I'm getting a steady paycheck once again! It's a great feeling knowing that I'll be able to easily keep my bills paid and get my 5 year plan back on solid financial footing. It was a scary ride, quite stressful, and some things fell away during it all. But that was 2012. This is 2013. I'm working hard to make 2013 my bitch.
Now that I've received a little bit of pay, I'm trying to focus on getting my bills paid back down. When I started 2012, I had just paid off a credit card and only had one left. I left the paid off card open so I'd have an emergency credit line, and used that to replace a vital piece of studio gear in the spring. My finances weren't stable enough to justify that cost, and a $500 purchase turned into a $700 credit card bill that was $200 over limit. The account was closed by the bank to prevent it from growing any higher, and I was given a $15-month payment plan to pay it off. It'd take me 4 years at that minimum, but that's all I've been able to do for a few months now.
But now that I've got steady income again, it's time to get all of that out of the way. I'm actually excited right now! 2012 was full of bad habits that I was forced into in one way or another. For example, with the studio only breaking even and other ventures not getting any returns yet, I found myself forced to wait til the absolute last minute to pay my phone bill. Just as I was about to get the money to pay it, it would get disconnected, and I'd get a $50 fee for that month. This happened almost monthly, I swear I think AT&T is psychic and knew what day to cut me so they could get the fee that month.
Today, I paid it before it got cut off! Today, it all turns around! I've still got a mountain to climb, but the expedition team was gathered when I got the new day job. The last month was spent preparing for the climb, and today we started off toward base camp #1.
It's just a shame that things went the way they did with some of my plans last year. Feelings were hurt, friendships damaged, and I doubt that'll ever be able to mend. I just wish those affected understood why things have been so hard for me and why I did the things i did. I'm not trying to play the victim here, but the only one walking in my shoes was me. The only one who sees it the way I do was me. They see it from their perspective, and that's the way it goes. Nothing I can do about it.
So now that I've taken the steps necessary to reclaim my financial future, let's outline some of the challenges directly ahead. I've got rent to pay at Skyline Sound Studios, and a damaged car to diagnose and repair. I'm going to need to budget very very very carefully, and file my tax return asap, if I'm gonna get over this hurdle quickly. But the beautiful thing is that once I get over it in the next couple of months, things still won't be easy but they will be easier than they are now by quite a big margin.
Regarding budgeting very very very carefully, that's tough. I've got a little sum of money right now to apply to my expenses, and there's a compulsion in me to start paying down certain liabilities with it right now since I know I have it. But that's not realistic, as I have to ensure those car repairs and that rent for the studio are paid for. Then I have to pay for certain business related expenses that are owed to other parties. It's not going to be easy, it's going to be very very very tight. But I have to refrain from spending money unless not doing so will cost me more money.
The general reason for this particular blog entry is the fact that the expedition has left once again for the mountain top. I'm excited as hell about that! It's been way too tight for way too long, and it's about time something changed. But the universal factor in all of that was me. It wasn't changing because I was thinking too short term in some respects. I took a chance, but didn't calculate all of the risks of that chance. I paid for that miscalculation, and fortunately it didn't do enough damage to completely de-rail me. But that's the learning curve in business (and no, I'm not referring to the damaged friendships I mentioned above, for a certain someone who is likely reading this). It's about calculated risk, and I miscalculated. It was tough, and I'm rebounding. Time to take the lessons learned from my failures in ALL aspects last year and apply them to a more successful and profitable 2013!
2013...yeah, I'm hittin' that!
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
2013
Now that that's out of the way…
I'm actually feeling pretty good. I dunno what it is about the changing of a date from one day to another that can fill a person with hope for the new year that lies ahead, but it's likely the feeling of a fresh start that occurs when a new year rolls over on the calendar. So what am I up to this year?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
January is gonna be fiscally tight. There's no way around it, I'm in a tight spot. But no worries, I've got a lot of promise ahead in the very near future. I just have to get over the next few weeks financially.
With that being said, I'm back in school. I start classes in 2 weeks. I'm on academic probation, but it's time to turn that around too. In person classes, a degree change, 6 months away from school to re-stabilize my life…all things that were needed to renew my thirst for an education.
I've also officially launched CLMastering.com as of a few days ago. I've been lighting up twitter building a buzz, and although I've not sold any masters yet, it's good to know that it's now officially available for the public to use. Now to just keep up the marketing…
I've helped Laura start up her own fitness blog too, and now she's blogging and tweeting, and is making it her own! I'm so glad to have helped her get it off the ground!
2013 sees my daughters turn 15, and I'm so excited to see the beautiful young women they are becoming.
2013 is a blank slate and is full of promise. It's time to take that promise by the reigns and make something of it.
Happy New Year.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Boiling Point
Money makes the world go round, but it also is a great divider. It also can show a person's true character and willingness to understand your plight, and it can be a major point of contention and stress.
That's what I learned tenfold in recent weeks.
With studio revenues down to the point where I wasn't even breaking even, and other income sources running dry, I found myself faced with a lot of stress and anxiety. I found myself forced to make a decision. I blogged about that decision, which was to find a day job. I'm now working as a Medicare PDP provider for a teen who has autism, and it will pay almost the same as the job I left in February 2012.
I also re-signed up for classes. I don't want to live on student loans, but I can't lie and say that there isn't a financial reason I'm in school right now. Realizing it's debt that will have to be paid back later, I'm willing to take that in order to get a cushion that will help me stay afloat now. It's a gamble, and I don't like to gamble, but while I'm gambling I'm also gaining an education. I'm investing in myself. The major factor in this isn't money, but it is a vip in this game.
Bottom line is this. I've been broke my whole life. I tried to turn it around a year ago, and was on the path to doing just that. I had a savings, and was paying down credit cards. But 2012 has been a financial disaster for me. Unfortunately some didn't want to see that, and partnerships broke up because I couldn't be in a relationship where my time wasn't respected and I was expected to constantly work for the promise of "maybe we'll make a lot of money down the road"…when my kids are needing food now, getting paid down the road isn't a bet I'm willing to wager anymore. Writing was on the wall, it was clear that priorities were no longer aligned. Tensions were rising. I'm getting out.
Meanwhile, even though 2012 seemed to have a lot of promise as the summer came around and the new studio location opened, it became clear very soon that I didn't have enough clients to sustain it and I've been struggling just to pay the rent for a few months now. Business is business, and I'm working on turning it around, but when I can't contribute any of my income to pay the bills at home and feed the kids because I'm trying to keep this business afloat, it's clear that something has to change NOW.
Business is risk. I choose to take risks because I can see the potential payout later. However, I'm only willing to take calculated risks with low overhead and high return on investment. Sure, that's smart, but never a sure thing. Meanwhile, every business venture I've attempted this year has taken me down the road to the poor house while demanding tons of time away from my family and forcing me to stress to no end about how I'm going to pay for it all.
So I devised a business that would be completely online and have a very low overhead with a high profit margin. This business would have my daughters initials in the name, to remind me of what I was fighting for, and would be in place as a way to ensure their future in uncertain financial times. I'm still developing this business, and even though I don't know how to make it what I want it to be just yet, I know how to make it work and bring it to market. That's one thing I've fought with all year. I can't fine tune and tweak endlessly without bringing the product to market, because I can't afford to put that much time into that. However, when it was brought up that I was putting my time into this new venture, that was evidently the straw that broke the camel's back for the partnership I referenced above.
So here we are. I'm broke. In in that long period where I'm waiting way too long for my first paycheck from the new day job, which will be very small, while watching my available capitol dry up around me days before major bills are due (rent, ect). I'm also having services shut off.
Enough.
This cycle has to end.
So what can I do differently? Not really much right now, other than keep plugging and trying to get this new business operational before classes start in a few weeks. That's my window. I have to get this new site up and running by then, or the amount of time I'll have to focus on web development will be a lot more constricted. The business is designed to be easy to run with minimal effort, which would work out well for a guy like me (running a studio while working a 30 hour-week day job and taking 12 credit hours of classes and raising two teens who have autism…). Essentially I focus on marketing, do some minor file maintenance and billing, and then collect money. With a social media model rather than an advertising model, the advertising budget is minimal. This leads to high profit margins, and an overhead that is so low you can't limbo under it. I can run this business from anywhere that I have an internet connection, so I can take it with me on vacation as long as I have my iPhone.
But the business isn't live. So I'm caught in another struggle of putting time into something that hasn't paid me a dime yet. The difference this time is, no one is here to argue that it can't go live until it reaches a certain arbitrary point, and no one is here to set that arbitrary point so high that it's impossible to sustain with no returns on the investment. I'm in this alone, with guidance from others, but the decisions are ultimately mine. I'm in charge of my own destiny here, and no one can dip their fingers in the bowl and fowl up the original vision. So this one makes me happy to put time into, because I can see this one having a potentially high return with unlimited growth!
Besides, I'm doing this one for my daughters. They'll need lifelong care (thanks autism), and I can't provide that on promises and unemployment. They are my number one priority in life now, and every move I make is to give them a better life.
But even at home there is frustration. While in training to be a PDP provider, they tell all new providers to ensure that we have adequate down time. It can be very frustrating to assist someone with special needs, and you can't take that out on them, but if you don't give yourself down time from it to relax and recover, you'll get burnt out quick.
I've been on my job for a week now in the home, and then coming home all week to my daughters. Where is my downtime? Just as I try to find some, a money issue or a weather issue throws a wrench in my plans and I have to postpone my recovery yet again. Then there are people who are constantly hounding me about things, or changing their plans, and further complicating my life. Yeah, I signed up for it, but that doesn't mean it won't have it's consequences on my health. I'm tense today, and can't pull out of it. I'm not making enough money, my daughters are acting up and becoming defiant little teenage firecrackers (atta-girls!), my new day job has had a lot of unpredictability in it's schedule thanks to the holiday break and illness in the family, people are getting pissed at me left and right and acting like I'm letting them down (while failing to see just how hard I'm fighting)…
I've reached a boiling point. I've also reached a new level of thinking. My first priority is, and always will be, to ensure the future of my children. Second will be to ensure the longevity of my future marriage to Laura. My own needs and wants will come third, but before business I have to ensure my own sanity. Running a business can make you insane, and raising children who have autism doesn't exactly relieve stress. With as much as I've been forced to pack on to keep it together (whatever the FUCK that means), I can't be an efficient business man if I'm not taking care of myself. So my needs as a person come third.
