Michael Franzese, on the other hand, talks like a “wise guy” but the more you listen the more you realize how wise this guy really is.  He literally had the world at his feet earning at times upwards of 8 million plus a week through illegal schemes and a life of crime, but one encounter with a dedicated devout Christian that would later become his wife changed it all. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at an Austin Gathering Event last week and I must admit that he has a powerful testimony that can and has changed many lives.

He opened up by telling us how he went from a pre med student to a soldier in the mob and eventually a captain because of his father being sent to prison.After his encounter with his future wife, love compelled him to walk away from the mob. He decided he would take a plea and logically as a result would not be allowed to associate with his “old friends” when he got out. This move however resulted in even his father approving a hit on him according to his accounts.  Whereas some people have a tendacy to glorify their life before becoming a Chritian inadvertantly, he clearly is thankful that God has allowed him to walk in purpose. After an astonishing 29+ days in the hole reading his Bible the whole time during his last stint in prison, he completly surrendered to God.

“Sometimes we can walk in parallel with God and eventually those lines will intersect,” Franzese said,”Was it good that I found a good woman, yes…was it good that I left the mob, yes…but I did those things for me, not for God.” He contrasted clearly the difference between a good move and a move that is a true surrender to God.

“I know about evidence, and their is no doubt in my mind that Jesus is real and the only way to the Father is through Him,” he said, “I have nothing in common with an ameba!” He was unwavering in his faith, inspiring in his delivery and determined to help others to see they can have a life with Christ too no matter what they’ve done.  “God will take your past sins and use them as a tool to inact His purpose in your life when you surrender to Him,” Franzese said.
Franzese expressed true regret for the things he had done. “I don’t have to tell you how violent this life was and if God can bring me out when I thought I was too far gone, he can bring you out too…nothing you’ve done is beyond redemption,” he said “If you want a mob story, buy my book, but I am not hear to tell a mob story, I am here to talk about the goodness of Jesus Christ”

He is a true testament of the power of redemption purpose and change. He now travels the country talking about the goodness of Jesus.  He also trains athletes in Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NFL, and the NCAA about the dangers of gambling and a life of crime.  He is still a “soldier”, but now he is in the right army.

He summed it up best when he said,” When God has a plan and a purpose for your life, nothing can stop it but you.”

We fight through the stress and the toll it takes on our families, and our social life and we do all of this why? We tend to say we build a business to finally do something we are passionate about, to have a better source of income, or to have more control over our lives…

Even the entrepreneur must realize when a better option is right in front of you. I worked independently for the past five years as a consultant and contractor, I rejoiced in the highs and I fought through the lows. I built a one man operation that allowed me to not work for anyone else. In my eyes I was living the dream of entrepreneurship, but was I?

I’ve had the pleasure of working with a tremendous non-profit over the past 7 months and it has literally changed my perspective. At the non-profit, we provide food and clothing to those in need, we promote dignity to an under served population in our society, the homeless. I have found more fulfillment in this endeavor than I ever did building my businesses. Why!?

It is a matter of what is important. I built my business to be able to cater to the least, the small business, the “little guy” and to have the freedom to go after the things I was truly passionate about and I did just that, but now I have realized something about entrepreneurship through experience that I want to share with the world…

Entrepreneurship is not just based on the business you build, but it also centers around the ideas you contribute that build up organizations from the inside. A entrepreneur is not merely someone that builds a business, but an entrepreneur is also someone that sees the needs within an organization and positively adds value through meeting those needs and helping the organization to grow.

The reason I have been pondering the question of “What is important” is because I thought building the business was when actually contributing the ideas is. When I worked with clients, it wasn’t about simply building my business, it was about contributing ideas to help theirs grow. It was about planting a garden of information and watching that information flourish from concept to reality.

So, you are no less valuable as an entrepreneur if you make decisions based on what you can contribute and not necessarily what you can build. This concept only works in high performance, open work environments where you are viewed as an equal partner in the organization. They must value your ideas as important to the success of the organization as well. What is important as an entrepreneur is that the free flow of ideas you are blessed with reach the people that God placed them in you to reach.

Whether you are building a business or contributing regularly to the success of one, you are a “true” entrepreneur as long as you are bringing fresh ideas and value. Entrepreneurship is just as much about the flow of ideas as it is the building of businesses…what do you think? Are you an entrepreneur that is building a business or are you an entrepreneur that is contributing your ideas to the growth of an organization from within?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qelIAT_cztA

Click here to access the Homeless Resource Fair Flyer

Why would anyone subject themselves to this?!?

I guess they have the right motivation!

To add insult to injury, BP has spent millions of dollars on a marketing campaign to improve their image in the public. These dollars would have been better served in the hands of the people that have been effected by this disaster. The best marketing campaign for the company would have been reacting quickly to the spill, refunding the lost wages of the small business owners that were impacted by the spill and showing a community that they actually care about them. The problem is they only care about the bottom line which according to many estimates looks great for the second quarter regardless of the oil spill.

In their efforts to spin the crisis in pathetic commercials, they have the nerve to act as if even though they destroyed the environment and jobs, they still should receive a pat on the back because they hired the people whose jobs they took to help clean it up! Seriously! This is all a result of poor planning by a global company that had plenty of resources to prevent this disaster in the first place. Hopefully the new CEO will do a better job of planning for future problems that may arise from offshore drilling. After all the people of the gulf coast need and deserve their lives back!

While people are out spending in the malls and buying things they cannot afford, certain industries tend to suffer during this time of year. Technology spending is down, and a lot of companies that provide services are suffering. The holidays represent a time when most people spend money on tangible goods, such as electronics, etc.

What should entrepreneurs in service related industries do? There is hope! Find a way to be the one that connects the consumer to the product. You should become the person that is the middle man. Tis the season to be creative!

If you want to have a business, you must first have the commitment to do things the “old fashioned” way. Building a business requires hard work, perseverance, and determination. All of the vision in your business should be guided by you, managed by you and controlled by your laboring for your dream. In those beginning years, if you want something done for your business, you should be on the front lines fighting to make it happen!

My mother raised us with the philosophy, “Don’t expect others to do what you can do for yourself.” Mom’s wisdom holds true with a small business. You need to be your hardest working employee! When you work hard, dreams can become reality and a business can grow from a concept to a viable company.

Providing new services to customers is important, but when those services infringe upon the current services I have a problem with that. I know you are wondering, “Where is all of this angst coming from?” My mobile phone company, in an effort to provide a new service, took away an important feature on my plan without informing me. They said it was a “gliche” in the system that they only seemed to discover six months into my use of the plan.

Basically, I use my blackberry as a modem in addition to all the other things you can do with a blackberry. The irony of this situation is I have an “everything plan” that seems to include everything but my mobile broadband access. The technical question here is how does an everything plan, on a blackberry, include unlimited email, internet, texting and phone but somehow exclude unlimited mobile broadband “phone-as-modem access. The mobile broadband phone-as-modem uses the “unlimited” phone line! If you are familiar with how blackberrys function this argument will make complete sense.

This company’s “Simply Everything” plan should be changed to the “Excludes Something” plan or the “Simply Everything but Broadband” plan. Apparently when this company added the “call to any mobile phone” upgrade they took away the service I valued the most! Although I will not mention the company, I will say that I am going to sprint to their competitors and maybe next I will tell you if they have a better plan!