If the Pope complained about my prices, I would tell him to go to Hell.

When I used to be practically a partner in a irrigation business, I had received the greatest gift. I got to experience different people from all walks of life personally in a business setting. It is amazing how business transforms someone, including customers. Business brings out character in people. When a consumer is faced with a choice, you get to witness who they are first hand. It took me 9 years to realize one more important fact about people and business, the amount of money one has should never define the value of them as a customer.

I wouldn't have admitted it up front, but I realized that I tended to act with an air of excessive respect to customers who were famous or were known around town to be well-off. I would pull up to mansions around the island and practically bow to those who answered the door, regardless if they were maids or the owners, just because these people were either TV stars, related to them, or politicians. I would like to think most of us who were 'green' in running a business (especially a service business) had the feeling like we owed these people something just because they are rich and famous and they chose us and our business instead of our competitors. Don't get me wrong, to a large degree, we do owe these people something. They chose us, but have you picked up on the flaw? I am referring to the 'rich and famous' as 'they', as if they are degrees above us. I am referring to 'us' as if 'we' are any different from 'them'. There is no distinction. Money and power should have nothing to do with how much more respect and value one receives when it comes to doing business. Everyone should start with the same amount of respect and be considered of great value, regardless.

This post is not about being equal though. This post is about giving respect to those who do not deserve it, regardless of the amount of wealth or power or fame. A rich and famous person who does not want to pay you for the services you render at the same rate everyone else pays you is worth none of your time.

I would get into these situations a lot. There were many people in this county who would call me up for my irrigation services who more more than well-off and well-known. I would feel the urge to grant requests of deep discounted prices to the rich and famous simply because they were rich and famous. Kind of ironic right? The ones who could pay for it ten times over would be the ones receiving the largest breaks. I resisted the urge though. My father would constantly tell me, "Everyone pays the same. They pay what you tell them to pay, and you give them an invoice with the rate you are worth". Fair enough. This is how business should be conducted. But would you know it, I would get more requests for discounts from the well-off rather than the average customer. The fact that they asked for a discount does show the signs of a go-getter, because that's what go-getters do. That is how you get ahead of the game. Get more value for less money. It is in all of our genes. It's how you should live your life.

Where the Buck Stops

It stops with the people who refuse to pay you for what you are worth. What do you do now? Does losing money and wasting time on a customer who is wealthy and well-known sound justifiable when it comes to defending them as a customer?

"Hey guess what? I just got off the phone with Tom Hanks about putting in an irrigation system!"

"Oh man that's awesome!"

"Yea, and he doesn't want me to do it unless I charge him the wholesale prices I get my materials for and I do it for half the labor rate I normally charge."

NOTE: I have never actually talked to Tom Hanks or anyone that has to do with his estate about doing any business. In fact, Tom Hanks is my favorite actor. But what do you do in this situation?

"Well shit, its Tom Hanks! I have to do it because if I don't, I am going to be despised by Tome Hanks and I will be missing out on the business opportunities and connections he would totally get me!"

There is a good chance he would get you connections, but guess what? These connections will be at your door because they know you will work for practically nothing and you will be paying for their materials with your time you aren't getting paid for, just like the first job you did thinking the connections were going to get you a lot of business. You get a lot of business, but nothing profitable. You get a hell of a lot of headaches too. You may get one or two who will pay what you are worth, but don't risk your time giving and giving. No one will pay you back the effort and worth you gave away. Establish values and hold yourself to a high degree. Know what you are worth, and invoice accordingly.

If not the rich and famous, then who will I put on a pedestal?

I am no longer in the irrigation business. My father sold the business (it was his to begin with) 6 years ago. He sold the customers and most tools. Two years after he sold it, he began getting phone calls from customers whom we got to know well through doing business (since we acquired them after we bought the business from a family friend).

"Charlie, do you still do a little irrigation? I really don't like the guy who runs the business. You were really good to me."

