Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Life has been interfering with blogging again

In a down economy where income can drop drastically overnight, small business owners like myself have to go from production mode to full-on promotional activity.. All non-income generating activity gets put on hold. Blogging is an incredibly satisfying and rewarding experience, but it does not produce income in the short term so it gets relegated to non prime time activity or never.

Promotion is the only way that new business relationships are created and it can take many forms. There is only so much advertising that one can do with limited funds, but there is almost no limit to the amount of personal contact that can be accomplished if one is sufficiently motivated.

About two months ago I figured out that customers still wanted custom picture framing, but most of them needed to feel that they were getting an amazing deal as well as an extraordinary buying experience in order to part with their dwindling disposable income.

After all, that was what I was doing and is what my friends are doing for almost every purchase. We still want the good things in life and are willing to do with a more economical version, but it takes a really special deal from a business we like dealing with to justify spending money.

So, I have been making friends with potential customers and have been promoting ways for them to save money on picture framing for several months and this activity has finally begun to produce results.

As I've mentioned before, promoting a business follows the well known Law of Ketchup. You promote and promote and it seems like nothing is happening until finally people show up in bunches and you are suddenly racing around like a madman trying to stay ahead of the rush.

I am enjoying the flood of work, but it has temporarily put a halt to my blogging. Lots of interesting things are happening in Floyd and I will do my best to catch up on those that are most interesting.

I hope to be back blogging next week. Stay tuned.

A simple and elegant solution to our kitchen faucet problem

After spending another two hours working on our sophisticated single handle kitchen faucet, I threw in the towel and bought this simpler and far more reliable alternative solution.

It took me only an hour and five minutes to install this faucet and that included rounding up tools and a caulking gun.

I had spent more then 10 hours trying to repair the old faucet including time on the phone with two suppliers. During that time, I tied up other people for another hour at least. The product complexity cost us all more than we expected. Furthermore, there were at least three different variations on the old product and each required different parts to repair them. I don't think I had the right parts I needed.

This was a clear case where product complexity produced a great looking product (Moen 7430) that was costly and difficult to repair.

The new two handled faucet(Peerless P999575-SS)has a side spray and has smooth acting ceramic valves and cost less than half what the single handled faucet did. It has nine parts compared to the 26 parts of the single handle faucet.

Most importantly, each of the operating parts performs a single function: Each faucet operates independently and controls the flow of water. The spout directs water and has no interaction with any of the other parts of the faucet. The side sprayer sprays water with no fancy diverter logic. Any one piece can fail without requiring the replacement of other pieces and this is typical of high reliability design.

Any design in which mechanisms perform multiple functions is promoting novelty over reliability. This is fine for products with a short life, but a real pain when applied to products that have to be repaired many times over their useful life. Simplify your life with appliances and household products designed for reliability

Thanks to Zack and to Glenn for suggesting a switch to a simpler model.

How much technology is enough?

Having been a designer of high-tech things for many years, I never thought I would find myself looking at the possibility of limiting the amount of technology I am willing to accept in my daily life.

Technology applied to your life can save lots of time and money but it has a drawback. It makes life easier so you incorporate more of it into your life until you spend more time managing your technology and playing with it than living your life.

So, how do you know if you have sufficient technology in your life? Are your living life to the fullest or are you tending and fixing your technological wonders instead?

Technology is the application of knowledge to achieve certain ends. It started with simple principles like the lever and screw and progressed to using the behavior of electrical particles and properties of matter to accomplish tasks that would otherwise require immense amounts of brute strength.

Technology makes it possible for us to drink water without carrying it miles from the nearest waterhole in jars on our heads. It means that we prepare meals in minutes instead of hours. It means that we can travel more miles in one hour than great grandfather did in his lifetime. It gives everyone living in a modern civilization the leisure time to study anything they choose.

Consider living off the grid and see how much time is spent on the mundane details of daily life. Growing and preparing food, cleaning and mending clothes, heating a dwelling, these tasks leave little time for commerce or craft work or study of any kind.

