Category: Uncategorized

November 6, 2020 – Feature Friday

November 6, 2020 /

I only have a couple hours a day permitted in my schedule to explore, learn, post and market and then life starts to move in. It is part of the reason why things move slower than I would like. It also means that I need to use my time as effectively as possible.

Today, I have started with researching and adding some new plug-ins. The choices are wide to a point where this is an ala carte endeavor. Each thing can add a couple dollars a month, but what is the return on investment? For instance, I am researching adding a mail client to get more in line with the ‘true fan’ structure. The suggested option from my hosting service is free for the first 500 email addresses and is tiered from there in cost/month.

I can surely get down with free. But will five hundred interested people translate into meaningful revenue to be worth the cost? I don’t know and I don’t want to get locked into something only to switch and lose what is already started. So, I guess I will take it slow.

Another feature I need to explore is the ability to post to other platforms. I am almost a zero adopter of social media, for a good reason I will talk about some other time. But, that being said it definitely has inhibited the ability to leverage some of the most popular and low cost marketing out there. I am lightly active on LinkedIn and Nextdoor but that is really it.

From a principle standpoint, I want to start and grow into spaces that are more concerned about privacy and security. So, using the the platforms that are in line with those concepts are much more appealing to me and I would be much more likely to participate. I have held back a bit as well because I don’t want every post going to LinkedIn for example. They are not appropriate to the landscape of the platform.

Again, today’s post is another snorer. I am testing some features that I added this morning. I promise that I will get back into a better rhythm as the dust starts to settle here. I probably need to set some smaller and more structured goals like adding one feature a week so I can stop writing about dry and technical details and making excuses.

November 5, 2020 – Geek Speak

November 5, 2020 /

This is going to be short. I have been lost in all the technical junk getting this site going. I have to admit that this isn’t my strong suit as I have never done anything quite like this before. I have spent some time in the Microsoft world of websites and this seems much easier.

I had some trouble getting my domain going. Apparently, there was some issue with the registration information. I had to get tech support to resolve this for me. I am not really sure what the problem was however I suspect that it had to do with the .co domain name because I registered a .net and it was working within the hour that I paid for it.

To get the importing of the old site working, I had to go in the way back machine and modify my host file so that I didn’t need DNS resolution to keep working. It did keep me from generating content however. I think most everything got over to the site reasonably. I did notice that some of the fancier stuff didn’t port across directly like my photo slides from August. I don’t think that it is worth trying to fix at this point.

Another thing I have realized is that I am on my own now. I had to upgrade WordPress and python to get some of the content to render properly. Some of those things are handled automatically when you are on a platform.

My most recent problems have been with getting security working. The SSL certificate was not installed and so people navigating to my site (from work computers) got blocked. I have just enabled that finally after a couple of days reading help files and banging my head. I had to get technical support on that as well as it seems like a cached version of the SSL was installed.

So, that is all to say, I think that I am ready to start moving ahead and putting this public. I can start changing links in my various profiles and maybe I will get some real content this week.

November 4, 2020 – First post on the new site

November 4, 2020 /

How about that? I am excited to be writing here. Having this site run on it’s own will open a lot of opportunity for me. I believe that I will be able to post audio and video directly without having go to YouTube. I should be able to add plugins so I can begin to create mailing lists and add e-commerce options if I choose.

I am working on a few things right now. Not everything I had on the WordPress site I have working here. There is some difference in the GUI for managing the site. I will keep layering stuff back in as well as changes and improvements. Baby steps…

October 29, 2020 – Future plans

October 29, 2020 /

Alright, I have been dragging my feet and making excuses for almost a year now. I will be working on moving this site to a proper domain and hosting service in the near future. To that end, this site will become dormant soon.

I have gotten out of it what I needed which was to understand the discipline it took to post daily and the creativity to come up with topics that I think are engaging.

