Life Lessons I Learned While Delivering Newspapers

Warning: This is a bit of a rant. If you are sensitive to cuss words, I suggest you don’t read. Are the cuss words really needed? Yes. Because society as a whole needs to get its head out of its ass.

• There are always people who are currently in more dire situations than you may ever be in. Make the most of what you have.
• Potential is a terrible thing to waste. Do something with it or else you’ll end up in a less than desirable situation.
• People in less than desirable situations make the most out of it, try to enjoy themselves, and survive however they can. People who value “things” more than connections, should re-evaluate their priorities.
• All what people in less than desirable situations are looking for are opportunities to provide for themselves and their families. It’s up to the more fortunate to provide these opportunities.
• Unfortunately, some companies take extreme advantage of this and legally get away with it.
• Desperate times really do lead to desperate measures.
• “Good” people often find themselves in difficult situations. Bad luck doesn’t discriminate.
• Everyone has their own agenda and reasoning behind their actions.
• We, as a society, put money up on a pedestal. Instead of focusing on making more, we should focus on being content on what we already have.
• Not everyone has a computer at home. Be fuckin thankful for your lap top, Playstation 3, iPod, and iPhone. These are privileges. YOU AREN’T ENTITLED TO SHIT. Earn your own damn way. Take responsibility.
• People work at all kinds of hours and days. There is no such thing as a “day off” when you deliver papers. Same goes for holidays. Be thankful that you have every holiday off from work that you do.
• There are other ways of making money besides trading your time for it.
• Attitude is everything and greatly influences every situation.
• Everything has at least two different perspectives behind it.
• If you have a home, be fuckin thankful. If you have some source of income, stop bitching about how “tough” you have it. Someone else will gladly take your job. If you are fortunate enough to be surrounded by friends and family that love you, what more could you want or need?
• Learn to be content with your situation, no matter how “dire” it may seem to you. Put things into perspective and remember that others have it way worse than you.
• Be kind to EVERYONE that you come across. Treat everyone as a fuckin human being regardless of their job title. People aren’t “dishwashers” or “cheap farm labor;” they’re PEOPLE. A nice gesture or a genuine smile can make someone’s week. These simple, yet powerful interactions are unfortunately extremely under-rated these days.
• If you’re still unappreciative of all that you have, I recommend that you spend a month delivering newspapers for below minimum wage.

What Does it Mean to “Be Realistic?”

I’m trying something new starting today! Instead of numbering each Thought-Provoking Question of the Day, the subject will be the actual TPQD. This will hopefully cut down on the monotony of generic topic titles…

Today’s thought-provoking question of the day is:

• What does it mean to be “realistic?”

There is no such thing as being “realistic.” It’s just an excuse. An excuse to not step out of your comfort zone, to conform even though you don’t know why, and it’s an excuse to give up on your dreams. Screw that noise. We only have one life and it scares me shitless to think that I’m wasting just  a minute of it. I want to add value to the world instead of money in some corporation’s bank. I want to live a life where I make my own rules and I want to help you do the same!

Helpful Post of the Day #10

The Helpful Post of the Day will involve helpful quotes, articles, pictures, and other stuff that I found interesting or helpful in some kind of way.

Today’s Helpful Post of the Day:

The Rise of the Micro-Entrepreneurship Economy It’s a great article written by Jamie Wong which explores the “new” way that you can make a living; by becoming a Micro Entrepreneur. The goal of the Micro Business Kid is to help you do just that…it’s like this article and I were meant for each other!

TPQD #9

Today’s thought-provoking question of the day is:

• Why do we categorize people and things?

I think it has something to do with fear. We fear things that we don’t know or are unfamiliar with so we put them in the same group as things we are familiar with so we are less scared of them.

Business Really IS All About Who You Know

You’ve probably heard the cliché, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Well…there is a great deal of truth behind that.

Being knowledgeable on a certain subject is required but that knowledge alone will only get you so far. If you’re a complete jerk, no one will want to deal with you. That means no customers, no business-to-business relations, and no other opportunities to expand your business. Why is customer service so important? Because if no one wants to buy from you, your business will quickly go out of business.

In today’s modern age where a lot of people are involved in social networks, these relationships are more important now more than ever.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the greatest business person in the world. Such a title is only for people who like to toot their own horns. As long as I can create worthwhile relationships through my businesses, add value to the lives of others, and earn enough compensation so I don’t have to depend on someone else for a paycheck, that’s enough for me.