In the past, only the very wealthy or powerful had the leisure time to study the stars or to investigate natural phenomena. Today, almost anyone can attend online university courses and do research if they wish because the time spent preparing food, cleaning clothes, even earning a living has been reduced by technology to an amazing level.

However, I think we have reached an unfortunate level of technology abuse in recent years. I see people driving along with earbuds or cellphones stuck in their ears, people texting during meetings, children texting during meals, families driving through nature with kids watching cartoons on the car video. TVs left on all day with the sound turned up as a background to family conversations.

On the managing side, who has not struggled to save files from a dying computer or has not struggled to install some new generation of software on a computer that will not accept it. Some people are still struggling to block spam from their email. Others have simply given up and check their email only after they are called and told that they have an important email in their inbox.

Everyone has a comfort level regarding the inclusion of technology in their lives. Perhaps the determining factor is observing whether technology frees you up to do creative and useful things or does it monopolize your waking moments with subtle distractions.

I have become aware of how certain specific levels of technology detract from the pleasant experiences of life. I am looking to simplify in those areas and will write about my adventures in simplification.

What has been your experience with technology impacting quality of life?

(Image from http://www.wearable-consult.com/index_en.html showing technology in a work situation)

Camping out in our own kitchen

Camping is actually a useful training activity. You learn how to prepare and serve meals without most of the tools, work surfaces, or running water that you normally find in a modern kitchen.

If you have done enough of it, you never lose the skills you have learned. You are unfazed by circumstances that leave your house without power or water or the usual sources of heat. This week we experienced a kitchen faucet failure that required us to fall back on our old camping skills.

The faucet that came with our new modular home was a state-of-the-art Moen faucet that looked fine and worked well for five years. Because I hadn't planned for its failure, our sink has been shut down for a week instead of a few hours.

When the faucet started leaking, I managed to make it stop for a while and started looking up replacement parts. This turned out to be a bigger problem than I expected, because I could not find the faucet model on the Moen website.

At this point I realized that this was becoming one of those dreaded "learning experiences".

Pricing strategies for hard times

This year has been a learning experience for me as a consumer and as a small business owner.

As a consumer:

As a consumer with less money to spend, I find that my buying habits have changed significantly. I am switching to cheaper alternatives in many areas: Internet phone service instead of regular land line telephone; less expensive cell phone plans; store brands at the supermarkets and specials instead of the brands we used to buy.

Many purchases have been put on hold: clothing purchases; household construction projects; landscaping projects; auto tune-ups;

Trips to nearby cities for supplies are carefully scheduled so they are kept to a minimum.

Small purchases for entertainment continue, but the outlay is greatly reduced. If we eat out while on a shopping expedition, it is more likely to be at Subway than Applebys and a regular coffee instead of a latte from Starbucks.

I borrow tools for short projects where I used to buy them to add to my collection.

We shop online for everything we cannot buy in our local stores.

We look for opportunities to barter whenever possible.

In short, we look for special deals in almost every transaction and do not buy until we find a seller that is willing to give us a price that makes us feel satisfied with the opportunity. Spending money has become painful and it takes a special deal to make buying something satisfying.

As a small business owner:

As a small business owner selling services and products to people who are hurting for money, I have not found much useful advice in the various online forums I follow. The usual advice is to increase my level of advertising and promotion and there is a shortage of strategies for pricing to suit hard times. Promising the same services to more people does not seem to address what consumers are experiencing need and want.

As a consumer, I find myself ignoring advertising except for things I really need at a price that I can't refuse. If my disposable income is at a rock-bottom low, my attention goes to those offerings that will provide me with things I really need at prices that make me feel comfortable buying them. I am not attracted to off-brands at low prices, but to known brands that are being offered at savings that can't be resisted.

If there is a rational reason that the goods are being sold at very low prices, it sweetens the deal for me as a consumer. Overstocks, special buys, and closeouts offer a chance to get needed products of standard quality at prices far below normal.

As a small business owner, I have been experimenting with ways to extend my line of products and services so that I offer limited specials at irresistible prices while maintaining my ability to produce high end products and services for those customers who need them and can afford them.