Part of those needs include my own future. Owning a business isn't a guarantee of success, and while others got mad when I'd point out the unlikely odds against us, I choose to live in the real world and understand that just because I make it doesn't mean they'll come. So if all of those business endeavors fall through, I've got my education to help me find new opportunities to survive and thrive.
Part of those needs also include downtime. I find solace in photography, and in downtime with Laura. Those things I'll always have to make time for. So…
1. Kids.
2. Laura.
3. School / Personal Downtime.
4. Everything and everyone else. No exceptions. Period.
That's what I learned tenfold in recent weeks.
With studio revenues down to the point where I wasn't even breaking even, and other income sources running dry, I found myself faced with a lot of stress and anxiety. I found myself forced to make a decision. I blogged about that decision, which was to find a day job. I'm now working as a Medicare PDP provider for a teen who has autism, and it will pay almost the same as the job I left in February 2012.
I also re-signed up for classes. I don't want to live on student loans, but I can't lie and say that there isn't a financial reason I'm in school right now. Realizing it's debt that will have to be paid back later, I'm willing to take that in order to get a cushion that will help me stay afloat now. It's a gamble, and I don't like to gamble, but while I'm gambling I'm also gaining an education. I'm investing in myself. The major factor in this isn't money, but it is a vip in this game.
Bottom line is this. I've been broke my whole life. I tried to turn it around a year ago, and was on the path to doing just that. I had a savings, and was paying down credit cards. But 2012 has been a financial disaster for me. Unfortunately some didn't want to see that, and partnerships broke up because I couldn't be in a relationship where my time wasn't respected and I was expected to constantly work for the promise of "maybe we'll make a lot of money down the road"…when my kids are needing food now, getting paid down the road isn't a bet I'm willing to wager anymore. Writing was on the wall, it was clear that priorities were no longer aligned. Tensions were rising. I'm getting out.
Meanwhile, even though 2012 seemed to have a lot of promise as the summer came around and the new studio location opened, it became clear very soon that I didn't have enough clients to sustain it and I've been struggling just to pay the rent for a few months now. Business is business, and I'm working on turning it around, but when I can't contribute any of my income to pay the bills at home and feed the kids because I'm trying to keep this business afloat, it's clear that something has to change NOW.
Business is risk. I choose to take risks because I can see the potential payout later. However, I'm only willing to take calculated risks with low overhead and high return on investment. Sure, that's smart, but never a sure thing. Meanwhile, every business venture I've attempted this year has taken me down the road to the poor house while demanding tons of time away from my family and forcing me to stress to no end about how I'm going to pay for it all.
So I devised a business that would be completely online and have a very low overhead with a high profit margin. This business would have my daughters initials in the name, to remind me of what I was fighting for, and would be in place as a way to ensure their future in uncertain financial times. I'm still developing this business, and even though I don't know how to make it what I want it to be just yet, I know how to make it work and bring it to market. That's one thing I've fought with all year. I can't fine tune and tweak endlessly without bringing the product to market, because I can't afford to put that much time into that. However, when it was brought up that I was putting my time into this new venture, that was evidently the straw that broke the camel's back for the partnership I referenced above.
So here we are. I'm broke. In in that long period where I'm waiting way too long for my first paycheck from the new day job, which will be very small, while watching my available capitol dry up around me days before major bills are due (rent, ect). I'm also having services shut off.
Enough.
This cycle has to end.
So what can I do differently? Not really much right now, other than keep plugging and trying to get this new business operational before classes start in a few weeks. That's my window. I have to get this new site up and running by then, or the amount of time I'll have to focus on web development will be a lot more constricted. The business is designed to be easy to run with minimal effort, which would work out well for a guy like me (running a studio while working a 30 hour-week day job and taking 12 credit hours of classes and raising two teens who have autism…). Essentially I focus on marketing, do some minor file maintenance and billing, and then collect money. With a social media model rather than an advertising model, the advertising budget is minimal. This leads to high profit margins, and an overhead that is so low you can't limbo under it. I can run this business from anywhere that I have an internet connection, so I can take it with me on vacation as long as I have my iPhone.
But the business isn't live. So I'm caught in another struggle of putting time into something that hasn't paid me a dime yet. The difference this time is, no one is here to argue that it can't go live until it reaches a certain arbitrary point, and no one is here to set that arbitrary point so high that it's impossible to sustain with no returns on the investment. I'm in this alone, with guidance from others, but the decisions are ultimately mine. I'm in charge of my own destiny here, and no one can dip their fingers in the bowl and fowl up the original vision. So this one makes me happy to put time into, because I can see this one having a potentially high return with unlimited growth!
Besides, I'm doing this one for my daughters. They'll need lifelong care (thanks autism), and I can't provide that on promises and unemployment. They are my number one priority in life now, and every move I make is to give them a better life.
But even at home there is frustration. While in training to be a PDP provider, they tell all new providers to ensure that we have adequate down time. It can be very frustrating to assist someone with special needs, and you can't take that out on them, but if you don't give yourself down time from it to relax and recover, you'll get burnt out quick.
I've been on my job for a week now in the home, and then coming home all week to my daughters. Where is my downtime? Just as I try to find some, a money issue or a weather issue throws a wrench in my plans and I have to postpone my recovery yet again. Then there are people who are constantly hounding me about things, or changing their plans, and further complicating my life. Yeah, I signed up for it, but that doesn't mean it won't have it's consequences on my health. I'm tense today, and can't pull out of it. I'm not making enough money, my daughters are acting up and becoming defiant little teenage firecrackers (atta-girls!), my new day job has had a lot of unpredictability in it's schedule thanks to the holiday break and illness in the family, people are getting pissed at me left and right and acting like I'm letting them down (while failing to see just how hard I'm fighting)…
I've reached a boiling point. I've also reached a new level of thinking. My first priority is, and always will be, to ensure the future of my children. Second will be to ensure the longevity of my future marriage to Laura. My own needs and wants will come third, but before business I have to ensure my own sanity. Running a business can make you insane, and raising children who have autism doesn't exactly relieve stress. With as much as I've been forced to pack on to keep it together (whatever the FUCK that means), I can't be an efficient business man if I'm not taking care of myself. So my needs as a person come third.
Part of those needs include my own future. Owning a business isn't a guarantee of success, and while others got mad when I'd point out the unlikely odds against us, I choose to live in the real world and understand that just because I make it doesn't mean they'll come. So if all of those business endeavors fall through, I've got my education to help me find new opportunities to survive and thrive.
Part of those needs also include downtime. I find solace in photography, and in downtime with Laura. Those things I'll always have to make time for. So…
1. Kids.
2. Laura.
3. School / Personal Downtime.
4. Everything and everyone else. No exceptions. Period.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
On The Cusp:
I pledged a few weeks ago that I never wanted to see Laura upset about bills again. I pledged that I would find a way to turn our financial situation around asap. Later that night, I was blessed with two finds on Craigslist that turned things around.
Ad #1: Seeking video editor.
I leave a message outlining my video editing skills. The next day, I receive a call from a business who needed a video edited together. It took about 18 hours over almost 2 weeks, but I got the project done by his dead line and he was very satisfied. The next day, he was calling me with another project, and the day after that with a referral for the studio! This guy has been a steady client with a quick turnaround on new projects, and it's because he's in business himself and needs it done asap. So this has meant a quick turnaround on payment. I couldn't be happier, and am keeping my eyes peeled for more clients like him.
Ad #2: Seeking Medicare PDP provider.
It's no secret that my daughters-to-be have autism. This gave me just what I needed for this ad, because this was for a family looking for a PDP provider for their autistic children. Knowing the potential for a steady income this could provide, I quickly emailed a response and outlined my own experiences with autism. The next day, I had received an email from the home asking me to come in for an interview. I did, and we had a nice long 2 hour conversation. She hired me on the spot, and now I'm making a nice part time income.
These came along at the perfect time. Stress about money was reaching critical mass, and it's become clear that my focus needs to be spent on being a provider asap. It was time to take a long hard look at what I'd been doing and evaluate it's importance. I prioritized a few things, and de-prioritized a few. I got off my ass and got back in school after taking 6 months off to get my life stable again. I'm signed up for full time classes in January. I built a new web site for the studio to help it attain a more professional look, and pulled the trigger on the new rates I'd decided to implement after much debate.
And now, here I sit, on the edge of the bed as Laura sleeps behind me, thinking about how great it feels to not only have worked, but to have been paid for it, and to know that the money is going to help get our finances back in order once and for all. I worked 14 hours today, it seems like it spanned 2 days, but I love the feeling of getting something done and being rewarded for it.
Laura and I have been talking recently about ways to get ourselves out of the hole and build a better life for us and our daughters. Part of this involves financial security, but I won't go into that too in depth because that's partially about her, and she's more private about those sorts of things. But we've pledged to wait till we get our finances back in order to get married, and I don't wanna wait anymore. There's nothing more important to me than this family, and I can't wait to be a part of it legally.
Ad #1: Seeking video editor.
I leave a message outlining my video editing skills. The next day, I receive a call from a business who needed a video edited together. It took about 18 hours over almost 2 weeks, but I got the project done by his dead line and he was very satisfied. The next day, he was calling me with another project, and the day after that with a referral for the studio! This guy has been a steady client with a quick turnaround on new projects, and it's because he's in business himself and needs it done asap. So this has meant a quick turnaround on payment. I couldn't be happier, and am keeping my eyes peeled for more clients like him.
Ad #2: Seeking Medicare PDP provider.
It's no secret that my daughters-to-be have autism. This gave me just what I needed for this ad, because this was for a family looking for a PDP provider for their autistic children. Knowing the potential for a steady income this could provide, I quickly emailed a response and outlined my own experiences with autism. The next day, I had received an email from the home asking me to come in for an interview. I did, and we had a nice long 2 hour conversation. She hired me on the spot, and now I'm making a nice part time income.
These came along at the perfect time. Stress about money was reaching critical mass, and it's become clear that my focus needs to be spent on being a provider asap. It was time to take a long hard look at what I'd been doing and evaluate it's importance. I prioritized a few things, and de-prioritized a few. I got off my ass and got back in school after taking 6 months off to get my life stable again. I'm signed up for full time classes in January. I built a new web site for the studio to help it attain a more professional look, and pulled the trigger on the new rates I'd decided to implement after much debate.
