Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Be very careful what you wish for..

Once upon a time, I had this dream of a home in the country with a bright, spacious, workshop with all of the tools I would need to design and produce wonderful things that clients might need. I would spend my days working on new designs for clients and would enjoy country life to the fullest.

In this dream, I envisioned that Gretchen would have her own studio where she could paint and she would spend her days creating art and working with other artists on group projects.

While I fully expected this to happen, I didn't take into account the multiplier effect that occurs when other people think you have a reasonably good idea and helpfully pile on by sending you business and getting you involved in all sorts of other activities.

I am working seven days a week to keep up with demand in my new custom framing business and Gretchen is driving to and fro like a soccer mom to exhibit her work and to staff the gallery she created with 5 other artists.

We smile wistfully at each other over breakfast and promise to get together real soon for a glass of wine on the back deck...when things slow down a bit. Then a hug, a quick smooch, and tires are spinning on the gravel driveway as we sprint off in separate directions to keep our new enterprises and our new commitments from toppling over on us.

We are happy with what we have created. It is just that thanks to our many friends, we have more on our plates at this moment than we planned for.

We will prevail and may even get organized.
A special thanks to all who have helped.

Tune in later for more posts on this subject.

Unsolicited plug for YaTimer

I have been using YaTimer ever since Nir Dobovizki first created it and it has been one of the most useful timer utilities I have ever worked with.

Now I have discovered a new use for my YaTimer which has profound implications for improving profitability in some of my business activities.

Basically, I can use YaTimer to improve my cost estimates and to spot areas where I need to automate. This has been an eye-opening experience.

Let's say you have a multi-step process that goes like this for each order:

1. Customer interaction/sale
2. Completion of design
3. Ordering of materials
4. Creation of parts kits prior to assembly
5-7. Three different machining and assembly steps
8. Packaging

Since I use my laptop for every phase of this process, it is a no-brainer to leave YaTimer running on my desktop and use it to monitor my progress.

With YaTimer, I can set up a separate counter for each task and simply switch from one counter to the next as each task is completed. If I have to redo a task, I restart the counter for the earlier task and it accumulates the additional time required to get the task done correctly.

Switching to a new task counter shuts off the previous counter and this is a one click operation. At the end of the process, I have a complete record of the time spent on each task and I can compare each time to my original cost estimates.

In most cases, my original cost estimates are based on competitive pricing studies. If my time spent is way out of line with what I can reasonably charge for the task, I need to look at alternatives like outsourcing or automation.

Some of you may object to measuring the time spent in customer interaction, because that does not show up on the usual cost estimate. As a self-employed person, you really need to have an idea of how much time you spend with customers figuring out what is to be done as opposed to actually doing the work.

I know small business owners, including myself, who have been unwilling to ask for fees that will enable them to conduct profitable business because they really had no idea how much time was being spent working with customers and getting jobs done completely.

This timer is user-friendly and I recommend it highly to anyone who is charging for their time.

Life-changing moments...revisited

(I wrote this in 2005 and it still applies today, so I wanted to share it with those of you who missed it the first time and are hung up in doubt about a new opportunity.)

When the door to a new business opportunity opens, some fortunate people seem to step through it easily and pick up a new life on the other side.

Others agonize, trapped by indecision and self-doubts, until the door of opportunity closes on them again.

Still others exultantly throw the door open and embrace their new challenge, only to find that their nearest and dearest are hanging back in disgust or dismay. They hear:

    "You didn't say we were going to live ___________!"

    Fill in the blanks with your choice of: in Detroit... on Penobscot Bay...on a tramp steamer...so far away from mother.

Others find that long-awaited opportunities present themselves at inconvenient times: they just got promoted, the children are in a new school, they just met the person who is right for them, etc.

If you find yourself in the last three groups, your life is far more stressful than it needs to be, but there is a possibility that you might be able to do something about it.

First of all, you need to recognize that opportunity means change. If comfort is important to you, your choices of new opportunities are severely limited. A lot of people grumble about their jobs, marriages, and living quarters, but find any number of excuses to avoid changing any of them.

