I’ve provided some information from other sources labeled as ‘Guest Posts’ and while they do provide information, I realize they do not have the same flare or quality as when I write.  As such, I’ve thought about leadership extensively and would like to expound on it.  Here is a picture of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.  Shaw is famous for his leading of the 54th Massachusetts, a regiment of African-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War for the Union.

The 1989 the movie, ‘Glory’, is an enlightening and inspiring portrayel of Colonel Shaw and his dealings with his men.  Colonel Shaw was the leader of this regiment.  He was in charge.  Watch the movie Glory and see if you can see how Colonel Shaw was a leader.  He did what was right, even if it was unpopular, he was firm, kind when he needed to be, understanding of his weaknesses, and eventually, won the respect of all that were part of the regiment.  Colonel Shaw is a wonderful example of a good leader.  There are many others in history and today that are examples of people with leadership.  There are some main qualities of leadership that I would like to speak on today:

Qualities of a good leader

A good leader is intelligent, educated, confident, inspiring, selfless, and understanding (among many more other good qualities).  Without these qualities, a person is bereft of the necessary skills which are essential in leading others in an effective manner.

Intelligent

A good leader must be smart.  They must understand the area in which they are trying to lead.  If owning a business, the leader must be well versed in business operations and able to make intelligent decisions without guessing.  A leader of a basketball team must understand the game of basketball, as well as their own team and the opponents team.  A good leader is able to make sound decisions with positive results.

Educated

Education is essential for good leadership.  Experience must be part of this education.  If you are working for someone leading a business and they are young, inexperienced, and not quite sure what they are doing, you can bet that they are not cut out to lead that business.  You can tell if someone is educated by asking them questions related to what they are leading.  If they are unable to answer a majority of the questions or even know where to look for the answers, this should tell you that their leadership is questionable in the area they are leading.

Confident

A good leader is confident in their abilities.  This means the leader is smart and capable.  They may have their doubts like anyone else, but they never let these doubts surface in front of the people they are leading.  They make decisions and stick with them.  A poor leader will be hesitent, and unsure.  Confidence comes from experience, education, and intelligence.  Watch for those who are leading and see how confident they are.

Inspiring

Being inspiring is crucial for good leadership.  If the people being led do not feel that their leader is worth following, then the leader is next to useless.  Inspiring people can be done in many ways.  A rallying speech, gatherings with those being led where the people’s efforts are rewarded, or other worthwhile events.  Being upfront and honest, but steadfast in goals and objectives is also a way to inspire.  A good leader will spend time with the people he/she is leading.  The leader will ‘be in the trenches’ with those being led.  The people will see this and it is inspiring to see a leader doing the ‘dirty work’ that the followers are doing.

Selfless

A good leader sacrifices and does more than what is required.  A good leader will spend extra time with those being led making sure they are able to accomplish what it is they are doing in the best possible way.  Larry Bird, a former NBA basketball player was an excellent leader.  He would show up to practice early, leave practice late, and spent much extra time perfecting his game.  Good leaders will be seen often doing this.  If your leaders are never around to be seen, or are not spending the time helping you, you can bet that they are not qualified to lead.

Understanding

A good leader must understand those being led.  Across the board, people have a multitude of personalities.  A good leader is able to blend these personalities for the best possible result.  Sometimes morale gets low and the leader has to spend time with the people to make sure things are in order.  A good leader knows the personalities of those being led.  The leader can adapt his approach to what people need.  Some people need direct correction and admonishment.  Others require a much more subtle approach.  Good leaders have the power of discernment and are able to handle different types of people.

Qualities of followers

As a leader has qualities, so does a follower.  When I say follower, what I mean is someone who is not cut out to be a leader.  There are a good many people with wonderful qualities that are excellent followers.  But for purposes of this article, followers are people who are not qualified to lead.  Followers generally do not have the main characteristics required to be a good leader.  They lack in people skills or creativity.  Or they just do not want to shoulder responsibility.

