Creating a Business Plan

Sorry for the absence, Dear Reader, but I saw this TED conference and decided that I needed to keep some information for myself until I got going on it.

Basically the idea is that if you have something you want to accomplish, you should keep quiet on it and just do it because the mere act of talking about it gives your brain a feeling of accomplishment, as if you had already achieved your goal. Once you have that feeling you get lazy.

True true. I started thinking back to when I felt REALLY creative and productive. And then I realized it was when I was young(er) and single and had nothing to do but DO things--and no one to tell about it.

Not saying anything leaves you in that terrible state of inner tension until you actually accomplish the goal.

Difference? Talk about it? You don't do it. Shut up about it? You get things done.

Now, I did not see this video yesterday. I saw it many months ago, so I may have even talked about it with you. Anyhow, this is another reason for my silence. I had a lot to think about.

I told you at one point I had a great entrepreneurial idea. Well now I am working on that more. I have changed it a lot since I started thinking about it and am writing a business plan. If you have never done one of these, I highly recommend it. There are few opportunities in your life where you are forced to think about an action you are about to undertake from so many different angles.

In fact, I think couples should be encouraged to write a business plan before taking the plunge. Just think how many divorces would be avoided by having to talk about the advantages, disadvantages, hopes, dreams, growth plan, and numbers, before signing by the x.

I may bring it up to hubby. It's not a bad idea as we go into our tenth year.

An oldie but a goodie

I started to miss this blog today. And here is the article that made me miss it. I blogged this about a year ago. I found it today while I was looking for a place to save an English placement test (zzz) on an old flash drive. It is inspiring me to get going again. Here it is.

LESSONS FROM A HIGH EARNER INTERVIEW ONE

 

One of my private students has a very high position at one of the companies I teach at. We have a good relationship and I decided to pick his brain about what it takes to become rich. Here is the advice he gave me.

 

First, “You are not the money-making type”.

Thanks. This is not a great start. Then, “if you want to become rich, choose a profession where you can work under the table, or get a real job. We are in Italy, the taxes are too high to be an independent professional. But if you want to work independently, at least write off everything you can.”

 

Q:Trust fund or real estate for your kids?

A:In Italy young people are helped by their parents, there are no trust funds, and if you want one you need to get it in Switzerland. We don’t use them here in Italy.

 

Q:Do you invest?

A:No. I don’t spend money. I don’t go on expensive vacations, I live simply. I bought my apartment. When I had more money, I bought the apartment below mine. When I had more money I bought my son a 250 m2 apartment downtown. He is a very lucky 28 year old.

 

Q:Did you take out a loan?

A:No. I only pay for things in cash. I don’t like to have debts.

 

Q:How do you pass the value of money on to your children?

A:It is normal for our children to live a privileged life when they are young. They do not appreciate the sacrifices made by their parents to give them a better future. My hope is that when my sons are older, they will understand the value of money. My older son is already starting to understand. He is working and knows first-hand what it is like to work a lot for very little. My sons have seen my wife and my way of life. We are not extravagant people. 

 

They could never understand where I come from. I was one of five brothers in a very poor family. My mother did not work and I still marvel at how she managed to feed all of us.

 

Q:Where are you the most extravagant?

A: I grew up in a situation where it was not possible to take a hot shower every day. Hot water was rationed and my mother was very careful about how long we were allowed to be in there in order to make sure there was water for everyone. Now I take LONG HOT showers, I waste water, it is my one extravagance. Long and hot showers.

 

Q:Regrets?

A: I have many regrets in my life. Most of all, I feel that I have lived too little. But I have taken care of my family, and as a man from the south, that is important to me.

 

Q: Does money buy happiness?

A: No, but it buys you the things that buy you happiness. That’s not a very nice thing to say, I realize that.

 

 

Do it for someone else if that's what it takes

Today I got up 30 minutes earlier so I could run 15 minutes. Which is a long time, considering I hadn't done it in a long time (I hadn't blogged either, or done many other healthy things besides work).

I did it because a friend told me that he has severely high blood pressure and that the doctor told him he has the body of a 70-year-old (and he is younger than me). Now, I know you can pray for other people, but I am not really the type. Can you run for people? I told him I would, starting today (which was called tomorrow when I said it). The idea was that he would do something today also, like walking (which is what his doctor told him to do to get started).

Then I looked at Luna, my old lady dog. She probably has the body of a 70-year-old too (she's 8). So I made her come with me. She did a good job. So did I.

And now I feel happy and will have a cup of coffee.

CHANNEL YOUR INNER GAGA

Today's topic is adult bullying.

I was feeling pretty optimistic a couple of months ago that bullies were finally getting knocked out of their positions of power one by one because of the economy. My reasoning was that when there's no more money it's harder to give favors, and when times are tough, people start checking things a bit closer and nasty secrets come to the surface. After all, there are two things that Bullies, as a rule, do not like: when the money runs out, and negative publicity. So, after they run their associations into the ground, they leave and look for a new association to ruin (one thing Bullies really like: being on "the Board"). 