And now, here I sit, on the edge of the bed as Laura sleeps behind me, thinking about how great it feels to not only have worked, but to have been paid for it, and to know that the money is going to help get our finances back in order once and for all. I worked 14 hours today, it seems like it spanned 2 days, but I love the feeling of getting something done and being rewarded for it.
Laura and I have been talking recently about ways to get ourselves out of the hole and build a better life for us and our daughters. Part of this involves financial security, but I won't go into that too in depth because that's partially about her, and she's more private about those sorts of things. But we've pledged to wait till we get our finances back in order to get married, and I don't wanna wait anymore. There's nothing more important to me than this family, and I can't wait to be a part of it legally.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Renew and review
I think I'm coming to a head with a few things in my life. Financially, mentally, physically…
The studio is a great asset, but let's be honest. It's not paying the bills. It has been barely breaking even, and now that revenues are down 25% it's practically not even doing that. So if I can't break even, I can' t profit. If I can't profit, I can't put food on the table at home. I'm working a job that, while tons of fun, is getting me nowhere in life. It's not advancing me or my family, and my family has to eat. So I've been working on a few other things to try to spur revenues and keep the bills paid.
1 - I got a job. I start next week at my first day job since I lost my call center job in February. It's time to face facts, this ship isn't sailing. It's merely treading water. Meanwhile, I've got a hold to dig out of. The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.
This will be a temporary situation, but it will be a rewarding one. I'll be providing respite care for a family who has children with autism.
2 - I've also re-enrolled in school. This time, I'm going not for business or marketing. I'm going to re-sharpen my production skills. I'm getting work in this field, I wanna sharpen the skills I'm already using. I start in January, as long as my financial aid comes through, and I'll be taking classes on campus rather than online this time. After all, online classes were so easy to let go that when life got tough I let them fall to the wayside. Time to start fresh and go to campus.
3 - I'm starting a new business. CLMastering will offer audio mastering worldwide. Unlike the studio, where I'm paid per hour of my work (and therefore has limited growth opportunity because there are only so many hours in a day), CLMastering has unlimited growth potential and will cater to a worldwide market. More on that to come, but I hope to be active by February or March.
The bottom line is that I've seen the writing on the wall. My family needs me to bring it home, and if the studio isn't catching on it's time to focus on what will. I'll keep the studio open, and I'll hope it grows, but my back is against a wall. If something isn't serving my family, it needs to be lowered in priority. Period. I'll never achieve my 5 year plan if I don't turn things around NOW.
So the next few weeks will bring a lot of changes. Let's just hope they are for the best.
The studio is a great asset, but let's be honest. It's not paying the bills. It has been barely breaking even, and now that revenues are down 25% it's practically not even doing that. So if I can't break even, I can' t profit. If I can't profit, I can't put food on the table at home. I'm working a job that, while tons of fun, is getting me nowhere in life. It's not advancing me or my family, and my family has to eat. So I've been working on a few other things to try to spur revenues and keep the bills paid.
1 - I got a job. I start next week at my first day job since I lost my call center job in February. It's time to face facts, this ship isn't sailing. It's merely treading water. Meanwhile, I've got a hold to dig out of. The first thing you do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging.
This will be a temporary situation, but it will be a rewarding one. I'll be providing respite care for a family who has children with autism.
2 - I've also re-enrolled in school. This time, I'm going not for business or marketing. I'm going to re-sharpen my production skills. I'm getting work in this field, I wanna sharpen the skills I'm already using. I start in January, as long as my financial aid comes through, and I'll be taking classes on campus rather than online this time. After all, online classes were so easy to let go that when life got tough I let them fall to the wayside. Time to start fresh and go to campus.
3 - I'm starting a new business. CLMastering will offer audio mastering worldwide. Unlike the studio, where I'm paid per hour of my work (and therefore has limited growth opportunity because there are only so many hours in a day), CLMastering has unlimited growth potential and will cater to a worldwide market. More on that to come, but I hope to be active by February or March.
The bottom line is that I've seen the writing on the wall. My family needs me to bring it home, and if the studio isn't catching on it's time to focus on what will. I'll keep the studio open, and I'll hope it grows, but my back is against a wall. If something isn't serving my family, it needs to be lowered in priority. Period. I'll never achieve my 5 year plan if I don't turn things around NOW.
So the next few weeks will bring a lot of changes. Let's just hope they are for the best.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
What we can learn from squirrels this time of year.
This time of year, in the Midwest, if you look out your window you'll Likely see squirrels scampering about as they forage for nuts. The pressure is on, as they are trying to store food away for the winter. Since the leaves are falling, their food is no longer in constant abundance, and they must plan ahead in order to survive.
In business, you've got to plan ahead. You've got to make sure you're prepared for an upcoming shortage. In business, once you run out of liquid assets, it's game over. Too many of us, myself included, play this game with too much risk. We take out lines of credit, which increase our liabilities, banking on the hope that it'll work itself out. However, if you run out of revenues, and can't repay the line of credit, it may be closing time for your dreams. In any business venture where i've had complete control over the finances, I've only taken out debt in cases where it was a dire need for immediate assets. I've taken steps to keep my liabilities at a minimum, and worked toward having enough assets to weather a dry spell. In other words, I hoarded my nuts to feed myself if winter comes, just like the squirrel.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Motivation
I'm sitting here at the studio, and am watching "Ride The Divide", which is the film that inspired me to ride the great divide trail before I turn 40. I'm drinking my coffee, and watching the footage of the mountains, and thinking positively about my future. It makes me want to just kick ass and focus only on what will benefit me and my family.
I've had some confidence hits recently. But I've had events that gave me faith too. The confidence hits were caused by a lull in clients at the studio, but those things are going to happen. It's a cyclical business, and I can't let that get me down. But there's another thing that's had me acting somewhat irrationally. There was a studio in Columbus that had name recognition, and they had to close down a few years ago. They are re-opening in the building LITERALLY right behind my studio. I'll have a competitor 50 feet from my front door! That's a bit nerve wracking, but if I take the proximity of our studios out of the picture, the proximity doesn't matter in the least. If he were 50 feet or 20 miles, he'd still be another local option that I'd have to compete with. This guy's been in the game longer, has a local contact list, has name recognition, and can out-gear me any day of the week.
So those two issues have had a big hit on my confidence. But I need to get over that and move on. To help me regroup, I've been working hard on some promotional efforts. I've been going to shows every weekend, which is something I'd been not focusing on. I've been making new materials with viral sharing in mind. I've been working on my social presence online. I've even painstakingly been trying to improve my skills in every way I can so that I can compete with ALL of the local competition with ease. This has included lots of feedback from other engineers who aren't in my local market, and their input has been invaluable in helping me get better as quickly as I can. I've even been focusing on diversifying my product line so that I can offer something to folks who may not need recording or mixing services. I'm going to explore the opportunity to get into Audio Post work.
What I've learned about myself from the above is that even if I face something that seems bleak, and even if I let the stress get to me (which happened HARDCORE over the last couple of weeks), I always seem to find my way back to the positive place I need to be in order to move forward.
I've also learned that I have a rock to lean on when things seem bleak. Laura has been the most wonderful presence in my life, and has gone to extraordinary measures for the sake of our happiness and to feed the hunger in my soul. Without her, the bleak times would be even bleaker, and I find myself needing her grace more and more every day.
In fact, Laura helped me achieve something that I needed very much for the sake of the wounds my soul suffered upon my departure from the Colorado Rockies in 2010. We planned to make it out there this summer, and it was there that I planned to propose to her, but it didn't look possible due to financial reasons. Because of that, I took her to the Great Smoky Mountains, and it was there that she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me as my wife. That day, she made me the happiest I've ever been in my life. The high lasted for days for me.
My heart still yearned for the west, however. It was very distressing that I didn't believe I could make it out there again, even after plans to go had to be cancelled. But in the middle of the summer, Laura suggested that we make a trip to Denver work somehow, and in August we hit the road for my first trip west in over two years.
Upon seeing the mountains for the first time, I felt like I was at home again. Being able to show Laura all the amazing sights that I had fallen in love with so hard meant the world to me. I broke down crying as I showed her the view from atop Conifer Mountain, which is where I used to live. I broke down crying again when she told me on our way to the San Luis Valley that she felt very at home there and could see living there with me very easily. It was an extremely medicinal experience for the part of my soul that was damaged by my departure from the Rocky Mountains. Laura and I visited our fourth national park, the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it was by far the most fun park either of us have ever been too. She handled the altitude much better than I anticipated, considering her athsma, and even was able to handle the 14,000 foot ascent up Mount Evans before getting irritable due to the altitude.
Being able to see my mountains again, and to see the land that I love with every fiber of my soul, and to share it with the woman who has inspired the largest soul searching transformation I've ever undergone…..it was an extremely rehabilitative experience.
I've found myself not missing the mountains at any great extent since our trip. Laura speculated that I needed the trip to prove that I could make it out there again, and I think she was right. The trip helped us grow even closer than we already are, and made both of us think about our future together and with our daughters Lotus and Celest. It made me extremely confident about every aspect of my future. I still yearn to be there, amongst the great beauty of the west, but I think being there with Laura helped me make peace with my separation and bought me time and sanity.
As I write this blog post, I reflect on the events of the last two months. I see one constant. Laura. When I need strength, she does what she can to feed my soul. When I'm feeling on top, she's there to celebrate my victories and give further encouragement. Laura is my rock. Without her, I know my journey would be a difficult one.
Laura, thank you for constantly being a source of inspiration to me, and a reason for me to keep fighting. Thank you for keeping me grounded, and thank you for helping me keep moving on. I love you more each and every day.
I've had some confidence hits recently. But I've had events that gave me faith too. The confidence hits were caused by a lull in clients at the studio, but those things are going to happen. It's a cyclical business, and I can't let that get me down. But there's another thing that's had me acting somewhat irrationally. There was a studio in Columbus that had name recognition, and they had to close down a few years ago. They are re-opening in the building LITERALLY right behind my studio. I'll have a competitor 50 feet from my front door! That's a bit nerve wracking, but if I take the proximity of our studios out of the picture, the proximity doesn't matter in the least. If he were 50 feet or 20 miles, he'd still be another local option that I'd have to compete with. This guy's been in the game longer, has a local contact list, has name recognition, and can out-gear me any day of the week.
