Guenther's World

Learning about dealing with People and Business

Life is a constant classroom.

Along the way you pick up things that can majorly change your life and the way you deal with people and business. Most of the time it gets forgotten and your ego takes a hold and drives you the way it wants to, forgetting a lot of the lessons learned along the way.

This is especially true when in start-up mode. The ups and downs take you on such a ride that it is impossible not to fall back to your instinct and ego. When your ego takes over it is truly your personality that runs everything. If you have an abraisive personality, but have learned how to control it over the years, it will come out in full force while you are playing fight or flight trying to accomplish the things you set out to do.

There are three things that I would care to remind myself, so my personality or ego can never fully take over.

1) People are motivated by your energy and drive to do things. If you worry less about telling people to do things and lead with calculated example, pretty soon others will follow suit.

2) Constant improvement is instant worth. If you are the best at something, people will follow.

3) Only rely on people when they volunteer their resources and are ready and willing to do so. Trying to motivate someone who is unmotivated is completely worthless and will end up using more energy than if you did the task completely by yourself.

I realize this post is a little more abstract, but it is something I wish I could remind myself everyday.

Monthly Progress – December

• Tax Return & Consulting Income: $1,146
• Bookkeeping Income: $320
• Tax Compliance Income: $20
• Payroll Income (net): $300
• Tax Credit Income: $0

Total Income for October: $1786

Total Hours Worked* in October: 16

Hourly Wage: $112 per hour

*Hours worked is hours physically works, doesnt include marketing, driving, and activities used to build the business. To me those should not be included.

My very first start-up…. ugh

This is actually kind of a sad story, something I am definitely not proud of. But I feel getting on “paper” might be the best way for me to learn from the experience.

It actually occurred many years ago, it seems I have since blocked it from my mind. I probably did this so I wouldn’t have to feel the embarrassment every time I talked (read: brag) about my entrepreneur-ism.

It was probably the first business that I sincerely tried to start-up. I was one year out of college and just finished working for one of the slimiest companies on the planet. I was over working for “the man” already, only one year into the workforce. I moved back to my college hometown and became focused on starting my own business.

Back then I definitely had “sexualized” the concept of starting a business. I had thought that money would start rollin in right away and after six months, I would be a billionaire with vacation houses in the Hamptons and Waikiki. It was less about enjoying the business and more about becoming a millionaire.

The business idea was a beer delivery service. Yes, you heard that right.

That idea was mainly to get things started, eventually I wanted to brew and distill, but to do that meant thousands upon thousands of investment, which I didnt have. Doing beer delivery meant aggregating all of the local brewery’s beer as well as some cheap kegs, and putting them all online. I actually still like the concept. It was perfect for my college town, where it was a drive to pick up beer and there were a ton of beer drinkers.

I worked quite a bit on it. I learned just enough coding to build a simple website, and learned all of the laws required to get a license to sell beer. I’m not so sure what the rules are now, but back then even if you sold beer you needed an actual store front. So I went and got one, a small beat up retail spot almost 30 miles from town. It was cheap and was an actual store front, so I met the requirements needed.

Here comes the sad part, and its tough for me to admit. In order to get the license, I had to mail letters to all of the local people asking permission to open a “convinience store” something I am positive no one else on earth did, but because I wanted to do everything correct, I did it.

I got a reply back from an old 77 year old lady saying she didnt want this sort of establishment so close to her home. I was 5 miles away from her.

I got so worked up over this that I stopped working on this project completely. I gave up. I told everyone that it was some crotchety old lady that ruined my plans to be a billionaire. I knew deep down that there were many many things I could have done to circumvent this. One simply being to talk to the old lady.

My best explaination for this was that I was afraid of both failure and success. Things were getting tough, and I wasnt sure if I could get through it, so instead of fighting for it, I found a good excuse that could save face with my friends, and I used it to get out of my predicament. The need to have to pay money to suppliers was getting close, and I lacked the funds. The requirement to pay the $500 to obtain the license was coming soon, and I didn’t have that money. So many new obstacles, and my response was to quit.

I think the lessons that one could learn from this is to give every project your best shot, even if you fail, your close friends and family will see you working hard at it and respect you more than if you just throw your arms up and blame the system like I did.

How I deal with an Unfair World

The world is unfair. Period.