This came from two customers in particular. One was a gentleman who lives roughly 3 miles from my house. Another is from an elderly lady who had practically outlived her entire family, and survived her daughter who succumbed to cancer two years ago. By the way these customers lived, they seemed to just make enough to pay the bills. Whether that was the case or not, I can't tell. What I do know is that they paid me what I invoiced them. They paid on time, and I even received tips for doing the work I was billing them for. I billed them for what I was worth. I billed them the same amount I had invoiced those who were seemingly "well-off" and who denied my business because it was too much. To this day, even though I borrow a machine to winterize there system, even though I am no longer in the irrigation business and it is a big shift from what I am doing now, I value what these customers bring to the table. They loved my business, my service, and had no qualms about paying what I thought I was worth. These are the people I should have felt the urge to bow down to at the door. These people were worth my time.

What I Want Driven Home

I don't care if it is the Pope, the President, or a pauper. If someone wants your service, you tell them what you are worth. Don't give them a lower number because they asked for a discount. That shows you do not value your business. That shows your talent isn't worth what you were asking. That uncovers a lack of confidence in your ability to provide excellent service. If the Pope said he wouldn't do business with me because he believes I am not worth as much as I had stated I was and I know for a fact I offered a low price to begin with, you better believe I would invite him to call when he is ready to receive top-notch work. Until then, I am off to do excellent work for those who will pay for excellent work. I charge the same rate, no matter what discounts I receive at the store. I will continue to work with those who value my work, who pay on time, and who enjoy my work as much as I do. I'll tell those who are discount shopping to go hire a business out of the Pennysaver. I do excellent work.
     
   
   

A Freewrite 09/25/11

I sit tired after a 4 hour sleep. Its odd, I never thought I would make it alive through a day with only 4 hours, as if I would be walking around in a fog. I feel a slight fog, but my brain still functions decently.
Forks in my path await my decisions, but I have yet the will to face them. I wonder what kind of character that makes me? I regretfully revert to destructiveness as I have this past week.
I have many wants. I desire my own business. The limitless potential of earning power pulls me toward such an excursion. I wonder what is holding me back. Many endeavors require licenses of sorts, which I have but small feelings of indifferent for achieving. I need to identify what is holding me back from making a decision in that area. I really dont know what I want to do in that aspect. What am I waiting for? I skip from idea to idea because I don't like the scalability of a business choice or I don't like the tasks ahead to create such a sustainable income. Am I supposed to like every part of the business? I do recall in a couple of entrepreneurial interviews that a good amount of tasks were unlikable, yet they were a part of the process of getting a business off the ground and it is that process that is fun, so I guess it would be bittersweet.
I still come back to the idea of irrigation. Is it the fact that I had an excellent chance of taking over a business and I blew it due to laziness and the lack of drive? Maybe it is a notion I get that I feel I must redeem my poor mistake of letting that chance just slip right through my hands.
I feel the need to get back to the subject, but a further issue presses. I worry that the course of computer science is not the course I want to be on. It has been the story of my life for the past 8 years. Maybe it is because of this entrepreneurial feeling I get inside. It is most likely borne of the fact that I cannot personally find a business in the field that I am anywhere near qualified to start, unless it involves building a product. Maybe I should write a list of 20 solutions to 20 problems or bottlenecks that would cause a person to purchase the product for. Maybe this upcoming job opportunity I so sold myself short on will renew my interest in creating a business or staying involved in the field. Is software what I want to do? I can stop asking these questions because right now, I am in business mode. I want my own business. I will meditate on that for a few.

A Nice Update

It is getting closer and closer to the day I move out of the apartment. Amanda and I have been packing up stuff little by little, trying not to get caught the last week with a lot on our plates. So far, we are doing alright.

One thing we have been doing that has me very happy is we have began cutting a lot of crap out of our diet. We have instituted calorie counting in our daily lives. On top of that, we started exercising a little which has shown above average results in very little time. I already feel better when waking. I've adjusted my diet to fall easily below the recommended calorie intake without being unhealthy about it. I find myself eating substantially smaller meals every 3 hours without feeling a starving sensation. The first couple days were a lot tougher than it is now. I call it the "shrinking" effect. After going through a hungry stomach after toning down the amount of food I consume, I would feel full after eating one of my smaller meals. Should I try to consume more in one sitting like in the past, I would feel like I am ready to explode, as if my stomach had gotten smaller.

