Building backwards and small enables you to get the most important uses out of your land first, and soon. There are many advantages other than a high ROI. One might be to rescue this widely held and rarely realized dream from the never-to-be-crossed-out section of your bucket list.

We’ve started the project of securing a retreat in the country and there’s been a world of decisions in choosing one plot of ground. That part of the journey is ongoing and best left to a separate article. Between scouting trips thoughts have turned to solidifying the vision. As the vision became clear I started thinking about ways to Optimize the effort-to-value ratio of building any house in the country. We’ll be building across state lines so remote access factors come into play in our optimization approach, as well.

(Note: Many of the on-site living possibilites and structures in this article were inspired and informed by Chapter 9 of Boston on Surviving Y2K by Boston T. Party. The author’s extensive experience in this area, along with a multitude of other suggested uses for land in the country, makes the book a must read for those interested in the subject. It’s also an excellent book on the subject of preparedness.)

Plan the Site – Then Build Small and Useful

You have to plan the site anyway, right? Planning is an expense that enables every downstream cost (Including time) to be optimized.

Plan everything your dreaming of for the site. Make sure it fits with the natural flow of the topography. Be practical and figure what you want and what you don’t. Consider everything including the next owner and future generations. And when you’re done pick the smallest most useful element from your plans and build it first.

Easements and Road Access

If you don’t have road access or need an easement then you’ve got some road or legal work to do. Depending on your site design, however, it’s possible your first small structure is some distance from the main building site. If that’s the case then you’ll only need road access to the first structure. Working on that, and leaving the larger road work project aside, for now, still fits the general idea of building it backwards.

Universal Site Plan

If you plan well your plan will capture the universal truths of the lay of the land. Future owner preferences will vary though none would benefit from going against the natural flow of the land.

If circumstances change before you actually build out your vision then most of the things you’ve already built have a good chance of fitting in with the next owners vision. Though not more important than your own values and goals there’s good reason to believe that well-built structures in-line with the natural flow of the land will become permanent beyond you.

Possibilities

My working definition of useful is anything that provides shelter, storage, rent, access or produces income or savings. Ideally, it’s something you would have gotten around to building anyway and decided to build first rather than last.

Covering every possibility is impossible. There’s a continuous line of structures from a tent to the Taj Mahal. Here’s a trigger list to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Rental Car
2. Tent
3. Teardrop camper
4. Lean-to & Firepit
5. Yurt
6. Shed
7. Gable
8. A Finished Shed (House?)
9. Trapper Cabin #1
10. Trapper Cabin #2
11. Small Barn
12. Travel Trailer
13. RV 5th wheel
14. Camper Van
15. School Bus Conversion
16. Mobile Home
17. Pole Barn
18. Garage and Storage
19. Pole Barn with RV Stored Inside
20. Pole Barn with RV Parked Beside
21. Airplane Hanger
22. Railroad car – Checkout the luxury version
23. Tiny Prefab
24. RV pad/hookup
25. Underground Storm Shelter
26. Concrete Storm Shelter
27. Tiny House on Wheels
28. Tiny House on Ground
29. Small Guest Cabin
30. Large Guest Cabin
31. Small Guest Cottage
32. Larger Guest Cottage

The popular descriptions of structures bleed into each other. At what point does a shed become a garage? When you use it as one. What’s the difference between a shed and a Gable? Roof design and quality. The difference between a cabin and a cottage? Depends on who you’re talking to about the property.

For Example

We’re securing a retreat in the country where we’ll build a downsized semi-off-grid version of the house we currently live in. We live in a 3200 sq. foot home and could easily chop off 1000 sq. feet as long as there is storage and room for guests.

We have a clear vision of the design and function of our future home in the country. We are also in the advanced stages of choosing the exact location. Once we’ve decided and bought the land there’s some big decisions to make. Made badly, or not at all, and the whole project could grind to a halt.

Build or Sell?

If our vision is clear why not find an existing place that fits and buy it?

1. No debt. Purchasing the land and building slowly is a form of self-financing that keeps us from having to take a loan.
2. Flexibility. As circumstances change and money comes and goes we can make optimal choices on the margin about the timing, cost and usefulness of the next step.
3. Working harder now to build a second house will enable us to rent our current house in the future for retirement income.
4. Doing so would require selling our current home and moving immediately. In addition to disrupting my wife’s job we prefer to hold onto our current house for backup.
5. I like to build things and would prefer designing and building exactly what we want (Where we want it).

Most Bang for the Buck

The last thing we need is land we don’t use. Our best use for land would be to provide:

1. Overnight Stays – Comfortable enough so they’ll actually happen.
2. Storage – For Tools and Supplies.
3. Income – Rental or from our direct use.
4. Security – For our retreat and securing the property in our absence.

These are the functions we’ll keep foremost in mind when deciding what to build first. The sooner a stucture provides one of these functions the better. Chosen wisely we could fulfill all these needs with minimal cost and effort and spread more ambitious plans over time.

Overnight Stays

We could stay in a motel, hotel, apartment, rental cottage, cabin or at a friend’s house. There’s nothing like the occasional motel room to freshen up. However, we’d prefer to put money directly into improvements wherever possible.

Tent & Rental Car

Realistically, it will be yours truly driving a rental car, setting up a tent and enjoying some getaway camping, at first. This zero structure lo-fi method is a custom fit for me (Supplemented with an occasional motel room). Some of the best adventures I’ve been on were done car camping with a tent. I can’t think of a better way to stay overnight while jumpstarting our place in the country.

Lean-to or Shed

Depending on the land the first structure will be either a Lean-to and Firepit or a custom shed. Either will provide extra shelter and comfort for future solo trips. The Lean-to would become an outdoor gathering place when we’re living on the land, permanently. The shed would be a great place to store supplies and tools and also be a notch above a tent for shelter. Done well, either one will give a sense of accomplishment and start momentum towards the next improvement.

While building the first structure I’ll collapse the tent and check-in to a motel room to recuperate, now and then. Our location shouldn’t be more than 30-40 miles away from one. I’ll keep tools in the truck and haul supplies as needed. My SUV has been a champ playing this role on local builds. Though it hasn’t been necessary I could always rent a local U-haul for a day to haul large materials.

Mobile Home or RV

My wife will go two nights in a tent or lean-to. Longer than that and it’s time for a motel room. If we ever hope to stay on the land, together, for longer than a week then we’re talking mobile home or RV. Happily, mobile homes and RV trailers can be bought for a song, nowadays.