So those two issues have had a big hit on my confidence. But I need to get over that and move on. To help me regroup, I've been working hard on some promotional efforts. I've been going to shows every weekend, which is something I'd been not focusing on. I've been making new materials with viral sharing in mind. I've been working on my social presence online. I've even painstakingly been trying to improve my skills in every way I can so that I can compete with ALL of the local competition with ease. This has included lots of feedback from other engineers who aren't in my local market, and their input has been invaluable in helping me get better as quickly as I can. I've even been focusing on diversifying my product line so that I can offer something to folks who may not need recording or mixing services. I'm going to explore the opportunity to get into Audio Post work.
What I've learned about myself from the above is that even if I face something that seems bleak, and even if I let the stress get to me (which happened HARDCORE over the last couple of weeks), I always seem to find my way back to the positive place I need to be in order to move forward.
I've also learned that I have a rock to lean on when things seem bleak. Laura has been the most wonderful presence in my life, and has gone to extraordinary measures for the sake of our happiness and to feed the hunger in my soul. Without her, the bleak times would be even bleaker, and I find myself needing her grace more and more every day.
In fact, Laura helped me achieve something that I needed very much for the sake of the wounds my soul suffered upon my departure from the Colorado Rockies in 2010. We planned to make it out there this summer, and it was there that I planned to propose to her, but it didn't look possible due to financial reasons. Because of that, I took her to the Great Smoky Mountains, and it was there that she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me as my wife. That day, she made me the happiest I've ever been in my life. The high lasted for days for me.
My heart still yearned for the west, however. It was very distressing that I didn't believe I could make it out there again, even after plans to go had to be cancelled. But in the middle of the summer, Laura suggested that we make a trip to Denver work somehow, and in August we hit the road for my first trip west in over two years.
Upon seeing the mountains for the first time, I felt like I was at home again. Being able to show Laura all the amazing sights that I had fallen in love with so hard meant the world to me. I broke down crying as I showed her the view from atop Conifer Mountain, which is where I used to live. I broke down crying again when she told me on our way to the San Luis Valley that she felt very at home there and could see living there with me very easily. It was an extremely medicinal experience for the part of my soul that was damaged by my departure from the Rocky Mountains. Laura and I visited our fourth national park, the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it was by far the most fun park either of us have ever been too. She handled the altitude much better than I anticipated, considering her athsma, and even was able to handle the 14,000 foot ascent up Mount Evans before getting irritable due to the altitude.Being able to see my mountains again, and to see the land that I love with every fiber of my soul, and to share it with the woman who has inspired the largest soul searching transformation I've ever undergone…..it was an extremely rehabilitative experience.
I've found myself not missing the mountains at any great extent since our trip. Laura speculated that I needed the trip to prove that I could make it out there again, and I think she was right. The trip helped us grow even closer than we already are, and made both of us think about our future together and with our daughters Lotus and Celest. It made me extremely confident about every aspect of my future. I still yearn to be there, amongst the great beauty of the west, but I think being there with Laura helped me make peace with my separation and bought me time and sanity.
As I write this blog post, I reflect on the events of the last two months. I see one constant. Laura. When I need strength, she does what she can to feed my soul. When I'm feeling on top, she's there to celebrate my victories and give further encouragement. Laura is my rock. Without her, I know my journey would be a difficult one.
Laura, thank you for constantly being a source of inspiration to me, and a reason for me to keep fighting. Thank you for keeping me grounded, and thank you for helping me keep moving on. I love you more each and every day.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Stress
The new studio has been up and running in Grove City for almost 3 months now. I've had several great rock bands, as well as hip hop artists, and a little bit of R&B come through my door. It's been fun.
But it's also slowing down a bit. So I'm looking into some new opportunities while things are slow, but those are hard to find in Central Ohio. I've decided to shift focus toward business audio for now, while ramping up significantly my marketing efforts by showing more of a presence in the local music scene.
Compounding things is the fact that a well established studio who had been closed for a few years is re-opening in the building literally right behind me. This has me concerned about people's perception of me and my operation, and I'm stressing out over every detail of my products overall quality level. I HAVE to be every bit as good as this guy, who can out-gear me any day of the week. Despite my fervent belief that gear doesn't make records, if you take two engineers who have good ears the client will probably choose the one with the gear.
So I've got to shift my product focus onto me, the engineer, and the value that I alone bring to the table. In order for me to be competitive in this dried up music market (hey, it's not Nashville or LA people), I have to do some PR work and increase the value of working with ME. The recording is the product overall, but what makes people come to me has to be the ME factor.
So I'm trying to improve my product in every way possible. I've been working on a mix that I recorded in the studio back in July as a tester for the new studio. I gave it to this band for free, and am now using the tracks I recorded to pull out all the stops. I've since found weaknesses in my room I've had to adapt to, which I've been able to overcome on a temporary basis. I've also found weaknesses in my workflow that I've been working to overcome thanks to the help of several of my engineer friends around the country.
But all of this has me second guessing the smallest of decisions in my mixes. I feel like I'm hitting a wall psychologically, and will have to climb over that to get back to full confidence.
Couple that with a recent head cold that clogged up my ears, which I'm only today finally recovering from, and you can see why I'm a bit stressed. Each day that goes by that I don't release this spectacular mix to the public, the neighboring studio gets closer to opening. But bouncing mixes off of several engineers while taking ear breaks for head colds takes valuable time. So I'm trying to offset that time by going to shows and networking.
I started going to shows again last weekend. I went to a show hosted by a friend of mine who runs Audiology Sound Studios, a neighboring studio. It was a charity show for his Music Is Life foundation. The line-up of the show consisted of at least one client, Bleeding Ink, as well as a large group of other artists who I was able to network with. Many of these artists I'd never seen live before, and some I'd never even heard of before. It was a great chance to network, but only one won't do it. I need a regular presence in this local scene if people are going to think of me. I need to talk to them about what I do, and I need to act fast. This will probably have to be an every-weekend venture for me. After all, you can't stop hunting, or else you'll starve.
Meanwhile, I'll be setting up a conference call with a business associate in Colorado at Swanpro Studios to go over some ways that I can get into the post audio market. Post audio production is more lucrative with more consistent work, and that is exactly what I need to make my 5 year goal a reality. At this point, I have 4.25 years to go. That's starting to not seem like a long time.
So I've got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do to get there. But now that I'm a family man, and I have two beautiful daughters counting on me, I can't rest on my laurels anymore. I must fight for my career for the sake of my family, and I need to do what it takes to psych myself up and get motivated.
In an odd way, I've turned to survival shows on Netflix as a source of motivation. Seeing people taking every measure necessary JUST to SURVIVE makes me feel blessed to have things as easy as I do, and makes me realize that the only hurdle to what I want in life is myself. It makes me realize that failure isn't so bad, because things could always be a lot worse. Even if I were homeless, it makes me realize that I'd be ok because I could find a way to make it. So that relieves some of my stress, while motivating me to continue forward toward my goals.
But it's not always easy getting over my own self-consciousness to find the motivation on the other side. I'm always worried about disappointing Laura, whom I would give my life for, and feel major guilt that I'm unable to be a better provider at this moment. But seeing her struggle so hard for our family motivates me 10 times more than anything else when I stop and think about it. She's given me everything she can, every part of her. Now it's time for me to take that and use it for the betterment of our whole family.
So to any competition that comes my way, you'd better look out. There's nothing more fearful than a determined underdog.
But it's also slowing down a bit. So I'm looking into some new opportunities while things are slow, but those are hard to find in Central Ohio. I've decided to shift focus toward business audio for now, while ramping up significantly my marketing efforts by showing more of a presence in the local music scene.
Compounding things is the fact that a well established studio who had been closed for a few years is re-opening in the building literally right behind me. This has me concerned about people's perception of me and my operation, and I'm stressing out over every detail of my products overall quality level. I HAVE to be every bit as good as this guy, who can out-gear me any day of the week. Despite my fervent belief that gear doesn't make records, if you take two engineers who have good ears the client will probably choose the one with the gear.
So I've got to shift my product focus onto me, the engineer, and the value that I alone bring to the table. In order for me to be competitive in this dried up music market (hey, it's not Nashville or LA people), I have to do some PR work and increase the value of working with ME. The recording is the product overall, but what makes people come to me has to be the ME factor.
So I'm trying to improve my product in every way possible. I've been working on a mix that I recorded in the studio back in July as a tester for the new studio. I gave it to this band for free, and am now using the tracks I recorded to pull out all the stops. I've since found weaknesses in my room I've had to adapt to, which I've been able to overcome on a temporary basis. I've also found weaknesses in my workflow that I've been working to overcome thanks to the help of several of my engineer friends around the country.
But all of this has me second guessing the smallest of decisions in my mixes. I feel like I'm hitting a wall psychologically, and will have to climb over that to get back to full confidence.
Couple that with a recent head cold that clogged up my ears, which I'm only today finally recovering from, and you can see why I'm a bit stressed. Each day that goes by that I don't release this spectacular mix to the public, the neighboring studio gets closer to opening. But bouncing mixes off of several engineers while taking ear breaks for head colds takes valuable time. So I'm trying to offset that time by going to shows and networking.
I started going to shows again last weekend. I went to a show hosted by a friend of mine who runs Audiology Sound Studios, a neighboring studio. It was a charity show for his Music Is Life foundation. The line-up of the show consisted of at least one client, Bleeding Ink, as well as a large group of other artists who I was able to network with. Many of these artists I'd never seen live before, and some I'd never even heard of before. It was a great chance to network, but only one won't do it. I need a regular presence in this local scene if people are going to think of me. I need to talk to them about what I do, and I need to act fast. This will probably have to be an every-weekend venture for me. After all, you can't stop hunting, or else you'll starve.
Meanwhile, I'll be setting up a conference call with a business associate in Colorado at Swanpro Studios to go over some ways that I can get into the post audio market. Post audio production is more lucrative with more consistent work, and that is exactly what I need to make my 5 year goal a reality. At this point, I have 4.25 years to go. That's starting to not seem like a long time.
So I've got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do to get there. But now that I'm a family man, and I have two beautiful daughters counting on me, I can't rest on my laurels anymore. I must fight for my career for the sake of my family, and I need to do what it takes to psych myself up and get motivated.
In an odd way, I've turned to survival shows on Netflix as a source of motivation. Seeing people taking every measure necessary JUST to SURVIVE makes me feel blessed to have things as easy as I do, and makes me realize that the only hurdle to what I want in life is myself. It makes me realize that failure isn't so bad, because things could always be a lot worse. Even if I were homeless, it makes me realize that I'd be ok because I could find a way to make it. So that relieves some of my stress, while motivating me to continue forward toward my goals.
