Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Past, present, or future, what is your attention on?

If you dwell in the past, documenting it, glorifying it, and celebrating it, you have a wealth of material to work with.

Many people are afraid of losing touch with the past, memories of good times, past glory and all that so there is always a place for those who write lovingly of days gone by, old customs and people who made their mark in history.

There will always be a demand for those who can write about the beautiful sadness of lost dreams and fond memories of old friends. I am sure that photos of country roads with old barns will still be in demand as we enter the 22nd Century.

On the other hand, there are those who keep a close watch on the present and fill every day with motion and immediate results. Carpe diem is more than an abstract idea for them, it is a religion.

These people see governmental corruption, climate change, and financial system meltdowns as a series of snapshots of business opportunities or alternatively as a reason to enjoy what can be enjoyed and take life as it comes.

For these individuals, the beautiful sadness of the past and the uncertainties of the future are of little concern. They run with the motto of "Git 'er done" or "It will all work out somehow!" Either way, they are living each moment to the hilt, regardless of what has happened or will happen.

Some are cursed with attention fixed on the future. No matter how well things have gone or are going, they are always preparing for every possibility that may happen. These people may find little to enjoy in life.

Others spend so much time preparing for the future that they neglect the present as a minor impediment to living a future dream. Their present life may be a shambles as their attention is fixed on achieving a distant dream

Preparing for the future is not a bad thing at all, only when carried to excess.

Attention on the future is what separates successful people from the vast number who wish that things had gone better for them. Having attention on the future involves deferring immediate satisfaction in order to achieve more lasting satisfaction later. The best examples of this are those who study in school or college instead of partying endlessly. They reap the benefits when it comes time to find employment or life partners.

There are benefits to these different ways of looking at life. Possibly the best approach is developing the ability to freely assume these different viewpoints as the need arises.

[photocredit http://www.tom-allan.co.uk/gallery1.htm#1]

A handy point and shoot camera for capturing blog images

Some years ago I realized that my camera needs would be satisfied by a reasonably capable point and shoot camera and I discarded my cameras with multiple lenses for this Sony F828 which has been a reliable workhorse for about six years.

All good things come to an end and my Sony started failing intermittently. When I discovered how expensive the repairs were and how poor the official Sony service centers were, I decided it was time to change camera brands.

Doug Thompson, a professional photographer, spoke highly of Canon service and reliability and my wife Gretchen has had excellent results with her Canon cameras, so I decided that I would find a Canon model that would give me good low light performance and would provide a zoom lens with at least 10X magnification.

There are so many models that it was hard to choose between them, but I ended up with a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS which has all the features I need for less than $400.

I won't bore you with specifications, but this is like having a camera attached to a 20X spotting scope. The magnification can be pushed to 80X with 20X optical and 4X electronic.

I discovered that I can shoot photos that look almost like macro shots except these are shot at distant targets.

Here are two views of our ice-covered gravel driveway and both shots were taken from the shelter of the front porch. The ice-covered gravel in the right hand image is from the center of the frame of the driveway image. You are seeing what ice covered pea-sized gravel looks like from 25 feet away.

In the two images below, you can see two views of an ice-covered tree about 20 feet away, both shot from the shelter of the front porch. The branch detail is from the upper left quadrant of the tree picture.

 

Camera evolution is proceeding at such a pace that I fully expect that this camera will be obsolete in a year or so. I can't imagine what the next few generation of consumer cameras will look like, but I can guess that they will provide a Bluetooth connection so that one will be able to shoot and post the image online in one operation and they will capture images in much lower light levels.

Stellar One goes the extra distance

This is a drive-thru window at the Stellar One Bank in Floyd, Virginia. It has all of the characteristics you would expect in an up and coming bank that is trying to create an outstanding customer experience.

Take this window as an example: a friendly welcoming smile on the face of the young lady, clear signage that can be easily read under all lighting conditions, and a bowl of lollipops for the children who accompany their parents to the bank.

This is a standard action by businesses that treat customers as people rather than as anonymous sources of income.

The extra touch that makes this Stellar One branch stand out in my opinion is shown in this next image.

While you are banking, your dog gets a treat!

I have it on good authority that the dogs perk up immediately when their owner drives up to this window. With this thoughtful gesture the Stellar One branch in Floyd has turned a routine bank visit into a special event for the entire family.

