I’m going waste time right now cause I want to and can though I know its not good for me by writing this blog post.

I had an interesting conversation with my brother about the businesses/lives we’re currently leading.

I’m a wimp.  This morning I was at least and was very uncomfortable about it.  I didn’t realize I was being one until I was talking to my brother about it hours later.  What I’m referring to specifically is that I was learning some things about how to get inside my customer’s head and the wimp/victim inside of me was saying, “I’ve never been a great salesman.  I’m not sure this stuff will work for me.  I’m not going to be successful in business.”

How lame is that!?!?

As with all addicts, I consider myself to being addicted to being an employee and being small and not successful in business and to those previous thoughts I had, one of the first very crucial steps is to recognize you have a problem number one.  Number two that it is a big problem.  And number three that I’m the only one who can deal it and me alone.

Lucky for me I have conversations with my brother and wife and dad and others that help me see this stuff that I’m doing/saying to myself and can help me change it before it does more damage that it already has.

I know this is going to be a very uncomfortable thing to admit again and again in the future that I’m a wimp in business and need to replace it my inner herculean beast, but I already know what the alternative is if I don’t, i.e. being crapped on as an employee and with no equity to make the getting crapped on portion bearable, and that is not acceptable to me and I won’t stand for it.

That was a big part of my brother and I’s conversation, i.e. making excuses for not being successful in business.  He’s got a girlfriend.  I’ve got a kid on the way.  He’s working out (tired) and so do I and so we don’t want to expend even more energy on things we know we need to do.  I’ve already cut out having a tv.  He’s doing bomb.com things with his health and personal introspective life.  I could keep on going, but the point is we’re always going to have many easily available and seemingly legit excuses (lies) we’ll be able to tell ourselves for why we’re not successful.  I have another kid.  He gets married.  Interest rates are too low.  Interest rates are too high.

I don’t want to admit that even blowing just 3-4 hours on weekend playing my mom’s ipad mini is an issue even though I hardly ever play video games.  I don’t even have my own financial freedom yet via cash flowing assets or a hoarded pile of money that even with the most extravagant amount of spending would not be dented.  Why don’t I?  Cause I don’t want to be accountable for the time I’m spending on that stuff and do things I know are better.  I also don’t want to admit that I’m vastly exaggerating the amount of down time I really need when I do stuff like that and simultaneously want to be successful in business.

One thing I’ve had rumblings of is that I don’t want to be constantly checking out doom and gloom stuff as far as finance goes.  I know its going to come crashing down.  I don’t need to know the minutiae though of how rising interest rates exposed the London Whale fiasco and subsequent speculation about what fiasco is being hidden by the even bigger interest rate rise we’ve seen since.  That is one self truth telling thing I’ve had rolling around that I haven’t vocalized till today.

Instead what I’d really like is to be analyzing my own businesses growth and financial numbers.  So there I go.  I’m going to stop checking out finance stuff all the time.  I need to detox from it.  What I’m going to do is only run a custom macro I have saved in my excel to find out what I really need to for my investments and that will be it.  I’m going to do this detox for a month and see how life is.

Greed

I just finished reading an interesting article from Rolling Stones on Pensions.  Here it is if you’re interested. 

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-the-pension-funds-20130926

Within the last week I’d also listened to and watched a documentary by frontline about 401ks.  Here it is if you’re interested.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/

Both made very stark and interesting observations and covered some ground that wasn’t covered by the other.  And yet they still missed some important things. 

What is interesting in this whole financial mess is that people are not owning up to the truth themselves about themselves.  They’re greedy.  They’re lazy.  They don’t want to do any real work to educate themselves.  In the end all of this is going to bite them in the butt and HARD.  They don’t want to be accountable for their lack of owning up to the real world and for their cause in it.

How much can YOU sell your JOB for?

I just finished reading

This book called me out. 

There is a story at the beginning where Robert takes his financials in to his rich dad to examine how his company is doing.  Rich dad then states that his company has financial cancer and that it is terminal.  He also gets very upset and angry at Robert.  He’d been taking worker’s wages and taxes owed to the government to buy expensive cars.  Rich dad told Robert that we all have characters inside of us.  We have a crook.  We have a whore.  We have a saint.  We have a wimp.  We have a hero.  We have a liar.  We have a truthful person and on and on.  Rich dad told Robert to get out of his office and not come back until his employees and taxes were paid.  Part of that conversation included saying that we all at some play each of those roles and we have to decide which one we’ll let win out in our current situation. 

