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that while my dad was in prison for 7 years, he made it work, somehow.
He managed to smuggle in some baby chicks and ducks in order to create a more exciting and happy prison life for himself. The guards saw him just harmlessly tending to chickens and ducks so they did not mind. He told me out of 200 inmates at his camp, he was the only one who was always followed around by 4 ducks and 6 chickens.
He told me they were fed rice and he riled up the other inmates to feed his pets because there was always an excess of rice. He raised one chicken for 2 years before it died. Needless to say, during 7 years of imprisonment and shuffled through 3 camps, he experienced several generations of chickens and ducks. Other inmates questioned why he would do such a thing and he told them.. “why not? it makes life a bit more exciting.”
He also sold alcohol and treats in prison because he befriended an inmate who had special privileges to roam outside its doors.
He knew how to fish and ate fish in abundance while he was in jail as well as crab and lobster but he would always share his bounty with his friends.
He once negotiated 4 days of freedom by riling up his fellow inmates to chop and sell sugar cane for 8 million dong to the public.
He told me that when he got out, he was still handsome and together (all in one piece) so that was why my mom accepted him or else I would have not existed.
He had an injured leg in prison where for a period he couldn’t walk and he befriended a kind soul who helped bring salt and ginger so he could cover his wound with salt and vinegar paste daily in order for his leg to heal.
He fought against the viet cong during the vietnam war and since the south fell, he was imprisoned afterwards as an ex-soldier. The point is… my dad told me no matter what situation I happen to be put in, no matter how bad things get, I can always find a way. I can always be creative with the little means I have. My dad came to the US with nothing. He was placed in jail with nothing. And here he is now living in california in a home he’s partially built with the help of my mom. In every sense of the word, he’s made it. He has crafted this life for himself where he doesn’t have to worry too much financially anymore (although he is not drowning in riches); he is doing okay. I do not ask much of him as I put myself through college and I am very much an independent person of my own right… but by being able to share this conversation with my dad, watching him recount his stories of undoubtedly emotionally scarring but bittersweet yonder years…
all I can think of is… (admist laughing so hard and crying simultaneously at his stories)…
This precious man.
This loving, crafty, intelligent man who has managed to unconditionally support me, my mom, and my brother all these years. How wonderful that he’s still alive and that I get to spend time with him. He is 74 years old now. I am hoping to keep having his company for as long as I can get it.
Then I helped him update his facebook profile picture.
Love my dad. With his asian eyes. Haha.
I felt like writing this post to document a moment I had today. That’s all.
It’s been awhile since I blogged and I said I would blog every week. Well, that just went straight out the window. My last update was end of June 2017. It’s now August, 2017.
Since then I hiked half dome (the cables way). I went to a friend’s wedding in San Francisco and took the time to bike for miles and miles around the area and across the golden gate bridge. I visited Matthes Crest by roping up and down it, soloing a part of the traverse for 6 hours of my 17 hour day. I climbed at various other places, visited 15 cities and 42 locations (random restaurants, etc.). Went through another staff rotation. Launched another product. Life has been busy.
I was with someone on and off for many years and for the first time in my life I’m not anymore. For good. Like this usual feeling of permanence has disappeared. And I’m okay with it.
To improve my writing, no matter how short the update, I’m just going to post it. I don’t network enough to get rid of the fob voice in my head. HAHA. So writing the shit out of it will help (I think).
I think this update is really about how I feel as I age. I’m 30 now and it seems like I’m less hardcore (in my own perspective) in looking at the world in an idealistic way. The older I grow, the easier it gets to just surrender to life being one chaotic blessing. My world changes almost all the time. I take off, on short notice, to what I believe are grand adventures. I do not care as much about what people think. I listen to my body a lot more. Every week, every month is different. Sometimes I crave consistency. Sometimes I get irritated at the tumultuous nature of it all. Sometimes I lie in bed all day while listening to YouTube in the background.
After living this life for years, I don’t know what a normal schedule is like anymore. I don’t feel envious of anyone because I see everyone as living their separate lives with their own imperfections and happiness sprinkled with moments of melancholy and life crises. I guess it’s more like “what the fuck is next?”.
And my biological clock is eerily silent. I have no desire to have children (yet), I do not look my age so I feel like I have borrowed time. Is there a desire to leave behind a legacy? No. All I’m waiting for is just enough capital to acquire more….. things? I feel like I’m living now just to continue living. Like eating to enjoy food and keeping myself alive. I’m not ambitious enough to have “milestones” and I’m not lazy enough not to have short term goals. I’m not superficial enough to own a bunch of shit and I’m not dirtbag enough to just abandon it all for a long period of time.
