9 ALBUMS THAT I LOVE RIGHT NOW! // V. 5

Back at it with the 9 albums!  Thanks to Tess Buckwalter + Jeff Sheldon who made recommendations that made volume 5.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!


Maybe Next Week You Should Focus All Your Time On Your Product....

When people ask me, "What's the secret?" to running and growing a business, I usually chuckle because there isn't a big secret that all successful entrepreneurs are holding on to and having secret meetings about. Really, there isn't.

But ready, I am going to share the big secret I do know works with you, right now, totally for free.

Have a great product, great customer service and work your butt off for years and years and years and years and years...

Mix in a few mistakes and a dash of dumb luck and you just might have some success.  Unfortunately, a lot people will fail as entrepreneurs.  That's the cold, hard truth of running a business.

I think one of the biggest mistakes young entrepreneurs make is focusing way too much on the digital presentation of their product instead of their actual product.  They jump from having an idea or product one day to selling that idea or product the next day, instead of taking time to focus on perfecting that idea or product so that it sells better in the first place.

I like to call them "instant businesses".  It's the photographer that has never taken a good photo, or the calligrapher who just bought their pen last week and took a 30 minute online class.  The examples are endless and I am sure you see them all of your newsfeed.  Honestly, I totally get it.  Starting new things is very exciting!  We get all pumped up with an idea, we put on some T-Swizzle, click around on a website creator for 30 minutes and think to ourselves, "Okay there are 7 billion people in the world.  If only 1/2 a percent of the entire population buys my $10 product I will make $350,000,000. Wow! That's going to be so easy! I am going to be so rich and buy a boat, or pet Elephant! I HAVE MADE IT!"

Let's pump the brakes for one hot second though. While that logic is air tight (😂), I don't think it's going to be as easy as you think!   I get that it's easy to think about the theory behind who is going to buy your stuff and what you are going to make, but again, it's just not that simple.

Instead of letting excitement be the only thing that drives you, which will fade by the way, let's focus on part of that secret to success I shared earlier.

Your actual product or service.

Imagine if you just focused on your product or service all next week, or month, and not on how it looked on Instagram. Would you make changes to how you do something or find a better way to do it?  Would it open up your mind to how it fits, looks, smells, etc?  Would you realize that there is something you say or do with a client that makes them uncomfortable?  Just imagine how much you would grow as a business owner if all next week you called up old clients and asked them how you could improve.  You think that would help more than posting 30 Instagrams about how "busy" you are? I'd bet my pet elephant that it would.

Now, I know that I am always talking about how important social media and interaction is today to grow a business, but it's not the most important thing.  That would be the actual thing you are trying to sell, your goods or services.  Focus on that, have a little patience, and you will see your business grow.

For the past few months, Brooke and I have been having some work done in our kitchen.  We had a wall removed, a dishwasher installed, a new island put in, some electric work fixed and a new backsplash installed.

We hired Josh Strayer, owner and operator of Home Improvement Services. The work he did on our house was incredible. HIRE HIM. He was so easy to work with and very detail oriented.  He kept our house clean while working, kept us in the loop and never made us feel dumb when we didn't understand what in the world he was talking about.

Now if you look at Josh's social media "presence" it is basically non-existent, which is not good.  I know he is working on a website to improve that presence, which is good!  But even with a lacking social media presence, Josh is awesome because his product is fantastic!  So, every time someone comes into our house and comments on our kitchen, Brooke and I are quick to sing his praise, and that's not because of his social media, but because of his product!

Seriously, if you live in the Lancaster area, hire Josh!  He's fantastic!

Now, let's say Josh had a great blog and social presence but did a crappy job on our house.  I would never recommend him and his business.  Your social "prestige" will only take you so far.  If you have a bad product people will start talking about it.. and at that point, the jig is up!

There are far too many entrepreneurs or wannabe-entrepreneurs out there who are so focused on the presentation of what they are doing without having the actual skill, service background or quality product to back it up.

Never stop focusing on your product and service.  It will do so much more than having a million followers ever will.  Once you have a great product, then yes, start talking about it and focus on growing that following. But, growing a following with out a great product is like building a house on a crappy foundation.  It's going to fall apart at some point.

