Get the new Christmas album from “Mayors of Europa” for free . The “Mayors” are a new artist collaboration between Stewart Gray (yes, we are related. He’s my oldest son) and Nathan Johnson. Stewart and Nathan are both very talented lads and also seniors at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO.

Take a listen by clicking on the arrow in the player box below!

You can download their album for FREE by clicking below!

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We each have our expectations of what the world should give us.

We have built this notion of an American dream, but our economy cannot sustain it. Two lay-offs since 2008 as proof for me.

Our hearts cannot bear the reality.

For me, it has been in the strange and awkward in-between spaces of the unknown meadows of life that God has provided me with the greatest amount of creativity. More, so much more, than I ever thought possible.

Fluid, it runs, from my head and heart, onto the page and my hands and feet move with it’s fuel.

I have forgotten about the American pipe-dream. And settled for the strange and awkward in-between spaces of the unknown meadows of life where God-inspired dreams form and become formulas.

This summer I have been working my way through “The $100 Startup” by Chris Guillebeau, not because I am looking to start a bunch more stuff, but because Chris’ book has a bunch of solid wisdom stories and advice for folks starting or who own a company. I got my copy from the library so you can read it whenever I decide to give it back.

This is a book that I recommend you read with notebook. There is a lot of great tips and wisdom that I will forget without recording them somewhere.

I want to share with you something that I wish I would have latched-on to long ago:

“Tip: When thinking about different business ideas, also think about money. Get in the habit of equating “money stuff” with ideas.” 

-The $100 Startup, page 28

My initial reaction was,

“…but I need to be free from money and all that business stuff to really create great work!”

I think I went about this all wrong…I made the assumption without context. So, I sat and processed that for a bit. And when I say “processed” I wrote it in my notebook and took a few weeks to think about it. Here I am a few weeks later.

For fun, I plugged this notion of ideas and money into my logo “Dream, Build, Create”. In a talk I have given at a college and at a conference I referenced this process of managing ideas that happen:

Dream: Immerse yourself for a few hours or day and ideate, dream, etc. about what you want to do or make. Do not concern yourself at this point. Grab a whiteboard or moleskine and go bananas with brainstorming your dream.

Build: Take time later from the Dream section (it could be later in the day) to estimate, ideally this is where you make a plan of how it would happen with what you have available.

-What resources do I have to make this happen?

-How much money will it take?

-Who else needs to help me?

Create: In this stage, you make an action plan,  set a date, and start creating your dream. And NO MATTER what happens, something must be delivered on this set date. YOU MUST LAUNCH!

After reflecting on this for a few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that the ideas and money concept does fit, but it happens in the “estimate” phase of my formula.

Note to self: don’t forget to figure out the money part!

Here are 3 questions that Guillebeau suggests that your should ask for every idea:

a. How much would I get paid with this idea?

b. How much would I get paid from this idea?

c. Is there a way I could get paid more than once?