I don’t see an end to this. I am content and then discontent for being content. I experience moments of such joy when I stare at some cloud formations on top of a beautiful landscape and then my period comes and fucks it up for 2-3 days as I agonize over inconsequential shit. My parents are doing fine and my brother will become a legit doctor in 1 year. No one in my life is suffering (knock on wood), and all I have to do now is LIVE. WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Even while supporting other people by providing them income, is that not enough a sense of purpose for me to not feel aimless? No. Not enough. Still feeling aimless (but not in a sad way, more like a feather in a Forest Gump movie type of way). Even while using my money to donate to charity… feeling less aimless? No.
This is how I feel now that I’m no longer in my twenties. What’s the goal, now? Try not to get too irked by everything happening with politics? Some of my friends have found purpose by impacting a bunch of people in their lives. Maybe that’s next, but I’m in such a hypnotic lull of my own freedom that I don’t feel pushed in any which way all the meanwhile questioning the validity of it all. Questioning if this life is now a valid one.
Some of my friends have kids and their “why” is so defined, it feels nice to be around that sense of certainty. HAH. Okay, /end rambling.
Some tips I’ve learned:
If you are going to try and solo Matthes Crest (even a part of it), do it at the very beginning so you don’t feel like your rope is a life line you can’t kick. My climbing partner Clark taught me this mental trick and it worked! It was only at the end of the day did my mental strength started draining and I had to be rope rescued because I froze literally some meters before our point of descent (AFTER I soloed up a peak already and had to down climb).
Mole skin is the best.
Listen to your friends when they tell you Gladiacoin is shady. (haaaahhh)
Sometimes reading a 5 page PDF guide on how to do something is better than thinking of all the hurdles you’ll encounter trying to do said thing.
I’m sure you went here thinking you’d learn something about passive income and I’m just rambling on about life. Seems like that’s the trend here. Maybe I’ll write enough so that not EVERY blog post is a ramble. Just every OTHER blog post… is a ramble. =)
How do you feel once you’ve hit your thirties? Or how do you feel approaching 30? Is it a lot of “what the fuck? what the fuck?… what…..the fuck…happens…now?”. Let me know. I’d like to know.
Okay, so maybe it isn’t love. Maybe it is a frantic type of infatuation right now. I’ve stumbled upon his “School of Life” series after making it a point of cancelling my Netflix account and ignoring Amazon Prime Video.
For those of you who don’t know him, he is a modern philosopher who has written many books about how to interpret life, love, etc.
The below are certain points he’s made which resonated with me:
In being with someone you are subjecting two imperfect human beings together filled with childhood flaws and such, but teaching each other comes off as criticism because no one is really close enough nor invested enough to care about you on that level (sometimes, not even your own family and especially not your flings).
We should treat our significant others like they are babies not with condescension, but more with generosity in interpretation regarding their actions. You do not see the actions of your significant others as punitive or evil, but with a lot of room for forgiveness.
Although you may disagree with religion, they got it right with the idea of repetition. We naturally forget again and again how to behave or sensor or forgive and religion as a school of thought knows this is our behavior and acts accordingly.
Sulking is possible because we have the delusional idea that those who love us can read our minds.
After writing this post, I feel like I don’t know if I want to keep this blog as Passiveincomemarathon.com. More like whateversonmymind.com.
Anyway, I’ve found that by not binge watching shows – I’m watching real people.
Also, besides the adventures I try to embark upon (went to Havasupai last weekend, going to hike Half Dome the next), I’m punctured by days of silence and I get irritated by unexpected calls. It MIGHT be because I am on the end of my period (which coincides with when I post, as well). But I do feel like I’m on my own a lot. Sure I interact with many people (through texting) daily but for the most part, verbally I’m talking to no one. And it feels very isolating.
For the past few months I:
Rock climbed at Grass Valley Lake
Rock climbed/camped at Owens River Gorge
Bouldered at the Sads
Went to Havasupai in Arizona to see some waterfalls
What I observed… my business grew more when I am away and die if I have more of a hand in it. WTF.
Goals for the future:
Grow auto business to 40K/month. (I’ve neglected this business severely and I gotta build it back).
Restart Amazon FBA business and try to grow it to a modest 2-3K/month.
Revamp subscription based business, focus more on this business for June and July.
Invest in stocks more.