My challenge to you is this: to spend all next week focusing on your product, the very thing it is you sell.  Call up some past clients, e-mail several customers, run a survey online or read your reviews and comments.  Find out where you can improve and spend next week improving.  If you are just getting started, then spend next week and the next 100 weeks after that, perfecting your craft.

I have been selling t-shirts for 10 years and just last week I ordered a handful of new samples of tees, because I wanted to see if they were softer, more comfortable or would work for what we do.  I always want the walk in love. product to improve because that is IT -- the "BIG" secret to growing your business.

Brooke will be posting a complete before and after on her blog when she gets around to it, so I will just use two Instagrams to show the great work Josh did!

BEFORE:

A photo posted by T.J. Mousetis (@tjmousetis) on

AFTER:

A photo posted by T.J. Mousetis (@tjmousetis) on

How Brooke and I Met.

Lately, I have been answering a lot of questions on Snapchat (which I love to do by the way, so keep them coming!).  One question I'm asked a lot is, "How did you and Brooke meet?"  In Snapchat, I keep the answer short because I don't want to type it all out... because that's what blog posts are for!

So, here is the full story of how Brooke and I met.  Hold onto your hats, tissues and anything else around you because this is the greatest, most epic, incredible love story ever told in the history of time.  Are you excited?

We met on Facebook.....

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I'm just kidding, well sort of.

Brooke and I actually first met very briefly when I was in 5th grade and she was in 3rd grade.  Our families went to the same church and one evening my family had The Courtney's over because my younger sister Samantha and Brooke had become friends at church.  The year was 1995.  The top song in 1995 was "Gangsters Paradise" by the rapper and poet Coolio.  It was also the year we were introduced to Woody and Buzz in the cinematic masterpiece, Toy Story.  Clearly, a good year all around.

Brooke's first memory of me was the following:  I came running up the stairs from our basement at full speed, asked my mom a question, and then turned around and ran back down the stairs.  That was it.  Our first meeting and Brooke's first memory of me.

I, unfortunately, have no memory of this first moment in our history, but Brooke has a short five second vivid memory of it, which is odd for Brooke.  She will be the first to admit she doesn't have a great memory, so I think I can explain her remembering this for one of two reasons.  1. She secretly knew that I was the man she was going to marry and she was in awe of me, or 2. She was in amazed at the size of my head as a fifth grader and shocked that I didn't topple down the stairs like a slinky.  Either way, that is Brooke's first memory of me.

Fast forward to 2008, when the hit song was "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, and we were introduced to Wall-E a cinematic look into the future of the human race... 😂 ... but, seriously.

It was April of 2008 and in the previous six months I had been fired from an internship, ended an engagement and moved back into my parent's basement, finding and taking the first job I could get, which was in a warehouse.  It was not exactly the most exhilarating time to be T.J. Mousetis.  It's actually really hard to believe that all of that only happened 8ish years ago.  It seems so much longer.  And yes, you read that correctly, I was engaged once before.

I remember one night specifically, sitting on the bed in my sister's room, on my laptop and while watching TV.  It's actually really weird that I would be in my sister's room.  Normally, I would just watch TV in the basement or living room, but for some reason, on that night, I was up in her room.  It was at a time in my life where I didn't know what walk in love. was going to be.  Walk in love. originally started as a fundraiser for a mission trip to Siberia, Russia. I had traveled to Russia twice now, both funded by walk in love. sales, and a third trip was coming up in July.  I knew that I loved selling shirts, but outside of friends and family, business wasn't exactly booming -- mostly because it wasn't really a business.  It had just been a fundraiser for the past three years, but I wanted it to be more.  Around this time I had decided to order new, softer shirts with what I called "better designs."  Looking back at the designs I have to laugh!!! Because they would NEVER EVER MAKE THE CUT NOW, but I was young and learning - still am learning!

That night I was trying to think of ways to take walk in love. up to the next level.  I thought better photos would do the trick and Brooke's name popped into my head.  We were Facebook friends and back in 2008, when Facebook was the thing you just added anyone you knew because it was so cool.  Well, because of that, I knew that Brooke was a photographer, so while sitting on my sisters bed I looked her up on Facebook.

This was her profile picture at the time and I can't help but smile every time I see it.  I remember thinking as soon as it popped up, "I have a crush on her."  No joke, that was my first thought.  It was crush at first sight.   So, I mustered up all the courage I could and sent her a message.  Unfortunately, due to Facebook changing the way they do their messaging, I've lost the original message I sent, but I can guess it went something like this...

