FREEEEDOOOOOM

FREEEEDOOOOOM

You have no idea how free I feel right now.  I have not written a blog post in several weeks.  Part of the reason is because I spent one week out of town for training.  But, the main reason is I have been bogged down trying to get caught back up on my business books.  You see, I really dislike keeping the books on my business.  So, this was one task in my business that I would let pile up.  It makes me crazy!  It is too detailed for me.  Uncle Sam seems to want to know an awful lot about how I spend my money.  Is it vehicle costs?  Advertising expenses?  Equipment purchased?  And, do you have all the receipts so the government can get their fair share?  Oh, and by the way, the more you make, the higher percentage you owe the government.  We must punish you for making money!

broken-shackles

Well, no more.  Except for the taxes part…that still happens.  But, I will not be the one doing the books anymore.  I have hired a CPA to take this off my plate for me.  Now, to some of you, this does not seem like a big deal.  Some of you wouldn’t let receipts pile up like I did.  Some of you are just a better person than I am!

You see, what I figured out is my company is called SPEAKING of Harvey.  It is not CPA Harvey.  The book keeping function of this business is important.  But, it was weighing me down.  Keeping the books was keeping me from doing other, more important things.  Things that I actually enjoy doing.  Things that I am actually good at!

When I first began professionally speaking, I was using a pretty basic PowerPoint presentation for my talks.  Then, after careful research and a desire to be “hip” (more the research than the “hip” thing), I purchased a Mac computer.  I purchased this because I saw someone give a presentation using Keynote.  It made PowerPoint look dumb!  So, I sat down with my Mac to convert all of my presentations to Keynote.  I hated this too!  I was figuring it out, but it was slow, frustrating, and I couldn’t make it look as “cool” as I wanted.  My computer was cooler than I was.  I was, clearly, holding it back.

That is when it hit me.  I have a graphic designer.  He designed my merchandise and my business cards for me.  I bet he could “geek out” my presentations for me.  So, I met up with my friend TJ who is the owner of  Timothy J Design Studio, and asked him to make my presentations cool.  He did an AMAZING job!  And, here’s the kicker.  Not only did he do way better than I could have ever done…he LOVED doing it.  He is a designer!  By hiring him to do this task, the one that was frustrating me, I allowed him to do what he does best.  And, by extension, I freed myself up to do what I do best.  Which, clearly, is not graphic design work.  All of the content was still mine.  It was just the visual presentation that he geeked out for me.

So, why did it take me so long to figure this out with my business books?  Why did I wait so long to turn this job over to someone who actually loves keeping books?  (yes, those people exist, apparently)  I don’t have a good reason.  The only reason I can come up with is pride.  I wanted people to think I had it all together.  It is my business after all.  But, what God is showing me is that He didn’t design me to do books or graphic design work.  He gifted me with the ability to motivate and move audiences when I speak.  The actual speaking part of my job isn’t work.  It is a blast!  I have so much fun speaking, I almost feel bad getting paid.  Almost.

So, my question is…what are you holding onto?  What is keeping you from doing the things God designed you to do?  Can I just give you permission to let it go?  You see, someone out there actually loves doing that thing you hate.  And, because of their passion, they will do a much better job than you would.  Give it to them.  And, then, get out there and do what God has designed you to do.  Everyone wins!

Be free!  It feels great!

What is holding you back?  What steps can you make TODAY to get out from under that burden?  I would love to hear your comments.

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