I guess that’s all. I will let you know if I accomplish these goals or fall flat on my face.
I would write more, but I will do that… another day.
Let’s face it. There’s no such thing as “passive income”. It’s all… really fucking hard work. And a lot of failures (for me). This BLOG is about my own personal recount of whatever the heck it is I do to form an existence where I at least earn a living because I definitely know by now that I am almost unemployable.
Okay.
Maybe that was a bitch/bit too melodramatic. I honestly by now don’t see how I can function as someone who can stick to a set schedule every week. Because literally every single week is a different story. I was all gung ho with creating this shopify general store one week, plunging myself into 15+ hour days of study self study with a store that has “viral” products. Then I went to Taiwan and immersed myself in the city and country life while rock climbing/hiking/scootering/biking around all the meanwhile ordering knives for importing and auto parts. Then I came back to city violations because the fencing around the warehouse needed to have slats in order to remove the view from the general public. And the list goes on and on and on…
In the past 5 months I’ve:
Invested 16,000 in a project that BARELY just now is starting to pan out with imported products from China and Taiwan.
Invested 2-3,000 in selling a beauty product that did REALLY well for a few months and then got taken down by Amazon which crippled the hell out of sales and now I am back to square one.
Had to let go of a few employees.
Traveled to another country to visit suppliers as well as just taking a fucking break from the chaos for several weeks.
Sales of used auto parts increased dramatically while I was gone to the point where one of my virtual assistants encouraged that I stay away from the business more often.
Joined an ecommerce forum where I’m not obsessively combing over every post I deem relevant.
Just finished with jetlag yesterday, waking up at 3am in the morning on the daily and now 2 days ago I started my period. And it seems as though my lactose intolerance has increased as of late to the point where ANY cheese exposure = DEATH. (TMI???)
LIFE. KEEPS. ON. HAPPENING.
Don’t get me wrong. Every month is an adventure. Every year is improvement. I’m grateful for being able to do what I want with my life without worrying where my next dollar will come from. But godamnit.
I feel like the overwhelm has made me shut down. I need longer breaks and the time I traveled solo for a month was not long enough. I’ve gotten to a stage where I’m constantly consuming media/audiobooks and I’m addicted to just consuming and consuming. Granted I’ve been back to the states for a little more than 1 week but I should have hit the ground running like “RELEASE THE KRACKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”.
But.
Why do I feel like I’m in this no man’s land? Stuck? Stuck physically, but definitely moving mentally? Do I need a life coach?
Things I’ve learned about business which blew my mind because I’ve traveled:
You can have a multi-million dollar company with just 1 employee. MANY MANY people have done this and it is not uncommon.
Intense focus gets shit done. But people who are more ADD-like should focus intensely for a few months each on random different projects and sometimes it works out anyway.
Kickstarter is really a cool platform. Met some people who are super successful at kickstarter campaigns.
Net profit is more important than gross sales. By far.
No job is beneath you if you want to be successful.
Shit is hard. “If it’s easy, everyone would be doing it!” – wise person told me.
This is from speaking/talking to successful people and spending days with them. Also, I’ve found out what my priorities are and I should be shifting that this year and next if I want to “grow” things.
These are my specific goals for the near future:
Don’t go camping/climbing every single weekend of the year. Moderate this. (I know, BOOOO!!!!)
Think more, do less non-thinking work.
Even if shit gets hacked, keep on producing/who cares if things are corrupted. Fix it later. Putting shit out there is better than nothing at all.
Create a course on Udemy (even if it is a crappy one) just to test it out. Why? Because I do a million How-To videos and instructions for my own organizations and so WHY THE HELL NOT?
Run through at least 20-40 facebook ad campaigns for auto parts AND knives. Yes. I’m going to be providing knives now.
Follow the Profit First theory.
Post/blog at least once a week. Even if I don’t have any pictures to show.
Below is a picture of me enjoying the rock in Taiwan at this beautiful location called “Long Dong” which translates to Long Dick.
Just kidding! “Dragon Cave”.
Climbing at Long Dong. Or as the locals call it.. “LD”.
I will be updating a post a week if not two posts a week even if I’m too lazy to compile any pictures for you. I’ll be posting numbers but right now it’s past midnight and I don’t want my enemy Jet Lag to win.
KEEP ON, KEEPIN’ ON.
P.S. Let me know what you guys think about the layout of this blog. It’s pink, which is my favorite color because Pink to me represents ABUNDANT HAPPINESS and I celebrate it. But if it is too distracting, let me know.