Hey Brooke,

I see you are a photographer.  You might not know me but I am TJ and we go to the same church.  I sell the walk in love. t-shirts and was wondering if you would want to trade photos for free shirts or something, whatever, if you want, no big deal, I LOVE YOU, oh my gosh, this is weird, you are so pretty, okay cool, bye.

-T.J. *In my mind - NAILED IT*

To my surprise, she said yes! And then we started chatting it up on Facebook.

I decided to ask her if she wanted to "hang out" before did the photos.  In one of our conversations leading up to this hangout, she had told me that she never had a $1 McDonald's ice cream sundae, so I suggested McD's as our first date spot... Seriously, how did we end up getting married?

On May 18th, 2008, Brooke and I met at McDonalds.  She was wearing a pink t-shirt with chocolate bunnies on it that made me laugh.

I  didn't show up with a funny t-shirt, but instead, showed up with a dirt-stache because I was participating in Moustache May.  Yep, first date at McDonalds and I had an 18 day old dirt-stache.  I did buy the sundaes though, so... totally redeemed myself!

We sat at McDonalds and talked about our jobs, families and lives.  After we enjoyed our ice cream, I asked her if she wanted to go to a park and keep talking, so we went to Reidenbaugh Elementary school and sat on the swings and continued to talk for a few hours.  She had her camera with her that night, so I asked her if she would take my Moustache May photo for the next day.  Yeah, it was a daily photo posting event.  I wish they would bring it back, maybe someday!

In that parking lot at Reidenbaugh Elementary, Brooke took her first, of many many, photos of me, dirt-stache and all.

A few days later I came over to her house for a second date and that's when I told her I loved her.  I was madly in love with her from the moment we started talking, and still am to this day as I listen to her read to our daughter in the room next to me while writing this.

Five months later, I asked her to marry me in October 2008 and seven months after that we got married in May 2009.

I can't help but smirk at that little smirk on my face in that photo.  Your life can change in a moment.  It had not been a great year for the young man in that photo, but one encounter, with one person, changed it forever and I thank God every day for that. 

So to answer the question, "How did you and Brooke meet?", I guess I'd have to say "I originally met Brooke for five seconds in 1995, then again in May 2008.  After our second meeting, my life has never, and will never, be the same."

Cavities

Yesterday morning I had several cavities filled.  I hadn't been to the dentist in a few years, which I am definitely kind of embarrassed by.  I could make a lot of excuses as to why I didn't go, but when it comes down to it, it's simple - I just didn't make it a priority. I finally went for a cleaning on Monday, and not to my surprise, I have cavities.

But back to yesterday - while I was laying in the chair with a numb face and nine different attachments shoved into my mouth, I realized the error of my foolishness.  The suffering I was enduring in the chair, as they told me to open my small mouth "wider! wider!", while shoving a freaking drill into my mouth, WAS NOT WORTH IT!

As God as my witness I will never miss a dentist appointment again.  I will floss and use mouth wash every night.  I will do all that I can to prevent future cavities from forming.  Side note, my dentist didn't ask if I drank lots of coffee, so I'm taking that as a good sign that I can keep drinking it!  Praise the Lord!

Getting a cavity filled is such a good metaphor for our lives.  How often do we go through life ignoring something that needs to be addressed in our life because we don't like, it makes us uncomfortable or it's not exciting?  In my short thirty years on earth so far, I have never learned the lesson that "avoiding a problem usually makes it better".

But we do it in all areas of our lives.  We ignore our physical health and often end up with diabetes just because we are overweight.  We ignore our spiritual health and feel alone in the wilderness, instead of attached to an all powerful and loving God.  We ignore the health of our relationships and end up in a distant, bitter, underwhelming, emotional draining relationship - be it marriage, dating or friendship.

We let cavities destroy areas of our lives until it's too late, or almost too late.  When it's too late and we actually lose a tooth, or relationship, or area of our heart, we feel broken, incomplete and usually really embarrassed.  If you have ever lost something in your life because of your own foolishness, then you know exactly what I mean.  It's the worst feeling.  I remember feeling that way over and over again in high school and college when I was giving into temptations that I knew were wrong.  I was losing a part of my heart and it was awful.  I've also lost friends and relationships because of my own foolishness and it's horrible.  Some of us may try to blame the system, the other person or circumstance, but when decay eats away at us, it's normally our fault and ours alone.

