Max Blog

It's been a while since I've updated my blog, obviously. I want first to catch up on the books that I've read since the two Kiyosaki books. A partial list (the ones I really enjoyed) is here: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie Creating Wealth by Robert Allen Multiple Streams of Internet Income by Robert Allen Twelve Pillars by Jim Rohn & Chris Widener The 5 Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me by Richard Paul Evans Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason How to Stop Worrying & Start Living - Dale Carnegie The Art of Influence by Chris Widener Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz Multiple Streams of Income by Robert Allen The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach The Bible by GOD These are not in order, just the way I read them. I've been reading in the Bible for a few months now and I'm about to finish it. It's been, ...

I've recently started a series of training sessions based on the Rich Dad Poor Dad series by Robert Kiyosaki. After receiving this book and the second one in the series, Cashflow Quadrant, from a friend, Chris Kearns , I decided to sign up for the coaching through Rich Dad Coaching . I expect this coaching to help me focus my goals and work out a plan to achieve them. It is a year long plan of study, beginning with 16 weekly sessions and assignments. Of course my goals are not "get rich" for only personal gain, but to become free to do the things that I enjoy doing, like spending more time with my family, church work (missions & benevolence), more blogging and other internet interests, running my businesses, building houses, developing land, etc. I've also decided that the first thing that is going is standing up in front of the Planning Commission and City Council and "fighting" for a project. It's just not fun or exciting anymore. That's beca...

I should have done this earlier, maybe Father's Day or something, but I saw this video on Youtube today (I should give credit to www.familymanweb.com for the referral to the video) and it reminded me about the past, but I still have some of these experiences because of my neices. Raegan was, and still is, a handful, especially as we navigate the middle teen years and driving and boys (I'll bet the Dad in the video's song changes when his girls get teenage) but each phase has been a joy for me. I've loved being her Dad and look forward to many more years. My neices are many. I only have one nephew, Brandon, and he's in Texas now. I'm sure he's great and all, and he'll have to carry on the Maxwell name, but the girls are numerous and special to me. My brother Joel, also Brandon's dad, has one girl, Jennifer, the oldest who's a woman now. Jennifer is so sweet, even for a UGA graduate. My other brother, Allen, has one, Kayla. We have a spec...

Stephanie and I decided (mostly I, Stephanie went along, as usual) to get into the land development business. An opportunity to purchase 17 acres within the Preserve development in North Auburn came along and we made an offer. It was accepted, so we're in business. Or, at least we have to round up the money to do the project, and then we're in business. We're working on financing now and hope to be under construction by the end of October. These 16 lots range in size from 0.62 acres to over 2 acres. We'll be asking from $105,000 to $136,000 for them. The development is planned to be very upscale with wide roads with medians and lots of landscaping. Minimum house size will be 2800 square feet with all garages being at the back of the houses. This means that houses will probably sell in the $500,000 plus range. I've handled all aspects of land development for a number of other folks in and around Auburn, now I'll be trying to do the same for us personally. We'...

Happy Birthday to my wife! (She shall remain nameless by her request. Actually she said "don't put me on that thang." I haven't gotten this far by listening to everyone who tries to limit my creativity.) Scripture: Proverbs 31:10-30 10 [a] A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. 12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. 14 She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. 16 She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. 18 She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. 19 In her hand she ...

I setup a blog for our India Mission work today. It is located at Deva Anbu Illam . If this works out well I may try to get our other missionaries to do this so that they can keep us informed. Blogs are a lot easier to use and maintain than a website. Link for the Day: Bible Gateway - a great resource for searching the scriptures and for copying & pasting passages into your documents. Quote of the Day: If charity costs nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists. -- Yiddish Proverb

I'm over half-way through a great book by Larry Burkett " Business By The Book : The Complete Guide of Biblical Principles for the Workplace ." This book "offers radical principles of business management that go beyond the Ten Commandments and other biblical maxims. Business by the Book is a step-by-step presentation of how busineess should be run according to the Creator of all management rules: God." The book has gotten me excited about trying some of the principles mentioned in the Book in our business. While I've tried to do that over the years, there are some good points about debt, lifestyle goals, vows, seeking counsel, hiring decisions, firing decisions, employee pay, and including your spouse as counselor and in making business decisions. Quotes: It is not who is right, but what is right, that is important. -- Thomas Huxley (1825-1895), Biologist and educator When the white man discovered this country Indians were running it. No taxes no debt,...

Well, in trying to think about what's happening with me this month, I wanted to point out a couple of things. First, we started a Leadership Training process at work. This involved an evaluation of each manager by every other manager and the rest of the employees at Maxwell Engineering. Tim Broadwall , of Broadwell Consulting , is doing the evaluation and training. We had our first session last week and it went very well. I'm looking forward to learning all that Tim can teach us. I just hope that we can put it into action. I don't know if it was during this process or before, but I was looking at some websites of organizations who sold fractional ownership of vacation getaways. This got me to thinking that, first, I needed a vacation and, second, that I'd like to own something like this. Well, by the time I looked at the prices, I figured that I could just spend the amount they wanted for annual dues and we could go on a vacation to whatever place we wanted each year. T...

I started reading an online book sent to me by www.trustetc.com today. It is "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. It was written shortly after the Great Depression, but so far (I'm up to Chapter 4) it has a lot of great ideas. I don't necessarily agree that you should "desire" money at the cost of everything else, but you can apply the principles of goal setting and focus on a lot of things. The direct link to the PDF file is http://www.iraetc.com/tgr2/tgr.pdf if you want to download it. The Trust ETC Site ( www.trustetc.com ) will be my link for the day. There is a lot of good investment information on their site. This site also tells about the Real Estate IRA , which is a great find. The quotes today are all similar so I'll give you three: It is not the same to talk of bulls as to be in the bullring. -- Spanish Proverb It is easy to be brave from a distance. -- Native American Proverb I want to see you shoot the way you shout. -- Theodore R...