coach people with different backgrounds, different goals, different levels of maturity in their journey to financial freedom, but it is all worth it. In the process, I’ve learned a lot of things about myself, about my weaknesses, about the things I love to do, and about life in general. I’ve been blessed to have a great team with me who have helped project 100 become successful.
What’s next? In my next article on goals, I will reveal to you what’s next for project 100.
What to Expect in Rich Money Habits Blog?
With the changes that have happened in my life I have had very little progress made in this blog. I apologize for not being able to contribute a lot to your financial growth through this blog. Soon, I will share a lot more about my business adventures here. As you might have observed, I have shifted my focus of this blog from stocks investing and personal finance to focus more on business. I will share more about the reasons in the next articles.
Now, I’d like to take this time to personally thank you for your very warm support for this blog. If not for you, I would not have had the confidence to continue down this path.
Thank you for your emails. I appreciate you letting me get a glimpse of your life. Thank you for sharing your dreams and struggles with me. Event though I fail to respond to you on a timely manner sometimes, please know that I read each of your emails personally and your stories remain in my thoughts and in my heart.
I wish you well this coming year 2013. May the good Lord bless your family not only financially but also in being able to spend time and celebrate with one another! Cheers to a great year that passed and to an even better year to come!
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