When there is still a chance to salvage and repair the decay, it is usually really painful.  It's sitting in a dentist chair while a drill grinds away your teeth, hard conversations with loved ones, or starting to diet and eat healthy.  All of which are hard things to do, but THEY ARE ALWAYS WORTH IT!  I have never met anyone who was upset that they worked through a problem or got healthy. Never!  I have also never met anyone who is mad that they still have all their teeth.

I am so glad they rooted out the decay in my teeth and filled my cavities yesterday.  If not, the decay would have spread and spread and I would have eventually lost some teeth.

Don't let decay spread in your body and heart.  Root it out and take care of it.  Have that hard conversation with your loved one, start that healthier lifestyle, pursue holiness.  Do it and do it now.  Today!  Don't wait and end up living part of your life with decay eating away at your heart. It's not worth it!

When the doctor came in after my initial cleaning to tell me I had cavities he told me, "We can fix the cavities, but your teeth will not be as strong.  Your mouth will always be stronger with what is originally there."

I almost started crying because I started to think about the way we were created.  We, humans, were created to walk the gardens naked and unafraid with our creator.  When sin enters our hearts, decay happens, and it'll never be as strong as what was originally there, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT GOD LOVES US SO MUCH HE SENT JESUS.

Unlike my teeth, my heart has the opportunity to be restored to its original purpose, to have a naked and unafraid relationship with my loving Creator.  Jesus is the only thing that will fill those cavities in our lives back to their original strength.  He is the only one that can take the decay called sin, which has burrowed it's way into our hearts, and make it stronger, back to it's original creation.

I want to be more aware of the decay in my life so I can root it out and cover it with the love of my Savior.  I don't want to live with it.  I want to live how I was created to, not with decay, but with and in the loving arms of my Creator, naked and unafraid.


One On One

This weekend I was telling Brooke how I want to give away more things this year than I ever have.  I want to train myself to be as generous as possible so, I have started that training by giving away a walk in love. shirt every week this year.  That will continue through 2016.  I will post about the giveaways on my Instagram or Snapchat.  Both usernames are @tjmousetis.

But as I started to talk to Brooke I realized that the softest t-shirts in the world aren't the only thing I have to giveaway.  I have some business knowledge that I can share and giveaway.  I have been doing a little bit of that on my YouTube channel.  You can see those videos here - T.J. Mousetis Show.

I plan to continue sharing on the YouTube show all year but it can be difficult to get specific about your business idea.

So I decided that I want to give away thirty minutes every week to talk one on one about your business ideas, social media strategies or whatever business question you might have.  I didn't go to business school and might not have the answers, but I have learned a good amount about running a business in the 10 years I have been doing it so I will do my very best to be as helpful as possible!  I can do it in person if you live in the Lancaster, PA area and want to come to the walk in love. studio or we can do it over facetime.

I had the idea of doing "case studies" on my Podcast earlier but never got around to it, so I think this is that idea finally being flushed out.

I wear a shirt that says Iron Sharpens Iron every three days, at least.  I love the idea that I could play a small part in sharpening your business and by doing that I know that I will be sharpening mine.  It's totally free and I won't try to sell you anything.  This isn't a gimmick to get you in front of me and sell you a more "extensive package."  I want to help and I want to train myself to be generous with my time and energy.

The 30 minutes is yours to talk about your website, social or whatever else you want to ask about your business.   If you are interested, e-mail me - [email protected].

When you e-mail me please include the following

E-mail Subject Line - One on One

Name:

Age:

Business website and social links:

Whether you want to meet in person or on facetime.

Can't wait to start these!

 

Cultivate The Atmosphere That You Want

The other night I knew Brooke had cleaned the house the second I walked in!  The living room looked great, which I told her as soon the front door closed behind me.  She replied by asking me, "Guess how long it took to clean the entire house?"

It was a rhetorical question and she quickly exclaimed, "Two hours!"

The house looked really, really good.  Not just, "picked up toys and stuffed things into the closet good", but like "vacuum, clorox wipes, clean the counters, sparkly good"!

