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Mark Eastman

Christmas Is About Giving, Business Should Be Too

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How Do We Know What to Give Without A List?

Last week I wrote about the coming new year and our excitement about the possibilities and opportunities it will present. This week I’m going to back up just a little (chronologically) to focus on Christmas (considering that it is just a few days away).

Christmas at its very foundation means giving. “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him would not be lost but have eternal life.” John 3:16, ERV. We’re talking about the ultimate gift. The giving of His child to be mistreated and ultimately killed on a cross. This Holiday is the celebration of that Child’s birth.

“God created humans in His own image. He created them to be like himself.” Genesis 1:27 ERV. If we have been created in His image, then shouldn’t we be willing to give. Isn’t this a part of who we have been put here on earth to be?

What does giving look like in business?

It doesn’t mean we do work for free. It doesn’t mean that if we win the customer loses or the other way around. Business isn’t supposed to be a win-lose arrangement. It can and should be a win-win.

Once again, this last week I met with another couple in the middle of a remodeling project that has taken a bad turn…they had to fire their contractor. What should have been the fulfilling of their dream turned into a nightmare. This was primarily due to a breakdown in communication. As professional builders, or businesses of any kind, this responsibility is ours. This is such a big problem. I have written about it as much or more than any other.

Here are links to some of those “Weekly Solutions”:

So, how do we know what it is that the customer wants? WE ASK THEM

This seems to be a no brainer, but for whatever reason the question doesn’t get asked, not really. The basics get discussed and everybody thinks they know what the outcome is going to be, but some where in the process things go off track. It takes time and effort to dig deep and find the underlying dream. This is critical to the project being a win-win.

It’s like finding out what a child wants for Christmas. Sure, we can go get them a gift and it might be something they like but, the odds aren’t very good. Or, we can have them fill out a Christmas list. If we don’t understand something on the list, we can ask and get some clarity before the process starts or money is spent.

Have the customer fill out a “Christmas List” for their project before moving forward.

To the point of having a list filled out…I need a list filled out to help determine the best direction for Solution Building going forward. I have a lot of ideas, but your input will help me know what would be the most beneficial to helping you build your dreams.

Please share your thoughts, questions, ideas or dreams in the comments below. This will help me know what gifts I can give you.

If you would prefer you can give me your list by taking this short 8 question survey.

We Are The Ones Who Can and Will Do What Needs Done

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In the Christmas season we see the words love, joy and peace a lot. This doesn’t mean that these are the only feelings we experience during the Holidays. I do think we see these types of actions now more than other times of the year. This brings up the question why. Why do people seem to be nicer around Christmas?

I think that the Christmas season brings the Christian ideals to the forefront due to the fact that we’re celebrating Christ’s birthday. This makes us more aware of Christ and what He has asked of us. In Philippians 4:4-7, we are told to “…be filled with joy.” It doesn’t say to just be filled with joy the few weeks of the year when celebrate Christ’s birthday. It says be filled with joy. How can we be filled with joy?

What about peace? Merriam-Webster says that peace is 1. a state of tranquility 2. Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions 3. Harmony in personal relationships. These all sound like great things. Why is it that we struggle to find peace, especially during the hectic chaos of the holiday season? Maybe it’s because everyone has different ideas, thoughts and goals. This can make peace difficult to accomplish. Pastor Lee told a story of a Nigerian woman whose Nigerian name means “the child who takes anger away”. When asked how she got this name she told about her grandparents on both sides of her family disapproving of her mother and father getting married. After they went ahead and were married the families quit speaking. After she was born the grandparents decided to get past their disagreements. It’s amazing the power of peace that a baby can have. There was a baby who’s birthday we’re now celebrating that this name would be a fitting for.

We have the choice to be filled with love, joy and peace through out the whole year, not just at Christmas, it’s up to us. We have to decide to and then do it. We can choose how we are going to live and act. Are we going to harbor anger and turmoil or are we going to choose joy and peace?

Another story in the Pastor’s sermon was about a military plane crash. It was a awful sight with body parts scatter around. The military personnel were cleaning up the mess when local civilians came and helped. This wasn’t their responsibility or a requirement. Never the less they were helping. Later that night a mortuary lieutenant was struggling with all that he had seen that day. He went and spoke with the Chaplin. While they were talking the young lieutenant said about the civilians, “They Are the Only Persons Who Would, or Perhaps Could, Do What We Had to Do Today”. This made a huge impact on the young man’s life.

These civilians would or could do what they did. The same thing is true of us when we are struggling with feelings opposed to love, joy and peace. We can choose love, joy and peace.

I hope you have a love, joy and peace filled Christmas.

Getting Inspired for A Better New Year

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Some New and Exciting Plans for The New Year

I don’t know about you, but I get excited about planning for the future. Looking forward is exciting. It feels a little like the expectation of Christmas morning. The possibilities and opportunities of the New Year offer similar exciting feelings of anticipation.

If all your goals are always reached, then they aren’t big enough. They need to be big enough to stretch you, make you work harder at building a better you. I’ve never been short on big ideas and plans. To this point we didn’t reach all our 2018 goals. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to quit. God has too many big things left for us to accomplish.

One of the goals was to help more people find solutions for building their dreams through growing the number of people following these weekly posts. We missed it…by a lot. So, what are we going to do? Are we going to quit?

No. We’re going to try some new things because, failure only exists for the person who quits. I DO NOT QUIT!

As we have been discussing ideas for growing our community in this next year my financial assistant/sister had a suggestion. She thought I should share the weekly email that I currently send to my Sunday school class (which she receives).

What a good idea. I have always written these blog posts from a perspective that God is the Architect of our lives and we need to build our lives accordingly. This fits well with the mission of Solution Building to help you “find the solutions you need to build your dreams”. This second “Weekly Solution” posting will be mid-week and have an inspirational focus. I’M EXCITED!

Read the first one of these posts here.

Looking forward we’ve got some new and exciting things that we’re going to implement in the coming year. We want to develop our community and expand our circle of influence. We hope this addition will help with that. Keep watching for other new and exciting things.

One of the important parts of community is communication. Please share this with others who you think would enjoy or benefit from it and give me feedback by replying in the comments below.

The Ultimate Gift Card, Be Sure to Use It

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We know that God loves us, but can we understand how much? How much He really, really loves us? I mean think about it.

He gave everything for us. He left the peace and comfort of His home in heaven for us. He suffered for us. He died…for us. THIS IS LOVE! “They Will Know I Love Them Because…”

When reading Luke 3:1-6 previously, I read the making roads straight and the leveling of mountains and filling the valleys, but didn’t make the connection that it is my responsibility. My responsibility to, “be baptized… Prepare the way for the Lord.” I’m the one that is supposed to move mountains and fill valleys.

But do I have what it takes? Yes I can do this! All things are possible through the Lord, Mark 9:23, Luke 18:27, Isaiah 41:4. We just need to believe and do our part. Satin wants us to think that it’s too big for us to do. This keeps us from doing our part. If we will ignore him and work together we can move mountains with our little shovels.

There are a lot of gift cards given this time of the year. These can be great gifts…if they’re used. Not so much, if they aren’t. There is $44,000,000,000.00 worth (yes that’s billion) of unused gift cards since 2008. The average household has $300 worth lying around. These pieces of plastic aren’t much value if they aren’t used. The same is true with the spiritual “Gift Card” we have been given. If we don’t use it, it will go to waste.

They “Will Know I Love Them Because…” of the “Gift Card” given. Don’t leave your “Gift Card” lying around unused.

It Doesn’t Require A Big Building for The Dream to Be Big

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Another Big Dream in A Small Package

My Timber Creek Construction web site is ten years old and just like a building, it needs some updating and remodeling.

Earlier this week I met with Stacey and Shaunna from Custom Internet Services to discuss ideas about the project. One of the things that I’m looking to accomplish is an improved connection between that site and this one. I used to regularly write project overviews and post pictures. I need to get back to doing this again.

As we looked through the projects it struck me that the project summaries are a good fit for “Weekly Solutions” and helping customers build their dreams. So, here is a project summary of a dream project for Webber’s from 2005.

This project was done both as a functional building for storing garden equipment and the potting of plants as well as a decorative building to resemble a rustic cabin for landscaping. The 12′ x 16′ wood framed structure is built on a 4″ thick steel reinforced concrete slab that was formed and poured by Arthur Contreras with the concrete purchased from Daniels Rock and Ready Mix. There is a 6′ x 16′ porch along the east side of the building with a cedar floor. Electrical service was run underground by Finn’s Electric to provide electricity to the building. The 4×8 sheets of wood grained James-Hardie fiber cement siding with vertical grooves was installed directly to the studs.

Roof construction consists of engineered wood trusses on the building and 2×6 rafters on the porch, wood stringers over rafters, covered with galvanized, 29-gauge, corrugated Strongbarn tin. Uninsulated 6′ x 6′-6″ overhead door was supplied and installed in the back of the building by Keith Hostetter. Front entry door was job built from 1″ rough cedar to resemble an old cabin door.

Building has two 24″ x 36″ vinyl single hung windows, one in south end and one on west side, to let in natural light. Painting of exterior siding was done by the customer. This project in 2005 was a little over $10,000.00.

I plan to share more current projects as well as archived ones in this up coming year as well as connecting the two web sites to make it easier to access the content across both sites.

I will keep you updated on the Timber Creek Construction web site remodel.

How Important Is an Experienced Guide When Building Your Dream?

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Been There Done That, Now Let Me Help You

We all have areas in our lives in which we are more skilled and knowledgeable than others. These areas of talent are fewer than the more common areas of our lives. This is why it’s important to find those qualified professionals to guide you through places where you are less qualified.

Recently I was working with a customer that gave me a home blueprint they were considering building. It was a large one-story home (2975 square feet) over a full basement. The proposal to build their project was more than they had budgeted.

Now what do we do?

After spending some time visiting with them there were several options that were discovered. Things that the novice wouldn’t consider or understand how it would affect the price. This is one of the benefits of getting experienced guidance early in the process.

The first thing was to figure out what the priorities were. Here are a few:

  • Dollars were a concern, as is almost always the case – This can be addressed by stacking the construction. If a second floor is included in the overall square footage less foundation and roofing is required to achieve a similar total square footage. This decreases the per square foot price.

 

  • Style and architectural design – During the discussing it was discovered that she wanted a wraparound porch which wasn’t a part of the first plan but fit in nicely on the second one.

 

  • Additional optional living space – Space for family during the holidays and for visits. Space for mother to live during the week when she is in town working.

By offering them some guidance and knowing what questions to ask we were able to come up with a plan that is going to meet the majority of there needs and wants at a 25% reduction in price. This is what I can offer with my almost forty years at the school of hard knocks.

The benefits of working together on any project has value. This value increases exponentially as the size of the projects increase. A new home is definitely a sizeable project.

One of the biggest challenges with building a dream is getting all parties involved moving the same direction. Too many times these parties are pulling in different directions. Just like two horses pulling together as a team can accomplish more, we can do the same thing. That team of horses need someone to take control of the reigns and give direction. We need that same kind of guidance.

I think guidance is the most important thing to building a dream. I also think it’s one of the most overlooked and under used pieces of the process. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It is up to each of us to know what ours are and give or get guidance where needed.

We Can Choose to Be Thankful

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But It’s Up to Us to Decide

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving holiday for US. This brings the topic of giving thanks to the forefront of our thoughts. These discussions are every where and for a variety of reasons. Some are as simple as to remind us to be thankful. Some are using this as a marketing plan.

I received a lot of different Thanksgiving themed emails over the last week. Many had fantastic thanks giving messages. One was from one of my favorite authors, Andy Andrews. It was his weekly podcast titled, “A Thanksgiving State of Mind”. In this podcast Andy shares a story about finding thankfulness when you’ve lost your grateful spirit.

My fondness for Andy started with the reading of his book, “The Traveler’s Gift”. This book is about how one man’s choices made the difference between success and failure. I read it a little under six years ago while recovering from a concussion. I attribute much of my increased level of giving thanks to the connection I found with this story and my injury. It gave me a new appreciation for the gift of life that we have been given. Much of this improved awareness I can attribute to the “Seven Decisions” in the “Traveler’s Gift”.

 

 

Being THANKFUL is a CHOICE we make. We can DECIDE how we are going to live.

 

 

The Thanksgiving holiday in the United States started being officially celebrated in 1789, as proclaimed by George Washington. It was to commemorate the Pilgrims giving thanks for the harvest in 1621. We all have things to be thankful for. We just need to slow down long enough to think about it and to remember.