Life is all about recognizing the need to make changes and then making them. When you are part of a family group, it is wise to bring the rest of the group into the decision-making process. If your family does not support the changes needed to take advantage of a much-needed opportunity, you need to re-examine your priorities or the family's priorities. In either case, you may have some hard decisions to make.

The people who find opportunities on every hand are those who keep themselves open to new opportunities. They don't wish for opportunities, they create a mood that anticipates opportunity by remaining open-minded and ensuring that pursuit of opportunity is welcomed by their family group.

When children are raised in an environment where self-employment is well-understood and is respected, they also learn a wealth of information about discovery of business opportunities.

Developing a plan to improve your live and the life of your family is not a one-shot deal. Get everyone involved and things will either go far more smoothly, or you will discover what sources of counter-intention exist in your family. Either way, you will be closer to a resolution than before.

If you keep looking for life-changing moments that never seem to appear, try examining your readiness to accept change. When you are actually ready for a change to occur in your life, it is almost as though the universe seems to get it, and your opportunity appears.

Hope you have some pleasant life-changing moments this week.

New Firewood Project for Fall 2007

I am getting to the age where I avoid unnecessary physical risk and just want to get yard work and home chores done more efficiently. In most cases this means using tools and machinery to give me greater mechanical advantage. Instead of throwing myself into tasks with great abandon, I tend to look for a machine to do the heavy lifting. As you can see in these pictures which Gretchen took yesterday, I have a new piece of machinery to play with.

One of my major home chores for the fall is producing 4 or 5 cords of firewood to heat our home for the winter. This involves sawing 10 foot logs into 18 inch chunks and then splitting the short logs into firewood.

For the past two years, I have hired others to handle the chore of cutting and transporting logs from the woods to the splitter. I have done some of this myself, but carrying 50 pound logs over uneven ground is tiring and potentially risky work, so I have been looking for an affordable small tractor to make this job easier.

There are more lawn tractors every year, but they all come with mowing decks and I don't have a lawn. I resist spending money for machinery that I will never use.

I have been putting the word out that I wanted a used lawn tractor without a mowing deck and I finally got one with the help of Tom King, my next door neighbor.

It is a well-used 13.5 HP Craftsman Lawn Tractor with a fairly low center of gravity, but it has decent ground clearance since the mower deck has been removed. This will let me drive it through the forested areas of our  three and a half acre lot.

I plan on putting chains on the rear wheels for more traction and will probably upgrade my current firewood wagon to something slightly larger.

The test will be whether this tractor provides enough power to move the firewood fast enough to get our firewood supply in place for the winter. The temperature has already dropped to the point where I have fired up the pellet stove in the framing shop. Now it is becoming necessary to fire up the wood stove in the house.

Once the house wood stove gets lit, it will probably be on for the next five months and life becomes a matter of keeping enough firewood on hand to keep the home fires burning.  The stove with it's forced air distribution heats our 1650 sq foot home to 78 degrees with ease all winter.

Since I have enough logs  on hand for the next five years, my heating costs should continue to be less than $200 a year, based on a twenty year stove life, a ten year log-splitter life, and a five year tractor life.

UPDATE:

Life is good! I put the tractor to work at 5 pm after installing a new battery and I was able to fill the firewood rack on the front porch in just 15 minutes.  I spent another hour exploring what slopes the tractor could handle, picking up piles of construction material and stowing them away.

I may add chains and extra weights for the tractor eventually, but it is able to handle the important work now with no further changes. It gives me the equivalent of two extra helpers for pennies an hour.

I am very pleased with the tractor and I have Tom King to thank for finding it for me. Everyone should have a neighbor who is that helpful.

Welcome to the 21st Century workplace...

People who are still "employed" in the old-fashioned 20th Century sense have a hard time comprehending what is happening in this small town where many people have multiple jobs. Several visitors have asked me why people in Floyd would have as many as four jobs.

For the most part, these are people employed by corporations who have never had to prospect for business or never had to deal directly with customers. In an all too real sense, they have been insulated from the uncomfortable realities of life.

Some of these people are/were considering moving to a small town like Floyd when they are ready to retire and it is beginning to strike home that there may be some problems finding work at which they can support themselves.