But it's not always easy getting over my own self-consciousness to find the motivation on the other side. I'm always worried about disappointing Laura, whom I would give my life for, and feel major guilt that I'm unable to be a better provider at this moment. But seeing her struggle so hard for our family motivates me 10 times more than anything else when I stop and think about it. She's given me everything she can, every part of her. Now it's time for me to take that and use it for the betterment of our whole family.
So to any competition that comes my way, you'd better look out. There's nothing more fearful than a determined underdog.
Monday, July 16, 2012
You can't run a business paycheck to paycheck.
Entrepreneurs don't get paid. They invest everything they can and everything they have into a venture that may not pan out, leaving them broke in the end but satisfied for having tried. But for the first two years of a business's existence, entrepreneurs generally don't get paid. They put all the revenues they earn from the business BACK INTO the business so that the business can not only pay it's current expenses, but can survive the inevitable dry spell that comes to all businesses.
A business is broken up into several financial areas. Land, Labor, Capitol, and Entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur has to furnish all of these when a business is starting, but over time if the business is successful the entrepreneur will begin to see a return on the investments they have made into the land, labor, and capitol required to start the business. The entrepreneur must find the land needed to operate the business, whether it be a warehouse or a spare garage. They must provide the labor required for the business to operate, often doing it all themselves with no help while pulling long hours and spending time away from loved ones. They must be able to acquire enough startup capitol to get the ball rolling, as you need to be able to pay for the land and the equipment required to operate.
In my case, equipment acquisition was far from overnight. I invested money, borrowed, and received gifts to acquire what I have today in the form of my studio equipment. I stayed away from credit, and own it all outright. This enables me to operate without the worry of credit payments looming at the end of each month, which allows my profit margins to be substantially higher. Not only do I owe less at the end of each month to keep the business going, but I paid zero interest on the equipment I have. This keeps my break even point as low as possible.
This doesn't mean I don't have debts. This doesn't mean I don't have bills to pay personally. I have credit cards to pay, and personal loans to repay. But I can't use any of the studios revenues for that purpose. If I were to do so, I compromise my business by stealing from it's assets. Anything that comes into the studio, I put back into the studio without exception. I have utilities and rent to pay, and will have inevitable equipment repairs and upgrades to pay for. I can't afford to wait for those things. I need to be able to take from the pool that the studio has earned and use it for the benefit of the studio.
If I were to take the money coming into the studio and use it for my own personal debts, it would seem logical to some. After all, I earned that money with my business, and I have those debts that need to be paid. But this sets me up to fail as it keeps me from investing in my business. It depletes my businesses ability to weather the inevitable dry spell. It keeps the finances of a business intertwined with my personal finances and makes book keeping a nightmare. It creates unnecessary risk that I cannot afford. If I were to take money from the studio revenues, it would be like operating my business paycheck to paycheck. To clarify the analogy, it is because I would always be worried about that next customer coming in to ensure that I could pay this bill or that bill.
At the moment, I don't take a paycheck from the studio. Every dime goes back to the studio. Every. Dime. Period. I do what I can to maintain a low overhead, and don't plan to buy anything on credit for the business unless absolutely necessary. I don't plan to upgrade equipment until it's necessary, and hopefully I'll have at least three months worth of expenses set aside before needing to make any upgrades. That way, if I make an upgrade and then face a dry spell for a few weeks, I'll be ok.
Dry spells are a part of business. Dry spells are a part of life. It's all cyclical, and depends on a million factors that none of us can foresee. I spent my 20's gambling with my financial future, and I'm done gambling. I won't life my life paycheck to paycheck anymore, and I won't operate my business in that manner either.
A business is broken up into several financial areas. Land, Labor, Capitol, and Entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur has to furnish all of these when a business is starting, but over time if the business is successful the entrepreneur will begin to see a return on the investments they have made into the land, labor, and capitol required to start the business. The entrepreneur must find the land needed to operate the business, whether it be a warehouse or a spare garage. They must provide the labor required for the business to operate, often doing it all themselves with no help while pulling long hours and spending time away from loved ones. They must be able to acquire enough startup capitol to get the ball rolling, as you need to be able to pay for the land and the equipment required to operate.
In my case, equipment acquisition was far from overnight. I invested money, borrowed, and received gifts to acquire what I have today in the form of my studio equipment. I stayed away from credit, and own it all outright. This enables me to operate without the worry of credit payments looming at the end of each month, which allows my profit margins to be substantially higher. Not only do I owe less at the end of each month to keep the business going, but I paid zero interest on the equipment I have. This keeps my break even point as low as possible.
This doesn't mean I don't have debts. This doesn't mean I don't have bills to pay personally. I have credit cards to pay, and personal loans to repay. But I can't use any of the studios revenues for that purpose. If I were to do so, I compromise my business by stealing from it's assets. Anything that comes into the studio, I put back into the studio without exception. I have utilities and rent to pay, and will have inevitable equipment repairs and upgrades to pay for. I can't afford to wait for those things. I need to be able to take from the pool that the studio has earned and use it for the benefit of the studio.
If I were to take the money coming into the studio and use it for my own personal debts, it would seem logical to some. After all, I earned that money with my business, and I have those debts that need to be paid. But this sets me up to fail as it keeps me from investing in my business. It depletes my businesses ability to weather the inevitable dry spell. It keeps the finances of a business intertwined with my personal finances and makes book keeping a nightmare. It creates unnecessary risk that I cannot afford. If I were to take money from the studio revenues, it would be like operating my business paycheck to paycheck. To clarify the analogy, it is because I would always be worried about that next customer coming in to ensure that I could pay this bill or that bill.
At the moment, I don't take a paycheck from the studio. Every dime goes back to the studio. Every. Dime. Period. I do what I can to maintain a low overhead, and don't plan to buy anything on credit for the business unless absolutely necessary. I don't plan to upgrade equipment until it's necessary, and hopefully I'll have at least three months worth of expenses set aside before needing to make any upgrades. That way, if I make an upgrade and then face a dry spell for a few weeks, I'll be ok.
Dry spells are a part of business. Dry spells are a part of life. It's all cyclical, and depends on a million factors that none of us can foresee. I spent my 20's gambling with my financial future, and I'm done gambling. I won't life my life paycheck to paycheck anymore, and I won't operate my business in that manner either.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Update
I've been thinking. Things have turned around for me in a quite profound way. I really don't have anything I can bitch about. I'm in a very happy place, and just feel blessed to have all that I have.
I feel kinda selfish about it though, even though I'm not really doing anything selfish. I guess I feel selfish because I've accepted such charity from those I love. I kinda feel like I'm taking advantage of someone giving me everything they can for my benefit. I don't like looking at it like it's just for my benefit, I would rather think that it's for OUR benefit, and the benefit of our future and family. Of course I speak of Laura and her amazing generosity. But without her, I'd have so little. With her, I have everything I could ever ask for. I have a family, I have children, I have a loving environment to go home to. I have the support emotionally to follow my dreams. I have someone backing my play so I CAN follow my dreams. I would have NOTHING if she were not in my life today.
Literally. I believe I'd be homeless. I would have NOTHING.
Although I like to believe that the things I've received are for the benefit of the collective household, I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that I do benefit. This makes me wonder why I deserve any of this, but I'm so happy now that I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Recently, I opened the studio. I wouldn't have the ability to have opened it at a new standalone location without her. The studio has been open for business since Monday, July 9th. I had my first booking on Wednesday, and have had one or more booking each day since then. Today, I just wrapped up a weekend with a killer band called Die Tryin. Tomorrow, I'll have a day off finally, but I still have things to do at my own leisure at the studio. So things have been booking up here. I'm booked most weekends through the beginning of August!
So I sit here and think about how long I've wanted to be able to take this plunge. I sit here in my control room after having taken the plunge, and I'm extremely proud to be where I am. It's the most wonderful feeling! But I can't take stock of what I have without thinking about why I have it.
Laura. You've given me everything. I will spend my life praising you. Thank you for everything you've given me. I love you from the bottom of my soul.
Thank you.
I feel kinda selfish about it though, even though I'm not really doing anything selfish. I guess I feel selfish because I've accepted such charity from those I love. I kinda feel like I'm taking advantage of someone giving me everything they can for my benefit. I don't like looking at it like it's just for my benefit, I would rather think that it's for OUR benefit, and the benefit of our future and family. Of course I speak of Laura and her amazing generosity. But without her, I'd have so little. With her, I have everything I could ever ask for. I have a family, I have children, I have a loving environment to go home to. I have the support emotionally to follow my dreams. I have someone backing my play so I CAN follow my dreams. I would have NOTHING if she were not in my life today.
Literally. I believe I'd be homeless. I would have NOTHING.
Although I like to believe that the things I've received are for the benefit of the collective household, I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that I do benefit. This makes me wonder why I deserve any of this, but I'm so happy now that I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Recently, I opened the studio. I wouldn't have the ability to have opened it at a new standalone location without her. The studio has been open for business since Monday, July 9th. I had my first booking on Wednesday, and have had one or more booking each day since then. Today, I just wrapped up a weekend with a killer band called Die Tryin. Tomorrow, I'll have a day off finally, but I still have things to do at my own leisure at the studio. So things have been booking up here. I'm booked most weekends through the beginning of August!
So I sit here and think about how long I've wanted to be able to take this plunge. I sit here in my control room after having taken the plunge, and I'm extremely proud to be where I am. It's the most wonderful feeling! But I can't take stock of what I have without thinking about why I have it.
Laura. You've given me everything. I will spend my life praising you. Thank you for everything you've given me. I love you from the bottom of my soul.
Thank you.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Worry
Here I sit. It's been a good few days at home with the girls, but that can be exhausting even without the autism. But I'm worried.
The studio is behind schedule. There's an acoustical issue with the building that needs resolved. There's red tape with Grove City. There's an electrical transformer that needs to be shipped that's behind schedule. I only have so much of a budget and so much time to ride out that budget, and the clock is ticking fast.
So that gets me worried. What if I can't compete? What if I'm looked at and laughed out of the industry? What if these cats who are younger than me with half the gear (which isn't much) and half the skills undercut me and put me out of business (so they can propagate the scene with a shitty product)?
It's a mild panic, and I'll welcome that. But I won't dwell on it. The only way to know is to try.