The results have been encouraging. I started seeing more business at the low end as soon as I started offering special pricing. Customers have been spreading the word that custom framing is still affordable for those who need it.

The turn-around for me as a business owner came when I started looking at my needs as a consumer. I only buy when there is a compelling reason to purchase. I had to give my customers the same opportunity.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Local cooling trend continues - more firewood needed

We seem to be right on target for a colder winter this year. My store of firewood is way above last years level, but I am concerned that our wood may not last until the weather turns warm again in the Spring.

Fortunately, we have friends and neighbors who help with our woodpile in exchange for framing and firewood. Times are hard and the future seems to be grimmer than usual, but people are still pulling together and sharing resources wherever possible. 

Our daughter Marjorie and her boyfriend Jeff came down from Roanoke and helped us split and stack firewood this weekend. The inclement weather kept them from climbing mountains, so they worked on our log pile and reduced a lot of it to stove-sized firewood. We are very grateful for their help.

We have been keeping a fire burning in the Dutch West wood stove almost every morning to take the chill off the house and give us a pleasant start for the day. There is something very comforting  about sitting at the computer near the wood stove with a fresh cup of coffee and checking on the latest news from around the world. We can even get a little bit of local news on the Internet because  some of our bloggers also write for the local paper.

Over the past few years, we have been getting the vast majority of our news from the Internet. The only hard copy news we read is the Floyd Press which does an admirable job of presenting straight news on matters of importance in Floyd County.

We have given up on the alphabet networks for any semblance of news, as they serve opinion in the guise of information. Sorting through the hype for real information is a waste of valuable time. At least on the Internet, we can check alternate sources to see what the information looked like before the spin started.

In Floyd County alone I can find opinions and occasional facts on all sides of almost every issue. We have a lot of bright people who offer interesting solutions for county problems, political misbehavior and even global warming. I would like to see more of them writing online essays so that those ideas would get the exposure they deserve.

Right now, most people limit themselves to comments on local blogs or to letters to the Floyd Press. With all of the talent that exists locally, we should have running commentaries on the decisions of the County Supervisors and on the voting records of our local delegates and congressmen.

I think that secrecy is greatly overrated since it almost always involves covering up acts that will not stand the light of day.

That's it for now. Tomorrow is another day with new challenges.

Creating a support network to survive hard times

Going through hard times alone is a grim and desperate business. I found myself in that situation many times until I learned that being part of a supportive group is not a luxury, but a vital necessity, .

The worst times of my life occurred when I made lifestyle changes that put me into a different culture with no friends to call upon for support. These included: going off to college, starting jobs in strange cities, and being forced out of a company I had helped to found.

In each of these situations, I found myself facing new and difficult challenges with no one to offer a helping hand because I did not have the forethought to develop a network of trusted friends.

Things did not improve until I learned how to locate and join groups that shared resources and advice and were interested in promoting our mutual survival.

Today, we do not have to move to another city to find ourselves faced with hard times. Too many companies are having to lay employees off or are closing outright. Money is hard to come by and everyone in the community is affected eventually. Customers buy less, employees are working fewer hours, and bills are going unpaid in all sorts of areas.

The best way out of this painful situation is to find others like yourself and do what you can to make life easier for each other. What you need to do is find people you can trust and see what you can do to offer each other mutual support. This doesn't mean getting into a "pity party", it means sharing resources, bartering, going the extra distance to help each other get through these difficult months ahead.

There are good people in almost every environment. You build mutual trust by understanding the basis on which people judge you. These are good ones to remember:

    1. Promise only what you intend to deliver
    2. Keep your word once given
    3. Follow through and meet expectations

It may not happen overnight, but if you do these things and help those around you, you will accumulate a group of friends you can rely on. Your certainty will increase and your increased confidence will enable all of you to do more and to shake off negative emotions.

There is really no other option. If you know and understand this data, you will spend very little time bemoaning your fate. You will start making inquiries and developing friends you can trust.

If you are facing hard times right now, find some people to share resources with. That will enable you to start taking control of your life again.

Make friends by being a good friend. Your future depends on it, and you'll have a great time doing it.

