Broadsword Gets Broader

I’d really love to start making some money I can put away with this new job I have. In the meantime I’ve been working on building other skills. Today I decided I would jump outside my comfort zone, and so I’m going to study programming. Who knows, I may end up taking to it quickly, I may not. If anything, I’ll have a lot more than sports and beer to talk about with my father-in-law, a computer scientist of 30 years. 

If you find yourself so inclined, head to codeacademy.com and see how your curiosity reacts. 

Hiatus

Sorry, this endeavor has been pretty much stalled due to a lack of capital. I’m still trooping, still putting feelers out, networking. To be honest, I aim to use as little of other peoples money as possible; until I find a dreamer to join me, this is MY baby, and its gonna go my way.

In the meantime, feel free to check my other blogs, Right in the Fache (?) and The Stereo Stack.

As always, thank you so much for reading.

Between Places and Rocks

During the interim my ideas have been changing: not quite evolving, but shifting in focus.  I think for the time being its something I’ve got to do, at least as a plan, while I am where I am.  A shelter-in-place approach, I guess, while the idea of location remains uncertain.   The double-edged blade comes into the mix in the form of a great new job; I’ll be making enough to really start investing capital, but for how long do I stay?

A part of me needs the gratification and feeling of fulfillment of  making big strides in turning my plan into real income.  Other parts are more calculating, cautious, and simply uncertain.  I think once I obtain the first, most important piece of this- the first car- I’ll settle a bit; I’ll really get things moving; I’ll definitely consider coming out of the shelter and getting started, and then consider whether or not moving is an option or the option.

Before anything really happens…….gotta have the money.

Transformative Processes

I received an email this morning that let me to a really neat looking Infographic.  It was filled with statistics about the habits of wealthy people.  If I were asked about the details, I could probably recall one or two of those stats; the numbers are lost on me, but they’re unimportant to me anyway (not to mention subjective and likely out of context).  What did stick to my ribs  was the idea; the concept that these successful people, in whatever it is that they found that success, have certain ways.  Of course there are exceptions, but there’s also the rule.

In short order I came to realize that in wanting to become a business owner, I’ve only sought to change my profession, my knowledge base, my skillset, and that I would achieve my goals, which is entirely possible.  However I wonder what I would achieve if I altered my habits.  I suppose they’re generally good; I get lots of exercise, I eat well for the most part (my better half is a vegetarian, but I suffer from a severe sweet tooth), and I read when the mood strikes me.  But those I’m looking to follow the path of are a bit different.  They don’t watch much tv.  They track their goal-setting progresses in a much more detailed and organized manner.  Many are involved in volunteering endeavors.

These are all things I could do better.  I watch about twenty percent of the tv I used to; unfortunately, it’s basketball season.  I kept very detailed logs when I was a gym rat; I think, more than anything else, it was another thing to distract me from the realities I was surrounded with during my combat deployment.  I’ll have to look into community opportunities I can participate in; I remember volunteering as a kid, and it was always so much fun.  I’m also going to get my Spanish back to the high levels of fluency I once had.  Bilingual certainly can’t hurt.

This is all an intensive undertaking, but I’ve enjoyed the challenges I’ve met so far, and look forward to those in the future.

It Shall Be Mine

I wish I was able to pinpoint exactly what stressors weighed most heavily on me over the past few days: it could be worries about my family, for their health and wellness; it could be the ongoing search for a better job, while at the same time researching, planning, developing and refining ideas for my own company; it could be a general anxiety over the unknown, which tends to rear it’s grotesque, disfigured visage now and then.

It could be none of the above.  It could be the protector and provider in me, tired of swimming in this purgatory of being able to provide but so much; the forces of nature are strong, indeed.

And my tombstone will read "Sucky Businessman"...

And my tombstone will read “Sucky Businessman”…

Either way, I’ve been feeling pretty unsure of myself, of my ability to succeed.  Then I realized I’d been watching too much tv; all the news about the economy suffering and businesses failing.  I made quick work of turning that motor-mouthed harpy off, and reassured myself that the more I put into my preparation, the more I’ll get from it.  My diligence will be the shining sun, and my ever-growing business skills the abilities that thrive under the light of that fiery star.

Ive been deep in the books  for the past eight hours or so, readdressing every idea I’ve had so far.  Recently I’ve asked for people to reach out to me, but the results of that have shown me I’ve got to reach out to them, directly.  I’ve arranged meetings with reps from my local chamber of commerce and the business arm of my bank, for guidance if nothing more.

Lastly I reminded myself that progress is motivating, hugely motivating to me.  Keep pushing, keep moving forward, keep learning.

I had this idea for an A/V accompaniment to my business plan once I have it complete and ready to pitch.  I wonder  how this would go.

oh, hello, internet!

Hurry Up and Wait, My Favorite Game

I’d firstly like to thank you readers for coming on board; whether it’s for this blog or my other, I am grateful and hope to keep you.

The work week has been good and busy; but I think I’ve hit wall in my business plan building.  What’s needed is an experienced eye, to help me refine my broad strokes into a proposal that would actually do well.

Matter of fact, perhaps it would be a good idea to correspond with a banker.  I’d like to think they would be willing to help me build it the way they need it built to approve me; hell, I’ve put feelers out so many other places and they’re not giving me any bites, so any guidance at all only serves to help me.

Im heading to my hometown this weekend, and my good friend Eric is a business owner.  He would be so glad to have me pick his brain; I’ve always had a feeling he thought I was operating below my potential.  He’s so smart, business-minded.   Certainly someone I’d appreciate having on my team.

