Measure of success

It has been that time of year once our yearly income taxes are finished, and we have seen how much money/wealth we have accumulated.

 But is wealth the measure of success? Absolutely NOT. So if a large sum of money isn’t success, then what is?

To be successful you must first have a dream. This dream can be having your own business, paying off your mortgage/debt and living a debt-free lifestyle, or a style of life.  For me this dream was to have a homestead, an off-grid cabin, be debt free, and have my own small business that revolved around Blacksmithing.

Now, you can’t stop there, as dreaming is probably the easiest step to becoming truly successful. Next, you must turn that dream into a goal. So write down the ultimate goal you want to achieve and then “reverse engineer” it with all the little steps you must take to achieve your life dream.

 After that begins the work. This is where a lot of people fail at being truly successful as this will require you to get out of your comfort zone and possibly change most if not all of your daily habits. This will mean early mornings, sleepless nights, and not get to spend as much time having “fun”. And it is because of these little sacrifices that people settle for second best or get stuck with the attitude of “Where I am isn’t too bad”.  I implore you, don’t be that person, for the greatest men and women in the world didn’t get where they are by not working hard and making sacrifices.

 When you achieve each little goal, celebrate it, congratulate yourself and thank God for blessing the work of your hands. However, now is not the time to take a vacation and become complacent, you have work to get done!

 Then finally, once you have achieved the main goal, which originally was a dream, then and only then are you successful.

See, success is not money, power, popularity, public influence, but rather achieving a dream, YOUR dream for your life.

 As for me, well I am typing this on a laptop powered by a portable solar generator, in a cabin I built debt free on my 28-acre homestead. And tomorrow, I will get up at the crack of dawn I will get up, walk to my shop, and build blacksmith power hammers that have been ordered through my small business. While my income level would be considered “below the poverty level” by my income taxes, make no mistake that I am truly successful

 ~Chase~

So long Apple

For the last 3-4 years I have owned nothing but Apple products for my electronic needs, from a MacBook Air, iMac, iPhone (before I got rid of a phone), iPad, and a MacBook Pro.

Each of these products served me well, but the constant updates, and the feeling that the products where getting slower and slower has pushed me away from them. Also the MacBook Pro I currently have keeps crashing and will not properly edit a video.

Yesterday while at Sams Club getting a piece of pizza (You can beat the price on the pizza combo) I stepped over to their electronics section just to look.  Well they had their display model Acer 15" laptop with an Intell i3 processor, 1TB hard drive, 4GB ram, backlit key  board for the low low price of $319!  Even though it has an i3 processor, it should have the power to edit my video's in 1080p.

So this morning I have been online downloading copyright free music to use in future video's! Cant wait to get back to editing!

~Chase~

A lot of changes

Over a year since my last blog post... Well it has been a crazy year.
 So last you all heard, I was  married, building power hammers, living in an apartment attached to the shop, and working on the house.
 A year ago today, my divorce was finalized. Yes thats right, Holly and I divorced after just 2 short years of marriage. We had good times, we had bad times, then we had worse times, and I found myself in the position that would merit a "Biblical" divorce (for those of you who don't know what I am talking about, please refer to Mathew 5:32).
 Now anyone who tells you that divorcing a woman for such reasons is easy, they are liars, not only to you but probably themselves. When you (as a man, could be different for women) find yourself in the position that you can do whatever you want, and not have to answer to anyone. I will admit, I went down this road, racked up some credit card debt, having fun on the weekends, etc. For me I did these things under the lie (mostly to myself) that I was trying to find myself, but in reality I was covering up the pain, the hurt, the regret, and the loneliness.
 After about 7 months of that nonsense, I woke up, found myself in debt, and no closer to "finding myself" than I had when I first started.  So I got up, dusted off, and did what I know best; work hard.
 Fast forward to today, I am debt free, living off grid in the house I have been working on (yes I didn't loose the homestead or house in the divorce), and building more power hammers now than I had ever thought.
 None of this would have been possible with out the people God put in my life, ranging from family, friends, church family, and the blacksmithing community.  I cannot express how AMAZING the blacksmithing community is! No where else in the world will you find a better group of men and women than in the blacksmithing world!
Now back to the "Finding yourself" thing. After the 7 month party, I started working hard, but I had no purpose. I just got up, worked like a dog in the shop, on the house, and on the homestead all with no goal, no purpose, no soul. It wasn't until recently (about a month ago) that one day I woke up and something seamed different, I couldn't (and still can't) tell what it was. Then that night I rented a movie off Amazon.com, and this movie was one of my favorites prior to getting married, and hadn't seen it in about 3 years. It was that movie, that reminded me who I was before.
 Since that night, I have felt more peace, joy, and self purpose than I have felt since I don't remember when. The lesson I learned, is that you don't have to always "find yourself", but remember who you were, and apply the life lessons you have since learned.
 So what now? Now I carry on with the dreams I had earlier in life, but I'm changing those dreams to goals.
Finish the house
Get the homestead running with live stock
Grow Non-GMO/Heirloom vegetables to sell at Farmers Markets
Expand my small business
Work on my Youtube Channel

Now on the first point, I am living in the house, but it is not finished. My floor is just the subfloor, but painted, the upstairs is sealed off, no trim work, no interior wall coverings in the utility room, bedroom isn't finished, and the list goes on.

Before I can get the Youtube channel going, I need to get a better laptop (2011 MacBook Pro isn't cutting it), and a solar generator since video editing eats batteries like crazy!

Currently I am working on a chicken coop and pen, and as the project progresses, I will bring y'all along!

In the back field of my homestead I have 2 acres of land plowed up for this season, and a local mennonite own and operated greenhouse is starting plant sets for me.

And as for my small business, I currently have 5 power hammers I am working on for blacksmiths across the United States, and more that I need to start on for current order! Busy is good!

So  I'm going to try and bring you guys along, as I make this journey, Off the Grid!

~Chase~