I may not be a doctor, but I get to play one in the Rose Garden?

We are accustomed to see people in white coats selling us nostrums on TV, so we shouldn't be surprised to see the White House using a similar tactic to sell the Health Care bill.

Yesterday, our Campaigner-in-Chief held another Photo Op to show that doctors overwhelmingly support his Health Care bill.

Those who did not show up in white coats were given one for the photo shoot. Unlike free enterprise commercials, no disclaimer was made on how many of those present do not have a medical practice.

Having given the standard pitch for the umpteenth time, Obama leaves for his next campaign stop.

Your tax dollars at work. Medical Astroturfing at its best.

Read the full story at the NewYork Post: 

Rule #1 in starting your own business - revised and updated

I have written so many articles about starting a business and striking off in new directions that I can't believe I failed to mention one of the most basic rules of them all when it comes to starting your own business. This actually applies to startups of any size.

Rule #1 - Lower your cost of living to the point where you can pay for rent and food doing outside work while you struggle to generate enough income with your new business.

If you live in a comfortable suburban house and you bailed out or were ejected from the corporate mothership, don't expect that you are going to develop a viable business in less than six months and a decent customer base in less than a year. Many people report that it takes two years or more to start generating decent cash flow.

During that time you will be laying out money for equipment and training and you will still have to pay the mortgage and all the other expenses for your lovely home. You will burn through your 401K and any savings faster than you can believe.

You need to completely restructure your living arrangements so that your cost of living can be covered during the startup period and for some time beyond.

This calls for a great deal of resolve and understanding by all members of the family. Life is not going to continue in the same old way.

Sell the Land Rover and the McMansion and look for a living and workspace that doesn't leak too badly that you can buy for cash or on terms that result in a mortgage payment of a few hundred dollars a month. Buy a used van or pickup truck or a used car for cash.

Put enough money away to live on for six months and rethink your identity. You are starting over and you are no longer a senior manager of anything. You need to get busy and learn your new trade in a big hurry.

Take classes at a good craft school. Learn the ropes by working as an apprentice if you can. If your significant other is not engaged in learning a craft, she or he should find work that provides enough income that your bank balance does not dwindle.

Make everyone part of the new solution. Ideally, your new venture should provide work for all members of the family, but if the teenagers aren't interested in helping with your new venture, they need to find employment and an educational path that fits your new circumstances.

You don't have to follow this advice of course, because you can always search for another corporate berth instead of risking everything on your own business acumen.

However, you will probably have to sell the house and the Land Rover anyway if you are over fifty because it may take you a year to find a new job and it will pay less than your last job.

This may sound unduly grim, but it has been done by tens of thousands of people and they have emerged from the experience stronger and more self reliant than ever before. The freedom that comes from managing your own destiny more than makes up for the temporary hardships of starting your own business.

Find any successful small business owner, craftsperson or artist and ask how they lived until they became successful and you will hear a story much like I have described here.

Talk to business owners who quit after a short, unsuccessful attempt at starting a career and you will find that they ran out of money before they could become self-supporting.

You will also find that their lifestyle had a lot of creature comforts that did nothing to advance their careers.

Whether this change in life is a forced decision or a free choice, changing your lifestyle and cutting your costs to the bone will give you the best chance of a successful transition.

If you have gotten this far, it has probably occurred to you that this same advice applies if you are embarking on a career in any new field.

Your lifestyle has to be leaner and meaner than you ever imagined if you are to succeed.

Wishing you the very best.

( I wrote the original post in August 2006 and am still encountering people who envision launching new businesses which will provide seamless continuity of their comfortable suburban lives. Get over it. Startups are the most exciting adventure I can conceive of, but they involve drastic changes to your lifestyle.)

I have written so many articles about starting a business and striking off in new directions that I can't believe I failed to mention one of the most basic rules of them all when it comes to starting your own business. This actually applies to startups of any size.

Rule #1 - Lower your cost of living to the point where you can pay for rent and food doing outside work while you struggle to generate enough income with your new business.