Further into the book Robert talks about a quiz his rich dad would give his son and Robert.  The quiz was this, “If you woke up jobless, homeless, moneyless, what would you do?”  Before I’d even read on I’d told myself I’d immediately go and get a job of some sort to help tide things over.  Rich dad’s response to someone with that answer was that they were programmed (currently) to be an E in the cash flow quadrant.  He even said this was reasonable to be expected since that is how we’re trained all through school, which is exactly what I talk about here.  An E is an employee.  Well this bugged me as I don’t want to be an E.

If someone responded saying they’d figure out a way to get, start, or buy a business then they were a B, for business.  If someone said they would try and find some type of investment to get to make them money with their own resources or those of another person/investor and if this was the case then they were set to be an I, or investor.  Both of these trains of thought were completely absent in my knee jerk response.  That upset me.  I know that other quadrants in the cash flow quadrant are where real wealth is made.  I have ignored that though for years. 

I’ve given in to and let the wimp inside of me win that battle time and again.  I however am not going to continue with that.  I’m going to work on building businesses.  I am likely to fail at business and investing.  That doesn’t mean I’m not going to learn from it.  It also doesn’t mean I can’t start again on another one.  It doesn’t mean I can’t read and study and workshop and mastermind and scrap to get ahead of those failures and WIN. 

At this point I’m just talking to myself.

One interesting line the above book is that Rich dad calls excuses “lies we tell ourselves”.

One interesting question that struck me particularly that Robert poses to a married couple who both work very high paying jobs was, “How much can you sell your job for?”  In the book he just lets the question hang and the wife keeps asking him to explain what he meant/means.  The husband then starts asking himself the question out loud rhetorically.  They then walk themselves through the fact that they can’t sell their jobs.  They’re working and enriching someone else.  When they’re done with their job they’ll have nothing to show for it.  That last point is a big part of the book.

The whole book woke me up to the fact that I’ve been looking at my job as freedom instead of as security.  People want security and they THINK they have freedom because of it.  Robert points out however that the most secure place in the world, a maximum security prison, is quite certainly the least FREE place there is to live. 

What is interesting about this whole book is how psychologically intelligent and MATURE rich people can be.  They’re very honest with themselves and very accountable.  They tell the truth deep down it seems. 

Let me clarify that this may be met with skepticism with the elite/rich who are corrupt to the core and running a big chunk of the world these days.  While this may be so they are also very rich.  What I identify as lasting wealth characteristics in a person are also mature emotional and psychological characteristics.  While the corrupt are corrupt, doesn’t mean they’re building lasting wealth, which is perhaps the distinguishing component that is needed here…lasting.  Sure the corrupt win by cheating, lying, stealing, it won’t last forever.

I notice that healthy doses of reality and accountability are what make the difference between someone who succeeds at business and one who doesn’t.  That is what I want to strive for.  Those things are also important in overcoming any kind of addiction.  

Interesting stuff.

Anti-christ and the middle class

The other day I was listening to an interview.  The person being interviewed said they were worried about the coming currency crises as it pertains to the middle class.  He said that when countries have experienced collapses in their currencies in the past, and subsequently their economies and the wealth of the middle class evaporates, that the middle class then votes very differently then they otherwise would in a normal situation.

He referenced France with Napoleon and then Germany with Hitler.  Both of these countries experienced crushing collapses of their currencies/economies, which wiped out the middle class.  Then in came an energetic/charismatic leader who promised change and a lot of hope.  All the people had to do was vote them in and support their ideals, which both of those countries did as they had just lost everything and with the masses behind them they were able to work their evil machinations upon society.

This kinda spooked me a little bit as I realized that no time in the history of the world has every single country been on a fiat monetary system.  Ever.  Never has it happened.  Ever.  The entire world.  Yet here we are on the precipice of a monetary collapse, which will wipe out the entire middle class of the entire world.

I naturally then thought who could fill Napoleon or Hitler’s shoes on a worldwide basis and the thought (the spirit?) came to me that in a worldwide collapse that you’d have to have a worldwide leader.  A leader who promised worldwide growth and change and recovery and all the people had to was…vote him in and support him and they would willingly do so.  If you’re religious at all you know that there is an Anti-Christ coming, but some have wondered how and when.  I think he is right around the corner.  Once this system pops he’ll rear his little head just shortly afterwards to rescue the world from itself.  All he’ll require is trust in his plan (the devil’s plan) of complete control/obedience and all will be well.  Just wanted to share my thoughts on it while it was still fresh in my head.

