Category Archive

My dog, Foster, in case you’ve never met him…

Some time ago, I posted about how an employer can sell themselves to their employees.  Well, that works the other way around.  I’ve consulted with employees on selling themselves to their employers.

Too often, employees are simply ”working for the man” unaware that their employer may be:

1. Considering a replacement for their position,
2. Looking for someone to sell their business to,
3. Ready to implement new strategies in their business, and they need that special person to carry out these new ideas, or
4. Assessing the job duties of each employee in anticipation of an upcoming job review

Whatever the case, it does a person good to sell themselves to their employer in a way that doesn’t come across as kissing up.  Make your intentions to your employer known so as to avoid the “brown nosing” effect that could result from this activity.

Here is an example my dad shared with me when I first started working:

My dad had just started his career at Meyers Arnold in Greenville, SC and was working in the accounts payable department.  The Accounting Manager had just left his position and my dad knew he could perform the job.  They began looking outside to fill the position.  My dad went to the manager and literally asked for the Accounting Manager position.  However, he did not require a pay increase, and asked for the job on a contingent basis.

Of course, my dad did an awesome job and when it came time for his job review, my dad asked for a raise to go along with his big bad new title.  They obliged and were thankful to have my dad on staff.

I’ve used that story to inspire me to do the same thing, receiving a bonus and over an 18% pay increase in one year.  It was great.  But I knew there was value behind my request.

In selling yourself to your boss, make sure there is value that will leave your employer unable to say no to your requests or desires.  Make sure you have already added value to your position.  Selling yourself should never come with promises to do well.  They come with examples of excellent work already performed.  Even better, selling yourself to your employer (in whatever capacity) is always more welcomed when you have padded your bosses pockets.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer  

As a business owner, I think it’s so important to give back to the community that has given our firm so much.  I believe that businesses making a profit should give back to those less fortunate.  And as a Christian, I believe God has called me to look where I am, thank Him for all of His provision and look around for those needing material goods and encouragement.

Our firm supports Food For Life Ministries, a ministry to the homeless in Greenville, SC.  My brother, Paul Blumer, chef and “preacher to the homeless,” runs this ministry and my family (and many other supporters) helps out.  And they (my dad writes it) have developed a blog to let the community know of what they are doing and why.  The blog is called “Homeless on Tuesday”, because that is the night Food For Life has been serving food to the homeless in Greenville for over 5 years.

This most recent post on the Homeless on Tuesday blog was very eye-opening, and poignantly makes an incredible point that we should all heed.  There are those that do not have a voice in this world: the unborn, little children and ,of course, homeless people.  Food For Life Ministries gives to the homeless when they have nothing to give back.

Here is a quote from the blog:

“They can not exercise any right for justice or equal treatment and have no influence among the community. They rely on ministries like ours to speak for them, to give them “a voice” so they can speak for themselves. We do this by listening to them and helping them without expecting anything in return. We are concerned about their health, whether they are cold at night, have any food to eat, and their spiritual condition. We speak for them each Tuesday night.”

Is there anywhere your influence could begin helping others?  Maybe your business has had a great year, and its time to say thank you - with dollars, not words.  Somebody may need you to speak for them - look around you and help “give a voice” and “lend an ear” to the less fortunate.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

Tax season officially ended this past Tuesday, and I have been out of commission since the beginning of January.

We have been busy…

1  doing a lot of business tax returns

2  doing a lot of individual tax returns

3  starting a management consulting engagement in Atlanta

4  assisting with an internationally-related internal embezzlement case

5  wrapping up another “two-partners-fighting” fraud case

6  hiring and firing three or four new people in our firm (and training)

We’ve definitely been busy, and I’m enjoying a break now (we are taking a few days off after tax season) with my family.  I’ve missed them.

Here is what’s coming up…

1  our Thriveal Business Success Series classes start in late May (brochures are coming out in the mail soon - email me at thriveal@gmail.com to receive one),

2  we are going to be focusing on our marketing campaigns a little more with our PR firm, and hiring a marketing intern for the summer,

3  we received a big box of books from John L. Herman “Herman” (entrepreneurial guru of hermanisms.com) and will be hopefully doing a blog interview post with Herman soon, and giving away some of his awesome books in a contest (stay tuned!) 

That’s about it (and that’s plenty).  I’m tired and I need a break.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

  Today is Valentine’s Day, so I’m wishing my wife a happy Valentine’s Day.  But today is her birthday as well, and I wanted to wish here a happy birthday too!

She is a very special woman, and I would be lost in this world without her.  She is so devoted to our family, and makes daily sacrifices for me and our three daughters.  She can’t wait to get up on each and every holiday just to set our table with our children’s gifts and toys.  This morning, she set the table with red plates and napkins and placed a red Valentine’s gift bag for each kid at their seat.  She loves our three daughters… a lot!

And she loves me well, too.  It’s weird, but I am the only man she could ever love.  She lives that out and I totally believe it to be true.  Even though I question her taste in men sometimes, I can delight in my wife’s love for me.

It makes me love her all the more.  It is a delight to love someone the way I love my wife.  Though I am not always the best husband in the world, my wife is the apple of my eye, and I couldn’t imagine life without her.  She is truly my great love.

Thanks, Babe, for all that you are to me.  I love you, tons!

Jason 

Today is my Mother’s birthday, and it is truly a day to celebrate!  She has been the cornerstone of strength in our family for so long, and through so many issues.  Her boys have put her through the ringer these past 30 or so years, but she’s been long-suffering, accommodating and loyal to us all.

