Date: May 10, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 1 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/5101202 https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BF5_-rwNmQc/T6xTXGbpTCE/AAAAAAAAmqA/eTf7HRkaqC0/s160-c/5101202.jpg

Date: May 10, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 8 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/51012 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8VLW8BIJfHk/T6xOg__wX9E/AAAAAAAAmoA/0rqC_Idiug8/s160-c/51012.jpg

Date: May 4, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 1 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/AssateagueIslandStatePark https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JnvZTMBfvaE/T6Pfea9dEiE/AAAAAAAAmQ8/k5CqTY5001U/s160-c/AssateagueIslandStatePark.jpg

Date: Apr 23, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 1 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/42312 https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-OjtEtJ-Glmo/T5VkO12e7zE/AAAAAAAAlgY/sroRdEYFgaY/s160-c/42312.jpg

These are pictures from our Naples Florida Trip Date: Apr 4, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 16 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/Naples2012 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GkRyVU-WChI/T4mBUM6W_vE/AAAAAAAAksE/l61uP-Y3tr0/s160-c/Naples2012.jpg

Album for scrapbook photos Date: Jul 8, 2011 Number of Photos in Album: 5 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/ScrapbookPhotos https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HBSuJCl6b9s/ThdSenegIPE/AAAAAAAAkj8/6hdSEO6DjEI/s160-c/ScrapbookPhotos.jpg

San Diego and Valentines day Date: Feb 18, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 19 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/JanuaryFebruary2012 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zwlxEHYeshI/Tz-6kDHg-SE/AAAAAAAAhok/gPYkRjIOP4Y/s160-c/JanuaryFebruary2012.jpg

I’ve read over and over again how email saps your creativity. It pulls you into someone else’s issues and desires.

When those issues and desires are your clients’ issues and desires you are very tempted to make them your own.

However! I strongly believe that is not in the best interest of your clients.

If you are the business owner there is nothing more important than for you to make your business as strong and healthy as you are able.

A weak, limping company does no one any good:

• You
• Your employees
• Especially your clients

A strong, healthy company makes everyone else’s life better. You can provide better services and you can provide a better work place for your employees.

As the owner of your company there is nothing more important than making sure your company is strong and healthy.

That is the wisdom I’ve learned over 11 years and two recessions. I’ve lived through getting that wisdom.

If you are new to business please trust me on this. Your business’ health is your number one priority.

But then again, the only reason I’m writing this is to convince myself not to look at my email right away. I still am so tempted to deal with other people’s needs and desires.

Coming into 2012 I have a laser beam focus: I want to get SageRock to $3 million.  I’m probably at a 10th of that for  2011.

There are two ways to get there:

• Sales and marketing
• Acquisition

The fastest way of getting to the $3 million is to acquire companies.

The problem with that is that: A. I don’t know the first thing about acquiring companies. and B. I have no money.

I’m thinking about trying to get some money from JumpStart Inc.

But I’m not confident they would be interested in funding a service business like mine. Although, I have some interesting offshoots like SageRock Places and SageRock System.

Those might peak their curiosity.

They other strategy could be to look into giving companies we partner with a percentage of the business. You never know what might happen unless you try.

But I feel I still have my own weakness: Sales.

Part of me believes that I need to shore that up before I do anything else.

Ultimately, however, I think the two need to work in tandem: Acquisition and Sales.

I’ll do that for a while and see which one sticks.

Now… to that email.

Consumer Electronics Show 2012 Date: Jan 22, 2012 Number of Photos in Album: 6 View Album

from Sage Lewis’s Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/116437168519004876189/CES2012 https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FXIr52Zq0rw/TxwsBXNMOME/AAAAAAAAgxY/u9bmg2aoElg/s160-c/CES2012.jpg

I just wanted to jot this down really quick before I forgot it.

At the Consumer Electronics, Show Stephanie Pence VP of Communications of Dish put up this slide:

People spend 30 hours a week watching TV. That’s up 40 minutes from last year. “People spend as much time watching TV as working.”

I could spend a lot of time rambling on about that all. But I’ll just let the numbers speak for themselves and you can judge.