For business purposes, I have reasons to have more that one website and I need more than what the free WordPress plan can do for me. Any more practice and not building my businesses are counterproductive. I intend to post until I have fully gotten it up and running, but likely erratically.

September 25, 2020 – Writing proper job bids and contractor communication for success

September 25, 2020 /

What I wanted to talk about today is the contractor communication process. In my experience, this is a weak link in this type of arrangement. I saw it over and over in software where it was impossible to get enough detail to accurately bid jobs. That lead to weak quotes and proposal without a lot of proper detail and gaps. That lead to both sides not being on the same page with expectations.

One trick with bids is to provide the right level of detail. It cannot be so vague as to not provide any specific details or scope of work. It should be clear why this is a problem. Under this circumstance, there are no deliverables, end points or success criteria.

It also cannot be so detailed as to provide line item costs. This one is not quite as clear. Why would too much detail be a problem? Unfortunately, human nature causes people to want to cheapen the price. To do that, they want to eliminate steps that are likely integral to executing the project. Using software again, you can save a lot of money by skipping design or testing. But, if you think that is a good idea then I would argue you are probably not experienced enough to be looking at bids. Nevertheless, just don’t have the detailed conversation in the first place.

Here is the bid that I put together today. I deleted some of the details because this contract is now accepted. But it contains the price first, so the cost is out there. There is an expiration date, so if circumstances change it would need to be requoted. In this case, there is no lead time to order materials. There is an expectation of how long the work will take, where the work will be done and does the bid include materials.

I think that the description is adequate for the scope of what is being done. I didn’t give the exact door so my work of sourcing will be paid for. Or said another way, the client buys the door and pays someone $10/hour to install it. I mention which parts of the old door I will re-use. I will also remove the old door and material.

I took a picture of the door that is to be replaced because this house is empty and I wanted no confusion about which door I was bidding on. If this were a larger project, I would take daily pictures of the progress. I would text them to the client so that there is a chance to intervene before it is too late.

Now, I am not super busy at the moment. I can jump right on jobs immediately. I also know first hand that contractors are notorious for not stating when they will be on site, work consistently on site or the progress of the job. I always believe that honesty is the best policy. With my daily status checks, I also provide my next time on site and what I hope to be completing.

These are some tips that I use successfully, and maybe if you are not in this field you can use the information to get a better bid next time. Have a good weekend.

August 21, 2020 – A True Education in Entrepreneurship

August 21, 2020 /

After spending spring and summer remodeling, stuff starts to pile up. With the Covid restrictions in place, places such as Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill were not accepting donations for months. Even the dump was restricted to two days a week.

I made a deal with my kids, if they did the work then they could have the profits of a garage sale. The way we structured things, items that were their’s they kept the whole profit. Items that were mine (or mom’s or household) were split evenly between them.

The part that I like the best is after the sale is over, everything that remains is getting packed up and will be donated or disposed of. But even more than that, my boys are learning some real lessons in business. For instance

  • Marketing – They made and hung the signs that were distributed throughout the town. They also leveraged social media to advertise the event.
  • Sales – Engaged customers, answered questions about items, made suggestions for alternatives, negotiated prices with customers
  • Inventory – Items were cleaned, organized in logical categories, evaluated and priced accordingly. Some things were deemed free and others unfortunately were worn out and didn’t make the garage sale cut.
  • Accounting – Sales were categorized and documented to make sure the profits went into the right categories and to the right person.

School will be starting in a little over two weeks. There has been quite a bit of side talk about the quality of education with our district opting to go online. Some parents are sending their kids to private school, others have withdrawn to do homeschooling. I myself think that opportunities like this garage sale is chance to learn about the hustle of entrepreneurship and have a real world experience while making some nice pocket change.

June 29, 2020 – Where did the weekend go?

June 29, 2020 /

My mad dash into everything started Friday. I spent two hours on a personality test for a job prospective. I wanted to finish the roof, which I did in about an hour and then it was time to get the kids off to the grandparents so that my wife an I could enjoy the ‘Anniversary Weekend’.

