The future might be the past

I recently read a great blog post from over Texas way of a person I catch up with via this great medium. Their blog in called Off Grid Terlingua and their entry, much like most of mine, was posted from an idea that stemmed from someone's comments, or some one else's blog. Or just daily experiences and thoughts.

Rather than put my lengthy reply and thoughts down on his blog, I don't want my long winded replies to take over and be longer than the actual blog entry itself. Hahaha. I thought it would be better posted here so the small but dedicated audience I do have can have a read and see what I think. So here's my reply;

It's great that your daughter is thinking about such things. I was once down in the dumps after my bike accident and the economy here in Australia wasn't great. When I couldn't find work, I made excuses to move to another country. But my mother stopped me by saying "When you get there you'll still be you."

No matter where you go, you will end up the same. You must change for everything around you to change.

A great quote I have always lived by but only discovered who said it a couple of years ago is "Be the change you want to see in the world"

On the survival front, you just don't know do you? I'm not sure about the US, but here in Australia we have compulsory superannuation funds that we put a percentage of money into from our wages and salary which basically goes towards our retirement fund. With the economy where it's at now, a lot of people lost their money and are about to retire with nothing.

Your barter idea is great. I love barter. I often trade some IT support for some plumbing work. I recently got an entire new toilet system put in and the old one was there for 60 years, so it was stubborn to come out. The plumber that I used was one who uses me to make sure his PC's are running fine. We exchanged skills, and as much as I love it when there's no money involved, food is another thing. I grow my own chillies, tomatoes, lettuce. Next year I'm trying out corn. I'd love to head over to the farmers market I go to every Saturday and exchange my food for theirs.

You're right, it isn't intruding, it's banking. They'll eventually look out for you one day. But in a modern world, everyone seems to think that if you help you obviously want something in return. Even when you reassure them, they have this doubt. I know this because my friends tell me that when someone helps them, they are suspicious. I tell them to get over themselves, there are still people out there that help and do it for free.

Sorry for the really long reply. One question I have though, it what's the attitude for off-gridders? Are you guys considered hippies or something? Scum of the Earth because you don't have the same possessions as others? Or something like that?

I hope not, but I did live in the US for a while and one thing I didn't like was how people love to categorise you and put you in a basket because you're a certain way. We're all a certain way, we're all human. And this was one reason I came back to Australia. I grew tired of being eccentric, off tangent and being told that I'm something I'm not based on their assumptions only because of the way I look or the way I dress, or the way I talk, or the way I do things.

I guess the thing here is acceptance. Accepting that we're all different. Accepting that my IT services which mean nothing to me, are worth their weight in computer parts to the plumber. And his services are priceless to me (well, at least $400). But I have helped him out for nothing and he helped me out for nothing. It isn't the value of the product or service we compared, but the value of how it will make our life easier, you can't put a dollar figure on that.

Recently, I went to a concert, it was over 2 days and in a part of Sydney I like because it is populated with weirdos. Why is this a good thing? Because they don't discriminate. Anyway, across the road from the area where this 2 day music festival was held was a small food co-op. Now, I'm not sure how it works. I believe you pay a membership fee and come to get whatever food you need. You might need more, you might need less, but everyone pays the same, because we all need the food equally. The produce is brought in from local farmers, so there is the least amount of transport involved. And the entire place is run as a not-for-profit. I loved the concept. I loved that everyone was treated the same. I loved that it was 2 minutes away from our Sydney city where tall sky scrapers and offices where suit wearing humans make more money in a year than both my wife and I combined will ever see.

But what happens to them when something like what happened in the US effects us here? What happens if you just lost billions of dollars? I tell you what, the people like me living off some of my land, helping my neighbour get their mail or bring their garbage bins in will continue to live on like we always did. And the more off the grid you go, the less likely you are to be affected.

I once went camping to a spot I go to once a year. A small country town in the middle of New South Whales. The town has a population of about 12 people. They have their usual setup like most rural towns in Australia. A pub, a general store, a hot food shop that sells fish and chips, burgers, etc.