Final thoughts

Being a good leader requires sacrifice and many good qualities.  Make sure to look for these good qualities in the people who you consider to be leaders.  This can be your teachers, managers, owners of the company you work for, or anyone who is taking a role in leading people.  If you desire to be a leader, first look to refine yourself before you start trying to lead others.

Hello all, I have some new and exciting things going on in my life. I will be putting in ‘Guest Posts’, which are content from other sources that I am authorized to put here.  This will help you keep up to date with information.  As for the new and exciting things, one of these is a book I am writing that I am very excited about.  Here is an exerpt from the introduction to it:

—–

The storm thundered and the rain poured.  At the edge of a large wall with an iron portcullis, a figure with a dark cloak spoke in a deafening tone.  “You will not disrupt my plans again.  The beasts of this land will make sure no trace of you is ever found!”

Many men, armed with very sharp spears marched behind the dark cloaked figure.  They wore light armor and escorted a man, hands tied behind his back, and dressed in rags.  The man kept a composed look on his face, despite his grim circumstance.  He confidently replied to the figure in the dark cloak.  “If you set me free now, I promise that the order will judge you fairly.”

Cackling laughs filled the air.  The figure with the dark cloak responded.  “HA! You dare insult me with your pitiful attempts at escape.  Your death will be slow and painful at the hands of these beasts.  Men, rid me of the prisoner!”

The man with his hands tied responded, “You cannot say I did not give you a fair chance old friend.  Until our next meeting then.”

The man in the dark cloak snickered, “Fool!  Be gone with him, NOW!”.  With that, the men with spears rushed forward, opened up the gate, and kicked the man with his hands tied through.  The gate shut immediately behind him.  The man with his hands tied looked up at the sky, “and so it is, a new season is about to begin.”

—–

In addition to that, my wife and I are going to be focusing more on our web and design business at http://www.gazuka.com.  I am excited for these opportunities.  When time permits, I will happily be updating my blog and website, and appreciate your feedback.  You can contact me by emailing improvement@drjerm.com.  Thanks!

It is indeed 1:25… now 1:26 AM in the morning.  I writhed in bed for over an hour with no sleep in sight.  I just have so much going on in my mind about drjerm.com and this blog and what I am trying to achieve as a life coach.  I’m realizing more and more that this is what I am supposed to be doing.  I can’t quite explain it, but it’s as if my stomach is trying to burst out of me.  I can feel it within me, this is what I am supposed to be doing.

I am not sure where all of this will take me.  I am truly genuine in wanting to help other people.  I hope I’ve been able to show that with the sheer amount of time invested in this blog and my website at drjerm.com.  I don’t think I would have spent 300 plus hours doing it all if I didn’t have a burning desire for it.  Not only that, I need the life coaching just as much as the next person, so it is helping me a great deal to!

I face questions and obstacles with trying to do what it is I now am feeling I was put on this earth to do.  To be a beacon of light for other people.  To help those who are in need.  I may not be superman, able to fly around and save the day, but I do believe I possess the charisma, compassion, and drive to help people make changes in their lives, both about their individual selves, and their situations.

Challenges

The first challenge obviously is getting enough money from doing life coaching that I don’t have to resort to going to find a job as a developer where most of my time will be taken.  I am lucky to be able to work at home right now.  I work my tail off and hope that can be the way I work.  But I also know that my family comes first.  If I have to, I can go find a job doing website development and programming that will provide insurance for my wonderful wife and support our family.

At the same time, I feel I was born to do life coaching.  I feel there are countless people out there who need to hear my voice and read what I write.  I feel that I have the ability to make people laugh, inspire people, and to in general, help people see that they can get more out of life.  Life does not have to be this constant battle where we are pinned, desperately trying to get by.

The second challenge is capturing people and having them know this website exists.  This is a challenge.  I am learning more as time goes on, but I really would love it if the whole world knew about my website.  I know there would be a lot of critics, ready to refute everything I have to say.  That is fine, a wonderful thing about this world is that we all can choose what we wish to do.

