[First off, can you believe this is an actual sign? Awesome!]

I’m sitting here with my business partner David Lano, and before I even know it I am caught in the spiraling, spinning, razor sharp Efficiency Death Wheel! (no business people were harmed in the making of this blog post)

The Efficiency Death Wheel is an interesting topic, but…What is it? (answering a question with a question) Have you ever been trying to organize your life with the latest organizational computer program, or moving computer files into sub-folders that are in sub-folders because it’s “easier to find that way”? Well, that is what we confused types call ‘efficiency’.

Ironically, we spend more time organizing our lives than we do actually completing the real things we need to do. Okay, maybe that statement isn’t entirely accurate (person per person is different I’m sure). For me, I easily spend 20% of my ‘work time’ on trying to make myself more efficient.
STOP IT CHAIS!
Just do it all ready!
Use the tools that are already available to you!

“Well, if I don’t organize my folders to the extreme, how will I ever find anything?” I ask myself. Some of the truly efficient tools that I don’t utilize already exist in the computer I have without adding new programs or becoming super anal. Spotlight is a search tool for the apple computer systems (the icon looks like a magnifying glass in the top right corner of the screen) and it’s an amazing search tool! Think of it like a Google search engine for your computer, except more efficient (no offense Google, Spotlight finds only my stuff and no one else’s).

Why is a tool like Spotlight going to make me more efficient? Because Spotlight records every letter & word in every file in my computer system. If I typed a 10,000 character paper and I had one word in the paper, like “horse”, Spotlight would pull up that paper if I searched for the term “horse” (even if the paper wasn’t titled horse).  I could have ALL of my computer documents in one giant folder (screw sub-folders in sub-folders) and as long as I’m searching for the right word(s), I would be able to find the document I want in less than 5 seconds! This is true efficiency!

Again, I’m not saying that it is always this simple in ever case, but look at your situations for a little bit before you start to go into an extreme organization mode. Maybe there is way that already exists that is better than the “NEW” options. If I spend all my time learning the new iPhone productivity applications (which I spend a lot of time on) and not just going with ONE that looks good to master, I may be wasting time and energy.

If you notice the ‘Efficiency Death Wheel’ start to spin, back away and go another route. Sometimes, business and organizing business, doesn’t need to be as difficult as we make it.

Have an awesome, SAFE, & super productive day!
~Chais Meyer

Okay, this is going to be a little bit of a rant along with some praise (just a little fore warning).

I installed Quickbooks 2009 for windows on my mac today (that right there is ironic). The install went great and the video demonstrations were pretty cool. They taught me how to do all the basic crap, customize Quickbooks for myself, blah, blah, blah… The part that I had a really hard time with (meaning I was super annoyed) was registering my product.

I know, I know…registering my product? I’m really growing up in the world aren’t I…no more pirated software. I now have software that I can actually register (without any sort of crack). “Since I have this legal software, the registration process will be a breeze” I thought.

As it turns out, the registration process was harder than setting up my entire company file in Quickbooks and 5 times more time consuming. Here were the steps:

1. You must register to use quickbooks past 30 days, otherwise it won’t function anymore
2. To register you have to call into quickbooks, no more online simple registration (it requires an authorization code or something).
3. I make a call into quckbooks to their “Product Registration line” (a special number for ONLY product registrations…if that’s true why did I wait 20 minutes on hold?)
4. Wait 20 minutes on hold while listening to pleasant Intuit advertisements
5. Finally get through to their AMAZING India Phone support and the man greets me, “Our Ju Habbing A Goojd jDay!?!
6. He and the conversation are very pleasant (despite me having to ask him about 15 times, “can you repeat that please?”).
7. Until…He tries to sell me some additional support options…
8. …He continues to try to sell me additional support options…
9. …He keeps trying to sell me additional support options (I am not even screwing with you).
10. Literally, 5 minutes later (Chais, calm down and take a breath…the phone call is over), he gives me my Authorization #.
11. YAY!!! I Cheer because I can finally hang up!

Wow, I just spent 30 minutes on a phone call trying to register my $199.95 retail legal product (no wonder people steal software, it’s cheaper and they don’t mess with phone crap. By the way, I don’t agree with software piracy!). What has happened to customer service? Oh, I forgot…Customer service is always a phone call away with Intuit, for $69.95 a phone call (or just $39.95 a month)!

Now that I’m registered, I am going to use quickbooks for my sole proprietership business as well as my other businesses. Well it is a pain in the ass the figure out the sole proprieter part of things if you use only one checking account for your business and your personal bills and expenses. I did a little research and found 2 good links that helped me out, hopefully it will do the same for you. Here it is! (the 8th one down)! And here is a link to explain how to set up an owners draw.

I love the product, not the customer service. I love having my finances being organized in such a friendly way, I hate that I rely so much on my computer system. I will do my best with what I have and share what I learn along the way!

