Morning Reflections of 1Q2015

April 1, 2015

Today marks the first day of the second quarter. With this in mind, I have decided to reflected on the first quarter of 2015. This year has been grand to this point. I would not change a thing. I only seek to improve upon where I am now.

Since taking a position with a local non-profit last year, my work has dominated my daily activity. I work to live, and the work I do is in alignment with my talents, gifts, and intentions. During the first quarter I created a survey for low-income to moderately low income households in an effort to identify financial literacy needs. From this survey, I moderated a focus group in order to hear more detail about the needs of each family and individual as I work with a team of professionals to craft programming and initiative more closely related to the actual need. My work is centered around asset building, specifically home ownership.

The only thing more demanding on my life than my job is my relationship with my son. It’s a good demanding as he enters his final months of pre-teenager living. I have one child, and he is an amazing guy. So far this year, we have witnessed a game-winning shot at the Alamodome by his favorite high school player and future Aggie, DJ Hogg. The shot was to win the state tournament by the way. In addition, many weekends we have his friends over at the house. It’s become more of a ministry for me. I get to have fun with young men, and also be an example for them. For me, this is priceless.

When I am not at my office or visiting my son’s school on my lunch break, I am consulting on the side. Prior to accepting a full-time position, I’d become a serial entrepreneur. It’s still in me, but right now my business is limited to the consulting work I do after 5pm. I am encouraged, because even this work aligns with my bigger vision for myself and the people I serve. It’s gotten to the point that people actually pay to talk to me. Yes, they pay me to tell them what I think they should do as it relates to starting a company and planning for its success.

Speaking of business success, my ultimate professional goal is to manage a real estate investment trust fund with assets of $10M by the time I am 40 years old. I finished one important step in that realm this quarter by completing 30 hours of Salesperson Apprenticeship Education (SAE) in Real Estate Investments. This is part of a larger plan to renew my real estate license, in order that I begin practicing in my local community where my contacts and relationships are already strong. As things unfold, I will issue a private offering to start this REIT. Before that, I have 30 more hours to complete which I have scheduled for April 18-19 when I will complete a course in Commercial Real Estate. Exciting, I know.

All work and no play makes Ethan a no fun guy. With this in mind, I continue to seek the balance needed to access my greater self. God laid the blueprint for man from day one. That blueprint includes a helpmate. I admittedly, may be out of touch with the mainstream modern woman, but she is not who I want. In seeking out my mate, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself this year. For starters, I can come off as very rude. I am evolving as a man, and this is something I am choosing to fix, so I do not limit myself, and I can be ready when loves comes calling. I have dealt with a very aggressive woman this year, she helped me see some things about myself I otherwise would have overlook, and I have dealt with a very reserved and perhaps even confused woman. She helped me see what I do not want in a mate.

I can’t be sitting around on my hands waiting for my wife, so I have also gotten out into the lights for a good time, a time or two. Most notably, when I found a roundtrip ticket to San Diego in January for $115. I visited my brother who was in Cali with his job. San Diego and LA were all that. First time in SD, not my first time in LA. But it’s LA, everytime is like your first time if you play it right. We had a blast, just me and my oldest younger brother. The highlight would be “Sippin mimosas in Hermosa.” You had to be there!

So that’s it, the first quarter of 2015 is officially behind us. Now is that moment you have been waiting for. The moment where you get to design the rest of your life, your year, your 2^nd quarter. 

Live comfortable my friend.

EB