So i’ll take my plan to him, confident he’ll point me in the right direction.

I suddenly don’t feel so stagnant anymore.  Small victories.

"Let's get to work, goils!"

“Let’s get to work, goils!”

Baby Steps, or “My Brains is Mush”

My head hurts.  My brain is aching; the damn thing won’t stop, It’s been running at full speed nonstop, it seems. I’ve no idea how much sleep I’ve passed on the past few days.  But much like a soul-shaking lifting session at the gym, the hurt feels SO GOOD.

I really feel like I’m making progress; learning the ins and outs of……….well, business in general.  Through all my homework I’ve gained a lot of insight toward refining my product to suit the needs of the potential customers I seek, my target market.

By no means have I become a marketing guru, or a seasoned salesman.  At some point I will reach out to firms that will be able to translate my vision much more creatively and effectively than I.  For the moment, however, I’ve decided to take a stab at some market research.

I’ve included a link to a short survey I made.  Feel free to participate If you feel so inclined, and don’t hesitate to shoot me a little feedback; even if it’s negative, even if it’s about the survey itself!  And thank you so much!

<a href=”https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K57BD65″>Click here to take survey</a>Image

The End of Something

Tonight is an interesting night for me; but not for conventional reasons. I think it’s that I’m having ideas. Not the kind of ideas that come directly before or after the words “dude, I am SOOOOOOO RIPPED right now”; ideas (well, at least one big idea compiled from smaller ideas) that I can envision realistically, that I want to develop, and that seem, at least at this point, pretty durn cool. I’m not lost on the notion that any one of my ideas up to and including all of them are less than good, but until I’m just stopped in my tracks, I’ll go ahead and be optimistic.

Like I can help being optimistic.

So I moved to a new city in August, and got a seasonal job working in a shipping house for a retailer of food things- gift baskets and treats and wines and stuff. Over the course of my employ I’ve been job hunting pretty faithfully, as I have a trade and see no reason I can’t sucker someone into hiring me.

When The Company- that I work for, not ‘The Company’- operates normally, they maintain around 3,000 employees F/T, and swell close to 10,000 for the holiday season. There was a substantial layoff about ten days ago and somehow, I survived the cut, for now. But the workload has all but shriveled up and taken to sticking its leg out for any light breeze that finds itself passing through. At this point I’m thinking to myself that I’m averaging abysmally low hours, and the journeymen aren’t blowing up my phone like they’re supposed to be (the gall of those cads), so I took the quiet time Wifey sprung on me and got to lazily dreaming up ways to go into business for myself.

There’s a car dealership I pass almost every day, full of custom jobbies: Corvettes, Camaros, old Lincolns, road queen 4x4s, etc. Yesterday I see a 95-ish Mustang Cobra sporting a carbon fiber hood with pins in it. Myself being a Stangbanger, I made a wrong turn that just happened to be next to the dealership. I decided to pop over and see if the guys there could help me with directions to the bank a block away. I forget if I asked or not, because the first fella I talked to asked me what I was looking at, and the reckless boy in me screamed “THE COBRA!!!!!!!”

A short while later I have learned two very troublesome facts: the car in its current kit was purpose built for drifting (handling yikes), and according to the last dyno run, puts to ground over 700 horsepower. No thirty-year-old Mustang guy in his right mind would buy that, or any, car and NOT try to speed as fast as possible as often as possible. The pain I felt explaining I didn’t need that kind of temptation was mind-numbing. The man understood; apparently he’s a Stangbanger too.

(Note: You’d think James Dean and Prefontaine and Dale Sr. And Paul Walker and everyone else that has met a violent vehicular end would have taught us something about keeping our heads on straight. Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben said it best, “With great power”……)

I mentioned to the dealer guy, Brad, that what I really wanted was a BMW E39 M5, the one they sold from 1997 to 2003. Its such a beautiful car to me: striking in its simplicity of line, a secret harbinger of great power. It was named the fastest sport sedan on Earth. Drool.

Brad and I cut it up a bit more and I was on my way, daydreaming of posing for photos in front of an M5 that I will someday own. I was reminded of a story I was told, of a lady, as I understand it, who drives a taxi around the Nürburgring, an E39 M5 taxi. One could truly get their fill of motorsport there; rich privateers logging track time on their Koenigseggs or LFAs trading paint with R&amp;amp;D cars from any number of world renowned racing organizations, factory performance prototypes, weekend warriors- did I mention one can drive it, arguably the world’s most well known race circuit, and pay by the lap?! Sorry, back on task….

LIGHTBULB!! I could use an M5 as a regular taxi, not just a racetrack joyride. Seems like a cool idea. But how would I sell that gimmick, and to who? Fellow gearheads? Nah, they’ve got their own obscene machines, they wouldn’t care. A gaggle of hammered twentysomethings trying to decipher drunk directions to someone’s house that, in actuality, only one of them was invited to (haha, classic)? “Fastest Cab in [insert clever eye-catcher here]”? Ugh, I dunno.

So it’s developing. It’ll turn into something I can actually build a business plan around.

I wonder if Matthew Lesko can birddog me some M5 taxi money.

 

Update: Visit http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/en/cars/bmw-m5-ring-taxi.html for info on BMW’s participation in the ‘ring, and http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/angebote/driving-academy/co-pilot-rides/bmw-ring-taxi/faq.html for an FAQ, details and contact info to get yourself a piece of this action!