The following examples are not made to brag or boast, but to show you how beneficial being on social networks can be to your business. Please note that these experiences come from our family business being on Tumblr. There will be lots of links to people and businesses that I’ve met on this social network. For full disclosure, there are no incentives for me to include them on this list. There probably will be a few people/businesses that I miss, but this will hopefully give you a good idea about why being on social networks is so important!

Also note that a lot of these are business contacts but have also turned out to be great friends as well.

• We met Taryn from ToughLove MPD. She does hair and make-up and was very kind to offer to do our first photo shoot for our clothing line.

 

• Braulio at Braxen Photography is our other photographer.

• Jack and Sean did some design work for us.
• Dylan was my editor on my old blog.
• Tommy from Australia has a cool clothing company and we discuss clothing and apparel from time to time.
• Josh who recently started his own business, Wayward Spirit, came out of nowhere one day and offered his thoughts on our store layout and we’ve been friends since.
• Keith at Venturi Moto is a really cool guy from Ohio and we’ve helped each other out on the business side of things.
• Jim at MotoDude is another cool guy who’s into vintage motorcycles and apparel. We’ve bounced back a few ideas.
• Carlos and the Foundry MC are a motorcycle club in Barcelona, Spain and we share similar insights on life and motorcycles.
• Nick is a great friend who I started the World Riders Network with.
• Tom is an awesome blacksmith in London and we talk about motorcycles, life, and business a lot.
• The dudes at Adventure Prone are kind of nuts but we’re glad to call them friends.
• Justin is another awesome blacksmith who runs Fusion Metal Crafters out of California. Even offered me a place to stay if I’m ever in the area.
• Through Justin, we met the guys at & Work Apparel. We may have a business relationship with them in the future.
• Aaron is a cool guy from Hawaii who we might work with on a cool business project in the future.
• Nimi is the guy behind Pato Loco Surf & Speed. We used to have a business relationship with him, but we took our business in a different direction shortly after we started it. He’s still a cool guy and we stay in touch.
• Garage Project Motorcycles are a motorcycle shop in Australia who we talk to about vintage bikes from time to time.We’re a huge fan of theirs.
• Adam and Untitled Motorcycles are a custom vintage BMW shop in London. Nice machines and even nicer people.
• Clark at Monster Parts is another great business contact we’ve made.

If we never started our Tumblr about a year ago, these contacts and others, would have never been made. So if you’d like to get started making contacts yourself, I’d highly recommend reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith first. Then check out Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, and TheFancy and see which would be a great fit for you and your business!

61 Ways to Ensure that You Live a Miserable Existence

Do the following and you’ll be sure to lead a miserable, unfulfilled life!

 

1. Settle.
2. Stay in a miserable relationship because you’ve settled, don’t like confrontation, and/or don’t want to hurt the other person.
3. Let someone else manage your money.
4. Never take responsibility for the bad things that happen to you.
5. Depend on someone else for your income.
6. Take out lots of student loans because “everyone is doing it.”
7. Conform.
8. Never read books.
9. Go to work, eat dinner, watch, tv, sleep, repeat.
10. Say you always want to do something but never actually try to do it.
11. Know that you should eat healthier and should exercise more but keep on eating fast food and sitting on the couch.
12. Let fear control your life.
13. Use money you don’t have to buy things that you don’t actually need.
14. Keep working at a dead-end job that you hate so you have money to pay off your debt and pay for things you don’t actually need.
15. Let advertisements control your emotions and cash flow.
16. Never question authority.
17. Depend on someone or something else for your happiness.
18. Never chase your dreams.
19. Never talk to that attractive girl or guy.
20. Never try something new.
21. Never have your own opinion.
22. Do everything that the guy on Mad Money tells you to do.
23. Believe everything the media tells you.
24. Talk about changing but never change.
25. Talk about starting your own business but never do so.
26. Say you never have time but never actually try to make more time.
27. Being more concerned about others’ decisions instead of your own.
28. Accept answers such as “because I say so” or “because that’s the way it’s always been done.”
29. Never leave your comfort zone.
30. Feel sorry for yourself.
31. Let your emotions get the best of you.
32. Give up.
33. Marry for money.
34. Don’t have any goals.
35. Don’t travel.
36. Be close-minded.
37. Think you’ve “finally made it” and quit working hard.
38. Compare your life to others.
39. Think you’re not good enough.
40. Be an attention whore.
41. Never save money for a rainy day.
42. Never try to learn another language.
43. Think you can just do it tomorrow.
44. Never prioritize.
45. Stop learning.
46. Stop being curious.
47. Never question others’ intentions.
48. Gossip.
49. Be around people who are negative and bring you down.
50. Sleep all day.
51. Worry about what others think of you.
52. Never volunteer or donate money.
53. Hold grudges.
54. Work ALL the time.
55. Don’t spend a lot of time with friends or family.
56. Put money before relationships.
57. Don’t spend some time by yourself.
58. Don’t meditate.
59. Don’t reflect or evaluate good and bad decisions.
60. Don’t learn how to cook.
61. Make money your number one priority.