If we go with the mobile I’ll prepare the site and have it delivered. If we go with an RV I’ll pull it on-site with the truck. Either one is a big step up from, and will supplement, the lean-to or shed.

Time Out for Perspective

This is a big step. If I can make overnight stays a pleasant experience it would get my family on-site more often and provide support for the next build. That would pave the way for making progress on the rest of the project. If our project gets stopped we still have land, a shed for on-site storage and a comfortable means for overnight stays. Add the rental of a small public storage unit and we’d have a Bug Out Location, already.

There will have been significant expenses, at this point. However, in relation to their value it smacks of Optimal bang for the buck.

Nothing Wasted

Notice all of the above options leave nothing wasted though we’ll be implementing only four of them depending on the site:

1. The rental car gets returned.
2. Use or sell the tent at a garage sale.
3. The lean-to and firepit become an outdoor family gathering place for BBQ’s.
4. Everyone needs a shed and a good one, at that.
5. The RV can accommodate guests or be taken on your next vacation.
6. The mobile home can become a guesthouse, sold or moved.

Storage

Everybody needs a place to put things. Building requires tools and supplies and so do humans. Kick back on a hammock all week and your food and water is still better off out of the heat of the rental car. The questions are should the storage be:

1. Underground?
2. On-site or off?
3. Secured by something/someone other than you?

I find underground storage options to be more romantic than practical. It’s expensive to build reliable underground structures and the drop-ins are no picnic with their delivery charge and crane installation. Completely concealing underground storage is hard unless it’s kept small and dispersed.

Until I have someone on the property full time my answer to off-site storage is yes. More specifically, we’ll supplement our on-site shed with a public storage unit. When we’re off site everything we can’t afford to lose goes into a public storage unit. That’s only $35/mo where we’re looking; cheap insurance for expensive tools.

A side benefit of renting public storage is it gives you a local ship-to address while you’re remote. Ask a friend (Or the on-site storage folks?) to receive the shipment and put the materials into storage for you. When you come into town stop by and pick up what you need to get started.

Gotta Love These Pole Barns

A larger pole barn is a possible one-building solution to overnight stays, storage and a little bit of security for the trouble. There are options to insulate them if it fits your long term goals for the structure. In fact, a pole barn that fits the site is so useful my first title for this article was, "Build the Barn First!". However, building backwards is a more complete way to say it and opens up more possibilities.

If it fits the site plan we may skip the shed and go right for a larger pole barn. If so it would make sense to consider one big enough to house an RV. In the event we decide to buy an RV for overnight stays the barn would provide a bit more security and protection for it.

Even if the pole barn was not insulated it would become a second option for sleeping bags over a presumably more comfy RV. Also, if there are ways to secure it well enough, or, we discover that theft is a non-issue then we might risk storing an RV and more expensive supplies there. Such choices can only be made on the margin as things unfold.

Security

Nothing is 100% secure if you’re not living there. Second best is a house sitting friend or renter. Third best is line of sight view and regular stop-by’s from a neighbor. When you’re off site store anything you can’t afford to lose in public storage.

Put a Web Cam on it?

You’ll need electricity, satellite-only internet and a dedicated (Cheap) computer for this option. For the trouble you’ll get four to eight cameras monitoring your site. It’s not foolproof but it could make your eyes the first eyes to see anything suspicious. Call your neighbor and ask them to check it out.

Retreat

With all the excitement of working on your house in the country don’t forget it gives your family the added benefit of a retreat location should you ever need to leave your current home. Every improvement makes it that much more comfortable for you family in times of retreat. One need only browse recent headlines to become a fan of having some geographical diversity in your housing plan.

Income

What if you could build something that would provide a source of income?

If a moblie home were in the right location and had electricity and water then it could possibly be rented out. Nowadays that may require having cable and internet installed, as well.

A Tiny House

A second possibility is to stay in your mobile home or RV while building a Tiny House on Ground or a Small Guest Cottage. Once built you’d no longer have an issue providing a comfortable place to stay for your family. Depending on location you might even be able to rent it out to someone who could keep an eye on the place for you between builds.

Two is One

If you can rent out a mobile home or cottage then why not have two (Or one of each)? One for a renter and the other for you.

Building two enables leveraging of design, materials, labor and knowledge into a second identical structure. Rent one and stay in the other. If one isn’t rented then all the more options for family and guests. Even if you build one tiny house or cottage and don’t rent it you could then get rid of the RV or supplement the cottage with the RV.

Either way it will be much easier to get your family to stay longer!

Electricity

Speaking of Building it Backwards the smallest and last provision for electricity will be the first one on the back of my truck: A generator.

Bringing electricity to rural land is expensive. Even if your land already has an electrical drop the expense was built-in to your purchase price meaning you would have been able to purchase more land if it wasn’t. Whether you value more land or less with electricity is up to you. I’m a bit torn on the issue and will face it as we zero-in on our exact land choice.

My overall opinion is that electricity is the easiest utility to do without or provide by self-sufficient means. Since our goal is to provide at least some of the latter I’m not sure how much I’m willing to pay for the former.

Water

Water is life and mandatory. It’s so crucial to rural land it makes for a go/no-go buying decision. If you’re lucky enough to have a stream running through your land then you have a huge jumpstart! You’ll still have to setup pumps, plumbing lines, sewer and leach field, but, drinking water is only a two-stage gravity filter away.

Everyone else has to either drill a well and hope for the best or haul water in. If drilling a well is mandatory it’s too big a risk to not have an idea of whether you’ll be successful or how much money to set aside for the expense.

Cell Phone Coverage

Will you have to drive to get a signal on your cell phone? That could be a time and money losing proposition. Satellite has too much latency for any VOIP functionality you may be counting on. Best check on this, in advance.

Structure vs. Strategy

Structure order is only part of build strategy. You may know what to build and still get stuck on strategy. Since we’re building remotely I’ve been thinking through the various options. Here’s some thoughts off the cuff in the spirit of sparking a jumpstart or an idea to break the logjam of the theoretical.

As discussed previously, unless your paying someone else to build you’re going to need tools, supplies, a place to store them and a place to stay while you’re building. While large industrial one-use tools are best rented general tools and equipment are best owned for long term use.