Columbus, here I come.
The studio is behind schedule. There's an acoustical issue with the building that needs resolved. There's red tape with Grove City. There's an electrical transformer that needs to be shipped that's behind schedule. I only have so much of a budget and so much time to ride out that budget, and the clock is ticking fast.
So that gets me worried. What if I can't compete? What if I'm looked at and laughed out of the industry? What if these cats who are younger than me with half the gear (which isn't much) and half the skills undercut me and put me out of business (so they can propagate the scene with a shitty product)?
It's a mild panic, and I'll welcome that. But I won't dwell on it. The only way to know is to try.
Columbus, here I come.
Monday, June 4, 2012
4 Days In
I moved in with Laura and the kids on May 31st. It's now June 4th. The first day I was kinda feeling like a freeloader, but that feeling is starting to subside. I have some downtime on my hands while I'm waiting for the studio to be finished, and I can't work until then, so I'm trying to do my best to be the proverbial housewife. I've been cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids, ect. I'm pretty comfortable here at the moment.
But I know that Laura's got a lot on her plate. The studio move wouldn't be a possibility without her getting a full time job, which she has done. Being an autism mom, it's hard to keep a full time job. But now that I'm in the house, I'm trying to give her a break when I can. I hope I'll still be able to do so when I start scheduling studio clients, but we'll see what happens. I may have to set a certain set of hours and days that I'm available based on when she has to work and when her respite workers are here. We'll see.
Laura's job is in an environment where she cares for the mentally disabled. That's all I'll say here, because there are privacy concerns and that's all she's shared. But she has to play mom to two autistic teens at home, only to play caregiver to adults with similar struggles 40 hours each week. It's literally her entire life now. I admire the hell out of her, and I try to be strong and understanding when she gets stressed.
Being a woman in her position is going to be stressful. I'm in awe of her patience, and try to be the same way with the kids. I try to cut her a break on the housework, which seems to be endless with the girls thanks to autism, and try to give her what she had with me at my house in Marion…..a break.
Now that I live here, she has nowhere to go to get away from the house and decompress. Not that she doesn't love the kids, but you have to have some me time too. So I'm doing what I can to give that to her. After helping with the girls all afternoon and taking them grocery shopping with her, I could see that she was getting frustrated. She normally sleeps in the main room in case one of the girls wakes up in the night and decides to become active. The girls need 24-7 supervision, so Laura sleeps where she'll wake up if they get up. While I was moving my stuff in, I came in at 6:30 am with a load of stuff from Marion to find that Lotus had been awake since 1am and so had Laura. She had to work, and was exhausted, so I helped her get the girls ready for school and then helped Laura to bed for the few hours of sleep she'd get that morning.
Last night, I decided to take the couch because it was clear that Laura needed a chance to get a good night's sleep. I decided that not only would I let her sleep in the bed undisturbed, but that I'd stay up most of the night catching up on housework. I finally passed out at around 5am, but woke up at 7:30 because the girls were up and at em. School is out now, and Blaine doesn't show up till 3:00 pm. Laura had some errands to run. So I stayed up. I crashed for a few hours when Blaine got here to watch the girls.
I realize this may seem like I think I'm being this big amazing person by doing these big amazing things and that I want big amazing credit for helping this poor defenseless woman through an ordeal. That couldn't be further from the truth. I'm merely recounting what I'm doing to help the woman and family that I love. I don't want any special recognition. I'm just doing what I feel should be done for my future wife and kids.
But the alone time with the girls is giving me the chance to bond with them. I'm learning a lot of things about them that weren't so evident when I first met them. I've grown to love them, and to care about their well being. I've learned to take the challenges Autism can bring in stride, because someone has to do it.
I still want to get the studio up and running as soon as is reasonably possible. But I am enjoying the downtime with the girls. I'm no longer feeling like a freeloader, but rather like I belong here.
But I know that Laura's got a lot on her plate. The studio move wouldn't be a possibility without her getting a full time job, which she has done. Being an autism mom, it's hard to keep a full time job. But now that I'm in the house, I'm trying to give her a break when I can. I hope I'll still be able to do so when I start scheduling studio clients, but we'll see what happens. I may have to set a certain set of hours and days that I'm available based on when she has to work and when her respite workers are here. We'll see.
Laura's job is in an environment where she cares for the mentally disabled. That's all I'll say here, because there are privacy concerns and that's all she's shared. But she has to play mom to two autistic teens at home, only to play caregiver to adults with similar struggles 40 hours each week. It's literally her entire life now. I admire the hell out of her, and I try to be strong and understanding when she gets stressed.
Being a woman in her position is going to be stressful. I'm in awe of her patience, and try to be the same way with the kids. I try to cut her a break on the housework, which seems to be endless with the girls thanks to autism, and try to give her what she had with me at my house in Marion…..a break.
Now that I live here, she has nowhere to go to get away from the house and decompress. Not that she doesn't love the kids, but you have to have some me time too. So I'm doing what I can to give that to her. After helping with the girls all afternoon and taking them grocery shopping with her, I could see that she was getting frustrated. She normally sleeps in the main room in case one of the girls wakes up in the night and decides to become active. The girls need 24-7 supervision, so Laura sleeps where she'll wake up if they get up. While I was moving my stuff in, I came in at 6:30 am with a load of stuff from Marion to find that Lotus had been awake since 1am and so had Laura. She had to work, and was exhausted, so I helped her get the girls ready for school and then helped Laura to bed for the few hours of sleep she'd get that morning.
Last night, I decided to take the couch because it was clear that Laura needed a chance to get a good night's sleep. I decided that not only would I let her sleep in the bed undisturbed, but that I'd stay up most of the night catching up on housework. I finally passed out at around 5am, but woke up at 7:30 because the girls were up and at em. School is out now, and Blaine doesn't show up till 3:00 pm. Laura had some errands to run. So I stayed up. I crashed for a few hours when Blaine got here to watch the girls.
I realize this may seem like I think I'm being this big amazing person by doing these big amazing things and that I want big amazing credit for helping this poor defenseless woman through an ordeal. That couldn't be further from the truth. I'm merely recounting what I'm doing to help the woman and family that I love. I don't want any special recognition. I'm just doing what I feel should be done for my future wife and kids.
But the alone time with the girls is giving me the chance to bond with them. I'm learning a lot of things about them that weren't so evident when I first met them. I've grown to love them, and to care about their well being. I've learned to take the challenges Autism can bring in stride, because someone has to do it.
I still want to get the studio up and running as soon as is reasonably possible. But I am enjoying the downtime with the girls. I'm no longer feeling like a freeloader, but rather like I belong here.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Lessons of a first time business.
I've operated Skyline Sound Studios in a residential area for years. The studio was always basically a collection of equipment and acoustic treatment that was made to look nice in the residence I happened to be occupying at the time. This month, I made the leap and leased space to put the studio. I'm official! YAY!
.....'cept that so far the services I need are more costly for a business than they are for a residence. This smacked me hard in the face, as I'm faced with $25 more per month minimum for a high speed internet connection than I'm currently paying at my residence. The kicker is that this connection is slower than my home connection, but since it's in a business location they will not install it as a residential connection. Evidently, the two are completely different logistically. Business service gets priority for bandwidth. Home service will slow down when the bandwidth is stretched thin. Business service will not. If I have a business that were using up 80% of the bandwidth available in Grove City, then that would slow down the internet connections of everyone who had a residential connection in Grove City so that I can keep my money making internet speed. That to me seems a bit unfair, but that's how it is.
I talked to my contractors last week, and they told me that I needed to have the internet turned on and wired before the drywall went up. At this time, the studs were in place but the drywall wasn't in. The electrical wasn't in. I had some time, but not much. So I start calling. I call Time Warner, and got my first dose of sticker shock. I call W.O.W., and though their prices were much more favorable (about 60% the cost of Time Warner's quote), the connection was half that of Time Warner.
So I ask them to tell me how much it will cost to do the install. Time Warner drags their feet and I hear nothing. W.O.W. does an on site check, and 3 days later alerts me that the install would be free. Then I ask her to clarify what that would involve, and she says it would involve the internet being tethered from the pole to the building. I clearly told them that I needed it wired inside, and reminded her of this. She said she'd check with her tech and get back to me.
.....that was Friday, 5 calendar days ago.
I talk to the contractor yesterday and inform him that the cable companies are being slowpokes and not getting back to me, so he checks with his electrician to see if he can wire it for high speed internet. Unfortunately, he can't, so I've been on the phone with W.O.W. and Time Warner for the past 90 minutes trying to get this sorted out. The contractors are ready to drywall in 48 hours, and once it's drywalled it's too late. They would either have to rip out the drywall to install the cable, which would be a waste of time and money, or tether the cable through the room in an insightly manner that would not look very attractive. I'm getting this space built to my specs, I want it done right damn it!
So I call Time Warner, who checks to see if they can expidite the installation. It'll cost me $100 to install, but they may be able to expidite the installation for me. Ugh. $100 to install, plus $90-month for slower-than-home internet? I'm not happy.
So I call W.O.W., and I get the rep whom I spoke to on Friday last week. She seemed stunned that the tech had never returned my call, but there is no missed call on my phone and no voicemail in my mailbox. I asked her if this would be able to be done in 48 hours, and she said it was doubtful but she'd have the tech call me.
W.O.W. was the clear winner with regard to price. But if W.O.W. isn't competent enough to call me to set up the install, and W.O.W. can't do it in the next 48 hours as I must now have, then Time Warner will win the contract at nearly double the cost to me. It would be more expensive for me to delay the opening of my studio just to save money on the internet bill.
But even then, Time Warner gave me no guarantee that they could get it done in time. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by complete idiots!
On that note, the operators have been trying their best to accomodate me. I have no complaints about the specific operators. But I tried to shop around, and now my choice may have to cost me more because the cheaper option was too incompetent.
I guess you get what you pay for.
.....'cept that so far the services I need are more costly for a business than they are for a residence. This smacked me hard in the face, as I'm faced with $25 more per month minimum for a high speed internet connection than I'm currently paying at my residence. The kicker is that this connection is slower than my home connection, but since it's in a business location they will not install it as a residential connection. Evidently, the two are completely different logistically. Business service gets priority for bandwidth. Home service will slow down when the bandwidth is stretched thin. Business service will not. If I have a business that were using up 80% of the bandwidth available in Grove City, then that would slow down the internet connections of everyone who had a residential connection in Grove City so that I can keep my money making internet speed. That to me seems a bit unfair, but that's how it is.