Feel free to add anything to the list!

 

Thought-Provoking Question of the Day #8

Today’s thought-provoking question of the day is:

• Why do most people in first-world countries work 40 hours a week for basically 40 years?

I think it’s because they aren’t aware of the opportunities that are actually available to them. We’ve been brainwashed to do well in school, get a degree, get a well-paying job, get married, have kids, retire, and die. That’s the old-school way of thinking. There is no such thing as job security anymore. There are ways around earning money legally than working for The Man.

If this doesn’t make you want to get off your ass and explore and do something with your life, I don’t know what will! 180 South is also available to watch on NetFlix and I highly recommend that you do so!

5 Micro Businesses You Could Start Today…With No Prior Experience

I’m always coming up with and searching for new ways to earn some money. Sometimes a lot of great ideas hit me all at once and other times, I’m at a stand-still in the creativity department. Fortunately for you and I, I’ve come up with some good ones lately that I’m going to pursue further. Remember that micro businesses are businesses that are purposely only 1-5 employees large to keep things simple.

If you’re stuck with coming up with ideas, hopefully these will inspire you. If you still can’t come up with anything, you’re totally more than welcome to pursue these ideas for yourself!

1. Grocery Delivery Service.

• Buying groceries is something that a lot of people do weekly. It can be pretty tedious, monotonous, and time-consuming especially if you have a large family. This service would be perfect to offer to elderly people who have difficulty moving around, a professional who is always working, and for stressed out parents who want one less thing on their plate.
• I did a little research and found this site for my area. With rates like that, the potential to make money is there but their rates are too complicated and a bit annoying….a turn off for potential customers. So lets say you charge a flat rate of $25/delivery…you go shopping once a week for this person so you earn $100/month for each customer. Have 10 customers and you can make $1,000/month. The great thing is that you could bundle the deliveries together and go shopping for multiple customers all at once. Let’s say you can fill up half a cart per customer and can push around 2 carts at once. You could technically shop for 4 customers within a certain time frame. So for that time plus delivery time, you could earn $100 just like that.
• You could post an ad on Craigslist which points potential customers to a website where it tells them more about your services. For the elderly customers who may not have internet access, you could hand out flyers in your neighborhood.
• You could offer an initial free one-hour consultation to possibly create a shopping list with the customer, find out any food allergies, or even create a list that is full of healthier options.
• I would stick to grocery stores at first but you could also offer shopping and delivery services for member wholesale stores at a different rate. This would add value to the customer as they would not have to pay for a membership to these stores!

2. Package Pick-up and Drop-off

• With our family business, I go to the Post Office at least twice a week. During the busy months, I may go 5 days a week, twice a day. By going so often, I know how long it can take to wait in line. I also know how impatient some people can get. Basically what you could do is pick up packages from homes or businesses, find out how the customer would like it shipped and if they’d like any added services like tracking and delivery confirmation, and wait in line and drop off the packages to be shipped. It doesn’t matter if you don’t use these services very often as the learning curve isn’t that big to get started.
• You will want to check with the Post Office and other courier services if something like this is legal as there may be national security concerns involved.
• This service is great for busy people, people who work 9-5 where most Post Offices are open 8:30-5:30, elderly people without means of transportation, small business owners who don’t have the time, ability, or man power to wait in line, among others.
• You can offer these services on Craigslist with a link to a website and offer a free initial consultation. You can also post flyers in your neighborhood, go to small businesses, or join your local Chamber of Commerce and find potential businesses who could use your services there
• You can charge a flat fee, a charge per package, or different charges for domestic and international shipments. You do need to fill out customs forms for international shipments.
• You can offer added services such as actually packing the packages, dealing with possible lost packages, and figuring out the logistics so things arrive on time.