Let me know when you think he’ll be showing up and why!

Resume goodness

I mentioned previously that one thing that has happened since cutting out TV is that with my updated resume I’ve had one job offer and one person contact me personally about another credit and collections job, both of which I hadn’t even applied to.  Well…just this morning I got another email from someone asking if I’d be interested in an Accountant position at one of the major credit card companies, to which I responded enthusiastically that I would.  I would love to be able to expand that particular skill set.  I would love to work for a very large company where there is the potential to move up.

            

One thing about promotions with my current company is that it is very very good at what it does in its business and they’re very efficient/flat.  It is a sales heavy company and so while they can (and have) add a ton of sales people, the need to add additional administrative people to handle the extra volume is not a 1:1 proposition and so it is harder to move up on the administrative side of this company.  Not impossible, but harder.

With that said I’d very much welcome the move to another company for just that reason alone.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Workout update

I’ve been going up slowly still.  See chart.

 

One thing that has been bugging me recently is that I can’t feel this bungee cord I’ve stretched across the rack when I go down on my squats and its been bugging and I’ve felt its probably been affecting my form.  I decided to raise the safety bars up a notch to use that as my measuring stick, i.e. once the bar clangs against those then I’ll know I’ve gone low enough.  I think it worked. 

Redoing some squats and with me NOT focusing so much on whether or not I can feel the bungee I’m now focusing on my form.  When I did that many different muscles were being worked out and it felt much better that way.  I think I may see some pretty decent gains once I get that down.

Coincidence? I think not.

Mad?  Count to 10.  really mad?  Count to a 100. – Thomas Jefferson

I read an affirmation every single day when I wake up in the morning.  I read the above affirmation yesterday morning.  Good thing too cause work made me mad.  Funny how things work out sometimes.

I bought $80 worth of whiskey and vodka yesterday and I think I want more

Why? 

Cause it’s the freaking weekend and I’m about to have me some fun.  It is Friday the 13^th afterall.

Truth though is I bought it for barter purposes.  I’ve never actually had a drop of alcohol or coffee drugs or cigarettes touch my lips. 

I’ve thought about it for some time now, but finally thought I’d pull the trigger after doing some very NOT urgent research on barter items I could use such as booze and cigarettes.  Turns out cigarettes go stale after just a few weeks if they aren’t used.  Imagine that.  Plants withering and dying.  That is essentially what cigarettes are.  Plant leaves wrapped up in paper.  Booze is another story however.

Luckily for me I have coworkers who were able to educate me on the various types of liquor and which would be best for bartering with according to general population usage and acceptance and for which types don’t go bad.  Here are some interesting things I learned.

Vodka is used mostly as a “mixer”.  This means people will put a “shot” with some other liquid like Coke or orange juice to make a drink.  A “shot” is one ounce of liquid.  Shot glasses hold exactly one ounce of liquid. 

As I typed that I realized I need a shot glass to measure this stuff.  My coworkers told me that if you’re bartering you’re going to be bartering on a per ounce basis.  Duh should’ve got some shot glasses at the store.  Wal-Mart here I come.

The bottles you buy at the liquor store are measured in milliliters so one ounce/shot of liquid converted to milliliters is 29.5735 milliliters.  The bottles I bought were the bottom shelf (cheap) bottles that were on sale and hold 1750 milliliters.  The breakdown for what I bought would be approximately .22 cents per shot. 

At bars they measure shots very precisely when serving customers to control and manage costs.  I asked my coworkers and they said the typical charge for one shot at a bar is $4.00-$6.75.  At just $4 per shot that is a markup of 1,818%.  At $6.75 per shot that is a markup of 3,068%.  No wonder the government got rid of prohibition.  Look at all that revenue they were missing out on in the form of taxes off of 3,000% markup sales.

I learned that the typical usage for shots, and this was based on the input from four coworkers sitting around me, is 1 to 2 per person per day/meal.   One bottle will last one person, at one shot per night after a meal, 58 days.  I got 3 bottles of vodka and 3 of whiskey.  If that usage holds true for an individual then my stash should last me about a year for bartering with a person.  That being said I think one more session of buying booze will be sufficient for us in our bartering needs.