1. Store all tools and supplies underground on-site.
2. Store all tools and supplies in an on-site Shed.
3. Build an on-site shed supplemented with small public storage rental.
4. Keep RV onsite or in local public storage and pick it up when visiting property.
5. Rent and return a separate RV trailer for each building session.
6. Keep RV on a friends property and pick it up when visiting property.
7. Build a pole barn on-site large enough for supplies, tools and to store RV inside.
8. Put a wood stove in the Pole Barn (Properly vented and with CO2 detectors all around) to heat.

We live a considerable distance away from our potential building site. That means any RV must be stored or rented locally even if we own it. I’ll be driving the truck to the site and it’s not worth the extra gas to haul an RV back and forth. The gas savings alone would pay for the RV or its local rental.

When in Doubt

The more clear and definite your vision the less time you’ll waste. The best use of your time is spent building structures that fit into your overall site plan. You would have built them anyway and just decided to build them first because of their superior marginal utility.

If you’re stuck on what to build first then there are three ways to go.

Build the Smaller Thing

Let’s face it, building something useful that you would be proud to have on your land is always a bit more difficult than you first imagine. Maybe what you have in mind is too ambitious. Take it down a notch or two. Instead of building a pole barn build a shed. Instead of a shed build a metal canopy. Instead of a canopy a Bear Grylles lean-to to take the edge off the wind for overnight camping.

Cut to the Chase

If you know a larger pole barn will obviate the need for a shed, smaller barn or serve as a workshop (And maybe even store an RV) and you have the means then the optimal use of your time is to build it first. Such a barn is a considerable project though much less than a home. The useful structures you build before your home may still, in themselves, be considerable projects. But, they still bestow the benefits of building it backwards.

Temporary Stuctures

Anyone who’s hauled a port-a-potty or scaffolding onto a building site knows that temporary structures can be the Optimal next choice. If a temporary structure has that much use, and you’ve got the money and time, then build it.

Build It Backwards Advantages

The idea of building it backwards can be implemented in an infinite number of ways. Limiting the focus to my family’s personal goals the approach has the following advantages over a more traditional strategy:

• Gets you thinking of ways to use of your land, immediately.
• Gets your land ‘producing’ at the beginning of the building process rather than at the end.
• No debt. Purchasing the land and building slowly is a form of self-financing that keeps you from having to take a loan.
• Flexibility. As circumstances change and money comes and goes you can make optimal choices on the margin about the timing, cost and usefulness of the next step.
• Working harder now to build a second house will enables renting your current house in the future for retirement income.
• You get to design and build exactly what you want, where you want it, and when you’re ready to build it.
• Motivates site planning from the beginning which saves time, money and effort.
• Provides a place to live on your property whenever you decide to be there.
• Provides a place to live while working on or building the next phase of your country home.
• May provide a place to rent for income or on-site security.
• Starts momentum. Once you’ve built something useful the chances of adding further improvements rises exponentially.
• Your improvements to the property for tax purposes will be minimal. By the time it amounts to something you’ll be getting maximum value from the land.

The most useful things built on land are built last. Reverse that convention and build it backwards. Small structures provide big comfort and improvements relative to their size and cost. Return on investment is high because investment is small and return is relative to the nothing of the vacant land your starting with.

Get the most important uses out of your land first, and soon. Doing so may rescue this widely held and rarely realized dream from the never-to-be-crossed-out section of your bucket list.

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The new 1099 rule presents an excellent opportunity to learn about Taxes on Gold & Silver and income taxes, in general. Though the new rule doesn’t specifically address Gold & Silver its application would generate an avalanche of 1099 Forms in the process of buying and selling precious metals.

If the scope of Form 1099 is expanded per Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act it will create a 1099 Tsunami. Here’s What the New Reporting Requirement Means to Those Who Bought Gold Coins and Those Who Haven’t.

The most comprehensive perspective on the new 1099 rule was put forth by Franklin Sanders on the Coming Avalanche of 1099 Forms. If Franklin’s references to income and revenue seem obtuse then I recommend Pete Hendrickson’s Cracking the Code.

It is illegal for anyone other than a Tax Attorney to give out tax advice. For reference here are the official 2010 Insructions for Form 1099-MISC

State Sales Tax

Gold Eagles are legal tender in the US and do not incur tax on purchase or sales. The same applies to Gold Sovereigns in the UK or Maple Leafs in Canada or Kookaburras in Australia.

States in the US charge sales tax on non-legal tender bullion if the purchase is below state set minimums. Purchase less than $1500 of silver bullion in CA and you’ll have to pay sales tax. Purchase in increments greater than this threshold to avoid sales tax. Check your state rules for the threshold.

In the UK, VAT (Value Added Tax) is charged on the sale non-legal tender bullion.

In Australia there is no GST on the sale of pure gold bars and gold coins but there is GST on American Eagles should you buy them from a gold dealer who is registered for GST, as American Eagles are not pure gold. You may not have to pay GST if you buy them from a private seller on ebay.

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Talk, itself, may be the solution — for company, brainstorming and therapy — but I prefer a shot of ’solution talk’ straight up to inspire soul and body to action. Take it as an antidote for the endless repeating of known problems by the media.

Per Tivo for Radio the Solution to ‘problem talk’ is avoidance or abandonment.

As a solution seeking reader a favorite late night web haunt is Bill Buppert’s Hezekiah Wyman. Bill has an action-oriented historical perspective and one tends to emerge from his website with a clear perspective and a few tasks on the to-do list. Speaking of which . . .

Here’s some ’solution talk’ from Bill’s website. It’s talk only, but, Robert Steele rattles off an impressive number of ideas and solutions. He asks bloggers to "Blog That!" which is what I’m doing here. That, and pointing out that ‘Solution Talk’ is far more Optimal than ‘Problem Talk’, is the point of this post.

‘Solution talk’ is refreshing, isn’t it? It reveals ‘problem talk’ for what it is: A TIME SINK.

Problem definition occurs naturally in obeyance to the sincere pursuit of solutions. Dwell on the problem too long and risk becoming part of it. Dwell on solutions and problems define themselves.

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It took me two years to come up with these 16 words. Since then:

• Every decision is easier to make.
• I’m not tempted by distractions that have nothing to do with purpose.
• I’m able to see how my past, present and possible future experiences relate to purpose.

I wasn’t meant to know my life’s purpose until the age of 42. Delivering on it requires living, understanding, describing and simultaneously helping others discover and live their own optimal lives. Until the last few years I didn’t have the knowledge, skills and experience to do so in a truly Optimal way.