Brooke was pumped up that it only took two hours to clean the entire house.  A year ago that would have been impossible, which got me thinking about the atmosphere of our house.  Brooke and I have spent the last year cultivating the atmosphere in our house to one that brings us joy.

One of the reason the house is so much easier to clean now than it was a year ago is because we have 50-75% less stuff.  We got rid of all the things that weren't bringing us joy and sold them at a yard sale or donated them to a thrift store.  We use to spend so much time shuffling the same things from this area to that area while never actually realizing the things we were shuffling were things that we didn't even need to begin with.

Cultivating the atmosphere you want will take a big catalyst at some point.  For Brooke and I, that catalyst was June.  When she was born we started to realize a lot of the unnecessary things in our lives, both physical and emotional.  We realized the atmosphere that we wanted with a baby was not the one we had.  We wanted freedom from unnecessary time consuming things to spend as much time as possible with our new family.  Well, we spent a lot of time cleaning, like most people do, but we knew we could cut that time down with less stuff.  When you have less stuff overall, you have less stuff to clean and put away. Imagine that!

When a catalyst jumps into the forefront of our lives we have two options.  Run through the door it opens with open arms or ignore it.  Unfortunately, most of us ignore the catalysts that show up in our lives and we spend weeks, months or years living like joyless lumps.

A catalyst can be really big, like the birth of your first child, or really small, like when you bend over and realize there is a lot of extra cushion in your mid-section.  That is a catalyst I have had many times and when I ignore it, don't change my eating habits and ignore my physical fitness, it only gets worse.

Respond to the catalysts in your life!  Run through the doors they open with energy and excitement.  Regret is not something you want to live with and way too many people do!  Open your arms to the possibilities of change bringing you joy.  As a Christian, I believe that the holy spirit is a constant catalyst trying to push us through doors to be more like Jesus, but faith without works is dead.  Conviction with out action is wasted. So, listen to that catalyst and jump, run, clean out, giveaway, serve, pray, fast or whatever other action is needed to listen!

The second part, at least in my life, of cultivating the atmosphere that I want is to continually check on that atmosphere.  For example Brooke recently said, "We need to go through our shirts and get rid of some.  We've gotten a lot of new ones without purging the older ones." 

The closets were getting tighter and the extra hangers were filling up and we needed to check the balance of what was happening in our lives.  When you own the greatest t-shirt company in the world you end up with a lot of shirts very quickly, but that doesn't mean you let them run wild in you life and clutter up a once de-cluttered space.  So, every now and then we have to purge and say goodbye to some.  It's the same way with other areas you've cultivated.  Imagine if you got in really good shape and you cultivated the physical fitness atmosphere you've always wanted, but you slowly start to drift away from the weights and closer to the doughnuts.  Before you know it you've gained weight that you worked so hard to lose because you didn't have any checks or balances.  Life continues to go and go and in the blink of eye you can lose an atmosphere that you took so much time to cultivate.  You need checks and balances to to keep yourself checked and balanced.  Again, as a Christian, that is accountability in the form of a wife, friend or mentor.  It's having someone you can trust and love even while they are saying to you, "STEP AWAY FROM THE CREAM CHEESE!"

Cultivating the atmosphere you want is a never ending process.  It starts with a catalyst that requires action.  It doesn't end there though. It takes attention, checks and balances and usually another catalyst mixed in when we've totally lost the atmosphere.  It happens, but don't ignore the catalyst when you realized the atmosphere is gone.

I want an atmosphere of peace, joy and contentment to flow through my life, house, business and work.  I want to live wild and free for Jesus.  I don't want to be tied down to stuff and things.  I want an atmosphere that is flowing from the living waters that Jesus supplies that is so refreshing to people I come in contact with that they want to join me and jump into the open arms of Jesus!  I want the atmosphere of my life to be overflowing with joy and happiness that people have to ask the question, "Why are you different? Why are you so happy?" So, I can respond with the answer that I am on the earth to proclaim - Jesus has changed my life and made me whole.  He can do the same for you!

Are you cultivating the atmosphere you want?

Or are you just complaining about the one you don't have?

In six months, a year, five years, will you look back and regret that you didn't focus more on cultivating the atmosphere you wanted in your life?

Has the atmosphere in your marriage hit an all time low? Is the atmosphere in your home dark and dismal? Is the atmosphere with your friends bitter and uncomfortable?

Let this post be your catalyst to change your atmosphere!