Glorious failure

[jlwilliams]

I've been away from the Fast lane forum for a while, and it's been an eventful time. I want to say up front, some of this update may come across as whining but not really. I've had some failures that I've learned from. I failed by taking action that didn't work out, which is way better than successfully sitting on my a$$. I've also had a few life curveballs thrown at me. Again, these things happen.

Where to begin? Ill start with a venture I wrestling with when I was spending more time online. I did a lot wrong. I spent time and money on legal services and paid for lots of things that should have taken a backseat to SELLING. I created a product that I thought was a good idea, not one that any sort of serious market analysis bore out as a good idea. I put the effort into the wrong places and was getting frustrated by the time I even started to look at what I should have been looking at, and then half assed the marketing that should have been done first. There were some things I did well, and I can still revisit those ideas later. In short, I had an ok idea that I didn't execute well. I took action, but the sequence of my actions and the focus of my efforts were not right. There for I lost. Between professional services and manufacturing my sample batch of products I burned a few grand. One lives and learns.

Around the same time and absolutely connected to my inability to keep my poop in a tightly knotted sock I had a marriage meltdown. Things got ugly. Inappropriate behavior was engaged in, accusations and recriminations were exchanged. We agreed to try counselling before going to a lawyer. I had little faith that counselling would do anything more than mediate a slightly more civilised divorce. Surprisingly enough, we got to a place where we were more or less on the same page (except for some fairly heavy issues that we still treat like an elephant in the room.) Are we better? I don't know, but we came to a common goal. We decided to hold it together, sell the house that was almost paid for, take the proceeds plus the money I had left from a successful patent and buy a house and a business in Citrus County FL. (From CT)

Then we get hit with a curveball. We get a call while we are literally in a uhaul on the highway. DCF wants us to take her daughter and both grandkids NOW or the kids go into foster care. Long story that I'm not going to share. It's ugly. Short version, we take them in and decide not to buy in FL because that's where the baby daddy is in and out of jail.

Ok, so now what. We move to NC. Nice climate. Rising economy. Seems like as good a place as any. Our housing requirements changed when the number of people in our family doubled, which shifted our cash balance. Instead of X amount to buy a house and Y amount to buy a business, way too much went into a house. Huge money got eaten up by the cost of temporary lodgings. Our business plan was to get something that wouldn't really be fastlane, but fits my wife's background and temperament. Basically a part time gig for her while I dig back into the game that spawned my successful patents. That's not looking so good now. Her aspirations in particular are taking a hit because of this. I'm a bit more nimble, but the whole fiasco is making it hard for me too.

So now what? I'm working with an older guy who has a small business that I'd like to buy and he'd like to sell. We haven't come to an agreement how that will happen, but we will. I don't know how great this business will or won't be, but I'm confident enough that I'm not walking away. One big appeal being that at its current level in its current area it generates about three days a week of actual work yielding reasonable money for that time. That leaves me with the other half of the week to get back into my old line. Again, without getting bogged down in details, it will take a while to re establish to the point where I could do just that, so buying a "part time job" business would help bridge the gap.

So the last year has been tough, but not boring. In some ways I'm better off than I was, in others I'm a little bit kicked around. The idea I was working on that I thought was a fastlane pursuit is in the ditch with the wreckage. I'm not at all ashamed of failing, because I watched other guys I know do nothing, risk nothing and learn nothing in the same time. For now I'm trying to put this deal together as a sort of bridge business. I know it's not "it" but it's income. I'm also looking at jobs. If I find something that will teach me something new I'll do it but I'm not looking for anything that involves beating my body all day at my age.

Glad to be back and grateful to be around entrepreneurs who help keep me moving even if it's only an online community. One bad thing about moving is the loss of social interaction. My friends are there and I'm here. Online community is still community.

 

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[G-Man]

Ximduni cedl. Tussz vu jies ov't ciip e suahj voni. Duphsevt up hivvoph tuni nunipvan tvesvif cedl aq.