So, in honor of my Mother, I’ll post a poem I wrote for her and my Dad when my brother and I sent them on an Alaskan cruise last year…

TRIBUTE
how great the sun to light each day
to illumine our weary ways
and, too, the moon, its small companion,
a gift in evening rays,

and note the might in nature seen
the tall and aged tree
to span it’s stoutly branches heav’nward
to reach and brush the breeze

though great these gifts from nature seen
gifts from God on high,
a mother and a father
are by far the better prize

for theirs the soul they give each child
to prosper and to give
they lay a lasting legacy
for the child to see and live

worn and weary are their hands
cheeks stained from many tears
with faiths now strong, abiding still
prayers to God span years

a tribute to our father, our mother
paternal strength that guides
a tribute to your legacy
now in our lives abides

This definitely speaks to my Mother’s commitment to our family through some hard times.  But she continues on in strength (her strength definitely comes from the Lord).  She is a wonderful woman, a grandmother who adores her grandchildren, a committed wife, still a loving Mother to me and my brother and an all-around servant to everyone she meets (just ask the 80 to 90 homeless peoples she feeds every Tuesday night).

Mom, I love you.  You are truly the bomb (that means I like you a lot).

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

A few short points about finding joy:

1.  Some struggle with what they do (be it a relationship, a job, a situation, etc.).  But if you can look back over your life, you’ll see that a lot of those past struggles were preparing you for the abilities and successes you now enjoy.  What are you going through now that will bring great rays of light into your future?  What is God teaching you now that will change your future for the better?

2.  Comparatively, finding joy is difficult.  That is, you can always find someone better and in a better situation.  You’ll find it difficult to find joy using comparisons.  Stop that.

3.  We think joy comes in the big things.  Not so.  There are many joys you experience each day.  It’s just that this complicated world of stuff, schedules and to-dos keep us from seeing them.  My potentially unnoticed joys (some may seem small to you, but they are “joys” nonetheless): my wife cooks a meal for our family each night so we can all be together, my wife and I love each other deeply (after 15 years of marriage), my parents love my wife and my wife’s parents love me, my three daughters are healthy, my work is hard but fulfilling, I tend to develop deep friendships, we enjoy a great church, my dog doesn’t shed, I get to work in a business with my dad, my brother is a true friend, etc.

4.  Finding joy doesn’t mean finding happiness.  Sometime our sadness can be joyful.  Any examples?

I’m feeling introspective today…

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer     

  Probably one of the greatest moves I made in life was back in May of 2003 when I decided to join my dad’s small CPA firm and work with him.

He was a young 56 years old then, and today he turns 61.  And I’ll be 37 this year, and I just figured out (maybe a couple of years ago) that I don’t know nothing (sorry English teachers), and that my dad knows stuff… turns out, it’s a bunch of stuff.  Figuring this out sure would have been helpful a number of years ago.  Why did it take me until around the mid-30s to figure this out?  That stinks… in a big way.  I may have more time, more money and more life… if I just would have listened to my dad.

In honor of my dad’s 61st birthday today, I wanted to share a few things he taught me…

1.  He misses his dad more now than when his dad was actually alive.  That’s interesting.  That makes me want to hang around my dad.  I don’t want to say that one day.  So I’m glad I get to work with my dad.  And I’m going to make sure my children get to spend a lot of time with me (even when they are teenagers)… because of my dad.

2.  My dad has sacrificed his life for his kids.  My dad is the co-owner/co-organizer of four businesses total, two (seen here and here) for me and two (again, here and here) for my older brother.  He sacrificed his time and funded all of the businesses with his own cash.  I’ll be sacrificing for my three daughters the way my dad did for me (maybe not the cash part)… because of my dad.

3.  My dad taught me to make myself indispensable at my work.  This has helped me tremendously in my past employment, and I’ve even taught this concept to some of my clients.  By this I mean, put yourself in such a trusted position at your job, and perform so well that your employer seems somewhat obligated to offer you higher positions, raises, promotions, etc.  I’ve asked for and received higher positions, raises and promotions… because of my dad. 

4.  Be a background man.  My brother and I are anything but “background”.  We love business and loud music and we don’t like to follow people.  And we sing REALLY loud at church.  My dad is not quite so showy.  He is more of a “background” man.  You know he’s there, but he’s not going to point that fact out.  But when he speaks, me and my brother (and others) tend to be quiet.  He is usually saying something worth listening to.  I want to be a man worth listening to and hang out more in the background… because of my dad.

5.  My dad is a man of faith.  Though he will tell you that his faith in God is not very strong, we see a different picture.  We see a man who has had to lean on God in so many ways through so many trials in the past (many of those trials caused by his unruly kids), and still rely on God and share Him with others.  I want to be a man of faith… because of my dad.

 There’s just so many more I can’t list them all, but those are just a few.

Dad, I love you more than words can say, and I’m so glad to be in the office with you today to say Happy Birthday!  You freakin’ rule, dude (did I mention that me and my brother are not very respectful of the aged, too?).

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

…my firm’s website updated after our 10 year anniversary in November of 2007.

We also posted some official descriptions of our Thriveal theory on the site.  See ya.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

My wife just informed me that…

1.  She can implement Systems at home too… but kids don’t buy in to them

2.  She can’t “fire” our kids when they don’t buy in to the Systems

3.  She never hired those kids in the first place

4.  But bribing kids (and employees) always works well

Uh huh

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

  What are your Resolutions for the New Year?

Its about time to start making those New Year’s resolutions.  Consider a new spin on this popular trend…

Make your New Year about one word.  That’s right - pick just one word (or maybe two words at the most) that you want to sum up your New Year and what you want to accomplish.  Here are some examples:

Devotion, Beauty, Leadership, Love, Family, Spouse, God, Learning, Perseverance, Change, Belief, Fulfillment, New Opportunities, No Debt, Strength, Less…

I have a lot going on in our firm this year, as well as at home.  My word will be “Leadership” this year.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer