Month in Review for August 2012 |

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This is a brief recap of the month of August for us and some of what’s been going on in our lives. It’s been an exciting time with a lot happening all at once. Summer came to a close, we were prepping for a vacation, and some neat things happened in the business to mention a few.

Business updates

This month of August has been a special month for us. Our music school business has officially replaced my previous income! We did it! I got out of my unhealthy job situation and we started our own business!

Also, we brought our first teacher onboard and we’re super excited about this wonderful addition to our team. This is a recent college graduate who will be teaching flute and piano. It’s been really neat to build the business to the point to where we’re able to provide students for another teacher.

Making extra money for vacation

In the month of August, we set the goal of making an extra $800 to put towards an upcoming vacation.

We were mystery shopping fanatics with both Claudia and I taking on just about every one of the jobs we could.

While we didn’t quit reach our goal of $800, we were close with $699!

Be on the lookout for a post telling exactly how we did this and how much we averaged per hour etc.

Top Monthly Commenters

Here are the top commenters on the blog for the month of August. Thanks folks for your input and contributions via commenting!

Other stuff

I read a great post on productivity and was challenged to finally get my often sporadic work habits under control. Email is a big issue for me and I have the problem of not focusing on one task at a time when working on the computer. I found this post super helpful!

We also were blessed to have the company of Steve and Jody Berkey with us for a few days as they were coming through our area on their Epic Adventure.

They were kind enough to answer a few questions for me about how they quit their jobs, sold all their stuff, and started a business. You can watch the interview here.

Question: What was a highlight of the month of August for you? You can leave a reply in the comments of the post.

http://cindyhirch.com/ Cindy Hirch

Awesome accomplishments for you and Claudia, and I love the family picture! There are two major highlights: I saw the vision statement that I had put together two years ago come to fruition with a wonderful new position and great boss. My awesome husband and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I would say those two events rank pretty high on the list. -:)
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Cindy,
  Congratulations on your 5th wedding anniversary! And yes, I agree that those events rank pretty high for a month’s highlights.
  
  Lots of great things coming together for you!
http://www.fatherofone.com/ Michael Wright

That is great August, guys! I anticipate your post on Mystery Shopping – Mr. Peek got me educated on it, but I haven’t dove in yet. Thanks for the productivity link, read the article and it’s so true. My work has trained me that multi-tasking “works”, but it really doesn’t. It just makes anxious people happy when you respond to them ASAP with an answer to their questions! I am writing a post called “Scattered”, which is on this very topic, which accurately describes ones brain on multi-tasking. Bringing things to completion is very satisfying!

Great post on your progress!
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Thanks, Michael! Email is killer for focussed productivity for me. And I know some people are in a situation where email is almost treated as instant messaging. That’s not so conducive for focused productivity! That’s not the case for me, but I still struggle with it.
http://www.threedimensionalvitality.com/ Ann Musico

You had an outstanding month of August! Congratulations on reaching that business goal – that is huge and it is awesome. The highlight of the month came at the end when all my kids were home to celebrate my husband’s birthday. It was an especially fun time and really was a beautiful ending to a good summer.
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  That’s great to hear, Ann. I’m glad you were able to end the summer on such a great note!
http://jwfinancialcoaching.wordpress.com/ Jon White

Congrats on the business success Michael. It’s exciting to hear that you’ve already replace your income in less than a year and that you are hiring another teacher.
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Hey thanks, Jon. It doesn’t always feel like we’re making progress, but when we stop and take a look around, we realize how far we’ve come.
  
  Thanks for the comment!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1364766771 Jody Berkey

My goal for September is to be your #1 commenter. Watch out, Ann Musico. I’m coming for ya Now to just go back to look at your posts from 9/1-today.
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Haha, love it, Jody! OK, we’ll see how you do.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1364766771 Jody Berkey

Okay, with this post, I am now your #1 commenter for September! The last hour of my life was well-lived by read through your words of wisdom. Love you guys!

Enjoy the rest of your beach vacation!
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Thanks! You too.
http://www.180coach.com/ Rob Clinton

Very cool! Wow, that’s awesome! So happy for you both… Things are obviously happening, all that hard work is paying off, and you’re tasting fruits… Keep it up!
- http://rise365.com/ Michael Good
  
  Thanks, Rob. Yes, it feels like things are starting to come together. Thanks for your support!