 


Why is it important to give thanks? – If we are giving thanks, we are acknowledging that there is someone to give thanks to. This acknowledgement is critical to our living a well-focused life. This is the understanding that everything we have and everything that we are comes from God.

 

Kenneth Copeland lists 5 benefits of thanks giving as:

  1. Thanksgiving brings God on the scene – Entering into thanksgiving you invite God’s presence into your life.
  2. Thanksgiving puts challenges in perspective – It reminds us of how powerful God is.
  3. Thanksgiving focuses your mind on the right subject – It helps us refocus our attention on the One who is greater than every challenge.
  4. Thanksgiving strengthens your faith – It reminds us of all that God has done and all that He will do.
  5. Thanksgiving is a weapon against the enemy’s maneuvers – When giving God praise our enemies will be turned back.

We have the “super-power” of choice at our discretion. We can choose to be THANKFUL or not. By choosing to GIVE THANKS we unleash God’s benefits in our lives and to all of those we connect with.


I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you will remember to give thanks all year long.

5 Ways to Stop Over Promising and Under Delivering

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Asking Questions and Finding Answers to Help You Schedule Better

 

Things taking longer than we expect them to. This is a topic of way too many conversations. Just in the last few days I’ve had this very discussion, in some form or another, with customers, subcontractors and family members. Not to mention it’s an ongoing dialog I have with myself.

Why is this such a common problem? Is there something wrong with my scheduling system or abilities? Is there a better way to manage my time? Am I trying to do too much? Is it just the way things are? I know this is a lot of questions, but asking questions is the only way to find answers.

I think one reason we don’t ask questions, is the amount of time it takes to find answers. If it isn’t a simple answer that jumps out in front of you, it’s easier to just let things keep going the way they are. I’m behind, I don’t have time to look for answers to questions.

Here are 5 answers that you won’t have to look for:

 

  • Find the balance of accuracy and urgency –

This is a big struggle that I have when scheduling. I know that I’m deadline oriented. If I allow two hours to do something it will most likely take twice that long. If I allow four hours, it reduces the level of urgency and I will procrastinate. Something else will take its place. I’ve figured out that If I schedule myself short on time, I focus better, and the increased urgency will get it done faster. Figuring out your balance of accuracy and urgency can be tricky but is critical.

 

  • Give as much importance to my schedule with myself as to others –

When I put things on the calendar that are for myself, I tend to be more lenient. This is different than when I have a meeting scheduled with someone else. If I am going to honor God and others, I need to also honor myself. This is hard for me but is one of those areas where I need to be more accountable. If I hope to spend my time efficiently, I need to be realistic when scheduling with myself and honor it.

 

 

  • Stop trying to do too many things –

But there are so many important things that need to be done. If I don’t do them, they won’t get done or they won’t be done right. This tendency of trying to do too many things has always been a characteristic that I have been proud of. This is what movers and shakers do, right. Being a micro-manager doesn’t help either. There are just too many pieces to put together by myself. I need some clarity of focus on what my time is best spent on and stop trying to do everything if I want to be the best steward of my time.

 

  • Take in to account the number of things out of my control –

The bigger the project being scheduled, the more things there are to schedule. One small delay can have a snowball effect by pushing more and more things farther and farther back. There needs to be some margin scheduled in to cover these delays. The difficult part is to not let the margins become areas of wasted time. It is critical to communicate clearly to those involved the importance of being on schedule. I use two different schedules with projects. One with the customer and one with the producers.

 

  • Plan for unforeseen things that interrupt the plan – 

There are always things that can’t be planned for. It doesn’t matter how well you plan if something breaks down or there’s an accident. The priority and focus can change quickly. This is a thing that is also out of my control. The difference in the two is the frequency and the level of disruption. We can only plan for these things to a certain point. It is more about the awareness that it can happen and being ready to deal with it the best we can when it does.


The key to unlocking the door to better scheduling and planning is self-awareness. It’s about knowing who you are and asking questions. I know that I’m a recovering perfectionist and my level of expectation is high. I know that this makes things take longer. I also know that if I want to build the best business and the best me, I must be willing to ask questions, find answers and put those answers to use. It all comes down to me and my willingness to make the necessary decisions.