There may be more companies every year that are hiring older employees, but it appears that it may take a few years before this becomes the norm.  Right now, I can think of only a few major companies that actively recruit older employees: Home Depot, WalMart, and Sam's Club are the first that come to mind. There are many more, like Starbucks, who welcome older employees, but do not necessarily focus on hiring them.

According to several articles I read recently, in the past few years, more and more companies are realizing that by the year 2010, almost one in three workers will be at least 50 years old.

As this becomes common knowledge, industry employment may reach a tipping point where older employees may get incentives to stay at work instead of being shoved out the door.

In the meantime, however, those of us who have chosen a non-corporate lifestyle find that there is work available in many different places, but not a lot in any one place. This means that our work patterns are like those of a consultant, where we work for as many clients/employers as we can in order to maximize our income.

It also explains why you see so many of us chatting in coffee shops and other gathering spots at various times during the day. We are busily swapping information on upcoming projects and what work needs to be done. This is our equivalent of a local job exchange. Someone always has information to pass on, or eggs to sell, or needs help of some kind.

This is not a "retirement village" where we while away the hours between mealtimes. Yes, there are traditional retirees here and they are a valued part of the community in that they serve as volunteers in important local organizations and they bring a wealth of outside world experience to the job.

I think that Floyd, and the many smaller communities like it, are models of what the mid-21st Century lifestyle will become. I think it will be primarily a service-based economy in which the primary focus is on sustainable economic development through creation of non-outsourceable jobs.

I think we will continue to see an ebb and flow of manufacturing opportunities, but these will probably be more ecologically friendly industries and will be smaller in size than the mills of  the past.  It is a poor choice to embrace industries that rape the land and leave a lasting legacy of poisoned aquifers and waterways. It appears that the era of wasting human, ecological, and economic resources may be coming to an end.

We are rapidly coming to a time where skilled employees and a healthy and green environment will be given the attention they deserve. This is not something the government does for us, it is something that will happen because more and more people recognize that it is economically vital.

Meanwhile, those of us who are already working several jobs need to stay productive and figure out ways to increase the flow of information about part-time, contract and full-time employment opportunities in the county.

We live in a time when our employment landscape is continually changing. We need to share information if at all possible.

How are things in your locality? What kind of job prospects do you expect to see in the next few years?

How many of these prospects are under your control?

If at first you don't succeed, try Starbucks??

Michael Gates Gill, son of privilege and New York society insider, was the very model of what moms want their sons to become until he was eased off the corporate merry-go-round at 53.

Yale graduate, member of Skull & Bones, Executive vice president at J. Walter Thompson on major accounts, children going on to college, all was going well until the new owners of JWT decided that he didn't fit the lean, mean, hard-charging image they wanted to project.

As many others have done, he went into business for himself and even wrote a book about it. But, ten years later, his life as an entrepreneur had collapsed, an ill-advised affair left him at a new low point in his life, and he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

While sitting in Starbucks painfully going through the motions of contacting prospective clients, a chance encounter with Manager Crystal Thompson gave Michael a new start in life.

On the way to his personal and financial redemption, he learns to clean toilets, run a cash register, and become a coffee master. None of this was easy and he made plenty of mistakes along the way as he recounts in his essay in the Sept/Oct 2007 AARP magazine.

He has now written a book, How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else, and it also appears that Tom Hanks will be starring in a movie adaptation of the book.

I haven't read the book and I am writing this only to illustrate that this is an increasingly common career situation and that personal redemption is possible with enough work and persistence.

His story also illustrates that it may take more than one attempt to recover from a massive career dislocation. His earlier book about his entrepreneurial experiences was called "Fired Up!: The Proven Principles of Successful Entrepreneurs". 

It seems that he may not have covered all of the essentials, as his consulting practice eventually dwindled and he had to regroup and start again.

From what I have read in the AARP article, it appears that this time he has made some significant changes in his approach to life and that may make the difference in his latest career(s).

I wish him well.

How do you know when it is time to move on?

I have been taking on new challenges recently and found that the vital accoutrements of my earlier lifestyle are now getting in my way.