I talked to my contractors last week, and they told me that I needed to have the internet turned on and wired before the drywall went up. At this time, the studs were in place but the drywall wasn't in. The electrical wasn't in. I had some time, but not much. So I start calling. I call Time Warner, and got my first dose of sticker shock. I call W.O.W., and though their prices were much more favorable (about 60% the cost of Time Warner's quote), the connection was half that of Time Warner.
So I ask them to tell me how much it will cost to do the install. Time Warner drags their feet and I hear nothing. W.O.W. does an on site check, and 3 days later alerts me that the install would be free. Then I ask her to clarify what that would involve, and she says it would involve the internet being tethered from the pole to the building. I clearly told them that I needed it wired inside, and reminded her of this. She said she'd check with her tech and get back to me.
.....that was Friday, 5 calendar days ago.
I talk to the contractor yesterday and inform him that the cable companies are being slowpokes and not getting back to me, so he checks with his electrician to see if he can wire it for high speed internet. Unfortunately, he can't, so I've been on the phone with W.O.W. and Time Warner for the past 90 minutes trying to get this sorted out. The contractors are ready to drywall in 48 hours, and once it's drywalled it's too late. They would either have to rip out the drywall to install the cable, which would be a waste of time and money, or tether the cable through the room in an insightly manner that would not look very attractive. I'm getting this space built to my specs, I want it done right damn it!
So I call Time Warner, who checks to see if they can expidite the installation. It'll cost me $100 to install, but they may be able to expidite the installation for me. Ugh. $100 to install, plus $90-month for slower-than-home internet? I'm not happy.
So I call W.O.W., and I get the rep whom I spoke to on Friday last week. She seemed stunned that the tech had never returned my call, but there is no missed call on my phone and no voicemail in my mailbox. I asked her if this would be able to be done in 48 hours, and she said it was doubtful but she'd have the tech call me.
W.O.W. was the clear winner with regard to price. But if W.O.W. isn't competent enough to call me to set up the install, and W.O.W. can't do it in the next 48 hours as I must now have, then Time Warner will win the contract at nearly double the cost to me. It would be more expensive for me to delay the opening of my studio just to save money on the internet bill.
But even then, Time Warner gave me no guarantee that they could get it done in time. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by complete idiots!
On that note, the operators have been trying their best to accomodate me. I have no complaints about the specific operators. But I tried to shop around, and now my choice may have to cost me more because the cheaper option was too incompetent.
I guess you get what you pay for.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Moving!
This should all be ready for me to move into on June 1st. If that stays true, Skyline Sound Studios shouldn't need much downtime. (Enough time to move out of the old, and enough time to move into the new and get set up). Once it's all set up, and has been beta tested (may throw a free track at a friend to test things out in the new space, preferably a rock band so I can test noise levels and isolation), I'm considering an open house. This would be where I'm on the premises all day, and people can come in and out all day to view the space. Hopefully this would lead to some bookings, but even if all it does is increase awareness, I'm good.
The cheesy sentimental side of my brain is wanting to commemorate this event. It'll be my first commercial facility that isn't in a house that I happen to be also living in. It'll be a space whose sole purpose would be for audio production, and it would be in a professional environment! This would be huge for me! So the sentimental cheesy side of my brain is envisioning a ribbon cutting ceremony or a smashed bottle on the building to launch the studio. If nothing else, it would make a great memory for me to look back on and provide a photo op, so we'll see.
At any rate, things are looking up. I'm excited to get into the space, and can't wait to see it develop over the next month!
Marion Ohio………..SUCK IT!
Attitude
So here I sit, waiting for a mix to finish processing, and I'm taking a moment to reflect on myself and my attitude.
Laura's suggested that I'm starting to sound agitated in my interactions to people. She's not the only one who's ever said this to me, I've been told it throughout my life. But now I feel like it's casting a negative impression to my clients, my friends, and my colleagues.
So I'm gonna try to work on my attitude. I guess that means I should stop doing things that put me in an easily agitated state.
I should eat first thing in the morning, rather than wait til 4 in the afternoon when my stomach is ready to kill me.
I should listen to when my head is telling me to quit listening to a mix and take an ear break
I should listen to when my eyes are telling me to quit staring at a computer screen
I should get a decent night's sleep
I have noticed that it's been easier and easier for me to become agitated, and I don't like it. I need to do something to keep it under control, because it's not anyone's fault. I could really hurt some feelings, or even possibly lose a client, so it's really important that I get it under wraps.
Maybe I should take up yoga?
Or maybe I don't bang out my stresses enough on my guitar?
Whatever it is, it's time it stopped.
Laura's suggested that I'm starting to sound agitated in my interactions to people. She's not the only one who's ever said this to me, I've been told it throughout my life. But now I feel like it's casting a negative impression to my clients, my friends, and my colleagues.
So I'm gonna try to work on my attitude. I guess that means I should stop doing things that put me in an easily agitated state.
I should eat first thing in the morning, rather than wait til 4 in the afternoon when my stomach is ready to kill me.
I should listen to when my head is telling me to quit listening to a mix and take an ear break
I should listen to when my eyes are telling me to quit staring at a computer screen
I should get a decent night's sleep
I have noticed that it's been easier and easier for me to become agitated, and I don't like it. I need to do something to keep it under control, because it's not anyone's fault. I could really hurt some feelings, or even possibly lose a client, so it's really important that I get it under wraps.
Maybe I should take up yoga?
Or maybe I don't bang out my stresses enough on my guitar?
Whatever it is, it's time it stopped.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Excitement…..
Excitement…..
I'm getting my hopes up, and that could be devastating. I'm really trying to reel it in, but I'm also stoked. I just got off the phone with the rental agency, and I could be in business in Columbus as early as June 1st!
I've got to come up with a deposit, while paying for May's rent in Marion. That's gonna be tough, but I'll do my best to make it work. Laura has suggested trying to help me make it work, and now I'm excited and humbled.
I feel like everything is finally lining up in my life to be where and how it should be, and that I have loving people in my life who are trying to make my life's goals come true.
I feel pretty amazing right now.
I'm getting my hopes up, and that could be devastating. I'm really trying to reel it in, but I'm also stoked. I just got off the phone with the rental agency, and I could be in business in Columbus as early as June 1st!
I've got to come up with a deposit, while paying for May's rent in Marion. That's gonna be tough, but I'll do my best to make it work. Laura has suggested trying to help me make it work, and now I'm excited and humbled.
I feel like everything is finally lining up in my life to be where and how it should be, and that I have loving people in my life who are trying to make my life's goals come true.
I feel pretty amazing right now.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Phase 3 revisited - Getting the HELL out of Marion!
I wrote about Phase 3 of my life's reconstruction on February 1st. Later that day, I got laid off, and Phase 3 was put on hold. But now, thanks to a loving fiance and ambitions of building a better life for both of us, Phase 3 is back in action!
Phase 3 - Get the HELL out of Marion!
I've grown increasingly frustrated at how much being left in this town has held me back. I didn't' wanna move here, but was told that we should because someone else thought it would be easier on them. That person left me here to make things easier on them, and didn't give me any reasonable options for getting out of here. I've struggled with being stuck here since then, and grew kinda desperate at times. But now it seems that I have been given an olive branch.
Laura's mission is to get me out of Marion by August. That may come sooner than that, in all likelihood, as my unemployment ends in less than 2 weeks and I'll not be able to pay rent once the money I have saved is exhausted. It's hard enough getting clients to drive to Marion from Columbus, and Marion just doesn't have a music scene that's able to sustain my business. So with little business coming to Marion, and money reserves drying up, it's time to make some serious changes.
It's go time.
So here's the plan. Laura and I have decided to move in together. The studio would be minimized to a mobile operation while I'm getting set up in a new location, but the goal is to rent a location and set up shop there. This would ideally be a warehouse, but it could also be a home in the Columbus area. I've found some warehouses on the east side of Columbus for roughly the same money I'm paying to rent my current space in Marion. Regardless of it's new setting, it wouldn't be ideal to set up in the home Laura and I will soon share. But the good thing is that having my own dedicated space means that the studio would be a more professional environment. It would be it's own space, and it would make it easier to keep my home life and my work life separate
The living situation would work well too. I could work part time to fund the new studio's location, while being left with enough to pay the shared bills. The bills would be a lot cheaper combined than they are solo, and it just makes sense. I've already proposed, she said yes. There's no reason not to move in with her.
I feel rather humbled knowing that my fiance is in this to help me succeed. It's an amazing feeling knowing that someone is looking out for me, and I hope I can return the favor one day. So things are looking up, and there's some positive changes coming to my life over the summer of 2012. This will be my year, and I'm excited.
I've grown increasingly frustrated at how much being left in this town has held me back. I didn't' wanna move here, but was told that we should because someone else thought it would be easier on them. That person left me here to make things easier on them, and didn't give me any reasonable options for getting out of here. I've struggled with being stuck here since then, and grew kinda desperate at times. But now it seems that I have been given an olive branch.
Laura's mission is to get me out of Marion by August. That may come sooner than that, in all likelihood, as my unemployment ends in less than 2 weeks and I'll not be able to pay rent once the money I have saved is exhausted. It's hard enough getting clients to drive to Marion from Columbus, and Marion just doesn't have a music scene that's able to sustain my business. So with little business coming to Marion, and money reserves drying up, it's time to make some serious changes.
It's go time.
So here's the plan. Laura and I have decided to move in together. The studio would be minimized to a mobile operation while I'm getting set up in a new location, but the goal is to rent a location and set up shop there. This would ideally be a warehouse, but it could also be a home in the Columbus area. I've found some warehouses on the east side of Columbus for roughly the same money I'm paying to rent my current space in Marion. Regardless of it's new setting, it wouldn't be ideal to set up in the home Laura and I will soon share. But the good thing is that having my own dedicated space means that the studio would be a more professional environment. It would be it's own space, and it would make it easier to keep my home life and my work life separate
The living situation would work well too. I could work part time to fund the new studio's location, while being left with enough to pay the shared bills. The bills would be a lot cheaper combined than they are solo, and it just makes sense. I've already proposed, she said yes. There's no reason not to move in with her.
I feel rather humbled knowing that my fiance is in this to help me succeed. It's an amazing feeling knowing that someone is looking out for me, and I hope I can return the favor one day. So things are looking up, and there's some positive changes coming to my life over the summer of 2012. This will be my year, and I'm excited.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Becoming a father.