As much as you would like everything to be peachy, you will always face hurdles that other people seem to be able to overcome simply and easily because there is something or someone that has leaned heavily in their favor. This to me is unfair, but we live in an unfair world, things will always be stacked against you.

For example, the government funding Freddie Mac with millions of tax payer dollars, Freddie Mac fails miserably at their one purpose, then executives take 10 million dollar paychecks. While Newt Gingrich charges 1.6 million dollars to Freddie Mac for “consulting” fees. This to me is the epitomy of unfair, and it can make me very angry sometimes.

For people with a weak state of mind, this sort of unfair can be petrifying. People will say to themselves ”I will never succeed because the world is stacked against me”. That is obviously the wrong way to respond. The way you need to view it is that you will have to work very hard to achieve your goals, and as long as you enjoy that work “fairness” should never truly be a factor in succeeding.

I have found, the best way for me to deal with this is through a media fast, not looking at the news, at all, for a couple of weeks. It reduces the amount of exposure to negative things regarding fairness, and it increases my productivity two fold. By not having to look at how corrupt the world is for a couple weeks, it creates a little bubble that I can work in, and not even think about that stuff. This way I can truly enjoy my work, and not have to think about fairness.

You would be surprised what an effect ignorance has when you are trying to create a start-up or trying to be productive in general. Besides, you don’t waste as much time looking through the news and websites.

ADP and Lessons Learned in Entrepreneurship

As I get closer to the 2 year mark from the time I decided I needed to turn my life around, I’ve been reminiscing about the times before this and what drove me to do what I am doing. My career at ADP is one of them, including the people that I met.

ADP was quite the eperience. I had a referral from a friend of mine who said that ADP was a great entry into higher level sales jobs, he himself was accepting a job making six figures working for a company that sold medical devices. I was interested in the job because of this, and because I was deperate and needed work after a 2 month trip to europe. Because I had no real skills, except for an average ability to make people like me, I went for it.

I got the job and soon realized it would be difficult for me. I already hated cold calling, and it seemed that was the only way I was going to do well at selling there. I tried to work for referrals, but in a high paced sales world, none of the managers were willing to wait for me to do that. Besides, I wasnt willing to put in the time to join networking groups because I was lazy, and had no idea how to sell and market (hindsight is a bitch, aint it).

In addition to that, I really didnt like the people that I worked with. Sure, they were nice on the outside (some of them), but they all had the same personality necessary to succeed in that environment. Think of the wall street type that will do anything for the sale. These guys could cold call all day long and laugh when they got hung up on. Sometimes I thought they had to be sociopaths for not being effected by this.

After working there for a while, I would find out that they would do cocaine before making calls, and at one point I was awkwardly in a position where they were doing the drug on a counter top before going into sales calls, right in front of me. Not exactly my thing. Sadly these people were really good at sales, they would annihilate me on the sales boards. I was just average, and in sales, average gets fired.

After a year of struggling, I started to get pressure from management to improve. The pressure got too stressful and I started drinking a lot, getting ulcers, having all sorts of health conditions… not fun.

I quit a month later and got a job with American Woodmark, which is a story all to itself.

The moral of this story is, my personality did not match the job. And, I was extremely naive back then. The combination of those two things was enough to make me a wreck.

Two things I could have done differently (that fit my personality):

• Networked more, and better – I needed to meet more people and at least let them know what I did
• Avoided being around the negativity of the employees that worked there
• Not worked there in the first place, and gotten a job that would teach me skills that could last me a lifetime.

Many of those employees that I worked with went on to medical device sales, which invokes a bit of jealousy because the high pay rates and flexible hours, but I try and remind myself that what I am doing is recession proof, it is “medicare cut” proof, it is something I can rely on the rest of my life. That is what keeps me going. Entrepreneurship and lifestyle design is something I strive for, I want the best of both worlds.

Monthly Progress – October

Well, october came a went pretty quick! A few of my biggest accomplishments were re-taking the two hardest CPA exams. I studied my ass off, and I think I passed them, I wont know for sure until the 5th or 6th of november when they release the scores.

Other than that, I had quite a few tax returns to do because of extensions.

