Priorities

March 14, 2020

It’s my birthday weekend, but unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing imposed to help curb the spread of the virus is limiting my usual party mode. That’s ok. I will make up for it in due time!

On a positive note, the extra down time gave me the chance for a second blog post:

Month 1 into the launch of Happy Hedgehog went as expected. So many options to pick from and sort out. The challenges of creating a business from scratch are constant and relentless. My mind continues to race with ideas. I have to constantly remind myself to slow down and keep the big picture in mind...What is the big picture? Good question. Until I can fine tune our vision without much variance is when then this “thing” will take off. I have to be able to articulate to people what Happy Hedgehog is trying to accomplish. The current version of the vision is to encourage motivated, talented, & dedicated folks/people/individuals to take the leap of running their own business.

Boring business speak:

• How do we do this? We provide our support, by addressing “economies of scale”, overhead, promotion, marketing, guidance, sounding board. We are not here to run the business for you, but take the burden of the day-to-day operational tasks.

• What is the Happy Hedgehog Brand? Wealth Creation through helping people that want to help themselves. Wealth in the sense financially of course, but more importantly self worth and feeling a sense of accomplishment when they build an idea or concept from scratch that they call their own. We give them the platform to make that idea a reality.

If you build it they will come. That’s the premise of our business model. We work with people and give them a track to run on. A lot of people’s concern of going out on their own is that the process is too overwhelming and they don’t know where to start. Even if a person gets the itch to go out on their own, there are too many roadblocks and constantly hearing no until they quit before their idea gets off the ground.

Ultimately, a person has to prioritize what’s important to them. To me God, family, then career. Everyone is different. It’s easier to address issues when you have your priorities in order and apply what’s important to you. If your foundation isn’t in place, then all of the things you pile on top will eventually fall down. With that being said, everyone’s priorities are different. Regardless, those priorities have to be identified and organized.

I have been blessed with a wonderful family, career and support system that allows me to make this commitment to others. Ultimately, what made me decide that it was time, is the full realization that life is not about me. It’s about helping others. That’s my calling. I have the motivation and resources to support passionate, talented, & dedicated folks with their dreams. Sounds hokey, but that’s what Happy Hedgehog is about.

There is a lot of potential for the Happy Hedgehog family. I am in charge of converting that potential into results. I’m dreaming of big things, we’ll find out if I can make those dreams a reality. If you build it they will come!

-Happy

Happy Hedgehog-Launch Blog Post:

February 26, 2020

I’ve had this idea of having a portfolio of businesses stuck in my head for about 15 years now. I am now in a place where I can make it a reality, and it scares the shit out of me. I’ve gone through life doing what I’m supposed to for the past 40 years and I will continue to do so, but the difference is the next 40 will be with a purpose. I’ve been blessed enough with a wonderful family and a great group of friends that have put up with me as a person for however long they’ve known me. One theme that you’ll see in my posts that is the core belief of “I’m blessed with a life that I do not deserve.” I’ve tried to screw it up several times by living life a little too hard and admittedly continue to screw up daily. But, I’ve accepted my flawed self and the people that matter understand that and love me anyway. I will love them back with all my heart and continue to live life to the fullest.

Tangent #1: (I’ll mark the tangents and you can just skip to the fun part) I believe people are fundamentally good. The issue is that we sometimes see things differently from each other because of our different upbringings and experiences. The majority 95% of humans are good people. It’s the 5% that make us look really bad. Another fun trait I have is that I ramble..please stick with me.

Where was I at? Ok..so back to my life’s project. I’ve been blessed enough to have timed life properly to fall into position as an employee agent with COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services, COUNTRY Companies, or most recently and currently known as COUNTRY Financial. After 2 years I was able to become an independent contractor and continue to operate our office today as Marlon Eilts Financial Services, Inc. I completely recognize that a lot of this has to do with luck or what I consider a blessing from God. But, it’s what I did with the opportunity that I’m most proud of. I am not built to sit still. As painful as college was, I did land where I was supposed to with a business degree. I enjoy serving people and finding answers to what they need. In the pursuit of the business degree at ISU, even with the foggy days from an active social life, I built a good foundation of how to run a business. One of the major lessons I use and preach is to re-invest in yourself and your business. To make a long story short, Marlon Eilts Financial Services, Inc. is doing well because we have processes and systems in place that I can venture out to start Happy Hedgehog.

The premise of this blog series is to share with you ideas I’ve learned from the last fifteen years and also to share with you the adventures I’ve had on my self-made business trips and micro-leadership conferences. Now that I have your attention--it’s time for me to go...

-Happy