I apologize for the lack of REAL meaty, how-to posts you guys desire (and face it, it’s the only thing you want anyway).
To quickly update. For the first time in my LIFE I’ve hired a full time virtual assistant. So far… so good. I have more time for myself which means AFTER work this is what I do:
1) Drive down the hill to go indoor rock climbing at a Hanger 18 (upland, rancho). I can do V2+’s now!
2) Spend hours and hours after midnight talking to manufacturers in China (Because I want to start an import company).
3) Spending hours creating new training for my VA.
4) Spending hours listening/learning from online modules by David Siteman Garland teaching me how to Create An Awesome Course Online (Because that’s also want to do). I have subscribers for my software company (of which I am a co-founder) BUT it’s not nearly at the level it can be and I really want to spend the next months pushing it to the next level.
5) Spend more time meeting random strangers at meetup groups (Because … I want to!).
With more free time I basically exhaust myself almost completely with physical exertions of mental exertions and then I crash hard. No one is forcing me to do anything. Everything I want to do, I do it because I can.
I also sleep almost all day sometimes on Saturdays… because I want to [notice the theme here? the UNDERLYING theme?]. Here is a verbal explanation of my current life: ME ME ME ME ME ME ME I WANT TO I WANT TO I WANT TO. I WANT TO CLIMB. I WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH. I WANT TO GO TO THE FAIR. I WANT MORE. HERE LET ME TREAT YOU OUT BECAUSE I CAN. HERE LET ME TREAT MYSELF OUT BECAUSE I DESERVE IT. ME ME ME ME ME ME. YOU? OKAY, SURE. BACK TO ME. [My friend recently had a something similar.. a stream of conscience of some sort… and I decided it was pretty damn accurate of my situation as well… so I shamelessly copied her (Credit to Robin Tran)].
After a cup of sake + frozen strawberries to cap off the night. Notice the eye goop? Good.
I’m learning how to love myself more and not having to worry so much about money (now) is such a blessing in almost all aspects of my damn life.
Sales dipped a little for the auto dismantling company but I spent a lot of time training vs. listing (to FREE myself!) so it was worth it. I want to be free. I want to stop trading hours for dollars, dammnit.
Some screenshots that were relevant to my life below. And that’s it! Because I’m tired & I want to go to sleep.
I promise I PROMISE I will find time to post something relevant. For now the most relevant thing I can tell you guys is:
1) I’m starting an import company.
2) I am going to start an online course THE RIGHT WAY (with the right softwares). By the way, why does wordpress auto correct me when I type softwareS? Is software not SUPPOSED to be plural? What?
3) I’m in the process of slowly and surely automating my auto dismantling company so it can run without me. I’m taking the steps, sir!
4) I find that with financial stability I love myself A LOT MORE. (Free drinks on me!) I want more than this provincial life!! (to be honest, this life is rather insane already).
5) I’m becoming more and more involved with different communities,I’m enjoying giving free advice left and right to help whoever I can and even though my sleep schedule is completely fucked up by now – I love it.
Auto Dismantling Sales
Separate Credit Card Sales
Software company sales
Question!: What is going on in your life that I can help with? Leave comments below or send me a private email! I’m not making any promises. But hey, I’ll take a stab at it.
I almost didn’t post this month because similar to a squirrel caught in the excitement of shiny objects – I was damn near all over the place. And for that I SUFFERED. When I say suffer I really mean = did not improve!
Instead of listing a lot more items, I got distracted on the idea that HEY, MAYBE I’LL TURN MY WALLS IN CHALKBOARD WALLS! Below is my progress:
part 1
part 2
part 3
almost done, first coat
the best damn motherfucking chalkboard if i ever see one
Then I figured, I needed to listen to a lot of podcasts and get exposed to more knowledge. I signed up to various ecommerce forums (so damn helpful) and was bombarded by all these softwares. In no particular order, these are the softwares that BLEW MY FUCKING MIND:
Zapier.com – they let you create actions, if-then stuff, to better automate your life. And they link these actions CROSS PLATFORMS. Like gmail, insightly, redbooth, dropbox, etc. You name it, they’ve got it. For example if an email from Company X’s client arrives in my inbox, I can set a task so that once it arrives an opportunity or new task will be created in insightly with a due date so I can keep track/follow up with the client. Insightly is a client relationship management software. Gmail is just where all my emails funnel into. Or here’s another example – if I were to get an email with an attachment from a stalker, I can set a task that will automatically create a folder within Dropbox to store the attachments. I named 4 programs I use regularly. There are so many more, it’s ridiculous. You can even link up Freshbooks so if you get a receipt scanned and emailed to you labeled “financial shit”, you can go ahead and have it automatically do something with Freshbooks. THIS IS INSANE.