Seeing as how no-one really reads this blog anyway, I’m going to be doing something a little different with my monthly progress reports. I’m going to copy Pat over at Smart Passive Income and post a breakdown of dollar amounts earned. I think this will allow me to be more accountable for building the business and starting new projects.

I will be using an accrual system, by stating the income earned rather than cash received.

• Tax Return Income: $1,958
• Bookkeeping Income: $0
• Tax Compliance Income: $60
• Payroll Income: $30
• Tax Credit Income: $0

Total Income for October: $2048

Total Hours Worked in October: 18

Hourly Wage: $114 per hour

Now, I have to remind you that this is pretty typical, I usually make the majority of my income during the tax season months. November and December should be pretty dismal too, but once January hits, things should start rolling again. The hourly wage is really good, and I am happy that I can keep it that high, it really shows that I am efficient in what I do.

Some projects I have lined up once I am done with the CPA Exams at the end of this month:

• Writing an Enrolled Agent Exam Review
• Joining a networking Group – Le-tip and Metro-chamber
• Read Spin Selling by Neil Rackham
• Market to CPAs and Tax preparers in the area for tax incentives

Why unemployment is where it is, is college to blame?

Michael Ellsberg recently posted a piece in the new york times claiming first that if you dropout of college you have a better chance to be a billionaire, second that start-ups employ the most people in the united states.

The article more implied the two statements, though I think his point was much simpler, college isnt for everyone, and reform is necessary. But he fails to back up his statements none-the-less, or even expand more on the idea.

Dont get me wrong, I think Ellsberg is fantastic, and some of his ideas about business and marketing are great, but in this case he gets it wrong.

His statement that “college is not necessary” should be “paying a lot for a good college is not necessary”. Steve jobs audited classes, essentially going to college for free, he learned typography there which helped him build the Apple I. You can learn how to program in community colleges where the cost for a class is as low as $30. Getting educated in a field is extremely important, you need to bring value to the table in order to create a start-up in the first place. There are a huge abundance of wannabe entrepreneurs out there that can only bring sales and marketing to the table, they are a dime a dozen, in fact, I personally know 4 of them.

With the availability of information on the internet, people can become an expert on pretty much anything, but for a lot of people, getting that initial exposure such that a college class can give, is enough to cascade the learning process.

Don’t get me wrong, I think colleges current curriculum is absolutely worthless. They require you to take classes that have nothing to do with what you’re passions are. I think for someone who wants to be a programmer, they should go to college and only learn stuff that has to do with programming. High school should be the time that people are able to try out tons of options and encourage creative growth (which it isn’t doing now). This should be dedicated to a whole post though.

The next part of his article that I disagree with is his thought that start-ups are the main source of jobs in america. Let me be perfectly blunt here: start-ups are the main source of jobs for at lowest High-school educated white people.

You dont see uneducated minorities riding the wave of a start-up. They are typically looking for work in other areas. The current unemployment rate for uneducated minorities is 10%, the unemployment rate for white educated individuals is only 2%!!! I’m not saying that uneducated minorities can’t create a start-up, I’m just saying that they are lacking the tools to better their chance to create and/or work for a start-up. Tools being bringing something to the table, being an expert programmer, being an expert welder, being an expert machinist, being an expert at CNC machines, the list goes on and on. Sales people are a dime a dozen, you could hire a really good salesperson for $35k + commissions, but most likely you are going to hire some of your close friends, who you know wont spend their days slacking off (I was a salesperson so I know).

This begs a deeper question, what does it take to encourage those individuals who find themselves in that unemployed category. My solution is simple, become an expert in something. Find someone who is successful at doing something, anything, work for them for free (sometimes while earning unemployment), learn everything there is to know about their business, and then start your own, or work for someone who can pay you for that expertise.

Active-Passive Income?

I used to read a blog called Smart Passive Income A LOT a few years ago. It was amazing to me that this guy Pat could pull in $15k a month and probably sit on his ass (if he wanted to). I got inspired, and I came up with some ideas myself. Needless to say this didnt really work out.

What I was missing is that it wasn’t truly passive income. It was never a situation where he would have some trust fund and then did no work to receive big payouts for that investment. What he actually did was worked really, really hard by writing a review book for LEED and took advantage of the huge influx of people looking to pass the exam. From this point he was able to truly start out on his own. He quit his job and made it a full time job reporting on his passive income endeavors, all the while starting up more ideas. This to me is not passive income in the sense of the example of sitting back and collecting on a trust fund. Actually, It is working really hard on a project and then sitting back and collecting on that hard work – Active-Passive Income.