The third challenge is educating myself on how to help people in the right way.  I’ve spent the most of my life career programming websites.  Along the way, I’ve spuradically helped people with their troubles and encouraging them.  The challenge for me is to make sure I have the education and resources available so that when I am coaching someone, I am giving them the best darn coaching they could ever receive.

Opportunities

I’ve thought about ways that I can make a living doing life coaching.  So far, my blog and website are all free to use and they will continue to be so.  I’ve added my DrJerm’s recommended page to this blog and on my website at drjerm.com, I’ve got self help reviews on products I think are useful.  You can look at these and choose to buy whatever you see from Amazon.com.  That is one way I make money - by getting a small portion as an affiliate with Amazon.  I also make money from the advertisement links on my sites.  This is called Google Adsense.  I get a small portion of the click for that ad, from Google.com.  Please do not click the links unless you see something you are actually interested in.

The Amazon products and Google Adsense are nice, but I don’t see them providing the opportunity for me to do this full time for a while.  As such, I’ve got some other ideas that I’d like to throw around.  Some of these my site visitors have given to me.  I would appreciate feedback on them and the potential you might think they have.  They are:

• Individual life coaching sessions, one on one for 45 minutes.  These would be done over the phone.  Not sure the pricing on these sessions, but I would want it to be affordable.
• Seminars - this would be kind of like a group gathering where you have dinner with a large group of people at tables and a stage where I and possibly others would speak.  Tickets would be purchased for the event.  This idea actually intrigues me a lot.
• Creating books, guides, and interactive tools.  I like the idea of creating things that people can choose to purchase.  But they would have to be pretty spectacular.  I don’t like the idea of selling an ebook that took just a night to create and talking about it like it’s the new Bible.  I’ve seen people do that - I don’t like it.  I think spending a good while on a few of these things might provide an opportunity to sell something fairly cheap that had enormous value.
• Create a course that people can complete.  Outline various steps and things that need to be done to have a life that can be fulfilling and happy.  Find some way to have this course taught.  Possibly do a 10 day course or something at a resort.  At the end of 10 days, it’s like a boot camp being finished, except you feel great afterwards.
• Speaking - I love to speak publicly.  This was not always so.  I used to be terrified of it!  Now I love it because I know I am reaching out to many people when I do it.  For this, I will just have to figure out how to get lots of people at a certain place where they can all hear my voice.
• Custom Items - I could make the ‘Trident of Transcendence’ from my drjerm website or any number of things.  I like the idea of doing this so that someone can place this item on their mantle and look at it.
• Donations - There is a donate link at the top of my blog.  I never ask for donations.  However, if you feel so inclined because something I did really helped you, feel free to donate.  Every little bit helps!

These are just some of the ideas I have.  Obviously, I need my website to get more traffic (traffic meaning people sitting at their computers using it :)).  I believe this will continue to happen over time.  I will continue to add useful information and resources and continue to talk to people about it.  I will make a business card and talk with pride about my site to everyone I come in contact with.  I am not afraid to talk about it, that’s for sure!

It’s 1:53 AM now.  I think I am finally tired, which is a good thing.  I look forward to all the challenges I need to overcome to get to where I need to be.  Meeting ‘The Rock’, Dwayne Johnson is one of those challenges that I am tackling.  I also want to make 100 basketball free throws in a row.  I shot at Gold’s Gym the other day and I made 82 in a row!  I am getting closer.  I ended up shooting 99/100.  These kinds of things are mini goals to keep me sharp and focused.  Plus I love basketball.  Anyhow, I am going to sign off now, goodnight!

I am meeting with an owner of the company I helped start today.  There will be a lot of negotiating, and I’ve outlined a couple pages of what needs to happen for things to work out.  He seems intent on wanting me to be back and having me take a part of my stake in the company I am a part of.  I believe what I see and as such, I’ve got several demands that will need to be met.