Another revolutionary software I’ve stumbled upon is Widgetchimp.com. Now you can create eBay templates which can be DYNAMICALLY ALTERED at any point in time to something completely different. Usually you would have to go into the HTML code and re-code the entire thing for you to have a cool listing description. Now you can change the format around all the time according to the seasons/sales ideas. The revolutionary thing about widgetchimp is that a) it’s never been done before by any other company and 2) it allows for easy A/B testing with your description template (to determine whether buyers will even give a fuck).
But let’s get real here – these apps won’t help you if you don’t already have your shit together.
Things I’m doing differently for the next month:
I admit. I have a problem. And that problem is … the inability to stop creating new companies. No matter what. I just.. gotta try it! Do you LOVE that double negative I just threw at you there? Fuck yes. I can’t ain’t stop myself from trying new shit out. It’s probably because of my ADD.
So therefore!!!!! I am starting an import company. So far it’s called “Import Business” until it actually profits. I started doing the initial research for it and I teamed up with a friend. Yesterday we did a video chat/share screen conference for four hours just looking at products. I found some products were selling at $1/pop from china (given that you bulk order like $500 dollars worth of the “pop”) while on amazon and in america they are selling for $40+. DAMN. Given how there are sites like alibaba.com, you can now easily reach out to manufacturers in China without having to fly there and knock on their doors. You just use skype.
Just to give you guys a real life example instead of being full of shit here are some screenshots of the “research” I did.
item selling on amazon
exact product you can order from China
I also signed up to “Create Awesome Courses Online” (a month ago) and am in the process of creating a course for my software company. I know – it sounds lame that I haven’t done so already but all it did was provide a software. Now I want to add value to the subscribers by providing a course.
Because of these damn distractions & finding out I needed new glasses (yay for spending mo’ $$$$!) + contacts (#$@&*#$@!!!) …. my sales kind’ve stayed the same for April. Along with cash sales… ~ $16K. Please see below.
April Auto Dismantling Sales
separate Credit Card sales
Sales for the software company actually decreased from $800-ish last month in March 2015:
April 2015:
Software sales for April 2015
March 2015 sales:
march 2015 sales
When I look at my progress and then my friend who started Octomask.com tells me his sales were 750K last year all the meanwhile he maintains a full time job elsewhere… it’s like… SMH.
I am still making time to balance my fragile sanity by hanging out with friends & dating the bf.
ate at Dino’s Chicken and Burgers after rock climbing – fries DRENCHED in sauce. cray.
Ate by myself at Well Being Tofu House. Gotta have ME time. Sometimes.
My only gal pal in Hesperia. Valerie!
MY FAVORITE DISH! Sashimi Salad with Peach Sake. YUUUMMMMMM
Ate at Thai Lotus in Victorville before watching Ex-Machine at the Cinemark 16. This picture was way too flawful but I dun care.
Reed enjoying his curry at Thai Lotus.
Yummy seafood stuffs – sorry for the blurriness.
Oh. And I bought another car. It’s a 1999 Range Rover P38. Gotta keep on keepin’ on!
What I really want to do:
Get back to actually doing stuff that will help others/actually matter.
For the next post I’ll teach you about how to create an online course using leadpages.com. Do I currently know how to do it? PSSSHHHHH…. don’t insult me [after watching tons of video tutorials… yes… yes I have a vague idea I can put into action].
You got that James Dean day dream look in your eye
And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
And when we go crashing down, we come back every time.
Cause we never go out of style
We never go out of style
Whatup peeps. I am in love with that Taylor Swift song right now. I’m going to write my own rendition below:
You got that broad shoulder, confident swagger, blue gleam in your eyes
And I got that long hair, small curve, submissive thing that you like
And when we go crashing down, we come back every time
Cause we never go out of style
We never go out of style
Yeahhhh. So the highlights below are sales numbers & lessons learned AND a link to the Livestream I will have tonight at 8PM on Youtube and Google+ about simple SEO techniques with wordpress. You can come hang out with me, or not.
Life is still DAMN HECTIC. AND I am woozy from Theraflu. Theraflu at Walgreens is $2.00 more expensive than Theraflu anywhere else. At least in Hesperia.