Once in the pub, we were all drinking and talking to the locals and there was a blackout due to a massive storm just over the mountains (The Great Dividing Ranges), one guy was so drunk he didn't even realise there was a black out and kept talking. When one other guy started to swear at the juke box because he just pumped $10 into it, picked his songs and when the black out was over and power was restored 10 seconds later, his songs were gone and so was his $10. One guy I was speaking to say that this was his first blackout he experienced in 10 years. I said "don't get much power shortages out this way?" he said "no, my house runs purely off solar and wind"

And that was my start of my passion for living off the grid. Not so much for the services going on you, the reliance on them. If we rely on them too much, you won't know what to do when they're gone. Then you will truly be living in the past.

I lost a Ferrari...

My car was broken into and everywhere I rode my motorcycle, I wheelied on the back wheel.

Dreams are crazy like that. One minute you're doing something perfectly sane, like driving a loaned Ferrari off a friend. The next minute you're looking for where you parked the thing and riding around on your motorcycle that appeared out of nowhere, on the back wheel only to discover my regular every day car has been broken into, totalled and wrecked.

This got me thinking, what if dreams were actually real. What if everything that happened in them was something you actually experienced. You could argue that because the dream happened to you and a lot of the times they can feel real, perhaps I really did experience gaining and losing a Ferrari. Perhaps I did actually watch my car get smashed, and I did ride a motorcycle on the back wheel everywhere around town looking for the Ferrari.

So, just because it's a dream, you can say you still experienced all that. The emotion, the ups and downs, and you wake up in that early morning stage when you can still hear things but you're still in lah lah land, thinking "Shit, my car!". Only to find that it was all just a dream.

More choices

Yesterday I had a person I recently met come by my office to have a chat with me. I had sent him an email a week earlier about looking forward to our meetings at this new business network and education group he's started.

I went to the last meeting of 2009 and saw great potential to the layout. There isn't one. I saw great potential to the policies, there aren't any. Unlike the current group I'm with, that are so over governed a few members are getting sick of it because they feel like they're back at school.

One member who became pregnant asked for some time off and if it was okay to come back afterwards. She was told "No, you cancel your membership and we open your industry to someone else. If it's still not taken when you decide to come back then you can renew your membership."

Being more than just a business associate to me, she vented her frustration and I agreed that the whole thing was getting out of hand. I was get frustrated with the fact that the system they follow isn't too flexible and accommodating. So I told her about this new group that's started and I also mentioned her to the guy that came and saw me yesterday.

His visit was mainly to chat about the future of mine. See, while the business advisor I spoke to said that my business was a dead end and we all agree that is may be. Yesterday's meeting illustrated that I can always keep the business running but morph it into something that can expand without me having to try anything like hiring new staff or dumping the whole thing and moving on to what I really want to do, and dumping my customers in the same swift move. Not something I'd like done to me, so I shouldn't do it to my client base.

So he said that this new group he's started isn't just about referring work to one another, while that's a part of it, every week will showcase a new guest who's extremely successful and is happy to come to a meeting and tell us small time business folk how they made their millions.

I told him, while I want to be rich, I don't want millions, I just want to be well off enough to pay all my bills and know that I can go away and afford to travel a bit, afford to buy that item I really want and know that I don't have to open my bank book and think "shit, time to figure out how to get paid this week"

I suppose, a lot of my situation has to do with my lack of knowledge on how to run a business. I didn't make a plan. The plan was, work, make money. But since hanging out with successful people, I have learnt that I didn't plan at all. It was just something I said to myself. Not good enough.

I have been working on a business plan for the music school and already things are very clear. I can almost see it operating while I proof read the 15 page document thus far.

So, my visitor yesterday pointed out that I should still plan on getting rid of the business, but rather than dump it, make it a sellable business. Make it something unlike now, which is not a guarantee to a potential buyer. Nothing is in place that commits a client to use me as their IT support. So over the next 12 months we are going to work on putting systems in place that will make my business something my customers can't live without.