That brings me to the point of this blog post: I need to live my own Optimal Life before I can expect to help others do the same. Specifically, I need to define, discover, design, live and maintain my own version of an Optimal life before I can be of any assistance to others trying to do the same. In this sense it’s mandatory that my writing be somewhat Hemingway-esqe in that I live a life before I write about life. Of course, everyone with a heartbeat lives. But, not like Hemingway did and not life with a keen eye towards all things Optimal that I’m attempting to pull into focus.

I’ve started and left unfinished ten articles for Your Optimal in the past 15 days. Each time, the culprit for the interruption has been one of the seven projects listed, below. The least I can do for readers following Your Optimal is to list them as what what I’ve been up to in terms of Optimizing my own life:

1. Searching for land on which to setup a retreat and future home for my family.
2. Filling in the gaps of our preparedness plan as per Checklist for Hard Times.
3. Implementing the final details of Your Optimal Bailout Plan and Depression Proof Your Money.
4. Migrating away from Windows or anything that has to do with Microsoft.
5. Installing new software to improve this Your Optimal Website.
6. Working on the writing and presentation of a book series.
7. Building cabinets and bookcases to organize our living room.

One of the ingredients factoring heavily into items 1, 2 and 3 is Free State Wyoming. With their stated goals of "Maximizing freedom and liberty" and "Recognizing personal sovereignty" I’d be downright negligent to not have them square on my own Optimal radar while vetting a retreat location for my family. I’ll be visiting Wyoming for a week on June 17th to meet people who’ve voted for freedom with their feet and spend time in one of my favorite parts of the country.

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That’s the kind of straight talk about hormones you’ll hear when listening to Dr. Vliet’s podcast of the same tag line. Listening to how she relates to real women and their suspected issues is a great way to get an overview of Dr. Vliet’s work and the subtle complexities of hormonal balancing. Dr. Vliet is "The Hormone Detective" for good reason: She has pioneered and made practical and understandable the science of detecting hormonal imbalance as well as optimizing the journey towards its restoration.

"No wonder women are confused: they are surrounded by ads that are medically unsound."

As a man, listening and reading about how generations of women have received such clueless and inept advice on hormonal issues made me want to scream! Dr. Vliet has supplied the antidote to that feeling and truly listened and answered countless numbers of women who have been Screaming to be Heard!

"The balance I want to promote is in terms of healthy eating, learning to eat right, learning to exercise right and having the right hormone balance. It’s not a ‘quick fix, take this pill’ after getting a saliva test."

In one disheartening example a devout Christian women started to believe she was a moral failure to herself and family based on feedback from a clueless doctor who told her there was nothing wrong with her and no physical cause for her depression, panic attacks and chronic fatigue! We are all blessed that cooler, more talented heads prevail in the person and work of Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet.

"You can’t get a comprehensive result in a local pharmacy by taking a spit test."

Take Two Steps Now!

I’m thankful to Dr. Vliet for two invaluable tips I was able to discuss with my wife that may save a world of problems in the future:

1. Get a baseline of your natural hormones NOW while you’re in balance.
2. Suspect hormonal imbalance first, when experiencing any of the following symptoms and insist that your doctor listen (And don’t stand for them not listening more than 10 seconds before calling Dr. Vliet).
   • unusual weight gain
   • chronic fatigue
   • sexual difficulties
   • palpitations, heart problems
   • vulvovaginal pain
   • migraines
   • osteoporosis
   • memory loss
   • depression, panic attacks
   • thyroid problems
   • fibromyalgia
   • bladder problems
   • difficulty sleeping
   • adult onset acne
   • PMS and PCOS
   • perimenopause

Before you experience any of these issues related to hormonal imbalance document your current natural baseline of hormonal balance in the bloodstream. This simple task, performed now, could save women and their doctors untold anguish and rediscovery should problems occur in the future. And, the last thing you need is for some psychologist to tell you you’ve got a mental issue, or worse, when a rebalance of your hormones is the true underlying cause.

My family will accept no substitute for either Dr. Vliet’s personal consultation or another professional that she may vouch for. If you’re lucky enough to be in the Tucson area you’ve got the Optimal Doctor near at hand to help the women in your life in the journey back into balance.

Get in Touch

Visit Dr. Vliet at HER Place, watch her leadership on protecting patient rights on Dr. Vliet’s YouTube Channel and read her Newsmax Health blog on The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Hormones where she writes about hormones as they relate to headaches, memory, sleep, sex drives as well as food saboteurs of your hormones.

Articles

What French Women Know About Estrogen…and American Women Don’t!

Media

Books

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 A reader I haven’t met became a Rifleman on Sunday and credits my essay with finding out about Appleseed. Hearing the news truly made my week!

Though working on a few candidates at home they’ve yet to attend an Appleseed. But, America’s latest Rifleman, Mark Hudson, went a step further and managed the feat of documenting his training while mastering it. I hope it’s not too long before Mark receives word that the next Rifleman found Appleseed through his article (Which contains excellent checklists and pictures to inspire and assist in preparing for the event)!

Of course, not everyone writes. Just telling folks what you’ve been up to is enough. Those inclined to listen pay more attention to actions than words, anyway; something Appleseed founder Fred knew from the start, no doubt.

All week I’ve been thinking about the popular notion that everyone on the planet is only six degrees of separation away from each other. I think it’s only two degrees for Rifleman. After posting on a favorite forum about Mark’s success one of the Appleseed instructors who worked with Mark, last weekend, actually saw and commented on the post!

To Those Who Have Ears

There’s no way around the looks you’ll get when recommending Rifle training over another trip to Disneyland. Guns are provocative by nature like a beautiful woman. Speaking of which, my wife was concerned watching me gear up for Appleseed. It was fun to return home and burst her bubble with pictures of families, father-daughter teams and boyscouts right along side the warriors she was expecting.

It wasn’t long after that Isabel was dropping hints that she’d be willing to learn if she had her own rifle (Of course!). So, I bought her the one she picked to go with her outfits, in black & silver.

[Photo taken just after Isabel's promise to attend the next Appleseed with her husband. She is holding the bribe it took to extract that promise.

What a natural and relaxed stance for a gal who's never picked up a rifle. Now, if that elbow was vertical under the stock and . . .]

Isabel says she always wanted to learn to shoot and my enthusiasm made her speak up. Make that zero degrees of separation in the Gillespie household.