The Bully is a spiteful beast, however, and does any number of things to try to block new people from doing the right thing, so there is generally a lag time between when the Bully leaves your association and when you can actually move on with your life. Our Bully's bitter ghost is still with us, unfortunately. (Question to our Bully: Why not get a life?)

In Trieste, it seemed like we were finally making some headway into cleaning up some old institutions which had picked up Bullies along the way (they snake their way onto Boards when times are good). In the local non-profit world, at least four historic associations changed management because of economic problems and the resulting publicity (see paragraph one). To this I say, in Triestine dialect: "Nova scopa scopa ben."

But this week I am worried about students and employees at the University of Trieste. That place makes Goldman Sachs look like a nunnery. You want Corruption? You want abuse of power? You want Bullying? If you do a little fact checking, you will see that Trieste is a small world, and the names are always the same. So is the behavior. Bullies work with threats and fear.   

Lady Gaga was bullied when she was a kid so she created a foundation to empower young people. I just joined it. Will it lead to more kindness in the world? I don't know. What I DO know is that blowing the whistle on corruption and questioning authority when it is  (they are?) clearly NOT ACTING IN THE BEST INTEREST OF STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES, STAKEHOLDERS, THE GREATER GOOD, takes a lot of courage, and most people do not have enough of it.

To those people trying to do the right thing, I implore you to CHANNEL YOUR INNER GAGA. 

To the Bullies: you jerky adults who throw your (literally significant) weight around,  have your lawyer friends send scarey letters with big words, make secret calls to rally your friends or victims against those you feel threatened by, and scare people so you can get your own way or make them suffer  (see  this article for a fine example), you probably get what you want. 

But nobody likes you. 

There. 

Working on a Plan for the Future

Well, at the Association we paid off our debts on January 31st, just like we planned. Next on the list was to get the carpet cleaned (I vacuumed it today, but you can't really tell, that's how gross it is) and, while we're at it, do a DEEP CLEAN, as in have a company come in and do it like they mean it (these are the people that go into restaurants and clean deep fryers and things, so I figured they would be up to the job). Well, a very nice guy named Enrico came to look at the place and advised us to just cover the carpet with something else. He said he was even afraid to clean it! Hmmm. Sounds expensive. I'm waiting for his estimate.

In the meantime, I decided to put together a little DREAM TEAM to help make some decisions for the short-medium-long term of the Association. I think I mentioned that I'm not sure what to do now that I'm not putting out little fires all the time, and business reasoning says "When you don't have anything better to do, FORM A COMMITTEE!!" so that's what I did. I want us to put together a Mission Statement and then get to making a long-term Business Plan. 
I gathered some of our veteran volunteers. These are the people who keep coming back for more, who like us for some reason, and we like them. Then I grabbed a couple of people I thought might like to become volunteers (I can spot them) and who have something special to bring to the group, like creativity or math skills.

We have met twice now and I am amazed at how fast things are changing for the better as a result of putting this group together. We are all feeding off each other's (others' ?) energy. All these great ideas are coming out and I have a new love for this place and for the people in it. So committees aren't all that bad.

The key is that meetings are once a week for one hour. Any more than that would be too much. An hour leaves you feeling like anything is possible.

First on the agenda: make this place look friendlier, get it cleaned, de-clutter. So every day I am trying to do something to that end in 15 minutes or less. I have been making big piles of papers to recycle, floppy disks, cassette tapes, all kinds of crap. Some angel(s) keeps lugging them down to the garbage/recycle bins for me. The place is starting to look decent and I feel enormous satisfaction. I also found 2 fax machines, 2 printers, an old telephone, about a million rulers, boxes of paper clips, etc. I created an old appliance grave yard in the back room and will eventually take that stuff to the dump.

Little by little we're shaping this place up, and the best part is we're ALL doing it together, which feels a lot nicer than doing it alone or with one other person. Phyoo. I feel lighter.

The other great news is that we have really gotten a lot of members this year. We had 340 last year and our outrageous goal for this year was 600. I can't believe we are already on 567!! The reason we chose 600 as a goal was because that would be enough to pay for our American Film Series without having to tap into funds from our classes. Our goal was to make that series independent. We may just get our wish. It's really incredible when I think about it. Wow.

So that's it for now. More updates soon.

Ps.
This t-shirt cracks me up (thanks PH) and for some reason I thought it would illustrate this post perfectly but I lost my train of thought as to why.

Lets's just call it my geeky gift of the day for you. You're welcome!

Good News for the Next Two Years

THIS never happens in Italy, but one part of the taxes I pay, which is a 20% tax for (???) is going down to 5% for the next two years until I can no longer take advantage of my independent tax regime for less than 30,000 euros (gross). After that I have to go into a regular Partita IVA regime or close it and get a real job. A really nice accountant I have recently met (and one of my Business English students-- teaching has its advantages!) is going to sit down with me this week and give me all the deets on the old regime, the new one, and what happens when I can't use it anymore.

I look at it this way. I have two years to think about how to get filthy-ass rich.

Any ideas?