What are some answers to scheduling questions that you’ve found?

Good Communication Is Not A One-Way Street

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Remember That I Have Two Ears and One Mouth

 

In January last year I wrote about my core values and how I use them as a life filter. In that post I told you that I would go into each one in more detail. In this week’s solution we will dig into another one. It is to Remember that I have two ears and one mouth.

This core value points out that good communication is twice as much about listening. This makes perfect sense why God gave us two ears and one mouth. I have accepted the fact that I like to talk and do quite a lot of it. I believe that over communication is better than poor communication.

This core value reminds me of the importance of listening.

Within the last week I had two different people compliment me on my ability to communicate. One was directed at speaking and the other to writing. This was nice because I haven’t considered this to be something that I was particularly skilled at. The fact that this was communicated to me, was encouraging and inspiring.


Poor communication or the complete lack of it is one of the biggest issues in business and in life. How can I expect to help people build their dreams if we don’t communicate? Too often assumptions are made, and they lead to disasters.

If I don’t know what you want to achieve, and I don’t accurately tell you what to expect, somebody is going to be disappointed.

It is understandable why communication gets ignored. We’re busy. Communication takes time and we don’t have any extra. Whether it is listening, talking or writing…it takes time. You’ve probably heard the proverb ‘haste makes waste’. This is more evident now than ever. We are an instantaneous people. We want everything now. Aesop’s Fable about The Tortoise and the Hare points out how intentional focus on the goal and a steady movement toward it will win the race.


The constant connection to our electronic devices also contributes to our losing the ability to communicate well. There is nothing wrong with electronic devices. They allow us to connect with more people than ever before. It’s just that it can be hard to convey emotion electronically. We need to be careful to strive for and maintain a balance.

This is the ninth core value that I have written about in more detail. You can read the others here:

 

Honor God in all that I do

Intentional action

Take off the blinders, be more observant

Pay attention to detail

Spend time wisely, there is a limited amount

Never be satisfied with mediocrity

Find and maintain the balance in everything

Move the mountain one shovel full at a time

That only leaves three more to examine more thoroughly. I will communicate about them in more detail in the future so keep following these Weekly Solutions and if you know of anyone that you think would enjoy or benefit from these solutions be sure to share this link with them.

 

Building A House Can Be Scary, But It Doesn’t Have to Be

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Get Excited About Building Your Dream and Enjoy the Thrill

With Halloween season there is a lot of ‘scare in the air’. This includes haunted houses, spook walks, movies, TV shows and a whole assortment of scary costumes. People deal with being scared differently. Some love it while others hate it.


Most Halloween scares aren’t real. The same thing is true when it comes to building a new house, a remodeling project or even simple repairs. The unknown associated with something big like a building project can be scary. Or maybe you’ve had a bad building project experience and are afraid to do another project for fear it will happen again.

Too often customer’s expectations aren’t met. I believe there are a couple of reasons for this. First is the builder’s lack of guiding the customer and clearly communicating the process. Second is the customers lack of knowledge and/or experience with the complicated building process. Both things can be remedied with improved communication and information.

 


There is an adrenaline rush that comes with being scared. According to Merriam-Webster, there are “…physiological symptoms (such as increased heart rate and respiration) that occur as part of the body’s fight-or-flight response to stress, as when someone is in a dangerous, frightening, or highly competitive situation, as well as the feelings of heightened energy, excitement, strength, and alertness associated with those symptoms.”

Look at some of the words used in this definition; heightened energy, excitement, strength, and alertness. Being scared sounds like a pretty good thing.

According to this article on WebMD, thrill seekers thrive on the scary. There is something that as humans we naturally seek from getting scared. There’s something rewarding when we go through the process and come out on the other side braver and stronger than when we started.

When researching thrill seeking the internet redirected my search to the word adventure. I think viewing a building project as an adventure is great way to look at it. Adventures can be scary but take us to exciting new places.


Whatever scary situation you find yourself in, you have the internal ability to use that scare in your own productive “fight or flight” way. Lissa Rankin, MD tells how fear makes you sick, but it doesn’t have to. The mind is a powerful tool. It is up to us to decide if we are going to work through the situation or run from it.

 

Happy Halloween