“The Innovative Kids of America Project”

Over Memorial Day weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of launching my newest concept to teach America’s kids how to become young entrepreneurs. “The Innovative Kids of America Project” was an absolute hit with fair attendees at The Sacramento County Fair. The idea is based on my series of kids’ books, “How to Become an Entrepreneurial Kid" that I wrote to share my own kids' success learning the lessons of starting a business with their very first yard sale cookie stand. The transformation of my kids after their first entrepreneurial endeavor was enough to inspire a nation, and that is just what I plan on doing!

"The Innovative Kids of America Project" provides an opportunity for kids all over the country to have an outlet for their creative ideas by teaching parents and kids how to achieve the American Dream of having their own business. Last weekend, ten kids between the ages of 3 through 18 each had their very own booth at the Sacramento County Fair. They had a few weeks before the fair to come up with what they wanted to create and/or resell. Every child made money, some more than others, but this experience was unbelievably successful for all who participated. The interaction with customers and each other was beautiful. What a great opportunity to use their academic skills, master communication with customers, and even learn about success and failure. (It was most interesting to watch the kids reinvent themselves when their product was not selling.) I had grandparents come up to me crying, “I wish I had this opportunity when I was a child; my life would have turned out differently!"

The American school system does not teach economics, and even worse, it preaches that kids have to prepare to become employees, not an employer’s! If you know anything about economics, you know that 80% of this country's economy is based on small business; they are the job creators in this country, and the lack of focus on this fact is frightening. We do not inspire kids to think like job creators anymore, we expect them to just get good grades and go to college, and then what? Get a job and work for a small business? 50% of college graduates can’t find a job! If America does not start cultivating entrepreneurs, its brilliant innovators will become extinct.

The government's anti-small business environment is deterring many Americans from becoming excited about starting a business. There will always be certain entrepreneurs who will succeed in going against the flow of this socialist-style movement, and who will remain solid and successful, but because very few Americans are offered the opportunity to realize the possibilities of being their own boss, we have so many people voting for big government. They really don’t understand that no one is always going to take care of them, and that freedom is about self-reliance not dependence.

Children are America’s great hope! Kids are natural entrepreneurs, and it only takes one entrepreneurial experience to awaken that spirit that dwells in so many of us. This opportunity to present “The Innovative Kids of America Project” to Sacramento Fair attendees proved to be the launching ground of a national movement. I plan on working with fairs all over the country to inspire kids to start their own businesses. "The Innovative Kids of America Project" changed those ten kids' lives forever, and the sky is the limit for success. This was America’s entrepreneurial spirit in action, and the parents were thrilled! Help me work some Great American Magic, and let’s create a pro-small business movement and take back our country one small business at a time!

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 shopping cart.

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.

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.

Getting Back to Basics

Because of this crazy economy, we all start to think about the real possibility of losing our jobs and our way of life. Unfortunately most Americans have searched most of their lives, not for long term financial security, but for comfort! We buy beautiful things for our homes, nice cars, overpriced clothing and jewelry. We wine, dine, and pay for expensive entertainment, all the while not thinking about what we would do if it all came to a sudden stop!

It is never too late to start planning, and because I have had to find a way to survive a few financial disasters in my life, I can now look at any adversity in life as a total adventure. It’s all about your attitude and how willing you are to live with less. I call this getting back to basics. What did you do that made you money when you were a very young person? I was 16 years old when I became a silversmith. At first it was just for fun. I took my simple, plain sterling silver bands to school and sold them for a hefty profit to all my friends. After making dozens and dozens of plain bands, I had to really start thinking of new and more interesting bands, so I purchased some silver stamps, and stamped my bands to make them look unique and was able to sell my new designs to the very same friends. I moved on to setting stones on my simple bands, and, before I knew it, I was a full fledged silversmith.