I've had people tell me in the past that there was no reason I shouldn't be making $60,000 per year. I've been told I've got the skills needed to land a great job by people I would like to think were unbiased. I fear that the circumstances I was born into, coupled with the fact that I have had no idea where to look for such work, have led me to be what I am. Technically I'm unemployed, and I don't have much to my name. I'm skating by on unemployment, and trying to peruse an education so that I can better myself.
For whatever reason I've made my mind up that the life for me is as a self made man, being self employed and completely self reliant. This may be one of the attributes that others saw in me that caused them to believe I should be earning more than a deli workers salary, or that of a call center operator. But considering that most entrepreneurs are generally broke for the first two years of their entrepreneurial endeavor, it's not hard to see me not being on very solid financial ground at this exact moment.
And for a while, the hope and dream that I'd someday be able to live the easy life making enough money to live very comfortably was enough to pacify me. I had a goal, I set a date, and I've been working to make that happen.
But recently, the perceptions changed. I'm going to be a father, and although the children won't have a single strand of my DNA, they will be reliant on whatever income Laura and I can earn. Factor in that both of my daughters have autism, and you see that I've got a lot to provide for. This isn't about me, and this isn't about wanting to live life on a permanent vacation. This is now about Lotus and Celest, my teenage twin daughters who will need lifelong care. This is about ensuring that they are taken care of far beyond my own expiration date, which I hope will be a long time away.
This is about giving my daughters the best life I can give them, at all costs.
I'm about to ramp up my efforts to bring revenues in to the studio, but I know that may not be enough before the money I'm living off of runs dry. I'm going to have to consider that the last two months of living this way may have to come to an end very soon as I am faced with the prospect of needing to find another job.
Meanwhile, I'm hesitant to give in. Sure, finding a job wouldn't be a defeat. It would just be a temporary means to an end, and would help ensure that I could continue where I left off two months ago with getting myself out of debt and building a better net worth for myself and my family. But even if I find another job, and I thrive at that, who says that's a defeat? It may mean I'm not as available as I am right this moment to bring someone into the studio to put down tracks, but it won't mean I'm closing up shop. It may mean that I'll be able to keep a roof over my head while I focus more on the studio on the side, all he while establishing a foundation for a better life for my family.
I don't want to take this road just yet, but I've got to examine the very real possibility that I'll have to do this very soon.
So here I sit right now, doing homework. Accounting homework, when you're 31, is just as boring as it would've been to me at 18. Factor in the adult ADHD and Facebook, and it's tough to keep focused. After all, right now I'm blogging instead of studying, and I have a test tomorrow…..lol.
But something happened today that's strengthening my resolve to fight. I'm actually proud that I've been able to focus, and one thing is getting me through it. My family.
Laura sent me a video today of Celest asking to to go the Aquarium. We're planning to go to the Newport Aquarium tomorrow, and it'll be Celest's first visit there. She found out a few days ago that we were going, and has been begging to go ever since.
Laura today stated to me that this year would be my first ever fathers day as a father.
Here I sit, with an indescribable feeling of joy inside, thinking about my new family and how much I love them. I'm also thinking about how much I want for them, which pushes me back to working. And when I start to get distracted by my ADHD, I look at a picture of my daughters that I took a few weeks ago. It keeps me moving.
Right now, I'm fighting for my family. I have some tough decisions ahead that may be very necessary, but also worth it. After all, now I've got a family to think about.
So back to work I go. Time to fight for my family.
For whatever reason I've made my mind up that the life for me is as a self made man, being self employed and completely self reliant. This may be one of the attributes that others saw in me that caused them to believe I should be earning more than a deli workers salary, or that of a call center operator. But considering that most entrepreneurs are generally broke for the first two years of their entrepreneurial endeavor, it's not hard to see me not being on very solid financial ground at this exact moment.
And for a while, the hope and dream that I'd someday be able to live the easy life making enough money to live very comfortably was enough to pacify me. I had a goal, I set a date, and I've been working to make that happen.
But recently, the perceptions changed. I'm going to be a father, and although the children won't have a single strand of my DNA, they will be reliant on whatever income Laura and I can earn. Factor in that both of my daughters have autism, and you see that I've got a lot to provide for. This isn't about me, and this isn't about wanting to live life on a permanent vacation. This is now about Lotus and Celest, my teenage twin daughters who will need lifelong care. This is about ensuring that they are taken care of far beyond my own expiration date, which I hope will be a long time away.
This is about giving my daughters the best life I can give them, at all costs.
I'm about to ramp up my efforts to bring revenues in to the studio, but I know that may not be enough before the money I'm living off of runs dry. I'm going to have to consider that the last two months of living this way may have to come to an end very soon as I am faced with the prospect of needing to find another job.
Meanwhile, I'm hesitant to give in. Sure, finding a job wouldn't be a defeat. It would just be a temporary means to an end, and would help ensure that I could continue where I left off two months ago with getting myself out of debt and building a better net worth for myself and my family. But even if I find another job, and I thrive at that, who says that's a defeat? It may mean I'm not as available as I am right this moment to bring someone into the studio to put down tracks, but it won't mean I'm closing up shop. It may mean that I'll be able to keep a roof over my head while I focus more on the studio on the side, all he while establishing a foundation for a better life for my family.
I don't want to take this road just yet, but I've got to examine the very real possibility that I'll have to do this very soon.
So here I sit right now, doing homework. Accounting homework, when you're 31, is just as boring as it would've been to me at 18. Factor in the adult ADHD and Facebook, and it's tough to keep focused. After all, right now I'm blogging instead of studying, and I have a test tomorrow…..lol.
But something happened today that's strengthening my resolve to fight. I'm actually proud that I've been able to focus, and one thing is getting me through it. My family.
Laura sent me a video today of Celest asking to to go the Aquarium. We're planning to go to the Newport Aquarium tomorrow, and it'll be Celest's first visit there. She found out a few days ago that we were going, and has been begging to go ever since.
Laura today stated to me that this year would be my first ever fathers day as a father.
Here I sit, with an indescribable feeling of joy inside, thinking about my new family and how much I love them. I'm also thinking about how much I want for them, which pushes me back to working. And when I start to get distracted by my ADHD, I look at a picture of my daughters that I took a few weeks ago. It keeps me moving.
Right now, I'm fighting for my family. I have some tough decisions ahead that may be very necessary, but also worth it. After all, now I've got a family to think about.
So back to work I go. Time to fight for my family.
Honing my craft.
I got up this morning feeling productive. I drank my coffee, then took my daily walk with my iPhone loaded with pod casts. The podcast of choice for today….Sales Guy's Quick And Dirty Tips For Getting The Deal Done.
As I walked and listened to the podcast, they said one thing that showed me what I needed to do. They said to never forget that sales is merely discovering the need of the client, and telling them how you can meet that need. So in order to find out what their needs may really be, you should ask a lot of questions to really find the best way you can meet their needs.
While listening to this on my daily 2 mile walk, I pulled out my phone and started asking musicians on Facebook about their musical projects. Instead of coming in with "Hey I have a studio", I heard them out to see what they needed and found out what they were currently up to. When I found an in, I mentioned how I could help with a specific need they were having without being too pushy. It seems to have struck up several conversations today on Facebook that could lead to business.
So to anyone looking to hone their sales craft, I recommend that podcast. It's already helped me by giving me a clearer focus on how to find out what the musicians are looking for! Now I feel pumped and motivated to get out to shows and talk business with prospective clients! I've been going about it all wrong, and now I know what needs to be done!
Here I come Columbus. 4.6 years to get to the top, and I now see the path.
As I walked and listened to the podcast, they said one thing that showed me what I needed to do. They said to never forget that sales is merely discovering the need of the client, and telling them how you can meet that need. So in order to find out what their needs may really be, you should ask a lot of questions to really find the best way you can meet their needs.
While listening to this on my daily 2 mile walk, I pulled out my phone and started asking musicians on Facebook about their musical projects. Instead of coming in with "Hey I have a studio", I heard them out to see what they needed and found out what they were currently up to. When I found an in, I mentioned how I could help with a specific need they were having without being too pushy. It seems to have struck up several conversations today on Facebook that could lead to business.
So to anyone looking to hone their sales craft, I recommend that podcast. It's already helped me by giving me a clearer focus on how to find out what the musicians are looking for! Now I feel pumped and motivated to get out to shows and talk business with prospective clients! I've been going about it all wrong, and now I know what needs to be done!
Here I come Columbus. 4.6 years to get to the top, and I now see the path.
Friday, April 6, 2012
What needs to change.
Ok, I'm examining what I need to do in order to pull off the monumental tasks ahead of me in life. Let's look at the immediate needs, specifically for the studio.
By December 31st, 2017, the aim is to have carved out a place at the top of the list in Central Ohio for Skyline Sound Studios. I'm aiming for the top, and plan to make it a self sustaining enterprise. Self sustaining, meaning that I'll have set it up to generate money on it's own while I sit back and collect a share of the profits.
In order to get to this….
….from this….
….I've got a long way to go. This means that I need clients asap. In order to get those clients, I need to sharpen my sales skills. This is only dawning on me now with a clear focus, even though it would've seemed to have been obvious. I knew I needed more business, but for some reason it's only now dawning on me that I need to focus my sales approach.
So I'm gonna look into some podcasts about sales, and try to make more of a presence for myself at shows in Columbus. I'm thinking tomorrow night one might find me on campus spreading business cards and getting chatty with musicians. We'll see.
Wish me luck.
By December 31st, 2017, the aim is to have carved out a place at the top of the list in Central Ohio for Skyline Sound Studios. I'm aiming for the top, and plan to make it a self sustaining enterprise. Self sustaining, meaning that I'll have set it up to generate money on it's own while I sit back and collect a share of the profits.
In order to get to this….
….from this….
….I've got a long way to go. This means that I need clients asap. In order to get those clients, I need to sharpen my sales skills. This is only dawning on me now with a clear focus, even though it would've seemed to have been obvious. I knew I needed more business, but for some reason it's only now dawning on me that I need to focus my sales approach.
So I'm gonna look into some podcasts about sales, and try to make more of a presence for myself at shows in Columbus. I'm thinking tomorrow night one might find me on campus spreading business cards and getting chatty with musicians. We'll see.
Wish me luck.
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