I’m trying to get to 20K/month and I am getting CLOSER! Why 20K? Because at that point I can hire a secretary/office manager full time and be happy with it. [I am currently vetting for one!] I have virtual assistants and a trusty mechanic. But a full time secretary/office manager is something else. For the past 30 days these are my sales for my automobile dismantling company.
WHAT I LEARNED:
1) Listing/posting items is the number one priority. I need to list at LEAST 100 items/week to keep replenishing the inventory. If I FAIL to do so, sales drop. Simple as that.
2) Nothing else matters until I get to 20K in sales.
For the software company I want to at least get to 1K/month in sales. The cool thing about this is that there is NO crazy fees (besides the paypal fee), NO SHIPPING COST, No handling cost… just…… simple delivery of the software. If it’s not for you, hey, full 30 day warranty. Life is much easier with the software company.
Software company salesWHAT I LEARNED..AGAIN!:
1) I really need to do 3 part video launch sequence.
2) I cannot really focus on this until I master running the automobile dismantling company a bit more. So chipping at this little by little is the best I can do for now.
Trying to pose like a BAMF. But really, I need to get stronger and climb better.
Tonight I will be on Youtube/Google Hangouts on Air to answer your questions & teach you about SEO:
If you missed it, don’t worry! It’s recorded and stored on youtube below:
I have a sore throat that won’t quit so I’m not going to be all hyper. The session will be short and sweet to whoever attends. Other than that I want to ask you guys something – WHERE DOES EVERYONE GET THE ENERGY TO DO EVERYTHING???
I feel so drained.
I was on quora and I read that James Altucher, one of my favorite writers, has 15 streams of income. I was talking to my warehouse neighbor the other day and he is retired in his thirties, renting out the warehouse in the back just so he can work on his toys – a boat, bikes, and cars. GAH. Time to get a move-on, KIM!
Thank you guys for letting me be so damn free and post whatever I want (or am I just doing this all without your permission?) on this little piece of the internet. It really motivates me to keep on improving and it’s nice to look back to see my progress.
Howdy folks! So I have to kick myself for saying I’ll update every Wednesdays. THIS time I mean it, I’m going to keep it up.
I just want to pop in and give you guys a quick update on the two projects I have going on thus far + life stuff [do you even care?]. So seriously, if you don’t care.. you can skip this whole post. =) No hard feelings.
Automobile Dismantling company – sales are steadily climbing. It’s not where I really want to be since I just cruised it for the first half of the month (I focused on dismantling the 7 engines we already have versus buying another car).
So far for February 2015.
Separate credit card sales.
This is what happens when you cruise.. you think you will push sales to $15-$20K and you might be lucky if it breaks $13K this month. There are still FOUR days left!
So in the spirit of NOT cruising/coasting along.. I went and bought another car because it’s ABOUT TIME to keep on gettin’ it:
My 22nd car is a 2003 Range Rover. Vroom vroom.
I’m also working on a software company. Software company sales comparison of all of last year to the almost three months in of this year:
Last Year’s Sales when we launched in August 2014. Total sales for last year.
This is this year’s sales. My projection is.. at this rate… our sales will be maybe $4-$5K IF there is no progress whatsoever. But I am going to try and create a community with the software company. Wish me luck. & Provide input if you can!
Total sales from January 2015 to now (February 26 2015)
Still made time for rock climbing:
Climbed at Fairview Mountain in Apple Valley with old friends and new friends!
Still pushing myself to lead ’em routes!
Still made time for Valentine fun in Vegas.
Climbed at Red Rocks
Saw the O Show at the Bellagio. Awesome show. $197 buckeroos/ticket. It wasn’t cheap, folks.
Oh! And I’m starting to eat healthy again. SMOOTHIES EVERY MORNING with a touch of virgin coconut oil. Yum.
In MARCH 14th, 2015 I will be teaching a group of writers how to set up their wordpress websites. I’ll begin filming the tutorial videos for that class this upcoming week. I’ll update this post to have the link for that event soon. << I AM DAMN EXCITED ABOUT THIS EVENT BECAUSE IT IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO … HELP PEOPLE DO SOMETHING WITH WEBSITES! (AND EVENTUALLY EARN THEM $$.. OR SOMETHING ELSE… RECOGNITION? SELF LOVE? ENLIGHTENMENT?)
Giving inspiration is going to feel great. It’s one step closer to feeling less selfish about this life.
What I should be doing next:
1) Creating a good email response system of the 700+ emails for the automobile dismantling company & the 70+ subscribers for the software company (including a 3 part launch).
