If you've ever read that I blog for my own benefit and not yours, this is one of those posts.
So who the hell am I and why should you read this (another great question posed by Carol Roth)? She didn't ask me personally, but I'm going to try to answer this question for my own benefit.
In addition to buying the wrong plan in life, I had the wrong friends i.e. a group of attorneys and businesspeople in my hometown who frequently confused the activities "networking" and "alcoholism." It was the late 1990's and everyone was making money and times were good. I was waiting tables at the time (and still do, but hey, the bills are getting paid).
What was the first thing I did when I got out of the Navy, i.e. entered the "real" world? I started my own business and failed miserably. Upon recent investigation, I never had a business, but donated my money to someone else's "get-rich-quick" scheme. They didn't. They went bankrupt.
What did I do then? I got a job as a salesman in a retail jewelry business which doesn't exist anymore. I got my first taste of sales and I was pretty good at it. I made a litle bit of money and got my first taste of corporate politics that ultimately got me fired. That was over 20 years ago and I still detest politics, whether it is on TV or in my face.
Why did I go into sales when my background was in a highly technical field (nuclear power plant operation)? Because I wanted to become successful in business and someone convinced me that you HAVE to have a college degree to succeed in business or in life, for that matter. It was the early 1990's and the internet revolution hadn't quite made it to where I was living yet. Education was a lot more expensive than it is today. I am CERTAINLY not advocating dropping out of college for the sheer hell of it, but I am saying that there are other sources of education (i.e. Amazon.com). This has been a fallacy that I have to counter every day of my life. Of all the erroneous beliefs that have held me back in life, this has to be the most damaging.
Why didn't I go back to college? I was trying to make it in sales early in my sales career and I was surrounded by other sales people that didn't have degrees. Guess what "advice" I got? "You don't need to go back to college, just make taht next sale."
What am I doing about it?
At last something to work on with some merit...
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
My Turn to Face Reality Part Two (aka "I Thought I Had a Business")
I haven't done a blog and I haven't done much of anything with my business over the last couple of months. I have ordered a few new books on some topics of interest, trading some esoteric markets, "How to Win Friends and Influence People," and some Buddhist teachings. Here I am on a hot summer afternoon in Atlanta trying to figure out just what it is I am doing.
Why am I in this state of "doing nothingness?" I love Carol Roth's book and her work. I follow her work and look forward to new insights that she has that can help me improve my business and my life. After all, isn't that the purpose of personal (and professional) development?
The main premise of Carol's book is a very hard lesson to swallow. I have heard Brian Tracy mention it in the past to view yourself as a publicly traded stock. Would you invest in yourself based on your current track record? However I wasn't quite ready for the delve into my personal finances and to look at myself from the perspective of an investment banker who is looking for reasons to take you public. That is a completely different concept. It's one thing to have a plan and actually work on that plan. To decide if that plan is executable from the entrepreneur's perspective is something I wish I had learned years ago. Taking a crucial step back and looking at my business from a different perspective, did I have a business, a job-business or a "jobby?"
I bought a "micro-franchise" for a company that I think (and know) offers a great product that I think everyone should have. I thought I had a business. Everyone told me I had a business. My mentors in this business had actually left this business and moved on to another busienss and at least one of them was making (and is still making) great money (>$250K per year).
My second source of this new insight comes from the IRS' hobby law when it comes to business loss reporting for consecutive years. The law roughly states that you can only claim a loss on your individual tax return for three out of four consecutive years (or five out of seven years)as a sole proprietorship. My last business and all of my "businesses" have been sole proprietorships (another blog topic for another time). As I was doing four consecutive years of tax returns (do not do this) for one reason or another (I was drunk for a really long time-not an excuse, just sayin'). I consulted my attorney for this and discovered that what would also come into account if I got audited would be questions like
1) Do you really have a business?
2) How much time do you have to operate your business?
3) What are your chances of becoming profitable and when?
These are some of the same questions that "The Entrepreneur Equation" posed to me. Rightfully so, because when you are posting a business loss, essentially it is Uncle Sam that is "investing" in your business. They want you to grow your business, incorporate it, become hugely successful so they can tax the hell out of you and your business and get those write-offs back (not cynical-realistic).
So I recently did what has been called the Benjamin Franklin method of decision-making with regards to my business. I take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side I list the reasons I should continue operating this business at this time. I also write on the other side of this page reasons I should stop pursuing this business at this time.
What will I do with my "career" now? Who knows? I have come to some new and interesting conclusions about business and particularly my "business" from the standpoint of an investor and an aspiring and failed entrepreneur.
I encourage you to continue with me as I take this walk back to the drawing board.
Why am I in this state of "doing nothingness?" I love Carol Roth's book and her work. I follow her work and look forward to new insights that she has that can help me improve my business and my life. After all, isn't that the purpose of personal (and professional) development?
The main premise of Carol's book is a very hard lesson to swallow. I have heard Brian Tracy mention it in the past to view yourself as a publicly traded stock. Would you invest in yourself based on your current track record? However I wasn't quite ready for the delve into my personal finances and to look at myself from the perspective of an investment banker who is looking for reasons to take you public. That is a completely different concept. It's one thing to have a plan and actually work on that plan. To decide if that plan is executable from the entrepreneur's perspective is something I wish I had learned years ago. Taking a crucial step back and looking at my business from a different perspective, did I have a business, a job-business or a "jobby?"
I bought a "micro-franchise" for a company that I think (and know) offers a great product that I think everyone should have. I thought I had a business. Everyone told me I had a business. My mentors in this business had actually left this business and moved on to another busienss and at least one of them was making (and is still making) great money (>$250K per year).
My second source of this new insight comes from the IRS' hobby law when it comes to business loss reporting for consecutive years. The law roughly states that you can only claim a loss on your individual tax return for three out of four consecutive years (or five out of seven years)as a sole proprietorship. My last business and all of my "businesses" have been sole proprietorships (another blog topic for another time). As I was doing four consecutive years of tax returns (do not do this) for one reason or another (I was drunk for a really long time-not an excuse, just sayin'). I consulted my attorney for this and discovered that what would also come into account if I got audited would be questions like
1) Do you really have a business?
2) How much time do you have to operate your business?
3) What are your chances of becoming profitable and when?
These are some of the same questions that "The Entrepreneur Equation" posed to me. Rightfully so, because when you are posting a business loss, essentially it is Uncle Sam that is "investing" in your business. They want you to grow your business, incorporate it, become hugely successful so they can tax the hell out of you and your business and get those write-offs back (not cynical-realistic).
So I recently did what has been called the Benjamin Franklin method of decision-making with regards to my business. I take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side I list the reasons I should continue operating this business at this time. I also write on the other side of this page reasons I should stop pursuing this business at this time.
What will I do with my "career" now? Who knows? I have come to some new and interesting conclusions about business and particularly my "business" from the standpoint of an investor and an aspiring and failed entrepreneur.
I encourage you to continue with me as I take this walk back to the drawing board.
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