Ashlee, my wife, said that while she was waiting in the car for me to buy the goods that she saw soooo many coming and going into the store that she was shocked.  She said she didn’t even think that the grocery store we frequent has as much traffic as that place we went to.  Not only is that pretty reassuring for me in regards to making this investment, but also kinda sad lol.  Oh well.

One interesting that happened was that I approached a store worker and said that I’d actually like to buy some booze to barter with.  The guy immediately said he was willing to barter with me.  He wanted to barter his timeshare in Park City for some ATVs.  He said that it was paid for, 33k, but that the site managers were saying that it was only currently worth 20k and that that was about the amount people had been offering him in cash for his place.  It was interesting to me how quickly the guy was open to bartering with me just mentioning the word.  To me that says that when things go to pot that bartering will be like second nature to people.  Maybe I’m being naïve (optimistic) in my assessment, but I really do think it’ll hold true.  I think in a barter situation I may be able to get a time share for a case of booze.

Two other funny things.  I told my coworkers, who were all anxious to see how it went since I’d been asking about it and know that I don’t drink, I bought generic booze.  I told them the guy at the store showed me the flavored stuff.  One coworker immediately piped up saying “Oh yes cinnamon whiskey is sooo good.”  Another coworker heard that and immediately said that cinnamon whiskey is an abomination.  He said it is like taking those candied cinnamon bears and having the bear sh*t in your mouth in liquid form.  I couldn’t stop laughing.

Yesterday after talking and hearing many different opinions I was sitting at my desk and then I said out loud so all could hear, “As a non-drinker it is interesting to hear all my coworkers opinions on booze”.  They all busted a gut.  So funny how particular people are on their drinking preferences.  In my opinion, go cheap, go broad and generic.

Lost decade

I’ve heard many times before of Japan’s Lost Decade.  I listened to an interview with John Williams of shadowstats.com.  He talks about something I do know, hedonic adjustments. 

Hedonic adjustments is saying that because a washing machine now has a digital readout vs the old mechanical dial to tell you how long till the wash is done that that change is an improvement, but because there isn’t a set price for how much of an improvement the government can set the increased cost to the consumer at whatever they want in order to get inflation up or down to what they need.

Apparently the US started using that several decades ago to tweak inflation in their favor, but Japan and Germany didn’t go along with it in their own countries and so they seemed to have slower growth than the US.  Slower/left behind/lost growth is equal to saying…a “Lost Decade”.  Nothing was actually lost and they grew just fine and at an appropriate amount.  Go figure.  

speed test

So I did a test earlier and was at 56 wpm and just did another one and got 54 wpm. Did one more for good measure and got 57 wpm.  See what yours is and see if you can beat me.  I'm typing in the Colemak format just fyi.

Visit the Typing Test and try!

Movies and lunch and time spent

I went to lunch with a coworker the other day and he boasted about how he has over 800 movies stored on an external hard drive that he and his family uses to watch films.  I was not impressed. 

At 120 minutes per movie and 800 movies that is 96,000 minutes.  That is 1,600 hours, which is 66.666 days, and 2.22 months.  If I know people like I know myself all those movies would have already been watched at least once and by having them on the external hard drive again I have to imagine that saying they’ve been watched a second time isn’t too much of a stretch.  That’d be 192,000 minutes, 3,200 hours, and 133 days, and 4.44 months of movie watching.

Needless to say that is a lot of movie watching.  That is a lot of no interacting with other people.  That is a lot of time that could be spent doing other things. 

Even if it is just leisure reading for the same amount of time I believe if someone did a survey and asked which of these two things is more appropriate that there would a resounding response saying that reading that much is a better use of someone’s time, though they’re both essentially a form of escapism, and when done in moderation and not at the sacrifice of urgent and important things is ok I think.

I poised the thought to him of “Imagine if you started at 27, like me right now of filtering movies and cutting out tv watching, how different your life would be at your current ripe old age of 37.”

Just an interesting thought. 

The latest thing I’ve been able to do since cutting out tv/movies is that I’ve been able to legitimately update my resume.  Since doing so I have already gotten one offer for employment even though I didn’t even apply for the job and the pay was quite a bit lower than what I already make.  I’ve also had a recruiter contact me to see about potentially interviewing for a position as a manager at another company.

This past weekend I found out I could download the lessons from treehouse and work on my projects without even needing to have access to the internet, which is awesome if I’m going to be working on building sites for other people and need to see how it is all looking when I update things.