It finally forced me to re-evaluate the way I have been holding on to and preserving valuable tools and equipment.

In my case, these were expensive tools and woodworking machinery that I had accumulated since leaving the corporate world and I had carefully moved them several hundred miles and had even built a workshop to house them. I had used them to finish two houses and to build custom furniture for ourselves and for paying customers.

This is fully operational equipment which I still need occasionally because there is no other convenient way to accomplish the same tasks. It took years to accumulate this particular equipment and until now, the thought of parting with any of it seemed totally counter productive (and painful!).

And there's the dilemma: the equipment is as useful as ever; I still need to accomplish the same tasks occasionally; there is no economically realistic way to purchase the same service from others; but I need more space for what I am doing now to generate income.

I have been wrestling with this problem for almost two years and an answer finally came to me in the middle of the night and woke me up in the process. I thought of a way to share the wealth and to retain access to the equipment when it became necessary.

I needed to find someone who needed this equipment, all of it and had space to house it and put it to use and would be willing to let me use it if the time came that I had further projects to complete. I would essentially loan the equipment to them on a permanent basis as long as I had access to the equipment when I needed it.

It occurred to me that the solution might lie with my next door neighbor. He has started building a second workshop and has already started the long task of accumulating the tools which will enable him to do professional level wood working.

I sent him an email outlining my proposition and went back to bed. By the time I woke up I had a positive email response from him and we moved all of the equipment the same day.

I gained a hundred and fifty square feet of additional workspace in my frame shop and he gained a fully equipped woodworking facility complete with a wheeled cart that holds some thirty different wood clamps.

It feels like a win-win situation. The equipment will be used more frequently. I have more space to work. I still have use of the equipment for the few times I need it and no money changed hands.

I can see that this kind of out of the box solution might work in other situations where lifestyle changes create encumbrances out of valuable equipment or dwellings that are still needed, but which consume resources, space or money that are no longer available.

Someone with a large home and no one to share it or help maintain it could conceivably look at a new pattern of living where they bring in others under the same roof so that shared physical and financial resources would enable everyone, including the original owner, to live in a more comfortable and affordable lifestyle.

In our aging population, this solution is already being piloted by many with some success.

Essentially it is a rethinking of the idea that we accumulate property and we protect it from others. It is a more organic approach to life where we accumulate property with the idea of eventually sharing it with others when we have more property than we can use every day.

This is not charity. This is exchange where everyone wins. It will be interesting to see where this can go.

A cautionary story

Friends of ours on the Christiansburg Pike in Floyd lost their Golden Lab during the last thunderstorm. The dog was wearing an electronic collar but the power went off and the dog got spooked and bolted.

This is the wanted poster for the frightened fugitive.

With all of the care we take to protect our families and loved pets, there will be times when it will not be enough. That's when we hope that upbringing and the bonds of love will pull them through the situation they find themselves in.

If you live in Floyd County and have seen this stray dog, call and give the owner an update on its whereabouts.

(Click to enlarge the image)

SPAM WARNING - BEWARE OF QUECHUP

UPDATE: My inbox is full of email from people on my contact list who have received these bogus invitations from Quechup. I apologize for the inconvenience. See the story below:

The latest scam to hit the Internet is Quechup.com.
They are generating spam that supposedly comes from your friends.

If you receive an email from me or anyone else inviting you to join Quechup, delete the email and DO NOT Sign UP.

I received an invitation supposedly from another blogger and while I was checking the site out, Quechup may have has mailed an invitation from me to everyone in my email address book, even though I expressly requested that they should not do so.

Quechup claims to be a "social network."

It is owned by iDate and is actually some sort of dating service.
Don't go there and don't bother to check it out.
You will definitely regret it.

If you are visiting Floyd this Fall, read this...

I am getting more email every week from future immigrants who ask how to make the most of their upcoming visits to Floyd. Some of them have already bought land in Floyd or in the nearby counties and are now bringing relatives here to share their discovery.

For those of you who are considering country life, here is a quick take on how to decide whether Floyd is for you and you are right for Floyd:

1. Check out my website Discover Floyd County. It is a quick overview on some of the factors I found important about country living. 