We had another lovely dinner at the Joel Palmer House on Friday night to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. We capped the night off with a quiet fire (for once). Anyway, I am not going to go into all of our celebration but it lasted all weekend. Smack dab in the middle we got this little girl.

Moving on to this week’s message…

Admittedly, this week wandered a little for me. I think that I got the gist of what was being said. I will paraphrase… there is a holy association that we have despite our residence or citizenship. We need to keep our eyes on the right things rather than getting caught up in a more temporal existence. Submitting to secular authority is part of our duties as citizens of the holy nation.

Now, I haven’t been super direct about my beliefs and I intellectually understand that there is a certain zen or reverence in submission. Not that I know first hand, but I believe that monks act in similar belief. So there must be something to that. I suppose that you can distill it down more coarsely by saying ‘put up with what is going on here so that you can have a better, future life (in heaven)’.

Interestingly enough, in these two weeks there is a whole series on freedom in The Survival Podcast. The thrust of the series is about developing personal independence so that freedom is more attainable. These would be more in-line with career happiness and lifestyle. However, I think that the two work nicely together.

The questions of the week are

  • What is the most important thing about your freedom?
  • What can you do this week to honor the freedom that you have?

To me the first question is easy. The most important thing about freedom to me is that people appreciate it and do not take it for granted, for the greater good. One of the episodes last week, Jack implied that people dont really want freedom. By living in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association, by caring about what their neighbors are doing, etc we take away our own freedoms voluntarily.

The application questions are always harder. They require analysis and action. My toolbox fallacy kicks in. It is really this time writing that is my thinking and analysis time. One thing for sure that we are going to do to honor our freedom is celebrate the Fourth of July. Maybe that was intentional?

June 22, 2020 – Father’s Day and Leadership

June 22, 2020 /

Yesterday was a good day, for me. It started off early where I got up and started the smoker. Our lives are so noisy, that it is sometimes difficult to recognize and therefor enjoy the hour or so of quiet on a Sunday morning. I got the turkey on about seven and cleaned and organized the garage while I was tending the smoker. That was the trend for the whole day, lots of small things got completed, like finally getting my plants in the ground. I think that I am going to have twenty tomato plants and ten cabbages from the looks of the starts.

It very well might be unpopular in today’s society to consider the father the ‘leader’ of the family. But we all know that traditionally that was the case. I suppose that it is pretty fair to say that not all leaders are cut from the same cloth. Many happen to get the title because they were there, not necessarily on qualification. Unfortunately, that is true across many aspects of life, both business and fatherhood included.

I am pretty sure that if you are reading this, than you are at least aware enough for self-reflection and interested in personal development. Evaluating the trend of today’s relativistic and hedonistic culture, I am concerned for the future. I am the last person that is going to preach or tell someone what to do. I am a libertarian anarchist after all.

So, knowing my opinions and thoughts you might be able to anticipate how I would approach the issues, lead by example first. I have said it before, freedom requires free will and choice. To me that also means some people are unfortunately not going to make the cut. They will willingly make the wrong choices. I am at peace with that, what I need to work on a more is acceptance through continued interaction (to lead by example).

This week’s questions are as follows

  • Where do you find protection, support and leadership in your life?
  • What is one thing that you can do to develop leadership this week?

If you are following along, you can tell that these weeks are all sort of intermingling. I believe that is by design. I have know this for some time now, but as I shared in our group yesterday that my healthiest levels of leadership were when I also had some sort of mentorship at the same time.

I believe that it is part of why I got to the point of leaving my job. I felt a tremendous amount of stress, I was unable to forgive perceived (or real) transgressions of the past and I had no level of mentorship or advocacy within my company. My team loved me and half left within three months of me, but everyone needs support and I didn’t have it.

Looking at the questions, the person that is in that role for me is my wife. That seems proportionately correct. However, when it came to things like my last job we had strong disagreements about whether I should quit my job without having a replacement. In the end, she was right that everything was OK and I am glad that I did at this point. That being said, one person cannot be all things.

