Royalty Rentals has come a long way and we’re continuing to grow and add new inventory to our arsenal. Two months ago we moved into a new office down the road at 561 E. Elliot Rd. Suite 168. If anyone is ever in the area you should drop by and say hello. We love walk-in visitors!

My oldest brother John is engaged and getting married on the 3oth of this month and Kylie and I are excited to pay a visit to St. Johns for the reception and a few weeks later for the 24th of July celebration (always a good time).

Patricia graduated and is now working in Gila Bend on a welding project for a big company. She just got a new cat and named it “Tig Rig.” Cool name, I thought. Apparently it has reference to a particular type of weld that they do.

Heeder graduated as well and is selling pest control in Geneva IL. Mike and Ganes recruited him and Cody out for the summer before he does a semester of school at CGCC and puts in his papers.

Kylie has girls camp this week so she’s been preparing like crazy for that. They called her to be the ward camp director and she has been working tirelessly to make sure everything goes well and everyone has a good time. She’s excited to get up there and be with the girls… I’m not as thrilled

Tatum and Collin are waiting on a new addition to the family and will find out if it’s a boy or girl in a couple of weeks. We’re excited for them!

All in all things are just great. And, since today is Father’s Day I’ll end with a quote from Kenny. Whenever someone asks him how he is doing he replies, “I’ve never had a bad day!” I think we could all learn a little something from his example. I know I can.

The post Family Update first appeared on Joe Mangum.

You can check out their website by clicking on the link above. The business is called Royalty Rentals as they are trying to position themselves as the elite chair and table rental company in Arizona.

It has been fun watching the pieces come together for the business and you can guess how exciting it was for all of us the first time the phone rang from a potential client looking for tables and chairs. It may or may not have been the only thing on our minds the rest of the day. After the jitters of the first delivery and pickup was made though, we all were able to settle down and things seem to be going smoothly and moving right along.

Skyhook has moved into a new office on Val Vista and Baseline. The fresh surroundings have been a welcomed change and I think we all really enjoy getting to actually “go” to work each morning. Plus, who wouldn’t like going to work when at lunch you can play NBA Jam and Contra on a sweet homemade arcade built from scratch by our very own John Gough.

So that is pretty much the scoop. We’re also looking forward to a much needed vacation in a couple of weeks to NYC. Bring on the Yankees, the Empire State Building, Central Park and Ellis Island baby!

The post A New Table and Chair Rental Business in Arizona first appeared on Joe Mangum.

All these describe a situation where we are literally damned in that there is a halt in progression. Stagnant water, after a while, begins to stink just like life does if we let these situations linger longer than need be. So how do you escape? What’s the key to kickstart the proverbial engine and get life moving again?

The answer has everything to do with stepping out of our comfort zone. It involves trying something new that you’ve never done before or, even better, something you never thought you could do! Like getting out of bed in the morning, it will be difficult and even painful at first, however, after a short while, you’ll find new life and added energy for whatever you’re doing.

This website is a perfect example. I had been writing down my daily thoughts on a Google doc for months. I’ve wanted to publish my own personal blog for quite some time now but had been waiting for the time and money to hire a designer to create a professional looking site that would be just how I wanted it. Oddly enough, those circumstances never revealed themselves and I was left writing and writing with no means of publication for quite some time.

I decided, one day, to take action. I opened up Photoshop and started putting shapes and images together to make this site. I learned so many things in the process and ended up creating a site that I never thought I had it in me to create. I’m not saying this site is anything to boast about, but for a guy that before had only used Photoshop to re-size images, it’s a lot. More importantly, I left the stagnant waters and got things moving and life is better now.

How can you get the ball rolling with whatever you’re stuck on? What’s something new you can try today to solve a problem you’re facing?

P.S. The picture is of me at the Arizona Warrior Dash two weeks ago. Speaking of things you never thought you could do, I wasn’t sure I could even finish this race. I actually ended up doing pretty well though. The Skyhook team ran together and we all had a blast!

The post What Should I Do Now? first appeared on Joe Mangum.