The goal is the end will be that the business in 12 months will actually be worth selling to another IT organisation. I'm not sure how this is going to be achieved but I believe in this person and I believe in myself. I know I can do it, and 12 months isn't a long time.

In the meantime, I'm thinking that 12 months is a long time to wait for this business to wrap up and I start the new venture. I'm thinking that I'll be 12 months behind with the new business. Good things come to those who wait. I'm happy to wait.

Some wondering

It amazes me that two people can occupy the same room. One can be riding on a total high while the other is not enjoying themselves, making it a hassle and can't wait for it to all be over.

I had the displeasure of seeing this a while ago when at an event and I was enjoying through the other people who were enjoying also. Then I was distracted by a couple who were not enjoying themselves at all and I thought to myself, how can you not sit there enjoying yourself?

On the other end of the scale was a person near us who was having a great time. And again I was hit with another thought, life IS what you make it. Isn't it?

It truly amazed me that there were these people occupying the same room, at the same event, yet there was a person who didn't enjoy it.

Everyone is different, no doubt. But when you could see the angst and their eagerness to just stop everything and get out, you have to wonder what is going through their mind at the time?

Perception is a funny thing. It's part of what make us differ from one another. It's like a friend of mine that seems to be the one at every party who always has a conflict. It is natural due to the way they think, or is it because of habit?

Habit usually comes from comfort. You don't do things to yourself that you hate, even if it looks bad to others, you yourself enjoy it, so you keep doing it. Even if it's detrimental to you and your life.

I know people that are emotional wrecks, and they persist to be that way despite knowing that what they're doing isn't good. Or people that constantly do the same thing over and over again and wonder why things didn't work "Just like last time" no matter how hard they try. What about people who seem to always look at the negative side of things. I'm usually put in this basket but I'm quick to correct people that I am alternative, not negative because negative itself is perceived as something you disagree with, not exactly something bad.

Yes, we are a diverse bunch of living things. Sometimes I can appreciate it, other times I can't handle it or fathom how diverse we can be. Yes, even I have a line you can cross despite what my friends will say.

Though getting back to my original point, it disturbs me a little to see how a room of 100 people can all be having fun. Or a performer or stage can be on a high. The highest they can be without smoking something, yet there will be someone out there in the same room who will be hating every second of their existence. I guess it disturbs me because when I have gatherings, I want everyone to enjoy themselves and I make sure they do. So when I'm at someone else's gathering, I expect to see everyone happy. Otherwise you could just stay home and be miserable. But I guess it'll be a different type of misery as their perception at home will be different to say a party or a music venue. Maybe they don't want to experience that sort of downer and want a downer with a bit of upper. LOL.

After that experience I have tuned right into noticing who's having a great time and who's not. I find it sad that there are people that have every possible positive in their life, but are blinded by so much negativity that they can't actually see the positives.

At the end of the day no one is right or wrong, no one is perfect. Perhaps I just have to accept that people have good days and bad days, people like to comfort themselves with familiar things and if there's a familiarity with surrounding yourself with negativity, then I guess that's your choice to do that. Maybe that's your positive and I'm just seeing it as a negative. Maybe you get off on being down or hard on yourself.

Then I think to myself, people's behaviour is based on their experience, their influences and their up bringing. Maybe what they're like now is what they saw others like when they grew up. As humans we love copying things. And I think at varying degrees, we copy one another with our own twists, which is what makes us unique yet some how can relate to one another. If you grew up with negativity around you then you are more than likely to surround yourself with it as you get older. It's that familiar comfort thing again.

This can also explain why you get similar people based on their demography. Every country in the world has it. There's the slum, the rich part of town, the middle class. I don't think this is depicted by the price of the property in the area. I think it comes down to comfort. If you've been brought up with abusive parents then you have a highly likely chance of being the same. There are exceptions to this though. I know some parents who are really shit to their kids and I disagree with a lot of what they do or say around their kids. But that's their business. What I do see however is how the child in the family differs themselves from their parents, almost to say "I see them, I don't want to be like them."

