Why I Started My Own Company, Part 3: A Quest to BUILD

The Summer of 2020 will forever be remembered as a
season of violence and unrest in America.

This article is the third and final installment of a 3-part series dedicated to answering the question: "Why did I choose to start my own company?"

This past summer, Americans saw large numbers of their fellow citizens take to the streets to deface, damage, tear down, burn to the ground, or otherwise destroy a variety of different things, including both public and private property in cities throughout their nation.

These actions were purportedly undertaken in an effort to end racism and air a variety of other related and unrelated personal, political, and cultural grievances. Sadly, this pattern of violence and unrest seems to be growing more common in our increasingly cynical and divided culture—as further evinced by the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020 by fringe extremists.  

Unfortunately, a growing number of people erroneously believe that the best way to bring about positive change is to tear down existing structures.

Few sights are more beautiful or exciting to me
as a construction project being built correctly.

At Freedom Focused, we take a different approach.

Instead of tearing things down we DON'T like, agree with, or believe in, we do the exact opposite: we build things up that we DO like, agree with, and believe in.

In the long run, which method do YOU think has more power to open hearts, build bridges of trust, and bring about positive and needed changes that will benefit the most people of all races and backgrounds? 

Tearing things down, or building things UP?

Critics of our premise would argue, of course, that in order to build up something new, you must first tear down an old or existing structure. While that might be literally true in some regards, the issue at hand is not so much what you are tearing down, but how you go about doing so.

Moreover, a compelling argument can be made that negative structures will, in time, crumble atop their own flawed foundations if enough positive structures are built up all around it.

This process harnesses the power of positive peer pressure to get people to do the right things not by force—and not even because you think they should—but rather because they themselves want and choose to of their own FREE WILL.    

By taking a constructive rather than a destructive approach, you can accomplish your objective of eliminating negative structures over time without leaving a devastating and completely unnecessary wake of gratuitous and wanton destruction in your path.

It's the ultimate "Win/Win" arrangement.     

Throughout history, the greatest human beings have never been conquerers, sowers of discord and destruction, or manufacturers of mayhem.

The greatest men and women have always been BUILDERS, INVENTORS, and TEACHERS. From Socrates and Jesus to Confucius and Siddārtha Gautama (the Buddha) and from Michaelangelo, Edison, and Florence Nightingale to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Great people envision a better future. They then
plan, design, prepare, and build a better future.

Bad people tear things down.

          Good people build things up.  

I have always admired architects, engineers, builders, inventors, and teachers.

My Father was both a builder and a teacher. He spent most of his career either building things (houses, apartments, etc.) or building people.

How did he build people? By parenting seven children and teaching students in traditional classrooms at the middle school and high school levels. 

I love and admire my Dad for the noble work he accomplished in the fields of education and construction throughout his incredibly productive life. And then there are the remarkable things he and my Mom accomplished in raising SEVEN (7) children, of which I am number six. And as crazy as it may sound these days for a single set of parents to bear and raise seven children, you can imagine how grateful I personally am that they didn't stop after only FIVE (5)! Indeed, my parent's single-most productive, positive, and constructive contribution to this world was the procreation of their seven children, who have, in-turn, bore them 31 grandchildren. And an even higher number of great-grandchildren are right around the corner!  

It's a truly remarkable legacy—one that is a virtual lock to live on for at least as long as this world stands.    

My Father, Rex Buckley Jensen, was a Builder
and a Teacher. I was a Daddy's Boy and 
am his namesake: Jordan REX Jensen.
Is it any wonder that I am also 
a teacher and a builder?

A rural renaissance man who also spent two decades teaching school, my Dad was also a grocer, general contractor, land developer, journalist, photographer, entrepreneur, and church leader. Suffice it to say, he is an unusually ambitious and motivated person. Skilled with his hands and very intelligent, he was also a talented writer and gifted teacher. He could work harder, longer, and accomplish more in a days' time than just about anyone I have ever known.

My Dad was my hero growing up. As a little boy, I wanted to be wherever he was and help with whatever project he was working on. And he always included me in whatever I wanted to be involved in. Indeed, I personally helped Dad and my older brothers build a great many things, including a log cabin on land my dad owned—when I was only six years old!  

One of my earliest professional ambitions was to become a carpenter and build homes—just like my Dad. A few years later, while still in elementary school, I thought perhaps I would someday become an architect. Over time, I came to discover that I was poorly suited for both of these careers. However, I never lost my desire to build. My ambitions merely evolved from physical construction projects to metaphysical construction projects in the form of theory, education, training, organization, and leadership.

I look forward to a future day when physical construction begins on Freedom Focused offices and properties. I am even more eager for the day when Freedom Focused begins to hire increasing numbers of leaders, managers, trainers, and staff members who will represent it and take its vital message throughout the United States and World.

After all, the most important building project of all is the construction of human lives and careers.  

As much as we will always value our physical products, properties, and tools, our primary aim at Freedom Focused is not to build things, but to build people. And while the old saying: "No margin, no mission" remains a reality in the business world, our goal is not primarily to profit from our products and services. That is merely a secondary value and practical prerequisite to perpetually prolonging our mission. Our fundamental aim—ever and always—is the education, training, and existential growth of each other, followed closely by our clients and students. Our foremost concern is the elevation of the human mind, heart, and spirit of everyone on this planet who seeks to grow. That is why we value greater income equality and eschew exorbitant executive salaries and individual shares of book royalties.   

How do we aim to accomplish this grand objective?

By showing human begins everywhere that they are the "architects of [their own] fate" (Longfellow), and then teaching them how to design their own individual lives and worlds in ways that lead to long-term success, happiness, prosperity, inner peace, and contribution to others.

I end this week's article with a POEM.

And not just any poem. But THE poem that served an important role in the inception of Freedom Focused as an organization. It was also a poem that inspired the construction of the Self-Action Leadership Theory, Model, and Pedagogy. Finally, it is the poem that will continue to inspire Freedom Focused Agents and our clients and students all over the world to become builders who make something truly magnificent out of their lives and careers.     

The Builders

By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

All are architects of Fate,
    Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great
    Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
    Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
    Strengthens and supports the rest.




For the structure that we raise,
    Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
    Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
    Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
    Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
    Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
    For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,
    Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell
    Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
    Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
    Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
    With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
    Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
    To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
    And one boundless reach of sky.

This concludes a 3-part series about Why I Started My Own Company. In review, my three primary reasons/desires for incorporating Freedom Focused include: Freedom, Discontent, and a Quest to Build.

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Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

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