If you live in a comfortable suburban house and you bailed out or were ejected from the corporate mothership, don't expect that you are going to develop a viable business in less than six months and a decent customer base in less than a year. Many people report that it takes two years or more to start generating decent cash flow.

During that time you will be laying out money for equipment and training and you will still have to pay the mortgage and all the other expenses for your lovely home. You will burn through your 401K and any savings faster than you can believe.

You need to completely restructure your living arrangements so that your cost of living can be covered during the startup period and for some time beyond.

This calls for a great deal of resolve and understanding by all members of the family. Life is not going to continue in the same old way.

Sell the Land Rover and the McMansion and look for a living and workspace that doesn't leak too badly that you can buy for cash or on terms that result in a mortgage payment of a few hundred dollars a month. Buy a used van or pickup truck or a used car for cash.

Put enough money away to live on for six months and rethink your identity. You are starting over and you are no longer a senior manager of anything. You need to get busy and learn your new trade in a big hurry.

Take classes at a good craft school. Learn the ropes by working as an apprentice if you can. If your significant other is not engaged in learning a craft, she or he should find work that provides enough income that your bank balance does not dwindle.

Make everyone part of the new solution. Ideally, your new venture should provide work for all members of the family, but if the teenagers aren't interested in helping with your new venture, they need to find employment and an educational path that fits your new circumstances.

You don't have to follow this advice of course, because you can always search for another corporate berth instead of risking everything on your own business acumen.

However, you will probably have to sell the house and the Land Rover anyway if you are over fifty because it may take you a year to find a new job and it will pay less than your last job.

This may sound unduly grim, but it has been done by tens of thousands of people and they have emerged from the experience stronger and more self reliant than ever before. The freedom that comes from managing your own destiny more than makes up for the temporary hardships of starting your own business.

Find any successful small business owner, craftsperson or artist and ask how they lived until they became successful and you will hear a story much like I have described here.

Talk to business owners who quit after a short, unsuccessful attempt at starting a career and you will find that they ran out of money before they could become self-supporting.

You will also find that their lifestyle had a lot of creature comforts that did nothing to advance their careers.

Whether this change in life is a forced decision or a free choice, changing your lifestyle and cutting your costs to the bone will give you the best chance of a successful transition.

If you have gotten this far, it has probably occurred to you that this same advice applies if you are embarking on a career in any new field.

Your lifestyle has to be leaner and meaner than you ever imagined if you are to succeed.

Wishing you the very best.

( I wrote the original post in August 2006 and am still encountering people who envision launching new businesses which will provide seamless continuity of their comfortable suburban lives. Get over it. Startups are the most exciting adventure I can conceive of, but they involve drastic changes to your lifestyle.)

Time for another reality check

It seems like our political class is comfortably divorced from reality. Congress voted itself another raise this year, increased their expense budgets and are working hard to pull off a trifecta of bills that will raise taxes and energy costs while the economy crumbles around us.

Government is preoccupied with saving the world from computer model "disasters" like "poisonous" CO2 and Anthropogenic Global Warming, while ignoring the rising tide of real disasters like massive unemployment, a real recession, and an indecisively managed war in Afghanistan.

Taxpayer resistance is growing, but will not significantly reverse the process until the 2010 elections.

If there is to be an economic resurgence, it will probably start at the grassroots level with local actions attuned to local needs and resources.

I do not see that government bail outs have helped GM or Chrysler and do not expect that the balance of the Stimulus money will produce significant results either, as most of the money will be funnelled to patronage jobs or to support union activity.

Certainly some money will trickle down to worthwhile projects, but the percentage of taxpayer money that arrives where it s needed is a small fraction what was borrowed and will eventually be collected from the taxpayers in future generations.

There is a question that should be asked about any government project: How many real jobs will this program create?

Failing to understand that Government and State jobs are a burden on the economy is a classic mistake. They are an OVERHEAD expense. When your company is not doing well, you cut overhead first.

No company I have ever known has improved their operating basis during a crisis by adding more levels of management, yet our current administration is adding Czars and new government organizations every day.

I don't see that as a winning strategy.

( Photo credit: wrensongfarm.blogspot.com)