The famous line from The Breakfast Club states that you are turning into your parents, you can't help it, it just happens. And while this is true in most part. I know there are exceptions. This child in particular is an exception, and I see two things with them. They will either try their best to escape the shell and become their own person, succeed and move on with their life, or they will struggle to achieve what they want due to such a strong influence of their parents parenting.

My point for all this brain vomit is to enjoy what you have. Don't concentrate on what you don't have. That's depressing me as I sit here dreaming about a Ferrari in the garage that isn't there. Enjoy what you have however little, for when you are nothing but dust, you have nothing but your soul to carry with you and show for yourself. Have heart, compassion and love for yourself and others around you.

Fly in the Ointment

You know what I dislike the most about the things I want to do?

It's when people tell me I can't or shouldn't. It makes me want to prove them wrong. But in this case, I'm a little cautious because the person saying so is quite smart and very experienced in this area.

I'm referring to my Plan B. I spoke to a person I know who's a business broker. He's very successful at what he does. What he told me once I showed him my plans was basically to throw the idea away. His main point was that I shouldn't be wasting time trying to build a successful business, I should just buy one that's already established and is successful.

He went on to point out the why's and the what's. But I looked at him and said "Well, if everyone thought like you, no one would start a business at all."

The thing is, I walked away from out meeting and I can't escape the fact that everything he said was true. Everything he said was right. He's not in the position he's in due to doing things the wrong way and learning from them. He's where he is because he always thinks things through, and makes the best choice in the aim of making money.

Another friend I spoke to who is also successful though not a rich bastard like this business broker told me "Why do you want to make all this money? Why all the greed and stuff?" I had to explain to him that is wasn't about greed. It was about goals.

I told him "My goals are simple. I want to earn enough to pay all my bills, live a little and provide enough income into my family so that my wife and I can build our new home, can have the children we plan on having and look after them in the old fashioned way we both agree to look after them, by her staying home and making sure the house is a home. And we also want to be able to go on holidays anywhere and not worry about returning to a business where all the customers have fled because no one was there to service their needs."

He changed his opinion of my greed into that of just wanting to be comfortable and getting what my wife and I want. The ability to have it all set up for us so we don't have to struggle.

I'm fully aware that plans can change. But it's good to have some sort of plan and a bit of flexibility for those bumps along the way. It might go all wrong. Though I'd rather it go wrong now and I have a few years to sort ourselves out again rather than do it later in life when there's more at stake.

The fly in the ointment however, was my meeting with the business broker. It's not that bad. He just crushed a dream. Though if I do listen to him, my goal is still achievable. By looking at established businesses, there wasn't much on offer. The choices were basically cafes and pizza shops. To me, they're not really what I like to consider a successful business. Sure, people eat food all the time. But how many local pizzeria shops do you see where the owner walks to him BMW? It's another one of businesses much like my current one. A dead end.

The only real choice of a good business was looking at a franchise, but not your regular Subway or something. I was thinking more like a tyre shop, or brakes and suspension. There's a brand in Australia that's pretty popular, and a branch of their shops is selling near me for a reasonable price.

The great part is, it's a well known brand that's been established for over 20 years. It's mechanical, which is my background. The business can operate while I'm not there because I'm not on the tools or at the register. It's a franchise, so while it's no guarantee, it has a higher than likely chance of working out. I have a nation wide advertising campaign done for me. Stationary, etc.

The business broker was happy, then suggested to get rich I must purchase a few branches. But he usually thinks big, so the number was an unrealistic 10-15 branches. LOL. Sure, I'll just invest a few million dollars and see what happens. He might be able to, but I sure as hell can't.

So, there's now a Plan C. But it may well be Plan B because all the hard work is done thanks to me purchasing a franchise.

Looking at it a few days after speaking to the broker, it makes sense. So perhaps the music school might be a Plan C. Or perhaps an additional business.

Plan B.... explained

After my last post, you're wondering WTF is Plan B?