3.  Dog Walking

• If you enjoy being around pets, this could be a great possibility. If you have a dog and already walk it, you could walk it while you walk a customer’s dog as well and make some money while you do something you’d do anyways.
• This service would be perfect to offer to the elderly, busy professionals who work all day, parents who are busy, people who are away on vacation, and others. Basically, anyone who has a dog but is away from home all day.
• I did some research and found out that you could make anywhere from $15-25/hr walking a dog. If you walk a dog for an hour/5 days a week, you could earn $75-$125 a week/dog or $300-$500/month. Do this with 5 dogs and you could make $1,500-$2,500/month. If schedules permit and the dogs all get along, you could walk multiple dogs at the same time.
• Post ads on Craigslist with a link to a website that shows your services. You can also post flyers around your neighborhood or around dog parks.
• You could offer added services such as taking the dog to the dog park, dog beach, vet, or groomers.

4. Referring Sports

• If you have some sort of interest in a certain sport, played a certain sport growing up, and/or know the rules, you could become a referee.
• Growing up playing soccer, I realized that refs were in high demand but we would always have the same ones. There was such a shortage that the leagues encouraged us to become refs when we were about 13 to ref younger kids.
• Making judgements solely on information from youth soccer leagues in my area, you can make $12-15/game refereeing a 6-year old soccer game which lasts 40 minutes or so. You can probably ref 3-4 games a day depending on how big the league is, number of refs available, etc. The competition level will also vary the pay. The older and more competitive the kids, the more you could be paid per game
• Most recreational leagues have games on week nights or Saturday mornings and most competitive teams have games on Saturday mornings.
• You could also possibly ref high school or adult league games on week nights.
• Competitive adult games are usually played on Sunday mornings and you get paid well but players can lose their temper very easily and get violent quickly…I know this because I’ve played in an adult league for 2 seasons.
• Sometimes there are tournaments that last all day over the weekend. This would be a great opportunity to make lots of money.
• You do need to be certified by taking courses and have to buy a uniform and other equipment but you should be able to make back your initial investment in a weekend or two.
• For more information on becoming a soccer ref in the United States, check out this link
• For other sports and countries, you could probably use Google and find similar information.

5. Virtual Assistant

• More and more businesses need help but not necessarily a full-time employee. They also probably don’t want to pay all the benefits and taxes involved with having such an employee.
• Because of the internet, businesses can hire assistants that are located anywhere in the world and they don’t even have to ever meet face to face.
• Tasks vary from client to client. Some common tasks are giving reminders, scheduling appointments, research, and creating documents. Basically anything to assist your client as the job title suggests 🙂
• Compensation varies depending on the client and tasks involved. I’ve seen the going rate anywhere from $5-20/hr. The amount of hours and the consistency of work may vary…some clients will need you daily, some only a couple days a week, and others a couple of times a month.
• Social skills and organization would definitely be a plus for this position.
• You will hopefully create a long-term relationship with your client so make sure it’s someone you’d like to be involved with for a long time to come.
• Depending on the workload, you may be able to help multiple clients a week.
• A good place to start looking for clients who need virtual assistants would be elance.

Hopefully these micro business ideas will help you in your micro business quest. I’m looking to add a few into my business portfolio. The cool thing is that most of these are pretty flexible starting out. At the beginning it could be possible to pursue all of these at once until one or the other requires more time.

I’ll be sure to fill you in as things progress. If you decide to pursue any yourself, please let me know how things turn out for you! Are there any other micro business ideas that you can think of? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Helpful Post of the Day #9

The Helpful Post of the Day will involve helpful quotes, articles, pictures, and other stuff that I found interesting or helpful in some kind of way.

Today’s Helpful Post of the Day:

4 Favorites of Urban Inspiration as told by my friend, Kyle Bebeau from Realeyez Apparel

Creativity is something that we all have the capability to use but we may lack the inspiration to tap into it from time to time. Those sites that Kyle shares will definitely help you solve that problem. And if you don’t have that problem, there’s a bunch of really cool shit to look at.

I first met Kyle at the birth of his brand. It’s always refreshing to talk to him and hear about his vision for the brand among other things. He’s a really great guy and his line actually has some substance behind it; he wants people to realeyez.

I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with the brand or Kyle, but I’m a huge fan of the brand and have the Look, Create on Q, and Combat shirts myself. If you want to support a fellow micro business, you can get yourself a tee from Realeyez here.

TPQD #7

Today’s thought-provoking question of the day is:

• What’s something that you’ve always wanted to try or do?

I’ve always wanted to move back to Europe and explore all the different countries and cultures over there.