Currently, it seems like the LEED thing slowed down considerably, but now he makes a TON of money on his blog using Adsense and Affiliate advertising. I am extremely happy for him and a little jealous (obviously).

What I finally realized is that Pat really didnt make his money from “passive” income ideas, he made it because of his passions for LEED and sharing with the world his desire to be financially independant, and have the freedom to follow his passions. Without those passions he may have never put in the time to write the LEED E-book, or write about it on his blog. Pat is the epitome of what people want, people are sick and tired of working 9-5 for corporations, and he was able to capture their passions and make it a possibility, genius in my eyes.

I might go as far a calling Pat’s ideas truly active income, but I would hate to attempt to compare it to the typical 9-5 that everyone is used to. It is obviously much different than a 9-5 because he truly has the freedom to do what he wants.

If I have one goal with this blog, it is to inspire at least one person to be financially independent, follow their passions, and to donate $500 to me (that last one was a joke). Seriously though, inspiring someone to follow a path where they would do what they love and sit back and watch all the hard work they did pay off? Sounds like a great plan to me.

CPA Exam – My thoughts and feelings

I have literally invested a full 7 months of my life in this.

I study at least 3 hours a day 6 days a week on average, which is extremely tiring. Aside from the 7 months, I had to go back to school and take 24 units of accounting classes to qualify to sit for the exam. So technically 2 years.

Overall, I am ready to be done with this part of my life.

I have quite a few other items on my list that I would like to work on, but because of the sheer amounts of time and energy this takes, it has been quite difficult to start anything new.

That all will change on the 29th of November. I should be done with all of the tests. It will be my second time around taking the tests, and because of my close scores from the previous round, I am assuming (read: praying) that I will be done.

Some of the items lined up for the future:

• Writing a Book – Fiction or CPA exam review – Either one, it will take a lot of work, and a lot of research and reading how-to books.
• Programming in C++ and/or other languages – Without a doubt, this will be tough, but I think if I spend a couple hours a day working on this, I will be ahead of the average programmer in a year or two.
• Building my business (empire… haha) – This is something that I just have not had the energy to do, I maintain it well while I am working on the CPA exam, but I need to focus on it, and build it up. There are many things that I can do to really get it going. I should write a whole post on it, but a few being offering some services for free to get some
• DIY – I used to love working on stuff with my hands, that all fell apart when I left college, I want to get back into – maybe starting with a backyard Rocket Mass Heater will be a good one.
• Music – I really want to start working on guitar and piano again, I would love to get a good understanding of music theory. I stopped working on this stuff because of my huge limitation with understanding notes, and theory, maybe if I get a better understanding of it, I may work on it more.
• Law School – This one is iffy – I’m not 100% sold on the school itself. It was attractive because the school is online and allows you to self pace. It is also only $300 per month to go to. The return on investment makes sense, and since I already have a really good understanding of tax law from work and the CPA exam, it may make sense to breeze through. Worst case scenario, I stop after taking the baby bar and leave with a Masters in Law.

Although all of these items seem like a lot, they are all accomplishable within 3-5 years. That is what I have learned from this CPA exam, I had absolutely no accounting background and I managed to get this far after 2 total years and 7 months of study. Yes this last paragraph was specifically designed to boost my ego, sometimes I need that.

CPA Exam

I just finished taking the financial reporting exam for the second time. Pretty difficult test. I felt like I completely nailed the multiple choice, but did really poor on the simulations. I didnt know how to adjust from Cash to Accrual accounting properly and I completely missed a bank reconciliation. Cash to accrual was mostly not in the materials, and I just failed to study bank reconciliations.

Its been a very frustrating process. I feel I have been studying tremendously, and know the material, but the odd curve-balls that they throw at you on the test really screwed me over. I can understand, they want to keep the pass rates low, and its a difficult test to begin with.

I have so many notes, flash cards, and I felt the study material could have improved greatly, makes me want to write my own exam course and materials…. hmmm…. well I need to pass this damn test first.

Next test is audit in two weeks.