Sorry I didn't dive into it too much, if any at all. I try to keep my posts short and interesting. And while I appreciate everyone who reads it and appreciate the comments even more. My posts aren't really short and interesting, they're very long and sometimes I waffle on.

So, without waffling on too much further, Plan B is simple. Plan better.

I recently downloaded this great application called Freemind. This basically allows you to come up with a big idea. It goes in the middle. Then you have your thoughts of the idea, like basic needs to get the idea off the ground, then those basic ideas have your more elaborate points.

You might be opening a store, so you'll have an idea about decor. From that will stem things like colours, seating, front desk, shelving, and so on.

I wrote one out for this Plan B after thinking about it a lot.

Plan B is basically to open a guitar teaching school. That's it in a nutshell. There are a couple of small problems. On one hand there's competition. The first one being a company which one of my friends whom I've discussed in the past goes to for singing and guitar lessons. The other being the shop I looked into for a franchise. I have no doubt I can compete with them. But I also know them both well and don't want them to think "That bastard Steve, we let him have an opportunity to do this with us and now he's gone and done it on his own."

Another part of me says "Who cares what they think, just do it." I just don't want to burn any bridges.

Apart from all that, I have looked into a premises already using realestate.com.au and found one within 10 minutes walking distance. The rent is priced brilliantly and with a small spreadsheet I did, I worked out that I can realistically have a maximum of 4 students a day based on the idea that most will be school students and that they'll only be available after 3 pm. So, from 3:30 pm to 8:00 pm I will have a total of four 1 hour lessons.

Now, I don't know how much other places charge for their lessons. But I did my calculations on $45 per hour. I think most places charge $50-$60. But at $45 per hour (or per lesson), if I have 4 students per day at 5 days a week. I can have a total of 20 students and that works out to be about $900 a week. Minus my rent $300 per week, and I'm guessing I'll have wireless internet, electricity, phone (Mobile) and stationary, adding another $100 per week, I still walk away with $500 per week as a startup. If I work 7 days a week, then I make significantly more.

So, on paper it'll work. Getting students will be the hard part, and I will no doubt run at a loss for the short term. But I think I can get 20 students. When I look at the other two places I mentioned above, they all have over 200 students on their books. The branch of the shop I looked into had 35 students on the books already.

One thing I did notice as well was that they made the students pay up front for a block of lessons. Like for a whole term at school. Then offer holiday activities where you can charge extra, which some parents love because the kids spend the whole day there and they it's cheaper than daycare or a babysitter. This also keeps them coming back. So you don't have any stragglers after the school holidays who got lazy and said "Meh, I can't be bothered going to lessons any more."

I also did some calculations on who I can increase business if my limit has been reached. Bring in some teachers. My $900 per week on my own sounds great to start with, but after expenses, it only works out to be $26,000 per year. And I haven't taken out tax yet.

By brining in some teachers, I'll make less money as I have to pay the people. However, this doubles the capacity I of students I can bring in to 40 per week. I've calculated that the teachers on a wage will earn $25 per hour for each lesson. So I keep $20 from that and with 4 teachers the business earns $74,000 (these figures are approximates). So, I go from $24,000 on my own to $74,000 with 4 teachers running the lessons and I just run the business.

This is working out to be ideal because if the business can bring in revenue of that sort of money without me being there, then I've reached my goal. I can take a holiday with the wife and not worry about coming back to disaster, all my clients leaving, finding another IT guy because I was unavailable.

People have said to me, why not just find IT guys like how you'd find music teachers. The story is very different. For starters, you can't pay an IT guy in Australia $25 per hour. $125 is more realistic, but that leaves me with a few dollars to run the business. So hiring someone for my current business just won't work. I've don the maths. It ain't gonna happen. And since it isn't going to happen, I will never be successful in my current business.

While it has taken me 7 years to figure it out, I won't say it's been a total waste. I have learnt so much from running my business, and in a sense I have gained more from the fact that it really was a dead end business to begin with. I didn't know that at the time, in fact I didn't realise that until only a few months ago when a business broker friend I met told me so, then illustrated it all to me. Hence the start of my decision to shut it all down and start something else.