2) Focus focus focus.
I’m so not focused. I get easily distracted and I’m easily influenced by my environment. It’s a trait I’m not proud to have but I am what I am and it is what it is. OH WELL! The main thing is I don’t quit. Most importantly I’m not quitting on not being so distracted so in the end I’m constantly trying to re-focus myself and it works (sometimes).
I really don’t know how people who have a billion things going on .. do it all. They say the average millionaire has seven streams of income. I have… less than four. Hence, the non-millionaire status. They must have a personal assistant at their beck and call because frankly… trying to run 2 businesses + have other nagging businesses snipping at my feet because I’ve started them & have yet to do anything with them, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a relationship, blah blah blah.. whine whine whine… HOW DO YOU DO IT?
It’s amazing everything hasn’t gone to shit.
This has been an extremely selfish post. The next post you’ll get is a video series (maybe part 1) of how to go from NOTHING to a wordpress website.
Goals for 2015 – Number 1: To remove myself completely.
You got me sippin’ on something
I can’t compare to nothing
I’ve ever known, I’m hoping
That after this fever I’ll survive
I know I’m acting a bit crazy
Strung out, a little bit hazy
Hand over heart, I’m praying
That I’m gonna make it out alive.
I love the melody of that song. Not so much the melancholic meaning of it all.
A lot has happened since about a month ago. I haven’t posted anything for January and before the month is over I told myself I’d get something up at least.
I feel like I am eliminating most distractions out of my life and just mainly focusing on two things at the moment. That is namely rebranding my old site to AUTOPARTS LAB. I started the social media accounts for AUTO PARTS LAB and I’m positioning myself to switch my entire eBay store over to the new name. I was wondering why for the longest time I’ve been putting off marketing my old site in any manner and that’s because I’m a stickler with names.
AUTO PARTS LAB will be hip and funny and interesting once it is launched. I already had my developers set up the site, a few virtual assistants are working on the social media accounts, and things are moving along. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about it’s a company I started a little over a year and a half ago. It went from garnering less than 1K in sales a month to now 10-11K steadily at minimal commitment. This is with no social marketing.
I’m going at this full force so I’m hoping to push sales to 20K/month within the next four months [this might be a bit of a reach]. My competitors might be laughing at me on how slow I’m growing this company… but I go at my own random pace.
Super Fast Listings was a company I co-founded with Ron and we recently garnered another subscriber to that business. Making a total of 8 paying subscribers if no one cancels. It is a software/excel sheet available for download.
We launched I believe July of 2014. This was 2014 sales.I am also by default still improving my rock climbing abilities and taking it 1 week at a time.
I’m going to tackle trying to make money online and so far I have two areas that are semi-working for me. Am I making real money? No, I’m not. Every cent I earn goes back into the companies. So that’s why this is not enough until at least another 6-8 months of effort channeled into pulling away from the business.
I recently spoke to the CEO of a competitor and after 5 years of work he is starting over from scratch again – he can afford his expensive toys of course (by now) but he fired everyone and had to start from scratch – still chugging away at the daily grind.
I don’t want to be in that same position. Many have reached freedom one way or the other. Many do not want freedom because they are happy with what they have. Many chose a limited freedom. I want to walk towards a type of freedom that is generous on my wallet and easy on the soul. In documenting my efforts maybe it’ll help someone realize their own desires to be free as well. Chris Ducker’s work is going to help.
I wish I quit school while in college and started companies a long time ago. The reason I did not is because of my parents’ completely traditional almost crippling attitude of choosing the safe route – “BE A DOCTOR! BE A PHARMACIST!” or just chalk yourself up to being a complete failure. The other reason is I was a too afraid to go out on my own and just do it.
I am comfortable not becoming a doctor or pharmacist because while I was studying for those classes and taking those tests … none of it made me happy. I imagined my future and just dreaded all of it. This made me change my mind a dozen times throughout college and take classes that were a waste of my time. It was not my calling but I kept going at it hoping that someday a light bulb will go off in my head and a warm glow starts resonating in my heart for being what my parents wanted me to be.
Well SCREW all of that.
I have my own private online journals as well as my physical journals which I use to document my failures or successes (or emotional outbursts/breakdowns). The reason why this is public and I’m not afraid to put myself out there is because ALTHOUGH I am not yet truly successful, I have talked to many friends who have tried again and again to make some type of living outside of their 9 to 5 job without a pint of success.