I planned to make this a longer article by mapping out ways to overcome common objections to the innumerable benefits of Rifle training. However, I’m learning from experience that it’s best to save words for those who have ears:

1. If you don’t see the Liberty aspects of the training then go to learn about your Heritage.
2. If you don’t care about the Heritage aspects then go for the Marksmanship.
3. if you don’t care about the marksmanship aspects then go for Precision.
4. If you don’t care about precision then go to spend time with family members that do.
5. If you don’t think they need the company then go to meet quality people who are passionate about any one of the above.
6. If none of these things motivate you then volunteer to babysit for someone who does. . .

Which brings me to something else I learned from Mark that will serve to keep future articles more brief and to the point. As with so much worldly wisdom the Greeks said it first in Latin, "Verbum sat sapienti" or

"A word is sufficient to a wise man".

After reading some of Mark Hudson’s views on Life, God and Family I think we get a rare glimpse of one, below.

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Pawnbrokers have been around since ancient times and even kicked out of the Temple by Jesus for getting greedy on half-shekel premiums. Whether or not they’ve recovered from the incident is your call. But, one thing is for sure: Pawn brokers are filling the huge credit vacuum left by banks who have trillions in reserves but not a penny to lend. Unlike banks, the money a pawnbroker lends is based on real goods — first yours, then theirs.

After a Tivo marathon of Pawn Stars I’d seen Rick, Corey and the Old Man go through their process 50 times or so. Then, the cuckoo clock was the last straw. Why does Rick let customers see his expert appraisals?!

A guy comes into the shop hoping his cuckoo clock may be worth something, but, has no idea. Rick thinks it’s original and calls an expert. By the time the expert is done blabbing in front of the customer a deal is struck for $4,200. Whuh? That guy would have been thrilled to get $500 bucks. Rick paid $3700 more than he had to! What’s going on here? This is terrible business . . . unless. . . you have a TV show. Then, it’s marketing genius!

Of course, cheating or abusing customers is not only wrong, but, the quickest way to lose a legitimate business. But, when it comes to the business of pawn shops . . .

Appraisals are the Heart

Modern pawn shops offer lots of services. None of them work without the shops ability to appraise the value of the goods their services revolve around. The History channel describes the Old Man as "The Appraiser" for good reason.

The ability to glean the value of a wide range of items makes or breaks a pawn shop. The quality of the appraisal, and negotiated price, determine the maximum profit potential for each item. Jabbering everything you know about an item puts the customer on an equal footing with the business. In fact, it provides a free service to the customer outside the scope of the pawn business. Pawn customers need money or a loan. If they need an expert appraisal then either . . .

Charge for Appraisals

Or don’t provide them. If you have to bring in an expert then charge a flat fee plus whatever the expert charges you (And have an agreement with the expert that you get first dibs). If the item is not worth an appraisal fee then the customer won’t purchase one.

So, why does Rick give away the heart of his business to folks who just need a few bucks to pay the rent? He doesn’t. The Pawn Stars are savvy businessmen using . . .

Appraisals as Marketing

You gotta love these guys. They take a $3700 loss on an item while demonstrating their expertise to TV viewers across the country. In other words, the ‘loss’ they take in front of the TV cameras is the cheapest marketing you could buy. What other pawn shops get 1000 customers a day and are doubling their store space?

Rick is talking to the TV cameras to demonstrate his shop’s expertise. He’s giving up some of the profit on each item pawned in exchange for marketing his business all over the country. And it’s working, fabulously! While I’m questioning their appraisal process these guys are marketing them all the way to the bank!

In one episode, Corey and Chum Lee are cleaning up the storage room and discover a statue that’s off pawn and should have been put up for sale. The item was a statue that Rick estimated could be sold for $2000. The Old Man comes in and recognizes the statue as one of his ‘buys’ for which he paid $200. I guess the TV cameras weren’t on for that one and the Old Man didn’t blab what he knew the statue to be worth. That’s the pawn business. The customer was happy enough with $200 to make the trade or he wouldn’t have sold it.

These guys are no dummies. Rick, The Old Man, Big Hoss, and even Chum Lee (For video games) are expert appraisers in their own areas.

Gold & Silver, The Blood

If Appraisals are the heart of the pawn business then gold and silver are the blood.

Watch the show closely and you’ll hear the Pawn Stars answer the phone with the greeting "Gold & Silver?". That’s because the name of the shop is Gold & Silver Pawnshop. The "Old Man" is often seen counting money at his desk surrounded by silver bars. And notice the amount of silverware, superbowl rings and jewelry in the display cases in the background.

Antique guns, helicopters, cuckoo clocks and pinball machines are great fun! But, make no mistake: Their purpose is to draw attention to a business providing credit or reselling the equity in real things. More often than not those real things are gold & silver.

Few pawn items have the benefit of an international exchange to set price. That takes much of the risk out of appraising the real value of an item made with precious metals. Sure, the price changes every second, but, so does the price of everything if there was a ticker tape to broadcast it.

From a business vetting standpoint the gold & silver aspects of the pawn business are something that should interest you, or you’d be happy to learn more about. Pawnbrokers require a second hand dealers license (same as precious metals license) or a pawnbrokers license to buy and sell gold and silver. In Florida, the scales used to weigh gold are regulated by the department of agriculture, which is ridiculous.

Inside Scoop

When selling jewelry or odd lots of gold or silver to a pawn shop bring a nickel with you. It should weigh exactly 5 grams. If it weighs less, or, the pawnbroker doesn’t weigh your item, at all, then find another shop. So much for the department of agriculture.

Sell or Pawn?

Judging by Pawn Stars you’d think the business was 98% sales and 2% pawn. It’s actually 40% sales and 60% pawn (According to one of the fun facts between commercials). One episode showed they had almost 4000 items in the back of the shop!

Anyone contemplating the pawn business should be good with managing thousands of inventory items. And police require reporting, on a daily basis, of everything that’s purchased. Another tracking hassle is that no item may be sold until it sits in the ‘buy room‘ for 30 days and checked for theft. 30 days can make or break the sale of an ipod should a new generation come out making the old one obsolete.

From the customers point of view it’s either sell your item for a fraction of its value or take out a loan based on a fraction of its value. The customer will talk up the value of their item and convince the broker he wants the item back. That’s to persuade the broker that he’ll be paying the interest and will pay back the principal of the loan.

From the brokers point of view he has to accept the risk of not being able to sell the item or the risk of the customer not making loan payments. Either way, he’ll be left with the item. It’s his job to make sure he can resell the item for a profit if the customer doesn’t pay back the loan.