2. When you bring your family or friends to Floyd, you need to have them wander the streets of Floyd on foot and to visit a few key locations to get a feeling for the lifestyle and ambiance that is Floyd. Make sure that you all talk to everyone you meet.

3. Have them visit the following places and have them ask people about Floyd and how it is to live and work here. If your friends are planning to open a business here at some point, the questions will be different of course.

In no particular order, visit these places:

-Cafe del Sol (several times - in the morning especially)
-The Jacksonville Center, in the afternoon and ask about the classes
-The Bell Gallery - admire the art and Darcie's Kittens
-Oddfellas Cantina on Saturday night or for the Sunday Brunch
-The Over the Moon Gallery and Coffee Shop for lunch and on Friday Nights

-The Blue Ridge Restaurant for breakfast any day and take note that this is the only restaurant open on Mondays and Tuesdays except for Subway and Hardees.

-The Floyd Country Store for lunch and on Friday Nights for the Friday Night Jamboree.

-Visit the Harvest Moon Food store and compare to the Sweet Providence Farm Market on Hwy 221 Northeast of Floyd.

-Visit the Winter Sun which houses the Cafe del Sol and a soon to open Mexican Restaurant. Explore the galleries and studios downstairs. The artists in the Art Under the Sun Studio and Gallery can give you more tips on cultural and other attractions for those moving to Floyd.

-Eat at the Pine Tavern and enjoy family-style food service and hospitality.

-Browse the Farmer's Supply Hardware store next to the stoplight in Floyd.

-Buy hardware or supplies at Wills Ridge Supply off North Rte 8 on Lumber Rd and stop in and check out the Bread Basket bakery on the way to or from Wills Ridge Supply.

-Browse Slaughter's Market and Garden Supply (two stores). Check out the Food Lion

-Stop in at The Pickin' Porch and chat with working musician Scott Perry and admire his vintage and homegrown acoustic instruments.

-If health issues are a problem, ask about practitioners, doctors, dentists, etc. There are a few locally, but most people go to Christiansburg or Blacksburg for treatment.

-For information about local real estate, you might contact Julie Arrington, a friend of ours. There are others, but their names escape me at the moment. I will add them later.

-The Chamber of Commerce Office is staffed by friendly volunteers and they can provide a wealth of information about the area also.

-Visit Mabry Mill  and the Overlooks on the Parkway for scenic beauty. See also the Morrisette Winery and the Villa Appalaccia Winery.

Drive the country roads around Floyd County and drink in the scenery, but look carefully at the range of accommodations on almost every back road. We have beautiful views but we also have residents who don't just accumulate cars in their yards, some of them collect school buses.

Rural living is not tidy lawns and gated enclaves. It is hard-working people struggling to make a go of it however they can. They are good people and make wonderful neighbors. You just have to decide whether you will fit in and make a welcome addition to the mix.

A lot of Some talented people have come to Floyd and reluctantly decided that LA or DC or KC was where they needed to be, and they left after a few years of trying to make a go of it here.

Country life in a small-town environment makes a few demands on you and the most important is that you need to be the kind of person who makes haste slowly and are willing to understand and work with the many groups that make this county what it is today.

Those who are comfortable with themselves will do well here. You can change Floyd, but living in Floyd will probably change you more than you realize.

Please take note of the following, as it can be a real deal-killer for someone planning to move to Floyd:

Plan on bringing your job with you or be ready to invest in a local business because we don't have a robust economy yet.

We need self-starters who will find ways to serve this growing community with goods and services that are needed.

If you have other questions, please send me an email and I will be happy to meet you at the Cafe Del Sol where we can chat. I may be able to introduce you to people who really know what is going on. I am always interested in meeting people who can contribute to the energy that is building here in Floyd County.

You should also read our local Floyd County bloggers to get a multi-dimensional view of life in this county. They make excellent reading and will give you valuable tips for understanding Floyd.

• Blue Ridge Muse
• Fragments From Floyd
• Loose Leaf Notes
• Oh Papa Blues Blog
• Dark Chocolate, Red Wine