I am sharing this story with you because everyone has a creative base, and even if you think you don’t have one, you can start this very moment. Jewelry is not only a craft, but it is also a passion, an investment, and, if you don’t mind sitting outside all day, it can become the perfect business for anyone with even a small amount of creativity. My favorite memories were the days at outside crafters fairs with my 14-year-old brother in the sunshine just hundreds of yards from the beach. Even then I thought, “What a way to live!” When my brother and I returned home at night, we counted our bounty, and, on a good day, at 16 years old, I pulled in hundreds of dollars, and as I told you in a previous article, on my best day ever, I made $800.

So many of us have forgotten the simple times in life, always believing that, if we could get the perfect job and make lots of money, we would be able to relax, but what most of us found out is that we spent the first half of our lives acquiring things and the second half of our lives getting rid of things. Having too much becomes a burden and then you can’t enjoy anything that you have acquired. I guess as we get older we start to appreciate the simple things in life again, and that’s where I am at.

Plant a garden, rid yourself of stuff you never use, redecorate your home in things you have made or found and painted, even photos you have taken. Set up a monthly yard sale and even embellish and recycle some of your old junk. I know people who make a huge living doing this, and they are happier than they have ever been, spending days going through thrift stores and yard sales. And, once a month, they have what they call a barn sale, or even something quaint, like a garden sale. These same friends of mine used to make six-figure incomes and are so much happier being creative, treasure hunters. Some of them buy antique jewelry and add new beads and crystal to make unique, beautiful jewelry.

Getting back to basics is really about finding your original passions in life, and, before you have to, start thinking of what you could do and simply start doing it. Go to crafters fairs, flea markets, and farmers markets and even find others who have an online presence and grill them about what is effective. Learn photography; everything I have ever done in life has required some photos, and just like everything else, they represent quality. I buy hundreds of magazines, and look for ideas in decorating, colors, and even the way photos are taken. Educate yourself, and don’t be afraid to fail. If you start thinking about the basics before you need to, you will have security and will not find yourself without them.

Balance

I was taking a walk the other day and passed by the window of a yoga studio. A sign in the window said, “Learn to find your center.” In that moment, this statement struck the core of my being, and the word “balance” came to mind.

Life is all about balance, and when things are out of balance, nothing works: when you bake a cake and forget an ingredient, complete failure; if you forget to put a bolt in an engine, the engine dies; when two parents don’t work together in harmony, kids get out of control; eat too much and you’ll get fat, but eat too little and you’ll become skinny; too much stress makes you sick and not enough stress makes you lazy; not using enough fertilizer in your garden produces weak, slow-growing veggies, but use too much fertilizer and your veggies get burned; when husbands and wives communicate too little, they end up in divorce; too much knowledge makes a person feel inadequate, but not enough knowledge makes a person feel inadequate; too much personality makes you look needy, not enough personality makes you look needy; spend too much money and you go into debt, don’t spend enough money and it all goes to taxes. I could go on forever and give a billion out of balance scenarios, but no matter how hard you work at anything you do, nothing will ever work properly until there is a perfect balance.

Take our government: too much liberalism, the country falls into a deep hole; too much conservatism, the country becomes rigid. There is a natural balance in life and without it no administration will ever succeed. It will only push us further away from the center where the majority of most good people are! If a leader does not understand what perfect balance is, he himself is out of balance and can only lead us to failure. To find perfect balance in anything you do takes discipline, awareness and thoughtfulness, nothing more and nothing less.

Nature is a very powerful equalizer, and as our leaders try to push us out of balance the good people of America will push back in order to correct the tilt! I see only good things ahead as more people begin to realize they don’t like living on a slope. Most people are lazy and won’t move unless they are pushed. As I see it, the slope is becoming unbearable. There will always be cling-ons who hold onto the tiny morsels that are promised to them and make these morsels the center of their universe. These people live on a slant and would feel very uncomfortable if their lives were level. The frightening thought is that it seems like our President is increasingly attempting to put our country out of balance by stacking more cling-ons on the left-leaning slope, even if he has to create another country that he has basically purchased by entitlements. Buying votes in exchange for entitlements seems to be a mainstay for his administration.