In Florida, the maximum interest allowed is 25% per month. If you come back in two weeks you may negotiate an extension on your 30-day loan. If you don’t pick it up after 30 days, or whenever you extended the loan to, you have a 30-day grace period (At the same interest rate). If you don’t pick it up it becomes property of the pawn shop on day 61.

Inside Scoop

The pawn broker doesn’t want your motorcycle helmet or guitar. He’s got lot’s of them in the back. What he wants is for you to make the interest payment, pay back the loan and pick up your item. Of course, he’s loaned you an amount that he can still profit on if he sells your item. But, unless it’s an exceptional item, the interest payment is what he wants. Even better, if you get the item back you’ll have it for another pawn and interest generating loan, later.

If you have a good track record of paying the interest and getting your item back there will be room to negotiate a higher price on the next item you pawn.

Competition

The competition for pawn shops are:

• Garage sales
• Word of mouth
• Newspaper
• Ebay
• Craigslist
• Flyers at the market
• Bargain trader
• Loan from Friends & Family using the item as collateral

If you’ve got time, and no money, then a little sales work puts the money into your pocket. If not, then the pawnbroker does the work and you get less money.

Most items have less value to others than to us as personal possessions. Whether you discover the objective value, yourself, or hear the adjusted value from the pawnbroker (After building in his profit) there’s no sense in blaming the messenger. It’s unlikely you’ll hear the pawnbrokers true appraisal for a valuable item, even if he knows it. Pawn shops are not the Antiques Road Show you’d expect by watching the Pawn Stars.

There’s nothing wrong with needing a bridge loan, now and then. But, pawning will cost you 25% of the loan amount on a monthly basis. The loan amount does not equal the full value of the item because that would leave no room for the pawn broker to profit from the items sale if you default. But, you’ll be chipping away at the value of the item at an alarming rate. That’s the nature of the pawn business.

Some customers interviewed after their Pawn Stars deal say they’ll just sell on ebay. That’s the right thing to do if you’ve got the time. But, there is something to be said for a trip to the pawn shop, talking with real people and quick money to pay the rent.

Restoring Disasters

One of the unique aspects of the Pawn Stars are their restorations. They buy disasters and restore them to original, sometimes better, condition. Rick has a rolodex of restorers that perform these miracles.

In one episode Rick buys a 1992 Schweizer helicopter for $10K. The thing was in pieces after a crashed landing. Although his expert quotes a price of $100k for the restoration he says it would then sell for $150k. Eventually, Rick gets the Old Man to agree to the restoration which turns out to be a stunning achievement. The episode ends with the Old Man taking off from North Vegas with a smile on his face and the aviation expert saying they could probably get $160k for it.

Great TV.

These restorations are wonderful and have the most profit potential of any part of Rick’s business. However, there’s one aspect to take into consideration that’s not mentioned on the show. If you were looking to buy the helicopter in question would you prefer one that had been restored from a crash or had never crashed?

If you’d prefer the one that had never crashed then:

1. You’d want to pay less for the restored helicopter.
2. The restored helicopter. would have to be in better shape than the non-crashed version.

The resale prices on the show are overstated. What the experts say its worth and what it actually sells for are two different things. But, hey, it’s great TV, either way.

Creating the Market

In many cases, this is irrelevant because there’s no market, whatsoever, for the non-restored version. In one episode Rick restores a 1930’s gas pump into a thing of glory. There was no market, at all, for the non restored version other than Rick, himself. The restoration created the market.

Now THAT’S good business!

Pawn for Hard Times?

Vetting a business you’ll be running yourself is more than learning the facts. It’s making decisions about the opportunity cost of not running any other business during this period of your life. To assist my wife in the vetting process I created a business vetting mindmap as a way of describing how to Vett Any Business Idea in 20 Minutes or Less. It’s free and may it assist in discovering Your Optimal Buisiness.

Pawn Broker Characteristics

Pawn brokers seem to:

• Have a talent for appraising value. Part of that is knowing when to call in an expert.
• Have a collectors’ mentality and eclectic interests.
• Be willing and competent to deal with items for which they have no interest.
• Understand value and money and the difference between them.
• Be willing to buy, fix up and sell.
• Be comfortable negotiating price and loan terms.
• Be tactful and firm with customers who disagree.
• Be comfortable in a cluttered environment.
• Be able to manage inventory.
• Be organized enough to adhere to all the regulations and compliance that surround the business.

You’ll want to already have many of these characteristics, not just be willing to acquire them because ‘pawning is big, right now’.

Price of Admission

Pawning is highly regulated. Varying by state, you’ll need to obtain or have a:

• Banking and lending license.
• Second hand dealers license (Or Precious metals license)
• Pawnbrokers license
• FFL if you’re buying/selling guns.
• Large positive net worth.

You’ll be subject to extensive criminal background checks to obtain the licenses, above. And a large positive net worth is required to fund the beginning inventory of gold and silver. Pawn brokers give loans, they don’t get them.

Security

For this pure cash business security is a major concern complicated by customers needing close up access to gold and silver items. On one episode, Cory refers to the number of employees working at the shop and it was more than I expected. I’ll bet some of those folks are needed for extra security.

Related Possibilities

No need to be the owner. You could also be:

• An employee.
• A consultant appraiser in the area of your expertise.
• A restorer.

Pawn Shop +

If pawn shops become the new hub for consumer credit then why not make it a fun gathering place? Rent Movies, Instruments, serve coffee, provide web access, whatever.

I hesitate to recommend Check Cashing, Payroll Loans and Car Title Loans because they have a reputation for taking advantage of people when they’re down. If you can provide these services, fairly, then they wouldn’t require any more infrastructure or regulatory hoops than you’ve already taken on for your pawn business.

Also, a pawn shop could have a coin shop, and vice versa. Pawn & Coin or Coins & Pawn is a natural combination.

Beauty’s in the Eye of the Gold

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but, all you have time for is the gold. If you add coin shop services then deal in bullion only. If people bring in collectible coins give them a fair offer on the bullion content only. They’ll get the picture and you’ll bypass the hassles and risks of collectible coins.

Parting Facts & Words

• Pawning is a multi billion dollar business with some 125,000 shops in US and several traded public companies.
• The National Pawnbrokers Association says the average loan is $80 and that most customers are employed.
• Customers tend to be primarily men, homeowners around 35 years of age that need quick money because they have no line of credit.
• Not all pawn shops sell guns due to the additional burdens of the FFL license and paperwork required.

