How Entrepreneurial Kids Can Save America

Just imagine a thriving American economy, full of happy business owners on the constant lookout for great employees! Imagine kids, instead of standing on street corners looking for trouble, standing in line for their business licenses. And imagine what the attitude of our country would be if the school system looked at our kids as potential leaders instead of as potential losers. We would wake up in the morning full of vision, dreams and ideas, and our employees would feel like part of something gigantic, as if a huge nest egg were about to hatch. But instead, so many in our workforce today have contempt for the very people who give them their paychecks. They have been trained to expect instead of perform; they have been indoctrinated with the idea that the American Entrepreneur is the monster in the closet.

I hear it every day, “My son or daughter is running with the wrong kids,” “I have no control over them,” “They used to be good kids, now they are taking drugs and not coming home at night,” etc., etc., and it never ends! We all scratch our wooden heads and ask ourselves: Where did we go wrong? What happened to my beautiful child? Let’s reflect. From a very young age, did you give your kids everything they ever wanted? Do they have all the latest electronics and distractions, all the designer clothes, or do they have nothing but their friends, no money for anything, no direction, but find out that if they hang out with the wrong crowd, they can have it all the wrong way? Do you give your kids money when they need it? Do you know what type of people your kids hang out with? What do you see in your child—a spoiled couch potato with no interests; a lost soul wandering from person to person looking for inspiration, or a young man or woman full of ideas and dreams, and not afraid to take on the world with gusto?

In these questions are the answers to our country’s future success or failure. We have become a nation of spoiled, entitled people with only ourselves to blame. We have failed our children by allowing the system to dictate to our guilt what we should think and how we should act and feel as Americans. The system has betrayed us, and it has lulled us into a sleep that has created an epidemic of politically correct zombies—followers who act without ever truly thinking.

History shows us that we used to be a country of fearless entrepreneurs, and kids learned by becoming apprentices. We now spawn leachy, ungrateful kids who think they know everything, and even when many of them have the opportunity to go to college, they graduate without knowing how to write a check and end up flipping burgers. Strangely, they take up the quest of fighting for the government's protection so that the system's nanny-like qualities will always be there to care for these dulled, dumbed-down students who step into reality for the first time in their lives completely clueless.

I am convinced that deep down inside each and every true American is a yearning to be free and independent, whether it is planting a garden, designing and building, or creating a dream business. I truly believe that each and every American wants to be self-governed and self-reliant, but then why do we believe in the system that takes this all away? It is the system that does not inspire self-respect; the system is in the discouragement business, not the encouragement business!

I have found a secret that cures most of what is hurting our kids and, believe or not, it is beyond simple—teaching a child as young as five years old the art of entrepreneurship! Kids are already natural entrepreneurs. Just help them set up a lemonade stand and watch their innate ability to create, sell and promote their product, and the end result, self-respect. If the American school system could turn out entrepreneurs and leaders instead of employees, we would have the perfect balance of economic strength and the true American Dream!

If we inspire our youth to be self-reliant, we will spoil the plans of the enablers and grow a new country within a country. We will awake the sleeping giant of the Entrepreneurial Spirit which is the engine of the American Dream and strength.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online bookstore HERE.

Chunky Chili Salsa - Dianne's Style

 

Syndicated national talk show host Dianne Linderman talks about Everything That Matters, while sharing her wonderful, healthy, quick recipes that can be easily made in your own kitchen, for the whole family to enjoy around the dinner table.

 

Dianne loves bringing families together back to the dinner table and believes that kids are not learning how to cook anymore because everybody eats out so much! When Dianne was growing up, going out to dinner, or breakfast, or lunch once a month was a big ordeal, and nowadays many families eat out pretty much every single meal. Fast food tastes good and is inexpensive, and is easily accessible, so we all eat out... but fast food is not necessarily healthy for you!

 

One of the things that matters most to Dianne is healthy cooking. Dianne has battled weight her whole life, and has just recently lost 35 lbs by slowly changing the way she eats. Her recipes are healthy, yet delicious, and you can find them all in Dianne's cookbook, Everything That Matters in the Kitchen, which came out only a little over a month ago:

 

Here is one of Dianne Linderman's delicious salsa recipes – Chunky Chili Salsa - that is healthy, simple, fast & easy to make in a matter of minutes! Use all organic ingredients for an organic salsa:

 

- Roma tomatoes (use 4 or 5)

- Green chiles (boil, chop and take seeds out)

- Green onion

- Red onion

- Organic cilantro

- Lime 1 to 1.5

- 1-2 tsp garlic salt

- Add sweetener if desired

 

Chop in a blender for some seconds, but do not puree, and -viola!- you have just made some delicious salsa that can be used with chips, or to go along with home-made quesadillas (Dianne makes scrumptious quesadillas, too!).

 

Dianne owned a restaurant for 25 years, and for 10 of those years she had a restaurant on an organic farm, where she learned all about fresh vegetables and herbs. People came from everywhere to get married on that farm and have their wedding reception right there with the most incredible food that you could ever have.