This bank provides good service in all the ways that matter to us so providing treats for children and the family dog is is not the only reason to bank here. It is another example of choosing to provide extraordinary customer experiences.

Any business that recognizes the importance of children and pets in their customers lives is treating customers as whole individuals. Granting importance to all aspects of a customer's life practically guarantees good referrals and customer loyalty.

I don't know if all branches of Stellar One are this customer oriented, but if not it is something they should consider.

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.

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?

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.

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.)

Hypocrisy dominates Health Care "reform" campaign

Anyone who believes that the Health care reform bill is anything but a naked power grab should look into the following facts. Any one of them should be enough to make you feel betrayed by those you have elected.

1. This bill is cleverly misnamed: H.R. 3200: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

It should be titled America's Enforced Health Choices Act.  Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable health care (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income. It is a tax and the IRS will collect it from you.

According to Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold, those who fail to pay the fee for not buying health insurance could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty.

Where in the Constitution does it say that ordinary citizens will subject to fines and jail for not having federally approved health insurance? Your elected officials and certain union members, and illegal aliens are exempt from these requirements of course.

2.  Those working to impose this bill on us have  exempted themselves from being subject to this bill. Our elected officials have repeatedly refused to allow themselves to be covered by this bill and it appears that they have given unions special exemptions from the provisions of this bill.

We are being forced to accept a health care system that our "elite" leaders are avoiding. So much for equality under the law.

3.  In spite of bland assurances that services will never be rationed, staffing has already begun for an unelected, largely unaccountable group of bureaucrats charged with containing Medicare costs. Obama has stated that such a group, working outside of “normal political channels,” should guide decisions regarding that “huge driver of cost ... the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives.

Most of this group is already in place as a result of the Stimulus Bill which contained funding for a $1.1 billion enterprise run by federal bureaucrats—not practicing doctors on the front line or patients and this part of the President’s plan dictates that doctors and hospitals will be overseen and reviewed by The National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. 

This “Coordinator”, who has already been appointed by President Obama, will be responsible for monitoring treatments to ensure doctors and hospitals strictly follow what the government deems appropriate and cost effective, and to “guide medical decisions at the time and place of care.” So much for Obama's assurance that the government will not come between you and your doctor!

HR 3200 adds another layer of bureaucrats who will allocate resources on the basis of budget needs, not patient needs. This is a great employment opportunity for those who desire absolute power over their neighbor's lives.

4. Democrats are already planning to institute $500 Billion in Medicare cuts. So much for Obama's assurances that Medicare will not be affected.

5. Our president and his supporters continue to insist that this vast bucket of unionized services and patronage handouts will not add to tax burdens or deficit spending. This is so blatantly false that it boggles the mind. The Congressional Budget Office has contradicted these claims of a "deficit neutral" program again and again.

6. Finally, our representatives in Washington are planning to ram this bill through under cover of darkness again. They have refused to allow a period of 72 hours between finishing the bill and voting on it. Remember that these representatives are not subject to this bill or the "death panels" they are forcing on an unsuspecting populace.

Some will protest that the bill does not explicitly state that the Federal Government will lower medicare coverage, deny services to the elderly and mentally incapacitated, or interfere with patient/doctor relationships. The simplest answer to such a blatant denial of reality is to look at the many clarifying amendments which were killed at the behest of Nancy Pelosi and her chairmen.

These amendments were all killed:

-  Require all members of Congress to get their health insurance through the government-run plan.
-  Prevent bureaucrats from making personal medical decisions for patients
-  Keep the Federal Government out of health care decisions
-  Require government-run plan to operate under the same standards as private health plans
-  Ensure that Americans cannot be forced into a government-run health plan
-  Stop seniors from being stripped of their health care choices like Medicare Advantage
-  Keep the federal government  from choosing "favored" physicians
-  Ensure that Health Savings Accounts would not be shut down or gutted by federal mandates
-  Allow Americans to continue to enroll in private individual market health plans

If you are not angered by the actions of our President and other elected officials, you are not paying attention. With very few exceptions, this  country would be vastly improved by replacing all incumbents as soon as possible.

It's time to stop drinking the Socialist Kool-Aid. We are heading toward a bleak future as a second-rate nation dominated by a "entitlement" mindset. We will experience a fiscal tsunami of out-of-control spending that will wreak havoc on our economy unless we all get involved in the 2010 elections.