Pawn shops are getting busy partly due to the TV show and mostly because people need them to supply credit. Banks aren’t lending, credit cards are maxed out and millions are out of work for the foreseeable future.

If you’ve exhausted your options (See competition section above) and can save bank fees, eviction, payroll or getting the heat shut off then, by all means, at least pawn shop loans are based on real goods.

For those vetting the pawn business, however, more customers don’t necessarily mean more profit. If new pawn customers default on their loans it leaves behind a pile of stuff. If nobody wants, or can afford, that stuff then the pawn shop just becomes a huge repository of unsaleable junk.

That’s not the kind of bubble you’ll need to be a Pawn Star.

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1. Use iTunes to find the podcast version of your show. Almost every show worth listening to has one (If you haven’t checked, lately, check again).
2. Subscribe to the podcast on both your computer and phone.
3. On the iPhone there’s an option to listen at double speed built-in to the ipod player. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to listen at twice the speed. Within one minute you’ll swear you’re listening at normal speed.
4. Use VLC on the MAC or Windows Media Player on the PC to playback at whatever speed you want (See technical details, below).
5. Skip the commercials by dragging the playback bar with your thumb or the mouse. The number of minutes to skip becomes predictable after a while.

Ok, now you’re listening whenever you want, wherever you want, at double speed and skipping commercials. But, you can do even better than that!

On a three hour road trip, yesterday, I listened to 13 hours of programming in three hours. More accurately, I listened to the best parts of the shows that were interesting, skipped entire shows that were duds and had alternatives ready to go to make the most of the drive time. More on that, and DoubleSpeed playback details, below.

No Podcast? Don’t Listen

Really. Anyone worth listening to has a podcast. If they don’t (And you must) do a quick web search on the show in question. You’ll find the best parts have been captured and distilled into short YouTube or MP3 segments. Listen to a few 10 minute clips, at most, and you’ll hear the best parts of the show.

Skip Shows, Skip Topics

If the theme or subject of the day’s show doesn’t interest you, skip it. Be brutal. Same goes for topics within a show. We’re talking about your precious time, here. This seems obvious, but, it’s more subtle than that. You may feel a certain comfort or loyalty to a radio show and listen even when you’re not interested in the day’s subject. You’ll find it easier to skip the show, altogether, if you . . .

Have Alternatives Ready to Go

There’s a lot of interesting people and ideas competing for your listening time, nowadays. The good ones can improve your life with the turn of a phrase or the way they frame an idea or its context. Be on the lookout for your optimal talk radio sources. Download them and have them ready to go in case one of your favorites is a dud for the day.

Silence (& Audio books) are Golden

My car radio was stolen in 1995. I never replaced it until buying a new car in 2000. In the meantime I listened exclusively to audio books or to nothing, at all. Half the time it was nothing, at all. It was heaven. The best ‘talk’ radio may be ‘thought’ radio.

If you want some company try an audio book. Most of human history has been knowledge transfer by spoken word. When it comes to learning from others books and movies are comparative adolescents. In contrast to talk radio the author of an audio book. has distilled the essence of their proposed wisdom into the spoken word. That’s light years beyond random talk.

DoubleSpeed Playback Details

MAC

iTunes won’t playback at different speeds. Download VLC and use it to playback the iTunes source files at "\user_name\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Podcasts\Show_name\podcast_name.mp3".

PC

Use Windows Media Player and right click the play button and select “Fast Playback”. The files are located in "C:\Documents and Settings\user.name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts\podcast_show_name\podcast_file.mp3".

iPhone

Built-in functionality on the native ipod player.

Treo, Tilt, etc.

Not sure. Use search terms "DoubleSpeed playback ‘platform’" to find instructions.

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Naturally, there’s a folder in the filing cabinet for most things and vendors. But, 99% of the time all I need to pay a bill, upgrade software, fix the A/C, renew a subscription, cancel a service, etc. is contained in the contact notes. And, since contacts are synced everywhere I can access them from anywhere enabling me to take action from wherever I happen to be.

When it comes time to sell, ask for help or turnover over the management of an item the contact has all the relevant details. A quick read brings anyone up to date.

Why the Notes Section?

I tried using other fields, but, it made it too complicated to share between people and applications. Now, the only standard contact fields I use are Name, Address, Phone #s, Email, Web address, Company and Title. Everything else is input in the free form notes section of the contact.

Most Objects Have Vendors

Surprisingly, almost every object or thing is associated with a vendor. Therefore, I found that all the fields needed to track vendors can be used to track almost any object, as well.

My Template or Roll Your Own

Through experience I’ve discovered there’s about 35 things I may need to know about an object to perform most tasks that involves it. In practice, only 10-15 of these are needed for any given item although I keep the rest in to help my eye locate fields, quickly.

When a new contact is created I cut/paste the 35 fields (See below) into the notes section and fill out the ones applicable to the item. Feel free to use my template, roll your own or even keep it free form. The idea is to keep everything you need to know about an item to perform work about it, at your fingertips.

Powerful Benefits

1. Synced Everywhere – Contacts (And Calendars) in most software are the most likely to be synced across the web, multiple computers and your phone. Data stored in one of these structures is usually available everywhere you are. You probably won’t need to purchase new software.
2. Enables Action – Most actions revolve around objects, things and vendors. Having the details at your fingertips for everything in your life eliminates the prime reason for not taking action: Having to find supporting materials.
3. Enables Delegation – I used to avoid asking for help to avoid having to list the 20 things people need to know to perform the action I needed help with. Having a contact with all the relevant data about every object in your life makes delegation a breeze. The contact is updated with every transaction. When you need help just forward it and ask for help. Ask the person to update the contact, as needed, and forward it back to you when they’re done.
4. Capture Process & Procedures – Voice mail access/shortcuts, directions to the mailbox, directions to a store, web menu navigation, who you last talked with and what happened, what are the usual procedures that happen around this object or vendor? Why be forced to rediscover this info every time you deal with the vendor? Why be forced to write down directions or access instructions every time you need help? Also, If you delegate a task involving the item then the person who help you has a place to capture process and procedures.
5. Enables Turnover – When it’s time to turn over the management of an object, thing or vendor you’ll be very glad to have all the relevant information and history in a simple contact you can attach to an e-mail.

Pointers to Physical Locations

Most items have a physical location or a folder in the filing cabinet associated with them. These locations don’t change often and rarely need to be accessed. However, if their location changes update the field in your contact. It will greatly assist in delegating and turning over the management of the item. It will also keep you from procrastinating should the folder be required to perform the next action.