For our exercise routines, we have purchased the help of "The Biggest Loser" game for the Nintendo Wii. I must admit, the game was developed with an excellent pursuit to actually form a workout routine around what you want to accomplish. The have routines for people who would just like to lose weight, the have routines for people who just want to tone their body, the have routines for people who just want to stay in shape, and they have programs that would fit anyone's needs. My favorite is you submit measurements of your body. You go on to tell them your age and height. They do a calculation then advise you which part of your body you should be working on (they were spot on when I did my measurements).
The game builds a workout routine around those parts of your body.

I chose the 12 week program that focuses on weight loss with emphasis on the parts of my body that needed it the most. I chose to do 6 workout days with one day off. They do hard exercise routines the first day, then yoga the next to relax the muscles, then mix it up again. Their calorie counter is awesome, though I downloaded the "Livestrong" calorie counter app for the iPad. You can also create one on the website www.livestrong.com.
They have an excellent database that makes researching calories for food a lot easier. I recommend this to anyone pursuing a weight loss regimen.

For the health of the mind, I stumbled across a very excellent blog by an interesting woman named "Dena". Her story is excellent and her posts bring you close to the feeling of a bath in the soul of life. I recommend her blog/site, EvolutionYou. I have found that Dena and I share many of the same inspirations, such as lessons prevalent in Buddhist teachings, as well as life-altering adage from the heart of Paul Coelho. Dena motivated me to research "minimalism", which I will implement as I continue packing my things. Great timing, right?!

Find the Ocean

As I stand before an ocean, there is a great deal of change inside my body and mind. It is both the expansiveness and the sound of the ocean that plays a large role in the overwhelming feeling I receive. No amount of specially selected words could accurately define the feeling. One of my favorite activities is Jet Skiing simply because it allows me the ability to sit on and ride the ocean. Maybe it is the idea that the ocean must be respected because it is just as dangerous as it is beautiful. Exempting the danger, I love to come back to the ocean, even when I am at home.

It is very easily to become overwhelmed with what has to be done. There are so many things that must be maintained. There are many tasks that must be completed as well. I find it hard to find the time for learning and gaining knowledge by research because I am in a situation where many tasks must be completed or else I put myself as well as my girlfriend at a terrible disposition. We are in the process of moving out of an apartment and have to find where exactly we want to go. We have been house hunting and have yet to find a house in our financial range that is calling our name. We are in it for the long term, so we refuse to find a house we are "just going to settle in for 5 years", because as we have witnessed, it is never the case. I had just got done reading a book. Before reading, I had practiced some JavaScript. Before that, I had gotten up and ate breakfast, noticing the apartment needs a little cleaning. All these tasks are piling up and I am feeling like a preacher who bears no practice to his words.

I had just gotten done telling my readers to "Scrub a Clean Toilet, but I feel like I am starting to procrastinate again. It all boils down to motivation. As I sit here, I am reminded of a lesson I learned while exploring a set of books and talks within the Buddhism religion. I guess you can call it a meditation, but it doesn't require much time unless you want it to.

Sit and relax. If it helps to close your eyes, which it will for 99% of you, do it. Just think of a place you have visited in your lifetime that had brought about in you a great deal of good feelings. For me, of course, it is the ocean. Imagine every aspect of the place. Recall the sensations you feel through all of your 5 senses. Run through all of your senses individually. I start with sight because that is the sense that gives me most of my peace. then I move onto sound, then touch etc. If you have only dreamed of a place that brings you such feelings, then use that place instead.