I’m sure some of you have already read Linchpin (affiliate link) by best selling author Seth Godin. In this book, he talks about how being artistic and creative can make you indispensable in the workplace. With so many of today’s businesses fostering easily replaceable tasks and employees, the only real way to secure our future and fate is to be a “linchpin.” We need to do something or create something, perhaps even on a daily basis, that is remarkable and irreplaceable to either our business or the business we are employed by.

That said, how can we do this. I, like many, find it hard to come up with truly unique ideas especially ones that are meaningful enough to be considered “remarkable.” Though, I definitely have not mastered this, I think like anything, it is not learned overnight. In other words, we have to practice being remarkable and coming up with remarkable ideas. As we do, we get better and better at it and our ideas become better and better because we are more confident in our ability to create.

Practice is one way, another way may just come as a result of necessity. My wife, though  I disagree with her almost daily, truly believes that she is not very creative. However, when her favorite Aunt was diagnosed with cancer recently, she came up with the idea to create a scrapbook for her and give it to her by the end of the week. She emailed all of her extended family members and anyone that new her and had them write down memories of Aunt Cathie so that she could compile a scrapbook for her. Sunday night came and she had barely received all the letters and notes back and still had the entire book to create. She had thought that her sisters, who were more experienced and loved scrap booking, would do the bulk of the work because she is “not creative.” However, they had other obligations  so she ended up having to compile nearly the entire scrapbook in two hours by herself. It turned out fantastic and everyone loves it! See… you can be remarkable and you can be creative. Sometimes it just takes that initial push to get you to try something new.

So, here is an exercise that I would like you to try for at least two weeks and see if it makes a difference. Before you start your day, take 15-20 mins and go over the tasks that you have before you. Lay them all out and think about the process you will take to accomplish them. In doing so, try to think of a new way to accomplish them that you may not have tried before. Maybe you could add something to the finished product that would make it a little bit better. Ask yourself, how can I get everything done today that I need to, yet still have it stand out more than normal?

I think you’ll be surprised at what happens. I’m anxious to see what happens for me.

The post How Do I Stand Out? first appeared on Joe Mangum.

When I was in middle school back in the 90s, I set up my first email account. I used Hotmail because it was all the rage and I could instant message with my friends who all had Hotmail. I used this worthless email platform for nearly 10 years. During that time, there didn’t seem to be any major changes to the interface, functionality, design, or layout in Hotmail.

In 2008 I finally saw the light and set up Gmail. It was like a dream. I saw messages come in real time, responses to an email would be attached to the original email like an ongoing conversation, my chat friends we’re all right there in the sidebar with an icon that indicated when they were and were not available, and I could add labels to categorize emails to stay more organized.

All these features are great and there are countless more that I could name, however, the one thing that makes Gmail stand out from every other platform, is that I’m never left at a standstill. What I mean is, everyday I learn something new that I can do to make it a better experience. With something as simple as email, it’s astounding that Google is able to implement so many new features so frequently in an attempt to continue optimizing the user experience. Their list of Labs continues to grow on a daily basis and I frequently find something that after I install, wonder how I ever lived without.

If change is what makes Gmail great, why not us? What if we looked at our job from a “Gmail” perspective? What if our boss was waiting in anticipation each day to see what new idea we would come up with to help his company? What if you could do that with your own company? Then, our costumers/clients would wait in anticipation for what was coming next (in a good way). If this were the case, I have a hard time believing we wouldn’t get more fulfilment in life (and more money if that’s what you’re seeking ;).

The post Why Gmail is the Best and Why That Matters first appeared on Joe Mangum.

Fool me twice… shame on me.

…Redemption Island round II.

The post Regrets first appeared on Joe Mangum.

Anyone who has been away from home for extended periods of time knows how difficult it is to focus when your past is on your mind… or even your future. The problem is that sometimes we hinder our future by not being in the present. This doesn’t mean that we forget or push out thoughts and memories of good times and hopes for a better future, it simply means that we take full advantage of the opportunities that lie in front of us NOW.