Search Tags

I recommend putting search tags in each contact for two reasons:

1. They help find an object or vendor when you can’t remember its name. Just search by keyword to find the item.
2. They enable grouping items by keywords since most software will search and group by any text in the notes field of a contact.

For instance, every contact related to flying has the word ‘pilot’ in the notes of the contact. When focusing on that aspect of my life I can search for all contacts containing that keyword. Clever use of keywords enables some incredible uses. If you were to put keywords in each contact relating to Project, Role, Area of Focus, Entity, Responsibility etc., then you could spontaneously group all contacts:

• Tied to a credit card that’s about to expire.
• Whose address has to be changed if a business address is changed.
• Related to my search for land in Wyoming.
• Related to my role as a father.
• Related to my rental house on Main street.

No need to go overboard; keep it simple. But, you can get a lot of bang out of the two seconds it takes to put a keyword in a contact.

Tracking Them Tracking You

More often than not you need to be more organized than the vendors you employ. When one of your search tags, above, shows a vendor who tracks you by a certain address you need to have that address in the contact you keep on them. You don’t need to put your full address, credit card, etc., just an abbreviation for it.

Also, the Journal History may help navigate the internal processes of a vendor, if needed. For instance, if you’re trying to obtain service it’s better to say, "I spoke to Bill Myers on 4/3/09 and he told me to call back, today, and ask for Nancy if the rebate was not received" than to say, "I forget when I called or who I spoke to, but, still haven’t received anything in the mail".

Keep it Secure and Updated

Techniques that optimize action tend to consolidate data. Protecting access to your contacts is urgent if you use this method of tracking objects & vendors.

Make sure to keep the contact updated, regularly. Type in a few words in the Journal History section each time an action is performed.

Track Objects & Vendors, not Projects

I once tried to use contacts to manage projects. It didn’t work because it overloads the notes section of the contact. It’s best to use contacts to manage the objects that projects revolve around. Consider using a separate contact to track the following items:

Software, vendors, bank accounts, web ids, voice mail instructions, magazine subscriptions, websites, guns, air conditioner, appliances, phones, cell phone, light bulbs, batteries taken by alarms, web subscriptions, Organization affiliations, Camcorder, camera, certifications, car, cable, internet provider, Costco card, voice mail instructions, utilities, car insurance, rental house contacts/crucial info, copier/printer, etc..

My Template

Whenever a new object, thing or vendor enters your life create a new contact and Cut & Paste this little template into the notes section of the contact. Put the Name, address, phone and e-mail of the contact in the normal fields for the contact. Then, quickly scan the template fields and fill in whatever you think will be needed to track the item.

As payments, transactions, name changes occur take a few seconds to update the contact notes. Just a few words in the Journal History can be a lifesaver when coming back up to speed on an item.

As mentioned, the template, below, is what I use, personally. Feel free to create your own or use no template, at all. Whatever keeps the right data at your fingertips and equips you for action is the best solution.

——Paste template, below this line, into notes section of the contact——-

Search Tags: [Put text here to enable you to find this contact]

Shared Drive Location(s): [Path on computer to directory or files about this object]
Physical File Location(s): [Name of reference folder in filing cabinet, Any applicable physical storage area]

Type: [Object, vendor, website, service, utility, etc.]
Services: [brief description of what this object does]

Info this contact has on Us: [How does vendor track you, what have you told them?]
Account #: [What is this vendors acct# for you]
Userid: [login or otherwise]
Password:
Entity:[Is this account with you or with an entity?]
Name: [What name do they have, if any?]
Address:
phone:
e-mail: [E-mail used by vendor to contact you]
spoken password:
credit card on file:

Method of Payment: Text
Entity who Pays:
Bank Account:
Automated?:
Frequency:
Amt. Due:
Date Due:

Info Unique to this Contact:
Serial #:
SKU #:
Model #:
Where Purchased?:
Order #:

Vendor Provides Multiple Services?
Vendor Has More Than one Primary Product:
Who do we talk to at this company?

Procedure(s):
To Pay Vendor:
To Change Address:
To Add Services:
To Cancel Account:
To Use Product/Service:

Journal History: [Brief description of your last interaction/transaction]"

——Paste template, above this line, into notes section of the contact——

Example Contact

Note how many of the fields, below, are not even filled out for this piece of software. That’s because those fields aren’t needed to manage the item. The idea is to keep it as simple as possible. I rarely fill out every field. However, using the full template for each item enables my eye to locate fields, quickly.

Search Tags: Omnifocus, GTD, Task Manager, MAC

Shared Drive Location(s): \Applications\Omnifocus, \date\path\here
Physical File Location(s): None, downloaded from web

Type: vendor
Services: software task manager for MAC based on GTD system

Info this contact has on Us:
Account #: OS6465738
Userid: none created yet
Password:
Entity: LLC
Name: My Name
Address: My Address for credit card purchase
phone: My Phone for credit card purchase
e-mail: My e-mail
spoken password: none
credit card on file: LLC Credit Card # Here

Method of Payment: LLC Credit Card
Entity who Pays: LLC
Bank Account: LLC account
Automated?: N/A
Frequency: N/A
Amt. Due: $79 one time purchase
Date Due: N/A

Info Unique to this Contact:
Vendor Provides Multiple Services? Multiple Omni software packages
Vendor Has More Than one Primary Product: omni graffle, sketcher, outliner
Who do we talk to at this company? web purchase only

Licence key = xaoe-4536-axeu-2563-oex5

Procedure(s):N/A
To Pay Vendor:
To Change Address:
To Add Services: www.webaddress_here.com
To Cancel Account:
To Use Product/Service:

Journal History:
Downloaded 14 day trial on 5/1/2010
purchased on 5/14/10, order id=OS6465738, received license key above
input license key into product and activated successfully

Simple and Powerful

Having the relevant data on hand for every object, thing and vendor in my life has been amazingly empowering. I’ve been able to accomplish things while traveling, avoid the hassles of finding support materials before taking action, take simple actions in time to avoid penalties and even turnover intractable admin tasks, as a result.

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Bill Black, law and economcs professor at the University of Missouri, and former bank regulator, provides an inspiring example:

Question all premises, speak truth to ‘power’, explain details with Joy, Celebrate good works . . . .even if performed amidst a den of thieves.

If this is what Bill (Eventually) testified before congress imagine what went on behind the scenes that we’ll never fully learn about. . .

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