The complete out of balance co-leadership of the present administration sets the agenda for what they want our country to become, and they think that if they push hard enough, we will all tumble over and grab onto the tiny morsels they throw to us. The good people of America, the brace that holds our country steady, will never tumble to the left-leaning slope. They are the steel cross bars of our country’s frame and cannot be moved or tilted, and, in fact, get stronger as the pressure on them persists. These Americans have a core that is immovable and they keep themselves thoughtfully and properly in balance in all matters of life, country, business, family, and even politics.

No matter how out of balance its leaders try to push this country, the spring back on them will be a force they do not understand and won’t know how to deal with. They are interfering with the balance of human nature, and even though they think they figured out how to manipulate the outcome, nature always wins and balance is its end result!

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Sure Glad Cows Don't Fly

Don’t look up now—it’s too late! The B.S. was coming down in buckets as Nancy Pelosi and her posse took advantage of hard-working entrepreneurs who were too busy making a living in order to pay for the millions of unemployed Americans. Maybe that’s part of the plan, keeping the American work force and business owners so busy trying to foot the bill for our country’s bad money managers that we don’t have time to protest or read the 1000-page health care bill. I don’t know about you, but I woke up on Sunday morning to find out that 220 people had stolen a piece of my children’s future. I would love to plant a few of the money trees that our new health care system is going to require.

Many of us have become a society of believers in a dream. Not the American dream, but a twisted dream where you wake up and have everything you ever wanted, without working for it. I have been blown away listening to people who think that we are actually going to have free health care for all. These are the same people who sign up for every free give-away that pops up in their e-mail, buy hundreds of dollars of lotto tickets, and gamble away their life savings in slot machines never wondering whose money is jingling around inside. Drunk with visions of their own freedom through gifts and entitlements, they are betting that they will win, never believing that they will most definitely lose. They want to believe in a lie because they don’t believe in their own abilities to achieve the real American Dream. Instead of grasping onto the reins of their own horse, these people believe that the fairy godfather is going to deliver them happiness and equality without their ever having earned it.

The do-gooders, who are the (mis)leaders of our country, paint such a pretty picture for their followers. These followers don’t really want the truth anyway; they love the excitement of the lie. The misleaders have been trained in engage in deceptive warfare on good Americans and with such sureness, they explain to the hopeful that the money to pay for all of the freebies will not come from taxpayers.

But these misleaders aren’t wearing their own boots because they have been bribed to wear someone else’s. In their greed and cowardice, they have chosen not to represent Americans, but to represent the special interests of those in our highest offices. They have been promised the same twisted dream that they have been asked to sell to us, and even though deep down in their toes they know the truth, they have given up any desire to stand on principal. They have been promised that their elite positions will be protected if they just all stand together. They have been told not to show fear and to charge forward no matter what the silly American people want or think.

This type of bullying can be seen in every schoolyard. Just last week my 12-year-old daughter had to stand her ground with a pushy 14-year-old who uses her personality, cuteness, and over-bearing aggression to get exactly what she wants from the whole class. She has learned that all it takes is pure irritation and an overzealous personality and the understanding that, when she gets people mad enough, she can point her finger at them as the problem and then she is in control.

My daughter was able to take her on because she did not get irritated. Instead, she spoke up with love and conviction, showing the other girl that she was actually the problem and not accepting her craziness. My daughter gave her a dose of correction, and put the controlling girl in her place and did not think another thing about it. She left that girl in a daze, because when you stand up properly, you affect the weak confusers, leaving them without a handle.

Now is not the time to get mad but to get strong. Don’t be confused by the misleadership in our country. These misleaders are betting on your anger and confusion. Try something new; confront them with conviction, strength, love of country and understanding of your rights. Never give them the upper hand by doubting your beliefs, your passion and your true love of the Red, White and Blue!

Together we stand!

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