As I’ve thought about handling the situation with the business I was a part of and the up and down roller coaster of stress, frustration, and deep thought, I realize that there are times in our lives where we have to deal with change, and even when we have a decision, be willing to adapt when the situation calls for it.

In my case, I am going to be calm and reasonable as I talk to him today.  I am going to lay out what I want and go from there.  His response will be a big clue to how I can proceed.  For the rest of you reading, there are many things happening in life that play a role in decision making.  My advice is to never think that things are just great.  Always be on the lookout and look for warning signs.

Here are some of the areas where handling change and being adaptable are very important:

• Being married and handling the change that happens to each spouse over time
• Being able to handle the loss of a job
• Being able to handle children as they grow up and change
• Being able to handle other people and your perceptions of their actions
• Managing your health and lifestyle

As life goes on, some of these can slip through the cracks.  Managing health and lifestyle is one I see slip through the cracks quite often.  How do I Know this?  I see many people walking around with big guts and breathing heavy just from walking.  This tells me that health and lifestyle are out the window.

What about handling people who offend you or betray you?  For me, this is difficult, but I realize I can’t get bent into a pretzel about it.  Recognize it, but do what is necessary to move forward and make things happen.

When you have children, they are going to grow up and change over time.  Be supportive and understanding of their change.  Show them love and support and the changes will not be so difficult that they cannot be overcome.

As I am handling the loss of my job, I see others who may face a similar situation.  Do not become complacent at your job and think that everything is fine.  This means gaining new skills, looking for better opportunities, and having the confidence to make it all happen.

Finally, in my marriage, my wife and I have changed over time.  We are not the two young crazy kids we were eight years ago when we were dating.  In marriage, you must expect that change will happen.  You must also be considerate, supportive, and show sacrifice for each other, with emphasis on showing support for each other.  As my wife and I have done this, our marriage has improved over time, rather than degrading like so many marriages I see.

I know that the winds of change happen to all of us.  Take the time to understand what is going on and be confident and kind enough to deal with the change in the most appropriate manner.  I know that if you are always seeking to better yourself and those around you, that the winds of change will not batter you at all.

I believe I’ve vented enough about my current situation with my former business associates.  I would like to talk a little bit about reciprocity now and how I will be standing up for myself, and what I believe will ultimately happen to the company that made the poor choice to remove me from employment.

First, I will state the law of reciprocity according to drjerm.  This is as follows:

“Everything you give in this life with honesty, integrity, and loyalty shall be given back to you at least twice over.  Everything you take away in this life with selfish or mal-intent shall be taken from you at least ten times over.”

So what is this saying?  Basically if you give of yourself and treat others properly, you will help them grow and they will become loyal to you and you will reap benefits beyond what you have given.  If you decide to be selfish, inconsiderate of others, or have other agendas that take away from other people, you shall eventually lose much more than what you have taken.

Notice I said eventually.  I have no dobut that there are people in this world who are making it big at the unfortunate expense of other people.  Eventually these types of people will get what is coming to them.  It may not be in a year, five years, or even 10 years.  But I believe that eventually, all things come full circle.

And so it is with me.  I have had a flame lit under me.  I realize I have hap-hazardly been working on the projects that I know will help me create my legacy in the world today.  I know that I have not used my talents and abilities nearly enough to leave my mark on the world and to inspire and uplift others.

I mean, look at me - I am jobless, have a mortgage to pay, and I have a family to take care of.  I’m not afraid, but I am in a tough situation.  And you know what?  Instead of getting a ‘day’ job, I am going to kick myself into another dimension and bring to pass the fulfillment of my talents and abilities.  This road is not going to be easy.  It is going to be difficult.  It will be straining.  It will be worth it.

As I do this, I will show that a jobless husband who believes in himself can and will achieve success and beyond.  I will show that the efforts of one man can make a difference.  I hope to inspire all of you who read this and show you the evidence that it can be done.