After calming down, I begin to slowly bring to mind the tasks that cause this unrest. As the tasks begin to weigh down on my good feelings with it's own feeling, I concentrate on that new terrible feeling. I feel as if I am taking that feeling and holding it within my chest, where it currently resides. Then I perform the most crucial task. I acknowledge the feeling and how strong it is. I acknowledge the feelings of the rest of the tasks, for they all pretty much feel the same. I acknowledge that these tasks are not going to complete themselves. I know I can now clear my head and sort these tasks based on priority.

I sometimes find that there are two or more tasks that will conflict being that I cannot complete them both. I see it as a game of Chess, for those of you who love to play. There opponent's bishop has moved into a position where it will either take out my rook or my knight and I can only save one. Typically I save my rook, but it all is determined by the situation. Evaluate which task will be most beneficial upon completion and just suffer the consequences of the other task not being completed on time, if at all. It happens. It is what makes life interesting.

I tend to get worked up a lot and I do forget to find my ocean when I need to. Eventually I remember to stop and just take a breath. It takes a lot of stressing before I just sit down and reevaluate. I constantly forget that the best part of this life is to just "exist".

Missing the Point

I have come to a realization that I have been watching life go by. It is weird, simply because I am always thinking about what I am going to do in the very near future. My head is always about the near future. Of course it is a decent mind to have business-wise when one is planning the next steps, but it is not good at all when I should be focusing on the "right now".

I went house hunting a week before the week of Christmas. My girlfriend and I went and saw about 7 houses. The Realtor had given us a sheet for every house we would be looking at that day. After looking at the 5th house, she asked us to separate ourselves and put the 5 houses we just seen in order. The best would be on top, and the worst would be on the bottom. When she had asked me to do it on my own, I sat there dumbfounded. I had forgotten about damn near all of the houses and what they looked like inside. It was embarrassing, I reluctantly tried to avoid admitting I forgot what any of them looked like, but it was impossible. I realized later on at home that I was too busy trying to think if our budget would fit the price of the house, whether the people inside set up their furniture the right way, and useless thoughts to that effect. I had not paid attention to the actual houses themselves. I do feel that I am very lenient and can make any enclosure my home, for that has always been something I believed. Regardless, I found it very unacceptable and I began to dig deeper and realized more correlating issues that have come to my attention in the past and tried to make a conscious effort to resolve...and failed.

I day dream a lot. Always thinking about what it would be like to do this and what it would be like if I obtained this. The kind of thoughts that would result in a gambling addiction. I would think and brainstorm a lot while driving, keeping eye on the road and the sidewalks. Unsafe it is, but it is hard to escape your thoughts when just sitting there. I would think while someone is in the car with me giving directions. By the time I would arrive at the destination, I would have no recollection on how I got there. I hear it a lot too, "We've driven through here 80 times! Why don't you remember how to get there!?". It just so happens that I do not pay attention to anything around me. I just focus on my future.

I knew an old sod farmer who passed away last year named Greg. He was a very smart and attentive gentleman. Other farmers would come into the shop I worked at and they would talk about current events both locally and worldwide. It would amaze me when one guy would say, "Did you see that small structure in the back of the woods down Alpine Street?". Now mind you, Alpine Street would be a nearly empty street off of another nearly empty street that no one really drove down that would be off a main road. Greg would say, "Yea! It looks like someone was trying set up a hunting blind or something". I would stand there baffled. I could drive down that street once in a blue moon to get to a client's house and never notice these things. This happened A LOT with these gentlemen. They knew what was going on everywhere, right in my own backyard.

It is very hard for me to remember details of past family parties and events. I could recall a good amount of memories from a substantially unique event, like a family outing to a fisherman's club, which we have only done once, but if I attempt to recall the Christmas party at my aunts house (which happens EVERY year at the same house), I can barely remember a thing.

Without being attentive to my surroundings and what is going on in the world and right around me, I wake up and another day has passed. Yes, I do work on educating myself and learning new skills and trades, but that does not hinder the fact that I cant remember what I did last Friday except the fact that it was Friday and I work on Fridays, so I had to be working. What I did that day though, off the top of my head is nothing but blank space.
I was reading an article on Sebastian Marshall's blog site. He wrote an article called, "What Skills Do You Need to be an Entrepreneur? Only Two". He stated later on in the article that you must acquire " a fierce mastery of self". I thought about this notion and I could not agree more. I urge you to take a look at Sebastian's entire site. His entire story is interesting to say the least, and he has just begun.