 

This restaurant became so popular that it was written about in the Sunset Magazine, and sometimes people told Dianne that they were moving to the area for the restaurant, which was pretty incredible! The restaurant was called Country Cottage Cafe & Bakery, located in the beautiful Southern Oregon.

 

Today, Dianne loves to showcase her cooking at various Fairs throughout the country, and she does 3 shows per day, and presents a different recipe every single time! Dianne's cooking is very versatile – one day she is cooking up oriental foods, the next day – Mexican foods, and believes that if they are done right, they can both be very healthy. Dianne uses all fresh ingredients, such as vegetables, and preserves their natural quality throughout her cooking process. All of Dianne's recipes take 10 minutes of less to make!

 

Join Dianne Linderman's “Recipe of Month Club” membership at no charge – just sign up with your e-mail on Dianne's website: http://www.everythingthatmattersradio.com/contact.html .You can also hear Dianne's show on KMED.com, and read her articles on her blog: http://diannelinderman.blogspot.com/

 

What is Real Leadership?

For me it’s simple! Doing what I know and love, having a deep rooted direction and not allowing anyone to derail me. Here’s an example: I was working with one of the young girls in my company, setting up one our beautiful attractions at a fair, and we were down to the last details. (I am a firm believer that you never leave out any details, especially when these details are what make our business great!) The girl tried her best to get me to forget the last few details so we could go home for the day because she was tired! I saw her efforts as a very interesting study, so I allowed her to use her subtle will to try to convince me to just settle for what we had done. I found it astonishing that she tried every manipulation, even telling me that the attraction was so beautiful the way it was and that no one would ever notice the tiny details that I was attending to! I finally had enough of her tugging and took this lesson to a place she did not expect; I used my true leadership skills and showed her a fascinating principle.

I looked at her and asked this simple question, “If I were to listen to you and not listen to myself, and not attend to the details, what do you think would happen to my company? What would happen to me as a person if you could talk me out of my own principles—principles that I have built my life and business upon? Worse yet, what would happen to you, a lazy, dishonorable person who thinks that your opinion really matters, when it is only about you and not the future of my company? Worse yet, if you want to live a life of nothingness, then you can remain a minimalist, and you will be assured a minimal existence!”

These words may seem harsh to you, but they snapped her out of her journey of tearing down success, and she now is a star employee/partner in my company. This scenario happens every minute of every day, and a real leader recognizes that people can go either way and watches and waits to see those who will not snap out of that destructive state and weeds them out. After a while, you can simply flick them off of your shoulder like a bug. However, every once in a while a person will come along who may even be well-meaning at first, but will eventually try to pull you and your whole company down into their trap.

They can be the most useful people in the world. They will do everything for you in the name of respect and for the cause. They subtly make sure you know how much they do, and cast a tiny shadow of doubt on your other staff, especially your finest, most loyal associates or family members. Sometimes they don’t even know what they are doing, compelled to undermine while looking like they are the most important, always there and willing! They are always some sort of expert in something, which is their greatest tool. I call this their separation tool which they use with pinpoint accuracy like a sword. They gradually bring down the morale of a business and even families because they are not real leaders. Trust me, I have experience with these types of people—they are so good at what they do, you want to adopt them and put them in your will. I almost lost my entire company to one of these people, but it ended up being the best awakening I have ever had.

A real leader is the perfect equalizer. Their strength is in their purpose, which is not their own. They are not always aware of why they move in a certain direction, but rarely even question, because a great leader has great faith. A real leader helps liberate a searching person from their fears and conditioning, and raises them up out of their box to see for brief moments the freedom and opportunities that real leaders see! These brief opportunities to see life lit up is all it takes for the true leader to help others out of their tangled mess. There are some that will never be blessed with vision and ideas; their job is to simply tear down morale and to complicate life for everyone.

A real leader simplifies the complicated and finds a solution for every problem, because it is their greatest joy to see what most people miss and to show them the simplicity of the solution. Many people miss the solution because they are about themselves and not the cause. A real leader never puts off until tomorrow what they know they need to do today! They move things off of their desk and conclude their tasks with ease. Most people love to work with a true leader because they feel life moves at a healthy rate, and they are inspired to dig a little deeper within themselves. A pretend leader will never understand a real leader.

I have seen that people who pretend to be leaders are somewhat like a block of cement tied to your foot. Life does not move the way it should, and there is always a lot of waiting for non-leaders to direct, whereas a real leader knows how to delegate tasks, inspiring people to not only trust in themselves, but also to have an understanding of what real trust is. You will never know what a person is made of until you trust them at least once, and maybe a few hundred more times.

A real leader does not hold back people from their potential; they see a person’s options allowing each person to see their own potential. A real leader is not always aware of their leadership qualities, but they are always aware of their effect on both good and bad people and do not use their strength to hurt or destroy a person, (people do that to themselves.) A real leader leads and does not trip people up. A real leader is born a real leader, and no matter what you do, you cannot stop them in their mission!

Dianne Linderman can be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show- “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online shopping cart.