If we’re at work, we need to work. If we’re home, we need to be home and involved with our family there. If we’re playing soccer, just relax and play… you get the point. By keeping our eyes open to opportunities and situations that happen to us each day, we can be better prepared to bless the lives of others and ourselves now and in the future.

The post Be There! first appeared on Joe Mangum.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I forget things and how I might be able to do better at remembering… especially important things. One of the synonyms for “forget” is “neglect.” When I think of neglect, it makes me think of selfishness. And I think that’s sometimes where the problem lies. Usually I forget things because I’m so absorbed with what I’M doing at the moment that whatever I was supposed to remember is completely dispelled from me. Like I’m so concerned about eating breakfast that I make it, eat it, then leave and come back to a house that’s burned down because I forgot to turn the stove off!

I feel like I’m the type of person that can focus really well on one thing and get it done but oftentimes this works against me. There needs to be balance and It’s going to have to start with working harder to look outside of myself. My wife is really good at this. I think it’s why she has one of the best memories of anyone I’ve ever met. She’s always thinking of others and their needs and never her own and as a result, hardly ever forgets to do or say something that she was supposed to.

I know this is kind of a personal subject but I felt like I just needed to get it out. Get some thoughts flowing to help me figure out a way to improve. Plus, I haven’t written anything in such a long time that I felt I needed to break the cycle. Again, it’s the busyness and being absorbed with my day to day tasks that have kept me from even remembering to blog. Remembering better starts today!

The post Remember to Do This first appeared on Joe Mangum.

I don’t like starting my day off on a bad note so this morning I  decided to do something about it. Usually, when I have to face something difficult or undesirable, I’ll try to get myself “pumped up.” I see guys at the gym all the time, before throwing up 400 lbs on the bench press, start slapping themselves in the face, grunting, clenching their fists and I’ve even seen yelling like a cave man. So I decided to do this, with the exception of the yelling and slapping part, to get my protein drink down this morning. It worked!! I forgot about the taste and just focused on getting it from outside my stomach to the inside.

So inevitably, we will all face difficult times, situations, decisions, people and yes… even pets (I still can’t get Drogba potty trained!) throughout our lives. However, there is a key to facing and getting through these without it having to negatively affect you. Your attitude about everything determines your ability to ascend above the undesirable somethings.

I can’t wait until tomorrow morning

The post Attitude and Hard Things first appeared on Joe Mangum.

What makes fear so detrimental, in many cases, is that it holds you back, even if only for a moment, from doing what you truly feel is right. Fear is like trying to start a fire with wet wood. The wood’s potential is to burn and offer heat, light, and aid in preparing food. However, the water dowses any chance the wood had to catch flame. So how do we dry out the wood. How can we eliminate fear to enable us to accomplish the things that we are burning inside to do?

I can tell you with complete honesty that I did not write yesterday. I sat at my computer for at least 20 minutes deciding whether or not to write down some thoughts I was having. What stopped me was fear. I was afraid that my thoughts weren’t well developed enough to make sense to anyone but myself. I didn’t want to publish something that another would see that wasn’t “good enough” in my mind. So I didn’t write. I can also tell you that I felt the exact same way today. However, you’re reading this confirms that for some reason the outcome was different.

What was different? Why are there words here for you to read today when yesterday brought forth nothing? Everyone seemingly must learn for themselves how they best conquer fear. For me, however, I simply move forward.The fear is still there but by stepping in the ring and “just doing it,” I find the fear begins to subside. When I am asked to speak in public, I am terrified for an entire week before with the climax coming on the day of the event. As I start to speak, the fear slowly fades and by simply giving the message I have prepared in fear, my worries dissipate.

I’m convinced it can be the same for many. We needn’t run from our fears. They are not going to go away. The key is that when they come, acknowledge that the fear is there and move on with your agenda. Write that blog post. Call that friend you’ve been thinking about. Make that sales pitch to the biggest client you will have ever had. Start that project you’ve always wanted to do, but have always doubted you could. Don’t let fear foretell your future. That’s your job.

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