Can I help you now? To a very small capacity in that maybe I can show my direct friends what is possible. In 6-8 months I’m hoping to be able to actually help because by then I’ll have everything set up more correctly [assuming best case scenario].
Goals for 2015:
1) Put in all the steps enough to truly remove myself from my main business.
2) Help others get started (If they want to).
3) Start a podcast
4) Write an ebook.
It is quite boring and almost depressing to merely survive as I go about building this business and other businesses. It was so depressing at some points that I even hired a therapist to help me with my personal as well as professional life. I even went and hired a personal trainer to help me cope with how my body was taking everything (different city, different weather, forever-alone feeling). I want to feel grateful and surrounded even in the solitude of a job where I am 99% on my own. Maybe one way to get there is to help others realize… yes.. you can do this too. Yes, my motive is very selfish. I am tired of feeling alone. I always tell others, “It’s not rocket science! You can do it too. Easy,” but I don’t provide any tools for them to start and realistically I just don’t have to energy to devote in order to truly bring them massive success.
I’ll only share what works for me. There is plenty of free information about creating money somehow online, many of them might be scams or gimmicks and none of those will apply.
THE POINT IS (If you think everything was TL;DR):
1) I don’t know how to make MASSIVE amounts online because I have implemented only 10% of what I know so far and I’ve yet to execute on the 90% that is advised of me to do. But I’ve started and I’ve earned TINY small successes which are real. None of it was earned by tricking anyone or by being gimmicky.
2) I want to stop feeling alone. So I’m going to share pretty much everything to see if it helps anyone and EVENTUALLY when I am more on my feet – I will be able to genuinely help without feeling guilty of the half-assed nature of it all. And by helping maybe I’ll feel a lot less alone.
3) To never. stop. moving. To continuously strive to be more healthy physically, mentally and spiritually (I bought this device to help me meditate).
I will choose to stick to an update schedule.
I will update EVERY week on WEDNESDAYS.
I guess that’s all. If you like to join this journey with me and have posts delivered to your email… sign up below:
I have a checklist of 10 things that will make my business better and out of the entire checklist I’ve only started on 1 or 2. This checklist remained unchanged for the better part of a year. Why? Why do I not go about doing the things that will directly positively affect my business? Reed told me I run around creating infrastructures on how to get things done (video training, training material, setting up a program management system, etc) versus sitting down and actually getting it done.
There must be something there I’m afraid of. And when I looked at it more closely, it’s true. There are definite fears.
The owner of an auto auction proposed to buy into my company in order to propel it to the next level. I am considering it and I told him I’d send over the numbers. I haven’t done it yet because I’m afraid of losing my freedom with the business.
I have over a thousand emails from customers yet I have procrastinated building a good mailing list. What am I afraid of? I’m afraid of my customers thinking that I’m spamming them. I know mailchimp, yet I’m hesitating to jump in and do it.
I’m afraid of training anyone to take over completely because they might just quit. I need to get over this fear.
I wasn’t afraid of moving to city by myself and to rent out a warehouse but I’m afraid of being alone meanwhile providing an environment of isolation.
I’m afraid of creating a facebook page because out of the hundreds of customers served, one might be dissatisfied and try to ruin the reputation of the company. WHAT. Why am I not doing these things due to these fears.
I’m inspired by James Altucher. He really emphasizes just doing it. No matter how small or messy. Just do it. Nike could’ve also subliminally affected my thoughts on this “just do it” mantra.
Logo
So I’m going to just do it. I’ve re-written my list of things I should do to make my business better and I’m going to do them:
1) Add emails to mailing list & send out a first email. Use mailchimp.
2) Create an after-delivery automatic email to ask about the progress of a person’s order.
3) Send the business proposal, however draft-like it is.
4) Create a better shipworks template for both emails AND shipping labels. Using Microsoft Web Expressions 4.0 which is a FREE alternative to Dreamweaver. Great program.
5) Train assistant to do the pictures.
6) Reach out to other Dismantlers and ask them out for coffee. Stop isolating yourself, Kim. (I noticed I am subscribed to California Dismantling… so I’m going to start reaching out today.)
7) Get M2E running with Magento.
8) Transform Dropbox into a shared space instead of for personal reasons.
9) Switch over to the new listing template. Enlist Ron’s help.
I stopped at 9 because I don’t want to overwhelm myself.
YOU SHOOT ME DOWN, BUT I WON’T FALL. I AM TITANIUM.
That’s the song playing in the shop right now. It is fitting.
What are you afraid of? Is it just a small fear that stops you from MASSIVE success?