Have an awesome day and a great night, and don’t let the Intuit bugs bite. (wow, that was an awesome ryme!)
~ Chais Meyer

I’m doing side jobs for different businesses (contracting) to fill some empty holes in my own businesses schedules (and to help pay the bills). As I am working for someone else, for a billed hourly wage, I get to thinking about the actual value of the money I’m earning (the $15 an hour).

After income tax is taken out, I really only get to keep $11.50 for an hours worth of work! Don’t get me wrong, I really deeply appreciate having the option to earn extra cash! I’m not thinking about this to belittle the people I’m doing jobs for, or to abuse myself emotionally. I’m thinking like this because I need to challenge life.
So…is “this job” (whatever job I’m currently working on) worth $11.50 an hour? Or should I be trying to do something else?

I don’t think this quesiton has a black or white answer (yes or no). I think there are a lot of variables that come into play, and no instance will be exactly the same. What do I mean? Well…If I’m working on tearing apart computers for the local business Computer Hardware, I am getting paid $15 an hour and most people would feel like that’s all they are getting. But what about all that time that I get to listen to financial audio books, (growing my financial IQ) while I’m tearing apart computers? Can I put a price on that? If you look at it that way, I am actually getting paid to do a brainless activity and at the same time my brain power can be put towards growing my future successes!

Wow! This $15 an hour job isn’t so bad! So maybe I shouldn’t be looking at any job in just the term of ‘how much per hour’, but instead, look at the entire intrinsic value (what else goes into it, or what else can I get out of it). This way of thinking has really opened my eyes to the types of jobs I take and turn down. In certain cases, it may be worse for me to take a job that pays $25 an hour (where my brain must be used on that project fully) than it is to take that $15 an hour job (where I can work on my own growth at the same time).

Remember to dig deeper into life, and don’t just take the yes or no answers. Push yourself to become better at whatever you want to become, & have an Awesome day!
~Chais Meyer

Sorry, I can’t show you or talk to you about my new design until I have applied for my patent!

I can tell you that there is a lot of work that goes into researching and protecting an idea that you might come up with. My recommendation, take a little more time than you think it would take and do it right. Save up a little extra money and get a patent attorney (someone you  can physically talk to). None of this online B.S.

I’ve also learned a lot about different types of plastics. Who would have thought that there were so many types and varieties of plastic products? Not me!

My current status on the Coffee Cup Patent:
Writing my description about my product for my patent application. If anyone else wants to apply for a patent, here is the link for the “provisional application for patent” PDF.

I’ll keep you updated as I go.

Have an awesome day and keep thinking of more you can do and become!
~Chais Meyer

P.S. I would strongly recommend this book(or audiobook…it’s more my style), if you want to increase your knowledge in the financial areas of your life. There is some good stuff about protecting the money you will have someday!

When New Year’s Resolutions are created there’s a personal fear hidden inside every one. It seems that ‘stereotypically’ whenever we create a resolution, more often than not it gets broken. It is almost with a superstitious attitude that If I really want to accomplish something I won’t call it a "resolution", I will call it a goal. Do you feel the same?

I’m going to give it a go this year, despite my previous experiences. I will accomplish my resolution goals! [Did you see what I did there, I used the word resolution and goal together, they're bound to get accomplished now!]

Why do I have a sudden change of heart about creating these resolutions, you might ask. Well, a few reasons:

1. I need a new challenge in my life (I feel bored and need to spice some stuff up).
2. I just watched Yes Man with Jim Carry and it was an Amazing Movie!
3. I just read an inspiring blog post by Thomas Hiatt that drives home my thoughts about what I need and want to accomplish.

So here is an incomplete list of what I want to accomplish this year (my New Year’s Resolutions)!

1. Have a 6 Pack in 6 months (no big sweat)
2. Condition myself to avoid High sugar foods (simple carbs)
3. Train to run a 10K
4. Get my clothes ready for the next day, the night before (I just want to do this for discipline)
5. Wake up and get out of bed the first time my alarm goes off (I have a love/hate relationship with my snooze button)
6. Have 100 Control Yours clients in 7 Months
7. Hire a book keeper to keep us in check financially, personally
8. Take 30% out of all income made for savings, tithing, and investments
9. Grow a True Savings account (no spending unless it is a true emergency) to $2000 in 6 months.
10. Move to Europe in 12-14 months.
11. Narrow down the top 3 places we would like to move in Europe
12. Start learning the language together with Shawna
13. Have our passive income exceed our monthly expenses in 6 months
14. Have our passive income double our monthly expenses in 12 months
15. Fill out and send in a patent application for my new Coffee Cup Lid design
16. Talk to SandHill plastics (a local plastic company in Kearney, NE) to see if they can create a mold for the design
17. Sell all of the ad spots to fill our first digital signage system for six months solid
18. Develop an automated distribution system for the Digital Signage System
19. Organize my iTunes audio books with correct album art and titles

What do you have planned for 2009? I’d love to hear.
~ Chais Meyer