As for exactly what my reciprocity is, it will manifest itself over time, but quickly.  I am dedicating my life to achieving success now and I don’t have all the time in the world.  In fact, I have 3 months as of tommorow.  That’s roughly how long our savings will hold up.  I am outlining a plan of attack for each and every day that I will accomplish.  In three months time, I will have much to report.  Until then, check back every day as I will have something new to share :)

As for the company that let me go, the reciprocity to them is the loss of me and my twin brother, two talented developers far and beyond what normal developers can do.  But more than that, the company has lost my many hidden talents and abilities.

Wish me luck, I will need it!

As I’ve worked on my website, I am finding that the exact purpose of my website needs to be shared so that people know what to expect from me.  The purpose of drjerm is to help people discover ways to improve in life, discover their destiny, and create their legacy.  The website is for people in any of the following situations:

• You have worked 10 to 15 years or more at a job where a company is tanking or the job is unfulfilling.  You are looking to change jobs, but don’t know what to do.  You haven’t had to make a resume in years and you are used to your job.
• Over time, you have steadily gained weight.  Each time you try to lose weight, you give up after a short time.  Your weight seems to just increase and you feel there is nothing you can do about it.  Or you are heavy and have plateaued and are neither gaining or losing weight.
• You have a hard time being proactive and confident.  Whenever you don’t know how to do something, you do not try it.  You look at other people who have success in their careers or with the opposite sex and it just seems so easy for them.
• You get very angry and frustrated easily.  Anytime something does not go your way, your blood boils and you lose your temper.  You can’t stand when people are doing stupid things.  Kids especially bother you because they are always making a mess, running around being noisy, and do dumb things.
• You want to have a business and always talk to those around you about doing a business.  This has gone on for years, but nothing has been done about it.  But you still talk about it and wish that someday you could be part of one so you didn’t have to do your boring job.
• Whenever you come up with an idea for something you get excited… for a short period of time.  After a day or two, you are no longer excited about trying your new idea and go back to your normal routine.

These are just a few of the scenarios that this website is a resource to help for.  Any situation where inspiration, motivation, improvement, help, or fulfillment is sought, this website is here to assist!  There is a common theme among the situations listed above.  They all deal with confidence, motivation, self control, and self worth.  Drjerm is here to help anyone who struggles in their life, or anyone just looking for resources to further better their life.

What if Drjerm Fails?

I get asked this question, among others, and I am not afraid of failing.  I’ve mentioned before the hundreds of hours I’ve put into the site.  There are likely many hundreds, if not thousands of more hours to be put in before any real results get seen.  And that’s okay with me.  I know I am learning while I am doing the site and over time, I will have learned much whether this site becomes the ‘next big thing’, or it just stays stagnant.  Bottom line, I am not afraid of trying or failiing.

I encourage the visiting of my website to look for information to assist you in your life.  You can contact me anytime.  All my resources are free to use to help you in your life.  Please take the time to read through my entire website and contact me when you have questions.  I look forward to help you as you seek to better yourself!

There are a few resources on the website at http://www.drjerm.com, that I would like to draw attention to.  They are creating your legacy, success stories, and self improvement product reviews.  These sections will be updated with more and more information so that you can have a plethora of information to see products that will help you in life, to see examples of people creating their legacy, and to see the stories of famous people who have already created their legacy.

Creating Your Legacy Product Reviews

Here you will find reviews on a variety of self improvement products, starting out with books, that will help you with getting in better physical condition, how to influence other people, and how to find your purpose in life.

People Currently Creating Their Legacy

Here you will see actual real people that are alive today creating their legacy.  These people are successful and it is amazing what you can learn from them just by reading their success stories.

Stories of Famous People Who Have Created a Legacy

This section is meant to inspire and uplift you with fictional and non-fictional information of those people who have created a legacy in the world.  Read the inspiring and uplifting stories and see how you can apply what these people did to be successful.

With a little faith, dedication, and research, you have all the tools you need to be successful and create your legacy!