I hope it all goes to plan.

Plan B

There was a time when I knew what I wanted to do. There was a time when I had a plan, albeit in my head, but none the less a plan of what I wanted to achieve by the time I was 20 or 25 or 30 years old.

Planning can suck sometimes because shit happens and plans have to change. And I think that success can come from your plans only if you and your plans are flexible.

If you've been reading, you'll notice that I've had a change of heart from my business. As much as I love it, I hate it equally and I'm ready to change. My business was never meant to be permanent, it was a rudimentary option thanks to my accident, my need to make money quick.

Now that I'm ready for a change in the right direction, and educated direction. I've been on the lookout for ideas, concepts that will change the way I work. I've surrounded myself with people like new starters in business, right to entrepreneurs that have been in business for over 20 years.

What have I learnt?

Well, I've learnt to listen to my customers better. I've learnt to dream, and make those dreams a reality. It all sounds silly but in reality something as simple as writing down what you want can be very effective.

I could have read it in a book, however it's much more beneficial to me to experience it rather than read a boring book about making money.

Truth is, money isn't the most important thing. My happiness is. I want to be happy with what I'm doing. And with computers, I am not. So what do I do?

Well, you may have read about the idea of me looking into that music store a while back. That fell through fairly quickly. Reason being that I was basically not comfortable with the idea after a small glimpse into the place. I didn't even bother with the financial information. I just turned my back on it. However, the bank wouldn't lend me the money to do it anyway, they said it was too high a risk.

So, while all this happened, my friend Val who owns the studio mentioned if I see something worth doing at the studio to consider it. 2 weeks later I did, and I approached him to talk about it. Recent discussions have changed from me buying into the studio and working my share of it to something I'm not too sure about. Val needs someone there, that's for certain. However, after a couple of months, there is still no accurate sign of accounts for my accountant to look at, so my accountant is still saying don't do it. Which is fair and I'm taking his advice because he's generally quite good at judging a business on first impressions.

However, before Val went to Melbourne for Christmas, he mentioned another option to get into the studio. It sounded great, however it doesn't really leave me in a good position to start with. Val's idea was that I don't put in any money, however I have to work on the same part of the studio ideas we agreed to work on before. As it generates money, then I get paid. A bit like working on full commission.

Now, I'd love to help Val make a successful business, and I wouldn't mind being a part of it. But to me, in this scenario, I'm not really part of it at all. I thought while the idea was good, the idea of me working without an income in pretty much a no no. Who pays my mortgage? Let alone all my other expenses? Part of my plan with the studio involved a fair amount of travelling to a lot of gigs, basically becoming a sales rep once the track work has been laid. This means while the business costs nothing to go into, I lose money, potentially my house, and my time is invested into something that has high risk, since there is no agreement.

So, I have been dwelling over it for the past fortnight and have come up with an idea.

I love teaching people things. I love playing music. I get great satisfaction out of doing both. So I thought, what if I did take the advice of Adam at GuitarZone and Val himself and rather than buy the music shop franchise, open my own. However, rather than tie all my capitol into stock, just provide music lessons and nothing more.

Then, while thinking about all this over the last two weeks, something happened a guitar tuition place opened up near my house. Two things crossed my mind.

One was, "Bloody hell, that's typical"

The other was "Hmm, I should go take a look and get some ideas for my place"

I've done neither and being the holiday season, I don't think they're even open. So I'll wait till next year and take a good look at what's going on. Maybe even ask for a job there to get into the swing of things. Or perhaps just be up front and say I'm doing the same up the road, maybe we can help each other out rather than be enemies. Then I think, to hell with it, I'll just do it and won't say a word to anyone about it.

Who knows?

I certainly don't. It's both fun and scary riding by the seat of your pants. The ultimate goal is still there, provide enough income so my wife doesn't have to work and I can support the family on my own.

With my calculations, it's all possible. The what is there, the why is there. Now I just need the how and when. I'll report back when I know more.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I hope your new year is good to you.