For me, it seems like I need to increase the size of my social circle and seek mentorship as part of my self improvement journey. Those two may not be mutually exclusive but may come in the same package. I don’t know if I can realistically do all that in one week, but I have taken the time to identify that problem and will keep an eye out.

June 15, 2020 – You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with

June 15, 2020 /

I am not 100% sure if Mondays will be a continuation of Sunday small group discussion topics or not. I was asking myself if this is how I want to run this blog? Having spent the better part of my working life primarily around proclaimed athiests and agnostics it kept me a quiet about my beliefs.

On the other hand, this last year has been a new direction. I have never strongly felt that that my identity or path was truly laid before me. I suppose that I have felt like I have one, and not worried too much about it. Maybe this is God’s way of correcting me and setting me straight. In the words of Aaron Tippin, ‘You’ve got to stand for something, or you will fall for anything’

This weeks application of freedom takes a look at how our relationships influence our thoughts and behaviors. The basic concept of being that we behave as an average of the five people that we spend the most time with. Ideally, if Jesus is one of those people then your life will be elevated for the better.

This is an interesting concept for me, because I don’t spend a lot time around people outside of my home. At least quality time or time in relational sense. So, I could complete the activity and add some names into that circle, but I would argue that my small interactions are of little influence. So, I suppose my first order might be to add people, in addition to Jesus.

So the questions this week are

  • Who are the top five in my circle of interaction?
  • How can I reasonably add Jesus into that circle?

Before consistently writing this blog, I used to write in a journal. I tried to write weekly, but sometimes it was only quarterly. I did this for over ten years and it was mostly about goals, accomplishments and book summaries. I suppose it was more like an activity log than anything, but during those periods where I was reading devotionals or more spiritual work I was definitely more deliberate in my thoughts and actions. I would think about and apply what I was reading on a more consistent basis.

One of things that is important with freedom is that we have to respect choice whether we agree with it or not. Without choice, there is no true freedom. I am choosing to try and make myself a better person. With that, welcome to this digital, Christian oriented small group.

June 9, 2020 – The final push to the end

June 9, 2020 /

This is typically a week I look forward to. It is a week filled with hope and optimism. I am talking about this week traditionally marks the end of the school year.

I live in a small college town and the Oregon university system has it’s graduation on Saturday of Father’s Day weekend. I don’t know many college kids, only one graduate this year. But it also marks a change of pace for our small town. Traffic lessens noticeably and the everything relaxes a bit. Commencement will be some sort of online ceremony not the typical, hope the sun shines, bask in the glory of completing school on the football field.

High School graduation was last Friday. Had our exchange student not had to leave, we would have been celebrating last weekend. We had a taco cart lined up to throw a combined graduation and good-bye party. They had a single person walk across the stage, one at a time (all day) ceremony. I don’t think that there was an all night party or baccalaureate or even the chance for a senior ‘skip’ day.

Today my oldest will cease to be a middle schooler and will be a high schooler. We have a ‘drive through’ promotion this afternoon. These are all events that I have very fond memories. Real or not, the feeling of accomplishment and the tingling unknown of what the next steps in life will look like have all been diminished a little bit this year.

I also have my own ‘graduation’. June 15 was supposed to be move in day for the apartment. I will have to do that one class in the summer, if you will. My apartment will not be ready by this weekend. Not because of anything I did, the bathroom contractor is behind. The current schedule is carpet tomorrow, window repair on Thursday. There is still the kitchen and some cleaning for my part to be move in ready.

So, for all of the online and drive through graduation ceremonies, here is my digital salute and congratulations to all of you graduates this year. I hope that you enjoy the moment and have fond memories of the year that sort of fizzled at the end. Know this, I am just as disappointed as you are because I feel like something was taken that you didn’t know you were going to have, a yearly reminder of that feeling of new beginnings.