Jimmy’s House

Well, if you have been around me at all in the last 2-3 months then you know who Dave Ramsey is to at least some degree.  I expect to write a lot about what I’m learning from him on a weekly basis so consider this page to be fair warning.  I’m not going to bother spelling out his name in full during the life of this blog.  Instead I plan on just calling him Dave.  Here is a quick audio of him summing up his personal experience with debt and how he decided to change his own life.

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Dave’s influence on my life so far is unbelievable.  Everything that I have learned about finances and business this year have been from him either directly in book or radio or indirectly through books he has recommended or given to me (yes, I did see him live this year and was given three books by his team).

I was very lost at the beginning of this year (2008).  I had just finished up a year with incredible loses in my business.  Between the decrease in business after the end of 2006 and some very poor financial decisions I had made I was all but ready to hang it up.  I knew that 2008 couldn’t be a year with monthly loses in my business (yes, I lost money every single month in 2007).  I literally had no idea what to do next.

Thankfully I had someone in my life I respected immensely who had decided Dave had a lot of great advice when it came to money.  After visiting with Rick Coonce (the owner of Augusta Homes and the builder of our new home) for over an hour about some of Dave’s concepts I realized there had to be some truth to what Rick was sharing with me.

I instantly started listening to Dave on a regular basis.  One week after listening to him I shredded all my credit cards and decided I was finished being a “slave to lenders”.  I purchased his book “The Total Money Makeover” and started learning “God’s and grandma’s advice for managing money” and I was on my way to a complete reversal on how I thought about money.  I instantly decided that what I was learning from him three hours a day was something I could apply to my business.  I started cutting the fat out of my business.  If it wasn’t something I absolutely had to have to keep my business running then it was going out the door.  I cut so many expenses in the first month that my business instantly started making a profit.  It wasn’t (and still isn’t at the time of this writing) making a ton of money but for the first time in almost a year we were in the black.  We have remained in the black all this year and I am confident of a very bright future.

Not only did I make financial changes to my company but I also made business changes as well.  Dave gives business advise on a regular basis on his show.  He also recommends some great books on business.  Since I was gaining a level of respect for his financial advice I decided that maybe he has some good advise on business.  I picked up a couple of books on business that he recommends.  After reading a couple of books I knew I was being given a road map to building a successful business.

Here I am four books later and I’m completely convinced that if I implement what I’m learning through all these books and Dave’s shows success will be the final result.  This is coming from a guy that hasn’t read a non-fiction book in probably ten years.  Now I am completely convinced that my business is going to make it.  Not because I’m such a business genius but because I’m learning from quality proven resources.  Education is the most powerful tool I’m working with.