Acquiring a "fierce mastery of self" would resolve this problem I am having with controlling my thought process and attentiveness to intangible things that will matter when the time comes. The time is "not yet", so therefore I would like to focus on what is going on now and what I am working on and soaking in every detail. Finally, I would not be missing the point of life.

Scrub a Clean Toilet

I was cleaning up the apartment the other day when a voice echoed in my head, "scrub a clean toilet". This was a chapter in either an audio series or a book I was reading having to do with Buddhism. At first the whole idea sounds absurd, but when you actually think about it, it makes sense.

The story was told by a gentleman who went on a retreat to learn how to sit and just "be", a fundamental necessity of meditation. The interviewer had asked the gentleman what he did at the retreat other than meditate. The gentleman replied, "Well, we spent a lot of time learning the techniques of breath, learning how to focus our thoughts, and scrubbing clean toilets". The interviewer was confused. He asked the gentleman, "What purpose did scrubbing clean toilets serve?". The gentleman explained "It was a huge part of our stay at the retreat. It turns out, if you spend time scrubbing and dusting furniture and things, they will never become dirty". It took me a while to fully grasp the concept, but I see how this idea applies itself to life in general. Making sure you scrub everything in your life will almost certainly result in constant cleanliness.

It used to be that I would spend 4 hours during 2 days of the week cleaning up the apartment after letting it get to a point where something had to be done. Drinking a glass of water and rushing out of the door, leaving the glass on an end table and not acknowledging it for a day or two was common practice, among other examples. It would have taken 7 seconds to put the glass into the dishwasher. It would have taken 15 seconds to pick up the clothes I left on the floor as I was going into the shower and put them in the washing machine. Well on one of those two days I spend cleaning the apartment, I spend minutes gathering the dirty clothes and separating them into their respective wash piles. It takes minutes to gather the glasses and maybe a small plate and align them in the dishwasher. Had I took a couple minutes out of my life to say hello to a good friend, I wouldn't have lost touch with them for a long time. Then projects wouldn't be so huge if you completed the small tasks ahead of time. It wouldn't even been called a project.

One can apply this to more ideas, though it wouldn't be beneficial to go to the supermarket every time you need just 1 item to keep the fridge stock appropriately.
Every time I clean the place, the saying echoes in my head. I forget it constantly, but how true it really is.

My Dream: Jan 5, 2011 @ 0620

I was in a kayak type thing with my Amanda. We were paddling down the side of a beach entering a narrow straight when we saw a shrimp boat heading I'm our direction running parallel to our path, just a little bit faster. We enter the narrow straight surrounded by trees and vegetation. The shrimp boat was at our 8 o'clock passing us on our right. I interrupted Amanda as she was speaking of something I cannot recall to point out the size of the shrimp on the boat. In the rear of the boat, the shrimp were as big as a foot and a half, but as you move towards the front, the shrimp were ask thick and huge as human bodies. All of a sudden, I found Amanda and I on the shrimp boat talking with the two older women, man, and teenager who were on it. I cannot remember their faces. I remember there being like 6 or so drinking glasses and jugs of water on the side of the boat. After bullshitting with the supposed family, I found Amanda and I back in our kayak but entering this living room sized cave that had no outlet but the one that we entered from. Inside was some of the family from the shrimp boat. On the cave wall there were shelves with candles, pictures of some old guy like a baseball star, some group photos of Amanda and I, and other decorations. For some reason, it made me feel like Amanda's nana was there. Her father shows up in the entrance and says something, looking into the cave talking with the women that were on the shrimp boat. I knew the women were in the cave from the beginning, but I never visually acknowledged them, so I cannot recall what they were doing. At this point, I was awoken by my cat smacking things off Amanda's end table.